I did something both stupid yet, memorable yesterday. I took Elijah sledding. Totally awesome. He loved going down the hills in my arms while he and I slid full speed down the hill bumping our away through little jumps on the packed powder. It was awesome. One of my best days with Elijah.
Then comes today. I am doubled over on the ground in massive pain in my back. Hurts real bad. I never should have run down the hills like I did and I am paying for it today. But it was so much fun and Elijah enjoyed himself.
Makes it hard playing with him all day. I finally got him to sit down instead of jumping up and down on Daddy's back while I call the doctor for help. And that is another story... I cannot wait until Friday because I get a new doctor and new insurance that day. I will have more freedoms to find my cause of "the other pains" I feel. Funny talking to the advise nurse though on the phone.
"Where is your pain?"
"Um... middle of my back between my shoulder blades.."
"So your upper back?"
"No middle back... at least that is what I call it..."
"Do you have any numbness in your left leg or arm?"
"Yeah...."
"Do you have shortness of breath?" She says urgently...
"No..."
"Good... so did the numbness start with this pain?"
"No..."
"When did it start...?"
"Um... Almost three years ago."
"Are you taking medication?"
"Um... yeah..."
"What kinds?"
Apparently not the good stuff because the shit ain't working...
"Um... Motrin... yeah"
"How many did you take for your back?"
"Um... like a few hundred or so..."
"AT ONE TIME?!?!!?"
"Um... no... 4 200mg today.., I have taken hundreds for pain over the past few years..."
"How long has your back hurt?"
"3 years... but like this, um... two days... It is a different pain..."
"What else do you take?"
"Lot's of stuff... why? Aren't you the doctor's office, don't you have records of this stuff"
It's like this every time I call the doctor. Because I have regular pain with no real or defined cause, I have to give like a life history of what I have done. And along the way, they think you have had a heart attack or suffered a stroke or are a med junkie or what ever.
They won't see me today so I get to suffer. At least this pain is so bad that it overrides the pain in my arm and leg.
I should change the title of this blog to 35 and dying.
Elijah and I are snuggled on the couch watching Elmo in Grouchland. Elijah impressed me today. I should him the name Elmo on the CD without saying it was Elmo and he was able to sort of sound it out. I said, what is this? And he read each letter. And I asked who's name? And he goes... ELMO!!
I was hoping that we could get haircuts together today but maybe tomorrow...
Never.... Never will I ever install Vista on one of my personal computers.
A relative was over with a new computer and they asked me to set it up for them.
I set up everything... my router and modem through my Apple, right?
Well... while using Vista to connect to my network, which is totally open because I live in the country and there ain't shit anyone can steal anyway. You can't even probably see my network.
Anyway... I have it open because I can connect my iPod Touch, work computer, XBOX 360 or anything else without issues or having to find some damn key.
Not Vista though... fuck...
It wanted my router PIN. Fine...
Then with one mistaken click... It changed my network name, settings and made me have to enter a big ass password on every device... Fuck that... Then when I tried to find the password on the Vista computer so I could at least reconnect my other crap back up so I could fix the router, it said the Vista computer was not authorized to be the administrator. Wait huh? It changed all the settings to my router, but wasn't authorized? And then Vista changed the way you find all that shit on XP.
After about an hour of frustration... I figured out how to delete the network off of Vista and start from scratch after resetting the router.
It's all good now but that Vista is a pile of crap... Give me back my Mac OS. At least it is user friendly for us novice computer geeks.
As you know if you have been reading this blog the past 4 years I deal with a lot of freaking chronic pain that no one can figure out which has radically changed my life since 2004. (Radically...? Not... just a few things. :)) I don't golf really anymore but that is more of time issue than a pain thing but I hurt like hell swinging a golf club.
I still suck down copious amounts of pain meds, anti-anxiety meds and anti-hyperactivity meds too because I am all wound up over work, life and worry.
Still think it is a disease that is taking over my body and I hope to find it soon in the new year because dammit, I would like to know so I can get relief even if it is just knowing what it is and it didn't have a cure.
Despite everything, I still look ahead, think about growing up, jam on my guitars and now trombone and baritone horn again because I am in a place by myself where I can drag all that shit out and blast away to my hearts content.
Playing trombone again of all things is giving me relief even if I only have the embouchure for 15-20 minutes of blowing on it. It is funny, because I never took a lesson on a trombone. Tuba, Baritone, and trumpet... yeah... for years I took lessons. Trombone? No one said... this is where 2nd position is or this note goes there, etc. I learned it by getting a book out, my ear, and by monkeying through. Good enough to pick up once in a while. The sound down in there... down in my gut is still there... and why I played these brass instruments through high school and college. I was just better than my peers at music. I did not have natural talent... I just stayed at it and stayed a very technical player. The emotion in playing, singing and other stuff I do has come years later. This week I learned Sound of Silence and Mrs. Robinson on my guitar just to be able to do it. Playing it in my key and mostly by ear. Music has been my relief...
But the turn for the worst... I have been in more pain the past two weeks than I have the past three years. It's in my neck, arm, wrist and now knee. My knee hurts like it did when I was 14 and screwed it up wall riding on my skateboard years back and had to have it drained. I couldn't run for a while with it because it hurt so bad. Now it is back along with the rest of the shit. A little swollen. All of this pain is on the left side of my body. Also have tingling on the left side of my head once in a while... a few times a week.
I switched medical carriers and starting the 1st I can get a new doctor finally and have options open to trying other things like the UC doctors or Stanford. So I can't wait... I need to lick this thing. Or at least know what it is to get the right medication. I fear it is MS... But MS, I am ready to accept... Because I would at least know... Pain is not a good thing to live with especially at 35... which I am next Thursday.
The Original (well...just like the Original) Big Wheel. Elijah is gonna be rollin' now!!!
I loved my Big Wheel and went everywhere in it around my little block back in Daly City as a kid. I have "the scar" to prove it too. I was the victim of a Big Wheel/Wagon/Trailer Hitch on the back of a Truck accident. I have this scar on my chin that is totally noticeable after I point it out to people. 17 stitches and it is bright red.
I can't until I Santa give(s) this to Elijah on Thursday. It will be the shit!
I am stuck on gifts. I feel like I need one or two more for Elijah. I got him a bonding gift... A racecar track for he and I. I want to get a remote control car or helicopter as a fun toy to also play together with.
I got him one of those Elmo live dolls back in October when they came out. Tons of little cars too from when Mervyns went out of business. I just think there is something more. He'll be all clothesed out by my mom and his other grandparents. Plus I will fill a stocking with junk too... But I think there just has to be one more $30-$50 item he can get and enjoy for when he comes here.
I have had bad luck with cars this week. So I decided to write about it. We all remember my post, like 660 posts or so. Remember, Steve versus the Carl's Jr. drive through post when I was a wee lad in 2004?
So like... Tuesday, I wish I had one of those old beat up cars you do not give a crap about with no plates. I was rolling through the fog and came to a stoplight on a two lane highway. I mean it was foggy. You wouldn't realistically want to go more than 45 mph because of the fog and safety driving in it. So I go to take off from the stop light and this lady in an SUV tries to pass me on the right. It wasn't like she was beside me at the start. Plus there were like 5 cars behind me. I didn't realize she was trying to pass either until she ran out of lane. She honked, rode my ass and left her high beams on for the next 5 miles, shutting the off and on as cars passed us the other direction.
