JONTOWN

To the End,

2007-11-26T16:27:00.002-06:00

I wrote a query letter for a short story I wrote this week. For some strange reason the next couple of days I would have a moment where I would wonder if I would get a response. Then I would remember it was only a first draft and I didn't even mail it yet. It seems like I've been waiting for a lot of things that don't happen lately.

Anyways this is the end of Jontown. This is my last post. I feel it has run it course. Maybe this will just be a sabbatical, but right now I doubt it. As Cris Coopers character said in Adaptation, "Fuck fish!"

Thanks for reading. Cheers!

(I wrote this a few weeks back, but took some time to think about it. Somewhat surprisingly I had no regrets and got a bit anxious to end this. I will leave the site up as long as blogspot lets me, but will take my name off it.)

January 23 2006- November 26 2007
348 posts

One for the road,

2007-11-25T16:03:00.000-06:00

I came across this blog on C&L; Hot chicks with douchebags.

Reread,

2007-11-12T16:28:00.000-06:00

I reread Into the Wild last week. I was reading literary journals and wasn't really enjoying that, I just feel I should. Anyway for reasons that are much longer than interesting, I decided to reread Into the Wild. One reason was I wanted to see how close the book followed the movie. The movie defiantly was a fictional account with events slightly altered, but it stayed pretty true to the written words.

Anyways as I was reading about the travels of Alexander Supertramp, I was reminded of a trip I took to New Orleans quite a few years ago. The last night we were sitting in a bar that me and my companions took to. I was a little tired and was kind of spacing out. I started listening to the people sitting next to me. It was a guy and a girl who seemed to be more acquainted with each other than actually friends. They were talking about hard drugs with the casualness that I talk about alcohol. After a little while the guy said he had a car and was trying to get money together to go to some city far away (I want to say San Fransisco, but it was a long time ago) he wanted her to come with him. He wanted to go that night, just like that. The whole conversation blew my mind that people lived like that. Of course there was never a mention of Chris McCandless using drugs and his drinking came across as purely social, but there was something about it that didn't seem all that different to me.

Stained Teeth,

2007-11-11T09:57:00.000-06:00

I drank a bottle of Madeira wine last night. This comes from reading too many books about our founding fathers and their fondness of the wine. I was a bit surprised at the cost of the wine. I was sort of expecting high end, but when your choices are between $3 and $2 why not go cheap. As I was drinking it all I could think was Jefferson with his "Madeira stained teeth" was one ghetto dude.

Some Links,

2007-11-05T16:41:00.000-06:00

Back in April I wrote;

I know who Curveball is, but started wondering how many other people do.

I am quite pleased that 60 Minutes caught up to Jontown and did a piece on him last night. I was giddy with delight as a coworker brought up it up at lunch today.

Here and here are some of the boring clips of Fred Thompson I wrote about in the previous post. (I'm sure everyone is dying to watch the interview I called "duller than baseball.")

And while I'm at it SNL

Front Runners,

2007-11-04T13:26:00.001-06:00

I watched Fred Thompson on Meet the Press this morning. That guy is duller than baseball. Luckily Edwards was on This Week so I only had to watch an old man babble for a half hour.

Assuming Giuliani and Clinton are the front runners (I know that is a big assumption especially for Rudy, but he is always ahead in the polls and I'll get to Clinton later) something that surprises me that hasn't come out is Rudy can't win his home state. This always seemed to be a big deal in the past and considering Rudy's platform is "I'm the only one who can beat Clinton" it would seem that his opponents would pounce on that, but I haven't heard it brought up once (that's not saying no one has, it just hasn't predominately been brought up). This might have something to do with Romney's home state some what up in the air. He was governor of Massachusetts and obviously can't win that state. He announced his presidential run in Michigan where he was born and probably doesn't stand much of a chance there, but better than the dark blue Massachusetts. But I would think that one of the other candidates would bring up this major point by now.

Anyways on to Clinton. She had pretty much cemented her front runner status last month. So Obama announced he was going after her a lot stronger than he had before. I kind of wanted to actually watch that debate to see what would happen, but I have ghetto cable and don't get MSN. From the what I've read and heard about it, it sounded like Edwards did more attacking and projected himself back into the mix that he had kind of fell out of. Clinton made a couple of mistakes seemingly switching positions, mostly on immigrant driver license, but I think her biggest mistake was her, did you see those mean boys picking on this little girl, response after the event. Which I think made her look really weak and feed into all the negative stereotypes that she carries with her. Not to mention it made her sound like she wasn't the front runner which has always been her main strength. Who knows what the masses will do, we shall see in a couple of weeks, but in this bloggers opinion her front runner status is a little more shaky than it was a week ago. Hopefully I'm right.

Radio,

2007-11-04T07:26:00.000-06:00

They are banning smoking on the whole complex that I'm working on. Not just in the building, but the whole complex, you have to cross the street to smoke (actually cross the street, walk through a little park and cross another street). Construction worker smokers tend to be a little harder to change than other people, so to compensate for it the general is "laxing it's radio ban." This seems kind of funny to me; "Man I really need a smoke, turn up the radio... Ahhh."

The only thing that surprised me about the ban is that it didn't already exist. When I worked at a hospital down in Racine last year, they already had the ban in place. I when I drive by the hospital by me I see people standing across the street smoking, so I assume they have the ban. I would of thought the major complex I'm at now would be one of the first to put it in place instead of one of the last.

But anyway, a coworker was sent down to work by me. He had just brought a radio in. He says, "95.7 is already playing Christmas carols." I looked at him and said, "your not going to play Christmas carols are you?" Luckily the answer was no. However we did listen to channel the next day when they switched their programing back. They were also playing some of the negative calls they got and assured the audience they would hold off. They must of got a lot of calls. Personally Christmas carols are fine when I'm doing holiday stuff, but I really don't want to listen to them all day, that would be too much like working in the mall. Anyways it was kind of refreshing to see a company realize they made a mistake so quickly, make the change back right away and basically say sorry we fucked up.

To Far,

2007-11-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday we found out that a couple of fitters got laid off. Or so it seemed. Later in the day I found out that the fitter who started the whole vicious circle thing made this up also. Apparently one fitter took off Friday to go up north and one left early Friday. This fitter thought it would be funny to convince an apprentice that they got laid off instead, most of the sheet metal workers were left out of his twisted little unfunny joke. This is going way too far. Joking about getting laid off in the trade is very taboo. Last year I watched a burley journeyman read a pre apprentice the riot act for making an off handed joke about lay offs. Even though this is an excepted, and unfortunate part of our line of work, getting laid off always sucks. And on this job we all know it's coming sooner rather than later. So here we all are with our necks on the chopping block and this asshole is making jokes of it.

Am I Crazy,

2007-11-01T19:09:00.001-05:00

I had a dream last night that I ran into an old friend of mine and spent some time talking to him. After I stopped talking to him I remembered (still in the dream) that he killed himself. Then my dream became a debate whether this meant that I was crazy or not.

The dream ended shortly after that, so I'm still unsure.

Tickets,

2007-11-01T18:48:00.000-05:00

There were a lot of post this week that went unwritten because of time and mostly lack of motivation. Oh well.

Parking at work is quite the issue. I get to work about twenty five minutes early and still have to walk about ten minutes to get there. This doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some other people. On Tuesday I was working by some electricians who parked in what was obviously temporary parking, but because there was no sign they thought they were in the right. They got ticketed, then threatened towing, but still refused to move their trucks, until they were finally told that if they still wanted to work on the job they would have to move the trucks. One still didn't want to do it, but gave in. The whole time they were talking about fighting the ticket in court and taking the general to small claims court to get pay for the work they would miss. I kept thinking it's just a twenty dollar ticket, why would you go to all that trouble and probably get nothing in return anyway. I seen one electrician taking pictures of the spot today, so I think they are really going ahead with the crazy scheme.

Anyways yesterday I seen a spot a lot closer than normal right behind a crosswalk (not so much a cross walk as a walking entrance thing on the sidewalk) I thought I was far enough back, not blocking it at all, but when I returned to my car at the end of the day there was a ticket. It said parked less than 15 feet from crosswalk. As a coworker of mine said as he looked at the ticket with me, "They're out of their mind." So a crosswalk needs thirty total feet of clearance, that is wider than the street. I know there is an obesity problem in this country, but it ain't that bad. Anyways, I'm no electrician. I already paid it.

Cheney's Got a Gun,

2007-10-28T13:49:00.000-05:00

They really shouldn't allow this on a weekend with so many kids out for trick or treating.

Speaking of Cheney my brother forwarded me this video of Cheney's argument not to invade Iraq when Clinton was president. This surfaced about a month back, to bad it didn't come out before the war started or to bad Cheney didn't remember his own words. And Kerry was suppose to be the flip flopper?

The Difference a Year Makes,

2007-10-25T19:03:00.001-05:00

I only went to one Admiral game last year and it was a 0-0 tie. How boring. I went to my first game of the season last night and it was a little different.

I went up to the ticket booth and the ticket they were offering was four rows off the ice, but off to the side. At first I was hesitant because I always seem to get stuck on the side that the Admirals are only attacking once. However I noticed they now show which side the Admirals are attacking twice (first and third periods) and that was where our tickets were, so I snatched them up. Before the game started a cute girl skated out on the ice winked at me and threw right to me her shirt. Ok a bunch of girls skated out throwing promotional shirts and right to me would've been someone else shirt if the seats next to me had people in them and she didn't wink, but she was cute. So the first period was a go. Not too much happened until the Admirals had a shorthanded break away with a beautiful pass between the legs, a pass back and the red light went on.

On to the second period where the Admirals were attacking the net on the other side of the ice. And when I say attack I mean it, they scored 6 goals that period. With a 7-0 score the game was getting a little out of hand. One of their roughnecks picked a fight with an Admiral who's talents didn't include fighting, but their guy got an instigating and misconduct so it wasn't too bad. Then an Admiral pummeled one of their guys.

In the third ~~beer~~ period the Admirals scored another shorthanded goal (same guy actually) and lost the shut out on a 5 on 3 with a minute and a half left it the game.

So in the end I got a free t-shirt, watched a route and had a good time.

(Write up)

Wrong One,

2007-10-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was telling the guy I'm working with how much I liked the show Arrested Development. Today he told me he was going to have to show me the paper because there was an article about the show coming back. I was all excited, this could be the best thing that ever happened to me. I got home and one of the first things I checked when I got online was the story. Once I found it I laughed and then got a little sad. It was the wrong arrested development.

Shattered Che,

2007-10-21T19:08:00.000-05:00

Despite what some people say I'm not a socialist and I don't idolize Che Guevara. I do think he was an interesting person who lead an interesting life, but that is hardly praising him. One thing I do love about him is how insane he drives conservatives. I came across this story while watching the nephews (our taste in movies is different) last night.

