Where sky and water meet and the waves grow sweet.

Its 12:00AM. Do you know where your brain is?

2008-04-08T23:00:00.003-05:00

I don't. I think it fell out somewhere around 10:11. Thats when I thought- I mean, seriously, half-decided-and-sent-commands-to-my-muscle thought about laying down on the long table in the kitchen here at [AwesomeCo] before I came to my senses.

I can just see a co-worker busting in on me. "But I can explain!" I'd blurt out in a guilty, don't-hate-me kind of tone.
"Oh you can?" They'd reply.
"Yes...I...it was a flat surface, and well. I was...a tired man.."

Well, that went well, hypothetical me. Shame on us.

Later, I decided I wanted some toast. Then, the next thing I know, I had made a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich- everything in between is kind of a blur. I think I looked in a cabinet and got all excited because they had chunky peanut butter.

So yeah- I already knew that I talked in my sleep something awful, but apparently, sometimes when I'm reeeaally tired? I make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Actually, I think its kind of cool.
--- - - -

In other, profoundly more important news, its been 1 month now since Kiaya and I were "official". I am still quite desperately in love (even more so, actually) and while I know one month probably doesn't sound that significant or impressive to anyone, I am very happy.
Very happy indeed.
-- - ---

Okay, back to here at [AwesomeCo]. Oh, and speaking of which- I love all my readers. Seriously, its really great to be read. I don't care where you come from or who you are- I like hearing from you. Even if you were, say, in management at the company I work for, doesn't mean you have to just sit around on the sidelines- feel free to comment! (Just, you know...hypothetically. [You know who you are. ] :D )

Rumors of my death would be greatly exaggerated if they existed

2008-03-11T09:43:00.006-05:00

...but like, nobody even cared enough to make up lies about me. How am I supposed to use over quoted Mark Twain references correctly if no one even cares enough to at least try to tell some junior high schooler that I died in a freak snow blowing accident or something? I'm sure they'd take it from there...

Anyway- for all my absence, I don't have many details to give. But since you were such a nice person and read this far, heres a little smattering of vagueish life updates:

A few material things have happened- not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but both my cell phone and car died. Like the cold heartless man I am, I replaced them with younger, prettier things with out even giving them proper burials- a Saab 900SE and a LG Voyager, respectively. I enjoy them way to much- I can now continue endless poke wars anywhere with a cell signal from within a climate controlled cabin with articulated, heated leather seats. Its pretty much the life.

Materially, really thats about it- I've worked on getting space for ReMine, but the long and short of it is I haven't got it yet. What I have been doing is spending more time with people- and thats a good thing I think. The world will always be there for me to conquer it. People are different- opportunities come and go, many times never to come in the same way again. And I know some very special people right now. I would be a fool to miss out on those relationships and what could be built on them. And really, what more does life come down to then relationships?

....

I often mull over life questions like these to a soundtrack, and recently that sound track has been by a very interesting artist I just discovered- a hip hop whiz kid by the stage name of Lupe Fiasco. Some course slang, and one or two things he has the wrong idea about but other then that I highly recommend him. I picked up his album called "The Cool" and its depth blew me away. Though not strictly a concept album, the album's title hints at the threads that are woven through it- one of which is, "What is it to be cool? Who decides it, what does it lead to?" This is communicated through several stories- OH MY GOODNESS- EVERYBODY ITS OFFICIAL, I'M IN LOVE WITH KIAYA AND I'M POSITIVELY BURSTING WITH JOY!!!! Just got the word I could tell everybody so I did...more later, I couldn't wait though... right, now back to your regularly scheduled boredom- but first, HERE'S TO THE AWESOMEST OF DAMES, MY LOVE- KIAYA!*RAISES GLASS HIGH and dances out of room happily* one about an ambitious man (Superstar) who strives and strives for fame and glory, and what little he does find is hollow. Another song (Hip Hop saved my life) tells the story of a disadvantaged kid who uses his music career to lift his family out of poverty. That is one of meanings behind the title "The cool".

The other is a story he tells over 5 songs, and apparently is a continuation of a song on his previous album. It tells the tale of an undead rapper named The Cool who raises from his grave and roams the ghetto empty and hollow, his only possessions a letter from his 2nd grade sister and a gold chain necklace. The strange world is filled with other fantastical characters- a seductress named "The Streets" and a man called "The Game"- the oldest gangster ever, speaking every language on the planet who has dice for eyes, bullets for teeth and crack pipes for lungs. These characters are a canvas he uses to weave cautionary tales, like an epic shaksperian rap tragedy.

....

I've decided awhile ago that long term, I want to be doing business for myself. There are a lot of reasons for that: creativity, self-reliance, freedom. The way I figure it is like this- If I am not financially tied to any one company or boss, I have freedom to do what interests me and end something when I don't believe in it. If I build businesses that live on their own and generate money whether I am there or not, I am free to be with the people I love and free to go where I want. I love freedom- possibly to a fault. But thats a topic for another post- the point is, business is my plan to get it more of it. And it largely boils down to the ability to make those I love and myself comfortable. I still believe in that. But one thing I'm thinking about more and more is that if I get too into the game, if I get obsessed with the process of getting it, I could arrive at the other end with out as many people I love and whom love me. And that would be a hollow victory, because they are largely the reason one does this in the first place. This is a verse I've thought over for awhile, which is sung from the perspective of The Cool. The lady he speaks of is The Streets:

Her eyes glow green with the logo of our dreams
The purpose of our scene
The obscene obsession for the bling
She would be my queen
I could be her king
Together she would make me cool
And we would both rule, forever
And I would never feel pain
And never be without pleasure, ever, again

Of course, you can never buy away pain or all discomfort. You can use your money as a tool to mitigate it and defend against those in excess. But after a point, the only thing you can do is just be there for somebody- be a shoulder to cry on, be a warm embrace.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever been close to obsessing over the game to a point of concern. I'm fine with where I am right now- but I see me mulling over this as making a decision now to use for future reference.

So, people and relationships vs. freedom and financial good standing. I'm an optimist, so I'd like to think I can have both in great measure. But if I do have to sacrifice one for the other in a pinch, I know I'd keep people.

Wealth is replaceable. (Just ask my Honda CRX or my old LG). But people KIAYA isn't aren't.I

Somewhere, in a dark cobblestone alley...

2008-01-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

Neuros leaned leisurely against the wall beside the back entrance of a worn down bowling alley, the fog from his freezing breath and the puffs of cigarette smoke mingling together in the brisk winter air. He was dressed for the cold, but not so much that he couldn't pass for a worker out on a smoking break. Which, by the way if you were to ask him, he was.

Not that the topic would come up. After all, this alley, at this hour, was not exactly a hub of society. At least, not most society. Neuros only planned on talking to one man that night. That man had just turned a corner and was walking up the alley, as slowly and casually as any stranger would walk towards another. His gate betrayed no knowledge of the man taking a smoking break until they were within feet of each other. By then, the stranger had spotted the smoker's face out of the corner of his eye. He greeted him.

"Hello, Neuros. I didn't take you for the type that smoked."

"You haven't talked to me in so long, I don't expect you to be able to take me for anything." Neuros said, dropping the butt to the ground. It landed in a dusting of snow and went out with a sizzle before he could grind it with his heel. "I don't, really. Its mostly for cover." he said, smirking as he looked up at his old accomplis.

"I appreciate you meeting with me. I heard you had retired."

"Oh, you know my type...we rarely really retire. " His voice became a bit softer- "At least... not with people like you, Wanderer. "

Wanderer looked away and coughed for a second, then seemed to pause before talking again. "Thanks."

"I haven't seen you since, what... 20? You look a bit different now, you know. Your wearing black." he added, half jokingly.

Wanderer looked at his coat briefly as he produced a small vile from it. "I'm wearing something." he said distantly as he popped the cap off, letting steam rise from the top. He noticed Neuros's inquisitive look. "Nothing from a paper bag, Neuros. Just coffee."

"I must say-" he said in a pleasantly surprised tone, "You've done better then I thought you would have. Your discharge, was it...?"

"It was a discharge, okay?" Wanderer snapped back, "but...I don't think its permanent. "

"Sorry....So, whats the occasion?"

Wanderer put the lid on the vile and slipped it back into his coat as he cleared his throat. "I have a...gardening dilemma, so to speak."

Neuros expression barely changed, but his eyes betrayed a smiling understanding. "Botany; of course. Do tell."

"There is a garden I've been watching back in the country- a very special garden. Its fruits will be prized, its promise is unmatched. I've spent a lot of time walking through its rows, smelling its air. It is a beautiful garden. I've thought about it, and I've decided I want to cultivate it myself so that it can better meet its potential and so I can have the opportunity to enjoy toiling with such fortuned soil.

Neuros laughed softly. "Thats quite a speech... I've always thought you were a green thumb at heart. Whats the problem?"

"Someone else is tending it already."

Neuros furrowed his brow. "Does he own it?"

"No one owns it!" Wanderer shot back, slightly surprised at the seething tone in his own voice. "Its a wild garden."

"But- he got to it first. "

"Yeah."

The man out on his smoking break raised his head up in thought, and let out a slow deliberate breath that filled the air above them with a fleeting fog. "Is this man dying?"

"No."

"Is this gardener a very wicked man?"

"No... I wish he was. He's a very nice man, actually. I almost like him. But I know I could do better- and there is no other soil like this. The fortuned soil suffers from my inaction, in a way. "

"Do you plan on taking it?" Neuros asked calmly.

"Perhaps. " Wanderer turned his head to meet the gaze he could feel being directed towards him. "Look, I know its not...ideal. But it might be an opportunity that I just can't give up. He...he doesn't appreciate the soil, anyway."

"Do you know that?"

"It doesn't matter if I know it! All I can do right now, is LOOK at it. I want to be a part of it, Neuros! I want the dirt between my fingers, I want to be invested in this land. I want to nurse it through the droughts, fend of its pests and celebrate its bounties when they come. I know I can. I know I'm right for the job..."

Neuros was silent, his expression, unreadable. After a moment, Wanderer continued.

"Some fruit- they rolled out of the plot. Several of them, actually. I tasted them. Its out of this world. I need this fruit- and Neuros, I think it needs me, too. "

"So you are going to take it?"

Wanderer relaxed a bit and took out his vile again. "I don't know... not just yet. " He took a sip. "I'll continue to watch it. I'll hold off my decision until another year or so passes by. A lot of things can happen in a year, you know? Maybe, the gardener will take sick. Perhaps he will be distracted with business afar and abandon the land. Perhaps there will be an accident. There is always the chance that he will be out of the equation. Then.... " Wanderer tapped his vile of coffee, nervously distracted in thought. "Then I wouldn't have to deal with it. "

"Your not suggesting...taking him out of the picture yourself, are you?" Neuros asked, his normally blank expression betraying a hint of anxiety.

Wanderer put the vile back and dusted off his coat. He looked at the ground and appeared as if he were about to say something, but instead he just shook his head. Finally, he looked up.

"Well, thanks. Thanks for listening, friend. "

"Thats it?"

"Thats all... we haven't talked in a while, and I'm not sure when the next time will be so.... I figured I should let you know what I might do. "

As Neuros looked at Wanderer, one could not tell if he was more angry, surprised, or proud. It didn't really matter. Wanderer went on.

"Because I know- if anything goes wrong? Any plan you could start working on right now for just that occasion will prove itself very useful. "

And with that, Wanderer turned and walked away.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A fog examined

2008-01-09T01:19:00.000-05:00

Driving home tonight was made much more exciting then normal by an unusual amount of fog. As I drove down the road, it seemed to come at me in small surging wisps and in long hanging clouds. The road would be visible one moment, almost completely concealed the next, then visible through a soft layer of fog again. It kept one guessing, and made you alert. My feet were a little closer to the pedals, my posture, more prone. I didn't know what to expect, and moment after moment was a surprise.

It was oddly analogous of the primary. It kept us guessing all week, then it kept us watching all night. For me, it is a unique election. This is only my second time being able to vote in a presidential race, but its not the second campaign I've followed. My family has always been at least moderately aware and active in politics, and I've spent several evenings huddled close to the TV, watching results pour in. But this one is different for me. For the first time, I wasn't rooting for the candidate my parents were rooting for. My candidate (Ron Paul) wasn't even considered a serious contender. And different also this year is my following of the democrats primary as well. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I got more into the democratic ABC debate then the Republican one. Even though I dislike both candidates policies, I have found myself rooting for Obama to get the nomination on the Democratic side. I had a horse in both races. I was happy when he came in first in Iowa. I was overjoyed when people started talking about Hillary falling fast. And so, I was hoping for another victory by him tonight to balance out the bitter taste of McCain taking the state I love and giving the most American, constitutionalist candidate I know less then 10 percent. Afterall, if I was to have to pick between the two democrats running, I would feel safer with Obama. Clinton is, as a friend has recently put it to me, "a very oldschool, power play, family connection kind of candidate". I want to see her loose. I want her to see that no one is owed the presidency in the United States. At least Obama brings a freshness to the table. But no; in my great state, Obama has lost narrowly to Hillary.

Though a somewhat discouraging end to my otherwise pleasant day, I have hope for the rest of the campaign. The race is really wide open, on both sides. And so the tightness of the race, like the fog- though it confounds us and frustrates some- it makes the ride a heck of a lot more exciting.

Here's to a great 2008 everyone.

(And I'm sorry my first post in over a month had to be about Politics. )

The wish list of Little Man

2007-11-26T20:55:00.000-05:00

Well, Christmas season is upon us. It becomes apparent right about now, when everyone's wishlist is stuck of on the fridge and flying around email.

My favorite has to be my little brothers- for the last two years now, his lists have just made my minute whenever I read them. Its a little time capsule of who he is at the moment- his quirky sense of humor, his optimistic look on life and his creativity, untouched by the critical mind of adulthood, or even "the big kids" world.

Below is his list, republished with permission:

Webkinz (a bunny would be nice, but any other one is okay too)
L'ilkinz (a black cat would be nice, but any other one is okay too)
Mobile Devastator (Lego set)
Aero Booster (Lego set)
Blade Titan (Lego set)
Cyclone Defender (Lego set)
Sky Guardian (Lego set)
Golden Guardian (Lego set)
Rollercoaster Tycoon (1)
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3D
Another Golden Guardian (cause in the comics there are like, 21 Golden Guardians…. it's really cool. So please, if you can-if you have enough money…uh…get me 21 Golden Guardians? Heh heh…Please?)
Five cinnamon sugar pretzels from Sam's Club and 5 salt ones…please.
Blazing Falcon (Lego set)
$50
Laptop
Tough Book
Candy Corn
Candy
Freezer
Couch
Ice cubes
Cups
Water
Fruit
Wood
Screws
A Designing room right next to Zeke and my room
Six birds
Five dogs
Two cats
Five Hamsters
Eight horses
One acre of land [Editors Note: Getting into real estate already? This kids a genius. I wish I could get him this...]
Hay
A pond
Paper
Markers
Trees
Giraffes
Zebras
Monkeys
Bird seed
Monkey bars
Fences
Telegraph
Batteries
Pencils
Wires
Insulators
Conductors
Paper clips
Computer
Rollercoaster simulator
Everything simulator, made by drawn pictures seen by mirrors make the picture move in front of you moved by motors
Bricks and cement
Nails (not like fingernails)
Tissue box
Table
Chairs
Tank (like an aquarium-about 500 feet long and tall)
100 Goldfish
50 sea monkeys
Bible (Just in case I lose my other one)
Map of Londonderry and Manchester in one
Underground tunnel to Andrew's house, Andrew's house, Andrew's house, and church [Editors note: Little man has three friends named Andrew. He never grows tired of how funny that is.]
CRZ (when I am old enough to drive I can drive it!) [Editors note: Takes after his brother when it comes to taste in cars it seems!]
Helicopter
50 RAMS
1 3D card (for a computer)
2 extra motherboards
10 speakers
1 that controls the sound for each speaker with a paper clip and two slots-one for input and two to left and right speakers
Keyboard and mouse

_________________________________________________

Hope you enjoyed his list as much as I did...man I love that kid.

Giving thanks

2007-11-21T17:39:00.000-05:00

Well everyone, it has been a whole year since the last Thanksgiving. And you know what that means- its thanksgiving again.

Therefore, I hereby usurp for now my previous post plans and present for your special holiday consumption, my humble list of thanks. I am thankful for (and as last year, in no particular order):

1. Friends, whom I shall elaborate on throughout this list
2. My jolly yellow truck, which I will miss sorely when the poor thing breaths its last.
3. Bosses, whom despite their over documentational urges and occasionally random requests, really can be good guys and call you on the way home just because they forgot to wish you a happy thanksgiving.
4. Music- quite possibly the easiest entry point the undefinable qualities that make us human.
5. Good conversation that transcends gender, social, economic and political boundaries.
6. For Pushing Daises (the TV show)
7. Heroes (the real ones)
8. Heroes (the show)
9. Innovation
10. Dreams you can act on
11. My family (Especially that Abi and I can be such good friends now)
12. Kiaya, my favorite NaNoWriMo author ever and just an awesome human being in general
13. Anders, a kindred soul in deep thinking, random joking, business aspiration, and hair style
14. Brandon, the resident Sci-fi expert never short on opinion or theory, and often in surplus of good geek jokes
15. Lyndsi, who's philosophical musings and good humor I can't get enough of
16. Jim, who's the hardware hacker I'd love to be and another kindred soul in businesses aspirations as well as a wealth of other areas
17. Leah, who's smile and humor brighten my Sunday's behind the sound board
18. Noah- 3 quarters my size, twice my wit. He's in some ways my more efficient sequel
19. Shpongle, an amazingly atmospheric electronica group that one of the night crew janitor's showed me.
20. Mute Math
21. Eisley
22. John Reuben
23. Christie Dupree
24. Can I say Eisley again?
25. My coworkers- worts and all, they are really a good bunch of people.
26. My car, the fun efficient little thing with the scandalous license plate.
27. Narnia
28. Making new friends
29. The ability to play in the big game of business- for their really is no thrilling, higher stake game.
30. Loosing money and learning lessons in business now, when I don't have to support a family. It smarts a bit, but you get up, dust yourself off and remount.
31. My job at [AwesomeCo] that decided to bless me with for reasons I still do not fathom.
32. Honest conversations with my dad on a man to man level. Thanks, dad.
33. That a spider wick movie coming out soon
34. Ethan- for telling me about the awesome new trailer for the spiderwick movie that is coming out soon
35. The new LG Voyager, for being such a kick'n phone, giving the Verizon people something to stick around for and giving Apple some competition.
36. My old phone- two broken screens be as they may, it has served me well. Not many other phones I know can be ran over with my truck and dropped in the Atlantic and still keep ticking. Plus its hilarious limited functionality makes for a good conversation starter.
37. The Cat in the Hat hat Kiaya gave me last Christmas, which is an even greater conversation starter.
38. Long drives with the music cranked on foggy cool nights
39. Snow!!
40. Particularly, snow before Thanksgiving!
41. Glenn Beck.
42. The Alverados
43. Seth- what more is there to say? He's just the man.
44. "Grandpa Dan" from work.
45. Chinese food. It makes the world a better place.
46. Mexican food. See 45.
48. Long chat conversations on every topic, from the extremely stupid to the extremely deep.
49. Air travel.
50. Airships.
51. Cows. They may look stupid and move slow, but how on earth could you have a bacon double CHEESE burger with out them?
52. That reminds me- pigs.
53. Zebra Cakes
54. Heck, lets just say food. I must be getting hungry.
55. Time to relax from all the crazy hustle and bustle.
56. SLEEP.
57. Thankful lists
58. Bundling up to stay warm.
59. Sir Richard Branson (here's a video of what he's like in person)
60. Freedom.

Now go enjoy your feast everyone. Happy thanksgiving.

Reading by the fireplace

2007-11-11T16:52:00.001-05:00

I was always a fan or the romantic idea of curling up to a good book and reading it by the fireplace light. Its such a warm, safe and cozy sounding thing... but you know what? Its really not all that great. I mean it is, but its not as perfect as we so often make it out to be. I thought about this last night when I attempted to recreate this idealistic notion while a blazing fire was started upstairs. I pulled up a chair and tried to read The Golden Compass.

I began to realize yet again as I shifted in my seat that all I ever get when I actually try this in real life is strained eyes from bad lighting, a cold back and a leg thats about to go up in flames.

And yet, I still love the idea. Its irrational, really- but somehow my personal memories of how difficult it is to get comfortable by a fireplace are always overrun by this grand ideal thought of being around a fireplace. Anyone else ever notice that kind of quirk about yourself?

Most of the time, I have a very bloggable life

2007-10-26T18:00:00.000-05:00

...so why don't I blog more? Why am I the prodigal blogger (or Prodigger, if you prefer)?

I am fairly confident it is because I make too big a deal out of the content. I want my posts to be masterpieces, the lot of them. I want to make sure I include every detail that is awesome and work the delivery of every sentence.

But I believe I've decided thats a bad idea. It instead encourages me to wait too long to spend time to blog, which in turn declines readership and when readership is down advertising dollars soon follow. This in turn discourages me from writing anything until its good enough to bring in the masses and the money. But what am I thinking? People won't come if updates are sparse. Oh, and also I don't have ads. So theres that.

In other words, I plan to go for quantity instead of quality.

Now, with out further ado- I present to you "New York- a less then concise recap":

Back a few months ago, I caught wind of the concert pairing I had been hoping- neigh, YEARNING after for years. Eisley, the indy-fresh angel voiced, mild mannered super stars in hiding from Texas band, and Mute Math, the amazingly creative and hard touring, always-the-best-show-you've-ever-scene-every-time band from New Orleans. I rounded up a group of 8 other people brave enough to drive down to New York with me in a 15 passenger van (and who's schedules lined up) and headed down 95 one bright October thursday morning.

The trip down there was a good time- I had friends from different social circles, but they gelled very well together which made me quite happy. Since I was driving I didn't get to be part of much of the conversations in the back, but I could hear them having a good time over the engine noise and stereo- which was quite an interesting set up in itself. I had obtained a 5.1 speaker system from the last geek swap fest I went to for a measly $20, and thanks to Jarin's 300 watt inverter, we were able to power the monster all the way to NY, booming the bass and blasting the treble. Quite fun.

In addition to driving down there, I also got to drive in NYC traffic. When I told this to people before I left, they would always give me a sympathetic "that sucks dude" kind of look (if I told them I was doing this in a 15 passenger van they went pale and thought I was sui or homicidal). But after I got into the traffic, I really enjoyed it. In NYC you have to be aggressive, you see. Its like a competition for the road- winner takes the lane, loser has to wait a few more seconds. If you look at it that way, I think I played a pretty good game. After seeing so many yellow cabs that were basically moving traffic law violations, I realized that the cops in this town had real crime to deal with. As long as you don't kill anybody, just about anything goes. Instead of being flustered with this revelation as people cut me off left and right, I instead took it like a liberating breath of fresh air. I knew my driving abilities and limits and now I could actually drive how I wanted to the best of them. I had a blast earning respect in the concrete jungle. I think my favorite part was when I played chicken with a semi- I was behind a double parked car, and the light turned green. I knew the semi at the light had several gears to get through before he got to me, so I veered around the cab into the opposing lane straight towards him and stepped on it, getting around the cab before he could ever be a threat and turning onto the lane I needed to get to with out loss of life or limb. It was pretty jokes, man.

Even though we left about and hour behind schedule we still got there with time to see a bit of the city. After getting some coffee and using the bathroom, we strategized about our next move. Renee suggested we go to times square, and all concurred it to be an idea of merit and achievability.

Apparently, our group was always moving very fast.

We got there via the subway, meeting a few colorful characters along the way (an awesome guy who explained to us some of the meaning in a big artistic display on a building, a man singing a soulful rendition of "work all day, party all night" while handing out flyers).

New Yorker explains to us features of a building

Before long we got to our stop and walked over to Broadway street.

Wow. I don't think you can ever quite capture the larger then life scale and dyanmics of this place on film. You really just have to see it to believe it. After being there in person, I am pretty much convinced that it is the place where all the display manufactures go to sport their newest technology because every single one was brighter, bigger, and higher resolution than anything else I have ever seen or heard of. And the shapes of the screens- its like everyone was trying to out do eachother in the I-have-more-curves-and-deformations-then-you contest. But the effect overall was spellbounding. I tried not to gawk like a tourist at NY the whole trip, but when your in the middle of times square I swear its almost impossible. Its just that incredible.

Another thing thats incredible about times square (and Broadway st. in general) was the amount of street entrepreneurs that would come right up to you and try to hard sale you on something right away. They had no fear! We ended up having this little joke we'd say to eachother if someone slowed down or stopped for a few seconds. "Don't stop, you'll be solicited!" we'd say. And it was true- it was like they could smell a tourist who didn't quite know what they were doing from blocks away. We had people try to sell us a few things- but I can only remember two. One was a print copy of "The Onion". The other was a rapper bumping his demo.

He at least was a good experience. The man came up to us and started his introductions, started to ask us if we wanted to hear his demo- then stopped himself mid sentence as if he had forgot something very important earlier. "First of all, let me just tell you- I've never killed anybody, never shot anybody..." We laughed, and it broke the ice a little bit. He had a practiced somewhat weary demeanor that comes from trying to sell all day to people who don't care. But we gave him the benefit of the doubt, and I took a listen on his portable CD player- expecting perhaps a somewhat novice sound- rough recording, genuine emotion, maybe desperate lyrics. He was after all, bumping his CD on the streets of NY. You gotta be desperate at that point, right?

But within seconds I was impressed. A symphonic chord filled the headphones as one of the tracks started off, and his voice, strong, clear and determined came on the track. "Yorel," it said, "spit that fire." His intro continued cinematically. "So much pain... come on, tell me what pain is." The beat dropped and I was already strainging my ears to hear where he was taking this. Soon I realized he was quite different then I had first thought:

"9/11 was supposed to brake us- all we did was wake up.
Many tears fell as mucas caked up, say what?
Lest we forget- those 4 planes hit,
My uncle died 9/11 so he ceased to exist.
Me and my tear drops are on the line and became best friends
Mines will be falling down my face till my death
We fall and we rise- so rise up and come to accept it
You'll be an old man looking back on life you neglected"

The song as a whole was a sort of "keeping on" anthem of rising through adversity- waking up and doing something with the days of our lives and bearing the pain necessary for rewards. I was blown away. By this time I saw him talking to some of my friends about the art on the CD. I took my headphones off and listened in "...and this represents us- you see we are born into this life dead, and there is a struggle for our souls between good and evil.

The album art for Yorel's debut disc "Redemption"

So it turns out, the guy is a Christian. And his rap name, Yorel? It is Leroy spelled backwords, in honor of his uncle who died in 9/11 (he was on the plane to Pennsylvania if I recall correctly.). Really interesting guy. I bought both CDs. He was really nice to us, thanking us perfusely for our time and telling us how he was honored with the attention. ("When I blow up one day, and you come to my concert" he said, "You can come up on stage with me.")

But enough of these side attractions- I went down there for a concert after all!

We arrived their two tickets short. Jake and I decided that we would be the odd people out and find some tickets from scalpers- long story short, we got them, but it cost me through the nose. It doesn't matter- the important part is we all got in.

The rest of this I suppose would best be served by footage of the bands. Well, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, I did take clips of each band and they came out pretty good. The bad news is, I don't have a couldn't find a firewire cable so I can't get it uploaded till I get one. But I do hope to upload it sometime, because the concert was amazing.

First, Eisley- I had never seen them live. I was not disappointed. Despite some small sound issues towards the begginng of their set, they sounded amazing. They sing just as or more beautiful then they do on their album. They didn't hold back at all- the music was so urgent in the sense that they were totally in it right then. You could feel the emotion; it was palpable. Well, at least for me. Perhaps I'm just a crazy fan though. They played just about all the songs I wanted them too- some from each album, which was really great, and some from before their album which I had heard on various live recordings.

The crowd was really great, too. I was kind of nervous for them going in because it was the north east and they were a little band from Tyler, Texas- not to well known in the mainstream and very different then the "main attraction" band. But the crowd seemed to know their work well, giving them a very warm welcome and being just about as roudy as you can be during an Eisley show. One of my favorites songs was " I could be there for you"- not just because Stacy sang a large portion of that song to me (no I'm serious!) but also because the crowd totally seemed to "get" what was going on when Chauntelle sang her bar of the song- celebrating loudly after she sang the last words with cheers and applause. For those who don't know, since Eisley's been signed (and a bit before), Chauntelle has been the only girl who didn't sing. She used to, but decided for awhile that her voice wasn't good enough. She just wasn't confident singing up on stage. Well, in the process of this album being made she had a bit of a breakthrough- singing guest vocals for a friend, and becoming more confident. So when she sang sang that key bridge, executing it confidently and perfectly, it was really, really neat to see New England cheer her on. I was quite proud to be part of this crowd, which on their blog Boyd called "by far - the most roudy, jam packed crowd" and even concluded that "By the end of the set the crowd had peaked the highest level of this tour.". I couldn't be happier. Now maybe they will come back more often. (I talked to Boyd- their dad and manager- afterwords, by the way and made sure he knew I was much closer to the Boston area and that they should come down their more often, or even to NH. I MIGHT have said that if he went to NH I would bring a crowd at least 20 strong... so...if that happens, please back me up guys, k?)

After their set, I actually gave up my place closer to the stage to go and talk to Eisley. They were singing and hanging out back by their merch booth, and I decided that if I came all the way from NH I had to at least say Hi to everyone. I did. Everyone was just as nice and sweet as I thought they'd be. I also learned that one of our group knew some of them from way back when the Eisley family played worship at a church in Texas. It was pretty cool- Chauntelle recognized them and they caught up a little bit before Mute Math.

Mute Math. Daaaang. After Eisley's set, it was like someone said they were passing out 100 dollar bills, but the catch was you had to walk up as close to the stage as possible, bring 5 friends and not let anyone in edgeways. The crows was pretty big I thought for Eisley, but seemingly out of nowhere it just about looked like it doubled. I have never been in a indoor crowd so packed. But its no wonder why. They started off with their amazing intro like they always do, but this time their was a new element- video. Completely synchronized behind them for most every song was a mostly abstract concoction of video goodness that went along with the lighting, crazy antics and mood set by the band. And as usual, their performances were amazing. They know how to build up energy in a room. There is just such an air of excitement when they play, its amazing. It makes you just overflow with emotion.

The drummer, Darren King, looked very exhausted though, even after only a few songs. Like, really exausted- as in might be dehydrated and fall over any minute. I watched him for a little while, concerned- he wasn't missing any beats, but I could tell he was struggling. I've not ever seen him look so tired. I watched him for awhile through a whole in the crowd and made eye contact. I just nodded my head and smiled, like "You can do it dude; you've got this". It looked like he met my gaze and it was like he just pushed himself through it- picked up his head, pushed it up a notch. It was pretty impressive. Those guys really do give everything they have in those shows. Its one of the reasons I love them so much. Oh, and they do crazy things- like at this one, Darren crowd surfed- standing up! - on his drum. They are just straight up entertaining.