She was so uptight, that as cars either pulled in front of me or went slow because of the heavy fog. What a bitch! Then when I hit the freeway she did everything to pass me... only to get cut off by a Semi. Are we that much in a hurry? I am not a crazy driver but I drive 5 miles or so over the speed limit often unless it is by a school or something. I just couldn't believe this lady.
I didn't think anything of this until I hit the Starbucks drive through.
Everything was fine... the line was moving fine. I got my order into the box. There was an SUV in front of me with one of those vanity plates but I can't remember what it said. And so I happened to see what the lady ordered on the screen before I placed my order. She ordered a tall coffee, in a Venti cup, with a pump of carmel or something. I didn't understand why someone would order all these side ventures at starbucks... I just want a latte with an add shot. So she gets to the window and proceeds to SCREAM at the drive through barista. She kept going... and going and going... to the point I noticed like 7 minutes went by. So I hit the horn, and yelled, "C'mon lady, get over it!!" I had no idea at the point what she was yelling about but then she yelled at me to wait... I dropped a few F-Bombs out the window and laid on the horn and didn't let off for like a minute. She got all frustrated and flustered and couldn't be heard by Starbucks. I just laughed my ass off and so did the drive through barista. Merry Christmas lady.
So I had to run an errand up to Sacramento this afternoon and it was such a nice day today (the calm before the wicked cold front we are about to get) I decided to fly up in the Porsche. The back roads to the highway are all under construction so there are some detours to some really crazy roads which I love in the Porsche because you can fly around the curves and shit. I got behind a truck. He wasn't going slow but he wasn't in a hurry either. We turned onto a new road and he just kind of putted along. The passing lane was wide open the other direction so I decided to pass. Suddenly the bastard turned left and holy crap... I gunned it through the dirt on the other side shooting dust and stuff... and then I got back on the road all fish tailing. Just missed his mailbox and I left some cool skid marks to show off to people. The bastard didn't use his signal!!! I think I gave him a heart attack because he sat in the road for a while. I couldn't believe it but I was calm. It was close though dude... Very close...
Hey remember a few weeks back when Matt Damon enlightened us with his brilliance (seen above) with his thoughts on Sarah Palin. Basically, he mathematically calculated with an actuary table that McCain would die in his first term.
Well.... I get it Obama won and we must all suffer the consequences live with the results as happy Americans.
But wait... Guess who smokes? I shit you not! Apparently the Savior himself likes to burn cancer sticks. (Extra credit if you notice who banned smoking in the White House... I wonder why? Ya think the smell of cigars "got to her"?)
Do you know what our chances are that Joe Biden is going to be our next President, Mr. Damon?
Hmm... lets see. The average African American man's life expectancy at birth today is 71 years. The average smoker loses 14.5 years off their life. That means, Obama's life expectancy is 56 years. Compound that with the physical stresses of the Presidency... Um... How long will Obama live?
Man... I hope this guy quits and fast but dude... seriously... if celebrities are worried about an Alaskan governor ever being President over a one term Senator is beyond me. Especially rich, successful, sexy actors like Matt Damon who make what 15-20 million a film.
I probably spend at least 2-3 hours a day playing music, practicing guitar or whatever instrument I feel like putting my hands on. (Wait! That last one does not sound so... um, like it was supposed to) What I mean, not only is there a bunch of guitars laying around, there is a harmonica, a trumpet.... and a few other brass instruments laying around (missing mouth pieces for the moment) so I always have something to make a tone out of.
Everyday though when I wake up there is a different song in my head. And it ain't just a snippet it is the full version in stereo in my head.
Sunday for example, the Beatles "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was in my head and I hummed it all day long.
Monday was an odd one... George Michael's "Faith". Why this song, which I probably hadn't heard in years is beyond me.
Tuesday... The Killers "Sam's Town"
Yesterday... "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane... which is really weird because I barely know what the verses sound like and those were in my head in full vivid detail.
This morning, "Well All Right" by Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly being one of my all time favorites isn't such a shock.
It's weird because lately I am compelled to pick up my guitar and start playing along. I learned the song Surrender by Elvis this way being able to hear it in my head and just know, it was in the key of G. This is something now I am concentrating on more and more. I wish I had this when I was say 20 and not, gulp! 35 when it could have been a more useful skill when I was getting my degree in music while nearly being tone deaf. I remember the teachers playing a chord on a piano and hearing a harmonic echoing in the room with them going, "Can you hear that?" and the rest of the class going, "Yeah.." and I would have a stupid look on my face. But it is weird, 12 years from the end of college, with a degree and music and I can finally hear it and pull the notes right out of it like they were colors as easily definable like red or blue.
Of course all the funny comments people left year after year are gone unless I re-install haloscan.
The house is almost finished. I still have all my tools to move. But I got Elijah's bed up so he can sleep elevated and not on the mattress on the ground when he comes over this weekend. I have put up all my shelves and music bullshit everywhere. I put up some decorative shelves in the dining room and I put up my trumpet and the trombone I fished out of my mom's attic. She also gave me her great aunt's accordion for a decoration too. It still plays. I have some cool stuff up including this poem about this old violin for sale that no one would buy until someone picked it up and played something beautiful out of it. That is how I feel sometimes.
Anyhow... with the 6 dozen placemats my mom gave me... I am pretty set here now. Just some tidying up. 2000 sq feet is a lot for a single dude but it is cool. Now I just need an old Chevy truck. I think that is what I am after this spring. A '68-'72 Chevy pick up. Something I can restore like the Porsche. It could be cool.
It is happening in 2008 too, which means we are all getting free Dr. Pepper. Free Dr. Pepper!!! I pre-ordered my copy because I am a big rock fan, as you all are aware. And, if you pre-order off iTunes you get the first single, Chinese Democracy.
Think about all the crap that has happened the last year with the first black President, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays making it to the World Series, and Keith Richards still alive.
If the album is anything like the first single, this thing is going to be big on rock radio!!
Remember I predicting this thing was going to happen this year with my post labels. Check out the label below that says "Guns and Roses Chinese Democracy release 2008"
Wow... it has been two whole weeks since I moved out on my own. The dead silence of the new neighborhood is so relaxing. The quiet around here is relieving. Yet I have been gone 5 of the days on the road.
I got in from Kansas at 1 AM yesterday and it was my first full day in my home office. I got a lot done. The doors were wide open all day because it is unusually warm here right now. The expected high is 78 today which is absolutely crazy for it being November already. You would expect 59 and foggy with lows around 39 and a chance of rain every week. I am a weather freak because of my career path.
I get to enjoy Elijah this weekend. He is coming down and we are going to have some fun. I need to go find some train place or something to take him to for fun. Jamestown has a whole train thing so I think I am gonna head up there. Or maybe up to Placerville (so I can sneak a wine taste or two in as well). Should be fun stuff, just the two of us hanging out.
I bought a huge bed for him that I still need to put together for him from IKEA.
I have been feeling great pain wise until today. Hard to move my left arm easy and I am limping hard. Plus I am out of medication because I thought I was needing less and less. Suddenly... WHAM!!! Big pain.