A glass monument to revolutionary icon Ernesto “Ché” Guevara was destroyed less than two weeks after it was unveiled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s government.

They shot it up and smashed it with sledge hammers. You got to be pretty full of hate to pull shit like that.

Although no suspects have been identified, Padilla said it must be the work of a group with links to Venezuelans and Cubans living in Miami,

That's pretty far to go to smash some glass. And why would you use glass to build a monument in a rural area. Road signs in norther Wisconsin could've told you that's trouble.

Someone is going to have to account for her were abouts last week.

Vicious Circles,

2007-10-21T14:53:00.000-05:00

When I arrived at break sometime mid last week, two of the guys were talking to each other in low conspiratorial voices. I made a comment about them passing secrets and they told me, "someone else is getting laid off on Friday. We don't know who just someone." Although a week ago I wrote about how I didn't think I was going to get laid off soon, that had all disappeared last week. Because they were talking in low voices and obviously weren't telling me everything I wondered about my job, but I've been here before so I didn't worry.

Without getting into details some other stuff happened during the week that made me think it was my last and them some other stuff happened that made me think I would be staying awhile. When lay offs start it becomes easy to over read things.

Anyways Wednesday I came down with a very weak cold. By Friday I was worn out and told my boss that I was going to leave at noon. I would've just called in sick, but because I thought I might be getting laid off that day I didn't want to have to come in on Monday and do the walk of shame to pick up my tools. I also figured that this would force his hand, if he was going to lay me off he would have to either do it then or at least say something like, "make sure you see me before you go." Neither thing happened and if fact he told me about some work I would be doing next week.

Later on a fitter walked up to me. I think because he thought I was talking to myself because I was in a small room and the guy I was working with was laying under the duct. Once it was established that I wasn't insane the subject quickly went to lay offs and he told me that one of the fitters jokingly told someone that four tinners and two fitters were going to get laid off. The fitter we were talking to was present and assured us that he said it in a very joking way. Anyways this story went all the way around the job and back to the fitter that originally started the story. So I'm pretty sure I was in the middle of that twisted game of telephone. To my defense the guys that told me were morbidly serious (I would be too if I owned houses as expensive as them).

So in the end I don't really know if anyone got laid off because I was home sleeping when it would've happened.

Into the Wild,

2007-10-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

I went to see my much talked about Into the Wild last night. The whole theater experience was much better than my last outing. And on top of that the movie was great! Sean Penn did a remarkable job making this movie. The only criticism I had was I thought he could of developed the relationship with the hippies more, but that is probably one of those "the book was better," type of criticism. I thought this book would be hard to make into a movie, but at the risk of sounding redundant Penn pulled if off.

Once again very good.

Time Traveler,

2007-10-15T18:27:00.000-05:00

The Time Traveler's Wife
by; Audrey Niffenegger

The time traveler's wife is a story about a guy with a genetic abnormality that causes him to time travel. His trips go back to related times in his life, but the story mostly deals with his trips where he visits his wife as a child.

I first came across this book in a writing class I took a few years ago (although it is a very popular book). We read the first chapter for the class and I really liked it. For some strange reason I originally thought the author was a guy. Then I read a sex scene, from the man's point of view, and thought 'this is a girl writing'. I went back and checked it out and found I was right. There was something about the description that just seemed off to me. This would happen a couple more times in the book.

One of the main things about this book is that it is switching first person. Each section starts out with CLARA or HENRY and that is the first person. This makes the story a bit confusing at times, causing me to look back to see who is in first person. At first I really didn't like this, but then realized that this was the only way that she could tell the story from both points of view which made the book much more interesting. Although I think there was some unnecessary switches.

One thing that I really didn't like was she would write in French (maybe Latin too) and not translate it. It was only a sentence here and there, but it still annoyed me.

I also liked that they made one of the main characters a punk, but it was from the 80's which was just a bad time in punk rock.

For the most part I enjoyed reading it. It got a little to love story towards the end and it took a little effort to believe some of the time traveling stuff, but the strength of the story more than made up for it.

And they are making a movie out of it.

Catalog Choice,

2007-10-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

This is cool, that catalog choice I wrote about a couple of days ago is getting noticed outside of liberal blogs.

The Character of Cars,

2007-10-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

As I walk down Wisconsin to work every morning I walk past all my coworkers cars. Some tell me interesting stories.

The fitter boss has all these sports type cars. I think he could drive a different car to work every day of the week. But each one is a pile of shit; bondoed, bolted and rusted together. I don't know why he doesn't just concentrate on one and make it a decent car.

There is a nice trunk if you like that kind of thing. It has a camouflage wind thing on the hood and camouflage runner along the side. And not just any camouflage, I'm sure it has a name like north forest camouflage. It strikes me that whoever owns this truck's favorite color is camouflage. How twisted.

In the same vane is the guy who has a arrow shaft for his antenna.

Usually on my walk home I notice a beat little car with a moose and international crane foundation sticker on the back. I look in the window and see an iron worker book. An iron worker conservationist, wow! As different I am from you an iron worker is from me. Pretty impressive. He gets there before me and leaves after so I've never seen the guy, but would love to put a face to the car.

Also where I park in the morning is where the nursing college students park and I realize this world is getting noticeably younger.

Gun to the Head,

2007-10-12T17:15:00.000-05:00

I forgot to write about this in the last post.

So I was talking to a guy I work with about the layoffs he said he thought his would be coming soon because he takes a lot of days off. Then he told me how he called in sick the other day because one of his girlfriends (not the one he lives with one of the other two that supposedly know he has multiple girlfriends) had a gun to his head until three the night before. There are some guys at work I know are full of shit (well one less now), but he is not one of them. He told me, "I knew the gun was loaded and could see the safety was off. I thought I was dead." When he first told me about his three girlfriends a few weeks ago all I could think was that doesn't even sound like fun, not to mention pretty sleazy. Maybe the gun to the head will change his ways, but I doubt it.

Well Cheers again.

It's Started,

2007-10-12T16:32:00.000-05:00

For a couple weeks my coworkers have been speculating about lay offs. One guy said they would start in two weeks (I was leaning towards a month) and I'm sure he wished he was wrong because he got it today. That sucked because this was the guy that I talked to at lunch. Now I'm stuck with the conspirators. Ugh. They also laid off a guy that the only thing that was surprising about was why it took them this long. Supposedly another guy got it, but it isn't quite clear on who that was; a useless preapprentice or the other foreman. There was a weird story about the other foreman hurting his knee while playing football last night that sounds very suspicious to me, anyways he is not suppose to be back, but it's not clear to me if he was the third guy or not.

Working for an out of town contractor like I am it is pretty much a given that a lay off is inevitable. I'm not to worried now because I'm usually worried when I get laid off so because I'm not worried makes me more not worried. I feel like I'll make it to sometime in December if not later, but that is just a guess. Right now I'm thinking it will be a steady drip of layoffs for the next couple of months, so we shall see how this all plays out. I thought there was a lot of work out there, but I heard one of the guys that got laid off say he was fifty something on the list. That's a lot more guys off than I thought. Well they say a lot of work is coming up, but I've heard that before.

Anyways the guy I was working with took off at noon to get hammered. God Bless him. Pizza, whiskey sours and PBS for me tonight.
Cheers!

Nothing Happening,

2007-10-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

As I was drinking talking politics in a bar (ironically named White House) last weekend my friend said something I've been thinking for some time. Nothing is really happening, it seems like everyone is just waiting for the next election. A few things have come up for renewal, but besides that it's just boring. I kind of understand it, the president has dug his heals in, so for anything to go through the Democrats would need a super majority and republicans just don't do that. So everyone is waiting for the next election when the democrats will gain seats in the senate and probably get the white house. I'd guess congress would stay blue or slightly shift shades one way or the other, but I'm just not a big enough wanker to make a prediction on 435 seats (wow I guessed at that number and got it right). Although this stagnate period will probably be over shortly since primaries will be starting right after the new year.

I think the only thing for me that has changed is instead of favoring Edwards with an eye on Obama. I've decided that since my state has a late primary and probably won't matter that I can just vote for whoever is the strongest against Hilary candidate.

But anyways with a lack of politics to write about and trying to put up at least a couple of posts a week, I'm going to start what I've wanted to do for a while write reviews books that I read. I've always meant to do this, but for some reason never got around to it. I don't read very fast so it will probably be around one a month depending on length and interest. Usually I rotate between fiction and nonfiction. It won't be so much a traditional review of the book more of my thoughts and impressions of the book. I got only about twenty pages left in my current book so look for a review this weekend.

It changes,

2007-10-11T16:26:00.000-05:00

Found a link to this on Kos, are you Right brain or Left brain? The first time I looked at it it was going counterclockwise, but the two times after that (to get the link) it was going clockwise. So I guess I'm both.

Phone Book Funny,

2007-10-09T18:23:00.001-05:00

Around three different companies send me phone books and each of them send three different types of books. Every time I see them on my front step all I can think is, how waste full. So many trees for something I will never use and don't want. Although I keep them in a cupboard, I never take them out until it is time to recycle them. I've looked for ways to opt. out, but haven't found any. Anyways Kos agrees with me, and catalogs. I signed up for Catalogchoice.

And here are some funny clips I found at Crooks and Liars;
Daily Show, SNL

The Fix is in,

2007-10-09T16:26:00.000-05:00

The guys I work with are convinced that the Packer game was fixed. Although I would agree there were some pretty shitty calls, I would hardly call it a fix. One guy went so far out of the bounds of reality to claim that the reffs have buzzers on their belts that tell them when to call penalties. He, "has a friend with an inside source." I sure hope if I have bat shit crazy ideas like that I'm smart enough to keep my mouth shut.

And they also believe the government blew up the buildings during 9-11.

Gotta Suck,

2007-10-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

Imagine you tried to kill yourself and failed. Not a get attention high school suicide, but a very serous one. Imagine having to face people after that and explain how you thought life just wasn't worth living, especially to the people you know care for you. Then try to explain how it won't happen again. Now imagine that you are a famous actor who has to walk down run ways and will probably have to explain himself in some sort of late night interview, probably for the rest of your life. Now imagine that the first movie your in after that you play a guy who is recovering from a possible suicide attempt.

I hope Owen Wilson is alright or gets better.

Bug Castro,

2007-10-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to write this since last weekend, but haven't found time. I don't want it to get too far away from me so I'm going to skip my usual Wednesday night fiction writing to write about a couple of Netflixs I watched last weekend.

Bug This movie reminded me of Memento or Internal Sunshine OTSM, kind of a mind-fuck movie that takes you into the world of a paranoid, tinfoil hat, crazy who's narcissism seemingly start small but escalate rather quickly. The thing I really liked about the movie is how believable the escalation and how he convinces the lady to go along with him was. Don't get me wrong you think the guy is crazy, it's just believable. It wasn't as good as Memento or ISOTSM, I was only going to give it 3 stars, but since I highly recomend it I bumped it up to 4.

