boring day

I woke up this morning, drank some coffee, went to the beach, finished my book and got sun till I couldn't stand it anymore, came home, took a shower, then a nap, now I guess I'll go grocery shopping.

Doom Music

I'm glad it's Friday. Although it was a short week, it seems exceedingly long. I was working Saturday(tomorrow), but it got cancelled and I'm glad for that.
I don't know what I am doing on New Years Eve. I have no plans. I'm thinking about doing a night dive at about 11:30 PM and being underwater at midnight.
Have you ever heard of the game "Doom"? It's a game where you basically walk around and shoot anything that moves. I played it years ago. Well, the other day, I came across a persons website who extracted the music from the game and I downloaded it. I put it on my MP3 player.
Here's a link. I'd like it if you listened to a couple of the songs and tell me what you think. Think about listening to it while driving your car. Or (don't laugh) many years ago, I gave this sweet little old lady a Metallica CD, AND SHE LIKED IT! She said it was great to listen to while she was doing housework.
So. . .
This music strikes me as being good to listen to whilst doing housework, driving in traffic, or if you happen to be really frustrated and you're up on the roof with the high powered rifle, randomly squeezing off a few rounds. In other words, I think it's great for every occasion!
I want to know what you think. There's a lot of songs, mostly rock and rollish, but not all. Please check it out, at least a couple of songs!

Back at work

This morning I dropped the OI Girl off at the airport and I'm back at work. I have just set up my own private wireless network, of course, it's necessary, because I have to test the router I repaired.
Hopefully I'll be back to blogging regularly now, at least for a while!

Oh Yeah

My Washington Redskins won again too!
Sing it with me!

Hail to the Redskins!
Hail Victory!
Braves on the Warpath!
Fight for old D.C.!

Twas a good day

Saturday evening (last night) I went to the emergency room because the pain in my side was getting worse and worse. They X-rayed and found nothing wrong and gave me some painkillers. Last night was the first time I could sleep in several days. I slept a lot today. I said OI Girl was coming Sunday, but I had my days mixed up. She's coming tomorrow, which is Monday (it feels like Sunday to me since I worked all day yesterday)
Here, tomorrow is the holiday for Xmas, Tuesday is Boxing Day holiday, I have Wednesday off. (I bet my boss calls at least twice), then back to work Thursday. I'm already working New Years Eve...
I hope everyone had a good Xmas

Saturday success

It's Saturday morning, and I'm getting ready for work. I'll be working from about 9:30 till about 5PM today.
The extermintor came yesterday. I haven't found any live bugs since. I got this wicked tick treatment for dogs. The warning label says it may cause permanent eye damage, fatal if swallowed, user must wear safety goggles and, long pants, long sleeved shirt, elbow length rubber gloves, rubber aporon and un-lined rubber boots. I was wondering if it is even safe to use for dogs. But I did it, flip flops and sunglasses, short pants and a t-shirt. And yellow dishwashing gloves. I took him out by the street in the breeze, covered his head with a towel, and sprayed him from the neck down with a spray bottle of the stuff. (You should smell it! EWWW!) Then I put some on the towel and dabbed it on his head, not too much. Then guarded him while he dried, stopping him from licking himself.
This morning I combed him witha flea comb and got a few ticks, all dead and dried up looking. And the dog seems OK, health-wise.
Seems like a successful exterminator trip to me.

Tomorrow is the big day, Hopefully I'll wake up, go to the beach and that'll be it for me. On Sunday the OI girl is coming.

two days to go

I don't have much to write about.

I guess I'll start my xmas shopping today. That's right, I haven't started.

I'm taking off work early today because the exterminator is coming. Highlight of my week.

I still can't lay down, roll over or inhale fully after falling earlier this week. My leg is a little swollen from the knee to the ankle. I'm starting to think maybe I should see the doctor.

The OI girl sent me flowers at work yesterday. My first reaction was rage. Who would dare insult me by sending flowers?! Then I read the card, "ok, she didn't mean it as a bad thing..... cool down...cool down." Coincidentially, she called almost immediately and I told her I got them. She didn't think my reaction was as it should be. I hadn't had time to adjust my attitude when she called. Then she was in a sad mood because of my reaction.
A girl at work asked me what I'm going to do with them and I told her I'm going to take them home and put them next to my pink girlie panties. That was after I tried to give the flowers away. I'm having a very hard time not being angry. Flowers are for women, not men.
I feel persecuted for not being happy about it.