So Sunday... I went down and borrowed my dad's truck to get all of my cardboard out of my garage from the move. I decided to burn it all instead of recycle because the county has yet to drop me a can and I needed to burn something as my form of non-violent protest to Obama winning the election. Heh Heh
While loading the truck up I notice this little puffy thing come hopping into the garage. Okay, it was like 2pm so the sun was out and everything was bright. Aren't mice nocturnal? This guy comes hopping right up to me looking for food. I started shoeing it away with cardboard and stuff since I didn't have a shovel handy to whack it over the head. But the thing wouldn't move!! I chased it trying to kick it out of the garage. Still... it kept sitting there looking at me, taunting me... It seriously must have been looking for food because it ran everywhere. I am thinking the little dude knew exactly what he was up to and discovered a hole into the crawl space.
This house is interesting because it has a huge walk in crawl space and that little guy could have been anywhere.
I gave up though trying to get the thing.
I did what I could do... Now there is a nice box of DeCon for him.
I'll still write the same but after 4 years tomorrow... I think it was time to rehash this whole blog thing.
All my old posts... and if like reading by labels, check out the bottom of this blog. I think I need a smaller font down there.
I'll edit this from time to time throughout the next month.
You can thank Selina at Lingo Slinger for the creation of my blog header. Check out her blog.
I eliminated all the links and cherry picked what I still actually read that was not a dead link. A lot of the links were dead or hijacked.
I am also going to create a new section for all the Stumble links I find for the latest funny or gross shit on the internet. I have archived over 100+ links for my own mini "Stumble" for the my kicks.
I started my blog 4 years ago next Saturday. Can you believe that? Four years? Wow!
Now I am ready for a redesign... Gonna spend some time working on my template, purging dead links and adding new ones. I am going to make a Stumble page of shit I pick up on Stumble and bookmark so you can share in my sense of humor.
I am going to 86 the banner.
It is time for an overhaul. Especially since I have overhauled everything else in my life.
Something I read on the back of a Starbucks cup today while sitting with Elijah, eating breakfast in my new neighborhood coffee place, 9 miles away from my new home:
You can shower a child with presents or money, but what do they really mean, compared to the most valuable gift of all-your time? Vacations and special events are nice but so often the best moments are the spontaneous ones. Being there. Every moment you spend with your child could be the one that really matters.
---The late Tim Russert from Meet the Press.
Something about that, my new life and having Elijah sitting in front of me made me feel special.
The Lowes called and said they couldn't deliver my washer and dryer because it wasn't in stock. I called bullshit and called my bro... the store manager. Ah... the power of who you know.
Well I got all the stuff broken down and ready to go... mostly. I need to empty some trash. Get a U Haul. I am nearly ready to go... There is still the part of moving and making sure people show up to help.
I signed for the new place today. Out from the rat race into the countryside. A whole new (old) life back near "home". Back to the giant rocks, large yards and Republicans! :) And a place to lend my heart.
One of the last things I said tonight here was that I was taking my wine glasses and I got this, "Oh no you can't" look along with her saying "no...sorry". I mean she doesn't even drink wine. Instead of really getting mad, I did a double take on the look. It was like she really didn't want to say what she was saying. She is keeping all the other stuff in the cabinet but for some reason I couldn't have my glasses either. They were a gift from... my sister in law? Wait a second... I asked why and got the "She doesn't want you to have them anymore." speech.
It is pointless to turn this into a fight. It is such a little thing like stemless wine glasses. I mean, is that what revenge is supposed to be? Are you even supposed to take out revenge on someone? And is that how "they" are going to reach out to me? By intentionally ripping me a new asshole over some old gift? I feel like smashing them and mailing them back in little pieces but I won't because I am bigger than that.
Early, early this morning... I got of the plane in Denver... road to the rental car place at 12:15 AM.
Walked into the door...
"FUCK!!"
No...seriously... Fuck...
My wallet was gone, as was my ID and everything. I had the rental bus take me back to the airline which of course, was closed. I walked in and found a lady who was locking up and explained my dilemma. She hesitated at first but I sold it and she made a call. See... I couldn't run back to the gate because I had no ID. So I was stuck waiting. A guy called back finding it. And brought it back to me.
Amazing... with all the troubles these airlines are having, at least Frontier still has a culture of customer service.
Well... Not "the" last night but the last night I could conceivably have out on the town here in Sactown. (Sacramento, Stephanie)
On 10/31 I officially move out of the house. It is kind of scary but it is a new beginning. Just picking up from a town that I have lived a significant portion of my life in. The last 9.5 years anyway. No more doing what I did... running down the street to a Midtown bar, close enough to walk if your tipsy, close enough to drive if you want to chance it and never more than 6 bucks in a cab away.
I out grew the life I had when I first got married down here. I had my infamous rock band thing. I was in a band for the first 2 years I lived down here. We were called Perception. I was the lead guitar and vocalist of the group. I had a killer drummer and a bass player who only wanted to riff off of one chord. We were a jam band. We sounded like a cross between The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Primus and the Red Hot Chili Peppers... At least that was what each member contributed. I rocked a few bars the two years we were together. We could really jam. The vocals were a challenge over the bass player. I felt like I screamed most of the time anyway. We did some cool covers of Come Together and Hey Joe plus some cool original tunes. Sometimes we sounded tight and others we sounded God Awful.
I came back tonight with Elijah. I had gone to set up the electricity and gas at the new place and try to pick whether I want to stick with DirecTV or switch the Comcast. I want to pick what the right thing is for the price. I really like direct TV. I came back thought with a text page. A page from a buddy who lives near where I am moving saying, "Dude... Sake Bomb's at the Stone Grill". I was like an hour late to the text page but I was like, "Ya... still there???" He was and I ran over and had a beer and some Crown on the rocks. It was just fun.. acting like a 30 something, yelling in a bar for an hour or so. Kind of gets it out of your system.
I am moving back "home". It is not..."home". I don't have a "home". My parents live a couple of miles away. I found a cool house with decent rent and really cool appliances, granite counter tops, gas fire place... the works... on about an acre of land. It is a bit big but it felt like a "home" when I walked it. When I stared off the deck to the ravine separating the houses across the way, I remembered when I was 15 climbing over that hill where the house is perched now, when there was nothing, I mean... Nothing there at all. In that ravine there was the remains of a cow. All was left were bones. Just a skeleton of a cow that hide died down in the ravine. I remember the image of how white the bones where. How the cow was picked clean of it's flesh and skin. No organs... nothing. Probably not dead too long either because there were hardly any flies... I remember rolling up on my bike about 15 feet away. No smell... just almost a cartoonish white of the bones like the cow was brushed clean with Rembrandts or something. And that is what I am calling home this time. A place where I was "picked clean" once before...
I never really have been lost as a person. When I moved to that area, 21 years ago, I moved thinking there was a new world. I had come from an area that was over populated. San Francisco-suburb. Full of diversity and people. People everywhere. Houses built 10 feet apart. You could put your ear against my bedroom wall and hear my Nicaraguan neighbors fighting out loud at night. It used to scare me when I was 5 or 6 when I new what was going on. But I moved out of there when I was 14. I never got to come of age in my birth home. Just lived until the most awkward time of my life... 14. Right in the middle of 8th grade.