Fidel: The Castro Project This was actually a two part miniseries on Showtime that they should have did a better job splitting up on the DVD since it's run time is over three hours. The very beginning doesn't fit into the movie, then it gets a little boring for awhile and the end was also boring. But in between was a very good look at an idealist, liberal, revolution turned into oppressive dictatorship. A subject that keeps popping up in my life lately.

Silence,

2007-10-03T19:20:00.000-05:00

I came across this article today;

Because hybrids make virtually no noise at slower speeds when they run solely on electric power, blind people say they pose a hazard to those who rely on their ears to determine whether it's safe to cross the street or walk through a parking lot.

I can vouch for this. One time while walking to my campsite at Kohler-Andrae at night, I had a similar incident with a hybrid with only its parking lights on. Maybe they should put bells on the bumpers.

Scary people,

2007-10-03T19:11:00.001-05:00

Today I hustled out of work because I had a dentist appointment and time was a bit tight. Just before I got to my car a guy stopped me and said, "Excuse me sir, where is the mental health facility?" Yikes! It reminded me of the time I had to do a job in Milwaukee county jail, right in a pod with all the prisoners walking around me. It stuck me how scary someone becomes just by putting an orange jumpsuit on.

Anyways for the news that all Johntown readers are waiting for no cavities!!!

Putin,

2007-10-02T19:42:00.001-05:00

Putin basically appoints himself Prime minister, although this write up down plays it a bit compared to other sources I have seen. It sounds to me like he will take this post and run the country through a puppet president. I think this is widely underreported in our little country, maybe because people aren't interested or occupied with other enemies. To me this looks like a Putin dictatorship is right around the corner if not already here. This is going to be a great disappointment to my ultra conservative friend who lists Putin as one of the people she wants to meet on her myspace page, if he is dictator I don't think he will have time to visit her.

I listen to a Russian talk last year at a friends birthday party. He talked a lot. He mentioned Putin and I asked him his opinion about him. He said he liked him, but didn't want him to be president again because he would basically become a dictator. He also said his grandfather who lived most of his life under a dictatorship would welcome back that type of government. I found his comments on this subject interesting.

I wonder if it will go back the old communism or just go to oppressive regime. Communism is weird to me. Most describe it as far left wing, however to me freedom of the press and free elections are basic staples of liberalism. Communism to me seems what happens when conservatives try to be left wing.

Anyways stand by for the next cold war.

That was stupid,

2007-10-02T16:24:00.000-05:00

Like I said I wanted to see the movie The Kingdom. I saw previews for it early in the spring, before I got back to work. I was really looking forward to seeing it, however as it got closer and I saw some of the television ads I became a little less excited, but still wanted to see it. Anyway it came out last weekend and I went to see it last night. I wanted to go to an early show, hopefully a matinee to get in for a few dollars less, but that is hard to do starting at 7 (some jobs start at 6 making matinees much easier to attend). I settled on a 6:40 start time.

So I pulled into the parking lot and get to the cashier and say, "one for The Kingdom." She says, "The 6:40 at the palladium dinner theater or the 7:45 ultra screen?" I said, "What did you say the 6:40 was?" "Palladium dinner theater, it's a two item minimum... are you going to have soda and a popcorn?" "No!" the candy bars in my pocket will suffice. The next show time being an hour away I walked out. I was pretty pissed, that's too much. Just show the movies in normal theaters and I'll take care of dinner myself. This is a new theater, last time I was there I saw an indie movie and it was in a theater that had only about five rows. Although it seemed promising that it will probably have some smaller budget movies, there wasn't the going to the theater feeling that I pay nine fucking dollars for. It felt more like I was watching the movie at some rich guy's house and I don't like rich people, especially when they don't really exist. So far this new theater really sucks.

So anyways I was pissed off and thought maybe I should just wait for the movie to come out on DVD and I could spend the night reading my book and watching Heroes. I got home and check other show times and made the mistake of deciding to still go see the movie.

I drove out to Delafield. Although I probably would of save a little time going to the later show at the Majestic I was pissed at them and didn't want to give them my money (even thought they were both Marcus). So I go into the theater and there is only one other couple there. That seemed promising. A few more people filtered in during the wait. Then as the commercials started (something else I hate, but I won't get into that now) about five couples came in. Two ladies sat right behind me and another couple sat three seats away. In a big theater with only about ten couples and me there was no reason to crowd me. One of the people that sat right by me was real fidgety and moved around a lot during the movie, that was a much minor annoyance compared to the ladies that sat right behind me and whispered all through the movie.

Anyways, I was expecting a political contemporary movie about the middle east along the lines of Syriana. For about the first two thirds that's what I got. A little far fetched, but still enjoyable. Then the movie digressed into a Die Hard type of shoot' em up movie. As I was watching three FBI agents running around a slum in Saudi Arabia indiscriminately shooting, I thought this must be the part that Bin Ladin wrote. However they did make a good point at the end and did a good job at making it. Maybe I was a bit harsh in criticism because of all hassle involved with seeing this movie, I'll have to watch it again at home away from all the stupid, over priced theater bullshit. More than likely that'll be the last time I go to a theater to see a movie.

So I gave it 3 netflix stars; a wait for rental, but still a decent watch.

On the plus side if IMDB's message boards can be trusted Into the Wild should be out in most theaters sometime mid-October, so I'll be going to the theater again soon.

House,

2007-09-30T13:33:00.000-05:00

Just south of my house, up by the hospital was an old water reserve. A little over a year ago they started working on it. As they were working on it I was very curious as to what they were turning it into. It's a round building, about three stories tall. It seemed to small and awkward to be apartments or condos, to big to be a house and to awkward and residential to be offices. I figured it probably had something to do with the hospital that is right across the street, but it still seemed weird and out of place for that.

They finally finished and I came to the conclusion that it was condos. I always wondered what they would cost and who would want to live there. Besides the hospital it's surrounded by houses and apartments a lot lower in value compared to the fancy water reserve condos that they just build. For awhile it seemed like it was the cool place to live because there were parties there every weekend, but recently there hasn't been much activity.

Anyways the other day I got a postcard from a realtor and the unique building on the front I instantly recognized as the water reserve condos. I searched the card for a list price to quench my curiosity and when I saw $999,999 I was a bit skeptical that there wasn't a typo or some other mistake. Today I finally got around to looking it up online and couldn't find it at first because I was looking under condos. Turns out it's a single family house. Here is the listing

I don't think it's going to sell quick. It's too weird in a nonweird area, maybe if it was somewhere around downtown Milwaukee it would be sought after, but I don't think anyone that wants to live in a weird house wants to do it in a residential neighborhood. Not to mention other houses in the area are at best $200,000 and the apartments by it look pretty low rent. I also don't understand why you would have more bathrooms than bedrooms, that mathematically just doesn't make any sense (although every time I clean my toilets I wonder why I have two, thank god that doesn't happen often). I do like how they advertise it is close to public transportation, because that is what people in the market for million dollar houses want.

So if any of you are looking for a million dollar, weird house, in a neighborhood that doesn't fit just let me know and I can hook you up with the realtor.

Link,

2007-09-25T16:44:00.001-05:00

This is a great interview. I think he ambushes her with the "name of the last person killed in Iraq," question. But the hypocrisy calls for it.

Fuck Chuck,

2007-09-24T16:50:00.001-05:00

I was all excited about treating myself to a movie one night this week, but not one theater is playing Into The Wild. However Good Luck Chuck and Mr. Woodcock are playing everywhere. Joke. Well I'm sure The Kingdom (or as I call it Empire) will be playing everywhere next week, so I'll get one movie in.

~~Ebert~~ Wilonsky and Roeper give two thumbs up to Into the Wild. Wilonsky especially liked it.

Strike,

2007-09-24T16:45:00.000-05:00

GM went on strike today. I think maybe I should skip the corporate news tonight. They are horribly one sided on labor issues. Not much sympathy for the working men and women these days.

I Work With Animals,

2007-09-20T16:16:00.001-05:00

Apparently we are not allowed to shit on the toilet seat at work. I might have to call the hall on that; I'm pretty sure we got that right in the last contract.

The Earth Is Flat,

2007-09-19T18:44:00.001-05:00

A while back I wrote;

Brownback was one of the candidates that said he doesn't believe in evolution in the republican debate. The next questions should have been, "Do you believe the earth is round?"

I was Referring to the four candidates that rose their hands when asked the question. I was joking with the second sentence, but I guess I wasn't to far off. I seriously don't know what to say to that.

Movie,

2007-09-17T16:46:00.001-05:00

I want to see The Kingdom. I knew it was coming out soon or already came out, so I looked at IMDb to see. For some reason I was thinking the movie was called Empire so I had trouble finding it. I looked under new releases and was blown away to see they made a movie out of the book Into The Wild. It looks like it's a Sean Penn project; not acting, screenplay and directing. I loved the book! The dreamer in me would love to do what he did, but the dominate practical side keeps me at home. I really hope they don't fuck up this movie, which I think could be easy to do.

I guess I'll be seeing two movies soon. It's been awhile since there has been anything theater worthy.

Far Right,

2007-09-16T15:23:00.000-05:00

Lincoln Chafee quit the GOP. He was the senator for Rhode Island until he lost last election. He was arguably the most moderate republican and had an approval rating in the high fifties or maybe even sixties, but he still lost basically for just being a republican. I don't blame him for quiting what has become an extreme right wing party.

The Forgotten,

2007-09-16T14:55:00.000-05:00

These are some stories that I didn't write about at the time for one reason or another;

I do this online thing were I get two audio books a month. Mostly I listen to them on my to and from work. A few years back I got War and Peace. Clocking in at over sixty hours this was going to take awhile. I started once, got bored and gave up. I then made a second attempt to finish it, but finally realized I wasn't really listening to it I just had it on while my mind wandered else where. So with about a quarter left I turned it off for the last time. I was a little bummed about this and sort of felt like I was cheating myself. However a few months later while watching Jeopardy there was a category about War and Peace and I got every answer right, plus all the contestants on TV didn't even ring in for any question. I felt a little redeemed by this.

On a side note; I hear the book can vary quite a bit depending on translation.

* * *

Two weekends before I went on my vacation I thought I was coming down with a cold. My immune system sucks and I get sick regularly. Getting sick right before a vacation seemed like something my stupid body would do. Usually I take it easy with a cold; go to bed early, don't drink stuff like that. However since I always get sick anyways I've decided to adopt a new policy of treating the illness with a heavy dose of alcohol. So that Monday I got really drunk. The next Monday I was trying to figure out if I was still getting sick or was just feeling like shit because I've been drinking for a week.