And that my friend, is my story more or less. We went home after that- mom swapping out for me on the road back to NH (thanks mom!) so I could get a bit of rest. We stopped in a sleepy stupor over at McDonald's and had much food and laughter (everything is funny at 3am over French fries). When we got home, it was almost 7am. I crashed and woke up at 1. Ate something, showered and went to work.

Ahh, my life. Tis good.

Most disappointing picture ever? YOU decide!

Best. Gift. EVER.

2007-10-09T09:18:00.002-05:00

"Honey, get up if you want to eat. Breakfast is on the table."

That was the first thing I heard Saturday morning. I was trying to sleep in...For a weekday, perhaps I had done a halfway decent job. But for a Saturday? Failure. It was only 8:40. I rolled over in my bed, working up my self to getting up. I was still zonked out from the night before- I had been up till 2 working on Kiaya's gift. Today was her birthday, and true to my form, I hadn't finished it till the very last hour.

After getting dressed I trolled over to the breakfast table. Somewhere behind me Moriah is asking someone where Joy is. Must still be in bed. Lucky.

As I pour my cup of coffee, the smell of fresh off the skillet apple pancakes and cinnamon fill the air. Maybe waking up wasn't such a bad idea after all I think to myself as I finish fixing my coffee and take a sip. I think Kiaya is supposed to call me today, too. I still don't know when her party is. Maybe its a good thing her party isn't till later in the day... should at least give me more time to wrap everything up.

On my chair is a shopping bag filled with duct tape of many bright colors. It was to be part of Kiaya's gift. I pick it up to move it into the living room, noting to myself that one of the girls must have dropped an envelope into it, because I know I didn't put it there. But it doesn't matter. All that matters right now is drinking my wake up juice and biting into a wonderful warm homemade apple pancake with butter and cinnamon sugar.

It isn't long until just about everyone is at the table eating breakfast. Everyone except Abs, who is at work, and Joy who Moriah keeps complaining about. I feel sympathetic for the sleepy, and don't engage Moriahs observation. Instead I steer the conversation to the tickets I had to purchase online from less then orthodox sources the night before. Everyone is moderatly impressed with the story. I'm starting my second hot cake.

"Hey Zeke, what was that bag on your chair? Was that... duct tape?" my mom asks.

"Yeah... its part of Kiaya's gift. She asked for Duct Tape...in technicolor!"

My mom grabs the bag and takes a look. "WOW! Thats so neat. I don't think I've ever seen them in neon like this!"

"Mom has anyone seen Joy this morning?" Moriah chimes in once again.

"I don't think so." mom replies off hand, looking at the duct tape.

"Yeah, its pretty cool. They make it in all sorts of colors... I had to choose between pink and purple. There were a lot, actually. Pretty -"

"What's this?" mom interrupts, taking out the envelope.

"Oh I don't know. Noticed it when I moved the bag, maybe one of the girls. Hey Mo, you know anything about that?"

Mom looks at it curiously. I take another sip of coffee. I'm probably still only about a quarter awake at this point. "Its addressed to the family of Joy. Anyone know who this is from...?"

"Nah..." I casually remark as I dig my fork into the pancake. To much cinnamon... its almost dry. Or no- to little butter? Mom opens up the note and places it on the table between us as she reads...

"Roses are red and violets are blue,
Your joy has been kidnapped- boohoo hoo hoo!"

Whoa, a note in rhyme. What is this? I look up and see a note, in cut and paste font complete with ripped edges. My mom continues reading it.

I looked up at the note and started laughing. This is awesome. So THATS what was going on! I think to myself. Thats why I hadn't been told the time of the party. Kiaya had a trick up her sleeve. All this time I had set aside Saturday for her party, and here she was doing something for me too... probably because of my birthday a few weeks ago. Nice! But at this point, I'm still only 1/3 awake. I laugh again.

Uhh...I start to forumlate a plan. While I eat my pancake.

"Zeke! Joy is kidnapped, how can you eat?!?" my mom cries out in semi convincing dismay. "Well mom, " I laugh between bites "she's not getting any losster..."

But I finish my pancake quickly, then run down stairs to get directions to the street that the note mentioned and get some shoes on. Mom suggests I take dad's car since it has more then 2 seats- and I was already taking Mo as my navigator/moral support/sidekick. I hadn't charged my phone over night, so I brought my wall charger and an inverter so I could use it in the car. Moriah brought my DV cam. We loaded up and while Mo was getting situated I sent a little text-o-gram to my number one suspect:

"Roses are red
Violets are blue
I know your behind this

And I'm coming for you."

I showed it to Moriah and she smirked. "You think its her?" she asked as I pulled out as fast as the little Camry could go. Kiaya texted back "Happy birthday." Short, unapologetic yet not admitting anything directly, it was the perfect response. I laughed and showed it to my sister. By this time I was starting to get into the act, and when I came to intersection up ahead that was held up at a light, I announced that "I don't have time for this, my sister is missing!" and jetted onto a side road I knew as a shortcut. I enjoyed Moriah's nervous reactions.

It just so happens that the place I was going was very close to where I work, so I knew most of the terrain pretty well. I found the spot surprisingly quick. After pulling up, I nervously got out. I was supposed to ask for Mike.

As I got in I recognized the man at the counter. It was Kiaya's step dad, Mike. Still, I tried to enter in character. "I'm looking for a MIKE... " He laughed and from his desk provided another small envelope. I took it and walked out the door as I opened the package. It had a flyer and a ransom note demanding a 3 for 3 soda deal. I was to buy it where my sister worked. Interesting.

Instinctively I reached for my pocket to check for my wallet. It wasn't there. Ohh.... I thought to myself. Luckily, my house was on the way to the store anyway. I drove there cautiously, picked up my wallet and fled. I had a ransom to pick up.

I ran in, trying not to let Abi see me as I entered. I started to look around at some aisles aimlessly then laughed at myself. "Moriah-" I said, handing over the flyer "LOCATE!" she chuckled and we eventually found the soda aisle. We got everything we needed, so I went to Abi's lane to check out.

"What are you doing here? You know I can't serve you in my aisle."
I knew that was true, but I figured she had to give me the next clue. So I gave her a kinda "I know what your doing" look and stood there a second. I started to put the stuff on the conveyor belt.

"No, I'm serious!" she replied, putting her hands out to block me. I looked at her kind of confused. I didn't expect this. I was loosing face. "Do you, uhh...have something for me?"

She looked at me weird. "No. Now get out of my aisle."

I looked at Moriah strangely as I retreated. "Where am I supposed to get the next clue?" She said she didn't know, so I decided to go back to the shelf and check under each bottle of soda and behind the cards that had the price on them. Nothing. I texted Kiaya in ryhme to let her know that I hadn't found the third clue. Moriah suggested that it must not be in the store. I began to head for the door. Right before I got outside, my phone rang. "Talk to me." I answered in the best gruff detective voice I could muster. Kiaya was laughing on the other end. Banter flew back and forth, and somewhere in there she informed me to check my windshield. I ran to my car and saw a note.

SHE WAS JUST HERE! "Moriah, look around! They might still be here!!" I said while I covered up the microphone piece. I opened up the note. Two pieces of paper and... "OOH! a donut!" I exclaimed while I grabbed the little bite sized piece of heaven from the envelope. A piece of paper below the confection said "For missing your apple pancakes. Share it with Mo." But it was too late, I had already consumed the tasty morsel. Meanwhile, Kiaya had put a distraught Joy on the phone. She cried into the mic and told me how horrible it was. It was all quite pathetic, in a fun awesome kind of way. Kiaya came back on the line. She started to say something, but I knew at this point the dame was trying to pull on my heart strings- with all the crying Joy bit and such- and I wanted to send a message that I would not be manipulated. I hung up.

Yeah, probably wasn't the best idea. For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time, like something a real cool character would do. And I was totally a real cool character.

Anyway, the next clue led us to Mac's apples. I assumed that this would be where I picked up Joy and we all had a grand little party- I mean, its the pefect place. Always the paranoid one, I drove up from the lesser used entrance, and slowly winded my way into the parking lot, looking all around for spys. I didn't see any. And when I did find the clue, it wasn't a "look behind you, happy birthday here we are" sort of clue. Inside was a clipping from a newspaper that had a walmart address and the following note:

I looked again at the clipping. Manchester! Holy crapes! This is truly a super game of massive geographical proportions! Thats when I realized how awesome this thing was. I have NEVER gotten to do anything like this. But I always wished I could. I dreamed up massive games that would spread the state, but I had never done anything close to it. And then suddenly, here I was calling home to verify an address on a piece of evidence where I would have to find the next clue under "satisfaction's sign" from a girl with "stars in her eyes". Unbelievable. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

Each stop I got more and more into it. When I went to the walmart, I cautiously started to walk towards the part of the sidewalk where I knew overhead was the word "satisfaction". I could see from a little ways off a young female figure, dressed in red. Is that joy? I thought to myself it can't be this easy... then I noticed two familiar faces out of the corner of my eye. My heart jumped. I grabbed Mo and pulled her back.

"Two guard right there- follow me comeonCOMEON!!" I darted into the store for a second then walked out behind another group. After I cleared my exit we bolted for the car. I took the car and drove it away from the entrance....dead end. I looked back. No one was there, so I crept back out into view of the sidewalk and quietly as I could snaked around the road to the far side of the parking lot. Looks like I'd have to sneak up to get her. After getting out and surveying the target, it became apparent that the girl on the bench was not joy. We wouldn't be able to perform a rush-in extraction after all. It was certainly our girl though- not only did I recognize her as Kelli, she was wearing glasses shaped like stars that were almost as BIG AS HER HEAD. I couldn't suppress my laughter when I got the pun, but I tried to stay in character. I darted around the nursery area, trying to not be seen. I didn't want to deal with Kiaya's security forces, you see. I just wanted to talk to her agent and get my sister back with as little drama as possible.

I tried approaching her with out laughing, but her glasses were ridiculous. I asked her for a clue. She looked up at me and said "I have a clue for you. But first you must get me a 6 pack of IBC root beer and a bag of plastic cups." I went in and quite nervously darted around the aisles, trying to locate the items. The search was made more pulse pounding by the distinct impression that we were being tailed- and for a good reason. The same security forces we had tried to out-maneuver outside kept showing up, just exiting our vision. It was intense stuff. We weaved and double dodged them as best we could, but they had our number.

Eventually we got the goods and delivered it to the starry eyed girl. She handed me a peanut butter sandwich in a bag marked "Eat me" and told me to drive away. This was the cleverest of the notes I had seen yet- the clue was protected by a small plastic bag and placed between two layers of thick crunchy peanut butter. Getting it out was a hilarious mess. I looked at the note:

Now I was hiding my car and meeting someone on a bridge. DUDE. I stowed the car right between two others at the Sunoco, and made sure to lock it up. The mechanic guys we passed looked kinda tough, and a bit confused at my park-and-ditch. But they didn't talk to me, and I didn't make eye contact. If I looked like I belonged there, I shouldn't have any trouble. Feign confidence, I thought to myself. Thats my motto. And it worked- no questions.

As I got to the bridge, I could see a figure off in the distance. Oh my I thought to myself I think its the boss herself! Up to this point I had only made contact with her agents. Since market basket, I had felt like she was onestep behind me though, watching me always, masterminding my doom with an evil laugh. And now, here she was in person. I greeted her, trying to stay in character. I think when she asked me how I was, said "I have had had better days". During the whole conversation I was taking in the scene: A hundred feet or so above the water, standing with the mastermind of my sisters demise and quite possibly the greatest game I had ever played. I was looking around for my sister in the nearby foliage. I was also looking for snipers. I couldn't find anything. It was just Kiaya. Kiaya, and her envelope. The message in this one was a bit different. It had a riddle to solve and a number to call:

This one's pretty hard to read- basically it gave me directions to a church between Union and Pine. The last line was call when you know in which hand the lantern doth glow (I've blocked out the number to protect the guilty). Exciting stuff. I left her company and drove off for Pine street. I parked on Lowell like it suggested. I got out of my car and the second we closed our doors, the church bells started ringing. Moriah and I looked at each other with a "Whoa." kind of expression. The timing of the bell was perfectly eerie. We walked around- it was a big catholic church, with eerie and impressive architecture. But there were lanterns galore. We walked around the place 2 times before Moriah finally pointed out an unusual feature. Out of a certain area in the building, the arm of a statute jetted out and held onto a lantern. I gave a little jump when I saw it- it was somewhat freaky. But clearly, that was it. I looked at it for a second and the way it was holding the light, imitating its pose with my own body. "Left. Thats a left hand!" I called the number.

"Do you have the answer?" Chris's voice asked through the phone.
"Yes. It is the left hand."
"Correct. Your next clue is at the Palace theater. Walk there."
"Okay..umm..."
"*sigh* Its on the corner of Hanover and Elm...."
"Oh okay thanks! Got it...."

We walked over to the Palace to find Kiaya and Kelli waiting for us there. She informed us that we were waiting on someone who was running a bit late. It seemed closer to the end and I couldn't hold back my stupid grin anyway, so I broke character and gave her a big hug. It was a bit of a break in pace- Mo and I took a much needed bathroom break, and then we all hung out for a very short amount of time, chatting up how it had gone so far. Then my truck pulls up- with Abi in it.

Dunn dunn dun duunhh!! Of course she was involved in this too! Oh thats why she wanted to know how much gas was in the truck... all these thoughts went around in my brain at once and I laughed at how cool everyone had been to me. But it wasn't over. Kiaya handed me a business card and a map.

"Your looking for this person- Robin. She's at a quilting shop in hooksett. You need to go up to her and say the following phrase. "Hello, I'm clueless." She made me repeat the phrase exactly to her. Then she sent me off, while her and her posse dispersed to go get me into more trouble.

I got to that store eventually, and I got this final note:

What class. They had driven me right past the park that contained my sister on my way to get this clue! I rushed back to derryfield and parked as quietly as I could. I could see Joy, and she had her back turned to me. So did her guard. I ran up as quick as I could and attempted to free her from the grip of her captor. It took her guard quite by surprise, but so did it take her as well- she tried to hold on for dear life. We all laughed and had a good time. My attention was brought to the gazebo, where stood the plotters and most of the cast of the whole 6 hour game. Sister in arm, I walked down and greeted everybody.

From there we went and got pizza back in L-town, I driving the mastermind and former arch nemesis herself. We talked it up and discussed how it all went down and all the last minute incidents she was had to handle. It was all quite impressive. Then my brother even called, and attempted to vouch for his own humanity to her (she thinks he is a figment of our families imagination or a hologram) but she remains a critic yet.

As they ordered the pizza, I drove back home and pieced together my gift for Kiaya. Once I got back to our tailgate party (complete with ransom soda) I gave her my gift. Even though it was nothing so epic as I had been given, it was nice to have something up my sleep in return. The chilled Dark Peppermint Mocha frappacino was especially well received, and watching her smile at the note that I stayed up late writing certainly made it all worth it.

We parted ways just after 4:09- her exact birth minute, at which point there was much hollering and hugging and well wishing.

Thank you Abi and Kiaya and Kiaya's mom and EVERYONE who helped out with this amazing surprise- it really made me smile. It really was the best surprise anyone has ever given me, and the most fun I have had at a birthday in as long as I can remember.

Thank you!

Lost and found (repost)

2007-09-25T17:06:00.000-05:00

Most of you have heard at least something about our recent and infamous hiking trip in the white mountains. Here is the story from my point of view. If others post, I'll edit this and link them up top. Edit: Pictures added.

Leah, Abi, Rachel and myself pause for EVER on this bridge. If memory serves me correct, Leah explained to us that she couldn't pass this bridge because of an enchantment.

Our youth group had planned a short hiking trip for Sunday the 23rd, right after church. We were going to climb the trail for Lonesome lake, an easy 2.7 mile hike that lazily twisted and turned around beautiful rivers and waterfalls. The weather couldn't have been more perfect- with Autumn fast approaching, it was the most warm and sunny day you could ask for. Some of our company had even brought gear to go swimming in.

Some of the ample areas where one could go for a swim. Waterfalls abound in this trail; its quite beautiful.

A friend of my sister's and myself had unexpectedly dropped by our church and to our delighted surprise was even able to go hiking with us. But since she had not come prepared for a hike, so she came as she was: A long skirt and sandals. But its not like we were scaling a mountain vertically, or even hiking Lafayette, so she was fine in what she had.

Our group got started up the hill pretty soon after we landed at the parking lot. Shortly after setting out, our group split into smaller groups based on the pace that people wanted to take up the mountain (as usually happens on hike). I decided to stay with my sister and our friend Rachel for the most part, bringing up the rear at a nice leisurely pace. Mrs. L, Nicole and some others went up faster, and my father and LittleMan were somewhere in between. Ethan, Noah and Jay took the riverbed and quickly made good time ahead of us. We thought.

If you've ever hiked around the basin before, you know that the rivers beds running down the mountain are very wide but the rivers themselves generally only take up a narrow strip of it of the rocky bed, so following the river as a trail is very easy thing to do. Its a beautiful walk.

Part of the river bed. The dry big rocks in the picture goes on for quite awhile behind the camera (its where I was standing).

The hike up the mountain was pretty pleasant for me and my group. 2/3rds up we over took Leah, who was resting contemplatively on one of the big rocks in the stream. She joined our group, and informed us that as per parental orders, we were to turn back by 5:00. Apparently this had been announced shortly after everyone got on the trail, but I had missed it (probably because I was off to the side on the rocks myself at that time). So at 5:00, we turned back, making good time down the hill though stopping for some photo opportunities along the way and arrived back at around 6.

Other little groups followed soon after. It wasn't long before we were waiting for the last group to get back: Ethan, Noah and Jay. We were hoping they would show up soon. By 6:30, we were concerned. Fish and game were alerted and my dad and Mr. L. shot back up the trails calling out for them as they looked. They had decided to turn back at 7:00, because of the diminishing daylight and it was a good call- according to my dad, the latter half of his return hike was to dark for him to make out trail markings reliably. We've hiked this trail at least 5 other times, but even he had to walk back slow to make sure he didn't slip or get off course. Both him and Tim L. returned, neither one finding the kids. Night had fully set in by 7:10- it was dark and chilly.

I spent most of this time waiting in the van, being the "responsible adult" with most of the younger kids. Leah, Nicole and Abi were in the van for a little bit, but soon grew too restless and joined Mrs. L. at the base of the trail. I was in the van for an hour or so, with the awkward charge of staying nearby and trying to make sure the kids' imaginations didn't get the best of them and put them into a panic. I've never really done this before... basically it consisted of us either being quiet for awhile or talking about unrelated things and then, someone would start to say how worried they were and what might happen to them out there on the trail. Then I'd try to offer a calming dismissing of the fear, assuring them that all would be fine and that we had experts on the case: It wasn't a big mountain, they couldn't get THAT far, it wasn't THAT cold, etc. I don't know if I was doing it right or not. It was a bit of a difficult job when the only updates that would come to us would essentially be that there was no update, except for that Mrs. L and Leah were occasionally in tears now.

Around 8:40 I heard my dad's voice coming up to the van. I hoped that he was coming to tell me they had been found, but instead he just moved the vehicle down to the part of the parking lot where the ranger and everyone else was. Mounting tension was palpable... a few people in the group were upset at the ranger for sitting in his vehicle seeming to take forever about things, not realizing he was coordinating the effort, not actually executing it. He was in radio contact with the top of the hut and working out stuff on the map.

After pulling the van up to the closer parking lot, my dad gave me some money and told me to go get everyone something to eat. Even though most were very hungry and more were badly in need of a bathroom break, no one really wanted to leave the site. I can't blame them. Dad got some directions from a ranger on the nearest place to get a bite to eat. The van was loaded up with silent and somber patronage. I drove us out.

To get back south towards civilization, you have to head north for 5 minutes or so till you get to exit 34A where you can turn around and go south. I left the site nervous but very purposeful- I have never navigated this area before, and I had a van full of kids who were already distraught... This was my one charge; to get them to a warm place to sit down and get a bite to eat. It wasn't much, but it was important and I did NOT want to fumble it.

I made the 34A turn around fine and rocketed back south. I passed the basin. Pretty soon, I was coming up with exit 34B. The ranger told me that the closest food was on exit 34, and to stay left. I realized that this had to be 34B, because the other one was going the wrong way. I took the exit, and noticed it too split. The sign said services were to the right...but the ranger told me left. I took it slowly, realizing further with each foot I rolled that I was going BACK 93 North. But I couldn't turn around, I was commited now. I was frustrated with myself- now I had to PASS our groups turn off, hit the turn around AGAIN and come back. Meanwhile there were people who were going to explode if they didn't get to the bathroom and grieving siblings in the back. Great. Good call, Zeke.

I sheepishly explained that I had to loop back AGAIN. One person might have acknowledged me but mostly, it was just quiet. When I hit the loop was when most people realized it- "Weren't we JUST here?" "Yes...."

We did get back to 34B and this time I took the right. We got into civilization- but it was mostly closed breakfast shacks, hotels and lodges. We went a bit of a ways before we got into a little towny strip that had two family restaurants open. We had intended to get food at a fast food joint, as people wanted to get back as soon as possible. But after I passed this strip it began to look like we were quick leaving civilization. I decided that we needed to stop at one of those places, at least to use the bathroom.

We all rushed into a little geek family restaurant and I went up to the counter.

"I need to ask something of you that I know is a really big favor, and if you want me to pay for a drink or something, I will. I have a van full of kids here who desperately need to use the bathroom, is it okay if they use yours?" The lady gave me a smile and said "Go ahead." I thanked her and bought a coffee, while trying to get ahold of my dad to ask him where the Macdonalds he knew of was. I couldn't get ahold of him. It wasn't a big surprise though- everyone's phone was blowing up.

Word had apparently spread very fast. Anders tried to get ahold of me (thinking that our whole party had been lost), and Jay's older brother called me as well. Leah's phone was receiving call after call and even more text messages. I think she actually received 5 messages over the course of a few minute long conversation at one point. Abi's was ringing too.

After how nice they were to us, we decided to have a sit down meal at the greek place after all. I tried to lift the mood a bit, pulling out and treasuring a few reluctant smiles from the group. I contemplated a lot of my mixed feelings over that pizza- I wanted to be strong and comforting to the group... logically, it was a very short trail and I was pretty confident they would be found. The only real concern I had was if someone was injured. But I didn't want to sound like I didn't care about it. I didn't want to run off my mouth about how they would be fine. But I felt like some people might be looking to me, so I wanted to keep things calm. I felt like it made me almost distant sometimes... I wanted to comfort the group, especially Leah who was missing a brother up there. But I didn't know how to. I wanted to embrace them, to give them a hug and tell them it would be allright, but I was afraid of appearing like I was making advances. It frustrated me. All I could do was drive them and take care of the food. Thats it; thats basically all I had. It felt inadequate.

After we finnished, we loaded back into the van and took off. Abi's phone had died from receiving one to many calls from concerned people, but Leah's phone still had a good charge. She talked on it off and on. I could feel the fear and concern in every word. It broke my heart and made me wish I could do something more. I think all of us wished there was something we could do... friends and family called in to ask if they wanted a volunteer search team. Jay's whole family was coming down. Everyone on the prayer chain at our church knew about it and so did most of the homeschool co-op.

In the last stretch of highway towards the basin, I overheard Leah next to me saying into the phone the words that I wanted so badly to be true-

"They found them?"

I held my breath for a second, hoping that those in the back might not have heard it just in case it was a false alarm. But of course they had- it was like everyone's ears were straining to hear those words, and a collective sound of exclamations and questions erupted behind me. It was true. Just as Leah was confirming it, we pulled into the place where we had parked and got out. Details remained sketchy- they found them up the trail, .3 miles out, or they found them off the trail, .3 miles out. How did they get lost? Didn't know yet. Were they okay? Yes- as one rescue worker said "They are more scared of their parents right now then anything else."

They would be coming down into the parking lot on the other side, the rescue workers informed us. After waiting for Jay's family to arrive (which didn't take but a few minutes) we all loaded into the van and went to the exit 34 turn around so we could get to the other side. When we arrived, their was a small crowd. Rescue workers, family and other church members- and the boys. They were all there. Everyone jumped out. I grabbed the pizzas I had got from the greek place (we had ordered more to feed them when they got down) and headed over. They were in good spirits, laughing and joking around with us. Apparently they never got the word to turn back at 5. Not that it mattered- none of them had a watch. Or a cell phone.

They had shot up the trail, following the rocky riverbed. The river split a few times though, and eventually they got further and further away from the trails. They didn't turn back till "right before it got dark" which would be just about 7:00. How fast it got dark caught them by surprise. They had attempted to rejoin the trail several times, thinking they had found it only to see it dead end or loose it in the moonlinght. Each time, they'd back track and follow the riverbed down further, slipping a few times and misstepping in the dim light.

I bounced back and forth between the different ex-lost boys getting as much info as I could and carrying around pizza. Delivering the pizza was probably the best part for me, everyone was really happy to have food, and finally it felt like I was doing something to help.

We had to stick around there for a bit, while the rescue workers got the story nine ways to heaven from each of the kids. We left for home around 10:30, thoroughly enjoying the ride back- talking and laughing with everyone over the night's drama.

A lot of things went wrong for this to happen, and everyone involved in authority is still troubleshooting it. It just seems such a stupid thing to happen to us- Everyone on that trip had been hiking before. The youth group had been up part of those trails once before last month, and my family have been up it a lot- I've probably hiked the basin at least 5 times within the last 4 years.

We'll get everything worked out, and we'll all be better for it. Meanwhile, I have to work on some promotional material for our youth group. Nicole and I had discussed possible ways of spinning this whole thing into a new tagline. After brainstorming with my Brandon, I'm thinking of going with the following one:

New Testament Hikers club:
Looking for direction in your life? Join the club!

This fall: LittleMan IS the rock ninja!

An up-what?

2007-08-22T18:10:00.000-05:00

There is a guy at our work who is an Elvis memorabilia nut. He probably has the most expensive and biggest collection of Elvis concert stuffs in the North East- his most recent piece that he bought (from eBay of course) was a banner from one of Elvis's last shows. Its framed and everything.

To some extent I can understand something like that- its a piece of history. Also, it has some resale value. But today...

Today he brought in "Collector edition" Elvis Reese's peanut butter and banana cream cup candies. A box full of them (apparently he got several). They aren't too bad- basically regular Reeses cups with banana in them too. But I'll admit, I was kinda weirded out over the bizarre branding of it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm an evil capitalist as some of you know, so I think they should be able to do whatever they want to bring in money (within SOME limits). And even though I never got why Elvis was so big, I understand he was. But this is how you celebrate it?

"Hey everyone, 30 years ago today Elvis KILLED himself. Lets make a candy!!! Reeses for everybody, its Elvis's deathday!"

-----

(A more proper post is to follow, I just figured I'd throw this up here so people knew I was alive. I have half a Soulfest post [well, a good page or two start anyway] but now I really want to do a concert post for the Nickel Creek/Fiona Apple concert. One of them will be next.)

Paradox

2007-07-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

Smile that disarms
yet lights the fuse
with ruthless charms
Ignites maddening muse
and fans the flames
strong and strange

heart jumps twice
when it hears the name
and then skips thrice
in fear of same
runs away
in fear of shame

Stays that way,
For want of tame

A Good Morning to you, too.

2007-07-06T12:36:00.000-05:00

Because my boss is off to another country to see his brother get married, I have moved up to the 9 to 5 shift for today and Monday.

I really like my normal hours, but I am enjoying this change of pace. Leaving in the morning is somehow different. The day is young, everything is waking up at once... the drive there is bright. Even though I got a little less sleep last night as I had to adjust to this shift, the daylight seemed to help me feel awake. Everything felt awake... you could tell it was morning just by the smell of the air. It made me feel more alive; more motivated. I haven't smelled morning in a while.

So motivated was I that after arriving at work, I fixed some code I had written to assist me. It basically goes through the program I use for my work most and makes the selections I have to make everyday and clicks the buttons for me and such, all by itself. Since someone had changed something in the program a month or two ago, it stopped working (it would click and open the wrong stuff). I even optimized the way it was written so it works much better now. Good stuff. Haven't written code in awhile.

Then after that, I totally cleaned my desk. Hadn't done that in awhile, either. Or write an email to a department in another state with out worrying it will get there after they have already left for home. Did that today, too.

Come to think of it, its probably not the time of day (except for that last one). I bet its just the change.

You see, I have been building a theory about myself over the last several years. The theory states that I thrive in change and stagnate in sameness. I don't know if its bad or good- more likely then not it just "is". When something is new to me, when my surroundings change- even (especially!) when they change drastically, it excites me. Its fresh, its something new. Its a challenge and an adventure. Among the exhibits of evidence for this theory are my thriving at AGAPE, my love of traveling and the fact that to this day I almost always fall asleep quicker on a foreign surface then on my own bed.

Is that weird? Anyone else out there relate at all?

Recent thoughts that have passed through my head

2007-06-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

I'm overdue for an adventure.

I'm not really sure much of anything these days.

How come humans are so complicated?

I wish I had someone to share this with.

This would be so much greater if I could share this with Her.

How do you find out?

How do you know you've found it?

How do you learn from your mistakes when your so concerned that you'll give some one a bad example that you never make any mistakes?

Beautiful things enrapture and torture me.

How come I am so special?

I don't want to be a role model. Its to much to bear.

If I ask for a hug, would I get an inquisition?

How do you know you've found her? How do you know you're right?

I really wish I was allowed to love right now.

Can you live your own life if you constantly are paranoid when you cross any one elses?

Beauty that is always passing you is one of life's mockeries.

I plan things for one reason, but my reaction to details and roster changes betrays hints of my ulterior motives. If they are mine, why can't they just be clear?

Is taking a chance never okay if it involves possible harm to another person?

Why am I so lazy?

Would a hug kill her?

Why can't I do what I want to do?

Is a high salary merely a good to trap you from the best?

If I'm not getting better, am I falling back?

Painfully beautiful.

I can't even quite render what it is that has me so upset. And that makes me frustrated and sad. How can I figure out a problem when I don't know what the problem is?

Whats the big flipping deal about geography?

Is it wrong if cultures merge? Is preservation a good idea in the long run, or should we not even bother?

Why do I suddenly want to share my life?

Is culture really valuable?

What am I doing wrong?

How come I suddenly want to move?

How much damage have I done?

Will she ever be totally healed?

Will I ever be better?

What did they take out in Wanderer's surgery? Is it in remission? Was it even a problem?

How come everyone is so uptight?

How come so exclusive? This doesn't make sense.

Why can't everyone chill out and let adventure and life happen?

How much of the church is right?

Who in the church is genuine?

How come healing is so spotty?

Age is a thorn in the side. 4 years now is a legal weapon. 6 years later does not even raise an eyebrow.

How come emotions are so fickle?

Is it wrong to want companionship?

The one thing good to be said about not knowing your intentions, is that if someone asks you what they are you don't have to lie about them.