I went from a city of 100,000 to a city of barely 200. No cement for my Santa Cruz Skateboard, stage V independent trucks or Slimeball wheels. No hills. No curbs... dirt, rocks and more dirt and rocks. Hot, Hot, Hot summers and moderately chilly mornings. Rattlesnakes... I went from being a punk hanging out at the 7/11 who ollied his skateboard over bikes for quarters to shooting a bow and arrow and wrapping my life around my music because I was so fucking bored in Calaveras County.
I went to school where I was hated within 45 minutes of being in the new school. I stumbled over someone's foot walking across the gym in 2nd period PE because I had tweaked and had my knee drained a week earlier from a skateboarding accident. Having enemies off the bat, and then when they heard I was from San Francisco... wow... that did me in at 14. It seemed every week I was in a fight. Everyday I was punching and fighting back. This happened all the way through until late in my junior year when they just gave up picking on me... and just ignored me. I had my plan though. I had developed a talent. I plotted my way through school, checking off required classes with A's and B's so I could get into that 4 year school on my smarts and talent alone. So when I did walk out of high school, I could do so with my nose in the air and my fist raised high, and a big "fuck you" smirk on my face when I signed my name to a $10K annual music scholarship to UOP.
I was humbled a bit. Someone stopped me long enough to tell me to see the forest for the trees. To go at this world kindly and forget what the past told me to think. For some reason... it may have taken me 14-15 years to get it right. Perhaps it is right now... Who knows? But then I think of Dave Matthews when he sang...
Eat drink and be merry... for tomorrow we're dying
So... what's next? No idea. I moved to where I felt I would be most comfortable and not where I felt I would like it the most. I will be 45 minutes from Elijah and know that everyday I put my head on the pillow, unless of course... he is with me. He is always with me. I cherish the times I am with him each time we are together. I like showing him the areas I would throw rocks around my parents house or where I would explore or where I would climb next. I think about him every moment these days, even while I work. I don't do my job for myself. I do it for him and him first. People can say what they want about Elijah and my relationship with him. But really, they just don't know like I do. They don't see me with him. They don't see him running with me. They don't see me wrestling with him. Or consoling him when he is hurt... getting him a cookie when he is being good and watching Elmo curled up next to the TV with him. Somedays, people might think he is what broke me and his mother up. I like to think now that he is what makes me who I am everyday. Who I aspire to be and who I want to be there for his every need.
It's a new chapter... A new story and a new adventure and a chance to dream again...
One is for envy and one just for spite The cuts in my heart, they show me your eyes Don't make it better by twisting knife, Turns all by itself, on to someone else
Your self-liberation, we'll leave this behind, Beyond slings and arrows that rain on our minds You'll make it better shaking it off It never mattered anyway...
If we don't make it alive, it's a hell of a good day to die All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long And it's ashes to ashes again, should we even try to pretend? All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long
The banner you're waving is burning and red It's blocking the sun light that shines overhead You against the world, diamonds and pearls, Voices inside you churn, watch the city burn
Your own liberation will leave them behind All the slings and arrows that rain on your mind, Don't make it better break it 'cause It never mattered anyway...
If we don't make it alive, it's a hell of a good day to die All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long And it's ashes to ashes again, should we even try to pretend? All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long
I won't calm down...
The banner you're waving is burning and red, You against the world, diamonds and pearls... It never mattered, mattered, Mattered anyway!
If we don't make it alive, well it's a hell of a good day to die All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long And it's ashes to ashes again, should we even try to pretend? All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long,
All our light that shines strong only lasts for so long!
Uggh... So I got Elijah tonight. And he needed new shoes. An Apple Computer needed a new charger and gosh darn it, Elijah needed some trains for his Thomas the Train set.
So I walked with the boy through the mall with the first stop being Apple. And you wouldn't know we were in a pre-Obama "Oh God!! He's gonna be President" recession which is the real reason why people are losing jobs and tightening their belts...
Digressing...
Anyhow... there is only one Apple Store in this town. And you have to go there when shit breaks on your Apple Computer. So Elijah and I are standing there waiting to be helped on. And that is the biggest problem at the Apple Store. There is no freaking rules. No order... it's a bunch of people playing with computers and iPods and a bunch of "techs" or customer service people standing around with their thumbs up their ass. There is no register... no line... no place to really get help unless you annoy the shit out of someone having a conversation.
So I finally got the "how can I help you?" from a dude that was the spitting image of a homeless Jesus.
"Um yeah... I need a power chord for a Mac Book... a 13 inch G4... an old one with the different thing on the end now than you have on these power chords?"
"Oh..." the guy says, "65 Watts?"
"Yeah".
So the guy goes in back where they keep everything and brings back which I later found out at home was the wrong one (but that is another story and not really my problem now is it? j/k)
So the guy gets this little wireless scanner out after complaining there is no one ringing people up. Like you could fucking tell, without a register or anything that resembles a line and y'all wear the same freaking shirts.
So... the guy swipes my bank card.
Declined...
"What?" "Run it again?"
"I can't", he says..."Store policy..."
I say... "The thing is broken... It's broken, has to be."
"do you have another card..."
Fine.... I reach into my George Castanza wallet and get another card.
Declined...
WTF? I paid the bill this is bullshit.
I tell the guy his reader is broken and he denies it. And then he argues...
Whatever...
At this time, I put Elijah down and hope he starts climbing on the iMacs and shit. I just sit there staring at my wallet, daring to hand him the Best Buy rewards card to see if that works. C'mon Elijah... break something, I thought.
So he decides to try the "wired" register and we head over and guess what, low and behold... it fucking works the first time. Amazing.
Steve Jobs, you suck... Fix your shit before you unleash it on the public would you please???
We left the store and got Elijah some cool shoes at Stride Rite and I got him some trains. Kay Bee Toys has Thomas the Train at 50% off right now... Awesome!!!
Seems an old lady finally got busted for keeping a kid's ball. When I grew up near Frisco (as in San Francisco, Stephanie) we would sometimes intentionally hit or throw a ball into an old lady's yard only to stir up the hornets' nest that lived in the house.
I lived in a court and we had a few choices. There was the Japanese lady's house on one side of the street, the crazy one with the handicapped parking place in front of her house so no one would park there and then the one in the middle of the block who was real nice until I gave her the finger out of fun.
How many balls we lost or how many times we got yelled at in the street playing baseball or football, trashing bushes, grass... flowerbeds... breaking slats off of fences recovering our balls. And we'd have them taken, like that was gonna stop us. I think one time we actually mimed baseball without a ball we could get yelled at.
If I were this kid, I would not have had the old lady arrested. I would have done the flaming dog poop bag or the rotten fruit in the mail box trick.
Fred Goldman is probably saying, "About time that son of a bitch got what he deserved!!"
So it sounds like OJ is going away and possibly for a long time for scaring some baseball card collectors (scary as they are) with guns, violence, intimidation and kidnap.
Is that all it took?
I mean... killing (allegedly) your ex wife and boyfriend innocent by-stander friend wasn't enough.