* * *

After spending a week deep in the woods, I got stung by a hornet in the head while mowing my lawn. Once night came vengeance was mine.

Typo's,

2007-09-15T19:29:00.000-05:00

I'm sure these posts are filled with typos. Between the amount of time I put into each one and my remedial grammar skills, I'm sure a lot gets past me.

However last night some friends were pointing this out and the example they used was Internets from the previous post. This was not a typo, it was a subtle jab at our president. As my link shows it has it's own wiki page. I'll have to keep in mind that some people won't get wanker inside politics jokes and try to put links up, so you all can laugh at my subtler jokes. But once again links can take time and I don't have a whole lot extra these days. Bzzzz Bzzzz Bzzzzz (busy as a bee, get it).

Larry Craig,

2007-09-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

Ok I can't resist putting one Larry Craig post up. I know this is old news and all, but I was on vacation so I get a pass.

It's too bad anti gay republicans like Larry Craig created such a toxic environment for gays in this country that gay republicans like Larry Craig have to resign after being outed. I feel sorry for the old fuck and anyways men's bathrooms? Didn't this loser ever hear of the internets?

And while I'm at it Tony Snow resigned while I was gone and his reason;

But he insisted yesterday that he is leaving not for health reasons but to recoup the income he lost when he left his job as a radio and television host to take the $168,000-a-year job as press secretary.

"I ran out of money," he said.

Six figures and full health insurance wasn't cutting it for this fuck. I couldn't find the transcript, but someone on This Week with G.S. round table said in responds to this, the Bush administration is looking out of touch because they are. We should all have it so hard as to worry about making it on our six figure salary.

The week after,

2007-09-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

It was amazing how different everything seemed when I got back from vacation. It was like summer turned to fall in the week while I was gone. The sun was no longer up when I woke up in the morning and I had to turn lights on. School had started, so traffic was much busier and parking at work was a lot worse. I now have to walk about an extra block to work every morning. While we were on our trip leaves were turning colors and already falling, my expert said this was a sign of stress from drought, but either way it put me in a autumn mood. When I got home it really felt like fall. Except for the heat, that felt like midsummer. This week feels like fall in that regard.

It's weird early on this summer, actually before this summer began, I had a feeling that the season was almost over and once again I didn't do anything. For the most part I didn't really get out all that much, just like my premonition. However it feels like I got a lot accomplished over the season. I got a lot of work done on my house or at least the major work. It will be a lot easier to come home and do the little touch ups around my house this winter, than it was coming home and sanding drywall, above my head while sweating like a fiend. And I got that eye surgery, which sure made this summer something.

Anyway, I was kind of bummed about the summer ending. Which was kind of weird because fall has always been my favorite season. This situation puzzled me last week. This week with the temperature drop those old feelings of fall returned.

Anyway seasons change, vacation is over, work sucks blah blah blah... Boring blog post.

The Vacation,

2007-09-09T13:41:00.001-05:00

Part 6; Going Home,

We woke up the next morning with a little more time than I had anticipated. The boat was suppose to pick us up at twelve thirty, but I didn't take into account that even though we were west of Milwaukee we were in the eastern time zone. So we hung around camp for awhile waiting for the dew to dry off our tents. I came back from being somewhere else (don't remember where) and some Gray Jays or there much cooler name Whiskey Jacks came into our camp. My expert told us they were very curious birds and it being a camp ground we all got pictures of them taking peanuts from our hands.

Shortly after that we went down to the dock to wait for the boat. We had a couple of hours yet and went on an unimpressive interpretive walk and had sandwiches and $1.37 cokes at the little store. I read some more Kerouac and went out on the dock to look around. I gazed deep into old Gitche Gumee admiring the crystal clear waters, knowing this was all about to end too soon. I worked my way around the pier, looking into the waters and eavesdropping on the conversations taking place, when a bit of action prompted me to look to my left. A moose was walking right out into the lake. He was walking along the edge of the deposit left in the lake from Washington Creek, which let him walk a good distance into the lake without getting his knees wet. The boat arrived no more than five minutes later, while the moose was still in the lake, making a perfect ending for the trip.

I tried to ride back sitting on the bow of the boat, but it got too windy. So I set on the side for a bit and ended up trying to sleep inside the boat. We landed on the dock and I rounded up my pack with an empty flask and forty pages left of Lonesome Traveler, got in the car and drove south along MN-61 towards Duluth. 61 was is a very scenic, pleasant drive, hugging the shore of Superior most of the way. Great country if you like scenery.

A couple of hours later we arrived in Duluth were we were staying for the night. We took turns showering for the first time in six days. Then I picked a pizza place to go to. It was a very college town pizza place, binders for menus, vegetarian options for meals and a young crowd. At first it seemed like great choice. The waitress came and took our orders. She didn't write anything down. I've seen this done before and don't understand what they are trying to prove. I think I even made a comment about how that makes me nervous. My pizza finally arrived with one of three toppings right, she really should have written it down. I just didn't have any luck with waitresses on this trip. However she got a good tip for three reasons; she was cute, she gave the check to the guys who got what they ordered and the most important reason she kept the beer coming.

After that we went to an Irish bar where we watched a band play one song before calling it a night. We went out and sat on cushy chairs and drank for awhile. There were a bunch of board games on the wall and Aaron pulled out some questions from a trivial pursuit game and quizzed me and Adrian. I really enjoyed this. I like trivia, but the only chance I get to play any games like this is when I talk to my TV when Jeopardy is on. That was short lived do to the amount of beers consumed and we went back to the hotel bar were we had 2for1 drink coupons. Calling were we went a bar was pretty generous. It was just some old lady serving beer and telling weird bestiality stories. We quickly finished our beers and I went up to our room while Adrian and Aaron went somewhere else for ten minutes (?). I turned on the TV and this is when I learned about the Larry Craig scandal! Seriously I was gone for a week and two major White House officials resign and a antigay republican plead guilty to soliciting gay sex in a men's bathroom. I think it's safe to say some Jontown post got missed.

The next morning we got in the car and made the cross state trip from the very northwest corner of Wisconsin to almost the very southeast corner. Along the way it all started to hit me. The return to work, the big empty house, bills, cleaning... Oh how I longed for the island. I still had the holiday weekend ahead of me, but I knew that would mostly be me just sitting around drinking hoping Monday never comes. There was a party and other opportunities to do something, but I knew I would pass them all up and I was right.

The vacation was over.

The Vacation,

2007-09-06T18:21:00.000-05:00

Part 5; Washington Creek,

Now somewhere I read that although this was the longest hike, 12.6 miles (the other hikes were about half that) it was suppose to be an easy, gradual downhill hike. I'm not sure where I read this, but another hiker that we meet towards the end of the hike said he read the same thing. There was nothing gradually downhill about this hike. After we did the first part relatively quickly, we were all feeling pretty good about ourselves and the amount of distance we covered. "I think were a third of the way", at one point someone said. "I think we went over the last ridge." "I think there is only three miles left." "I think we are already on the boat." None of this ended up being true. After we got through the first section at a relatively fast clip, with me in the lead for reasons I will go into later, we sat down, took our packs off and ate beef jerky and trail mix. We noticed three contour lines on the map signaling ridges we had to go over and knew they were coming up. We went over a couple of small hills and I looked back and said to Adrian, "I think that was the third one." He agreed.
Over the next couple of hours as we forced ourselves up ridge after fucking ridge we realized how wrong we were. My calves felt like they were going to blow right out the back of my legs. Luckily that didn't happen. However I was very happy that I mostly use the stairs at work and don't run to the elevator like most guys I work with. Also the frequent walks I took this summer made the long, challenging hike much more bearable. One person in our group didn't spend his summer preparing for the hike.

So to go back a bit, Isle Royale is known for it's moose population. Last time we went if memory serves me it seems we saw a moose almost every day. Here we were on our fifth day on the island, our last hike and we haven't seen a single moose. This last hike being long and our last day, I decided that moose sightings were just not in the cards and since I had already seen them the last time we were at the island, I didn't care so much. So I took the lead, not caring if someone was walking right on me heels. However I offered my companions some hope by telling them that last time we saw a big bull moose just outside of a campsite on our way to the boat. I didn't believe we would see one however. During a mix up following rock cairns Adrian took the lead and I was in the middle. As we were making one of our ridge climbs, this is long after we thought we were done with them, I was almost at the top when I looked off into the woods and noticed a distinct shape that can best be describe as "no tree". Right there maybe fifteen feet into the woods was a moose. Right from first sight I knew there was trouble. I could tell she didn't like the looks of me and I can't say I cared to much for the look on her face. She lowered her ears and stamped her hooves while I braced myself for what would be a colossal impact. She charged and the collision could of killed a lesser man. As we tumbled back down the ridge I threw heavyweight blows into her skull as she worked my gut. I was vomiting blood by the time I felt her skull cave-in from a final deadly blow, just as we reached the bottom of the ridge. Or she just sat there eating grass watching us take pictures of her. I can't remember, it was over a week ago. I should have taken notes. We finally made it to the campground thoroughly worn out. A short walk away was a ranger station were I bought Cheetos, snickers and a can of soda for the odd price of $1.37. Included $.10 MI Deposit!!! How generous, but $.37 how do you come up with that. Of course the price was high, but not compared to the $8 pack of cigarettes someone else bought. I sat and ate the junk food and smoked what became community cigarettes with a deep guilt that I was ruining in ten minutes what I had accomplished over the last five days. Especially the cigarettes. I very rarely smoke and didn't enjoy these at all. Every drag was full of guilt, but yet I kept taking more until they were all gone the next morning. I extinguished mine with a, "Yuck, that is the last of that for a long time."

And so we went to sleep for the last time on Isle Royale soil, knowing our little escape was almost at an end.

The Vacation,

2007-09-05T18:21:00.000-05:00

Part 4; Lake Desor,

We woke the next morning and the rain had past, but of course everything was wet and a fog had settled on the island. We packed up, pumped water and headed out for Lake Desor, the only inland lake we would be staying at on our trip.

The reason I wanted to hike the Minong Ridge trail was mostly because it got a lot of praising write ups in Backpacker magazine, which I one time subscribed to. It was suppose to be a very scenic, have the best opportunity to see wildlife and seldom traveled. The reason for it being seldom traveled was the high difficulty level. From what I had read in some books about the trail the really hard hike was the one ahead of us that day.

We put our packs on and into the woods we went. Most of the trail was on ridges that would have given us spectacular views, except for the overcastness and fog. Others in the group praised these conditions because of tender, freshly sunburned skin. I was hoping the sun would burn the clouds away. At the ranger station they warned us that it was suppose to rain this day and if it did the rocks would be slippery. It wasn't raining while we were hiking, but everything was still wet from the night before and was very slippery. I liked walking in back so I can go at my own pace, look around and enjoy my hike, something I have a hard time doing with footsteps right on my heels. So no one saw when I stepped on a rock, felt my feet kick out, leaned back and fell on my ass. No one will ever know that happened.

