"The End of an Era"

Holy crap...

I actually did hard labor today!

I moved four five hundred+ pound Kip 2710 plotters around Boeing today. Oooooo, my achin' back!

Speaking of Boeing...

It was a bittersweet day. Today was my dad's last day at Boeing. He started in January 1966 at Douglas Aircraft Company. McDonnell Aircraft merged with Douglas in 1967, then Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

He decided that it was time to retire.

I saw a very unique thing happen today. I was out having the last smoke with my dad at Douglas Plaza. A very old friend, Mike, walked up to give his regards. Mike and my dad have known each other since my folks got married in 1965. Mike and his wife Margaret lived in the apartment blow my folks' apartment.

Mike is the one who got my dad the job at Douglas. Mike is also the only one who saw my dad on his first day, and his last day.

Mike has also known me since before I was born!

My dad took one last look at what's left of the plant, went to badge control, checked out, went to payroll, then went home... for the last time.

That place will never be the same. I, of course, will still see him all the time when I visit my folks... Still... I'm at Boeing all the damn time and always see him. We stop to chat and have a smoke. Maybe have lunch if we're both free.

Not anymore. My last emotional tie to that place is gone.

My dad has worked there for my entire life, plus one year.

I left there today after he went home. It seemed strangely quiet.

The following pictures were taken earlier this year. When my dad emailed these pictures to me, he said, "In the 38+ years I've been here, today was the best! The DC-2 has enough fuel to make it to Denver!"

Here is my dad with the Douglas Historical Society's DC-2:

"Omelette"

God I love omelettes!

Cheese, eggs, bacon, ham, spanish olives, onions, bell peppers, salsa, tomoatoes or anything you can think of.

Tonight's omelette?

Three eggs, a touch of milk, "California Garlic Salt," a slice of swiss cheese, a slice of cheddar and bacon with Santa Barbara salsa on top.

Yum!

I just love breakfast for dinner! LOL

"The Bumblefuck Strikes Again"

Just when I thought things were getting better...

He strikes.

I thought it couldn't get worse.

It did.

Yes, my friends, he did it again. He has now messed up three plotters. An HP 1055CM+ ($11,995), an HP 800 ($6,995), and an ancient HP Drawing Master II pen plotter that ya can't get parts for anymore.

The 1055CM+ was fixed by our in-house technicians after two days of trying to figure out what he did.

The problem?

Bumblefuck forgot to plug in a cable.

The 800 is still being fixed after a week, two techs, and an hour phone call to HP Tech Support.

The Drawing Master II?

After a two hour drive on the freeway tomorrow morning, I'll find out.

I have to drive 180 miles (~290 km) just to find out what Bumblefuck did...

...or did not do.

Oh, the plotter that is out there now? That is a loaner that ol' BF brought out because he rendered theirs FUBAR.

He went out twice for the same problem.

So, tomorrow will make four days and 720 miles (~1159 km) driven to fix something...

That something?

That something started out as a broken paper hold-down lever at the front of the plotter.

The fix?

Five screws, one lever.

"Rain"

It never rains in California.

Riiiiight...

We got hit with a pretty hefty storm yesterday and today. Some of the mountains around Los Angeles got hit with 11"! We got close to 3". This is the first measurable rain Southern California has gotten since April. This storm reminds me of the last big El Niño season we had.

It rained and rained... and rained.

Did I mention that it rained?

Rain can be a very good thing here. It just sucks large when it all comes at once!

The bad side of rain in Southern California:

• Idiot drivers that can't even drive when it's sunny, let alone when it rains
• Mudslides
• Flooded streets
• Roofs that cave in
• One hour to drive 11 miles

Yup, I witnessed four of the five today. People were driving 90 mph in their behemoth SUVs, the streets were flooded up to the door sills on my car, the ceiling in the men's room at work collapsed into the commode and it took me one hour to drive the 11 miles between home and work.

I'm not bitching... No really...

How to fit a 6 ft. ladder in a 1968 VW. 

Blew my stack! LOL 

"Apartment Living" or "Why I Smoke"

We ran to the corner grocery to pick up a few necessities.

As we rounded the the walkway to our apartment, we noticed that all five washing machines in the laundry room were open! Oh joy!

We gathered the dirty laundry, got the soap, and ran downstairs.

Five minutes.

Four of the five washing machines were already taken!!!

I about blew a gasket.

We put one load in the open washer and headed back upstairs.

Just as I was calming down... thumpa, thumpa, thump-thump...

The neighbors downstairs have cranked up the Kareoke machine.

Shit!

About the neighbors downstairs...

OK, I have nothing against Vietnamese people or Vietnamese cooking. Hell, I really like Vietnamese food.

BUT... These people downstairs... Night and day, day and night. There is either Karaoke or cooking going on down there. The sounds and smells waft up through our bathroom first, then into the hallway, then rest in the living room/dining room. I just love coming home to our apartment smelling like cabbage, garlic, mothballs and ass! We have to open the windows and light candles just to get rid of their smell.

Last night, at 1:30am... thump, thumpa, thump-thump...

I about screamed out the window, "SHUT THE FUCK UP DOWN THERE!!!" Actually, I didn't, because Cyn told me I better not!