OJ Simpson is the single reason I do not believe in the death penalty. It's that the law can be fought with talent and money and be skewed into something like we all saw 13 years ago. If you have money you can possibly buy everything. I don't blame him for using his money to get out of it... We all would do the same thing if we had done something that heinous. But I also think of racial injustice, poverty and mental issues as more of a reason we convict people versus their actual guilt. I would hate to know a truly innocent person, wrongly framed and convicted and condemned while the truly guilty one kept on going.
Maybe the truth will finally set OJ free, if he is gone in jail for life. Maybe he'll come forward and tell us all what he actually did and just be done with it. He got 13 more years of freedom... that's what all those millions got him.
I have had to travel all week and I have been so sick. Came on Tuesday. Tuesday night was hell as my nose ran all night long. Never fell asleep until 4 AM and I had to get up at 6 AM. Ran a fever all day yesterday.
Too bad my camera sucks balls at close range but this is what I found under my 914's distributor cap. I spent the afternoon investigating why my 914 stopped running on the freeway a couple of Saturdays back. Not fun racing up to 70 MPH and have nothing left but burning smell and gas on the side of the road. I had it towed home and could not get the thing to turn over.
After checking the plug wires this afternoon to see if anything was loose, I decided to take off the cap since it was the only other thing I could look at without tools. I swear to God, Porsches must be made by little German elves with like stubby little fingers made of hard rubber. You can't take off one thing without taking off another unrelated part or without a few "Awe Shits!!" when you jam your fingers into the side of something. As soon as I finally got the distributor cap off I immediately thought, "Hey where is my Rotor?" It wasn't there. It was gone! I found it in three separate chunks seen in the photo and the rest of it was dust. I am not a mechanic for cars. Car Washes maybe. You know mechanics and engineers, when they see something wrong and people are around who don't know any different, they sort of freak out leaving the bystander going, "What, I don't see it?" This was pretty obvious that most novices would spot. But you are talking to a guy who rebuilt his fuel system from under the car by touch so... perhaps there is some knowledge.
Of course, I immediately had to post my findings as something really cool on the 914 BBS I belong to. Turns out it isn't that special. Avid 914 drivers keep two or three rotors with them at all times. Shit... it wasn't really that cool. It's one of those parts that just go out. A mechanic's dream... bad rotor? Hmmm... no labor hours but we'll charge you 3 hours at $90 an hour for a $8 part.
I have undone and replaced lines, hoses, and other things without really thinking about it at work for years. It doesn't matter what it looks like, I am always good with flows of fluid, air and electricity. I re-installed everything on the Porsche and jumped in the front seat. And the car was trying to start and would keep trying after I turned the key off. I wondered if my car was really screwed up beyond the rotor. I kept starting it and it kept trying but I noticed the battery power was low. I threw this super charger I have on the roof and tried to start the car that way. Nothing!! WTF. I looked under the hood and found all kinds of smoke and shit. I wondered WTF Now! I thought this had gotten expensive. I kept staring at the distributor cap... Wait a minute!!
I had crossed the two plug wires on the driver side spark plugs. I just crossed them back and POOF!! My little car came back to life. Seems to run a whole lot better too. So I can spot a bad rotor but not a crossed wire...
I drove it around the block twice going, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Moral to the story: Yes I Can... I can do it on my own.
(Note: The above statement is not an endorsement of Obama, if I did endorse him a few months back, I was miss-guided)
I think McCain beat Obama in the debate. Unfortunately where McCain beat Obama was in national security. Unfortunately, the Economy, which really took a back seat because they both didn't explain shit about it is the issue that is dominating this whole cycle right now. McCain schooled the man-elf on Russia, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans are not tuned into this crap though because they hate Bush so bad. It's the most important issue and it sucks we are not paying attention to it. It can solve and hurt our economy both at the same time. Yet, we all just want cheaper gas. These past few months, me and my family are finally feeling this.
Speaking of that... October 7th looks like the day we are filing to split up. I am sure I will say more as time goes on but I have been quiet around here about it due to commentators that I do not know saying shit about stuff they don't have a fucking clue about. It sucks because I really liked having open comments around here. There are some great sites though out there where I can track IP addresses so I can find out who these people are. This all was the last thing I'd ever thought I'd go through. Hopefully I am on the back side of it. Perhaps it will help with my pain and stress. Mostly that is what I hope ends.
I am spending a lot of solo time with Elijah. Thank God for the parents I have because I have been taking him out there and imposing on their lives a little. Despite all the travel I do and I am in 4 states this next week (including Illinois for the first time) and am having a lot of fun. We went to a car show yesterday. Sadly there were only 5 Porsches there and nothing really really cool except for the Super 1500. I would love to put mine in a show sometime after I fix the windshield and trim pieces. Last weekend we went wine tasting with my parents and saw the pond on the post below. We have had fun swimming. Playing in parks. Playing fetch at the lake with a dog.
Lastly... I am so happy that after 14 years apart and almost 10 of those years not even speaking to each other, I was able to rekindle the greatest friendship with one of the sweetest people I ever have known. She is genuinely the most gentle person you can possibly meet.
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
So yeah... what have I been up to lately? Besides listening to the new Metallica album.
Dreaming it all up again is what I have been doing. Radical changes to my life. Shake up... Ch-ch-ch-changes. Holding onto my center. Knowing in my heart what I believe is the truth. Actually leaning on some faith, for once.
I have become a statistic. My family. It is amazing where your friends suddenly all go... like they never knew you. You don't have that source of comfort.
Then the blame game. Finger pointing... I won't engage. I can't engage. It's done for me. But then you are out calming everyone else's emotions.
I hit a breaking point I guess. It was more than just constant pain everyday. It was more than just a little isolation. It was more than some hurt feelings. It was love that I needed to feel again. I reap what I sow. But...
Midnight is where the day begins.
I never let my back stay completely on the wall. I never let anyone really really get to me. I always look forward and never back. More later...
Staying overnight on a business trip can be a bit fun. I grew up in the area I am in today, at least the first 14 years of my life and I know what the tap water tastes like. I want nothing of it.
So I go to the Coke Machine which has bottled water in it. A buck fifty...
All I had was a $5 bill. Great...
So I head down on the slowest elevator ever and get change.
Then... instead of waiting for the elevator to come back... I chose the stairs.
Ah... I got to the machine... exact change only.
Fuck...
I ran to my room and dumped my computer bag. My computer bag probably has 10 bucks in odds and ends change in it, mostly pennies. Stuff I toss into when I hit the security gate at the airport so I don't get taken aside and felt up by the TSA.
I found four quarters, all with some sort of gum or sticky stuff on them.
I ran back to the coke machine... Stick the first quarter in...
Fuck...
It dropped to the bottom change return thing.
I was like... Okay, I will drink from the tap and then just get cookies.
I stuck a dollar into the candy machine and then the second dollar wouldn't go in.
Fuck...
I hit return, got my dollar back. I decided to try the gummed up quarters... Wow!! Two worked.
I inserted a dollar bill and BOOM!!!
I got my cookies as a consolation prize. No water!!
Ah... I thought...
I grabbed my keys and scrapped the gum off my coins. Now I was ready for the coke machine.
I inserted the first quarter and it said I had 86 cents in it.
Fuck...
This thing, I thought, must be broken.
Well... I decided to let the dice roll and insert the second quarter... It now said 1.91.
Okay... instead of hitting the water button, I inserted the dollar, figuring the LED was just malfunctioning.
