So...Geez....I guess I'm going to try it....

Even tho it smacks of a resolution (to blog every day), and I'm violently opposed to resolutions as a whole, I'm gonna give it a shot.

I've started to write down some topics for the future, and I'll have to keep at it if I intend to keep you all entertained for 365 days straight.

Well, I may put a photo essay or two in there.

Hell, I may even do some more storytelling.

Or, I'll get a little sauced on my birthday and pass out before I post, and blow in within the 1st two weeks.....

Either way, I'm tossing my hat into the ring.

Any of you man (or woman) enough to keep up with me?

Look for more tomorrow.

And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow...

Buenos con queso,

T.

That Motherfucker Got Hit.....

There's a lot to talk about tonight.

I'm watching the Titans play the Colts. It's a win or go home game for Tennessee, and basically their whole season rides on this game. There was a play....I'm not sure when, but the kick returner for the Titans got fucking leveled. I tried to find the video somewhere, but I couldn't.

Watch a couple of minutes of ESPN, and you'll see it.

Then there's this. Whew, I just don't know if I have it in me. First there was my self imposed 'post everyday for a month,' and shortly after that there was NaBloPoMo.

But every day for a year?

Well, at least I still have a day to decide.....

I found out how great the 'watch instantly' feature of Netflix. It's way cool. I clicked around a bit, and within seconds of deciding on Heavy Metal, it was streaming to my computer. It was NOT grainy. It was NOT slow. It DIDN'T lag. I would go so far as to say it was perfect. Just like watching a DVD.

I got a holiday letter from my daughter. She's got more animals on the farm, and is going to be getting her....sigh...learner's permit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sad she's going to start driving or anything. Just that 'my little girl' is old enough to drive.

Almost.

Makes a guy feel old.

I've got another birthday a couple weeks out. If you've been around for a while, you know how I feel about birthdays. It's kinda funny that my boss has the same birthday as me. She said we'll do something special for lunch the Sunday after, as we're both off on the day.

Last thing:

It kinda snuck up on me, and I'm not sure it's really an event or anything, but I'm astonished to say that this is my 500th post.

Guess that's all I've got for now.

Buenos con queso,

T.

It's not Smile, but it's the best I've got...

I've bitched about mentioned the climate here before.

Once or twice.

Maybe.

There is, however, one aspect I'm not sure I ever addressed. The dryness. Sure, it's fuckin' hot here. Sure, it's fuckin cold here. We get snow, we get rain, but not nearly as much as they get some places.

On average, Carson City receives an average of 10.8 inches of rain. Hell, Death Valley gets about 2.

On top of all that, you've got wind. Lots of wind. That dries stuff out winter or summer.

The dryness here impacts many aspects of daily life:

Your skin: I've almost always got at least one or two hangnails, but then, I don't really use lotion. My lips are almost always on the verge chapping. My eyes sometimes feel as if they're full of sand.

Your hair, of course is drier, straighter. You get thirsty faster, and those that landscape are in an almost constant battle to keep yards alive, let alone thriving.


For me, the worst one is dry eyes. I found out a loooong time ago that my eyes tended to dry out in this climate. Sitting in front of a computer all day doesn't help.

It's not unbearable or anything, I mean, you take steps, right?

You know I use Carmex, and take care of my hair. I suppose I could use lotion.

Eyes? Well, there are some choices.

Visine

Not bad, it helps keep them moist, but it's just a wetting agent.

Clear eyes

Anyone, anyone?

Or any of many, many takes off on those. They all work. Hell, read the ingredients. They're basically the same fucking thing. Visine has what, 9 types? How different can they be, I mean really? Some years ago (theres that phrase again) a friend of mine handed me a bottle of eye drops. It is, bar none, the most unique such container I've ever seen.

It had a stylized face on it, and a single word.

Smile.

I turned the bottle over, and the instructions/ingredients were in Japanese. Turns out a friend of his had hosted a Japanese foreign exchange student, and this was something he'd brougut over. I opened the bottle, set myself, and its's : right eye, drop, left eye, drop; right eye, drop, left eye, drop. Just like always.

As I'm going for the second drop, Mark is saying 'No...Only 1!!'

Let's see if I can describe it. It felt almost as if my eyes had frozen solid.

But they were burning.

In that good way. And, there's no other way to describe it, but they made my eyes taste peppermint. I know that's a tough concept to wrap your head around, but take my word for it.

The best part was, they worked.