Heimlich maneuver

This morning I have to be at work early. I'm leaving here at 6.
Yesterday I was working on my busted up satellite dish and the ladder tipped over. I fell pretty hard and almost broke my leg and hurt my ribs. Basically I landed on my left side and my whole left side hurts. Last night in bed I couldn't do anything but lay on my back. I couldn't roll over or lay on my side. Getting up and laying down was painful.
Then when I got home yesterday, I was eating some fried chicken and I almost choked to death. I was thinking "This is very dry. I need something to drink". I got up and didn't make it to the fridge before I started choking and if I was in public, someone would have tried the Heimlich maneuver on me. It was disgusting.
I slept really good last night and I feel a lot better this morning.
I never did get to buy that tick treatment yesterday. Today I will for sure, because tomorrow the exterminator is coming, although I haven't seen any ticks yesterday or yet today.

Ticks

My dog has ticks. I pulled at least 20 off of him yesterday. I am finding them inside too. I have an exterminator coming Friday to spray the apartment. First my neighbor 2 doors down had them, then next door, and now me.
Ick

Oh by the way, starting today, the days start getting longer in the northern hemisphere! Summer is coming for all you snowed-in people up there!

So far...

..so good! It's Tuesday, and Monday was OK. I'll be busy today, trying to get a bent satellite dish to work. I took all the mashed up parts off and have just the round dish. It is a little bent and I'll see if I can get any signal on it. I got some un-bent parts off of a dish that was damaged in hurricane Ivan.
I didn't dive yesterday, my buddies were unavailable. Perhaps today..
I'm restless and discontented about something else too. I thought The OI girlwas perfect. She's everything I ever wanted. She's pretty, she likes the outdoors, she likes the beach and diving. We have the same opinions and interests. But something isn't right. There's no spark, no flame. When we were on vacation, there were times we were both quiet, nothing to say. To me it was OK, I don't think we need to chatter all the time. But it bothered her. Now, since it bothered her, I've been seeing things in a different light and it bothers me. I used to say "the brightest flame burns out first" and thought that it was a good sign that we would make it, but now I don't know.
I promised myself, "No long distance relationships" and now what am I doing? I make a rule and then make an exception to the rule.
I don't want to hurt the OI girl. I really don't. I can't exactly identify what is wrong.
Someone once told me that a couple doesn't need to have the same interests. She also said that every relationship I get into will be a disaster untill I find the right person. I think she may be right.

First thing this morning

My plan was, wake up on time (5AM), put my rebreather together, go to work and get off and go for a dive.
I woke up this morning to the sound of static. BOTH my stations were off the air. (I swear this can't be happening to any other radio station anywhere). I got up, drove to the transmitter site and fixed them both. The power to one of the outlets was gone and I had to plug one transmitter in somewhere else and reset the other one. (It didn't automatically reset because of loss of power to the same outlet. Apparently there was a power failure last night and did some damage to the buildings wiring.

Did I mention I had a rough week last week? Did I mention that last week my first words to any other living human being were "Fuck you too asshole! I'm not the one driving on the sidewalk!" Last Monday I was driving to work in creeping traffic. A mini bus comes driving up the shoulder, trying to get ahead of everybody. There was some trees and brush in a section and he couldn't get by. So he starts coming over into my lane, trying to intimidate me. So I leaned on the horn. He opened his door and yelled "fuck you asshole". So I yelled back. I wish he'd a gotten out of his bus, I was realy pissed off. He shut his door and that was all I heard from him. But I was thinking, "What a way to start the week, I hope this isn't an indication of how my week will be.
Well, it was a pretty fair indication of how my week went. So I'm wondering what this mornings incident indicates... That I will be useful and efficent all week? I hope so.
I don't need another week like last week...

Washington Redskins

How about my Washinton Redskins!
yes Yes YES!!
Stomped Dallas!

sick day yesterday

Wednesday was my worst day at work ever. I had a huge all day fight with my boss and another person here.

Then I went home, took a shower and OI girl and I went to the party. Then I had to go straight back to work for "just a minute". OI Girl was asleep in the car when I came out a half hour later.
Then I got her home about midnight and we went to sleep. At 2:30 I woke up and heard a problem on the radio and went back again! I got home at about 3:30 and the alarm went off at 5.
Yesterday OI Girl and I both called in sick.
We were anything but!
That's why I didn't post yesterday!!

first break, I like it

I am all dressed and ready to go to work. I have my coffee, strong and black. The dog is outside after his walk. I have about 40 minutes before I have to leave, it is still dark outside but there is a faint glow to the east. I just discovered my shirt on inside-out and fixed it. I really like this time of day. My first spurt of energy expended and now I get to rest for a few minutes.
We got back yesterday afternoon, the OI Girls work xmas party was fun. Tonight is my work's xmas party. She's in my bed sleeping. As luck would have it, a friend of her's is here too (not at my house, but on this island) and they will be hanging out today.
Yesterday I was hanging out at the hotel pool while OI Girl was working. I got a lot of sun, I was red yesterday but not today. Lucky me.
I have to work a lot of hours today, an outside broadcast at 2, the talk show at 4, then traffic at 5 and the party at 7.
Sitting here now may be the last time I sit anywhere all day!