I hit the water bottle button and waited as the machine made beeping noises. I could hear the machine moving around internally...
Fuck...
I waited like 10 seconds and just when I decided to walk, thinking I lost my money, I heard the familiar boom of the water hitting the bottom of the machine.
I feel like I am 17, 18, shoot maybe 23 again. Waiting outside a record store at midnight before the release of an album. Only now, I waited from my bedroom with my iPod Touch in hand waiting for the album to appear on iTune's tonight so I could click Download.
Heavy Metal is back. This isn't Load or Reload or St. Anger. Hell it ain't even the black album. It's an updated Master of Puppets sound... sort of. This shit really rocks. The songs are long. I was able to get it at around 11:00 and then I was out looking for my lost headphones. I couldn't find my Bose one's as they are bumping around in my car somewhere. I found some old ear buds, cranked the iPod and I won't be able to hear by morning.
I can't until I am riding around with the top off in my Porsche this weekend with this album cranked up, ripping my ears apart some more. Kirk Hammet is totally shredding on this album. He's got his Wah Wah pedal back and some mean licks throughout these songs.
The songs are really long... I think the shortest one is six minutes long. The rest are seven minute jam fests.
Really cool shit... go buy it and vote Republican!!!
I got my popcorn... I got my TV.... I am ready... Tonight is the night...
Sarah Palin, our future VPILF, speaks...
She is suddenly the future of the Republican Party and without her I would have for sure voted Democrat this time just because I thought Obama was gonna win.
Face it McCain is... old. I cannot relate to this man. I listen to him talk, I support him on my blog... but what is it that is going to push me over....
He could of gone with Romney... A great choice but for some reason our country as a whole doesn't understand Mormons. And that is a shame because we basically rule someone out over religion... a perfectly good religion.
Then there is Huckabee... Who? Didn't know the guy... Wasn't he a minister?
Then who else...? Guiliani? Womanizer... Thompson... dates young chicks...
Sarah Palin... great pick. What is really wrong with her other than being from Alaska? She made it to governor as a little known mayor. Alaska is a big state with lots of oil money and disparity between the haves and have nots. Somehow she makes it work with an 80% approval rating. So what she shoots Mooses or had a pregnant daughter... so what?? Is there anything really wrong with this lady. She has executive experience.
I just don't get the left... with their false claims and stupid posts about her. What is the threat? Seriously what does this lady bring upon you that is so bad?
She's a woman... That's what it is right? Or wait! Because it gives McCain a chance to win and win big.
I say she hits it out of the park tonight. Mark my words... the MSM will shut the hell up tomorrow.
There was 2 million square miles of ice, versus 1.65 million in the worst year, last year. So great, there was like a 25% "improvement" in the amount of ice since last year. Isn't that good?
The earth is 4.5 billion years old and we are looking at the last 29 years? How many years in 4.5 billion was there no ice?
When there was a lot of ice, America had a much greater immigration problem from a supposed land bridge via Alaska and there would be no shows like, Deadliest Catch!! Wouldn't that suck?
29 years of scientific research and we laugh at Christians who feel the earth is 6000 years old, who laugh at Scientists who say the earth is 4.5billion years old?
What is the average mean level of the ocean over the past 29 years?
I was reading in the local highly liberal free mag while eating a burger and something dawned on me:
The DNC in Denver this week to nominate Obama as their "official" candidate for President? And they are gonna have protest zones for all the hippie wankers with their war protests so they can be caged to make their point in a remote area far from the convention.
Huh?
Name another country that sticks people in protest zones to shut them up from the action.
This will be quick because I am tired and have been working and driving all day.
I had a presentation to give. I needed it printed because I had to give it like in an hour. I ended up driving by my house because I knew Kinkos was there.
So I go in and hit their computer and print my long presentation, twice. I use Kinkos a lot because I can print a nice presentation and then I can have it bound all neat and stuff.
So I flag down one of the kids working there to get him to bind my copies quickly. He drops what he is doing and goes to work. No one is in the store but me and this other lady who is working with the other Kinkos dude on duty. So I sit and watch, looking at the time because I am running late and I heard there was a nasty wreck on 50. This kid had bound presentations for me before and he remembered me. I basically sat at the counter and waited.
A few minutes go by and I noticed a lady behind me in line. She says, "Excuse me!" "Are you the only two people working? " Both kids say yes, one minute... and she grumbles under her breathe, "I just need to pick something up."
Just then I noticed there is this huge print job in front of me and it looked like it was mine. So I turn nervously, with a smile to the lady, "I'm sorry, this isn't my project her, he is just about done with mine, I am sure he'll be ringing me up in 30 seconds or so, so you can get your stuff." I am a people person. I am generally nice and kind and can really really work a crowd.
Not today...
The lady snarls, "I WASN'T FUCKING TALKING TO YOU!!!"
And without missing a beat, I go..."I was just trying to help you out, go get a fucking life you bitch!!"
I turn back... and the dude was ringing me up with a big ole smirk on his face.
I wasn't done... I turned back because I was pissed and said, "Go get life you bitch!! Leave these nice kids alone".
Her come back... "I have a life and it is better than yours."
"Oh really..."I say,"Going to Kinkos and cussing out people in line in front of you... You are such a sweetheart, but it looks by your age, your life hasn't worked out for you..."
And I got my stuff.... and left.
This lady was a vile human being. She sucked. I hope I never see someone like her again...
You wonder at this point what is the right step...
I have been carrying on four plus years with daily pain. The last two and a half with constant, chronic, pain through out my left side of my body. It'll cause me to limp like a troll, force off my guitar and make my golf game look shittier than it already is. It's hard to drive the 914, shifting gears and reaching out for the clutch. It's harder to drive period for long distances without some freaky pain in my arm.
Last week I woke up and my entire left arm was numb. I should tell you, this happens almost every day. Sometimes it's both arms. Sometimes it is my left arm and left leg. But last Thursday was a little different. Normally I wake up and just shake out the pain. By the time I reach the shower it is all gone.
But Friday was different. By the time I got into the shower, I was still numb. I remember pressing my hands against the cool shower wall and only feeling it with my left hand. I walked downstairs to find my hat and keys for my daily coffee ride. Still numb. I drove 10 minutes to Peet's Coffee... Still numb...
I left and came back... I had been up for an hour. Still numb.
The numbness never left my arm, it was crazy. I decided to make a call to the neurologist and report what was happening and basically get an appointment as soon as possible. I got one alright for tomorrow...
I sat numb all day in my left arm and hand until 4pm. That is when it finally just went away. Now I am stuck with this constant pain in my arm that no pain pill seems to numb. Self control is tough but I am hanging in there. I know if popped an extra pill I'd feel a bit better for a short time... But I won't. I stick with the prescribed limits on the bottle. I dare not become an addict. I don't even drink wine or beer much anymore. I am taking four different medications now. Vicodin for the stabbing pain that does go away. Tegetrol for attacking the pain in my nerves... Elavil to sleep as needed. And Celexa to reduce anxiety and depression. I have been with a psychologist the last 8 weeks.
Fucking eh... I am the bomb... literally.
So tomorrow, I get to point it all out... all the pain and how I feel that day and what went numb. Four years, no answers... two and a half really, really hard years enduring pain..