How come most of my good friends are so much younger?

How does one expand their social circle with out barging in on a new one?

If your relations run wide do they tend to run shallow?

Age is rubbish at measuring most qualities other then age.

Am I being a selfish brat?

----

Sorry guys, this is a very lousy post and I think most of you will have to admit that. I just needed a sounding board to dump stuff on, and it didn't even work that well (which is why I believe it is a bad post). But I figured an update is an update and ergo I post.

Ouch.

2007-06-05T17:14:00.000-05:00

Preface

I was going to post an amazing poem and sort of deep ramblings type post next. I had some stuff I've been knocking about in my head for a spell that I had until very recently not been able to render in any discernible form. These were the things that my next post would be about.

But then someone seemed to almost take offense that I posted about a car (or any possession for that matter- the thought!) and seemed to suggest that non-material things would be much more flattering on this blog.

Dude, this blog is me. It's post processed for a number of reasons, sure- but its me. If I get a car, am I not to be happy about that? If I make a good deal with someone, am I to wipe that smile off my face and put on sackcloth and ashes? We live in a world of things material. To not find joy in them would be folly in my opinion. To make them the source of our joy or to buy them hoping they will provide our joy- that is folly was well. I strive to be like Paul- being content with plenty and being content with little.

Strangely, before purchasing the car (and I'll admit, a little bit after it) I had this weird "car guilt" complex. Because it was fun and really cool. No, I didn't spend to much for it. No, it wasn't useless. No, I am not getting this car to attract attention to myself and no I am not getting this car as a status symbol (its 17 years old for Pete's sake!). So why would I feel guilty? There is no reason to make a purchase, and then instead of enjoying it, turn around and wallow in remorse.

..Wait, what the heck? This was supposed to be a shallow "look what I dun wit my here toys, yeahaw!" type posts. Huh... Oh well... I'll just work my point into the story.

Once upon a time...
Now that I have a car that I can commute with (both for [AwesomeCo] and my own meetings), I am less concerned about the trucks quirks, even if they prove fatal. Even if Big Yellow went down, it won't affect my ability to get places. This allows me the freedom to use my truck in a very stupid, fun recreational sort of way... going over trails and through woods, even if Grandmas house isn't on the other end.

I found some power line trails pretty close to us that Brandon and I spent an hour or so with one day. It was pretty fun, but we couldn't go to far on it. Then the other day Brandon told me about some trails over by his work. When our schedules finally matched up, we loaded into the truck and got going.

As it was my truck, I was first. I drove up the trail slowly until I got to a certain point where we parked to get out and survey the road ahead. Mum had warned me to not get stuck and we took the advice to heart- anywhere the terrain looked iffy, we walked through testing the firmness and plotting out how we would steer to avoid this rock here, or that boulder there. We mapped ahead till we found a place we could turn around the truck in- that way we would have the option of going further, but at least we knew we could get back.

I started at the top of a hill, which we went a little ways down in a crazy crossing back and forth manner at first, but after that the path wasn't very hilly- just curvy. Speed isn't the thing in offroading (at least its not the only thing)- you want to be in control and the fun appeal is more in conquering the terrain and going the limits of your vehicle mechanically rather then going as fast as possible. That being said, when we came to the mud stretches, we needed enough speed to make it to the other side. I took the first one- pulled to the right a little over the track to dodge rock number one, cutting it hard to the left for a second to avoid rock two, then straighten out to make it to the other side. I was just about to come to a muddy and futile stop- Brandon was saying "Don't get stuck, don't get stuck...." and I was replying "I know I know, almost out..." We were loosing speed, but just before we would have come to a stand still my front wheels grabbed solid land and pulled me out. Perfect.

After that I the ground rose a couple of feet and curved around again to present a second muddy area. This one was not so tricky as it was a much clearer shot and I basically just powered through it. So far, so good.

We came to the little area where we could turn around and parked the truck. Hopping out, we ran up the trail a bit and saw another mud pit- this one much worse. "I dunno..." we said. We wanted to drive further, so we followed the trail up a bit more by foot to come to a small wetland area complete with frogs resting in a shallow lake. "Okay, not going to work..." we said and turned back. After investigating a fork in the trail that also lead to disaster, we headed back to the truck. "Your turn Dude!" I told Brandon as a handed him the keys. He got in, adjusted the seat and all that, then we were off.

He deffinatly didn't want to get stuck. The first mud pile he powered through a little faster then I did and got over with no problems at all. Now we wound our way down and around to the second one. Coming back to this mud area from the other direction meant we didn't have any straight lead up to it like the last time. It was just sort of there, and our front wheels were almost in it . He laid the gas down heavy.

Too heavy, IMHO. We were bucking like bull riders, and when your front wheels are in the air steering is much less effective. Long story short, we hit a rock or two. Hard. From the air.

(...okay thats a bit over dramatizing it I guess. What I mean is that I my front wheels went up and then slammed down on a rock I think).

We heard an awful scraping sound, drowned out only by the noise of the engine and Brandon's perfuse apologies. We figured there was some damages- but at this point we weren't out of the mud yet so we were committed. He pressed on till we were out of the mud pit. He threw it into park and we got out of the vehicle to see what happened.

Immediately I started to look around for something that had come off of the truck. I don't have a skid plate and it really sounded like I hit something on the undercarriage. But after looking behind us on the track for awhile and around the vehicle we didn't find anything laying about. We got back in and started to roll out some more. As we started to drive, suddenly I heard a weird sound-

"ka-thump....ka-thump....ka-thump"

Again we stopped the truck, and again I jumped out. This time, I saw the problem. The right front tire was flat, and a little bit off the rim. "Oh man, I popped the tire off the rim..." Brandon observed. Oh well- I had a spare, no big deal. I dug into the back of my truck and fetched out the tire-iron, then the jack- oh wait no! I don't have a jack. Shoot.

This proved to be a problem. For a while we tried to figure out how to drive it into some terrain that would lift the wheel off the ground for easier access, but after that failed we surveyed the terrain ahead of us and decided to drive it up and out onto the road (I drove this time). We got it there and pulled it to the side, flashers on. Then we proceeded to go door to door asking for a jack.

Two no-one homes later and one "don't have one" later, we called in the infantry- that'd be...that'd be my mom. We called my mom, who found the floor jack and brought it over to us.

But before that happend, a cop came and...well I guess he couldn't really pull us over since we already were, but he pulled over, and did the whole "guilty till proven innocent" thing. I was all smiles with him, having a good time but boy was he nervous.

"Whatcha got here?"
"Just a flat."
"Where were you?" (Clearly a rhetorical question since the trails were to the right and my muddy tracks to the road were right in front of him.)
"Over there on the trails..."
"What were you doing?"
"We were just going around on the trails."
"WE? Who's 'WE'?"
"Me and my friend."
"Wheres your friend?"
"He's just over the hill...hes taking a break"
"He's what?"
"Just takingabreak..."
"What he doing?"
"He's taking a leak Officer."
"Can I see some I.D.?"
"Sure..." (pull out my wallet, give him the ID then put my wallet and hands back in my pocket)
"Sir please remove you hands from your pockets!!"
"Oh, okay right..."

It continued. We got back to the topic of what I was doing.

"Supposed to be there?" (Strangely worded...its not like that was our calling, but...)
"Yes officer- or I mean, we aren't not supposed to be over there."
"Is that so?"
(trying not to take the confrontational bate)
"Yes Officer I believe so-"
"That your land?"
"No sir, but its public access."
"Is it?"
"...yes officer- I mean, I am not trying to contradict you sir but I am fairly sure it is. Is it not?"
"Its the power companies property"
"Yeah, but its public has public easement, doesn't it?"

I could tell he didn't know this, but he was really nervous about it. It was almost like he wanted us to let on to what was legal or not. It wasn't really going to work since apparently we didn't know anything he didn't either way. About that time Brandon came back from the hill and joined the fun. Asked him what we were doing, he told 'em we were mudding, officer asked for ID, etc.

When he turned to go to the cop car and we took a step forward while we asked if he had a jack he got scared again (though this time I suppose I can understand it)- "Please do not approach the vehicle!!! Please step back and remain by the truck!!"

Phew... I tried and tried through smiling and making small jokes to get this guy to laugh but the most he did was crack a "you stupid youth" sort of smile. I guess thats something. We didn't get written up for anything after he found out that there were no warrants for our arrest, so thats cool. He did tell us not to go on those trails because they were the private property of the power company. He wouldn't tell us anywhere we could go, just that we should take it up with our towns.

After he left and we were waiting for the floor jack to arrive, the person who didn't have a jack for us came back out. "I'm really sorry, I feel kind of stupid I have 4 cars and not one that will fit yours... did you guys get someone?" We told him we had- he was really nice. Hung around while we changed the tire and even let us use his pliers. While we worked we told him about what the cop told us about it being the power companies property."

"Nah, that all back there is MY property, actually."

Oh, huh... go figure. I suppose if we ever had the urge to go back to that trail we could ask him for permission then... not that this will happen. This kind of maintenance is not really in my budget (when we got the wheel off, we found out that the rim was bent. Yay us).

Moral
Okay, so I said I'd tie this story in with the point of my preface. This at least won't take long- I just wanted to say that I didn't really care that Brandon busted up my wheel. Its material. We are all safe, its an accident, I've broken things before. I don't want to be the type that freak out when something of mine breaks, even if it cost me something. Its just not worth getting upset about it. I'm sure he feels worse then I do as it is anyway- I know I would and I don't want to make things worse.

Thats how I want to enjoy material things- they come, you can enjoy them, but when they go (I'm Not to say my truck is dead- I drove it home and everything) , just don't worry about it. Its just things. I want to be able to do that with everything, especially when I have a family. "Oh, you drove my car through the garage junior? Well just next time don't drive until your over the age of 10." "What, you burnt the clutch out Susan? No honey, don't worry about it I did the same thing with my dads."

The world is made up of things. Enjoy them. But don't rely on them- after all they are just things.

Hello... I'd like to introduce you two.

2007-05-24T17:50:00.000-05:00

Have you met my new friend? Here she is:

Beautiful, ain't she? I'm not 100 percent sure of her name right now- perhaps the U.S.S. Capitalist, or maybe Interceptor. I dunno. Suggestions are welcome. What I do know is she is my friend, and I think were going to have a great relationship.

She's a 1990 Honda CRX and is 137,000 miles young. For Hondas and this year, that really isn't much. Previous owner put a nice cd player in it, so when I'm tired of just listening to the engine noise, I can crank up the tunes as well. I'm just now getting used to the transmission, which is a bit more touchy then the Camry I learned how to drive a stick with. But enough of my blabbering- this is a picture post after all!!

...and an semi cloesup:

So there it is guys. I hope you like it.

But what of my Big Yellow? What of the mustardmobile you ask? Well, I know I have some fans of this great truck here, and don't worry- he won't be going to the crusher soon. In fact, he was recently spotted frolicking in an undocumented location (though he did sprain his four wheel drive):

That last one was his playmate for a little while. As you can see, Big Yellow is getting along just swimmingly...

See, doesn't he just look as happy as a pig in the mud here? And thats AFTER he knocked off his front license plate...

But its not all play for him... after this it was back to his Kennel:

Okay actually he's just behind the gate that surrounds our pool. And he wasn't in detention- he was helping me out with some computers:

Yes, he shall live out the remainder of his years under my care. I shall try to be good with his upkeep that doesn't cost a fortune, but it is nice to not be dependent on it. If it breaks, I don't HAVE to go fix it that week or I'm out of a commuter car. This is a nice freedom to have.

So why did I get the car? Is it totally an irrational 20-something's speed-and-pick-up-chicks type of car?

Probably. But thats not how I rationalized it.

A) Now I have a car thats cheap to drive all around the state. High MPG, good honda reliability.
B) It didn't cost me a fortune.
C) I can now use the truck only when I have to, theoretically, stretching its life

So thats what I rationalized. Yeah, it doesn't have more then two seats right now. But I got around that too- seat kit. I'll get around to getting one in a bit and put it in. Now its practical, see?

All this being said- yes it is a LOT of fun to drive. And no, I'm probably not getting the best gas milage out of it the way I drive it right now. But hey- cheap fun- didn't have to pull out a loan or any nonsense- straight cash. Its a sneaky mix of fun and practicality.

Least thats what I keep telling myself....

I'll see you all later... going to a midnight showing of Pirates 3 in a few hours. And yes, I'm going in my CRX.

-- -_--_-_-
Okay, one more random truck shot:

I like this one...for some reason the candid-ness makes me think of a sasquatch sighting or something...

Another deal, another day

2007-05-03T17:50:00.000-05:00

I originally had an awesome idea for a very reflective, deep post- unfortunately, though I started to write it, I think I started to late as all my awesome ideas were failing to form on the screen.

Instead I decided I would take you on a tour of what my days look like now. And since this may bore many of you, I brought pictures!

Below I give you a tour of my week. Of course, the way I keep track of all this is with my lovely secretary, Miss LG-VX9800. By now just about everybody has met her, but heres a picture anyway:

Monday

Get up at 8:00am. I need a place for my recycling business to grow outside of the garage, I set up a meeting last week to look a place in Nashua. Its at a decent location, has a loading dock, has 1000 sq ft. with alot of room to grow AND its at a good price bracket. The only negative about this property is that its right near the river and in the basement. This year and last, it flooded to about my chin. This makes it tough to sell. But its also one of the reasons I love it: Since copper and aluminum don't rust, flooding means maybe at worst moving the steel and tools out of the space once a year, and at best a bargaining chip for a lower price. So I'm excited about the property- it looks like a great place to chop of transformers like this one:

Went to a computer store, bought a cooler a contact wanted in exchange for some scrap. Then I pulled into a car tuner store and asked them how much to install some body kit parts. My truck, glorious though it may be, is not going to be with us much longer. I want to get a stable commuter and a big cargo carrying vehicle. For the commuter, I have my eyes on this hott 1993 Honda Prelude. What makes it so utterly attractive to me is that its butt ugly right now- half of the body kit is installed but not painted, and the back end isn't installed. All the parts come with it though, and the guy wants to sell it. I can probably trade the truck in to him and get it for $400 or so. That leaves me room to throw the body kit on and paint it, and get a cargo vehicle. See? Responsible and practical...

Okay, I'll admit- this car is drives and looks AMAZING too. Heres a stock Prelude from the same year (complete girl with freaky death stare):

Not too bad looking, eh? Yeah, well if I get the one I'm looking at, the body's been all tricked out and looks way cooler.

Anyway, after getting the quote from that dude, I went home and ate, then left to work at [AwesomeCo] till 11. Came home and watched two episodes of "The Office" with my sister. Went to bed around 1 someting.

Tuesday
Got up at 9:00am, I think. Met my old economics teacher at 12:00pm to let him hawk me insurance. The cool stuff about this insurance (Perm) is that you can do stuff with it. Unlike regular (term) insurance, you are actually putting money into something you own. It gathers interest and you can even withdraw money from it like a bank account. The cool part is its tax differed- so you don't get charged for the interest you earn like in a regular account (such as my ING Direct). He bought lunch (score!) and I had a good time.

After that we walked down the street to a Practice where he introduced me to his lawyer, whom I might very well use for my upcoming business venture. I got to ask him a few questions and got his pricing and contact info for later.

Left Manchvegas, went back to Salem and got to work for [AwesomeCo]. Got out at 11, went to bed about 12.

Wednesday
Got up at 8:00am. Left at about 10:00am- picked up a large wad of cash at the bank, then headed off to Antrim, NH. I had seen a guy trying to sell several computers on craigslist for awhile and I finally emailed him and started haggling over a group price. After a lot of going back and forth, we decided I would just and settle the price once we got there. Obviously, both of us thought this would be in our favor. Obviously, one of us was wrong.

Sadly, I think I was the loser here.
1. I had committed to driving there (about an hour and ten minutes both ways), so I wanted to leave with something. No longer did I have the advantage of no connection, where I could take it or leave it indifferently. I had already invested time and gas into it, so that would affect my decision.
2. The stuff was all newer hardware. It was still used, but it was way better then scrap. Pentium 4 stuff. I have never really flipped this kind of thing before.
3. The guy was firm as a rock with his price. I barely got him down at all.

Some of the stuff I from the Craigslist guy in Antrim.

Hopefully I can flip the stuff, or I'm out a sizeable amount of cash. I'm working on it... we'll see. If not, hey- another expensive lesson. As much as I love an education though, I really would have rather bought a car instead...

Went to work at 3. I made my first almost major mistake. There is this ONE file that I check around 3:30 every day. I go in, check for it, then start a script that sends it out to another company. I record how long it was, wait for them to send a report back to us, then print it out. The report should say "no errors" and if it does I staple it to a form, put an initial and I'm done for that check. Simple stuff.

Well, when I first learned to do this, the guy who taught me showed me that he also checked the bottom of the file to see if it also said "no errors". Every other day I did this. Today, I did not. At 9:00 something the company called because they had just realized that their server had run out of room and never got the file all the way. Thats bad on their end, but we should have realized that right after we sent it out. I went back and looked at the print out... at the top it said "no errors" ant the bottom it had a specific error. Oi. Not cool. I worked with the other company to get the file resent and and had to write an email to the morning team explaining what happened. Got out as usual at 11, came home, ordered lunch for thursday via email (explained below) and got to bed.

Thursday
Got up at 8Am. At about 10:00 I got a call from a friend who told me the church was throwing away two EKG machines in if I didn't want them. I told him I did. I got there at about 11:20, loaded the two machines (which actually turned out to be EEG machines) into my truck and was off to my next meeting.

The two machines loaded into my truck. This ballance of this is even sketchier then it looks...

Thanks to an invite from my economics teacher, I have been going to these Business networking lunches in Manchester since last week. Every Thursday, people from all these businesses from around the Granite state get together, eat lunch, talk about their businesses and socialize. Basically the idea is that by establishing relationships with each other eventually everyone gets good referrals- not just from each other, but from people that everyone in the group comes in contact with. They only allow one person from each niche join so it is really a great deal for everyone involved. They didn't have a recycling broker niche yet, and I was formally accepted into the group on this fine thursday.

After the meeting ended at 1:00pm, I shot out to pick up some servers from a guy I met through craigslist. Over the past month or so I have bought out his entire collection (about 90) of PCs and sold them out to my scrap contact. The first 20 I bought I lost money on. The next 20 I made a solid trade with and the one after that I made over 200% profit. This time, I was picking up servers and he haggled me a bit on the price. There were only about 10 of them, but it was a challenge to get them all in the truck around the giant EEG machines. I ended up putting a lot of them behind my seats and about 4 on the passenger seat. The truck was loaded.

After loading up there, I turned around and shot off towards Smitty's new place. Smitty- or "Slick Smitty"- is the nick name for the guy who I usually sell electronics and computer scrap too. His real name is Sean, but when I first met him I thought he looked like a new york watch dealer... I told this to Jim who later referred to him as Slick Smitty, and the name stuck.

I got there at about 2:10ish and unloaded all the PCs. I bought them for $100. At 25 cents a pound, I sold them for $160. Not bad... at least it was a quick flip. The guy that was unloading the stuff started eyeballing the EEG machines.

Look at all those purty switches and knobs...

"Interested in these?" I asked.

"Well yeah I am pretty sure we are... don't know how to price them though, never done an EKG before."

We proceeded to agree that I could store one there and I would talk to Smitty about price later. It solved the problem of the big machines rattling against another in my truck and falling out, since I could lay the remaining unit down on its side. I then realized that it was 2:40 and I was still in Auburn. I got in the vehicle and shot out like a rocket, trying desperately to make it to [AwesomeCo] before 3:00.

On the way I got a call from Leah.

"Can you drop me off after the movie tonight?"

My mind pulled a blank for half a sec, then I realized that I was going to the midnight showing of Spiderman 3 with her and other friends.

"Yeah, no problem." Shoot, I thought I better buy my ticket.

I went down 93 much faster then I would advise anyone going in my ailing truck, but with my file checking goof last night this was NOT the day to be late. I got there only a few minutes late and no one seemed to care. I was a bit tense for a bit, running through my checks and checking my email. After things calmed down, I bought my ticket. Then Abi decided to join so I bought them again. This was all fine... until I left.

I started the truck up and was about to peel out when I noticed a weird feeling... a kinda dragging, tilting feeling. I stopped the vehicle and looked out to see exactly what I was hoping it wasn't: A flat. Greeeat.....

I called up Abi and ordered an extraction. She laughed, but complied and got over double quick.

Friday
Long story short, we saw the movie (it was good), but then Jarin had to stay at my place because he couldn't drive home after 1. This is fine and good but for some reason we ended up having more tea and talking in lou of sleep. I got to sleep at about 4am. I got up at 7:40am, a bit panicked- I wanted to be in Deerfield by 9:00am.

I was going to an event called NEAR-fest- basically an amateur radio festival and general geek swap fest/flee market. I had gone to an event called "HOSStraders" last year which was very similar, but this event has basically taken its place. Jim found out about each of them. He also found that on the forums, people were discussing what to do with the spare electronics and things left over.

As you may have figured out, I had some ideas. I offered them a solution and I talked to the organizers. As a show of good faith, I got there early Friday Morning (the first day of the festival) even though I didn't get any scrap. Jarin came with me that day, and I picked up Anders as well. It was a good time. Went back and worked at awesome co. at 3. Got to bed late again.

Saturday
I wanted to get up early this day so I could go replace the tire on my truck and still be in Deerfield by 9 for day two of the flea market, so I set my alarm to 7. My body had other plans- I woke around 8ish. Semi panic strucken, I got dropped off at the parking lot of [AwesomeCo] and finnished the job. Talked to a coworker I haven't seen in since I left the graveyard shift, then went back home. It was past 9 by now and I just accepted the fact that I'd be late.

Called up Jim and Brandon and we eventually met up and caravaned out of Londonderry- it was pretty crazy: Two 15 passenger vans with the seats taken out, on our way to get us some junk. With those two beasts we could have singlehandedly shut down 93 if we wanted.

Anyway, much longer story somewhat shorter, I ended up taking more then half of the electronic scrap. We filled both vehicles. We probably could have packed one of them to the top if it wasn't for our scrap lord rivals- the enemy in his giant truck, having others go around for him on a tractor picking up stuff. We would see the little JohnDeere operated by the cleanup staff and try to beat it to the good stuff. Or if the other guy wasn't around when the tractor came by, we'd just help them unload it into our vehicle. At first I wasn't so gutsy, because I was under the assumption that we were going to do some sort of civil "split the bounty 50/50" type of thing because of a previous oral arrangement. But after I finally talked to a coordinator and he said it was pretty much every man for himself, I knew what to do. We drove around that place like the scrap ninjas- One of us would patrol the grounds with the vehicle, then when we would see something we would barely stop the vehicle before the other two would jump out and grab the target, throw it in the van, jump back in and speed away before anyone else was the wiser. This was not with out danger:

Brandon was a bit new to the acceleration characteristics and apparently thought the van wasn't going to take him seriously when he stepped on the gas. It did. I having no warning, flew back screaming while desperately trying to find something to hold onto and landed on a military grade "radio fax machine" machine just long enough to tear my shorts and start to cry out in suprise and pain. Hearing this, Brandon slammed on the brake which thankfully saved me from further damage by throwing me back on my feet, at which point I was able to catch a passing seatbelt and die. The whole thing lasted only a few seconds but was the source of endless jokes for the rest of the evening.

Got back to my place at about 5 or 6 and unloaded both vehicles. Thats a story in itself- suffice to say, between our two vans and my truck we heavily damaged the cosmetics of one vehicle and invented a new budget dumping method with another. Stay tuned for that- Youtube videos should follow.

After this I went with Brandon and Jim to his house where we... looked...at some stuff from his work. IT WAS REALLY COOL- wish I could tell you guys about it. I am part of a semi paranoid company so I can sympathize with Brandon's and their wishes not to run on about this stuff, but its really a shame. You all would enjoy it, I'll just say that.

*looks around *
I hope I haven't said to much...

_--__-_
And that my friends, was last week. In
closing, and to thank those of you who got this far, here is a picture of a "Shatter proof blade" that I shattered while cutting through a transformer. Enjoy.

Automotive woes, part the second

2007-04-13T21:38:00.000-05:00

Okay, so now I have guilt. I felt a little stupid putting in that plea for comments, much for the same reasons that everyone so rightly threw it back in my face: Write it and they will come. Returning to a site that doesn't update is boring. So, my apologies- BUT! It worked. I didn't have to analyze the logs to figure out who was hanging around. So my plan worked, even if it was pretty stupid.

Alright now- on to the second story. And since you all have been so good to me, I shall deliver it in rhyming verse.

Once upon an interstate
Once upon a time there was a boy named Zed
Who was given a truck not at all very red
This truck came to him as if heaven-sent manna
But was oddly colored as if a banana

One morn our hero rushed off like a riot
His engine roar breaking the still morning quiet
He had to get to a parking lot and get there fast
To pick up his friend, so he wailed on the gas

His friend would be waiting for Zed to come
To help work for Zed's client and not be a bum
And help Zed he would, but not quit on time
And not even as planned on Zed's Gasoline dime!

This fateful morning on interstate 93
The one thing all drivers hate happened, you see
"What could that be?" you beg as you ask
Well tell you I will, for that is my task-
To tell you the tale of what happened so fast
When poor boy Zed pressed down on the gas.

The truck shuddered and sputtered,
It whined and it cried
And some swear it muttered
"I wish Zed had already died"

Long story short, Zed pulled over his truck
Tried to start it again, but no luck- it was stuck
He called and got help from Anders mother so Kind
He called the client, and they did not even mind!
Zed had the truck towed to a lot then went on with his day
To later drop in on the shop, to talk and to pay

"So there he is" the mechanic said in a jest
"Do you think its the tranny?" Zed asked, not suspecting the best
"I think its something simple, not something big for the most...
I don't think its serious. I don't think that its toast."
When this beam of light landed on zed, he had a new hope
That he would not have to drop 2 grand for a used truck like a dope.
At any event they were just starting to close for the day,
So Zed's was told to call him tomorrow and they'd figure the pay

The next morning Zed dialed the number and waited with out-held hope
Only to hear the mechanic laugh out what happend-

"You ran out of fuel, you dope!

-_----_-_-

True story.* In my defense, I was calculating my fuel consumption off the tripometer (the fuel gauge broke some months ago). By my calculations, I had 30 to 40 miles left. Thats why the thought of running out of gas hadn't even crossed my mind. I did run it in 4 wheel drive a bit during one of the snow storms, but I didn't think that would throw off my calcs that far.

I think its because my fuel tanks leaks fuel when you fill it up all the way. Yup- I started paying more attention and found out it drips gas if you fill it all the way. So I've started refueling it in smaller doses and more often...so far, it seems to be working.

But just in case, I now always carry about 3 gallons of gas with me in the truck. Never again I say!

------------
*Sort of. The events are mostly true, but not quite verbatim. For example, Zed's mechanic does not actually call customers "dopes", and cool as he is, he does not talk in rhyme.

Automotive woes, part the first

2007-04-10T21:09:00.000-05:00

Greetings to my continually declining readership!

Let me just get this out of the way: Normally I'm not a very a paranoid guy. That being said, I do believe there is a conspiracy against me. No, its not the usual suspects- CIA, FBI, or as that guy from Heroes says "Any organization made up of letters". Its not aliens, don't be silly. Its automobiles. Specifically, the vehicles I drive are trying to kill me. Yes- it seems that as of late my car and truck are plotting my demise.

It started a week ago, during the beginning of the great April snow storm. I had just got out of work. It was my first time driving the little Camry in the inclement weather- so even though the snow didn't look like it was going to accumulate to much, I decided to pop into a parking lot or two to see how it felt to loose traction in it since it was still pretty slushy out.

I've driven a front wheel drive mini-van and Volvo in weather like this before, but even though this is front wheel drive it felt pretty different. Instead of sliding into the direction I turned, it slid forward. Ergo, if I turned left and was slipping in a rear wheel drive I would swing the whole car left, where as in this one if I turned left and was slipping I'd just keep going straight.

I experimented with locking the back wheels with the hand brake, which would kick my back end out and move the slide in the direction I wanted to go. This worked out pretty well in the tight little corner scenarios I created in the parking lots. Then I moved back out into the open road. It was all down hill from there...well, I mean, it wasn't down hill all the way, but... --ehh, just- *sigh* figuratively okay! Cut me some break. Or give me a slack. You know what I mean.

It started out alright. I even got on and off the interstate without incident. Believe it or not, from what I could see I didn't even expect to see any snow the next morning. It was just slush-nothing really accumulating at all. This is the frame of mind you must have as you follow me through this story- "Or nothing you hear after this point will seem wondrous."

I was driving down 111, listening to Imogen Heap when the real trouble began. I was going a bit shy of the speed limit, which was 40. One moment, I noticed the vehicle riding up and sliding ever so slightly off to the left. I added a very small control adjustment ever so softly to steer the vehicle back on course, and...nothing.

The next moment, I realized that I wasn't turning left, I was spinning left. I was spinning down 111 at about 35 mph. At this point, I realized that it was as if someone had just found a big "traction for the car" switched and flipped it off. There was no point in trying to enter a correction, especially since at this point I was in a pretty delicate situation, and any false move could have very, very bad effects.

The front end was now pointed directly at the barrier rails on the other side of the street. I watched them pass me sideways with fascination. I held on to the steering wheel tensely, but did not move it. Then I felt the force of the car going across the road sideways meet up with resistance of the road and start to lean the body down.

"Is this car going to roll?" I thought indignantly.
"No way...this car is too low center to the ground...why is it going to roll?" my mind asked as I instinctively huddled a bit lower, in an attempt to either lower my center of gravity, or brace for impact- I don't really know which.

But the vehicle kept rotating until it was almost completely 180 degrees the other way. I'd say, 174 degrees, at which point, like magic, the tires suddenly found traction and pulled the vehicle to a stop. I heard something change in the engine noise and as I looked down the first thing I thought was "Stupid, you left the clutch in 4th gear! Now you've stalled it!" Then I looked up from the dash and realized I was facing the wrong way on a divided highway. Luckily, the only car coming at me was a good ways off, just cresting a hill. As calmly as I could muster, I put the clutch in, started it up, backed it up to turn it around, then was off- albeit a bit slower then before.

The whole thing probably took less then 10 seconds.

As I drove away, My first thought was "Wow, thank you Lord."
My second thought was "Dude, I'm so blogging this."

Our hero has survived the first round of automotive assault, but can he best the next, or will he be headed for the scrapyard? Tune in next week* to find out, in...AUTOMOTIVE WOES, PART THE SECOND!

By next week, I mean after I have a suitable number of comments to restore my ego which hath so freshly been brusied by the declining readership of this blog.

One liners of wit or wisdom, but probably neither

2007-04-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

This is a jumbled up, to-much-weirdness-swirling-around-after-to-many-days-of-running-ragged sort of post.

