What a letdown

Well, that was underwhelming. When a hurricane comes through and you sleep the whole time, that's pretty lame. I was really looking forward to it. Everyone freaking out around here, lines 6 miles long at the Costco, bottled water sold out...but no, the biggest piece of debris I could find was a pine needle that landed on my car. Whoopee.

I mean, come on. I lived in the midwest and southeast, and witnessed the cyclonic destruction of tornadoes...even helped my sister cleanup after one and made a small profit. Went to the West Coast and bounced through two earthquakes, one of those actually crumbled a brick wall or two.

But "Hurricane Earl" (if he's not already weakened into a Tropical Storm) did little more than wet the grass here. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for complete mayhem and destruction. Maybe a Ficus to fall on the car so I could get the insurance money for it. After living through the tornadoes and earthquakes I have developed a strong respect for nature's fury. But it's hard to respect Category 4 Fury that brings nothing more than a simple summer shower.

Earl's running a little late

Must be some trouble with the El Camino. 9:00PM, I haven't seen any raindrops yet and the trees aren't really moving around too much. It's weakened again to a Category 2. It was a Category 4 this morning. We'll probably get some high wind in areas, not much likely over 50MPH. Probably some coastal/tidal flooding and heavy rain.

What's interesting is that we do get several bad storms here on the coast every year. They come with 50MPH+ winds, and there's coastal and tidal flooding, with heavy rain. What's the difference between those and this hurricane? The cool name. As far as we're concerned anyway. I'm sure the folks on Cape Hatteras and the Caribbean would beg to differ. The Outer Banks are expecting a more direct hit with the hurricane force winds.

Which makes me glad I'm not filthy stinking rich...at least today. See if I were, I would probably want to own one of those cool beachfront houses down there on the Outer Banks, and tonight I'd be stuck somewhere in a hotel wondering how much will be left when I get to go back. Maybe I'd just buy a vacation house there and not keep the important stuff so close to the Atlantic.

Oh well, a boy can dream, right? I do at least still have a job. I did interview today with a guy from the Network Engineering team. He's really cool and I think I would enjoy working with these guys. They're expanding in the Mid-Atlantic region and I would be coming on at the beginning of that expansion, which is a good thing. I won't bore you with details, but all the crap I've been bitching about for the last couple of years with the old company, they pretty much are doing away with. I likey.

All righty then, off to hunker down and watch Earl come rip through here.

Better get ready for the storm

So good ol' Earl is churning up in the Caribbean. I never did get the official word, is it Car-ri-BE-an? Or Ca-RIB-ean? Either way, there's a category 4 hurricane there. And it's headed north. Sort of. At least in my general direction. But I think that the only people excited about this are the news anchors, since it gives them something to do. Nobody here really gives a damn about these anymore, since 50MPH winds and tidal flooding are pretty normal around here anyway. And according to News Channel 3 and NOAA, that's about all we can expect.


But there's a name to it, and his name is Earl. Which is kinda funny if you think about it. I wonder if the storm naming people thought about it. Or maybe were fans of the show. Or maybe it's a sign that Karma is headed my way....

Make me an offer I can't refuse

About 3 weeks ago, the company I work for let us know that they were in talks with another company to buy us out. Most of us expected the process to take a few months. Much to our surprise, we were informed late last week that it was final, and our last day with the old company would be Friday the 6th, and our new employment with the new company would begin Monday the 9th.
Wow. Didn't see that one coming...
Anyway, the "offer" letters came and it's pretty much the same deal. No change in position (still installing phones systems) and no change in pay either, except that I'm hourly now and can get overtime pay, which is good since I usually put in about 5-10 hours over a week, minimum. It's an offer I can't refuse, simply because I don't have any other prospects right this second and do need a regular paycheck. Here's where it gets fun...
I just got an email from my boss, asking for a copy of my current résumé. That's interesting, since we were already supposed to send that in at some point over the next week or two. But she emailed me directly asking for mine specifically, today. I could be reading more into it than it is, but knowing the people I work for it's pretty unusual unless there's a specific reason for it.
So keep your fingers crossed.

Wait...what?

I've learned a few interesting things in the last 39 years. Many of them my Parents taught me










Say "Please" and "Thank You"














Put your name on your stuff in case you lose it











Start by saying you're sorry.










Most important of all













There are also things that you just have to learn on your own:










Very few people play by the rules










Learn a good Poker Face. You never know when it will come in handy.

Life is full of double standards, and it goes both ways. 40 year old men go to jail for gathering and screaming over 17 year-old girls.

Ronald McDonald is a serious badass

I'll leave you with one final thought. Society tries to put people into groups, then create conflict between those groups. Catholic vs. Protestant, East Coast vs. West Coast, Black vs. White, Yin vs. Yang, Coke vs. Pepsi, and so on. Me, I try to find middle ground as much as possible. It keeps life balanced.

Lost in Translation

It's getting worse. As with any progressive disease, it seems that the whole "repeating the story" problem is only getting worse. Today I found myself telling the same person 3 times that I did not need them to order a piece of cable for an upcoming project. Our highly-intelligent leadership staff saw fit to lay off every technician in the area and just hire subcontractors to do most of the on-site work, so all of this type of stuff has to get done by other companies now.