So I go back tomorrow for the next visit.
I wonder if he solved his plumbing problem with my suggestion?
I was dead tired and in pain on the way home last night on the plane. This French Canadian lady sat behind me. I know she was French Canadian because she had a French accent and looked Canadian. French is the most annoying accent next to Filipino (lol).
Any how... no matter how many Scotches I drank, or how loud my iPod had to be turned up with Rage, I could not drown out her obnoxiously loud voice. All she did was jump seats and take pictures of the clouds. There was 23 people on the plane and she was freaking annoying.
I quietly turned around and asked her to please use her "inside voice".
I can recite a hybrid version of Southwest's, Delta's, Alaskan's and Frontier's safety speech at the beginning of each flight. How they verify the ages of people in exit rows.
I totally tune out... I figure if the plane goes down, I am fuct any way.
So today I am glazed over listening to the safety speech on my flight to Colorado Springs... just thinking... The sooner you get this plane up, the sooner you'll out that coffee cart so I can get a cup and listen to my iPod.
So I am listening and the attendant is going through the water landing bullshit (the plane would break apart in a water landing) and she says, "Most seat cushions can be used as a flotation device."
Wait! What??? Most? Well... which seat isn't floatable? Am I in that seat? WTF? You warn us about the exits, the oxygen masks, how to evacuate but you won't tell us which seats can't be used as flotation devices?
and pain... Holy crap this hurt my hands figuring this one out. Weird changes (not really, a G I vi IV V pattern is pretty common in rock music) But my pinky on my left hand is pretty much limp anyway and having to hold that on for the verses was difficult. Yeah I messed up the bridge but I am done trying to record the best recording. It sounds best actually on my 12 string. Unfortunately my pick up is not working.
Anyhow... here is Shallow, originally recorded by Unwritten Law.
Infamous So Cal Earthquake today. I was in a car going up to a stop light and I felt the whole car just shake back and forth like something heavy fell from one side to the other. It was a good jolt but I didn't think anything of it. 5 minutes later I was sitting down to eat and it was all over the news. Wow!!
Aftershocks tonight!! Whoo Hoo!!!! Hope we get another 5 plus!!!
We all know Bush screwed the pooch as President. I mean, I still support the guy because I think it is the right thing to do (because I am a conservative and I don't quit on my team). But the guy screwed up some things that were his fault (like the "Mission Accomplished" thing with the war still going on 5 years later) and didn't really cause the others that happened on his watch (Barry Bonds, the housing slump, high gas prices, and Global Warming).
And this time... I am stuck in the middle of the road for President. I seriously am going to walk into the voting both in November (because I vote in every election) and toss a coin for Obama or McCain.
But to the article I linked to. Here is what one line says:
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday blamed "irresponsible decisions" by the Bush administration and Wall Street for the country's economic woes as government officials said the budget deficit would soar to record heights next year.
Fair enough... But then read further along... like 3/4 of the way down and you find this:
Obama didn't name the Bush administration, but his implication was clear.
But McCain did... McCain blamed and named Bush as the cause...
But here is the thing. The media so wants Obama to be President. They flocked with him to Iraq and Afghanistan and to Europe the past 10 days so they can report on the guy. They seem to hold this guy to a high standard because he is black young, fresh and different from the previous candidates. The guy has an err of mythology about him, that is fabricated by the media to combat any negativity that may be perceived by anyone.
The reasons that the media shares with us so we vote for the guy are completely different than the decisions I may have. Personally... He might be the better man than McCain. He may actually be smarter and yes, he may be able to cross the lines in Washington. But to write an article saying Obama said something, when he actually didn't is ludicrous. Whether it was the implication or not... It seems the media only wants to create a mythical creature for us to honor. It's actually a dishonor...
Yes, he is a historical candidate. Yes, it feels good to me that a minority has realistic a shot in America to become President. It is long over due. But the guy has to do the job and he has to be the best one for the job and he can't have a media bias that virtually lies about what he is actually saying. It's a real shame...
...but pay for it though so you can send Bono's great great great grandnephews to college...
U2 re-released remastered versions of their first three albums. Plus they repacked them with b-sides from the early days. Plus they used the original cover of Boy for all their fans that are pedophiles.
The second album October has the best b-sides from their live concert in 1981 at the Paradise Theater in Boston. It was the concert that sort of broke them to the bar band circuit way back in 1981 when they just got here. There is some cool shit there. I got the "bootleg" years ago so I didn't rebuy this album. But it is a cool thing to own. Nobody has the October in their collection though unless they are a true fan. Too pretentious and religious even for U2.
What also was released today was a live concert from Paris in 1988. This was during the break of their career when they ruled the world with a number one album and two number one singles back in the day when rock bands made singles that went to number one. So all the songs are Joshua Tree era and earlier. Cool versions of Unforgettable Fire, Exit, Trip Through Your Wires (which they haven't played live since I have been going to their shows) and some cool covers injected into their big hits like, Van Morrison's Gloria into Exit, Bob Marley's Exodus into I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For and The Doors Break On Through to the Otherside into Electric Co.
This band still amazes me. I was like 10 in 1984 when I first saw the video for Pride In The Name Of Love and 11 when they played Bad during Live Aid. I remember seeing that live and going "wow... that little dude went into the crowd!!"
The Live from Paris album is a great live album. I have listened to it all afternoon. It is cool shit. Go get it!!
Dude... I have driven probably a half to 3/4 of a million miles in my life, literally. I put many miles on my vehicles and all that.
Driving down the freeway this morning. I was going the normal speed... not fast or slow... I was at least a half an hour early for my meeting. All of a sudden calamity struck in front of me. Cars were like pinballs crashing into each other. I was a good 150-200 yards behind someone, not going more than 60 MPH and still I could not stop my vehicle. (Because I was not in either Porsche!)
I skidded and it was like one of those slides that took what seemed like a minute but in reality was a few seconds. The car would not stop and I headed right for a Honda Civic. There were at least 9 cars crashed in front of it in a few lanes... smoke everywhere... And I could not freaking stop!!
So I am sliding....sliding... then finally BAM!!!
I was pissed... I got the guy off the road and exchanged info.
I am freaking lucky... All I have is a cracked license plate frame on my Charger. The other car had a scuff that I was able to rub out with my fingers. That dude was cool... he was scared because there was so many cars... I mean they were everywhere with smoke coming out of a few of them.
I fly a lot for my job. And you would think I would be scared of that. I fear crashing a car so much. Two days before Elijah was born, I avoided a 10-15 car pile up by thinking fast and getting out of a lane as everyone crashed behind me. I am lucky. I think of all the driving I have done and I am surprised I haven't crashed more.
Last accident I was in was a bit before I started this blog in 2004. I crashed my 914 off of Lombard St. in San Francisco. A taxi ran a light and clipped my bumper and rear fender and spun me around side ways.
It is rare that I read anything not on the internet. Actually I take that back... I read the USA Today when I am on the road and I subscribe to the Economist. I get the Economist weekly and I read it cover to cover because it's kind of a non-American point of view of the world. I like to know what other people think.
I read listened to the book, The Alchemist, last night. I saw it last week and it was free on iTunes so I said, "Why not?" I heard so much about the book and it's popularity around the world I thought I would give it a listen. It's two hours by plane to Colorado and back and I figure I'd listen to the whole thing.