---_---
Maybe you've heard the song "Everyone's Beautiful." Well, I get what he's driving at, but I think I have to make qualifications on this.
A) MOST people are beautiful. I truly believe this as basically everyone I know is beautiful, to some degree if not an extreme one. I don't care what you look like, you have to be pretty messed up to not have at least a trace of beauty in you. It probably comes from the Divine family resemblance.
B) That being said, even to such undiscerning tastes, some people I think can truly be evil at their core, whether it be reflected in their facial features or not.

So, to restate it I suppose it would go "Most people are beautiful. And some are quite pretty, too." Hmm... I see why the great band water deep didn't go this route though... not nearly as good a line to build a song around.
^-*Frustrated exhaling of wind from the esophagus* I don't think I conveyed quite what I was trying to say here.

---_---

I want to be near a hail storm once, if not just so I could go out, pick a hail stone up and announce to everyone that this is a piece of war. "War?" they ask, "Why yes," I'd reply, "Haven't you heard? War is hail."

Actually I bet their are alot of jokes just waiting to happen after a hail storm. It would seem to me that frozen water is a comic gold mine.
_-_----

Google is sometimes just as geographically challenged as me. We make a horrible team.

_--_-

I'm a bit concered for Brad when I heard he was going to Norwhich univerity. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the name an abrieviation for "Nordic Witch Univeristy"? Brad, what are you doing getting mixed up with those Viking wiccans?!

--_-_

Me, upon trying the new Cheesy Angus Bacon Burger: "My name is Zeke Gable, and I approve this burger."
-_---

Its Palm Sunday- *high five*

(...get it?)

_-_-

I feel my fortune is double edged. On the one hand I am surrounded by beauty. But on the other, I feel I am forced to only look at it from a far. I am so afraid of spoiling it, or perhaps of what others think of me if I tread upon it, that I dare not enjoy but a fleeting shallow interaction.

I suppose it doesn't help that I've once carelessly destroyed a prized garden. And I had been so careful up until then. But one destruction as such, one defeat via the enemy through me, and I'm out. I find it safer. I find it more prudent. I find it unbearably difficult as well.
_-__--

Is it possible to call in well? Like, my sister has to work all day Saturday. Thats a drag, but you see she's not sick. Can't she just call in and say "Hey sorry I have to call in well. Saturday is a going to be really nice and I'm going to be too well to come in. "

^This one was alot funnier before I wrote it down.

--_-_--

If you have elder-berry echinacia tea, I think its Biblical to respect it. I don't really know how far the whole "elder" thing goes, but I figure I'll be on the safe side.
_-_--

Okay, so that was a meaningless just sort of ramble on the keyboard post. Don't mind the overdue teenage angst, I'll be better after some sleep. I just wanted an outlet.

Update 2

2007-03-28T12:14:00.001-05:00

1:15 -The bill passed. Someone got up and said under part 2 article
24, they were filing theie protest. After this a huge line formed of
reps. submitting their protest. I'll have to look it up, but it
appears that it is something they can do to go on the record somewhere
of not wanting anything to do with it.

Update

2007-03-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

12:30- Just called roll call. Closing arguments now, voting should start soon.

Apparently they are voting wether to vote with an ammendment of to
take out the withdrawl language. That ammendment failed.

Now a notion to table the bill for later has been raised.

12:37- Notion failed. Voting on the bill itself has not started.

Day 2 from Concord

2007-03-28T10:56:00.001-05:00

Live once more from the NH house of representitives in concord...

I'm going to try to do this in a moe live blog way... Lots of small
edits to one post. It is the first time so bare w/ me...

11:49- They are discussing HR 10 right now, which is a two edged bill
that both attempts to help fund some veteran affairs and requests to
the US president and congress that we begin talks to pull out. Both
sides are making huge speeches, but the main dem. advocate takes the
cake. He went through an entire history lesson starting seemingl
begginning of time. Anna thinks he might be fillibustering.

LIVE from the NH house of representitives building

2007-03-27T11:45:00.001-05:00

The NH house of representatives

EDIT: Uploaded pictures taken from phone and added captions.
This isn't quite live since I had to "claim" the post on my PC. Small spelling mistakes and other minor changes have been made as well. But still, almost the entire post was typed up live as it was happening from my mobile- how cool is that, eh?

This post brought to you live from the floor of the NH legislation offices via
my new kick butt phone...

We packed the public balcony almost completely. Sorry to the man who's picking his nose here. I really didn't mean to capture that.

We arived and the session of the day was already in progress- we've
been here about an hour and the main issuse we came out to watch
aren't up yet. So far they have discussed insurance reform and a
committee to study the effects of fiat currency on the state (an
interesting idea; it was ruled down because it couldnt really lead to
anything).

12:12ish-Now they are discussing a review of the death penalty- its interesting
to hear them debate commonly know arguments. The form is almost
identical to the form used in debate class, and I find myself mentally
preparing rebuttals to each side. Most of them are pretty common.
Someone did try to use Officer Briggs as a sort of rallying cry. Genuine, but certainly an "Appeal to emotions" I thinks. The other side brought up the cost to the state, but used numbers from New York- "non topical".

Closing arguments are made in the death penalty repeal (HB607-FN) case. Man with agenda looks on- these were available for free and had a summary of the bills and amendments to be reviewed, as well as a short synopsis of both side's arguments.

12:30ish- They have called roll call (where they literally go out to
the halls and yell "roll call!"). Kind of funny. I wonder what would happen if I just started shouting that randomly some time in the hallways...

They just voted. It was close- 185 to NOT review it, 173 to review it

Someone got up and said she voted wrong, and asked for a vote to allow a re-vote.

The notion was rejected.

We're leaving now because they have ajorned for lunch and won't be back in session until after I should have left. Some members of AGAPE are still there rep'n it out.

Big changes subtly realized

2007-03-21T20:42:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, big life announcement-

I'm getting married.

No, no, I'm just kidding.... well I hope to eventually but I'm not any closer.

Okay, so seriously.

I'm moving to Arizon.

Okay, nah I'm just kidding there as well. I mean I won't rule it out. But I'm not going anywhere.

Okay.

I have a cell phone.

No, this one I'm serious about. What, not a big deal? Yeah, I get that. Check it- I'm edging towards 21 and I finally decided to get one. It is cool. Just...not very spectacular (this post is not a gadget post, but remind me sometime to tell you about this phone because it is pretty sweet).

Thats basically what this post is about. Not about the phone or even major life changes, but a life changed majorly, and when you look back at the things that caused it, you can't help but scratch your head and say "thats it? Thats what's caused all the difference?"

Perhaps the events really are major and I just adapt to change too quickly and too well. I hadn't thought of this until now- but that would make sense. I've sort of built up an indifference- immunity to change over time, (a "just roll with it" type of deal) and it has served me well for the most part. That could be it- maybe not. Either way though, growing up can be terribly anti-climatic.

For me, I've only noticed a major differences while realizing a major tug of war in my schedule. I have work 8 hours a day now, and I've been trying to start a business at the same time. I can be pretty busy. But on the other hand, my job has begot money, which has begot mobility, and when mobility is full grown, it gives birth to freedom. This is wonderful- it allows me not only to go to and from work, but also enables me to be more actively social (sort of). I can now visit my brother, meet clients, and get together with friends from Agape with out having to sync myself to the van schedule.

About that last part- friends. I feel like I am on a sparse middle ground between the professional world (or at least "real" world- the junk business isn't that pro...) and adolescent world- the safe sandlot world, where one can have fun and make mistakes with out worrying about how it will play out in the rest of your life. I say its sparse ground simply because I know not of many others that tread it- its not really difficult the way I walk it right now, but it is strange, I think, to others. I have friends ranging the ages and I still really have fun with them. I go to concerts, I hang out with people (though not as often as I'd like), I even got to visit the school yesterweek. But at the same time, I am watching the clock like an adult- I know their is no question as to me arriving at work when I say I will. I have a ball with my friends from Agape, I miss them! Nothing really has changed in the way I interact with them, but mentally I spot a difference.

I show it to you all now; mark it well. You can make mistakes now. You can work out human nature's drama in your social circles at this time. Its like a sandbox. Thats what its there for- you learn to work out who you are and even work out who you don't want to be. Yes, there are repercussions. You have the potential to get into a lot of trouble. But when your on the other side you'll see a difference, I think. What I mean to say is that for alot of people, adolescence is like the Vegas of life- what happens there can stay there. Except lessons learned can be carried through. Its really remarkable.

In the back of my mind I wonder if I went through the social mazes too well. I got by pretty well by playing it, at least as I saw it, smart. I avoided alot of mistakes I saw people make, or heard of them making. I would oft go against my natural instincts or desires in favor of better judgment.

*removes hand from keyboard and looks around nice office, and at dual screens, reflectively*
Well, maybe its not such a bad idea....

Still, reading, learning and doing business has banged a concept into my head so often that I suddenly realized I believe in it at a very core level. And that concept is that making mistakes is the best ways of learning. And that, yes, you want to calculate and not aim for failure, but getting out their and making some deals that go bad, by getting burned on something- doing this EARLY is much better then doing it late.

Right now I'm trying to be a scrap broker. I bought 22 computers for $200. I was hoping to turn around and make $300 or at least $250 on them. I had talked to the supplier, I asked him about what they had in them. They were supposed to have 512Mb of ram each- I knew I could sale the ram alone for $20 on ebay or somewhere else. I calculated what I needed to do. I had it down.

But of course, when I got them back, they didn't all have 512MB of ram. 4 of them did. 3 of them had 320MB. The rest had 128MB, with the exception of the three that wouldn't turn on.

According to a philosophy that I am increasingly subscribing too, this is a perfect opportunity. Instead of cursing out my supplier and hitting myself for being an idiot who didn't test everything or drive a hard enough bargain, I should stop and think "What is this circumstance trying to tell me?" [Editors note: I am not implying any sentience on these events, like they are part of something bigger and smarter. I am merely personifying.] I think I know the lesson here- always verify claims of people to the best of your ability, and don't be afraid to point out where they fall short. Its not being rude, its protecting yourself and your livelihood. Lesson learned. $200 pleas

Getting back to the point I was making.... This is an example of an early mistake. This was a small mistake- I may have lost, at the most, $200, plus time. Am I upset about that? Yeah, its not the ending I would have chosen. But what if I got lucky this time, and the next, and the next- lets just assume that things go peachy for me for deal after deal where everything is always exactly what they say. When I finally getting around to making this mistake, I might make a two hundred thousand dollar mistake instead of a two hundred dollar mistake. It is better to fail early and learn then to avoid failure at all costs.

So how does this apply to me? Well...what if I should have made mistakes earlier? What if I should have gotten into trouble? I know this is a really weird line of reasoning, please bear with me. I'm not going to go postal or crazy just yet or anything so don't freak out. Its just something that I've been wondering about. Does the same thing apply in other things? In love? In social choices?

"What would you suggest?" I can hear you ask. "Would it be better for you to have slept around and mugged somebody so that you could know you don't want to?"

I don't think so. I don't really know the answer to these hypothetical questions. And I don't want to encourage people to go out and do stupid stuff or anything. But some things that have happened in the last year or so have brought it vividly to my attention: After a certain point, some mistakes can NOT be afforded. I am past that point for alot of mistakes. They are no longer a option.

Here's hoping I didn't need them.

[Editors note again: I really don't know what to think of this post- it was going to be much different, but curse my unruly fingers, this is what it turned out to be. I just sort of rambled. Its big, I know. Consider that punishment for begging for another. By the way- I'm on face book now. Sorry y'all, its just that much cooler. Name's Zed Fable, if you care.]

I may have shot the clutch, but I did not shoot the depuzeke

2007-02-27T23:11:00.000-05:00

So, some have accused me of being the anti-blogger.

Yeah, I don't really have any defence. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Whats been up recently? Welll... Work has been great but has kept me busy (I suppose thats what its there for). I went to an AMAZING fort Pastor concert, and they solidified in my mind how awesome they were. They are just such real, honest, nice people. They remembered us. And a guy from SoulFest was there, and he remembered us too. How cool is that?

Concernting the title, yes I know its basically the lamest title EVER. But I paid for it, dang it.

You see, I was getting onto the highway with my good friend Mike, taking him home. I was going in my dads car, which is a manual, which I recently learned to drive. Or maybe not.

As I was pulling out of the stop light on to the on ramp, I thought "Wow, this thing really is going today- look at that RPM shoot up!" and I had to shift faster to account for the faster rev up. Which I thought was pretty cool. It sounded more like a sports car. Shifting can make you feel pretty cool when your not bouncing around in a parking lot trying to get into first. Thats a fact.

But of course, by the time I got into 5th I realized that I wasn't going as fast as the RPM would have me beleive. In fact, in 5th, I wasn't passing 50, and my RPM was almost redlining. About that time, Mike asked "Dude, do you smell that?" to which I replied like any good friend "SHUT UP! DON'T even joke about that.... you must just be smelling the heater. I don't smell anything."

But as I could tell something was up, I pulled over. THEN I smelt it. "Great." Juustt great. I tried putting it into gear again... I had to have that thing up to 4000 before it would budge. "I'mmmm in trouble. Can I borrow your cell?"

Long story short, my dad came and towed us out. In the van. With a tow cable. Yeah, it was pretty cool. I drove the van, with a line of communication constantly open between the vehicles, courtesy of Mike's cell. I would warn him when I was going to break, he would tell me if I was going to slow or if I needed to move a little more off the shoulder, etc. I towed him to the next exit, which thankfully happens to be the exit our mechanic is at.

So what happend? Welll.....

APPARENTLY, the clutch is designed to slip. This is what my dad told me when I asked him how on earth I was supposed to get a start going on a hill with out falling into the car behind me.

"No Zeke, you can take the clutch out a little bit to defeat the backwards motion... you don't have to go all in right away."

"OH! Like how an automatic is always going forward a bit when stopped!" says I.

"Yeah, sort of..." my dad replied, not realizing the chain effect this had on my brain.

APPARENTLY, your not supposed to slip the clutch for long periods of time. Say, on a hill, while waiting for a red light to change for thirty seconds. HUH, oops. Thats basically what I did for a day or two in Manchester. Heh, my bad!

I paid to have another clutch put in. The mechnic showed me what I did. I literally caught the thing on fire. Pretty funny actually.

So thats why I say I paid for my lame title. Though I didn't document that use. I did however, document the biggest portion I got out of this whole ordeal. On the memo to the mechanic, I wrote "An expensive lesson".

A Heinz Post

2007-02-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

I call this my Heinz post. How come? Why, because I have to Catch up, of course!

The last post would have been okay I suppose, had I followed it up soon with another one and another one that were just the same style. But left as a final note on a marriage, it is a tad underwhelming. My apologies.

Because of the lateness of this post, I will change from doing a play-by-play recap of the previous day in a roughly chronological order, to simply giving you the highlights from the days I didn't blog yet. I will even add bold headers to the different sections as a gift to you guys, so if you get bored of reading geek stuff then you can skip to right where you want to go. Okay... commence tomatoey sauce- NOW:

Keep'n it White and Nerdy
Originally, dX wanted me to bring down my computer, so we could kick it in Counter Strike like old times, but I told him their was no way I could seriously game on that thing. It is...lacking. I am too ashamed to even post the specs on this blog...not that I game very much these days anyway, but I do appreciate and use the power usually.

I have been needing an upgrade now for awhile, so one of the ideas I had was that I could build a system while down there and ship it back. But when you boiled it down, it really didn't make any sense- I would be paying way to much, rushing myself into the purchasing, limiting my choices, and probably end up using some of the money I wanted to use for his gift. I didn't decide this, though, until after I got there, so I had brought my own optical drive with a windows XP CD, as well as a spare hard disk of questionable lifespan. But thats another story.

And so, being the easy going guy he is, dX took the news in stride. It turns out, he had accumulated a collection of computer pieces since he had moved out there, so we decided to REALLY kick it like we used to: Spend some quality time with the hardware on a makeshift bench, and Electro-static precautions that would make a QA representative faint. I'll spare you the details of building the box, but it was a lot of fun. dX and I hadn't really gotten down and dirty with a system like that in awhile, and we both agreed that it was our quickest build ever- when we actually sat down to work on it, we finnished it up in a few hours. And it was unnaturally fast- we had scrounged up 128 MB of ram, and put it in a 400 mhz P2 system with a crummy old 32 MB ATI card, but the thing FLEW. I kid you not; it was more responsive then my current system at home. And oh yeah; we loaded it up with XP. I cut down the services that ran considerably, but still- it was an impressive feat. I used it as my own system, and when I left he gave it as a gift to his sister.

People who don't smoke and cars that do
The night before the wedding, dX had a little party with me and a few friends. I hate to call it a bachelors party because of all the pejorative connotations that come with that term, but thats what he called it so that I suppose is what it was. Basically, it was a bunch of guys, hanging out, laughing, eating pizza and dorritos, and playing Game Cube. It was alot of fun.

A guy named Fritz and I both needed to get some money from an ATM to help pitch in for pizza. Since Fritz was was the first one there, we decided to all duck out for the errand and get some snack goodies while we were out.

"Can we take your car- is it running okay?" dX asked.
"Well, the radiator is a bit leaky... hows yours?" Fritz responded.
"Oh, just a leaky radiator? Psh, my alternator might be going..."
"Okay cool, we'll take mine".

Ahh, those fateful words. The radiator turned out to be more then a little issue, and it got very bad by the time we had got to our first stop. Steam was coming steadily out from the hood. We decided to stop by an auto store. They were pretty sure it was the cap on the radiator, so we picked up another of those and some radiator fluid. When we added just a little bit of the fluid, the thing fired up like a smoke generator- steam clouds erupted violently into the night. It did this for several minutes, until it was finally cool enough to put the fluid in. There was much laughter, and I was heard to say "DUDE- where's a camera when you need it? I'm SO blogging this."

We finally got the fluid in the radiator, and it seemed to improve with the new cap. We drove a very short distance to Wal-Mart from there, and as we were cruising through the parking lot, Fritz kept looking back in the mirror. "Dude," he said "Am I smoking?"

When we parked and got out, we found- quite graphically- that we indeed had been. It wasn't like something was on fire, it wasn't a black smoke- but the tail pipe was emitting enough emissions to make Al Gore cry. dX thought perhaps the O2 sensor was faulty. I just sat back and wished I had a camera again- the smoke from our tailpipe was even more fantastic then the radiator. It rose slower and lingered more. You could literally see our trail from the auto store to Wal-Mart, rising slowly into the heavens. When we drove, it must have looked like we were the world's slowest rocket powered car.

But wait, it gets better- when we headed back home, the radiator problem came back. With vengeance. Whenever we stopped at a stop sign, the steam from the hood would quickly flood the view from the windshield in less then a second, like our own personal fog area. Luckily there wasn't any other cars around at those intersections- we would stop, the view would disappear, we would go, and we could see. As long as we kept going at all, the steam was pushed around us.

When we parked I wished again that I had a camera. The vehicle was a sight to see. Smoke coming out one end; steam coming out the other. It was hilarious. Fritz ended up having it towed out of there in the morning.

Coffee, Coffee, everywhere and all the drops to drink
I think I mentioned before that many in the grooms family work at the a very nice local coffee establishment. Just in case your passing through some time, its called "Harbor lights". Personally, I think it sounds more like a cigarette then a coffee shop, but the atmosphere and quality of beverage more then makes up for the odd name (I mean, its KANSAS- there aren't any harbors to speak of). I told you already about the George's caramel mocha blast. I suppose that the rest of my experiences won't translate as well in print. I'll just say- Its a great place. They have books, and games out for you to use if you want to at both locations. Its a great atmosphere. OH! And I almost forgot-

They make custom soda's there. Yup- on demand. I had an irish creme soda- with (get this) whipcream. The groom's mum told me that about the custom soda's and made me one. I think its basically club soda/soda water with flavor shots on demand. I don't know exactly how its done, but I can tell you why its done- because they taste AWESOME. And whipcreme? On soda?

....

GENIUS!

I told everyone there "The boys back home will never beleive this- 'Whaa? Whipcream in soda? Your making that up!' and I'll be like 'No man really! Thats what they do in Kansas!' it'll be great."

Wedding

The wedding went off pretty much with out a hitch- well, sans of course, the Marriage of dX and his new Bride. But this, I'm told, was entirely intended.

I got to meet Sarah (dX's wife- man that is still weird to say), which was great as until this point I had never had the oppertunity. And she was a great person- Conesiur of coffee and music, edging a bit on the artsy side, yet able to love a geek and even having established some welding skills. I'm very happy for them.

Super duper suite
The wedding wasn't a huge operation, but it wasn't ghetto. It was still very nice, even if the couple wasn't made of money. Nate and I, for example, were basically their getaway vehicle. Get away to where? The Chateau (said with extreme accentation- shut up, its a word now), but of course! They were kind enough to bring up their suitcases and such so we got a chance to see the establishment. It was some high class stuff. The room's looked like something out of the imagination of a Disney set designer- I think their's was an "island escape" theme, complete with a huge front end of a ship that served as the balcony and bedroom, a giant jacuzzi and exotic trees and plants a plenty, shooting from everywhere. There was probably more, but we didn't really hang around to long...

Neil Gaimen Evangelism
I got to hang out with Nate a bit as well, (if you recall in a post previous, I dissconnected his family from the internet using his computer- always a great ice breaker) but that night and the next day, I got to spend some more time with him. It was a blast- Nate is a genius and (I had forgot) an Artist. He sketches quite often, always striving to better his craft. I was almost sure that he would appreciate Mirror Mask. I was going to bring it with me to watch before I headed out, but of course, being myself, I failed to remember to. But things turned out all right; after dropping off the happy couple, we took a jaunt down to the local video rental establishment.

On our way we discussed the pros of wearing suits. Originally, he had protested his general level of discomfort in the suit and that he didn't really look forward to wearing it. But by the time of the wedding, we had both noticed that it was quite fine indeed to be wearing the suits- not only were they comfortable as heck (I know, I know- its a misnomer, okay?), but they also gave us the strange urge to possess and use a Katana, a handgun, or (preferably) both. They just make you feel and look that cool. So on that note, we walked into Hollywood video, commenting that we were probably their best dressed patrons ever and joking to each other that we could just buy the establishment if the lines were too busy.

If you haven't seen Mirror Mask, I'm very sorry but there really isn't any good way I can explain it. I just ask that you go, look at the trailer, then rent the movie. Heck, you can even watch it for free in semi cruddy quality on Google Video, legally. Or, preferably, buy and watch the DVD. Whatever you do, watch this film- then you will know that it is indeed an amazing movie. And it will seen a foregone conclusion, that yes, OF COURSE, he loved the film.

And you would be right. He found it quite impressive. I also evangalized Regina Spektor to him, which I wasn't as sure about. But he recognized and appreciated her genius as well. He was fasinated by how expressive and subtle her face was in the videos. "I have to try and sketch her" he said.

And that, in a nutshell (a very large, approximately 2000 word nutshell), was my trip in Kansas. Happy? Good.

So. What happend with you guys while I was gone?

I broke the internet.

2007-02-01T16:25:00.000-05:00

Hello everybody.

Heres a small update of whats gone down since the last post. Sorry its taken so long, things have been crazy busy and fun over here.

So, on the 31st I left on the plane (on time- early, even!) and successfully landed and was picked up by 10:22 local time. Much better.

Mrs. F narrated the drive through Kansas as we went. We ended up picking up Nate, which was a blast. He still was wearing one of his awesome hats.

We got to their house and I ate some monkey bread. I go ape over that stuff. *ducks*

I spent alot of time chilling out with Nate in his room. He decided he wanted to show me a game he got called Prey, because of some crazy multi-dimensional mind bending physics engine stuff. He had recently rebuilt his computer, so he had to reinstall it. At this point, he found out he had misplaced his key. And his manual. "I just cleaned up my room..." his voice trailed off for a second. "Oh man, I hope I didn't throw it away."

Long story short, since he couldn't find it I decided to see if I could find it first online, and when that didn't work, I decided to port scan to see if I could find any hidden FTP servers that might have a key.

That, put simply, was a horrible idea. You see, port scanning is basically where, instead of using a search engine or typing in a website URL, you simply start at one part of the internet and start looking door to door till you find something. Its fun. You can find websites at random, or other things like file sites that aren't availible normally. You can find all sorts of weird network devices. You can find print servers from Itally (my friend did once). A friend of mine got me hooked on it for awhile, and we would share our findings every now and then.

Well, we told Mr. F what we were doing thinking he'd get a kick out of it and he got really upset. "DON'T PORT SCAN ON MY NETWORK! I don't want the liability..." and about that time, the scanner stopped working. And so did all of our connections outside to the internet. The whole house had lost the network. And he used IP Telephony, so... the phone died too. Yeah, smooth move Zeke. Way to make an entrance. Either we had got ourselves shut down for port scanning, (I guess it was against their Terms of service?) or we triggered hit something that freaked out the cable modem. I felt so bad.

Eventually Mr. F had to go to the Road Runner (Their ISP's) office and have them reset it. Talk about a comedy of errors...

So that was a bad start, BUT! It honestly got better... That night Mr. F himself even bought me a "George's Carmel Blast" at the coffee house half his family works at, Harbor Lights. It was really really good. Legend has it, that a guy named George would always come asking for a Carmel Macchiato with extra extra carmel. The guy REALLY liked carmel. Finally Tim started experimenting with his drink, finally stumbling upon glazing the inside of the cop with carmel, then doing the rest and putting whipped-creme and carmel drizzle on top. Word got around, and when they redid the signs, they put it up as "George's Carmel blast". Man, I want a drink named after me! So cool...

I am a day or two behind at this point in posting, but instead of sit on this post for another day, I'm going to let it go. I'm off to the wedding rehearsal now...

The all star of gate D3

2007-01-31T07:32:00.000-05:00

Its amazing how quickly you get used to things.

Yesterday at 9 I was confused and frustrated about staying the night. By midnight I felt like I knew the airport almost completly.

I knew where the outlets were. I knew where all the internet stations were- the one that the well intentioned but mislead Continental staff told me didn't exist. I knew where the tunnels and moving sidewalks were. I knew the bathroom system. I even had a favorite urinal that I considered mine... (Thats really where I got a bit concerned that perhaps I had grown TOO comfortable...)

At first, I sat by an outlett to charge my PDA and batteries. I listened to Illinois by Sufjan Stevens and watched the airport staff scury outside through the window. I kept thinking how cool it was the way all those people and specialzed vehices were working together. I wish Abe was there to see it too- he would have loved it.

Sleeping was not so easy. I tried several things, finally slouching over in a phone booth. A guy on a cleaning machine passed me a couple times. Then one time I saw him pass me- then back up. He called once. I ignored him- I was afraid he was going to tell me I couldn't sleep here. He called a second time. I looked up groggily, doing the "who, me?" gesture. He asked if I was staying the night. I told him I was. He said "Let me see if I can get you a cot." and sped off. I was ever so thankful.

Long story short, he wasn't able to find one in this half of the airport. But he assured me there was some through the tunnel. I thanked him and ran off- by this point I allready had a pretty good grasp of the geography of the Airport- which, if you know me is pretty suprising.

The only one I found was behind a continental service desk. After passing it a few times looking for others, I finally bit the bullet and jumped the gate to retreive it. Okay, so the gate was open. I took it back set it up by gate D3.

That actually helped only mildly, since, well..... Its a cot. My arms didn't know where to go and proved a perpetual problem. But I did get some sleep- dont ask how much, I have no idea.

I went over today to a place that said it served- PROUDLY served- Phoneix Cofee. I had taken Brad's wisdom of getting cofee while here to heart. I decided it had to be local. I got a mocha phoneix something something. It was flipp'n GOOD. I could taste the chololate, yes- but the coffee was certainly there, strong and not acidic. Just how I liked it. I got a breakfast sandwhich there as well. The people behind the counter were the nicest people I've met in any store in awhile. But everyone sees nice here.

Okay, over my time again.

Everyone, thanks for the comments. It made logging on worth while. Anon, MHT is Manchester Airport. Oh, I see someone said this already. Quick, you are. Hannah- you crackedme up with the Kevin Max thing. You do realize he's getting on nowadays, right? In years and in girth? ;)

Later e'ry body.

dot dot dot

2007-01-30T21:37:00.000-05:00

So... for those of you who didn't know, I'm going to see my friend get married in KS this week.

Well. I won't pontificate around the bush, because I am on a airport computer and being charged by the minute. I am stranded in Cleavland. I'll update more later perhaps, but here is a brief recap of today:

Got up at 8:00ish.

Ate, hung out with Mo and then Jen.

Packed.

Washed nice wedding clothes.

Packed.

Packed.

(So far so good)

Learned something about a friend of mine that made me very sad and a bit angry.

Got to MHT with my sister. Aparently- the time on the e-ticket is the time the plane LEAVES. Not the time you BOARD... I think I knew that but...still. Missed 2:10 flight. Got resheduled to the 6:00 o'clock flight.

Called mom. Told her that we needed to call my friend's mom so we could tell her not to pick me up. She kept looking for the number then said someting like "oh! Grandma Streeter fell and broke her-" *pause* "I gotta go, I'll call you back."

Then-

My sister got a call. One of my cousin's friend has been missing for over 24 hours.

Then we finally got ahold of Mum. She says she is having trouble finding the number. Grandma fell and broke her arm.

Oh, and Chris- our OTHER cousin- was hit by a drunk driver. Head on.

Miracuously, he's alive. I am not sure, but I think the girl is too...

So. That was a sort of sucky few hours.

Then our plane got held in the air for like, 25+ minutes because of the weather and volume of traffic.

But hey! This is some adventure. I've stopped reeling enough now to laugh at the bizarre amount of stress that just landed on me. Funny stuff.

Despite all this, I still can't wait to go and see my friend and his bride get maried.

Later er'y body.

Better and picture post

2007-01-17T09:30:00.000-05:00

Edit:Oh yeah, by the way I'm feeling better. Thank you all for your nice comments, concerns and prayers. Even the lurkers- it means alot to me. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog...

Here it is... only about three months overdue, too! By golly, I think I'm improving...

With out further ado ladies and gents:

This is part of the main room for my group at [AwesomeCo]. Our company is a fan of the stock market; can you tell?

They are also a fan of long piles of paper that have seemingly no purpose.

Pictured here is a list of words generated from the middle initial of employees with birthdays on odd years appended to the breakfast selection of employees with even years, divided by pie. Cherry, if I'm not mistaken. This stack must be kept on hand for 2 months because of strange rules that no one understands anymore.

At least two sentences in the above parpagraph were true.

Here is the wall my mini-cube faces that look up at in my "mission control-ish" room. They are actually two computers with dual screens each. I can take control over either of them simply by moving my mouse up off of my screen and onto those ones, thanks to the cool synergy setup I installed. Everyone else can as well. We manage reading text because I turned on windows magnifier so there is a window on the left monitor that follows the cursor and magnifies whatever is around it. Yes, I am proud. Its bona fide PDG (Pretty darn good). Originally I thought I'd have to blur out the data on the screens, or at least on the board in the background, but lets hear it for bad camera skills! With him and mister poor-lighting-without-using-flash working together, its amazing what I can render unreadable.