Maybe the problem is me. I guess I expect too much out of people...you know, assuming them to have common sense and all. When I go to a nice restaurant, I don't stop on the way at Sam The Butcher and pick up a steak, then hand it to the chef to cook for me. I order their food that they provide and cook for me. When I call a taxi to take me to the airport, I don't provide the car or fill the cab up with gas for them. Usually these types of things go along with the price they charge.

So I guess I shouldn't expect that someone working in telecom sales for many many years would know that cabling companies provide their own cable, and install it too? Well, OK then shame on me. Maybe it should take 3 hours of emailing to convince the areas second-highest grossing sales person that we really don't need to special order a cable. An industry standard cable, that all cabling people usually have several thousand feet of just lying around.

Maybe it's true. Maybe common sense is slowly becoming a power for only Super Heroes.

General garbage

So I got my new phone today. I needed to have a personal phone that was mine again, I got rid of my old Sprint phone when work gave me a Blackberry. But now I have things going on (like my résumé being reviewed, possibly, as we speak) and I just felt like I needed a phone. So I got one. I could take a week of blog entries to tell you everything this does. Maybe if you're lucky I'll give you my new number! But it is the latest-greatest one that does everything, and I got it online with a coupon (you have to say it like Ron White...coopin!) for super cheap.

You know those people that tell you the same story 3 times? Well, I get the feeling that I'm going to be one of those people. Not because I'll be forgetful (too late for that) or due to any mental incapacity, but because I will just end up trained to do so. You see, I seem to work around people that can't communicate. I regularly find myself getting called by no less than 4 different people asking the same question. I had a problem on an install and called it onto our support team? 3 times someone called me wanting to know what needed to be done. I got a call today from the sixth (yes, that's 6th) person asking why I sent back some product from a job that was defective. And I can't say "It's just broken stuff", no I have to replay a 10 minute conversation I had with the previous 5 people. Fun stuff...dementia here I come.

If you're wondering about the photo I put up today, see Connie's blog.
How to make your band's album cover

You know those people that tell you the same story 3 times? Well, I...

More fun guitar stuff

I realized a while back that I didn't have a hobby. There were several reasons why...I couldn't afford one, I had no creative ideas on what to do, I didn't think I had time for one...



Then, as you read in my previous post, I started getting into guitars a few months ago. I started goofing around, trying to figure out how to play along with some of my favorites. Some of them I could actually keep up with, and some are so complex that I could have 10 hands and never be able to play.



I also enjoyed tinkering with the guitars themselves. Now, I don't have the expendable income to be able to change out different things like electronic parts or different amplifiers, but I did learn a little about things to do that can improve how easy it is to play it, and I also read a lot about how to change the look of the guitar by refinishing it. The blue one that I made for Jordan is one example, and was my first attempt. Luckily, things like woodworking and electronics run in my blood so it wasn't like I was starting from scratch.



My favorite guitar so far is the Fender Stratocaster. Guys like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and David Gilmour are famous musicians known for mostly using the Strat, and in most cases their signature sound is based on the guitar they use. And yes ladies, John Mayer plays mostly Fender Strats.



I've been involved in music (in some fashion or another) most of my life, or at a minimum kept a solid appreciation for it. Music that had a message, artists who's very soul poured out through their songs, and even just a really cool groovy beat that makes you nod along at the very least. One band I liked that came around in my early 20's was Nirvana...the huge explosion of Seattle Grunge was born with their "Nevermind" album release. Yes, a lot of their message was anti-establishment for the 90's and could get pretty out there, but the music was like nothing I had ever heard before from my generation. I was hooked...it wasn't pretty or perfect, it wasn't full of huge blond hair and makeup, and it wasn't supposed to be.



Cut to almost 20 years later, and here I am trying to decide what I want to do with this guitar I was going to make just for me, and I come across a photo of the singer for Nirvana holding the coolest looking black Stratocaster I had seen. Turns out the guitar was one of his favorites...they were known for smashing up a lot of gear on stage, but this one was his keeper. In true form with their anti-authority ways, there was a sticker on this guitar that said something about vandalism...and this guitar was then known as "The Vandalism Stratocaster". I'm not into stickers, or vandalism for that matter. Most of Nirvana's message went right over my head as far as the whole anarchy thing goes. But this was a really sweet looking guitar, and I had to have one just like it...minus the message about destruction and mayhem, of course.



So I scoured the Internet looking for photos. I found a few and went to work. And finally, I have my latest creation.

Technology a bad thing?

Once in a while I hear someone complain about how technology is a bad thing…”It makes us lazy” or “Nobody interacts with people anymore, it’s all on-line now”. I can see their point…just about anything designed for good can get abused or twisted. But truth be told, I believe the opposite. As a matter of fact, I’ve discovered a lot of neat things using the Internet over the years…things like how to write a proper résumé, how to fix the sticky blinker in my Jeep, the fact that the Earth is round…those types of cool things, all for one low monthly price. It’s like a subscription to the Encyclopedia Universica…an endless array of cool and useful information.