We got to Lake Desor and I felt a bit disappointed in the difficulty of the trail. It was hard, but not as hard as I was expecting. Here's to high standards. We set up our tents and the sun finally started elbowing its way into the day. We went swimming in the dark, algae filled warm waters of Lake Desor. Although the temperature was much more tolerable, I longed for the crystal clear waters of the big lake.

As I was sitting on the shore a red squirrel came in with absolutely no fear of humans. I yelled at him, "You're suppose to be afraid of us. We kill everything!"

He looked at me and said, "Thanks for eating like a slob, fat ass. This Reese's Pieces is mine," and off into the woods he went with my escaped piece of candy.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty typical; Aaron slept, Adrian and I walked the shore and read, we all bickered. There seemed to be a lot more birds on the inland lake and bringing an expert with us was a big plus. I suggest everyone befriend such a person. As the day was coming to a close Adrian and I read our books and Aaron was writing in a notebook. When finally asked what he was writing he informed us it was a list of what he should/shouldn't bring next time he went backpacking. This was very odd because up to this point Aaron made it very clear this would be his last backpacking trip. At least this would seem odd, but I've known Aaron for a long time.

Once again I had a tent to myself and stayed up reading Kerouac by headlamp. I finally laid my head down on my ~~pillow~~ rolled up fleece. Just as I was in that magical land between sleep and wake I notice a peculiar noise and curiosity aroused me to full awakeness to realize it was starting to rain. Then Aaron got up and took a piss which sounded awfully close to my tent.

Then we woke up,

The Vacation,

2007-09-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

Part 4; Little Todd Harbor,

I reminisce with an extra sense of nostalgia since this was my first day back at work. Time seemed odd during my vacation. It seemed like I was away, first from my home then from work, for a long time. But the actual vacation seemed short. How odd, anyways work sucks so more about my vacation.

After Todd Harbor came Little Todd Harbor. The experience was much like the names Todd Harbor was fun and besides all the whingeing I did about my pack, a good hike. Little Todd Harbor was a little less fun, both the campsite and the hike. Once again we went swimming in old Gitche Gumee, Aaron took a nap and I went hiking with Adrian on the rocks. This time however it was a boatless boozeless cruise, when backpacking sacrifices need to be made.

After we ate Aaron and Adrian went down to the water to throw rocks at the other rocks in the water. This was a favorite past time started at Todd Harbor, I think we had three different games created by now. My arm was sore from hiking and throwing rocks the day before, so I stayed up by the tents and read. I thought we were pretty lucky so far. After the first night we seemed to avoid any real annoying people. While reading, listening to the smack of rocks bouncing of rocks I realized the other people in our campsites weren't so lucky. I told my friends this and that ended the rock throwing, probably more because of lack of opportunity than good backpacking edict, but you can't prove that.

That night I was awoke by bright flashes and loud rumbling that could only of been two things; Canada was invading the U.S. or there was a thunderstorm. I won't leave you in suspense it was a thunderstorm.

The Vacation,

2007-09-03T11:20:00.001-05:00

Part 3; Todd Harbor,

The next morning we put our packs on for the first real time. Moans all around. I was reminded that when I bought my pack, some years ago now, the salesman didn't really care and never sized me up for the right size pack. I should of walked away, but I tend to be a bit of a one stop shopper. I should of bought a new pack for this trip, but should of's are a waste of breath in the middle of Lake Superior. Anyways we trudged on to Todd Harbor as I tugged and pulled straps trying to get my pack to sit a little more comfortable than it was. The trail was nice and scenic, but the straps grinding into my shoulders made me anxious to get to the next campsite.

We arrived at Todd Harbor campsite in the afternoon and set up our tents to dry them out from the dew they got packed away with in the morning. Then it was on with the swim trunks and right into Superior. Well maybe not right in. I walked out pretty bravely until that point that every man knows takes a little more courage than the rest of the body. A lady who was eating lunch with some guy on shore advised me to just jump in. I told her she was pretty brave for someone sitting on the shore. I finally did take the dive and after the initial second of every inch of my body yelling "what the fuck are you doing?" It felt good. The cold water revived my sore, hot, stinkin' body. Although I must admit I didn't linger long in the amazingly clear waters of the ice cold lake.

After sitting on shore, reading Kerouac and drinking Drambuie, I suggested taking a walk on the rocky shore with my friend Adrian. Aaron was sleeping, he slept a lot and wondered why he couldn't sleep at night. Anyways Adrian and I went on what would be known as "the boatless booze cruise" (stolen from a Lawrence Arms song). It's great fun to walk on the rocks while drinking. However I was a little tired from the walk during the day, lost my footing and fell. The only mistake I made was handing off my camera seconds before to an asshole that thought it would be funny to take a picture. I meant to punch him while he was sleeping, but I fell asleep to quickly. The fall for the most part was pretty harmless. I scraped my ankle, which worked out pretty good for the flies the next night when they discovered this was an easy way to get at my inner juices and got a pretty good bruise on my leg, but no Drambuie was spilt.

We returned and made dinner. Some lady came over to tell us her radio told her thundershowers were expected that night and all next day. We thanked her for the heads up, although it all ended up being a big lie.

We watched the sun set as Adrian made a rock cairn just off the shore. Although it made for good pictures I'm sure this will be the cause of many hikers to march out into the lake never to be seen again. The mystery will baffle experts for years until waves knock the rocks down, leaving only a Bermuda Triangle type legend behind.

The Vacation,

2007-09-02T15:30:00.000-05:00

Part 2; McCargoe Cove,

So there I am, in McCargoe Cove with four days and 28 miles ahead of me. I was well prepared with a flask of Drambuie and "Lonesome Traveler" by Kerouac in my pack. Much thought went into these two items. I was going to fill my flask with Jameson, but didn't think I wanted the harshness that comes with straight whiskey. My last backpacking trip I took some Drambuie with me and it didn't go over so good, so I was a bit hesitant with the choice, but made it anyways. On this trip however it worked just fine, but I will get to that later. The next book on my "to read" bookshelf was "The Time Traveler's Wife" clocking in at 546 pages, weigh well over a pound. To much book for the trip, so I had to take a book out of order. Although that sounds like a big deal, I assure you it isn't. I thought of taking Jack London's "Iron Heel", a futuristic sci-fi novel with radical socialism in it. However I just read a history of the IWW and have been taking heat from my far rightwing friend who thinks I'm a red, so I thought I would go another way. I went with the Kerouac book with some hesitation also since I had just listened to "On the Road" a week before. But a decision had to be made, so I made one (14 ounces lighter than TTTW).

It seemed pretty apparent to me right away that my hiking companions were not as excited about the trip as I was. One seemed to be suffering from a little backwoods burn out from spending all summer in the woods and the other seemed to be much more interested in his email inbox than the wild beautiful seclusion ahead of us. Oh well, nuts to them, I got Drambuie and Kerouac.

As we were sitting on the pier in the evening, I noticed a red fox across the cove from us. The beautiful animal with it's big bushy tail and narrow tapered legs colored black like it's wearing boots, seemed to shine extra red in the low rays of a setting sun. At the same time we were sharing the dock with a much more common animal the North American red neck. They were on a fishing trip and not wanting to deal with the annoying noise these animals make we retreated to our campsite.

Although I was tired from not getting a good nights sleep in two nights, I decided to stay up and read by headlamp for awhile. It was my turn to sleep in a tent alone and I figured I should enjoy it since the next two nights I would be in the dreaded shared tent. Also there was a loud game of cribbage going on in the next campsite that would of been hard to sleep through.

Finally the moon rose and I closed my eyes.

The Vacation,

2007-09-01T14:18:00.001-05:00

Part 1; Getting there.

Due to years of layoffs and general job uncertainty I haven't taken a vacation in years. More specifically I haven't taken a backpacking trip to Isle Royale doing the Minong Ridge trail that I've wanted to do for some time. This winter, even though I was laid off at the time, I said fuck it this is the year and made plans for this long over due vacation.

And thank god I did. I went to work in early spring and have been working ever since, plus I've been doing a lot of work around the house, so I really needed this trip. I planned if for the end of summer August 24 thru the 31 which would work out good for hiking conditions, but bad for wishing my summer away. Finally the day came and I was free from the shackles of routine life for a week into the woods for some good old away from civilization recuperation.

However getting there had it's problems like getting stuck in a downpour while doing some last minute shopping, piss poor dishwasher edict, disputed hotel fair and a meal from the worst waitress on the face of the planet causing me for the first time in my life to leave a restaurant without leaving a tip.

But Saturday morning arrived and I was on the dock with my pack all ready to go to the island...

See ya, Suckers,

2007-08-23T17:46:00.001-05:00

I hope you all enjoy me being on vacation!!!

Winners and Losers,

2007-08-12T17:36:00.000-05:00

Not much to do this afternoon after my friend left, except sit around and wait for the weekend to end, so I can get back to hanging that 52x34 duct in the hot sun.

I keep looking to see if Tommy Thompson has dropped out of his joke presidential run, after his dismal showing in the Iowa straw poll like he said he would. It seems pretty unanimous that the big winner was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Here is an interesting take on his second place finish. It reminds me of Mark Green challenging then losing to Doyle for the Governorship and the seat he gave up in congress to run for governor went to a democrat. Ha ha double loser, how's Tanzania?

Obama (R-IL)

2007-08-09T19:53:00.000-05:00

Clinton is always the candidate that the media is trying to say is the safe candidate. I've never believed this and now there is a poll that proves that I was right. Obama ranked 3rd amongst republicans, that's pretty impressive for a member of another party.

$.27,

2007-08-08T17:54:00.000-05:00

Today I got a $.27 an hour cut in pay and a Packer schedule in my check. So everything evened out in the end.

AFL-CIO Debate,

2007-08-08T16:50:00.001-05:00

This is why Edwards is my favorite candidate right now.

Kucinich had a good line about China.

Getting fair trade is a bipartisan winning issue. I wish more of the candidates would endorse it. My main issue with the lady in the race is this issue, it would make it very hard for me to vote for her.