Once I got used to them, their intensity (and only used one drop per eye) they were a wonder. I only ever had one bottle, and by the time it ran out, I'd lost touch with Mark and the others. I've been looking for another bottle ever since.

Literally.

Then one day, I saw that they were releasing Rhoto eye drops in the States, and I was stoked. I knew from my research that, while not Smile per se, they were in the same class. I rushed out and bought a bottle....and was sadly disappointed. It had been Americanized. It was nothing like the class of 'hard minty eyedrops' that they use in Japan. It was, in fact 'almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Smile,' to paraphrase Douglas Adams.

Then, the other day on Ebay, I found these. I had to order some. The were in my mailbox when I came home Christmas morning. They are much more the shit, though I still don't know if they're as strong as Smile was. Could be some fuzzy rememberiing on my part too.

Anyway, enough blather.

Buenos con queso,

T.

It fucking snowed again.....

I mean, it's just a light dusting atm, but it's supposed to snow for the next 2 days also.

What a crock of shit.

The weather always sucks on my days off. Not sure why that is really, but it's been that way for a looooong time.

Have I told you that I've started collecting world coins again? Yeah, I used to have a whole jar of silver/foreign coins that I kept on my desk. I lost that in the war.

But, I digress.....

Again, I have to thank Al Gore for inventing the internet. I have, in like 2 weeks, managed to procure a coin collection that puts my old one to shame (minus silver and american coins none in any i bought so far). It's been an ebay thing, and it's all commissions from sales I made, so I don't really count it as money.

I've never had it, and I'm certainly not going to miss it if it's gone.

With 3 small purchases (less than 30 bucks total) I have amassed this:




The mass of coins in the middle are all the ones I've been able to positively identify. The baggie on the right is full of coins I've identified to a degree. How I mean that is I found a site with pictures of most of the coins in the world, and by just scanning the pix there, I've realized what some of my 'mystery' coins are, but they're still hopelessy mixed up right now. The few coins on the left are the cool coins I've found so far. Can you see the little copper one with the hole in the center?

Oh, and my favorite 4:




These consist of the topmost one: Haiti-my 'voodoo' coin, the one on the left: I think an actual silver coin, judging by weight and wear patterns, and the two Russian coins.

Well, actually the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the C.C.C.P.

Hell, it's worth it just for those 4 coins as far as I'm concerned. And I've got an assload of them. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with the whole collection thing yet, but I'm having fun traveling the world through coinage.

Ok, I think that's it. If you're nice to me, maybe I'll put up some pics of the snow tomorrow.

Or maybe I won't. I was thinking about sleeping all day tomorrow.....

Yeah, right. See ya about six.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Ok, beauty. Like happy Boxing Day, eh?

Well, that's what they call it in Canada. The idea being (i think) that today is the biggest return day in retail, and everybody 'boxes' everything up to take it back to the store. You know, Boxing Day.....

Anyhoozle, on to the tales of gifts in disguise. My sister's living room is notorious for not having an easy way to tell the time. No clocks easily visible, none on the dvd/vcr combo, only 1, hidden on the mantle. Pops and I decided to give her a clock:



for Christmas. Of course, nothing in our family is that easy. We had considered re-wrapping the glasses mentioned a few posts back, but I was struck with inspiration. Sitting in the living room, it came to me: Why not make her a clock.

I mean a total ghetto clock, cardboard, numbers drawn on, but with a real clock works installed to make it functional. Well, I wavered on the numbers, and actually printed them out, but here is what she opened first:




I don't know what's funnier, the clock, or the fact that it actually works, and keeps quartz accurate time.

My niece we gave Ratchet and Clank:




I mean Ratchet and Clank:




Of course, just putting it in that box wasn't enough. Not by a long shot. We also added a couple pieces of 2 x 4, and rubber banded the game itself to a piece of 2 x 6, just to give the box sufficient weight.

I got a lot of little cool stuff, such as a bonsai garden kit, an origami with dollar bills book (i love folding money), and my mom gave me the one gift I really look forward to all year. 12 pairs of new socks.

Oh, and she also gave me something I've wanted for a while now:



Thanks again, Mom.


You see, I'm a pretty good cook, and I think with some practice I could be a baker as well. So, in a month or so I'll be a pastry chef, and if you want any yummy goodies...well, you'll have to beg.

Or at least send me an address to ship to.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

Merry Christmas all y'all....

Yesterday was a bit hectic, thus the lack of a post.