Looking back from the doorway, here is my mini-cube as I like to call it. Note small tidbit of epic white board with important data censored behind me. Also note multiple beverage containers of undetermined brand.

Here is my dualy-setup, complete with censored post-it notes and pirate ducky watchguard. Why two screens you ask? Because 4 on the wall is clearly not enough. (Note: I'm JK, it is pretty useful and important for what I do actually since I need the screen real estate. Even though making "this room is actually a tax-haven" jokes would be fun...)

Another view. Note my fastidious use of post it notes. I adore those little yellow buggers. They are so cool.

Hey! What is that beautiful yellow thing with such rugged good lucks? Is that... a post it note with wheels?

Aha! Its a truck! Sorry, you can not marry Truck. It is mine- plus- wHAT THE HECK ARE YOU THINKING? Its an automobile for crying out loud. What would the children look like? Think of them...
This is the amazing Cat in the hat Hat. Its from Kiaya. (Thank you once again!) It rocks my socks (but more directly, my phro).

Well ladies and gents, this has been fun, no? Maybe we should do it more oft.

(Yes, it is possible that I got carried away with the censoring of my images. Its alot of fun. You all should try it sometime. )

I'm down with the sickness

2007-01-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got very very sick. Fever, sweating bullets and alternating chills, etc.

So far I feel a bit better this morning, but I am very very sore. I feel like all my muscles are 10 times more sensitive. As much as I need rest, it hurts to be on one bed for too long...

This isn't a "pity me" post (well....), but just to let you know that if if you can't get ahold of me, this is why.

Oue, my neck...

Zeke burns gas like its 1927

2007-01-08T19:15:00.001-05:00

I love my truck.

Today, I was afraid I might be a bit late for work. I couldn't afford any slow downs, and I decided that saving my gas by driving conservatively wasn't worth being late. I took off a few mental limitations to my acceleration and handling routines. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For example: Coming up to the light on 111, I saw it go to red. "Shoot..." I thought to myself. I suddenly remembered that mapuest once took me up the little road to my left by accident and spit me back out on the road 111 just a few hundred feet further. I quickly checked checked out the traffic surrounding me, then decided to go for it. I powered into the turn at a comfortable 20mph. I could have pushed it further with , but no reason too... plus it was over a 90 degree turn. I raced down the little strip of road to the part where I could turn right again and eventually hook back up to 111. The road was still wet from the rain, and there was sand on the turn as well. I slowed down a little and made the turn. The truck slid around the corner like it was covered in snow. I was a bit surprised but simply steered to correct and kept the gas where it needed to be. I straightened out and didn't even slow down that much at all. I connected to 111 and got there ahead of the light. Then I laughed like an evil genius.

"Dude!" I thought to myself, "I just totally power slid around that corner and didn't even flinch!! I'm awesome!" Then I thought to myself that I wished someone else was in the driver seat besides my lunch of pizza and cheezy homeade ravilo. They're nice, but I can't give them a high five and say "DUuuuDE!" with them in unison.

So I figured I'd post it instead. Cause it was awesome and, it wasn't illegal, I'm pretty sure. Honest.

Google is trying to make me hate them

2007-01-05T18:21:00.000-05:00

...and you know how hard that is. I believe I've stated in previous entries that I would do something to the effect of jumping off a cliff if they asked me to. Well- NO longer.

So they bought blogger- fine. Thats cool; their GOOGLE, thats kind of what they do. They buy important stuff and make it better or make it free, or both. I had no problem with that. Then for the longest time, they had this "new blogger in beta!" but I didn't join up. Well, its out of Beta they say now. Thats great! That means its stable, right? And better? Or at least, it works over 80% of the time?

Apparently, google is using an ancient meaning of the word Beta- its a little archaic, but I did some research and I found the word. The root for this is in the latin "Beaht" which literally means to suck at life, and the English colloquialism "duh" which means to express one's less then adequate mental prowess. In their defense, now that I think about it, this actually makes a lot of sense. I just was using the wrong definition.

If you are reading this, it means you got to the site. Congratulations! You're doing pretty good for yourself already. For me, I usually have to type the URL, hit enter, wait for it to NOT load all the way, then hit refresh (which I fancy is sort of like a slap in the face, because it makes me feel better) at which point it comes back like someone awaken from stupidity. At least, this has been my experience in Firefox. Two or three different versions of Firefox.

But even if you are reading this, the problem still remains that you are reading this, not the other post which I made. What other post? Oh, you know- the one with all the pictures and witty titles- you remember, it had pictures of [AwesomeCo] finally, and my truck and... what, you don't remember that post? Huh- neither did GOOGLE.

Yeah- google kept timing out while I tried to save that post. Now, if this was a little startup company that got really popular, I would totally understand bandwidth issues- but guys, were talking frick'n GOOGLE here. There is no excuse. They are basically half of the Internet's bandwidth anyway.

*exhales* Okay. Sorry. I had to rant.... *quickly saves before Google grows wise to his plans*
NOTE: Before saving this, I copied it to wordpad. Which is good, because the first two tries died. NOT EVEN KIDDING.

Alright, now on to topics which I have neglected. I feel I owe Gwyn a shoutout, because she is basically awesome and the funniest person she knows, and because she gave LON and I our own post.

The other day, LON and myself got to go hang out at her swing'n dynamite pad. Its pretty cool- shes got a kitchen, a bathroom, a bed, and when we were there, a Christmas tree. Being in that close proximity to self-reliance makes you feel cooler- like you too are basically there. Or you can pretend to be and call yourself cool. So, thanks Gwyn. Thanks for making me able to pretend to be cool.

Oh, and another thing- which she tends to not enjoy herself but I find absolutely awesome is her ability to get lost in her own backyard. Recently, she asked use if we had ever been in her car and not gotten lost at some point. We started to open our mouths to assure her that we had, and that she didn't always get lost.

Then we shut them again and kind of just laughed akwardly.

But thats all fine, because LON Gwyn and myself get lost, we just laugh more and end up doing something totally arbitrary like talking in accents until we get unlost (or TRYING to anyway).

and- HOLY CRAPOLY, another long post. I'm sorry guys. I'll cut it short right now, honest.
I think I have write-iteous or something. Weird.

This is the picture post. But it isn't at the same time.

2006-12-31T11:50:00.000-05:00

I was seriously intending on posting a whole bunch of pictures- of my work, of my truck and of my hat- yesterday. I had taken them all. I was quite pleased with myself. I merely had to upload them to my computer, edit out any identifiable information from [AwesomeCo] and upload them. It was going to be wonderful. It was going to be marvelous. It was going to be simple, and yet it was going to be so satisfying.

Then... the camera cable or the connector in the cheap camera I use to upload the images from had... "issues". Issues that caused it to loose power while connected- several times. Connection issues that caused it to literally ERASE all pictures on that 512 MB card. And so... all of the pictures are gone. In case you were wondering, the above picture was an interpertation of what I felt like and probably what I looked like when I found out all the files were gone. If I was a girl.

But, since I told you all I would have pictures, here you go:

I am a man of my word.

Saga of this week (As oppposed to the Sega of this week, which would be promptly replaced with the SNES of this week)

2006-12-22T06:35:00.000-05:00

Greetings, one and all. Some people claim that all my sister and I do is collect comments that beg for updating. To you I say... well, I mean hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?

The last week or two (its hard to tell where one ends and the other begins now-a-days) have been intense. Not all great, not all bad, just bigger. More stress, but more fun. And less sleep.

Monday
Ahh, Mondays. Technically, I don't work Monday. Its a little weird. I work Early (1 AM) Tuesday morning. So Monday is supposed to be the day I adjust back to my weird work hours. I've tried a few different ways to do this- take a nap at a certain time is a popular choice, and I've tried it. But most of the time, if I have not been deprived of sleep, I won't be able to take a nap. I end up just lying their, in my bed, waiting to go to sleep. Bo-ring.

The approach I've recently taken to this is based upon a proprietary theory that I have dubbed "The Sleep Deficit theory". I believe I have enlightened most of you about this in person; if any of you want further explanation on the details let me know. But the point is, it has served me well recently. This week though, I had more sleep deficit then I bargained for.

Monday I purchased a truck. I bought it from my friend, Mr. L. As part of the deal, he paid for or deducted from the price all the repairs needed to make the vehicle return to tip-top shape. But when I drove it out of the mechanics to close the deal, the blinkers weren't working. I brought it back to the mechanic that night who said that he had noticed that issue but had forgotten about it. Apologetically, he said he'd do the deal with out labor costs. He thought he found the problem- the switch. This is the rocker arm that you use to control the blinkers and the windshield wipers. Yay. He would have it the next day, if I could bring the vehicle by. I said I'd be there, considering I had been resorting to using hand signals. At night. On the highway.

Tuesday
I got home from work at about 9:30 as usual. I ate. I called up the mechanic and he told me he hadn't the part yet, but he would call me "as soon as it walks through the door". Meanwhile, I called town hall about a mistake I had made on the title and how to fix it. Four seconds after I hung up with them, the mechanic called me to let me know the part had indeed waltzed in at that very moment. I drove to the shop.

By this time I was a bit tired. I had gotten there I think around 11:00, and it was supposed to be a quick (20 minute) fix. 30 minutes later the mechanic comes in and says "Its not the switch. Only thing I guess it could be now is the flasher..." and got on the phone to find one. Meanwhile, I was sitting down taking small several-second naps. I'd just sort of zone out and then wake up. Judging by my surroundings, I had barely slept- A few seconds at most. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

Long story short, it wasn't the flasher module either. He sent me to go get it down at Auto Fair on south willow, but it wasn't the problem. He took awhile looking at some schematics and then started doing some more probing with a meter. Finally he said the problem was some of the wiring between the fuse box and steering column. He ran some new wire as a work-around for the short term so I could get back on the road and he'll fix it up proper when I bring it back to get state inspected.

Waking hours with out sleep at this point: About 28.

Unfortunately, the truck work left me at home by 1:50ish. I had to be at Agape by 3:00- Tonight was movie night at the Gs and I wanted to get their earlier so I could exchange gifts with Kiaya, who sadly wouldn't be able to come. I talked to mum a bit, then I went to sleep for about 20 minutes. I got up at 2:34, and sped away in my shiny (sorta) yellow truck.

I arrived at Agape at 3:00 on the dot. Sadly, it became apparent that I had missed Kiaya by mere minutes. I saw Anders playing soccer outside like old times and I talked to him for a bit. I then went in and roamed the halls of Agape, which were almost vacant because of the time. I felt like a ghost, haunting my old romping grounds. How so short a year made so large an impression on me I'll never know. But it was good to be there, even if there hardly was anyone left. I was welcomed warmly by Mrs. Woodman and Pastor Gary, which was great. Actually everyone I ran into was kind, as usual.

I ended up sitting in on Mrs. G's class. They had an amazing guy there named Ramses who was sharing his testimony. He was really cool. Then, class dismissed and I hung out with everyone. I opened H's gift for me their, which was an awesome great big Z with all my names and aliases. It was full of inside jokes, like references to my mispelling of the blogger name and such. So yeah, it was "basically awesome".

I then opened up Kiaya's gift. She made me the most AWESOME wearable piece of art ever- a full size Cat in the Hat style hat made out of red and white duct tape. INCREDIBLE. I'll have to post pictures later. The thing fits me great and is such a blast to wear. I've done the rest of my Christmas shopping in it and the reactions you get are so great.

Anyway, the whole lot of us (sans, sadly, Kiaya) went to H's house and we watched "A white Christmas" and "A Christmas story", the latter of which I had never seen before. We also just hung out and chatted for awhile after that. Me and Mrs. G got conversation about where all the plastic packaging we generate ends up (a land fill or the ocean for the most part, sadly) and recycling and what we can do about it. We left at 11 something o'clock.

Waking hours with out sleep at this point: 38.

Mrs. G had given me directions, which I followed well up to the 495 part. Mrs. G hadn't specified which direction to go on 495, but I surmised that since we were in Mass. and we wanted to get to Derry, we wanted to go North, naturally. Well.... We never got the chance to get on 93. We only had the option to get onto 95. I took it.

I was a little bit concerned because of the hour and my uncertainty with the route, but I did know that I wanted to go North. Eventually, I figured, we would get to a place that either I would recognize or could transfer to 93. We drove a long time and didn't see it. What we did see were exits for Portsmouth passing us. When I realized the last exit for Portsmouth was coming up and after that I'd be in bloody MAINE, I got off the highway.

Now, I've been around Portsmouth before, but as a passenger, not so much as a driver. I recognized where I got off- it was the Portsmouth traffic circle. I went around it maybe three times. Finally Abi spoke up and put her vote in for the Rochester/concord turn off. That made sense to me- concord was at least in the right direction. I think.

Well, shortly after taking that turn off (which was onto 16/4 and some other highway) I saw blue lights in the rear view mirror. I pulled over. The cop came up and started the whole "Where did you come from, where are you going tonight?" questions. When I told him I was trying to get to Exit 4 on 93 he looked at me like "Are you serious?" and said "Your not even close."

"Yes, yeah, I know- I was going north, I knew that was important but I wanted to get over to 93. I couldn't find where to get over..." He asked me what I had in the bag in the back.

"Some presents, and OH- can I get out to show you?" he said I could, so I got out, pulled the seat forward and continued "Tthis really cool Cat in the hat hat...my friend made it- out of Duct Tape!"

He was quiet and a little confused for a second, but quickly regained his composure. "So thats not 5 pounds of dope in the hat?"

"Nope, just a hat."

In truth I had been tempted to make a joke back, saying something like "Five pounds? Ha, thats ten at least!" But in the end I decided against it. Probably one of my better choices.

He took my license and registration (the latter of which I had to explain was not in my name yet because I had just bought the vehicle) and went back to the cruiser. Abi noticed that another one had pulled in behind me with its lights off for backup. She looked in the mirror.

"I think their laughing."

The first cop probably told the newcomer where I was trying to go. See, I'm good for a laugh even for cops on the beat. While we were waiting I said "Abi, I don't think I was speeding." She said that she was pretty sure I wasn't and that maybe they pulled me over for swerving around while I was trying to find out where to go.

Finally the officer walked back up to the truck and handed me my stuff back.

"Do you need directions?"

I consented that I did and he gave me them. Before I left, I asked

"Officer- why was I pulled over? I wasn't speeding was I?"

"Yeah you were. Its 35mph right here. You were doing 65."

Surprised, I asked "But- isn't this part of the highway?"

"Technically no. Its an in-between, and its residential. There are some houses over there, but its right between highways so its sort of confusing. " With that, he let me go. Thank God. If you had seen it, you would be utterly confused too. It looks (at least at night) like part of the bloody flaming highway. Double the speed limit is not good for your record. Yeesh. My guess is that he only used that as an excuse to get me over so he could see what I was up to. He didn't even give me a warning- I don't think he cared. But crazy, nonetheless.

Wedensday
The officer told us it would be over an hour to where we wanted to go. At this point, it was already about 12:30. Great. I needed to call work to let them know, so I went for my PDA but I didn't have it. I had left it at the G's. Double great. I had to call... so, I called my dad and woke him up we told him what was going on. He looked up the number for me and I called it to tell them I had just gotten un-hopelessly lost and wouldn't be there till later.

From their, I drove on for a very long time. I was quite tired. Though I tried to avoid it, I blinked out once or twice. I got a latte at one of the junctions, and that helped a bit. Abi got dropped off at 1:44. I then turned right around and hightailed it to work to arrive at just a little later then 2. Dan said "I can't believe the governor got lost in his own state." Ha.

Work that day was very tired. After running in and making sure nothing major was dying, the first thing I did was make a cup of dark coffee. I would be back to the cafeteria often during my shift, but they didn't do much. One thing I had to do took a little longer then normal because I kept waking up in the middle of it and had to double check what I had just done. I couldn't dare sleep longer then a few seconds though- I'd usually wake up to Dan or Tony chuckling. I didn't want to know what they would do if I fell asleep for longer then a minute. Glue me to my chair, most likely. Maybe staple my pants to the floor. I couldn't risk it.

After what seemed a very long time, I arrived home at 9:20ish.

Waking hours at this point: Over 48.

I was a little tired. BUT. I had an appointment. I had rescheduled a little get together with my friend Brandon to Wednesday after I couldn't make it at the last second before. He needed a monitor and a crossover cable and some help installing stuff. I went over and worked on it with him till about 12. Or maybe I got home at 12. I dunno; it all gets foggy there. Either way, when I finally gone to sleep I had gone about 50 hours with out serious shut-eye. Ahhhyeah!

Suffice to say, I slept pretty good. I woke up at about 9:24pm- which was great. I got up and went to work.

The more observant of you will be realizing that I don't normally go to work so "early". That is true. My boss's boss was bringing in a little Italian food as a thank you to the night team, and he said anyone that wanted to have it could come in at 10:00. It would be overtime. How sweet is that? Paid overtime + food. Y to the UM! I ate food, and worked into Thursday morning.

Thursday
After I got home, Abi called. Operation "Escort" was a go. I asked her when I had to be in the parking lot.

"1:45."

"I'll be there." I said as I hung up the phone. Since it was already 10:30ish, I decided to stay up. I shaved, freshened up and figured I could get some last minute holiday shopping in then come back, get some stuff and go to Agape. "Hmm, better bring Kiaya's gift just in case you don't have time to come back" I thought to myself. By the time I parked at Wal-mart, I realized I had grossly estimated my time. It was 12:20- I should be leaving now. I got back in the truck without entering the store, and quickly made my way towards 93. After I had gotten on 93 for a few miles, a sudden panic shot through me. "The gift!" I realized as I searched frantically in the seats, "I left it by the door!"

Sadly, I hadn't a cell phone. All that was to be done was for me to rush towards home. I turned the truck around and doubled back. I got home about 1:20, rushed in, found the gift and called Brad's cell. I talked to him for a sec and asked if I should meet them at the airport directly. It was funny; I talked to him and Abi for a few minutes and they talked entirely in code. First brad was like "The eagle hasn't left yet." And later Abi said something about "The mustard seed is departing." Anyway, it ended up that I was able to make it to MHT on time. Brad, Hannah and Abi were waiting outside the airport door for me very nicely. I had my hat on.

"Take that off! We have to sneak by them up to the food court." I did as I was requested and obscured the hat to the other side of my person. Kiaya and her brother were still checking in, and we exploited the distraction to get ahead of them and into position. Now, we waited.

Kiaya and fam came up pretty soon and she was apparently totally surprised. It was great. We hung out and chatted (Though I stayed in a McDonalds line for far to long only to find out they had totally forgotten about me) until she had to leave. We did our families tradition of stalking the person to the last possible moment. Then the rest of the Core went to Agape, and I headed home. But I stopped at some stores first (Christmas shopping). I roamed the halls of wal-mart and the mall with my huge cat in the hat hat (CITAH from now on) and I enjoyed the responses. Some people would do a sublte double take, not wanting to look stare. Others would turn a corner and start laughing mid sentence. Alot of mothers out with their little children would point up to me like I was a show in the circus. "Look honey, do you see that? Is it the cat in the hat? Yeah!" To which I would smile, and tip my hat. One big guy I almost ran into turning a corner just had this look of awesome admiration and said totally seriously "Cat in the hat- how ya doing?" to which I replied fine. I felt that the gift itself not only was "Kiaya" in the design, but continued to express herself through it. Maybe its the lack of sleep talking, but I could see her getting a kick out the reactions.

That was the good part, but when I'm tired, I get cranky pretty easy. I didn't get hardly anything, at the stores and one of the only things I did get I was growing anxious about, wondering if it was any good. I thought maybe I had been pressured into making a last minute choice that no one would admit to not liking even if they truly didn't care for it at all. Then I got home, and waited a bit for dad to come home so I could talk to him about truck stuff... only to find out he was going to be running errands late. I went to bed finally at 6:00pm- way to late.

Friday
I woke up to my dad's voice saying something. It was saying alot of stuff before I was coherent. I was trying to figure out why he woke me up. I looked at the clock- 1:39. It took a few seconds to register. Finally, my dad's voice came in clear:

"Tony called and wanted to know whats up with you. Your supposed to be there."

CRAP. I looked up at my dad and held my little brothers alarm clock.

"Dad, I brought two alarm clocks so this wouldn't happen. TWO!" I said in frustration as I jumped up and got dressed. It turns out later that someone must have fussed with the switches on my main alarm- it was set to radio, which doesn't work. I don't know why the other one didn't work.

I was at work by 2. Stupid eewah... sleeping in. Between this and the Portsmouth incident, there goes most of my overtime. This time after I got home and ate, I slept.

And that, my friends, was my week.

Oh, and by request: "Merry Christmas" gosh!

Yeesh!

Pictures next post guys.- Honest. :) Hold me to it.

Pirate ducky and the amazing update

2006-12-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

Hello everybody. Popular mob opinion (according to the Zogby Mob opinion survey) states that I should update. And so, since I love you guys (and my life) I shall.

Things have been fun and crazy at [AwesomeCo]. The program that I got hired to support is starting to come online, so I'm finally getting a taste for what I'll be doing. Since I'm getting in on this at the very beginning, it should be alot easier then the stuff I've had to learn so far. With this new program, I'm seeing the checklist being made and fixing stuff thats wrong with it. And I'm starting with just one client- its going to be sweet. I'm sort hitting my groove on the rest of the stuff I think, too.

Oh and I found out the other day that we had a crusher. I thought it was a dishwasher because I think its a Kenmore, or something that looks like a Kenmore. But while waiting for a bagel to toast one day, I took a closer look and found when I opened it up it was full of mostly soda cans and a few peices of carboard. And it was all crushed. Amazing.

I talked to one of the guys on nights here and asked him what we do with them.

"Nothing!" he said, chuckling. "Its like a big joke- we just through it out. People think that we're recycling but we aren't right now."

"Dude-!" I said, seizing the opertunity. "Can I take the crushed cans?"

He told me I could. "Sure! Were not doing anything with them!"

So yeah. Thats pretty cool- I guess I should be getting a small but steady stream of compressed UBC from now on. I'm stoked. Thats awesome!

This is a short update, I know. But I've been(am) busy.

Oh, one final thing. Alot of you have been asking for pictures of the cool mission control set up here at work. I shall do what I can- talked to my boss today and he says its fine.

Happy Ivory Coast National day (the most generic sounding of holidays ever!)

Mondays are a very bad word

2006-11-28T08:50:00.000-05:00

"But is this not a Tuesday post?" you ask.
"Yes. Sorta." answers I.

You see, I work in the twilight blurry spaces between the definitions of actual "days" as normal people call them. I make up my own hours of sleep and waking- nature be darned. With such a chaotic schedule, you think Monday’s bad fortune would not be able to find me. You'd be wrong.

I did give it the shake for 2 weeks, I will tell you that. But I couldn't run forever. Shortly after buzzing around and causing general Mondayness for the Green Dragon Rider, Mday flew its horrid destructive path to me. Heres how it went down.

Actual Monday day: A very good experience. It buttered me up like a fool. I went to the Marzolfs and played the cash flow game, Jessica H. came over and joined us, I had a crazy multi layer ice-cream cake desert that Lyndsi had constructed- twas beautiful. Twas bliss- nay, twas ignorance my good friends.

I should have caught on that something was up. Its obvious now- Monday was laying it on so thick it was ridiculous. How thick? How bout this: After leaving the Marzolfs, I actually heard none other then Mute Math ON THE RADIO. It was on the indiest of indie stations, 91.5 FM, and it was crystal clear. I got to hear most of the track "Noticed", a song among my favorites of all time, on the radio. It was good. It was too good.

But the even Monday grew tired of the sickening sweetness. I got home at 10:00 ish. So- think about this- is it possible for me to go to bed at 10:00 and wake up at 12:20? What is even the point? Monday decided to show me the futility. Basically, I layed in my bed waiting for it to be midnight:twenty. I got up. I read some online comics. I went back to bed, and waited again. The second the alarm beeped I snapped up and turned it off. Enough of this, I thought to myself, lets stop pretending to sleep and get to work already.

I got up and turned the coffee on for my folks and myself. I thought it a nice thing to do. I waited. It wasn't coming out. I looked at the time. It was 12:27. That coffee better start coming out of that darn whole soon, or I'm not going to get any. 12:29. I look behind the machine. Oh RIIIGHT... its unplugged.

Right before the coffee was done brewing, I remembered that I wanted to email myself a file at work. I ran down stairs and did the deed. When I came back up, it was about 12:37ish. Dad had risen. That was good. I didn't want to have to wake him- it was nice enough of him already to wake up and drive me to my work at 1am. I poured my coffee and we were out the door by 12:40. Perfect! I thought to myself, Today is going PERFECT.

Somewhere in a dark corner, Monday laughed at me. But it didn't protest my bliss. It knew that my fall was soon. It knew I wouldn't be laughing then.

We arrive at the door of [AwesomeCo].

"Love you dad!" I say as I give him a hug goodbye, "Thanks for driving me."
"No problem. Goodnight!" he answers, and climbs into the big red Ark. Just before he closes the door, I fall to the ground, struck to the core by a horrible epiphany.

"Nooooooooooo......" I whimper.
"What?" My dad asks, but then answers his own question before I break the news. "Let me guess- I.D. Badge?"
"Yeh-heh-hesss..."I fane cry. "MaaAAN!!"
"You'll have to have someone else let you in now; its too late to get back."

I knew he was right. I pulled out my PDA, and he through me his cell phone. I started digging through the numbers. I found my desk phone. I called it. I then got the number for the lobby and called it. As I was making this call, I caught the eye of one of my co-workers. He saw me and made a strange face, then nodded and started walking my way. I hung up the phone, and told my dad I was good. He bid his farewells once more, and drove off into the distance.

Big D., the co-worker who opened the door for me, answered graciously my apologies. "Everyone does it once or twice." He buzzed me through the few doors I need to get through to get to my desk. I felt so lame.

Our business has a laid back, friendly atmosphere. But that doesn't mean we take security lightly. Its an important company, and in every zone of the building you have to buzz to get in. You can leave, but you can't get back in without using your I.D. Badge. I can't go to the bathrooms and comeback with out using my card. I had to sheepishly use my co-workers once or twice. I combined trips.

Then I get on my computer and start checking through my email. A subject caught my eye and hung on the screen ominously. That CAN'T be for today... I thought to myself. It was.

Apparently, my co-worker T., the one that shares my shift, wasn't coming in today. Car trouble. What’s the big deal you may ask? Oh, nothing much. Only that he was GIVING ME A RIDE HOME.

So here I was. No ride home, and no I.D. Badge to let me roam around freely in the building.

Not that I had many roaming minutes anyway. Today everything happened at once. One of our most reliable servers didn't get its files on time. We waited till they were supposed to be in, then we got on the phones to call the company. The contact field in the call up sheet was blank. We had never had to call this company for this file- it usually completed first, so no one really knew off the top of their head the number or contact name. D. looked for a long time and couldn't find it. He decided he'd have to wake up one of our guys on call. But first he went outside to take a smoke. When he left, I opened several search windows and a few internal web sites. In 6 minutes, I found numbers and contacts for the company in another document. When he came back, I casually showed him the list. "Where'd you get this?" he asked. I told him. He kept looking at it and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, operations... lets call them. Why not." So he called them. I overheard his conversations while I sat and logged down some other server jobs. He got someone, but no one was sure they were the contact he wanted. He had to keep spelling out the file name. "Yes, you send us this file." he kept saying. "Yes, normally- every day, 2am. This is the first time its not been here." They'd say they’d call him back.

Every time they'd call him back, it would be another person, but they would ask about the file name and not know if they handled it. It was frustrating D., I could tell. Finally a big higher-up called him back and asked him what was going on. He explained it, and the guy knew what it was. "Okay, thanks. We'll try to get it out to you... otherwise...well, I guess we'll just do with out [service name] today...".

He called us back later saying he "Thought he might have found it." D and I joked that perhaps it was under the bed all this time. The file was supposed to be in at 2. It came in at 6:50something.

That was just one of the issues today. D was working the phones much harder then I was with a few other companies that were having issues. Something confused us because our servers processed a file earlier then we thought possible. The lightened holiday schedule apparently caused the mainframe to come back up faster then normal to process the files, and it took them. Our monitoring software wasn't even watching till 8, and it had already finished at 7:08. This little issue caused much confusion.

By 8, things were back on course. The late late file was finally processed and that basically finished what I had to do. My friend and fellow brother in the Lord, R., gave me a ride home- even though he was going the other way. So it all worked out. And now- I'm going to make some calls and lay my head to sleep.

For I have faced Monday, and I have overcome. Now I must rest.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T06:49:00.000-05:00

Today is thanksgiving.

I should know, I've been checking it out since 12:20Am and I can say with total confidence that it is legit. So, act accordingly. Eat turkey and stuffing, eat cranberries and pumpkin pie (or Blueberry, if you so please). Spend hours in conversation with your friends and relatives around a common feast. Hang decorations if you want. But most importantly, reflect to yourself and others what you are thankful for. If you live in this country, you shouldn't have to look to far.

Inspired by my friends around the homeschool blogosphere, I present to you a list- inferior, but similar, to theirs. In no particular order of, I am thankful for

1. My family, whom I will expound upon later
2. My wonderful job that has been given to me as a gift in spite of myself
3. Agape and all the lessons learned, both in and out of the classroom
4. Hannah, who evangelized Tim Burton to Abs and I, and for always having a new post, layout and music video on her blog. :D
5. Kiaya, who writes like other people breath and is never short of good conversation
6. Mr. and Mrs. G, who feel like family after one short year, make excellent Mexican food, coffee and forgive me cookies (even if there was nothing to actually forgive), and do amazing big bird impressions and play some mean jazz (but not all at the same time).
7. Brad for being the coolest, most stoic friend yet still being crazy, and for realizing how awesome musicals are and for inviting us to stuff.
8. Leah for being cool, being fun to work with at church and for having a dad who has an amazing truck I want to buy
9. Living in a country with freedom of religion
10. Living in a country with a free market
11. Living in a state with such low taxes and such good people
12. Being able to do conduct whatever buisness I want to (within, sadly, certain legal bounds)
13. Craigslist
14. Aluminum cans
16. Large transformers and their copper, but not their bloody thick iron
17. Turkey
18. Stuffing (the mix of cornbread crumbs and other ingredients put into fowl on special days)
19. Stuffing (The action, done to ones face, often with the above noun, also on special days)
20. Poetry
21. Cranberry sauce
22. Cliches, Making fun of
23. Cliches (that are actually true)
24. Online comics
25. Eisley- the band, the family (seen here with the producer in his backyard), the blog
26. Google (Whom I love irrationally)
27. My office computer, with its freshly christened dual LCD screen glory
28. Blogging
29. The funny pirate ducky on my desk (Its a ducky with an eye patch- its funny!)
30. Lists
31. The postal service (The band- I could do with out the actual system)
32. Pandora (the site, not the notorious box of ill-repute)
33. Optimism
34. Optimists
35. Being able to see all the sides of an issue
36. 88.9, WERS radio
37. Hours spent waiting for a manager to call work so you can populate thanksgiving lists
38. Abe, for being a genius and for his current obsession with satellites and the International Space Station
39. Joy for her never ending enthusiasm and never ending theatricality
40. Spelling theatricality right on the first try
41. Moriah for her quiet charm and wit, and for being deep
42. Abi, for being so mature and still crazy-random, and for getting along with me despite our attempts to kill each other a few years back
43. Jennifer for being such a role model to me, for the conversations we had last time she was over, and for introducing me to Regina Spektor
44. Josh for being a solid good brother, for pushing himself so hard and becoming teh mast3r of kung fu and for being the baddest baldy ever
46. Mom for being such a staple of love and affection all my life, for bringing me up and keeping her humor despite us all, and for the little bit of Streeter she has imparted into me
47. Dad, for all the priceless experiences he has imparted to me- working, camping, sanding, doing business and talking politics together. I've learned more from him then probably either of us will ever know.
48. Coffee so strong it can retard your very tongue
49. Coffee brewed so fast it can retard your attention spa- Ooh! I love this song!
50. Puns (No matter how ostracized I become from society for them, I still think they are hilarious)
51. Bosses that actually call so you can stop populating thanksgiving lists
52. The diverse and hilarious cast of characters that make up my work, all of which you could easily incorporate into a comic strip
53. Readers of this blog that sprinkle the globe and span the country (who ARE you guys?)
54. 42, for confounding us and creating the second question- what is the ultimate question?
55. God, for never being fully understandable, but always there. Because his mercy his greater then his judgement. Because he loved a wretch like me- to the point of his death, even death on a cross.