Skinny Lions,

2007-08-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

ABC started this new bit tonight were they show popular Internet videos. It's about time they embraced the Internet instead of fighting it. Anyway the first video they showed is this awesome nature video. It's a little long (8 min.) but I promise you won't be bored. And make sure you keep watching there are more twist in this than a Hollywood movie and you won't believe the ending;

The Fat Man's Hands,

2007-08-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

I work with this really fat guy. He has central air in his house and still has to put a window unit in his room to be comfortable in the summer. Anyways we had to move our break tables around at work and I ended up sitting next to him. One day he poked me in my side just below the armpit. I jumped back as a "what the fuck are you touching me like that for" reaction. He interpreted this as I was ticklish. Now I might be a little ticklish, but that was certainly not why I jumped back. Apparently he tried tickling the guy he was working with while his arms were in the air cutting something. The other guy wasn't ticklish at all and apparently didn't have the same reaction as I did, all he would say is "I'm not ticklish." Then the fat man started in on how I was looking like shit (tired) every morning and would tug on my shirt sleeve to get my attention because I was trying to ignore him. Now I'm not a morning person and I have been told I don't talk all that much at work. I really don't have all that much in common with my coworkers and although they say they want to hear what I think, I know they really don't. So I tend to keep to myself, not to the point of being antisocial, just a little less than everyone else.

But this fucking fat guy kept it up with the comments, the tugging of the shirt was becoming every day and the tickling was maybe once a week. Now mind you the comments he was making weren't my concern. It's just I don't come from a background where it is considered normal for a fifty something year old guy to tickle a thirty one year old. Last week was hot and he proceeded to give me an extra hard time on Tuesday, I realize he was only joking around, but it had gotten past the point were it was acceptable and I was very irritated. That night I went running with the dogs (staying up late drinking red dog) and the next morning was in such a condition that I just didn't want to deal with the fat man's shit or his creepy hands. I thought of calling in, but I just don't do that. Instead I took a cue from a drunk I worked with last summer. Whenever he was really hung over he would just take his break alone. It also just so happened that I was moved to the first floor the day before and right behind the area I'm working is what will be the parking garage, a parking garage that was about fifteen degrees cooler than anywhere else in the building that day. Certainly cooler that our morning break area on the fourth floor were the sun still shines in during our break. So I sat down there for break and lunch, it was nice. It was cool, quite and creepy hands free, just what my hangover needed.

Anyone that asked, I said I was just hung over and it was too hot on the fourth floor. But I also heard that the fat guy realized that he went too far. The next day was hot again so I sat in the garage for break once again, but returned to the fourth floor for lunch. The temperature Friday was much more tolerable so I took both breaks upstairs. Now the fat guy doesn't give me a hard time and keeps his hands to himself. Problem solved. I hope.

MySpace,

2007-08-01T18:39:00.000-05:00

I was recently trying to look around MySpace and had to sign up to go where I wanted to go, but that ended up being a hassle anyway so I ended up not doing anything with. The very next day I got an email from a lady wanting to date me. She said she liked my page, mind you my page at that time (and still now for that matter) consisted of my name, literally that was all there was. So she was basically saying I like your name. Well that was pretty suspicious, but she was also using someone else page. I can't figure that one out since it was pretty easy to set up. All I have to say is you won't catch this predator Stone Phillips, that's not my cup of tea. Then some other scantly dressed girl wanted to be my friend. When I looked at her page it looked like she was just promoting her porn site. I denied her and got a new request the next day from her. Wow this girl really wanted to be my friend. I don't know how she had so much time since she moved in between request, at least her listed location did. I had to give her the spam mark.

MySpace is a weird concept to me. I must say I'm not sure I get the draw. But saying that I will probably add to my page to maybe help me if I ever get anything published. So if you want to be my friend here I am. Maybe I will even get a picture up soon.

More eyes,

2007-07-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

Last night was the first night I didn't have to wear my eye shields to bed. What a great day. I was so sick of those fucking things. I had to tape them to my face, but they only gave me a little bit of tape. I found this out around one in the morning last Sunday. With a couple of beers (a couple who am I fooling) and the hour, going to get more tape was not a viable option. I don't normal keep face tape around and the closes thing I could find was scotch tape. I woke up at five Sunday morning in a panic because both eye patches were laying on my pillow. I did a web search to find a twenty-four-hour-pharmacy and went in search for face tape. The store was empty except for one lady stocking shelves. It just so happened where she was stocking shelves was right around where I would guess the face tape would be. She tried to help me, but mostly was in my way. I found the face tape and went home. I was still worried that I screwed up my eyes because my left eye felt a bit odd. I called the doctors office and got an answering service. I didn't think it was important enough to leave a message and finally got a hold of someone on Monday and they told me to "suck it up fatty!" or something like that.

Anyways I don't have to tape shields to my face anymore. Which means I don't have to rip tape off my face in the morning then try to wash the goo from the tape off and don't have to look at black smudges from the tape when I got home from work.

Also yesterday I got to stop taking the second perception eye drop. The eye drop was milky and would fog my vision for a couple of seconds. Sometimes it would go down my tear ducts, into my mouth and it tasted horrible. Also it left gunky white eye junk in the corner of my eyes and since I couldn't touch my eyes I just had to leave it. And lastly after I put the drops in it gave the appearance that I cried tears of milk and I feel it is important to say I'm no milk crier!

Now I'm just down to an artificial tear every other hour. Before this surgery I always had a hard time putting eye drops in. I would usually just get so much around my eye that some would flow into my eye. After putting a drop in my eye every hour for the last week I have become a pro at it.

The next big step for me will be next Saturday morning when I can rub my eyes! How exciting.

Something that maybe got lost in all my tails of woe about my surgery is how happy and free I feel from having it. I would easily go through this all again to have the vision I do now. It's so strange to me how much my life changed in such a short amount of time.

5 Day Weekend,

2007-07-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

While working yesterday a suit guy started yelling at a taper (drywall) for not wearing his safety glasses. He then suspended the guy from work for three days. The suit guy must have a serious problem with his brain if he thinks a 5 day weekend is a punishment of any kind. I immediately took off my glasses and tried to the guys attention because who doesn't want a five day weekend, but he didn't see me because I really didn't do that.

Well here's to all of us two day weekend suckers, Cheers!

Surgery On My Face,

2007-07-25T19:14:00.001-05:00

As I wrote sometime back, I lost a pair of prescription sunglasses and came up with a $4,000 solution.

I had always fought the fact that my vision was a bit fuzzy. I got my first pair of glasses when I was a freshman in high school 1990, remember that was when we were at war with Iraq. Those glasses rarely made it to my face. Sometime in my late teens I started wearing them for driving and gradually added them to other aspects of my life until late 2001 when I got a pair of prescription safety glasses, finally completely surrendering to the fact that I needed to wear glasses.

Lasik surgery had always interested me, but the side effects had me hesitant. Then in a short time, two of the least risky people I know, both got their eyes fixed. This made me do some thinking about what my life had become, but still financially crippled it remained only a thought. Until the previous mentioned combination of losing my glasses and emerging from credit card dept happened in a weeks time. These events made me realize now is the time.

I went with the doctor my one friend used, mostly because I knew how ~~anally~~ thoroughly he researched it. Set up an appointment and one short movie with some actor I never heard of, I was scheduled for the surgery.

I have come to realize there are two types of people. People that wear glasses and people that have no idea of the burden. Whenever I would tell someone that I was getting the surgery, people who don't need glasses would squirm and act like I was crazy. People who do need glasses would say almost word for word, "let me know how it turns out. I want to get that too." I was so anxious to get the surgery I even had a dream one night that they told me they couldn't do it at the last minute. I woke up having to remind myself it was only a dream.

The day before the surgery I was taking a screw out at work and metal shavings fell into my eye. I rinsed my eye out with eyewash three times and made sure that my eyes were closed whenever I was doing something that would cause me to wear glasses one more day than I had to.

The day of my surgery they took me back rather quickly, they obviously don't know how a doctors office is suppose to work. I sat in special waiting room, sort of a pre op room and they introduced me to a cute girl who was going to get the surgery right before me. The fact that she was on Valium and I would be shortly too, plus the fact that we were both about to have an episode of Star Wars in our eyes kept me from hitting on her, otherwise I would of thought of some other excuse not to. They took her away to cut her flap and I got to listen to a play by play of a nurse telling her mother, who was observing in the other room. This wasn't the best set up I thought. They brought her out and she seemed dazed and very hard of sight. They asked her how was her vision and she said, "very blurry". They told her to sit down for a little bit until the next part. She very quickly asked, "can I read magazines?" this seemed like a really odd thing for someone who had to be helped to a chair to ask, but there must of been an article she really wanted to read in between laser attacks.

Then they took me back to cut my flap. I think that I was so excited about the fact that I wasn't going to have to wear glasses again that I never thought about the people and machines that would be going into my eyes. They put the clamps to hold my eyelid open and that was no fun. Then they put this suction cup thing on my eye and that was no fun. The doc. says, "your vision will get blurry," as he puts them on and I inform him that my vision went black (I was told that could happen) then I felt the piece of glass flatten my eye and that was no fun. Then they shot the laser in my eye to cut the flap. I couldn't feel the laser, so the only thing bad about that was I had to have an eyelid clap on, a suction cup on my eye and a piece of glass flattening my eye for the laser to work. Then the doctor looked in my eye and said, "Wow the bubbles are almost all gone!" The laser causes gas bubbles to build up in the eye apparently my eyes dissipate gas quickly, so I got that going for me. Then he did the other eye, which was no fun.

They took me out to the waiting room and told me I could put my feet up and read some magazines while I waited for the next step. I really wondered at this point why that cute girl wanted to know if she could read magazines because looking at little words wasn't on the top of my list of things to do at this point. But lacking anything else to do I picked up a magazine and attempted to read a very interesting analysis of the 2008 presidential candidates bumper stickers. They said Romney's sucked, and Obama and Giuliani were good. Anyway it was hard to read since I just had my cornea cut with a laser and my mind wasn't all that into the 2008 election at that moment.

Wow did this post got long, I'm now on day two of writing. Onward!

Then after a little while they took me back to the room and more eyelid clamps. Then the doctor put a mark on my eye. It was kind of cool because I could see my vision blur as he put the marker to my eye and come back to normal as he took it away. Then I had to watch a little red light dance around and whamo all done.

They took me out to my "driver" or as she prefers to be called mom, and gave me a pain pill, I would later find out was percocet. So at this time I now have Valium and percocet in me, for those keeping count. We walked out of the hall and my mom asked me if I could see, which is always a good question to ask someone you are following. I told her, and wasn't lying that I could see it was just really blurry and my eyes were water like crazy.

The drive home was uneventful except that the cheap sunglasses they gave me was no match for the 3:30 sun we were driving right at. I got home and sent my "driver" on her way. I took a sleeping pill (dalmane) they gave me, so we are at valum, percocet and dalmane. I took a couple of bites of a sandwich, not sure if I should eat it or not because of conflicting instructions that I didn't feel was important enough to clarify. Then I went upstairs to hopefully sleep the pain away. I went into the kit they gave me to find the eye shields I was suppose to tape to my face. There was only one. I have two eyes! I looked again, then again, then again. Finally I called the doctors office. They told me that sometimes they stick together. By this point I could barely see through my tears to tell if I was holding two, but after flicking it with my finger tip, I determined it was just one. She put me on hold and came back to tell me that there was two eye shields when I left. A point I still dispute and didn't really feel that point was relevant at the time. I had just had surgery on my eyes, had a gut full of dope and specifically went to this place for a higher quality of service (and paid for) than I would elsewhere. They told me I could send my driver back to get a new one. I told them my driver had already left. There was silence and I said I would see if I could get a hold of her. My mom has a cell phone, but if she had it on her I didn't know. Also I had no idea where to find the number and wasn't in a searching condition. I tried to call my parents house hoping my dad would be home and their phone wasn't working. Then I tried my brothers house and hung up when I realized he would still be at work. I called his cell and after he couldn't get a hold of my "driver" offered to pick the shield up for me.