Rainman

Did you ever see the movie Rain Man? I'm kind of like that guy. Maybe I'm a little bit autistic.
I have a pretty set routine, and when anything upsets my routine, I get a little uncomfortable. Today I'm going to work, and I'm taking a suitcase with me to go straight from work to the airport to go to see the OI Girl. Tomorrow we're both coming back here. I'll only be gone one day, but I feel it's forever or something. Not really nervous or afraid, but some way I don't have a word for. I kind of feel this anytime something upsets my routine.

Went diving yesterday, it was great. I was going with my regular dive buddy, and we got into the water and he had technical dificulties with his unit. So we got out and he left and I ended up going with some open circuit divers. There was this fish. I was following him. He would swim 2 or 3 strokes and turn around and look at me, yep, still following. So 2 or 3 more strokes and he'd turn and look to see if I was stilll there. I was able to anticipate his movements and take pictures of him when he turned. (you know that annoying half second delay with digital cameras that makes you always miss the shot?) Well, I pushed the button, rekkoning he's ready to turn and the fish dives down and gets some type of worm or garden eel and eats it. I got a pic. It looks like he's eating a piece of spaghetti! He eats the sand and everything and lets the sand fall out through his gills.
The first pic is the original and the second has been cropped and enhanced.

(click to enlarge)

Well, I gotta go, Wopner at 8!

This morning

This morning I'm getting ready to do a dive around noon. A shallow long one.
Monday (tomorrow) afternoon I'm headed to see the OI girl, for her works Xmas party. Then Tuesday we're both coming back here for my works xmas party.
A few times she's seen the crabby side of me. I am coming to realize that my irratability comes from lack of assertiveness. For example, she wants to talk on the phone for (it seems like) hours and hours. I don't like talking on the phone. But do I say anything? No, I just get grouchy.
When I see her I have to try to explain this to her in a nice way.
I don't feel much like writing here lately. Hopefully it will pass and when there's not so much going on I'll be back up to full speed. I feel guilty writing and hoping for comments when I'm not visiting and leaving them.
Ciao for today!

That guy in Singapore

I've been thinking about that guy in Singapore who got hanged for drugs. He was 23 years old when he got caught and 25 when he got hanged. When I was 23 I was in Singapore, and I was looking for drugs. I was on a ship, we stopped in Singapore, my drug supply was gone and I was looking. I was asking cab drivers and bartenders where to score. Everybody said the same thing, "There's no drugs in Singapore, they hang you for drugs here. When we want to get high, we go to Thailand".
But I didn't care, I wanted drugs and I kept looking, knowing that if I got caught, I could be hanged. I never found any, never even got warm.
Now I'm 45 and don't do drugs any more. I read about that kid they hanged and think it could have been me.
I can imagine it was me. I would be thinking, "I knew it!"
It would be scary walking up to the gallows, them putting a rope around your neck. Seeing the crack from the trap door in the floor, someone putting a black bag over your head, and waiting...
Me now isn't the same me as me then. I was lucky then. I'm still lucky now.

Apologies

I have been neglecting my blog and my blogger friends lately. I've barely made the rounds at all in the past week or so. I enjoy reading the comments, they give me me best smiles of my day!
I'm trying to get work back in order, but the more I work on one thing, the more the others get backed up.
I've been trying to get this AC installed for 2 years, now that my transmitter has burned up, they're finally installing it, a day late and a dollar short. After the AC is running, I can start work on the transmitter. I'm finding burnt components in almost every module I look in. Looking back with 20/20 hindsight, I should have shut the transmitter off untill they put the AC in. Not just run it for one more day, day after day, till two years get by.
The satellite dish is all mashed up from the tree cutter. I called the support people about a replacement and they said they'd get back to me. I haven't heard a thing... After the AC is installed and I get near a phone I guess I'll have to lean on them, call and call. Then assemble the dish and point it at the satellite.
All this is on top of my regular workload, and all the little things that go wrong throughout the day.
But I'm not complaining. I like my job. I think I let myself be taken advantage of, and that is my fault. Sometimes I also feel like I'm the only one at work who actually cares, but there IS a few of us...

the sound of silence

I woke up this morning to the sound of silence. My alarm clock radio was set to my station and we were off the air. So when the alarm went off it was very quiet. The computer feed from the internet dropped out. Since the satellite dish got mashed up, we get our night programming from the internet. So at 5AM, I got up, showered and flew into work. Now I'm here, waiting or the AC guys.
I missed breakfast and I am somewhat disgruntled.

woke up late

Last night I had a dream I was having an affair. I met a blonde girl who lived in a house a lot of people shared. I kissed her for the first time in a room with a lot of people in it and they acted like they didn't notice, but when I looked at them they were smiling. Then we were walking around her yard and I told her I was seeing someone. The next thing I know we're sitting in my car, stopped in the middle of the road, cars going around us on either side, kissing. Her tongue was very soft.
I woke up late.