A small list I know, but there is of course a never ending supply of entries and I had to stop somewhere.

On number 53- honestly, this is crazy. I've seen a viewer from Australia last month and I get regular hits from North Carolina. Thank you for reading! Please don't be shy in the comments; if you enjoy anything or disagree or are even alive, let me know. I'm curious who reads this.

Have a happy thanksgiving everyone!

A low quality update

2006-11-18T05:24:00.000-05:00

A gap in the site
Has been closed at last
Other worldly might
Hath brought it to past

Another random post here.

I switch shifts next week- on to 1am to 9am. Hurray for weird hours!

Today was great. It actually got wicked busy for a bit- its Friday and since there is no trading on the stock market tomarrow, Fridays are often slow. But we had technical issues tonight. I probably can't go to deep into them, but it was great to see how [AwesomeCo] handeled it. A job "blew up" (a term we use around here that just means it didn't go through- but its more fun to say) and when we started trouble shooting it we realized it lead to much bigger issues. It was a flurry of activity for awhile- all on call techs were woken up, the day time I.T. and network gurus were brought in. I felt weird not doing anything- though I haven't administered a network quite of this scope, I still felt thats where I should be and it was hard to sit their and let them do all the troubleshooting. Not that I could have been much help- I don't really know the first thing about the way this network is laid out. Anyway the issues were resolved probably within 2 hours. It was impressive. After that, the only noticable difference for the evening was that one server had its jobs an hour late- which is not biggie.

I also got an official nickname now from D at work. D is a character- a master of colorful language and an artist of sarcasm. I believe he was a truck driver in his past life. I kept asking why we couldn't do things this way or improve efficiency by turning on more notifications that way.

"Its like your first frick'n week here, and your already trying to run everything Governor!" came the jesting reply. And from that point on, he would occasionally address me as The Governor. He made it official tonight by putting it on the white board. Funny stuff.

Break for random-

If time is currency of affection
What is the decider of its direction?
Trying to refrain from past mistakes
Eating my words with land o' lakes

Haha, okay so I guess I was to lazy to try and make that one work. Maybe later.

Oh- heres a funny thing. My friend's Jake posted a peice about going to a concert with a friend and not understanding on his life why anyone would want to pay money for a concert and not at least react to it- a head bob, a finger drum- something, anything! I mentioned to him that I am the same way, but I have a friend (meaning B rad) that is stoic as they come, and yet still enjoy music as Bloody flaming awesome. He replied back, saying "Yeah I guess, but bive bucks he dances in his room like a little girl" or some such. Well. I thought that was funny, but never would I have thought it to be so.

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear- but Brad himself admitting to all that was theere. There. *cough* Anyway...

He testified plainly on Hannahs blog to having random outbursts of singing and dancing.

I'm glad I didn't take you up on that bet Jake, or I guess I'd be out 5 bucks.

Totally uncalled for.

2006-11-11T02:02:00.000-05:00

Okay. Here it is- my story of employment. About 3 billion years late in coming, I know...

I don't want to rehash anything much about the whole Agape thing, because really I can't say much and its all behind me now. But it is important to appreciate the full scope of the following stories impact that I simply remind you that I was pretty miserable for a bit after I left. Agape and its people mean alot to me. And so even though I decided to "make the best of it" and I trusted God would eventually birth something from this, I had absolutely no suggestions for him. I had screwed things up pretty badly.

To compensate academically, my parents and I eventually worked out a more aggressive education plan at home. This will probably prove to be another wondrous work of Gods will; I ended up getting more organized and completing school faster as a result of leaving one. Odd.

While doing school on a Tuesday, I got a call. I picked it up and my friend Tim C. who used to go to my church was on the other line. I talked to him for a bit asking him all sorts of questions- he had just got back from Peru and was engaged, so I had a few for him) but eventually he told me "Hey, Zeke- actually, thats not the reason I called you. You remember my brother, Mike?"

I told him of course I did. I had met him on occasion and thought he was cool, but I had never really been friends or known him very well. Tim continued,

"Well, he works for a company, [AwesomeCo]- not sure if you have heard of it- doing I.T. stuff there, and there is an opening in the company right now. He thought of you and asked me if I could touch base and see if you were interested. It pays around such and such a year and is a full time job. Its in Salem. Are you interested?"

I asked him a few more questions, but of course I conceded that I was indeed interested. He gave me his brother's email address and I dropped him a line with my resume attached.

Mikes reply was short:

Sounds good man, when can you come in for an Interview? Are you free tomorrow?

Let me know. What are you looking for as far as salary is concerned?

I was dumbfounded. I talked to my parents, and then got back to Mike and set a time and day for the interview. My dad was a bit skeptical at first- he is, wisely, concerned that about me being able to finish my education. But this job's hours were 2nd shift- 3pm to 11pm- which is ideal.

After my dad was on board, which didn't take to long, he suggested that I try to make the best impression possible. We literally went to JC Penny and invested in some nice clothes, including a suit jacket and a TIE. Yeah. It was pretty funny. For the first half of the shopping trip, I just couldn't take it. It was too foreign to me- I am a WalMart-by-choice shopper. I bawk at even the most severe of sales at JC Penny's. But in the end, my dad knew it was important and he was fronting the cost. It took me awhile to get over that and the general sticker shock and actually look for something. Once we did, it still took a bit to decide what I wanted. We were looking at ties for maybe 10 minutes, having a conversation between us and the sales guy that went something like this:

Dad: "But now does this color go with that shade of blue? It doesn't clash with this, does it?"
Me: "I like this cause it really makes the colors pop. But its so clear, it almost makes the outfit look top heavy..."

Then we looked at each other and gave out a nervous laugh before I finally yelled "What are we DOING??" It was a strange but hilarious moment.

I went to the job interview and learned more. The people there were really nice and I got to know a bit more about the company and what I would do. I went in with the mentality that I had to fight to convince them of my technical ability. We ended up, however, not focusing on that very much. They seemed confident in that (for what reason I do not know) and instead talked more about the hours, what I wanted out of this job and so forth. It was good; I informed them that 3 to 11 was fine, (ideal, actually) and let them know that I was interested in this job because it would be a steady income but still give me the opportunity to learn some new things.

Days passed and I came in for another interview. Long story short, they hired me.

Now sit back and look upon this for a second- God took me out from some amazing people for awhile to deal with some things. But it left a void of fellowship and other things. Not only did he fill it, he gave me a job that makes me more money a month then I did on my own self employment all of last year. There is no way I can boast in this. I didn't even look for it. It came to me. And the people here are really great, too. Its amazing. This blessing was totally uncalled for.

So that is that. I have a full time job. But what exactly do I do you ask? The official job title is Batch Production Controller. But what does that mean?

Well, to understand this in context you have to realize what [AwesomeCo] does. [AwesomeCo] is a huge company that was actually started by [Awesome Oil Co] during a slump in the oil market, but now it has grown into a company that manages 15 TRILLION dollars of assets. Our division is a big part of that.

We're called [AwesomeCo] finance and we are an acquisition. Formally called [JustAsAwesomerCo], the founders of this company (most of who are still working here) found a great niche market- the overnight accounting for the stock market, basically. Every night, companies drop files on our servers that have all their trading information for the day. Every night, we run it through our systems- over 20 top of the line Power Edge servers and a Tandem mainframe- and spit it back out to them before the market opens so that they can trade on it. Over 90% of the securities exchange market goes through us. We are a relatively little company with a huge impact- if we went down, so would the market the next day. Because of that we have totally redundant servers in a different part of New Hampshire that will take over in the event this one goes down- complete with battery and generator backup.

Because it is imperative that this data get out every morning, there is a night shift that exists to babysit the automated system. I am training with them right now- every night, they monitor the system and check everything. We actually have a checklist where we go down a list of commands that are supposed to be run and make sure they were. If any of them are held up, we find out why. Sometimes its because the client hasn't sent us their data. Sometimes its a server glitch. Whatever it is, if it goes wrong, we have to get on the phone and get it resolved.

Right now, the department I am in supports three or so different applications. Their is the main one I told you about that does the data for most of the market, another one that is just for broker/dealers, and a brand new one which has come about because of some new regulations for the industry. The company has another program they are rolling out soon that has to get approved by all the regulating bodies. Once thats done, I'll move from the night shift to my 3 to 11 position. Right now, I'm on the 10pm to 6am shift. I'm cross training on backups and some other stuff. After a week, I'll move to the 1am to 9am position and train there. By the years end, the new program should be rolled out hopefully, and I will head up supporting it on my own shift. I'm pretty excited. Its cool stuff.

The greatest thing about it here is the environment. Everyone has been really nice and its pretty laid back. They have catered food every day for the people on the more sane shifts, and because I'm working after that they slip an extra 8 dollars a day in the salary for meals. They also have those awesome little individual serving coffee machines and a huge plethora of roasts to choose from- including such amazing flavors as blueberry and my new personal favorite of the season, pumpkin spice.

You do work here, but there is alot of in-between time when your waiting for files or stuff just isn't breaking and there isn't much to do, and thats when you get to utilize the broadband and blazing fast computers. Intel and I have had our differences in the past, but I am happy with my Pentium 4 hyperthreading system with two- count 'em, two! gigabytes of memory.

There is quite a bit more about my job that I'm sure I've left unanswered. But you get the gist. I waited for a bit to post this anyway, because I wanted to get a good feeling for what I'll be doing, but I figured if I didn't post it soon it would be pointless. If you guys have any questions though, feel free to ask them in the comments. I'll probably blog more about work in the near future.

Till next time everyone!

Edit:

Self-censored content:
My apologies to my new employer [AwesomeCo], who is amazing. Three days after I posted this, they called me because their web-crawlers flagged it for getting to close to revealing operational stuff and the company by name. They were really nice about it and simply let me know what I needed to change. All is well that ends as such.

---Z

Poetic musings

2006-11-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

Free Fall

Life starts in the womb
A tower so strong and so tall
And from birth to the tomb
We are all in free fall

We all fall different
And we all fall the same
We fall in unique and predictable ways

Depending on season
And our number of days
Sometimes our life falls together
Sometimes we fall away

But we all fall-
This is the one "Same"
Sometimes we think we are static
But it is never that way

-_---_-__-

Mental Vental Beta

A breather from the triumph
A lull in the break-neck pace
I need to take my doughy lumps
Less the soup be to sweet to the taste

But sour I can not make the soup taste
Even if I tried, I can't wipe this grin off my face
And no one would for this show me hate
But I shouldn't be reckless and cause an opposite state

I watch and read the lines alive
With unspoken meaning they ebb and dive
Like the waves of a dangerous ocean
Taming with meanings not yet spoken
A rough yet true field where hearts are broken
From nebulous meanings bestowed in token

Sit I there with a distracted concern
Not quite sure of what I've learned
But knowing still that trouble lies
In the admiration of innocent eyes

Sit I again with face aglow
From phosphorus light I do well know
Reading posts and drinking in
I feel attached but distant from my kin

Reading and weighing whats before me
I choose to pass on a possibility
A possibility to do good but with high risk
Of commiting greivous error if I miss

For my words are not arrows trimmed so well
They fumble in my hands my friends will tell
They sometimes maybe hit the mark
But but are dangerous enough to kill from afar

And this reason I choose to wait
And air my words at a later date.

(The post is crud; I know it well
but please do not to the world this tell.)
---_--_-
Eighh... so the mental vental is just a sort of random thoughts and reflections on things thinly veiled in crude poetry with sloppy composition. It was fun to write though.

Free Fall was inspired basically from the talks around K's blog about the deep questions and what not, especially as I've felt a sort of subtle transicion myself as of late.

And yes all; I WILL blog about my new job soon. I kinda want to average out a few days of what its like so I can more accurately tell you what its all about. Its for the good of the content here, folks. Honest.

Heh.. maybe I do take these posts to seriously. Anyway... It is a fun job I'll let you know that and I love it so far, but it does keep me a bit busy. Allegedly though, when I get into the routine, it slows down quite often which means I might have actually MORE time to blog and what not. We shall see.

More later.

(And by later, I mean an undetermined, non-defined stretch of time.)

A neglected copper mine

2006-10-29T23:57:00.000-05:00

This really looks unimpressive, but I swear its just a bad photo. Forgive the light quality, and trust me- this is actually very cool. React with oohs and ahhs accordingly.

So, as most readers of this site know by now, I currently going through a sort of scrap metal/capitalistic recycling phase right now. I dismantle and destroy things to sell their metal for money- especially copper and aluminum.

With this in mind, I have been trolling the nh.craigslist.com free ads for anything that might be fun and profitable. A while ago, I posted a listing in the "Wanted" section saying that I would pick up dead or dying UPS (Uninteruptable power supply systems... those things that power your computer and stuff when the power goes out). I advertised "dead battery, bad battery or no battery" because all I want from them is the copper in their large transformers. Maybe two or three pounds. A week went by, and all I got was someone asking $20 for a perfectly working unit. "I'm sorry, but thats not how we play this game" (I know only two people perhaps who read this will get the Paul Shanklin reference, but that's OK.)

Meanwhile, I answered a listing from someone who said they had a few monitors they wanted to get rid of. It was a phone number only listing. I called.

"Ages and stages?" The person said on the other line.

I was a bit confused, but I had the right number... Turns out, they asked for donated computer equipment for their preschool and they got more then they bargained for. Everyone dumped their computers on them. They kept the best and it looked like someone took most of the actual systems- but they had about 15 monitors left over. Most of them, as she told me were "still working as far as I can tell". I told her I'd take them all and that I'd call back shortly to arrange a pickup.

Meanwhile, sometime around the next day, someone finally answered my listing for old UPS systems:

"I have one ups system that I'm just waiting for the word to remove it. I think it was made in 1990 but I am not sure. It is BIG so you will need a pick up truck. Is this something you want?"

He said he was located around Exeter, which was a bit far for me but I conversed with him for a bit through email and he sent me some pictures of the beast that made me feel it was a reasonable risk to take. Plus, it wasn't very far from the monitors so I'd be combining the trips. I felt pretty good about it so I told him I'd pick up the unit and asked for the address and when I could pick it up. He wrote back:

"Hours of pick up are 08:00 to 14:00 ... My name is Sgt. Dave ..."

At this point my eyebrows were raised. Was this some military base I would be going to? I felt a bit nervous. I read on:

"...Upon your arrival you will need to call me a 2nd time so I can let security know. You will be going to a corrections center so NO firearms!!!"

A corrections facility? Wait isn't that like... *gulp* a prison??

Yup. Sure was.

Somehow I roped my good friend Jim into going with me. So here we are- two guys, driving up in a van loaded down with 15 computer monitors into a prison facility (complete with barbed wire fences stretching to the heavens), sitting in the parking lot by the sheriff's cars, suspiciously rocking the van back and forth, trying to get a cell signal to call the good Sargent out.

But it all turned out all right. In the end we made contact with him and he walked us to the loading dock (a secure facility mind you) whilst once making a joke about "not getting shot at". Which was great. Because even though we were honestly a bit concerned, having a guy be able to joke about it is fun. Anyways, if I did exit this life then, I would have wanted it to be while laughing. Sargent Dave was cool.

The Sargent called two guys from the maintenence team and together all four of us hoisted the big sucker into the van. It was ridiculously bottom heavy. Even with out the batteries.

Yeah, the batteries were gone. Luckily that wasn't our main focus anyway: Our main focus was the copper in the transformers. And... well, I'll let you decide:

This is a little more then half of the second smallest transformer windings. Yup, that is some fat PHAT copper wire of epic proportions. No, the picture doesn't do it justice. You have to examine this thing for yourself and feel the weight. Plus the low light conditions couldn't have helped.. This is the one Jim Sawed away at for about 40 minutes. The matching half to this- which is a bit smaller- is worth by itself 10 dollars. With that one transformer, we broke even. It will pay the gas money and then some. All together: Over 65 pounds of copper, as told by the bathroom scale in this picture:

I like this last picture; for some reason the copper stacked up like that makes me think of something out of a Doctor Who episode.

So... 65 pounds of copper times $2 per pound. I got $120 greenbacks in just copper, not counting the aluminum and wire (which I will also sale).

In the first picture, you'll notice behind the block of copper a big aluminum heat sink with several devices attached to it. These have copper inserts for getting rid of the heat. Copper then aluminum, smeared together with thermal paste. Whatever these were, they must have ran pretty hot. I was looking at the copper with a greedy eye. My dad stopped me.

"Before you cut into that thing for copper, let me look up the part number".

I shrugged and told him to go ahead. Dad was great. He kept coming in when our dismantling of doom was at full fury and impart small words of wisdom. He would say something like "This transformer here looks like the top has just been tack welded on... I'm willing to bet that if you could cut through that, the rest would chisel right off." Then he'd leave. And sure enough, it would be as he said and save us untold hours. Jim, who did basically did all the copper removal work (thanks Jim!) got really fast after using this method. He then used the blocks he removed as stands to elevate the transformer up as he pounded the copper out. He got pretty fast at it. The last few went by in probably less then 10 minutes a transformer- quite a feat.

Later my dad came down with the spec sheet for the chips he looked up.

"Guess how much each of those is worth."

"Five dollars?" I guessed.

"Twenty?" Jim chimed in.

"If you wanted to buy them online right now, they would cost you 320 bucks a pop."

So yeah... there were about 4 or 5 of those on one side. I doubt we can get that much for them, but they should be worth a bit more then their scrap value, thats for sure. I just have to get someone to buy 'em now.

Okay, lets see. I've told these stories so often I've gotten bored of them, heh... But. I didn't mention the 15 monitors. I got to utilize my handy dandy trusty wusty (sorry) Pocket PC:

I was pretty proud of this. It was raining very hard last Saturday, so I backed the van into the garage and threw a computer in the back and set it up as a test box. I then started taking the monitors and testing them one by one. I'd put a piece of tape on it, give it a number, then hook it up and see how high a resolutioun it would take, what size it was and how high the brightness and contrast had to be turned up to order to look good. I put in all this info in on the fly with my pocket PC. I felt very geekish. Thank you so very much Pip. This thing rocks.

Oh, and you have NO idea how hard it was to get that picture of the Pocket PC clear. I must have taken ten pictures of that thing. I'm almost more proud of that picture then I am of the whole copper thing. I'm not going to show you the monitors; you all should know what they look like and the shots were really low-light, ghetto quality anyway.

So I have 6 monitors left. If you want one, come and get it. I'm open to trade, cash or begging. I'm trying to sell them but monitors are a dime a dozen these days. Except for the 19 inch, $10 a piece is probably all I'll get for them. Which is fine.

All in all, this was a pretty encouraging Saturday for me, and I think for Jim too, who is also getting into the spirit of capitalistic recyling (busy though he be). This was certainly a high yield. Its funny; all this momentum in the scrapping business and I'm about to start a full time job. But I'm going to keep at the scrapping stuff. Its just to much fun. And I think there's a good business to be built around this.

"Whats that, Zeke? A full time job??" Yeah. I'll post about it later. Quite crazy, actually. Until then, have some more pictures.

Jim and Dad confer over a big HOG transformer that has just had its lid removed.

(Click to see full size and read text)
Imagine seeing the whole world like this; little mental price tags on everything. That's pretty much where I am right now... Twisted, I know.

Small disappointments

2006-10-19T22:27:00.000-05:00

Well, my last entry or two have been all about happyish things. So I figured I'd pop the collective cheerful outlook balloon now, and metaphorically rain on any parades that might be passing. Ladies and gents, with out further ado- a list of things I am disappointed in.

First, lets deal with things close to home. I am disappointed, not only with myself but in all of you for not realizing for over a stinking YEAR that I spelled "Reepicheep" incorrectly with as "Repicheep".

A) To say I am a Narnia fan is an understatement close in kin to saying that "the Beatles were stars" or "Being dipped in hot oil stings a little". So I should know these things. Furthermore, Reepicheep is one of my favorite characters in all the series if not THE favorite character. How could I do this to such an honerable beast?
B) I am literate for crying out loud!

In my defense (for what its worth) my first instinct was to go for "Reepicheep". But something gave me pause, and I SWEAR I rememer looking it up somewhere online and thought that I was wrong, and therefore thought I was correct in spelling it "Repicheep".

And now I have had this name for about a year or more on blogger. Flash forward to about a week ago- I went to a surprise party for Jim (which, I must say , pWnd! Props to you, Steph. and fam for pulling it off). The person's house who hosted the party also had FIOS (which is an amazing high speed internet running on fiber all the way to the house, but thats a topic too happy for this post). So to try it out, and for a little shameless self-promotion, I go to this very website. Right away Steph says "Thats great, but you've spelled Reepicheep wrong". To which I get all defensive and say "no no no, I thought so too but look it up" and I triumphantly bring up wikipedia....and fall flat on my proverbial face.

So that was rant number 1. Its fixed now, but I can't believe I went so long with out knowing my error and I am saddened at heart to know that no one else corrected me.

While I am still complaining about this community, it also saddens me that no one got the obvious coded message in the previous post. What do you all have, lives or something?

Thats actually about all I can manage to be dismal about. I'll tell you one thing I am NOT dismal about right now: GreenDragonRider's upcoming story about What happened to Susan. I am so excited about this project you have no idea. Everyone go over there and show her love in the comments so she gets encouragement and all that stuff.

Oh, and here are the only two photo's from the computer smashing party that wasn't:

Shinyish pile of metal and wire on the end of the table closest to camera is copper. Its a bad picture; I know. You see it was stuck on Black and white and I couldn't fix it, and on top of that the memory card filled up after I took two pictures. Bummer.

From left to right: Mr. Sledgehammer, partly concealed by Mr. Dead and Dying Monitor Tube. Far right and off picture: Mister and Misses Plastic monitor shell and their two kids.

"Who are you guys?" and more scrap stories

2006-10-16T16:15:00.000-05:00

The last post really seemed to bring some readers out of the woodwork. Thank you all for reading, I appreciate it oodles! But- who are you guys? I think I've identified most of you by now through tedious deduction and case files, but there are a few of you whom I have only cold leads. I would never demand a full name from anyone, but if you could give me a name- even if its a first name, a fake name that sounds like your name, an inside joke- anything! I'd be a much happier person.

Not to say that I am not a happy person normally. I must say; as of late God has been spinning my story in positive ways I could not have imagined. Even reading Book the 13th in A Series Of Unfortunate Events didn't bring me down more then it intrigued me. In fact, in honor of this fact, I was seriously contemplating doing this post entireyly in the Sebald code. But that woold take to long, and there are probably better means for such ends as a codud messages.

So I had an awesome idea: I would make going through computer scrap into a party. A computer and other electronics destruction party- or CAOEHDP, I suppose. Anyway, I figured afficiency would go up since we could invent a sort of disassembly line, and I figured it would be a lot of fun, because, come on- who wouldn't vant to tear apart and smash computers with heavy tools? The idea of putting a sledegehammer through a screen alone has had strange effects on all my friends. I can understtand it.

I had this idea floating around my head for awhile, and I wanted to get moving on it before the snow ruined everything. Soo after I got the idea cleared with the parents, I sent out an email to my geek friends and told others that I forgot wherever I could. But I only gave them 2 days notice. Yeah, I don't kmow what I was thinking.

Anyway, some people wunted an update and wanted pictucres. Basically, I had a fun time, but it was just me and Anders. For awhile. Then we picked up N and that was fun too, but we only went through 3 monitors and a scanner.

On the way back home after picking up Noah, we passed the American legion building. Outside was a sign that said "Free yard sale". I had never heard of such a thing, but instantly I knew it was for me. I pulled into the nearest place I coulhd do a U-turn and checked it out. Apparently they decided that since thteir yard sale fundraising thing was over, everyone could just take what they wanted for free. Being in a scrap mood, I looked around. I saw a table saw. It would have been to heavy for me to get in the van probably. I saw a miicrowave. I took it. Microwaves are high in copper and low in fat. This one especially, because it was ventilmated which means there is a deceent size motor spinning the fans. w00t! While looading it I met a guy who has been in the scrap businness for 17 years. He was a colorful fellow full of merriment and boisterous swearing. He had seen this place and pulled in, but he had onlyy his car with him and so could take only smaller things. He did have his trusty crow bar with him, so he toook what he could. What he could was the cast aluminum in a propane grill. "Here, do you want the rest of this f___n grill? I'd take it myself man, but I've dun't have the f___n truck. But there's some aluminum here, this might be steel but it could be aluminum, got some wire here for the igniter- the fittings are all f___n brass. Here, take it!" It was a genrerous gift. I threw it in the back, too.

I carried in the microwave like a slain beast I brought to a facilhitate a table of plenty. I dropped it on the ground dramataically.

"What have you got there?" my dad asked, and I told him.
"Wait wait wait- before you take an axe to that thning see if it works."

The thing had no proper cord- just three wires coming out. It was apparently the type you install in your kitchen. I didn't think it would work, but I shrugged. Why not? I pulled the power cord out from a monitor and plugged the wires into it. The unit's clock came on.

Well, so far so good. After fiddling around with the menu, we got it to try and cook. The light turned on and it sounded like it was running. "How can we be sure?" someone asked. "Get some water" my dad said, "Get some popcorn!" others chimed in. I ran into the housse and grabbed some grapes. We threw them into the nuke and turned it on. They sparked and popped- it worked! We later proved that the motors worked too. This is all cool, but we don't need another microwave. And even though its outside dimensions are bigger, its pretty small inside. Does anyone out there want a microwave? If so then thats cool, I have an extra. But otherwise its going down. To much copper to just have it sit there, all intact like but not doing anything.

Oh- one more thing. Remember the table saw I saw? Well I planned on telling my dad about it to see if we should go get it later. But I forgot. Sunday I remembered, I think during our youth group thing- we all went to Macks Apples and made pies from picking to baking. It was a lot of fun. But on the way back home, dad asked me where I saw the table saw. We pulled in, and sure enough, it was still there. We decided to take the sucker home. That was a challenge. That sucker is HEAVY. Once we finally got it in the house though, we surveyed what we had found. On one hand, their is probably 70 pounds of steel on that thing and a good deal of copper in the massive motor, so if it didn't work, its no problem. But having a working table saw would be awesome. While plugging it in, we discovered the cable was badly damaged. We plugged it in and- nothing. After looking all over for the switch, we found it. The machine roared to a life. Dad and I started laughing the almost evil type of laugh when you get something very good that by all accounts you shouldn't have got. I turned the device off and quickly fetched a face shield and a scrap two by four. I spun the beast up once more and fed the board through. It cut like butter.

I'm pretty psyched about it. The blade is even in good condition! Soon, I hope to buy a cut-off blade to cut through the iron surrounding the copper wire in the transformers. Should make the work a lot easier.

Thanks for reading- and those of you who comment, remember to tell me who you are! :D

Free flowing mind patty melt

2006-10-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone.

First of all, I'm so happy (blessed?) to have a few cool friends care about if I post or don't. The truth is, I just haven't been in the mood to blog recently. On the one hand, I really wanted to have a nice big and really good piece for the next post. But on the other hand, like Kiaya said, it doesn't have to be profound. But you see I was (am) on the verge of such a great topic. I am on the verge of a potentially major-life-style-changing sort of post, and so I wanted to see if that pans out. I'll probably know in a week or two. Then I'll really have a post. Or not. We'll see.

But as for this one, I think I'll just do a rambling/stream of conscious cop out. Forgive me, for I have no creativity and am slightly cranky right now. Here goes:

I had ALOT of fun at the hike. What can I say, I just LOVE the crazy cool ilk that Agape seems to attract. I had some great conversation and alot of fun times.

Some times in the past, things I'd see around me would lower my hope for humanity and dreams I'd see inside of me would raise them. Now, things I see in people around me raise my hopes and respect for humanity, and things I see within myself lower them. I don't know exactly how to take it. Its not a witty nugget of wisdom; its just a reflection.

Salvation- once saved, always saved vs. Worked out by faith debate. Ageless, endless and yet ever so pressing. This topic came up at the dinner table strangely enough, and I avoided answering for awhile, mainly because I disagreed with myself. By my sense of justice, I would say that certain people shouldn't be forgiven, or that at least, if they were forgiven and then got worse later the grace that was extended to them would seem to be void. For example, I can grasp God ransoming someone who killed others, I can understand that person being reformed and forgiven (Like Paul), but someone being ransomed by God and then going out and killing, I just sort of have this kneejerk gut reaction against them being still "saved". Not that my instincts make it right.

Perhaps it makes sense to think of the free gift of salvation as not a one time use gift- maybe something like a beverage. Maybe an antidote; yes that works. So if you accept this antidote for a year or two for free, you're great. But you can take the gift and then not use it for awhile, at point your in trouble. In this way of looking at it, it is simply a matter of USING the free gift.

I know, there were zilch scripture references in that, which I suppose makes it a large bunch of pointless speculation. Very well, treat it as such. I really am just wondering things out loud.

Uhh, what else.... I have discovered some music recently that I really don't like. That, no matter how much I try to find the cool artistic intent behind it, I can't think of anything good to say. Yes, it was on the radio.

Cliche ahead warning: When God shuts a door, he really does open another. Its almost like he's trying to lead me somewhere (Mock sarcasm: NO! rEEALY?). But its true. The Agape thing (disclaimer: even though basically my fault) really broke me for a bit, but I bounced back from it for the better. I hope that all can do the same. Its ironically enough gotten me on a better path for finishing up my education and POSSIBLY even- oh right, that I was going to save for later if it panned out.