The next approximately hour was one of the most excruciating of my life. With all the drugs in me I wanted to go to sleep, my eyes were hurting and watering like fountains. It was also becoming harder and more painful to keep them open. Alas my brother arrived with the shield. Another sleeping pill, because they told us if we couldn't fall asleep after a half hour to take the second pill. They didn't really explain what to do in a situation like mine, but I decided to go with the second pill because after all that shit I really didn't need to take any chances.

Next thing I know it is twelve hours later and I am trying to look through the slots of tape on my eye shields to see if I can read my clock. I decided to take the eye shield off since I was too excited to see what happened to me to sleep anymore. I could see the clock! And my neighbors license plate! And through walls! well actually I couldn't afford that extra, so walls are still opaque to me. I went into the doctors office around nine. I walked past the girl addicted to Valium. I can only assume she was all hopped up since every other time I have see her she was. Inside the doctors office I was asked how I slept. I said, "good after I got my eye shield". They told me that my right eye is 20/20 and my left eye is 20/15. I screamed and yelled until they explained that 20/15 is better than 20/20. A bit misleading I think.

Now I just have to get use to not putting glasses on anymore.

Feingold's book,

2007-07-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

Someone wrote a book about Russ Feingold. I just ordered my copy.

A New Day,

2007-07-21T10:09:00.001-05:00

From now on people who wear glasses are dorks.

Links,

2007-07-12T18:57:00.000-05:00

I've been taking some time off from blogging (obviously), I will probably start posting more regularly again in August.

Here are some good C&L links,

Michael Moore v Wolf Blitzer Part 1, Part 2

Larry Flynt goes after hypocrites

7/16: Impeachment,

Bill Moyers did a whole show on the subject. I agree with my Senators point of view, besides the fact that the votes with this senate will never be there.

7/19: MORE,

More Larry Flynt, He says he has 30 names.

Matt Groening on the Daily Show tells what Fox won't let him do again.

Goodwill,

2007-07-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

When did Goodwill Hunting come out;

I guess somethings are just timeless.

More signs,

2007-07-01T16:18:00.000-05:00

This weeks funny sign I came across while hiking;

Signs,

2007-06-24T15:37:00.000-05:00

Lapham Peak is probably the place I hike the most. It's close to home, offers a variety of scenery and can be a bit challenging. The Ice Age Trail goes right through the middle of it and then heads off into the woods. Since I have hiked Lapham may times I wanted to change things up and see how far I could walk on the IAT until it turned into a shoulder of the road or urban sprawl spoiled the scenery. I got a good long hike out of it, but I got a little concerned when I came across this sign;

I proceeded with caution (and a little bit of anticipation), but the only thing that I saw on the trail from the sign was poopy. I guess I didn't walk far enough for the titty.

Ass Kisser,

2007-06-21T16:28:00.000-05:00

Today at work the owner of the company came down to give us a little talk. Afterwards as I was walking by him on the way out of the room, one of my coworkers walked right up to him with a very serious look on his face, introduced himself and said "it's a real honor to work for you." That has to be the biggest piece of ass kissing I have ever seen. I wonder how he is going to get that taste out of his mouth.

Oh and I got my raise on my check today. As disappointed as I am with the contract I will put that aside for now and enjoy the raise. At least until I drink the $40 away. Cheers!

It's a new age,

2007-06-18T19:37:00.000-05:00

I was pretty pissed off when I had to buy a new graphics card for my computer to play Civ. 4. It's a strategy game why do I need expensive graphics? But now I can link a TV to my computer and watch movies online from netflix. It has some minor draw backs. The quality isn't as good as a DVD, but close enough and I have to use my computer speakers (I'm not going to buy a new sound card). I tried it out last night and only made it two thirds of the way through a movie. All that technology can't make a stupid story line and bad acting any better.

Now if that wasn't progressing enough, today I went and bought my first cell phone. It is one of the cheapest I could find with prepay minutes. You know like what drug dealers use. I plan on using it very rarely. The big reason I got it is so when I get laid off I can call the hall and get put on the list right away. Two guys on the job that I am currently at, got laid off the same day I did at Bayshore, but started on this job a month before me because they had cell phones and called right away. Not owning a cell phone cost me a lot of money. So I got right on it and whamo eight months later I got a cell phone.

Whats next for me mechanical legs?

Crazy,

2007-06-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

Crazy Christians in Milwaukee, pro life=hypocrisy?

Polls,

2007-06-18T18:54:00.000-05:00

Clinton leads Obama by double digits in new poll or so this story says. I am reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail right now. This book is about Hunter Thomson following McGovern's '72 campaign for president. In reading this book something has occurred to me that is missing from all these stories about Hillary being the democratic front runner. She is in the same spot as Howard Dean in 04, Tsongas in 92, Gary Hart in 88, in 76 there was no clear front runner but Carter wasn't even on early polls, Edmund Muskie in 72, LBJ in 68. Besides incumbent or VP (Clinton and Gore), Mondale is the only front runner before votes were cast to win the nomination. So good luck Hillary it looks like you will need it. Get ready for a bunch of articles about the big upset.

Conflicted,

2007-06-17T17:18:00.001-05:00

There is no one I'm more conflicted about than Andy Stern. He is the head of Service Employees International Union that broke away from the AFL-CIO a few years back. I think he is doing a tremendous job at holding companies and politicians responsible and responsive to the labor cause, but am completely dismayed that he is just giving up on the manufacturing end of organized labor. Like most things involving the union I find myself with the strange mix of feeling frustrated and inspired.

Here is an interview with him on Bill Moyers Journal that aired on Friday.

Indecent,

2007-06-14T17:23:00.000-05:00

By the time last week Friday rolled around I was sick of being sick, pissed off at my union, coworkers and the companies because of the contract. So I decided to battle my cold with a healthy dose of brandy. Mostly this just left me really hungover Saturday.

I was planning on staying in Saturday night and not drinking to battle the healthy dose of brandy the night before. I was about twenty minutes into a movie called Diggers when a friend called me out to the bar. I was a bit surprised by this, she normally only talks to me when she wants me to tell a guy she wants to break up with that she use to be a guy. As we watch the band play who should walk in, but Santa. Obviously visiting Milwaukee on his summer vacation. And wouldn't you know it Santa likes to dance. Santa's dancing reminded me of a line from Against Me!'s song Reinventing Axle Rose,

we would dance like no one was watching, with one fist in the air.

Well he didn't have one fist in the air and thank god there was women present. That kind of of rebellion from such a beloved figure would surely result in bedlam. But there can be no doubt he was dancing like no one was looking. But people were looking and some even joined in, including presidential hopeful, GOP frontrunner and long shot at the same time Rudy Giuliani (I won't believe the GOP will nominate a pro gay, pro life candidate until I see it). Well the evening proved to be better than the movie ended up being, but Christmas will never be the same again.

As if that wasn't enough craziness yesterday while walking around my city, I seen a man on all fours in a park. My first thought was this is just another crazy. I have come across many crazies on my walks. One time I saw a girl running around the same park with the great joy of childhood. Which is great, but this person was around my age and really shouldn't have been having that much fun running is circles with her arms out. Then there was the guy rolling around the lawn of some government building in just soccer shorts with an almost empty bottle of vodka by his side. And all this happening in the holy hours of the morning. So anyways I see this guy on all fours and as I get closer I realize a women's involved. As I get even closer he sits up for a second and I see her shit is pushed up and I realize he isn't kissing her lips. From the angle that I was walking up on them I couldn't see exactly what was going on, even though they were only a few feet off the footpath.

To see the act I would've had to walk past and turned around. There would be no causal view from the direction I was heading. I'd have past on the free park pornography. I assume these were some sort of exhibitionist and probably wouldn't mind me watching, but you just never know. He was a big guy and maybe he didn't realize this was a public park. I didn't want to chance a fight with a fully aroused guy. I could just see the head line "Super Cool Guy Attacked By Man With Erection!" The late night guys would have a field day at my expense. Besides seeing ugly people naked is what the Internet was made for not parks.

Protest songs,

2007-06-12T19:22:00.000-05:00

Against Me- White People For Peace.

This is one of my favoite bands.

Miss my glasses,

2007-06-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

Last week I lost my prescription sunglasses. I wore them while cutting the lawn and remember I was going to put them in an obvious spot because while using the weed whacker I got weed guts all over them and I wanted to remember to clean them before I went to work the next day. After that I took out the garbage. That is the last I remember of them and now I can't find them anywhere. I keep looking, but I'm coming to the conclusion that I had them in one hand, recyclables in the other and got confused which hand was which and recycled them (or maybe dropped them in the garbage, but I am rooting for the recycling bin).

This really sucks. I just am not going to pay for a new pair and I will have to wait for January for my insurance to pick up the bill. Coincidentally I got out of credit card dept last week also, so now I think I'm going to look at having one of those fancy surgeries to get my eyes fixed (fixed like I don't need glasses, not like neutered). I figure it is a lot like getting a tattoo it is better to do it when you are young so you can enjoy it for more of your life. It's pretty cheap these days and I've always hated wearing glasses.

Links,

2007-06-10T14:22:00.000-05:00

White chicks & gang signs

Political bloppers

No picket,

2007-06-09T13:39:00.000-05:00

There never ended up being a strike. They voted to approve a contract last night. I say they because me and all tinners at the job I'm on weren't invited to vote on the contract. I called the business manager Thursday to find out what's going on. He called me Saturday morning and left a message that the contract was approved. He never said why all the workers at my company were left in the dark. I didn't go to the meeting because I didn't want to waste a Friday night going to a place on second or third hand information and possibly not even being able to vote. I want to pursue this to find out why we were left out, but I think it will just frustrate me, so I will probably leave it.

I don't know exactly what the contract is besides the pay. I think it's basically the same as the first one we voted down which is a shit deal in my opinion. I guess I have a higher value of self worth than my coworkers.