One or the other

I'm up, ready to go to work. I didn't even check my blog yesterday.
Saturday I left for work at 11AM, I didn't get home till after 2AM, I didn't get a break at all, much less the long one I was anticipating. It wasn't bad, but I was getting a little crabby by the end.
Sunday I slept till 8 or 9, then did the dive. It was a most excellent dive. We got in at Bonnies Arch condos, our usual spot these days. We swam south against a fairly strong current out to the main dropoff then cruised along the top of the wall at about 120 feet. After about 38 minutes we got to the "Black Hole" and descended further and went through it. It is like a chimney at the bottom of a funnel. Then it curves out and from the other side it is like a cave in the side of the wall. When we came out it was like swimming along a sheer cliff, with infinite depth below. The we cruised along at 220 feet for a while, 10 or 15 minutes, and slowly began to ascend. We came up along the top of the wall, cruised along the sand flats to the mini wall, finished our deco and came up. It was great. Then I went to the dive shop and got a tank I had there being filled and rinsed my gear. There was a film crew there from the Travel Channel, maybe you'll see me walk by in the background, but I didn't talk to them. I very seldom watch TV.
Then I came back home, somehow fell asleep and woke up just in time to go to the Astronomony Society meeting. It was a nice night but got cloudy. But there was a lot of people there and it was still nice.
Interesting contrast between these meetings and Photo Club meetings... I feel very comfortable at Astronomy Club meetings and very uncomfortable at Photo Club meetings....
Now it's back to work. My thoughts are on the AC that has to be installed, the burnt up transmitter I have to fix, the mashed up satelite dish I have to repair or replace, my drivers license expired and I need to get a new one TODAY, and I have to send my Xmas cards out. It's already late for that.
Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world, and sometimes I think it's the worst. One or the other and never anything in between.

Thanks for your support

I hung out at the post office yesterday and collected a few million from your generous donations. Thanks! Hopefully I'll make it till payday now!

Walkin the dawg this morning, it was windy. Windy is not good for us shore divers. But yesterday we changed the date of our dive to Sunday, this morning is gas blending day.

Today I'll be working from noon till after midnight. I have two outside broadcasts. I suppose there will be a rather lengthy space in between, but I can't really do anything weekendy during that time. But I'm not complaining, really I'm not. I have a great job in a great place.

I had a satellite dish that points at the BBC satellite, A tree grew so it was partially blocking the dish's view of the sky. I had some guys with a cherry picker truck and a chainsaw trimming the tree. They would tie a branch to the crane, so it wouldn't fall, and then cut it. They had a huge piece and the way they had it tied it was topheavy. I told them this. Then I got a call that the AC guys were heading out to the transmitter site. So I had to go. I barely got away when I got a phone call that they dropped the tree on the dish. Later that afternoon I finally saw it, it is pretty mashed up and must be replaced. Another thing to add to my list. Also, instead of just trimming the tree, they pretty much cut the whole thing down. Imagine, if you will, two 15 foot tall tree stumps. The tree is on somebody elses property. UH-Oh, hope there's no grief over that one! This all happened while I was gone for a half of a morning. AND the AC guys chopped a hole in the wall, went for lunch, and never came back. When I got back to the station, I had a long talk with the second-in-command about my frustration.
But I'm not complaining, really I'm not.

Just got paid. . . .

And I'm broke! I only get paid once a month, I just got paid the last week in November. After I paid my rent I was shocked at how little money I have to last till next payday.
Send money! I'll be waiting at the post office, holding my breath!

It's Friday, I'm working tomorrow, but it looks like I might have Sunday off! I am very glad for that, because I expected to be working Sunday too.

I have a deep dive planned for Saturday, The Black Hole. Sounds cool, doesn't it? Right now it looks like the weather isn't going to cooperate though. I don't really care, as long as I can go diving somewhere.

OK, I'm headed to the post office, to wait for your checks to start pouring in!

Have a nice weekend!

Hurricane Season is OVER!!

Yesterday I said I was going to post some pictures. Yesterday there were seven cruise ships in, seven! That's a lot! It would have been a great day to take pics but I didn't get the chance. I was very busy at work. Today promises to be busy too.

Yesterday was the last day of Hurricane season. December first. We're lucky we didn't get hit this year. Condolences to those who did.

I got feeback forms from Yahoo, asking how they did with my support case. I don't think they could have done much worse. I'll enjoy filling it in later. I also got Yahoo's address in California. I am seriously thinking about calling them there. I want my email account back. I'm pretty obsessed with it, I think.

Anyway, that's all for now!