Another thing I’ve discovered is that you can buy just about anything you want. Not only that, but for much cheaper than retail price, probably without sales tax, and it gets shipped right to your house.

“Holy Crap! You mean to tell me that I don’t have to shower, shave, get dressed, put gas in the car, drive to Best Buy, listen to the poor kid who’s parents made him get a job (good for them, but maybe bagging groceries is more his style?) tell me all about the $1500 HDTV with 14 HGP inputs, 480GHz signaling, 24 R2-D2 sound effects, 30-kagillion color pixels and a remote control that will start my car and signal the Mother Ship that it’s time to land?
“I can actually sit in my boxers, covered in crumbs, and find the same TV for sale on the Internet for $600, no sales tax, I won’t get hounded to buy the extended warranty, and it will magically show up at my door?”

Well, yes, sort of. It’s not magic, it’s called UPS. Brown can do it for you too. Put a robe on before you answer the door, though. But leave the crumbs…the UPS guy may want a snack. And if the TV retails for $1500 and you got it for $600, it either fell off the back of a truck, or it’s a Chinese knockoff. Check the label, it probably says Pandasonic, Zenich, Samsong or Sonny. Probably $1000 to $1200 would be more realistic for legitimate hardware.

Anyway, on a side note, for Christmas I got Jordan a Wii. She has one at her Mom’s house so I thought she’d get good use of one here too. She does get bored pretty easily; I mean she is 10 after all. Another thing she got for the Wii was the Rock Band game. We played it one year at a New Year’s Eve party and had an absolute blast. But I discovered a problem…within a few weeks I really wanted to learn how to play guitar for real. Not a plastic guitar shaped controller, but a real guitar, with 6 strings and frets…one that would actually sound like ass when I play it badly. So, it’s time to learn something. Where do I start? Oh, I know…the Internet, of course!

I was thinking I’d have to save up for a few months to buy my first Axe. Not so! Through the magic of Craigslist I found a Fender Squier electric guitar and tiny practice amp (like I need the neighborhood to hear how bad I am) for under $100.



So, I dork around with this thing for a few days, realize it’s a sub-$100 guitar for a reason, and decide to research a little on what to do about keeping it in tune and how to get better sound out of it…besides learning how to play better, I mean. So back to the computer I go.

Behold, the stinkin’ Holy Grail of guitar info! Video lessons from beginner to expert (without having to drive to an instructor…I can learn sitting in my underwear covered in crumbs!). Not only that, but step-by-step explicit details on how to modify just about every aspect of the guitar to make it better. If I didn’t have to work, I would probably have not left the house for weeks after discovering what I could do to this thing. So, I decided “Hey, everyone under the Sun has a black and white one, maybe I’ll repaint this one”. And I did.

I took this one apart completely, and had it apart for a while trying to decide just what color to use. Then I started to miss playing, so back to Craigslist I went to find another one to use temporarily while I was working on this one. Turns out I got one that was a lot better guitar for me than the original one. So I figured Jordan might like this one to toy around with, and I asked her if she would like me to make this one for her. Of course she said yes, and that she wanted it blue. So that’s what I did, made it into a blue one!



Turns out I’m much better at working on these things than playing them, although I’m getting better every day. I enjoy playing, learning and practicing. It’s good therapy…I’ve always enjoyed music and this is just another way to enjoy it.

So I guess I went way off topic about good vs. bad technology. My brain works like that, expect it here regularly and try to enjoy it...

First post - The E

Seems the latest trend in the family is to have your own blog. I thought it was pretty odd at first, I gave up on Facebook a year ago after only a few months, I sit in front of a computer all day at work anyway, so why a blog?
Well, I think it will work for me. We'll see...

On to the subject at hand, to test the blog waters (no Mom, not the bong water...you know I was never into drugs).

Like my Father before me, I do not have a full middle name. Just the initial "E". It's pretty unique, apparently. So unique, there are people who simply don't believe me when I tell them. Right before I graduated High School, I got called out of class to go to the office...they were sending off to get our diplomas printed and needed me to put my middle name down correctly.

"I did", I said.
"No, your full middle name"
I repeated again, "I did".
"That's just your intial. You have to put down the whole name"
Apparently this was going to take a few minutes. "The initial 'E' is my middle name. It's just the letter" I said.

After about 5 to 10 minutes of this highly intelligent conversation, it became clear that I was going to have to prove to them that my legal given name did not include an actual middle name, just the letter "E".

And it continued past that day. Driver's license, bank accounts, wives and girlfriends...probably twice a year I have had to repeat "The E is my middle name". I actually find myself giving preferrential treatment to companies whose forms only require a middle initial. I have given up on online forms that have those "* denotes required field" things and had them reject my entry because it didn't think I filled out the middle name field correctly.

Maybe one of these days I'll get Mom and Dad to write out the list of people who the "E" represents. They've told me before but I'm really bad at remembering names.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why they didn't give me a full middle name...I'd probably forget it.