Uhh... Speaking of pans. Bed pans make me think of oil pans, or actually vice versa.

I think we should turn some of our frickin huge amounts of coal into artificial Gasoline and stick it to our enemies over in good ol' midEa. Having your enema hold the purse strings to your economy is basically stupid. If you allow major opportunities to regain control of the purse strings, possibly even treasonous.

I do believe in Bigelow- I do, I DO!

Is

Update:I just posted this by accident. I think it was a sign. I am tired, I am through. I am tired, how bout you?

You want a post, wise guy?

2006-10-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

Zeke is not dead.

---Someone who should know

P.S.: More at eleven*.

*does not guarantee or designate actual time.

A short scene from my life

2006-09-26T17:45:00.001-05:00

So my mum brought the mail addressed to me down to my lab... I look through it- Credit Card offer, personal note and an army recruiting brochure.

Me: The army wants me, mum
Mum: Oh?
Me: Yup... and they say they'll give me this great gift- a messenger bag.
Mum: *laughs* For what? Signing up?
Me: No, dying.

At this point, my Mum stares at me with strange expression for an uncomfortable second or two.

Mum: Well... I could really use that messenger bag...

Of ROC, humanity and suprisingly light metal

2006-09-22T22:31:00.000-05:00

I think I am lowering my standards, and allowing my blog posts to wander and ramble to topics completely unrelated. So litigate me.

Its time to ROC
Everyone! I can not believe I have been this slow in telling you all. I have a new blog that I am doing with a couple other friends. Its all about Random Obscure Culture- and ergo, is called SpreadROC.blogspot.com. I encourage all of you to check it out, look around and comment. Suggestions, criticism, rotten tomatoes- whatever you got. Oh, and be sure to read my proudest of stories: English Jack- a hermit who lived in the white mountains. Now you don't want to miss that, do you? So quick! Head on over!

Very light iron
Recall this pile of computer carcasses?

All the stripped cases (the big metal things on the back) are gone now. I took them to a scrap metal dealer. I had to get rid of a fridge... and due to very troublesome freon issues, I couldn't take the scrap copper (I approximated $30 dollars worth) out and sell it myself. We had to pay them 20 dollars to take it... Its frustrating, but its the cheapest option. The Londonderry dump will take it for 50 dollars. I could have an HVAC guy come and "reclaim" the Freon with special equipment, but that's $79 per hour. In the end, I just had to admit defeat and let the scrap yard get all the profit.

Because of the computer recycling project, I've been calling around a whole bunch of scrap metal buyers and checking rates. They weren't the best deal on anything but the fridge, but they were close, so I took the steel computer cases there. This grade of steel is called "light iron" for some reason. Perhaps its because you get so little for it. I turned those cases into $1.75. Yeesss!!!

One of the workers just told me I was "all set, you can go now." But I protested- I wanted my money. He must of thought I was daft, but dang it, that's the hardest buck seventy-five I've ever earned.

The scrap yard itself was really huge and impressive. I think everyone should see it- its that cool. Definitely my little bro will have to- he would go bonkers.

There are HUGE piles of metal everywhere, separated by large dirty gravelish roads. When you drop off stuff, you're actually right in the thick of huge dump trucks, little Bobcat vehicles scampering everywhere and huge, two story clawed juggernauts on wheels. I actually had to stop to let this giant CAT claw-mobil pass me. Another one was crunching up metal in the distance. Its so active, so abuzz with activity and alot of man power. It struck me as a kind of outside factory- metals in various states of sort and crush, people moving about, heavy machinery everywhere. Words don't do the fun it was justice.

Seemingly deep random thinkings:
Humans are so frail. We think we aren't, but our lives teeter on edges never seen until it is to late. Amazingly small things can trigger horrible events. People can ruin lives by a few ill planned words. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, your life is delicate and can be de-railed. As sad as it is, it is profound:

"...All the tears we cry tell us were made the same... We build our different lives, but they all break the same." ---Mute Math

It is truth.

Incredible video
Okay, on to quite probably less deep thoughts. I've found out how to embed video and I have to show it off with this absolutely amazing animation for a song by a band called "The Real Tuesday Weld". No, serious.

The Real Tuesday Weld - Bathtime In Clerkenwell

Mah tooph ith out

2006-09-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

Before I get on to this post, I just have to say a few words of thanks.

I have amazing friends that I don't deserve. Everyone has been so kind to me. To everyone who IM'd me, left me notes on my blog or expressed their sympathy and best wishes in some way or another, thank you SO much. Really, I am humbled. Thank you, you guys are "pretty much awesome". You've been so kind that it hurts.

Okay, now to the post. I just got back from camping/little family vactation and its pretty fun stuff, so I'll probably post about about it next. But I was almost done with this story about my tooth getting pulled out, so its first up to bat.

Friday I went in for a tooth extraction- well, more like whats-left-a-tooth extraction. Yeah, I might as well level with you all: My dental health ain't exactly going to win me any Crest scholarships. I basiclly had a muller that had rotted so badly that it broke once upon a peanut M&M about, oh, I'd say a month ago. I fetched the tooth out and kept it around for a little while, hoping that (since it was in two peices) I could con the tooth fairy into giving me double, but instead I got nothing. Apparently shes a pretty smart dame or she stopped making house calls , but thats another story.

Back to the extraction. So, we've recently changed dentists. And man, I'm a generally easy going guy and don't readily fault professionals but now that I've been with the new people (Aspen dental, if you'd like to know) I can see how much better they were then our old dentists. These guys are actually FRIENDLY.

These are all the pre-concieved notions I have going into the dentist's today. With all that being said though, I was a little nervous once I started watching the oral surgeon who was going to pull the roots out from underneath my tooth. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

He was an older gentelman- a nice fellow. He made friendly banter while going briefly going over my file. At one point, he stopped his activity behind the operating chair and turned back to me. He had noticed the Sarcoma in my health record. He asked me about the details. I told him my story.

"Your very lucky... very lucky. Sarcoma is a pretty bad dissease."

I could tell that he had a story. I was curious, but I stopped myself from asking any questions.

"Your very lucky." he echoed again.

Then he went ahead and shot me up with novocaine. He told me his name I'm sure, and of course I forgot it. But it doesn't matter- I know his name. His name is Shaky.

Probably not the best nickname for a dentist, but its true. His hands were shaking. This is what gave me second thoughts. Watching him work was akin to the scene in Toy Story 2 where the toy doctor fixed up woody. The old man could get the small stitches into woody-he just had to time his moves against his shaking hands. I'm guessing this is how it was for my surgeon, Mr. Shaky.

I kept telling myself that they wouldn't have let him work if he had lost his ability. And lo and behold, he hadn't. His hands moved like mine after 5 big mugs of coffee, but he had some mad dentistry skillz. The pain when the needle for the novocaine went in was very minor. This guy was good- but he wasted no time. He was one of the fastest dentists I've been underneath. And man, I am so glad for novocaine- all i could feel was the tension on my mouth, but I could tell that he was really REALLY torqing my mouth. It was kinda scary. It took him a long time to pull the roots out, then he had me bite down on some gauze and told me to keep it there for the next hour. He gave me a perscription for a speacial kind of pain killer that actually binds to the pain receptors... pretty crazy stuff. Then he looked at me and said very seriously

"Make sure you take the first pill BEFORE your novocaine wears out."

He didn't have to tell me why. I had felt the raw force he had used in prying the roots out of my mouth. Even with the novocaine it still hurt a little.

On the way home, it started to hurt more, but I had to keep gauze on the part of my mouth sence it was bleeding slightly- which meant that I couldn't swallow the pain meds till I was finnished with the gauze. The first day hurt pretty bad, but I took me a nap and later that evening we headed out for a vacation. All in all the surgery went probably as good as could be expected...my only regret was that I didn't get to see the mangled tooth they had pulled out.

More stuff later.

BTW today is my birthday, or so they tell me. I don't really remember it.

Circumstances make me a liar.

2006-09-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

Well... this will probably be the hardest situation I have ever faced.

I have to work through some things and I can no longer take regular classes at Agape. There is the remotest of possibilities that I can rejoin in a few weeks time, but I have convinced myself not to hope against hope as it has proven to me in the last week to be a fool's strategy.

Forgive me- I told you all so optimistically how much I looked forward to seeing you every week. It was true, and I wish I could. But these circumstances- curse them! They make me a liar. Forgive me.

Harder still is that the total reason can not be disclosed, much to my dismay. I feel I owe it to you all, my core of friends at Agape that visit this site frequently and many of you who don't. You ARE my friends, don't I owe you a simple or at least clear reason? Know this: its not my decision that these things remain totally concealed. I have done the only thing I could: make a stance to at least tell no tinted half-truths (which has been suggested), convenient as they may be. I owe you all better, even if it means leaving more questions then answers. At least the answers won't be some rot I can't live with.

I have the strangest urge to tell the truth. Though I perhaps would loose a few friends and I most certainly would not come out unscathed, I feel that the Truth, or heck- even just a small dose of simplified truth- is the only thing that can make this finished.

"...and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." -John 8:32

I'm not saying I would be vindicated or proven clean or anything- there would be no clear cut victory; for the blame for this situation follows a winding trail that has entry ramps at my door- but at least it would be over. The knot in my stomach would be able to die. However, that's not how people are telling me to play it- and I understand there reasons. They aren't even necessarily wrong. Its just....URGH.... This whole situation has frustrated me to know end.

I love you guys. Everyone at Agape- from the toddlers to the teachers. It really felt like one big family.

I suppose this is it. I wish everyone at Agape the best- and I mean that. Every single family- I leave with no grudges. Just a large knot in my stomach and some regrets.

I'll see you all around.

Long live Mrs. Woodman!
Long live Agape!

...Z..ek..e..

(..Wanderer...)

My next hair brained business plan. Or: an unlikely gold mine

2006-09-01T20:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, now for a real life post: no this is not a dream. I suppose I should apologize for that last one, but hoho baby, I am not sorry. That worked even better then I thought. And honestly! It was a real dream, haha... suuckaahs!

So... what have I been up to?

Life for me has been louder- the highs are higher and lows lower, so that the contrast is much sharper and abrupt sometimes. This is life more, well, lifelike. If I had to choose between extremes and a dull semi eventless life, I do think I would choose the extremes. Not that I enjoy my mistakes...bah, but enough of theory. Lets get into it, shall we?

Here's an outline:
I went to soulfest and it was great
BTW my birthday is coming up
Heres my wishlist, fam.
I like various music
I'm sort of on a diet
My little bro is cool and I have gold-fever.

(some items removed for brevity's sake)
(Update- and since I know some of you have short attention spans, I'll put the topic in bold so you can skip right to the one you care about. There, ya happy?)

I went to soulfest and it was great
It was an amazing event, but by now I've told some of these stories so many times that it seems stale to re-hash them so maybe I'll take this a different route and focus on the volunteering.

This year, I volunteered part time at the festival in order to get a discount ticket. I got there under the assumption that I was going to work in IT (information technology- computers, networking, etc.) because, well...thats what I was told I would be working in. Instead, the scene I arrived at was something like this:

Everyone was friendly, but everyone was busy. They were understaffed by about 200 hundred volunteers and no one knew what I.T. was. Finally a light bulb came on in the leader of volunteer's face and she said "Oh! I know where you go!" or something to that affect and much merriment was partaken of by all.

Until I got there, and the leader was utterly confused.

"Uhh, no the networks... the network was set up like, 2 weeks ago... were good- but thanks! Thank you for singing up, we uhh- if anything goes wrong, we know where you are!"

Hah, I got it. Someone made a booboo. I'm okay with that- they didn't need me there, but they DID need someone at the yurt.

"What is the yurt!?"

Well, since you asked...

The yurt was a special dome that was set up inside of the backstage/secured area. But when I say secured, I use the term lightly. Even with the shortages, there were about 350 volunteers or so and almost all of them could get backstage.

Anyway, the yurt was basically mission command- the temporary office of all divisions. The leaders all had their seats in their: Two people who basically ran soulfest this year, EMT, gunstock staff, people who coordinated transportation for all the artists, drivers, security, etc.

My job was sort of half secretary, half bouncer. I checked in and out radios, charged batteries and guarded the gates with my life from unauthorized personal. It wasn't bad- I enjoyed it actually. There was one other girl on shift with me, Priscilla (I recall this because I think it was the coolest name I heard at the festival) and the lady in charge...whom, lord forgive me, I cannot recall the name of. It went pretty good and even had it's emergencies to keep everything fun- there were not enough radios to go around, and we had to allocate them and try and make all the departments happy. On top of that, some were malfunctioning. On top of that, we had the weather to deal with- someone was tracking it on radar and was letting us know how many minutes off it looked as the staff tried to call when to shut down certain things and when to keep going.

One of the most exciting things to happen at me during the festival occurred right in the middle of all this: an environmentalists guy jumped the chain and tried to confront the girl who was heading up the festival on them not having recylable bins out everywhere yet. I was still new and he just came in like he owned the place and got past me. Luckily, the lady was a tough chick and firmly, but as kind as possible under those circumstances, escorted him out the door.

Yeah...Uhh, sorry- oops.

Well, you know I said I wasn't going to talk about soulfest much, but hah! yes I did! Hopefully it was a story you hadn't heard yet.

BTW my birthday is coming up
So... My birthday is coming up. That's cool, I guess. But I'll be honest. I don't want to be 20 right now. In a year or two, I'd be fine with it. But not right now. It scares me. I never planned on being in school right now... I forget what wonder job I was going to have, but I recall that I had planned I was going to graduate at 16 and basically get out and start adventuring from a converted van. Such is not my life as of yet.

My little bro is cool...
Let me just brag on my little brother here for a second. This kid I think must be like what my dad was at 7. He's more technically intuitive than I will ever be and shall easily surpass my skill in things tech, quite possibly before he turns 16. Some kids bug their older brothers about getting a toy or giving them the bigger piece of something. Littleman bugs me to help build a computer.

He came up the other day with everything he figured he needed to start off with: a case, a keyboard, tape, and a remote control tank. He taped the case onto the tank so he could drive it around. Alas, it was to heavy but it is the thought that counts. I mean, that's an awesome idea, isn't it? It's like the ultimate computer couch potato. You don't even have to go to the PC, the PC can come to you!

Anyway, he had asked me questions a few weeks back about how computers worked and this kid sat through me explaining everything I could on a very technical level of how the hardware works to do things, and I daresay, I think he retained over half of it. He keeps coming up to me and saying

"I have the, uhh, RAMs, the muvverboard, the disk drive and the- whats-it-called? Professor?"

"processor?"

"Yeah, wight."

I'm just geeking out about it. My friend Jim was over the other day and prophetically declared that "He's going to pwn us all. He'll be a crazy modder- he's going to pwn. You better keep an eye on him." I told him that so far I'm on his good side and I plan to keep him there. So that's what I'm going to do: I'm going to help him build his own computer from spare parts, and I'm seriously thinking about teaching him the command prompt. I think he's ready. He shall be the smallest hacker ever, migets aside. (Are there midget hackers?)

...and I have gold-fever.
And now for the content that the title teased: My hair brained gold exploiting business idea... No, a new one!

Those of you who have been to my lab know that I have ALOT of computer stuff. Most of it pretty much junk. I mean there is spare parts, but you only need so many pentium pro's with 64 mb of ram. If you think I'm bad, you have no idea.

A long time ago (perhaps 6 months- probably closer to 2 years ago) I decided to totally clean out the basement. What better way, said I, then to remove everything from it, resort, then replace? And so, I hauled out one weekend, about half the contents of the basement outside. I placed it on palates and sorted stuff in the basement. Come dusk, my dad warns me:

"You better put those in plastic bags and put a tarp over them, just in case you don't get them done soon and it rains."

Oh shoo, I think to myself, I'm going to be done tomorrow. But I obeyed anyway. Ha, glad I did.

Dad and I just took the tarp off yesterday and started going through. I had 16 computers in there.

Read that: 16 MORE computers then the ones in my basement. Some of them are a bit rusted, as you can see. Some are a lot rusted:

I've never had a rusted screw holding back an expansion card before, so this has been an interesting life first for me. I encountered these on occasion while sifting through the hardware and pulling things of any value (PCI video and network cards, etc.)

After I had vultured over them myself, I called my friend Jim. I had two questions for him.

"So, I have these systems over here and I know you like shiny coiled wire for your crazy projects. Want to see what you can get out of these power supplies?"

...to which he replied "Sure." and came over. My other question was

"So Jim...how up are you on your alchemy?"

To which he actually knew what I was talking about. You see, a while ago while he was in high school chem, he was talking to me about the process for extracting medals out chemically and electro-chemically. (I might have just invented that last word up, but its cool and makes sense so lay off) People do it for gold recovery from plated jewelry. They also do it to recover gold from computers.

Gold is a really good conductor. It doesn't corrode either. And so things that are important are plated with it- CPU's, motherboard pins, connectors for expansion cards, etc. If you can pull it out, its worth alot in the right volume. An old 486 chip has about 0.015 ounces of gold. Not much, say ye, right? Well, do you know what that's worth right now?

$9.36. Gold is floating around $620 an ounce right now. Newer chips have less gold, but they have it. And the beauty is this: Supply.

Computers are rarely recycled. Some companies are just now starting to begin programs to recycle them, but they cost money for the consumer ($30 shipping for HP's, which is the most successful large recycler). You really shouldn't just throw them away- they do contain some chemicals that hurt the environment, but none the less, some landfills are filling up with them. They call it e-waste.

Now you know I'm not the bleeding heart save the world type. I'm the free market lets make some money type. But it seems here that we have a beautiful synergy of the two here- or at least, a very good marketing ploy for all those bleeding heart types to give me money. I won't complain.

And it's not just gold. Silver is used in chips as well and hard drive platters nowadays are coated with a cobalt-platinum alloy. Then there are the non precious metals: casings of drives are often aluminum, and the case is steel (sometimes covered in plastic). Those won't fetch much, but they will fetch something. And so it has begun- my little brother and I spent today taking this:

And turning it into this:

Little man was a huge help with me on today's project... he got right in there with his screwdriver and helped me rip out power supplies, drives, LED's, plastic shells and everything else.

We stripped these computers down further then I have ever before. I basically reduced the cases to about 80 pounds of steel (which I plan on selling) and the useless plastic inserts and such. I removed every motherboard (which is quite a chore on some of the boxes) and tried to "leave not a rack behind." They are clean. After we were done, the pieces were a mess and so we had to resort them. Littleman is amazing at this sort of thing:

Behold his handy work. I came to him with another power supply while he was sorting them and he said "Oh, phew! Good. Now I will not have to make three stacks with one more in the middle then on the sides cause I can just do two piles of six. Thanks!" I told you this kid was good.

So now the next step is to call scrap yards and get the per pound rate on steel. That should be easy. It might be $5 for all of it, but hey, its something. Some of the small stuff like LED, switches, cables and system speakers I might try to sale in a big grab bag type of lot(s) on ebay. "Here! Its a lot of crap- theres nothing good, but theres lots of it so that should make up for it!" I think maybe that's the exact wording I'll use.

Then...and heres the fun part... Jim and I get together and start mixing chemicals and electricity like mad scientists. The idea is that we are "reverse electroplating"- in other words, we "plate" our anode with the medals were extracting. This is way 1 of 2- the other one involves just using chemicals. We will probably experiment with both of them.

I'll keep you guys posted.

(To long, I know. But understand this: I cut out three things or so from this blog to make it shorter. No, seriously).

The most exciting day of my life so far

2006-08-28T22:49:00.000-05:00

So I don’t have too much time to post right now, but I just had the craziest day ever and I know a lot of people are asking me to blog, so here you are. Perhaps I’ll get around to the soulfest stuff later, or maybe I’ll just merge it into another post. Or maybe not. But anyway, here goes. I think after you read it you’ll certainly agree that it's worth it. (Or you’ll just read about it in the papers, heh.)

I was at the Mall shopping around (which I rarely do, but that’s another story) and suddenly who else but dX walks up to me! Yes, for those of you who are paying attention, that’s the same one who went on the bike trip with me and the same one who should be in Kansas!

So apparently he was going to surprise me or something, but decided to blow it by coming up just like we had been hanging out all day and show me his new paintball gun. It was a really really REALLY nice one- I seriously don’t think I’ve seen a sweeter looking gun- and so to try and beat him at his own game I answered him just as matter of factly as if I was in on everything-

“Wow… that is…really nice. But dude, how much money you going to spend on that? Don’t you need it for some other stuff?”

Apparently not. Anyway, it was sweet. So what if he had to eat ramen for the rest of the month?

We went around the mall for awhile… not much I really remember as extremely special- well okay, I knocked over some stuff cause I’m such a klutz…. But I have an excuse. Occasionally I had the weirdest sensation. It was as if everything was going at a slower frame rate, and my vision emphasized the edges of everything I saw. It was like a filter for a weird music video. I know I was moving in real time but it felt slower- its hard to describe. At first I just wrote it off but I couldn’t ignore it when it went on for like 5 minutes. Finally I told dX about it.

“Dude its so weird…its like, playing a game on really old hardware or…slow motion or something.”

He just gave me that trademark dX expression of “ooooookaay” and I said “Well anyway it stopped now” and that was the end of the conversation. It happened about twice after that only for about 5 seconds at the most. It was starting to weird me out though.

We decided to splurge and get some sorta expensive mall food- I was getting Japanese of course. Right before it was my turn to order, I heard some commotion behind me. A guy was going around to people, and everyone was trying to discreetly get away from him. It was odd- the line behind me just started emptying out.

“Come on, you… you seem to have enough money for food yourself… I need some food..”

He came up to a guy who must have just ordered from a Boston market type of place:

“Come on! You just bought a rotisserie chicken… like you can’t afford to get me some food.”

He was getting closer to me. I got that feeling when you see a homeless person coming up to you- half danger, half pity, 100 percent uncomfortable. But now as I turned around and saw him I realized he was young (teens/early 20s), well dressed and didn’t look in desperate health at all. And he was headed towards me.

Dang it… what am I going to say?

Then I got the sense that something was odd. Something wasn’t right- he was coming towards me at an unhealthy speed and he had his hand in his pocket. Then suddenly it happened again: everything got real slow. I honestly think I experienced one of those moments you read about- were adrenaline kicks in and gives you perfect clarity.

He started to lean into my direction and I stepped a little to the side. It seemed to take forever. Then he shifted his weight to try and catch me- I started freaking out and used my arm to push him back. He resisted hard and there was a bit of a struggle while I pushed him until finally I sort of rolled him off my arm and then pinned him down. I was right. He had a knife. Then I recognized his face.

I had seen him around the mall all day. Most of the time were when things got slow for me- so that was it. I have no idea how I knew he was dangerous, but I must have. My mind turned back to one time in specific- when I knocked over stuff and ticked off that guy behind me. It was the same guy. WHOA- just, WOAH. I was freaked.

At that point I was sort of shaken, and I really don’t recall what happened exactly in what order. But at some time I remember seeing none other then my friend Dan M in the mall as well and the guy started to attack him! I started to run towards him but I knew I wasn’t going to get there in time.

“Oh God… please help him hold him off till I can get there.”

I was about 8, maybe 10 feet out and the attacker had a razor blade of some sort and started to raise a blow. But suddenly Dan pulled out this crazy thing I had never seen before- it was like a stinking energy weapon. It looked like a high-tech cattle prod. He activated it and the guy was shocked, but amazingly wasn’t down. He tried to grab him and got shocked again. I could actually see the sparks…. By then I got there and I helped wrestle him to the floor. I don’t remember if we killed him or not, but I looked back at the energy weapon just as he retracted it back into….or, no, wait.. Oh man- Shoot! Maybe this was a dream. Ehh, never mind guys.

And out of the rubble of the new world order it appeared: A new post

2006-08-16T16:46:00.000-05:00

It has occurred to me that a casual observer of my blog to whom other knowledge was not available might conclude that the world indeed had come to an end, or at least, that my life had. The rumors of my death, blah blah mark twain reference blah.

I don't like this post so far. It doesn't taste good. It tastes sort of off-the-cuff and un thought out. This has a lot to to with the above statement's striking resemblance to reality.

I suppose I should dedicate this post, in all its horrendous..ness? To those of you who asked me to update. And actually, jibbing aside, alot of you did. Thanks, your cool.

Okay- so the main reason (read:excuse) for me not updating is all Gwyns fault. Yah, that's right. Basically, Gwyn, my sister and I all went to have a swell old time at the mouth of Port. Since Gwyn and Abi are the artsy type and are into photography, they took nice pictures on nice cameras. Since I'm "funny-pathetic" (as opposed to "funny-haha") I brought my camera.

This is Gwyn literally laughing out loud at my shabby excuse for a camera:

(Note my finger partially in shot, wrong date stamped on the picture, and the world being unusually distorted... like I said, "funny-pathetic")

But I'm okay with it now. I just try and think of it more as a prop for humorous scenarios then a real camera, and suddenly my qualms subside.

All in all, it was a fun trip. It was a very very wet trip though. So how does this relate to my diliqent posting? Patience, Iago. I am getting there. You see, Gwyn sort of off handedly said something about all of us blogging this together. We sort of all off-handedly agreed. So there- I couldn't blog until I could blog about this....though Gwyn seems to have no moral attachement to her own word, but thats another story. Here is a cool shot that possibly you will see from two additional angles if the other parties get there act together:

As you can see here, I'm taking a picture as my sis is professionally snapping a shot of Gwyn and Gwyn herself is cleverly shooting at me from the hip.

Heres another shot- one of the few that are not distorted from my weird camera:

Gwyn and my sister, but not in that order, display the classic "too cool to look at the camera" pose.

The day eventually got so wet we decided to go watch POTC 2- but not before we saw a small water fall forming underneath a gutter and decided unanimously to all rush it and take a split second bath. The water was a lot of fun, but it led me to have to iron my shorts, underwear and socks before we could go see the movie...and reports indicate that Gwyn's car finally dried out last week.

Good times! But is that all that happend since I last posted? Goodness no! I also went to Soulfest 06...yes yes, quite the time there. However, I have opted to go ahead and post this to get it off of my metaphorical chest, which, by the way, really sounds weird to me.

Catch you all later,

....M.e...

What world?

2006-07-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

Just thought you'd all like to know- the world is coming to an end, just FYI.

Heres what I know- I'm trying to stay up on things, but I don't know everything, so feel free to correct or add something in the comments.

Hamas captured two Israeli soldiers and demands they be negociated for Palestine prisoners of war (AKA Terrorists/suspected terrorists). Israel of course says something to the effect of "like heck we will" and says that it will only accept no-condition release of their prisoners. Hamas keeps trying to talk about a deal, but apparently Israel has stopped listening:

And started bombing. If theirs one thing that I admire about Israel, its that, holy cow, they don't mess around when it comes to standing up for themselves. They hit a bunch of Hamas, Hezbollah and Lebanese targets including crucial structures like bridges and the runways:

My dad works for an company that has a lot of people in Israel and he said that they can't reach most of them because the reserves are being called up. He's heard that Israel claims they will take Lebanon back 20 years. It appears that they are well on their way- They took out an airport and allegedly Lebanon has no fixed-wing aircraft left. But that hasn't stopped them from retaliating:

Lebanon has been firing missiles over the border into Israeli towns all day, including one that has made it all the way to the coastal town of Haifa- no one died in this particular hit (though several were injured badly) but apparently it is a big deal- its the farthest rockets have ever gone from Lebanon.

Israel of course has only increased their attacks and their scope. Today they came back to the airport and shot missiles and machine gun fire into the fuel tanks to finish it off:
Things are getting very serious. Israel has says it is a war (key word) that they did not want to start, but that they will finish. They have cut off Lebanese ships in the ports and isolated Gaza, which means they basically can't get supplies in and out. Israeli aircraft have dropped leaflets all round Lebanon telling citizens that it is in their best interest to get as far away from Hezbollah people and buildings as possible. Over 120 rockets and mortars have been fired from Hezbollah into Israeli towns. The Lebanese continue to protest and say that they can't be held responsible for Hezbollah because politically it is to hard to crack down on them and to dangerous. Israel of course basically doesn't care about how hard it is, they (along with the US) just want them to do everything they can to shut the terrorists down.

Of course, this is not even looking at Iran or N. Korea's situations... My, what exciting times we live in!

And I know I have some readers who aren't that political, but this affects us directly in a way everyone can relate to: the black gold we all have come to know and love, Oil. It is going up, up and up. I predict prices will be probably at least $3.20 by tomarrow, maybe higher. The whole bombing thing really effects the supply side of things.

(BTW I'm not depressed or anything, I'm just fascinated. And I am gratefull to everyone for your comments in the previous post; my chin is indeed "up" and I am doing fine. :) Thanks!)

Not at world view

2006-07-10T14:13:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, not much to say right now except that I am not at world view as my previous post would indicate...

I don't want to fib, so theres not much I can say except that I somewhat anticpated this might happen... basically there were some things happening that might have made it better for me not to be there this year, and I had thought of withdrawing earlier- but of course we didn't decide until the absoloute last second. There was a small meeting with top World View brass, including Randy Sims (who, btw is still the man) and we all decided that the wisest thing for me to do was to return home. The rest of my fam. is of course still there.

Don't know exactly what I'm going to do this week, but I'm going to try and commit it to the Lord in some way... maybe a bike-retreat, I dunno. And speakin of bikes, I just learned that I am worse then broke because of my last bike trip- a 5 dollar package of Ace bandages I forgot to calculate caused me to go into overdraft and incur fees. I would put some money in to solve it, but I can't because I don't have any. The only money I was anticpating called in sick.

Just not my week, I guess.

World view

2006-07-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, I'm off to World View academy. Should be fun- I'll be sentient enough to talk sometime saturday morningish. Until then, here, have some random pictures!

Here is us setting up ourselves to leave from the Kittery Trading post.... last minute checks, etc.

dX getting trying to fight insanity from the bugs while I tell him to stop so I can take a picture...

This is about where I discovered my wheel wasn't in that hott of shape...

Some mandatory down time, courtesy of dX's ankle...

Proof that we did indeed go Kayaking... (M. Fam, you are seriously the best!)

"Four Winds", the RV we stayed in...
(The camera is weird and distorted the image; it wasn't really bent like that...)

...aaand last but not least, dX (who henceforth wants to be called "ghost") sitting in the front seat of CJ's car shortly before deciding to chuck the directions.

Thats all folks, have a good week!

Night 4 and day 5- Concert and church

2006-07-02T18:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings everyone, from Londondenderry NH! The trip is complete; we have returned to our respective drop off points and I for one miss it allready.

I posted Day 4 a bit early since I didn't know what was going to happen that night. Well, enough happend to warrant disclosure on this here blog. Note: I still don't have my USB cable, so I will have to upload pictures later. Possibly tonight, when I can put my SD card into my Dad's camera.