Last week at work they told us we were going to get pizza on Friday. The way he said it was a bit suspicious to me and I have been burned by free lunches before, like last fall when I had to eat a vegetarian sub because that was all that was left (why they don't call it a mushroom sub is beyond me), so I packed a lunch. When I was talking to my foreman on Friday I asked about the pizza for lunch. He told me that it was just for the plumbers. I informed him that that information wasn't passed down to us and most of the guys were expecting pizza for lunch. I felt proud at lunch as my fellow union brothers were eating pizza. Someone has to stick up for the tinners.

This sucks,

2007-06-07T16:58:00.000-05:00

I got a cold this week and now my sinuses are all fucked up. It really sucks being sick when it's ninety out. I get sick way too much.

We are suppose to have a union meeting tomorrow, at least that is what the hearsay is. No one at the job I'm on has been informed about this, but a new guy got a phone call and a letter in the mail about it. I'm pretty pissed about the whole thing.

On Sunday I put up a thistle feeder for the birds. As I did it I had my head turned and some thistle fell on my ear. At the time I didn't think too much about it, but later I wondered if some got in my ear. So if you see me with a bush growing out of my ear give me a heads up.

For some reason I keep feeling like summer is almost over and I haven't done anything. I have been feeling this way since the beginning of May. Maybe just foreshadowing.

A guy called into work today at 8:30 (we start at 7) saying he forgot to set his alarm and wouldn't make it in the rest of the day. That has to be one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard.

Strike!!!

2007-05-30T18:39:00.000-05:00

My union voted down the contract offer last night and will begin striking next week. I'm not sure if they'll be calling on me, since our company is from out of town and doesn't really have a say in the contract negotiations, but I don't know that for sure right now. More than likely I will just have to pay $100 a week into a strike fund.

I am the rare nay vote amongst my coworkers. I have a hard time relating to these guys. We have a lot going our way this time and I feel that we have been given the shaft on our last couple of contracts, but these guys just don't seem to have the guts to do anything about it. I was a bit frustrated this morning, I seem to have a low tolerance to frustration lately, but as the day went on I started to feel a little better. Then right at the end of the day I needed a sprinkler fitter to more a hanger for me and he expressed his support and hope that we stick to the strike, mainly because their contract is up in a month. As we talked I got some comfort from talking to someone of a similar mindset. I wish my coworkers were more like him.

Booing,

2007-05-27T21:06:00.000-05:00

Andrew Card was Bush's chief of staff. For his part in the Iraq war he got booed relentlessly while receiving an honorary degree at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Starting fake wars have consequences.

Chose Life,

2007-05-24T20:37:00.001-05:00

Is there any way to describe Charlies death on Lost last night besides suicide. Why didn't they just swim out just like the way they swam in. Somehow I think they were trying to show him sacrificing his life to save ~~Sayid~~ Desmond, but I can think of multiple ways he could of did it without dying. They kill off too many people on that show, they really don't need to force it.

On the other hand I always thought that this season was a transition season and it looks like I was right. I am actually anxious to see what happens next season.

I have always been sick of Jack's back stories and was with this one until we found out at the very end (or was there hints along the way, his wife? I will have to watch it again.) that it was a jump ahead. Now that twist is why I watch the show.

Impromptu party,

2007-05-21T17:43:00.000-05:00

I didn't eat the vegetables.

The Simpsons,

2007-05-21T16:36:00.001-05:00

The Simpsons really went on a tear last night blasting Fox.
It is a little cut off at the end. They do the voice over bit a little more.

I found this older one that I wrote about some time ago.

This is an unrelated piece about the School of Americas that I want to listen to when I get a chance.

Is it me,

2007-05-18T16:54:00.000-05:00

For the last few days at work my foreman has been coming up to me and having me help him. They are very minimal tasks something normal left for an apprentice. With all my layoffs my confidence at work is real shaky and I was wondering to myself if this was some sort of critic on my performance. Until right before lunch today when a journeyman working by me, came up to me and said he thought the foreman didn't like him because he kept walking past that journeyman to ask me to help him. I told him I read the situation completely opposite and I think that both found some comfort in this.

I guess it just goes to show thinking too much can be bad.

This can't be happening,

2007-05-18T16:49:00.000-05:00

The thing that really stings about shows I like getting canceled is the shows they are running instead. For example tonight ABC is putting bingo on prime time. How fucking bad does your life have to be to sit at home on a Friday night and watch bingo. And this is coming from a guy who is going to sit at home and watch PBS for two and a half hours. All I can say is if you are watching bingo tonight take a minute to think if your life is really worth living, then change the channel to PBS and learn something.

The Banana countdown,

2007-05-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday I buy myself five bananas for my lunches during the week. As I peel a banana off in the morning I think only two (four, three, one..) more bananas until the weekend. I call this the banana countdown. Two more this week.

Books and Revolution,

2007-05-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

NBC released it's fall line up and it looks like my hope of watching less television will work out; because,

a bionic woman, a time-traveling newspaper reporter and a computer geek with spy secrets embedded in his brain.

doesn't in the least interest me. Maybe the other networks will foil my plans, but I doubt it.

Brownback loses WI vote,

2007-05-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

Wow did this guy fuck up. Sam Brownback disses Farve and screws up attempt to correct himself and receives boo's from Wisconsin Republicans. He's a third tier candidate so this won't really matter. He is pretty fringe fundamentalist. I find it amazing that he can even get elected to the senate, but that is Kansas for you. Brownback was one of the candidates that said he doesn't believe in evolution in the republican debate. The next questions should have been, "Do you believe the earth is round?"

h/t Crooks and Liars

Get back to work,

2007-05-11T16:48:00.000-05:00

My boss came over to me the other day and talked to me in hushed tones about a coworker I was sort of working with the day before. I made the mouth gesture with my hand indicating that person talks too much. My boss walked away kind of abruptly. I wonder if he thought I was telling him he was talking to much and to get back to work. I don't know if this translates into other lines of work, but this idea is really funny to me.

My other boss, the one I deal with more, walks away abruptly like that somewhat regularly. I wonder if this is just how these guys are or maybe I stink.

SiCKO,

2007-05-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

Michael Moore's new movie SiCKO about the insurance industry and health care in America comes out next month. He posted this blog on Kos today.

Another good Kos link, CBS fires Gen. Batiste for VoteVets ad, watch the ad it is important.

the ridiculousness of CBS taking two weeks to ponder firing Imus but firing Batiste virtually overnight

Here is C&L with a countdown clip

Switching parties,

2007-05-08T18:17:00.000-05:00

I am so voting republican if Mr. Pickles wins the nomination. That is almost as cool as my friend who named her kid Noodles.

Lost,

2007-05-08T17:02:00.000-05:00

Lost set an end date 2010. This sort of reminded me of when Leno announced his retirement years (3, 4 I don't remember exactly) before it is going to happen. They also are going to run there series uninterrupted next year. That's a good idea, only comedy shows can get away with reruns and the whole sticking a new show in the middle of a popular shows season is just stupid.

The odd thing in the article I linked to is when they say,

the network is taking the unusual step of turning "Lost" into a limited-run series.... Typically, networks milk a series until it runs dry of ratings and then drop the ax.

Were they ever thinking of running Lost until it got boring. I was under the impression it was always going to be somewhat of a "limited-run series". Was there a point where they weren't going to explain what the fuck is going on? I think Lynn Elber never watched the show.

I haven't been a big fan of this season, although I have always thought of it as a transition season, which tend to be slow and boring. They say it is going to have a shocking finally, but I have my doubts.

While I was in the TV train of thought, I looked up Studio 60 on Wikipedia it looks like it's going to take ER's spot on May 24 and that will be it for the show. That's too bad after a slow start it really started to get good. I am sure they will replace it with some piece of shit like that stupid Wedding Crashers that's in it's place now. I don't get all these hoax shows out there. I guess reading, writing and revolutionary thoughts (like "how tired will I be tomorrow if I stay up and drink one more beer") is what I will be up to next season.

Hiking this morning,

2007-05-06T14:01:00.000-05:00

The green still hasn't fully emerged, but it is getting there

When I went hiking in the past it was during the week and the trails were pretty empty. Now that employment is oppressing my freedom, I have to go during the weekend and have come to realize that more people use these trails than me and a handful of retirees.

What's going on,

2007-05-05T12:30:00.000-05:00

This is kind of scary. Barack Obama gets secret service protection, now CBS is closing the comments on Obama articles because of racist comments. I hope this is just being cautious and not something more. Too many popular progressive politicians have meet an untimely end.

Again,

2007-05-04T16:31:00.000-05:00

Tommy Thompson apologizes, that is twice in less than a month. I never thought he had much of a chance and now he is proving it. Video

Edwards,

2007-05-03T17:04:00.000-05:00

Some WI endorsements of Edwards.

Doorbell,

2007-05-03T16:41:00.000-05:00

I had a dream last night that someone was ringing my doorbell late at night. My house doesn't have a doorbell and the strange part was I realized this in my dream. I still answered the door and it was a girl with beer. That just goes to show you always answer the doorbell even if you don't have one. Then I woke up. Stupid alarm why couldn't you of given me a couple more minutes.

Before that I dreamt that I was being held in a very rural jail because I had just shot one of about a half dozen gun toting Bigfoot/zombie creators. I didn't seem to be too worried about going to jail though, it was more like a technicality. Because seriously who is going to put someone in jail for shooting one of those fucking things.

Feingold,

2007-04-30T16:41:00.000-05:00

Here is my senator on This Week.

New Hires,

2007-04-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

They hired two new guys today. One guy quit after break when they took him to get a drug test. Classic. Some of the guys were saying that now that drug test are mandatory in our union that people are dropping out. Don't know if I believe it, but if it is true more work for me.

JONTOWN

To the End,

One for the road,

Reread,

Stained Teeth,

Some Links,

Front Runners,

Radio,

To Far,

Am I Crazy,

Tickets,

Cheney's Got a Gun,

The Difference a Year Makes,

Wrong One,

Shattered Che,

Vicious Circles,

Into the Wild,

Time Traveler,

Catalog Choice,

The Character of Cars,

Gun to the Head,

It's Started,

Nothing Happening,

It changes,

Phone Book Funny,

The Fix is in,

Gotta Suck,

Bug Castro,

Silence,

Scary people,

Putin,

That was stupid,

House,

Link,

Fuck Chuck,

Strike,

I Work With Animals,

The Earth Is Flat,

Movie,

Far Right,

The Forgotten,

Typo's,

Larry Craig,

The week after,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

The Vacation,

See ya, Suckers,

Winners and Losers,

Obama (R-IL)

$.27,

AFL-CIO Debate,

Skinny Lions,

The Fat Man's Hands,

MySpace,

More eyes,

5 Day Weekend,

Surgery On My Face,

Feingold's book,

More links,

A New Day,

Links,

Goodwill,

More signs,

Signs,

Ass Kisser,

It's a new age,

Crazy,

Polls,

Conflicted,

Indecent,

Protest songs,

Miss my glasses,

Links,

No picket,

This sucks,