The book sold 65 Million copies world wide and has been translated to 56 languages. I think it was given away in Norway before iTunes started giving it away for free for download.
I am not a plot giver, but I highly recommend the book. I listened to the whole thing last night in 4 and a half hours. It is quite a compelling story and it really lets you think.
It's only just Tuesday and I am beat down already. I haven't slept for real since Saturday when I slept in until 10 AM.
I am up in Colorado all week, sweating my ass off, doing what it is I do for a living. A lot of pain the last couple of days here. Elbow feels like it is going to fall off. I keep laying on my arms funny only to be woke up a half an hour later.
Last night was an eternity. I started coming down with a disease when I got here yesterday. Probably a cold from my son's daycare or something that I caught. Or maybe I caught it in my parent's swimming pool on Saturday night. Who knows? I could not sleep last night because my nose kept running and running. I'd roll over and it would leak out of the other nostril I was breathing out of. It was kind of sick and goopy. I feel like shit.
So tonight, I wanted something light for dinner. There is a Panera Bread next to my hotel so I went over to see what the fuss is about. I had never been to one of these. So I am standing in line. I was clearly next. I mean, I was behind the person at the register and no one else was there when I got there. I was even acknowledged by the back up pastry getter. So I felt good... (reminds me of that burger story when the fat lady cut me off). Anyway, these two kids come up. One was like13 the other was like 8 or 9. And they were eyeing the bagels, which I happened to be eyeing as well. And they were both shouting out the bagels they wanted. There was one French Toast bagel there. Only one. I wanted it. So did the 9 year old.
So the people paying leave and I start to move up to the counter and the cashier turns her attention to the kids with the "Hi can I help you?" look. And the kids start to fucking order. And I am like, what??? So I go excuse me... I am next!!
I got that last French Toast bagel... So I decided to write in my blog.... As I finish this post... I finish my bagel. Steve beats little kids again.
What a wonderful product the new 2.0 iPhone software is for my 32 gig iPod Touch. After months of patience waiting for the apps patch to come out, I finally was able to install it 1:30 AM yesterday morning. I guess the huge success and demand caused quite of bit of eagerness and anticipation for Apple's loyal following.
The first app I downloaded was one called remote. It is really cool to be able to turn on the music in my office from upstairs. And not only can I turn it on from my iPod, I can select a song or playlist to turn on some tunes before I head in for work with my Latte. What an awesome innovation! A WiFi remote... who knew?
Also, I was able to get Scrabble. This will be cool for my frequent plane trips so I can improve my vocabulary and strategy from the plane.
Another app I like is vSnax. Basically it is like youtube but only better because it gets you not only the videos from youtube but videos from news outlets and other sources out there. I can search my own channel on youtube or I can watch the latest news report on CNN all in the palm of my hand. I really need to think about upgrading to the iPhone now but I truly need a bigger hard drive to carry all 4500 plus songs I carry now.
I just can't wait until all the Office viewers for documents and MobileMe comes out. It will be great connecting myself to everything I need.
I am one of those "gotta have it now" people. The whole new iPhone thing is wreaking havoc across the internet today. The ever popular iTunes website is screwed. Don't even think about going to the Apple Store either. In fact if you have AT&T phone service, don't bother calling. The world is fuct today.
See the whole thing comes with this new iPhone 3g that came out today which is supposedly better and faster. And that is great for those people who want that sort of shit. I am glad.
I just want all the cool apps that are out now for my iPod touch so I am not bored as shit on the plane anymore!
I have been trying to download the new 2.0 software all morning and I can't. The servers are jammed!! And here I thought it was my Mac Mini struggling to keep up or some Mozilla 3.0 issue. It isn't it. It is just an epic fail for Steve Jobs.
And the shitty part about this upgrade. You have to buy it for $9.95. It ain't free. It's a way for Apple to collect $10 bucks off of all of us savvy tech people who like to own cool shit because it is cool. How many millions is ole Steve gonna make today. The share price bombed 4.7 points today so it must be because this launch is an epic fail.
I just want the push technology. I want to do more with the thing than listen to old Samiam songs. I want to use the free apps I downloaded. I want to try out that little band thing they made. Google apps. Reading a powerpoint file and all the other cool shit I bought the thing for 6 months ago with the gambing winnings from hitting 22 straight up on Roullette.
Do you know how many times I downloaded iTunes' upgrade today thinking I screwed something up along in the process? How many times I reset my iPod Touch to its original factory settings?
When I left Bakersfield at 2pm it was 113 degrees. It's like you wanted to see the thermometer get hotter and hotter. How high was it going to go? I saw it get to 114 at one point on I-5 and then it backed down. Supposed to be 110 in Sactown on Thursday. Crazy seeing all the oil rigs on Hwy 58. I thought I was in "There Will Be Blood" for a minute.
I thought I'd also cool off, heading into San Jose.... NOT!!
101 when I rolled in... on the 101 of all things.
3 hours and 45 minutes from Bakersfield and that was even stopping for a shake at In and Out. An actual shake... not a "shake", I did that at the gas station when I left Bakersfield.
I am on the road this week. This time up north to one of my favorite cities.
It is freaking HOT!!! Dude... humid too... At least I can breathe. And that is a good thing. My eyes are back to their original color.
Accidentally took too much pain meds in 12 hours. This isn't the fun kind of pain meds like Vicodin where you get a cool buzz and shit... This was a nerve pain blocker I take and because I left at 4 AM and because I took the previous dose only 7 hours earlier instead of 12, I was fuct up.
At least the meeting wasn't until this afternoon which gave me time to drink it off with water. Holy crap dude... I usually take it at 6 and 6 or 7 and 7 or 8 and 8 but 9 and then 4...oops!!
So like, I wanted a mild dinner and so I looked up Jared Burger (Subway...eat fresh!) on the Google nearest to my hotel. I found one a mere 3 blocks away so I walked... forgetting it was 150 out and I forgot shorts and comfortable non-dress shoes. Anyhow... I wandered through downtown and found my place to eat.
I walk in and no one is in this place except of course the worker. And it was "likes to talk guy" behind the counter. You know, the single serving friend on a plane that does not shut the hell up. Only it wasn't a dude, it was a chick and she was on the phone. I never made eye contact but I guess she was like late 40's. In the span of 3 minutes after she got off the phone, I heard about her fuct up son with his illegitimate kid, her the grandma working for $10 bucks an hour (which is quite modest for Subway if you ask me), the success and how nice the other grandmother is and about her own mother still caring for her mother who is like 95... I was like, holy shit... 95 for the matriarch, 70 maybe for the great grandma, 45 for her and 20 for her son and like 3 for the daughter because she is upright and speaking... so I gathered from the long assed one sided conversation I was not having...
I wanted to cut her off but the story kept getting better as she was running her mouth. I was waiting for her to say that she was related to Johnny Knoxville from Jackass... and that her brother was a crack dealer in the state pen or something because shit, you did not know what was coming out of that lady next... Damn... and then she gave me a discount...
It was freaking cool I guess. Reminded me of my own mom...
My turkey sandwich with lettuce... I am the world's pickiest eater, period.