One of these days, I'm going to break out the Strat, lower the Blues Jr. to their balcony, and hit them with a few very loud and very poorly played power chords.

Wonder if they'll get the point?

"Tonight's Sunset"

"I didn't like my hair anyway..."

As a Balding-American, I don't need any help losing more hair.

Cyn and I got into it tonight about politics.

It ended up that way.

It started by discussing (quite calmly on my part) the leftist slant in the network news vs. the rightist slant of AM talk radio... and Drudge.

Equal? I didn't think so. One's supposed to be the news, one's supposed to be entertainment, and one's just a buffoon.

I pity the shower drain after this one.

I think I need a Rogaine cocktail.

"Lazy Sunday"

The day started with my Darlin' Cyn snuggled very tightly next to me. I woke up with the biggest grin. I lay there drifting in and out of sleep as the sun tried to break through the clouds.

Absolutely nothing was planned for today. The day was ahead of us to do whatever we wanted, or nothing at all.

We did nothing, which is what we wanted to do. Not really, but the lazies got us in a bad way.

I started sifting through my 78s about four hours ago, trying to put together another show. I found a few gems in the collection that I had forgotten about. I even found a few that I didn't know I had. I found a Fats Domino 78 and several Doo-Wop 78s. I cleaned the fifty-some years of dirt, dust and grime from them and they sound pretty good!

I started listening to them. One after the other. Right now, I'm listening to a Buddy Johnson 78. Next up, Oscar Peterson.

Here's a picture of some of my 78s and the Dual 1218 I use to record them:


Johnny's 78s


Dual 1218

Here's the Victor Victrola VV-VI I use to listen to the 78s from the 1910s and 1920s:


Victrola VV-VI

"Debate Part Deux" or "Clueless in St. Louis"

Geez! It's been almost a week since my last post!

I could say that it was because I wasn't pissed at anything having to do with work or the state of the world, but I won't ('cause I'd be lying!). I'm just lazy.

So... Cyn and I watched the second Presidential Debate tonight...

On the same couch...

At the same time.

We almost had a fight.

She was mumbling things about W, I was being quiet... for the first half hour.

Then, I started mumbling stuff about Senetor Ketchup. That was my first mistake! LOL OK, I'm not really for Bush, and Cyn's not really for Kerry. She intensely dislikes W, and I intensely dislike Kerry.

My analysis? They're both lying bastages. Kerry cannot keep the promises he made tonight and Bush... Well, he sees things differently than a lot of us.

Are we speaking?

Yes.

Are we watching the third debate in different rooms?

Maybe.

Oh, and a little reply back to my Cyn...





(I wonder if I get the big couch or the little one tonight? LOL )

I kinda want to see the two of them get into a brawl in the next debate. Whoever wins gets to choose another person to be president.

"The Weekend's Over"

I somehow managed to spend my three day weekend doing nothing.

I was going to go to my folks' house yesterday to help my dad buy and install a DVD burner. My dad was feeling under the weather.
That didn't happen.

I was going to go down to the evil Garage-pile to get rid of a bunch of stuff.
That didn't happen.

I was going to work on one of my old radios.
That didn't happen.

I was going to go to Fry's Electronics and buy some new IDE cables and an external harddrive kit.
That didn't happen.

I did manage to watch some TV and do some major Internet surfing.

Did I learn anything? Not really.

I'll tell you what... I do feel better.

Oh wait! I did do some major geeking out last night. I downloaded a stand-alone version of Linux called KNOPPIX 3.6. You download the ISO file, burn it to a CD, then boot from that CD. You don't need a harddrive, nor do you need to install anything. It works as a demo, a full version, or even a great recovery tool in case you've downloaded Windows XP SP2 and your PC has crashed. (I can just hear Cyn's eyes rolling!). If you just want a taste of Linux without the hassle of installing it, this is the version for you!

We're working on a few of Cyn's shows for Radio Enigma. I showed her how to EQ her voice in Cool Edit Pro and now she's doing all of the editing. Very cool! Hell, I better be careful not to show her all of my tricks. LOL

"Free Day" or "The Day After"

After coming close to a mental meltdown on Tuesday, my boss let me "work from home" today. I'm to keep my cell phone on and handy, but I doubt he'll call. I am taking care of some paperwork on the computer, but that's about it. ;-)

I did some reading at Nation States' forums about last night's "debate." The thing I watched last night wasn't a debate; it was a double press conference.

Although I lean to the right and dislike Kerry, he won. But, something I noticed at that forum... The Bush supporters tried to make points about why they thought Bush won, most of the Kerry supporters just called the Bush supporters (and Bush) names. No debate there either. Just an observation...

I don't like either candidate. Bush has an agenda that I don't like. Kerry (to me) is slimy and is just as untrustworthy as Bush. For the first time in my voting history, I seriously do not know who I'm going to vote for. I do not vote against, I vote for a candidate.

I think I'm going to work on some new shows for Radio Enigma. I have 12 shows in the can. We're changing to a higher bitrate stream, so I have to re-encode the shows. Hell, I might even wash my car today. If I'm really feeling nutty, I might just go down to the garage and throw a bunch of junk away.