Shortly after posting the last blog, dX got off of the phone with his friend CJ. He said CJ was going to a show in Epping, and he could take us. Epping... we drove through there on the first day of our trip! Since biking was out of the question, the hudson home was kind enough to let us leave our bikes with them and pick them up later.

After waiting a long long time, CJ finally found us and picked us up. We threw our packs in the back seat and drove off... CJ and dX go back along way and were talking about the old days while I sorta chilled in the back seat. It was funny just to listen to their conversation. Eventually dX told CJ to take a left at exit seven, meaning to take a left after pulling off the highway. But CJ interperted it as "exit 7 will be on the left". So we missed that road. He decided to get off on the next exit, but it wasn't the right highway. They puzzled over the map just a bit and then CJ looked at dX and said

"Dude, do you want to find this the like we used to back in the day?"
"I'm game."

With that, CJ took the directions and crumpled them up into a ball, then threw them into the backseat.

"You must swear to not open and offer advice from those directions."

"Upon my honor." I replied.

We pulled out in the general direction of the concert laughing and having a good time, deciding that getting unlost could be just as much fun as the concert, but actually we found it very fast. We had pulled over to get gas and CJ chanced to ask where the venue was. The girl gave him a weird look and pointed out the window and said "Right across the street." We got there in time to still see 3 or 4 opening bands, though one of the bands that CJ had freinds in had allready played.

I was going to try and describe what the concert was like, but it was so huge, I think I will save it for another post. I'll just go into a little detail this time:

Okay, the music. I will be honest- Hardcore can be somewhat of an aquried taste, and even for me, I am not always in the mood for it. Its got alot of energy though and there really is alot of talent to be heard in it. The first band that played was "Our last night". They were a 5 peice band- drummer, guitarist, a singer who I think played guitar as well, a screamer and bass player. The unusual thing was that the screamer was 13. But he was incredible.

Trevor, the lead screamer of Our Last Night, in all his adolesent glory

He was having so much fun, jumping around, interacting with the crowd- the band was AWESOME. He got the crowd going, too. The other band that I thought was really good was Sparks the Rescue- they had two guitarists and a bass player and an amazing drummer. They played what I've heard reffered to as "fantasy guitar" though I'm not sure if that is the proper name- its the kind of almost cheesy sounding guitar sound used alot in the 80s. But it really sounds cool with these guys, and they are REALLY REALLY tallented. They kept doing call and answer stuff back and forth with the guitars really fast- playing a riff partly on one guitar, then on the other, then back on the first one all within a second or two, then playing the chords together in perferct sync- very technical and really impressive sounding. They did this all while jumping around and dancing all over the stage, just short of hitting eachother. I'm not sure if this does the music justice, I suppose you just would have to be there.

The dancing was inSANE.... but I will leave that and my analyztion of it for another post.

After the show we went back to CJ's house in Wilton and crashed there. His room was so crowded with music stuff- guitars, drum kits and cymbol peices everywhere, a keyboard, a piano, sheet music- it was ridiculous. The room was small too- there were two futons, but both were full of stuff. They basically just started grabbing stuff off of it and throwing it in corners and under the beds- wherever they would fit. I got the floor, but I had to twist my self into unatural shapes even to fit on that. It was cool though.

The next morning was Sunday, and we went to dX's old church. He suprised alot of people by showing up, and it was neat to see so many people thrilled to see him. He caught up with alot of people briefly and then we left since CJ had to drive us back to Hudson to pick up our bikes before he went to work. We had accepted an offer for Lunch at someone's hosue in Merrimack but we called back to cancel since it would have meant putting at least 20 more miles into our trip and by this time we were needing to get home.

We arrived back in Hudson got our bikes out, thanked the family again for their awesomeness, and headed off. We made good time, though we got sore quicker then usual and took a breather. I had a peice of jerky and a crumbled poptart, but it occured to me that dX hadn't had any breakfast at all. He was feeling it I think. We got back on our bikes though, and I even pushed mine to 25 to say that I did it.

Somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00 we rolled back into our home turf and let oursleves in. It was a good feeling, though no one else was back from Church yet.

So thats it- the trip is over! It was alot of fun and yet it seemed shorter then expected. We learned alot. The tone of the trip was totally different then we had thought orginally. At first, we thought there was going to be alot more camping, but it turned out to feel only like a bike trip when we were on the road- we had so much fun with everyone at our host homes that when we were off the road it only felt like hanging out with our friends- which is fine, I assure you. dX kept mentioning how amazed he was at how nice all my friends were that we stopped at.

Though sometimes it seemed taxing while we were on the trip, we know we didn't ride nearly as much as we could have. Next time I do this I plan on doing something bigger.

All in all, we traveled 99.6 miles or so according to my calculations. I might as well say that we biked 100 because I'm sure some of the unrecorded stuff totals .4 miles easy.

100 miles in 4.5 days. Not bad at all. But it has only wet my appetite- I know I can do more. I mean, we didn't even get to make our smores or light a fire outside for crying out loud- we went house to house so quick there was no camping needed. Next time I think, I want to use the tent or loose the tent- poor dX carried that and a blanket- I only carried a blanket- that we ended up never using. We ate the ramen only at our host homes. Same with the hersheys. It was really fun, but in retrospect it seems a pity we packed that much stuff we didn't need. Of course, on a longer trip with out such cool friends we would need it... but I am rambling. In the end, it was an amazing experience and I got to have fun not only with dX but with everyone that I hung out with- I really feel blessed that I got to get to know so many awesome people better.

To everyone who helped us out on the trip: Thank you so much!! You made our trip go waaayyy better then either of us planned for. You were all so wonderfully nice, and I think I got to know all of you better. Sharing your home with someone you know for a day is awesome enough, but sharing it for two vegabonds is incredible. I dedicate this trip (is that possible?) to you guys.

Until next post everyone... thanks for reading.

Day 4- Best coffee EVER

2006-07-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

Greetings all- this is an early post for me, as the day isn't really over yet and I'm still in Hudson. But I don't know exactly when I will get to a computer next, so I figured it would be good to post the happenings of the day here.

Last night we slept in an awesome camper- very very comfortable. The family was going to a party from 11 to 1ish, but they said if we wanted to come back after that we could go Kayaking (sp?) with them in a local pond. We of course, agreed to the arrangment.

Before we went down to the water though, we had some time to kill. So we decided to head over to Nashua to check out some trails that our hosts told us about. After making a short stop at Showtime computers, we ended up at Mines Falls. It was pretty neat- a few nice wide easy going trails and alot of water. After that we decided to just sort of chill and talk by the river for a while.

Then came one of the coolest discoveries to come out of this trip: Riverwalk Cakery & Coffee House. They are in Nashua- 35 Railroad Square, to be exact. dX saw the words coffee shop and he suggested we check it out. I was game, so we locked up our bikes and went in.

The second we got through the doors, everything screamed CLASS at us. The colors, the chairs and tables- imported, the lot of it as we later learned, from all across Europe. dX got a chia latte and I got a Irish cream iced latte. The coffee was unbelivable. It was strong, but not acidic. It was bloody perfect- the only words I can think of to describe it. I also got a expresso brownie and we sat down and talked for a bit in the shop. I noticed that it had its own blends, and that there was a large obscure and expensive looking machine in the far end of the room. I asked him about it-

"Oh, that is the roasting machine."

So yeah- he roasts his own coffee. This got me interested, and I started talking with the owner who was the only person on staff at that hour. The shop has been here only 5 months and he says he allready has regulars. Its not hard to see why- he knows coffee. He buys his own beans still 'green'-and he buys them straight from importers he knows in New York and Boston. He makes his own blends by knowing the crop they came from and using different beans to counteract eachothers weaknesses and compliment their strength. He's from Germany and hes awesome. I now know an awesome place to go for coffee- and if I ever have to impress some girl by buying a 5 dollar 59 cent peice of cake I know where to do that to.

After that we went Kayaking- wow, sooo much fun. It was dX, Lyndsi and I in occean Kayak vessels across the lake. When dX heard that they we could go Kayaking he said "dude, you'll love it. Kayaks are like the moter cycles of cannoes." Boy, we he right. We went so much faster then in our big cannoe and we had a ton of fun- though apparently biking endurance does nothing for the upper body strength it takes to Kayak. Lyndsi pWnd! us- and she said she only went once, bah! All in all it was a great day.

Right now I am waiting for dX to see if he has enough money to cover us going to a show. If he does, were going to the show then going home. If not, we'll just be going home.

I'd post some pictures of the mobile homes and of the Kayaks but sadly I seemed to have misplace my USB cable.

Well, thank you all for reading. Have a great one!

Day 3- Just chillaxin

2006-06-30T23:52:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Hudson everybody!

We woke up today around 9:00. When I got out of the couch I was sleeping on I went over to the room dX had crashed at.

"Dude-" he said, "we have a problem."

The problem was his ankle. He had hurt it last night while flipping off of his bike, but it didn't look like it was going to be that big of a deal. When he woke up on it though, he could barely limp with it.

This, to say the least, complicated our plans- eventually we decided to get some ice on it, and he wanted to rap it in a bandage- but oh wait! The bandages we bought were in his backpack. Where was his backpack? In Jakes car. Well thats fine, but- wheres Jakes car? Not at his home. You see, dX had left his pack in the trunk of the car, which should have been fine- but as it turned out, the van one of the family members was using broke down, so they had to use his car. And that put us with out bandages.

So, after a little bit of griping and a lot of good strong coffee (they make the best coffee over there, seriously) I biked off to shaws, which was really just a stones throw away from the house I was at. I got an Ace bandage there for a ridiculous 5 dollars and 59 cents. Talk about a rip off...

Anyway, we got back and he applied it to his poor aching foot. By this time it was probably 11 or so. He could barely walk on it still, but I was trying to convice him that biking would be different. Renee said that she thought it wouldn't be good to work much on it. There was a slight back and forth, but we did in the end relent to chilling out there for a bit. dX could still work on computers, and thats what he did:

This picture very much sums up the tone of the day. We chilled, we watched some videos, we talked. And thanks be to Renee and their family for letting us- we don't know what we would have done otherwise. Thanks again guys for your generosity and everything, your flipping amazing!

About 3ish or so, dX was walking around on his foot LIGHTLY. I had convinced him to try riding his bike earlier to see what it was like, and he concluded that it was possible and as I suspected, it was actually better then walking. So at 3 or so in the afternoon, we decide to try and visit some of his friends in the area. We found out Renee had a bike, so she got to come too since it was so close. We headed up the road about a mile or 2 really fast since dX and I were not wearing those huge backpacks we were used to. Renee was actually keeping up pretty well. We got to the place where we suprised a few of dX's old friends and then we decided to move on for a good trip down memory lane. After catching her breath and downing some water, Renee went all hardcore and said she was down with it too. We biked over to dX's old house, all the way to amherst where we stopped at a cafe for food. It was really nice, and I played a pretty evenly matched game of checkers with Renee (but I won in the end). Then we biked back- About 20 miles in all.

When we got back, it was allready 5ish. We were trying to figure out what our next move was... we wanted to camp, but we didn't know what place we could camp at that was near enough. In the end, we decided to stay over at our lovely stop at Hudson- as it turned out, we were just 10 miles out anyway. We biked down through Nashua, only stopping once- there was a concert going on in some park for free. The musicans playing were all in their middle to late ages, but they were playing some funky music and they were good. dX and I stayed there for just as much as we could afford, then we got back riding. We arrived at our new destination at about 7.

This host home is awesome- They gave us cold cuts to go along with our ramen, they gave us icecream, and we've got to just talk with them and have a ball. They are into everything cool here... I don't know how specific I can get with names and things since it is 1:26 and they are all in bed. I got to watch The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe with two people who haven't seen it yet. It was an interesting experience- they watched movies with captions on, and I actually got little bits of dialouge and background chatter that I never quite got before.

Well, thats about it for me- I am devilish sleepy and I must be off to bed. Today was pretty much just a chill, relaxing day. We, once again, don't really have tomarrow very much planned out but I'm sure it will be great.

Till next post- farewell.

Day 2- Blowouts and bruises

2006-06-29T23:11:00.000-05:00

Greetings friends and fiends, from lovely East merrimack!

We got up today at Mr. and Mrs. C's home welcomed by the smell of blueberry pancakses, ham and coffee. Thanks again, Mrs. C!

dX packing up at Mrs. C's house- beginning of day 1

I read more of "Out of the silent Planet" and ended up calling the bike shop in Derry to make sure they would be there- a good thing, as "the number you have dialed is not in service at this time". We talked it over very briefly, and Mrs. C gave us the number to a place she recomended on Kelly st- Jakes Bike shop, 25 miles away. We took off at about 9 o'clock.

It was tough going with the wheel- even though I had unlatched the rear brakes, it was still lightly touching the side once every revolution. We were on our way to route 28, but we only got about 4 miles out:

I was riding down a slight hill when suddenly there was a loud bang- for a split second I wondered what it was, then for a split second I thought I blew out the tire and should try to slowdown, and the last few second I felt myself riding increasingly on the rim. But suprisingly, I didn't loose control. I yelled up ahead at dX "BLOWOUT, MAN BLOOWOUT!!!" It took him a little while to get the idea and slow down, but in the end I pulled over and we took a look. On the plus side, I didn't have to use my bike kit to to take the tire off or the innertube out- I don't know how it stayed on the wheel at all. When I pulled over, they were off.

We ponder our prediciment. The verdict is unanamouse: cRaZy!

We discussed shortly putting on my spare and inflating it, but we decided rather quickly that it was crazy-talk. The wheel was in BAD shape- I knew that, and putting another one would be tirecide (you know like homocide...). So we went up to a nearby house and bummed a phone to call Mrs. C with. Thankfully, she had offered to pick us up in the case of an emergency. We sat around and wait for a while. I read more of my book.

Eventually Mrs. C came to the rescue and after taking the wheels off our vehicles, we put it into her minivan. She took us to the Jakes shop, which is now one of my favorite bike places- the guy there was really nice and knew what he was talking about.

It was in bad shape- spokes that were stripped, spokes that were broken- it was a bloody mess. In the end I had to replace the wheel, the innertube AND the tire- for the tire had a gash in it from the blow out as well. All in all I dropped $75 on it- alot of money, yes- but actually a VERY good deal.

From there, we biked to our first real destination of the day: Barns and nobooks.

I would tell you how many miles it was, but I sort of broke my bike computer- I sent it back into configure mode and I don't have the instructions that tell the computer what wheel size I have. Anyway, we got to the store early so I read the rest (more or less) and met up with my group. It was great to see the people again, though of course Brad and Kiaya were missing, which was too bad. :(

After the book meeting was over, me and dX were pretty much playing it by ear. We had the vauge notion of entering Merrimack because we knew several people there- we just couldn't get ahold of any of them. But we headed out anyway, having to back track a couple miles to hit the right rode, and the storm started coming up. We put on our ponchos this time, but the wind was much worse then the rain- and pedalling against it wasn't as bad, probably, as the stupid flapping sound it made right in your ear. Also, dX almost got ran over by an absent minded moterist. But at least we were mostly dry.

Eventually we got on route 3. dX wanted to pull over at a dunkin d. You see, he's been away so long in Kansas (Where allegedly there is only 1 dunkin donuts and its an 1 hr 45 minutes away at that) that whenever he sees a Dunkin Donuts, he gets impullsive. We pulled in, I situated my backpack differently (the straps are killing me) and we went inside for a second. dX goes up to the counter and comes back a minute later. Dramatically, he throws a box of a dozen donuts down upon the table with a loud thud. I look up at him-

"Dude..."

"I hope you don't have anything against maple or choclate."

With this he flips open the lid- the box is split evenlyh between the two flavours, six each.

All I can think is that there is no way we can eat this many donuts quickly and not get cramps while riding. I had maybe 3, I think he had 5. We gave one to a person I knew from co-op that happend to walk in and we squished the rest into my backpack while dX made some calls on a payphone. When I had got my backpack back on (a difficult and painful ordeal) I went out to meet him again. He was smiling "Dude, I talked to Jake and Renee- they can meet us at the library in about half an hour. Lets get going!"

We started back up. It was tiring work- the weight of the packpack was heavy and it seemed to bounce up and down more then usual, which really irritated me because it made the pain in my arms more noticable. We climbed two large hills- they were murder. Finally we came upon the library, and for some reasons we had beat our companions there, which gave me a chance to get online and work on the blog a bit. It was really open there and nice- just give the receptionist your first name and BAM!! full xp box with adminstrative rights- even a USB port! Very nice indeed.

Jake and Renee made it but we we were talking too loud for the library, so they took us down to this place called King Cone. We each got a small, which was huge- more then I could eat before it melted and made a mess of me.

Renee and Jake in waiting in line at the King Cone

After hanging out there for a good 45 minutes, they drove us back to our bikes and took our packs with them to their house. With all that weight off of us, we flew down to their home in double time- it felt really really great. And thats where we are now.

Tim and I are having a blast over here- and to pay to pay for it we've been trying to work on their PCs and cook them Ramen. I got one of there boxes in substantially better shape then when I found it, and I unloaded 4 packs of the ramen here for part of our meal. I'm excited because that means my backpack will be that much less bulky. Rock rock on!!

Tomarrow, we don't have totally planned out. We are basically a day or two ahead of schedule and a little bit off of the planned route. We will probably bum around Milford for tomarrow, visiting a bunch of dX's old friends and hang outs. Should be a nice easy going day I think maybe. Then perhaps tomarrow we can find a place to actually "camp out" at and use some of this ramen and alcholioc fire starter!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and comments they really are apprecited.

Mrs. C: Thank you so much for the emergency services and hospitality. dX was really blown away by the pampering we got there; it made his day.
Lyndsi: Oi, it is looking like possibly saturday for your place. Hopefully I can call you tomarrow to let you know for sure- it might change. Don't know how much time we will take with Milford, and Hudson is a large journey and we have two days left.
Mum: Thanks for the ponchos, they work pretty good when applied to the body. Who would have thunk it?
To ladyofnarnia: Thanks so much for letting me take the book so I could read it. You rock.
Jake and Rennee- dude you people are awesome. Thanks for everything! And Renee, sorry about not getting all of your face in that picture.
Bander: Dude, sorry I didn't come over today. It just didn't work out- our plans were shifting all over the place and it would have meant backtracking and loosing preacious time. Sorry though!
Kiaya: Thank you for trying to solve our weather problem. Actually, it might be working. Today didn't rain much at all, and when it did, it only rained breifly. Whatever you did over there seemed to mess with the forcast, so keep it up next time you see rain in our future.

More tomarrow, guys! Thanks for reading.

Update: dX flipped/flew/jumped off of his bike last night (end of day 2), and hurt his ankle. Apparently worse then I thought- he sort of limps with it now and its in to much pain to walk on much. We've got ice on it but dX's backpack is in a car that got taken to work unexpectedly since another vehicle died.... so the bandages aren't here. I'll be biking down to shaws for some emergency supplies. We'll try to fix him up here and see what he can do. Okay, that will be all- as you were.

Day 1

2006-06-28T20:52:00.000-05:00

Update: Library found, pictures fixed. :)

More at eleven.

"It would rain, wouldn't it?"

Hello, it is I and dX here- reporting live from Fremont at host home 1. To get a few things out of the way: Yes, were not dead and yes we are dry (it took a while though). Also, for those of you trying to get ahold of us via dX's cell- don't. We'll call you, somehow. The phone situation is that we don't have one, basically- only for fire or medical emrgencies. Which is nice. And lastly- ignore the dates on the pictures below. The camera has amnesia.

Okay- I think a picture is in order to start this post off proper: here is us, just heading out from the Kittery Trading post:

You know, looking at this picture, it looks like its a nice day in Maine. That goes to show you just how crummy my camera is. Or perhaps, it means that this was taken during a break in the storm- we had a few of those that gave us false hope our journey would be a boring one. But don't worry; it wasn't.

Shortly after this was taken, we began on route 1 heading south. This was really fun- we were going about 16 to 18 miles an hour over a road that was just shy of an interstate, with water spraying up in our face and everywhere else. We were totally soaked within 5 minutes, and I mean TOTALLY soaked. But we weren't bummed- we were almost giddy even-we finally had left. We made great speed to Portsmouth and went on to fnd the next turn we needed to make. I was happy; we hadn't become lost yet.

Somewhere along route 33, we were going up a hill and we one of those awesome red bull trucks went past us. Just as dX started to mutter a "sweet" it started slowing down and pulling over in front of us.

"What?"

"Dude" we both said at the same time. The vehicle stopped and the doors opened. Out of them came bounding some young woman.

"Where you guys headed?" one of them asked.

"Towards newfields- trying to hit some trails up there"

"You guys camping or something?"

"Nah, were doing this bike thing- four days, starting today in Kittery, going around the state.

"Dude, you guys are ANIMALS!"

Me and dX smiled. It was a compliment of the obsucure variety- but we enjoyed it.

"Well how about we give you guys some red bulls for the ride out?"

We responded with exclamations that of "sure", "thank you", "sweet", "heck yes!" or some such. They sped off and our morale was boosted. Now dX doesn't have a water bottle mount, but I do. It was being used though, and I hadn't enough room in my backpack to take it out. So we started off chugging half the red bull cans at first, then we got back on our way down 33 driving with one hand and drinking with the other. Hmm... maybe I should have brought the tiki mug, Brad.

The trip went on pretty well and uneventful for a while. I have so far been pleasently suprised with my navigation skills- I am not geographically inclined like my father, and when traveling at high way speeds or in a moter vehicle for that matter, I tend to have to turn around and miss roads twice and some such nonsence. But I didn't lead us wrong at all today, for which I am stupidly proud. Because, eventually, it wasn't easy.

You see, I had a map of my estimated route that I printed off. I put it in my pocket for safekeeping and quicktaking. Dad wanted me to spray it with some waterproofing material or something like that- but COME ON dad, it will be in my pocket- how could it get wet there?

Well I'll tell you how it can get wet there- very very easily when its raining and the tires are spitting up water into your face, lap and everywhere else. So the map slowly became unusable- I took it out a few times on the way to and in portsmouth, but each time I realized that it was getting in worse condition. By the time we really started to need it, I could tell it was falling apart. Eventually, the papers resembled a large wad of cheap gum that has been chewed for 5 hours to long. From there, I had to go by memory of what I knew while planning out the trip and by verification of passers-by. It actually worked out very well. Everyone was really nice.

Okay, back to the main story. We got on a bike trail that goes all the way from newfields to Manchester. Its pretty impressive- mostly well packed dirty gravel- almost like a highway for bikes, I commented. We rode that thing at about 16 miles an hour sometimes, just about the same as we would a road.

These pictures are of us stopping for a little jerky and water break. Good stuff.

So this road was impressive, but we had to get to fremont, and my plan was to follow another trail that goes down a good ten miles or so from this one into the general area of fremont.

Thats where stuff started getting interesting:

Again, the camera is really not doing reality justice here. Everythings over exposed- let me fill in for you what the camera can't. You see those puddles of muddy water? Thats all there is for several miles- I'd say probably 4 at least, but I was to busy swatting flies and trying not to fall in to count them. This was easily the worst part of this day- we started off by riding through them but I stopped trying that when I sank almost up to the top of my wheels and almost fell in head first. It was like quick-sand mud in some places. We had to get off our bikes and walk around 4 our of 5 of the holes. There was also some rough terrain around here; when I got back on the road I eventually noticed my wheel was out of true- in other words, it was bent up.

Not much else to report of the trip that would be too exciting to you: we stopped at a school for another breather:

I got a rock out of my shoe there. That was good.

And then we finally made it to our host home! Mr and Mrs. C are so cool; they gave us an awesome homeade meal that filled us up much better then beef jerky, they let us have showers and they let us exist in an air conditioned house, all while making us laugh. Thank you!

Tomarrow we go for manchester, but we make a little detour through Derry to get my wheel taken care of. You see, I tried to true it but I made it worse- as usual. And its bent up bad- keeps hitting the breaks, and you can even see visibly where the wheel is bent just by looking at it. Soo... how am I going to get there? Well, on my bike of course. The work around I finally settled on was to unhook my rear brakes. Now before you all freak out, don't worry don't worry- I stop mostly with my front brakes anyway- my rears had some trouble to begin with. And actually not having rear brakes is no where as dangerous as my rear wheel anyway, so don't worry. But if you do want to pray for our saftey, as I know there are alot of awesome people who are reading this that do, pray specifically that my wheel does not collapse and that it does not cause me to break my axle. I'll be babying it the whole way to the shop, so I don't see why it should but its still a kind of big deal. I've never seen what its like to drive a wheel to destruction; on the one hand I'm curious what it would look like and on the other hand I'm really not wanting to find out just yet.

Now if you will excuse me, I have a book to read for tomarrow's lit class- if all goes as planned, I should still show up via bike.

Till the next entry,

---Us

The journey begins

2006-06-28T00:36:00.000-05:00

Chances are, by the time you read this dX and I will have left for the beginning of our trip. Yes, that's right- for the few of you who didn't know, we did not get to leave Monday as expected.

This was probably better though, as we got to have more time for packing and bike tuning, etc.

And boy, did we need it- check it out:

We ended up leaving a little bit of the stuff we bought behind- we only took something like 18 packs of ramen instead of the whole 24. For shame- thats 78 cents just wasted! But you should see the ramen I have managed to cram into that pack already- I have practically created a super structure for the pack by bracing it horizontally and vertically, using exclusively ramen noodles. We also have a lot of jerky and these other preserved tasty meat products.

Oh, and somewhat impulsively, we decided to get smore supplies... we were walking down the aisle and saw the marshmallows and hersheys and sort of made a dash for it- reason be darned.
I don't know how it will work out, but I tried to pack the breakable stuff- pop tarts and gram crackers- surrounded by marshmallows. My idea is that it serve as a sort of edible shock absorber. We shall see.

Speaking of impulse buys, I also got a bike computer! It was only 8 bucks at walmart but it was so cool- has a speedometer and a odometer function, as well as some other stuff. We also decided to kill two birds with one stone- instead of getting kindling or lighter fluid, we just got an extra big pack of isobrupo-something... thats nasty stuff you put into your cuts to clean them. Its 91 percent alcohol, so it should serve as fire starter just fine. Actually, its already been tested. Trust me- it works like a charm. ;)

I know its hard to tell from this picture, but this backpack is totally crammed:

...and I haven't even been able to fit my Bible in there. I know the blanket can go on the outside, but I'll have to see what I can do about getting a pocket Bible for the trip... I dunno. Really wanted to bring one.

Oh, and here is our method of contact with the outside world:

Great, eh? Except this bring us to our mandatory "last-minute-crisis"- we left the charger in Fitchburg, MA. So yeah, hopefully we shall pick one up early in the first leg of the trip.

Well thats it for now... like I said, by the time you read this we should on our way!

See you on the road everybody!

(dX performs an unsolicited display of pyro-technics at an undisclosed location while bored last night)

New ride, new life idea(s)

2006-06-24T16:44:00.000-05:00

Hello, everybody. I'm back. For those of you who were looking for new material, sorry. I was sort of busy with life things and not updating my blog. But for those who’ve been checking, thanks. It’s cool to be read.

Alright- so I will start this off with a picture of my new friend:

(Tiki mug for display purposes only. Uttereast.blogspot.com does not condone drinking and cycling. Check your local state laws before drinking anything, eating anything, or breathing in certain restricted state wildlife zones. Buckel up, even when cycling if at ever possible. Voidware prohibited.)

That’s right, them right dere is my new wheels, yo! And don’t be hate’n just cause It’s 2 wheels instead of 4- for one thing, I’m sitting on 26’s and this baby has taken me 40 miles already and will take me over 133.16 more. It is a Schwinn S-30 and whenever it is not breaking, it is my friend. Its lighter then my old hard-tail (which in retrospect must have been made from some sort of lead alloy) and it climbs and accelerates really nice for soft-tail, or any bike for that matter. It even makes me feel cool sometimes, which is quite the fringe benefit. But wait- I’m getting ahead of myself, I know. Let me start at the beginning.

Probably as far back as two years ago, my friend (hereafter referred to by his alias, “dX”) and I talked about doing some crazy-go-nuts trip across New Hampshire over the power line trails. We decided to try it next summer, when dX would make a return visit to NH from his new residence in Kansas. He came up, but for various reasons I don’t recall, we never made the trip. This year, we have decided to right that wrong.

Originally, we planned on starting up in Canada and riding our way back south for a week or two over the power line trails. But eventually, due to the current restrictions of reality (such as our inexperience, flood levels and the difficulty in securing complete maps of power line trails) we decided to shorten the trip- From Maine, across New Hampshire as far as Milford, and then eventually back to my house, in 4 days.

That’s where the new bike comes in. You see, I had one already- a Boulder SE hard tail. Nice bike, but I killed it years ago. I took it in for estimates and it would have cost me as much as $230 to get it back into working condition. I figured if I looked hard enough, I could find a good deal on a better, newer bike for less money. But where?

I found “the one” astray in a police auction of seized possessions. I took it under my wing and had it fixed up. It had some loose bolts here and there and a bent wheel, but other then that it was in FINE condition. And though I’ve had to have the rear wheel trued twice since getting it, it now seems to be holding up very well… I’ve been trying to ride it far and wide to train myself up, and it is performing marvelously well. I love it… And I am so psyched to get going on this trip.

Just being on the verge of this adventure has birthed ideas that tantalize my brain- I’ve always been fascinated with under-the-radar, obscure ways of living: hoboing , truck driving, eeking out power and water beneath forgotten subway tunnels in New York, the cowboys of old and so forth… But I have come up with an idea that seems more immediately accessible to me: Nomadding Bicycle tech-gypsies. Or just “Bike Tribes” for short. In case you are still not clear on what I am talking about, think of it like this:

Gypsies; only with bicycles, a little less smelly, and hooked into the Internet wirelessly.

Think about it- the idea is insanely plausible. I haven’t run any hard numbers yet, but it would make your cost of living take a nose dive- you could work for maybe a few months and have enough money saved up to live in the outdoors for a few years. You wouldn’t need insurance, and you wouldn’t pay rent. Of course, you could choose to pay for a cell phone, occasional internet access or the occasional campground fees- maybe even a real motel bed if you wanted it- but the only mandatory costs would be food and things relating to bike maintenance. The best part is this: if you wanted to, you could still have a job in many fields. Anything you can do online, obviously you can do on the road now. With services like manpower, it would not be posible that people could get as much money as they needed for life from every industry in any State (and 68 other countries). Not to mention other, more loosley defined resorces such as Craigslist. Seriously, this is huge. It's outdoors, it's tech, it's social and it's wanderlust. All of which are pretty much in my top ten ideas of life. Whats not to love?

Okay… but as for now… Heh, it will just be a 4 day trip for me and dX. Several of our friends have also been nice enough to lend us their homes as hops along the journey where we will have access to modern marvels such as running water and internet. And of course, in addition to refilling water, taking a shower I plan on blogging whenever I can. I will bring my crappy camera and dX will probably have at least one camera amoungst his many gadgets. So- stay tuned.

Lord willing, we should be leaving this Monday (the 26th).

LatSee you on the road!