Today promises to be at least a little less so, but we'll see. As you can see by the time stamp on this post, I woke up tooooo fucking early again.

It was just about a quarter to 4 when my rebellious brain started kicking at the inside of my skull, telling me to get up.

Well, just so you know, we did our big Christmas dinner (prime rib garlic mashed potatoes sauteed brussels sprouts), and it was fucking awesome. Pops cooked the roast to perfection, and Sis's potatoes rocked the house. The sprouts, cut in half and cooked in butter with bacon are sooooo the shit.

I ate myself into a coma.

We haven't done gifts yet (obviously as im the only one up) but I'll prolly post again later with a loot update.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

I missed a day.....

I fully intended to blog yesterday, but my day mutated beyond my control, and I ended up just falling asleep exhausted.

It involved some shopping, a trip to Reno, and some gambling/drinking.

I woke up way to early (big surprise), like 5:30, a didn't get done with my day until nearly midnight. I made a couple bucks at the casino, which was cool. I didn't finance my trip to Japan or anything, but it gave me some extra spening $$$.

That's always a good thing.

Of course, the one thing I was looking for at Best Buy, they were sold out of. I also went to Barnes and Noble, and priced some audio/text Japanese language courses. After that we went to the mall, and it was fucking packed. We popped into See's (i fucking love sees) and I bought a :



Dayum, that's good.

After that we went to the calendar store for a bit, and then we slid into Hot Topic. I saw some cool stuffs, but I didn't buy anything. Well, I did, but it was part of a Christmas gift for my niece.

After fighting the crowds at the mall, I felt a beer was in order, so the three of us took a cab over to the Gold Dust, where they'll give them to you for free.

Well, as long as you're gambling.....

Just so you know, my game of choice is video keno. I've got some tickets that hit pretty regularly, as most of you know. Well, I almost hit one last night. I hit 7 out of 8 spots.

Now, the money I won wasn't bad, and the highest win wasn't much bigger than I money I got, but it's a principle thing. If you're going to give me 7, why not give me 8?

I mean really, would it fucking kill you?

Anyhow, I got my beer on for a bit, and by the time we called our return cab I was pretty burned out. I'll tell you this though, I was still determined to blog. I came upstairs, fired up the puter, sat down on my bed to take my shoes off, and promptly fell asleep.

Well, Erin Brockovich is on, and even tho it's on network I think I'll let run in the background while I read a book for a bit.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Mr. and Mrs Spears must be soooo proud.....

Yeah, they've got to be just about bursting what with their 26-year-old divorced pregnant meltdown machine and the newly whorish 16-year-old mommy to be.

It fucking boggles the mind.

Not as much as this. I mean, the book was deal was prolly fostered long before Jamie Lynn started doing the horizontal bob with her (possibly) statutory rapist boyfriend, but we all see what a mess she made of Britney.

I'm afraid to even begin to ponder what type of advice this Rhoades scholar would have given to aid in the molding of young minds. Who in the fuck decided that she had anything good to say about raising kids?

I guess it must have been her own stellar performance in that area.

Well, it's my Friday, and I made it through another week, but I'm dog fucking tired, so that's all you get tonight.

Buenos con queso,

T.

I've decided to go to Japan.....

Not like tomorrow or anything, but I'm going to do it.

You see, I've been facinated with all things Japanese for a long time now.

The people. The culture. The martial arts.

All of it. Even before I saw Shogun as a kid.

I think I may have been Japanese in a previous life. I'm not really sure of the level of belief I have in acutal reincarnation, and it usually varies in direct proportion with my blood alcohol level, but if it's real, I know I was Japanese before.

'What prompted this momentous decision,' I can hear you ask.

Well, let me tell you. I was farting around on Travelocity/Expedia, and just randomly plugging in cities and dates, so I'm not sure if it's off season or not, and believe me when I actually go (in a year and a half or so) I'll pay more attention, but I found a 2 week trip with a 3 star hotel and round-trip air fare for just about 2 grand.

That's pretty fuckin' cheap if you ask me. Not that you did, but I'd happily pay that kind of money to hang out in Tokoyo for 2 weeks. So, I'm starting to save now so that when the time comes, I'll have spending money too.

Oh, and Kelwhy.....We must be, like, totally on the same wavelength, because even as I was ending my post yesterday, I was thinking of putting a link in to this post. Kinda funny, no?

Buenos con queso,

T.

Well, it's happening again.....

Time was, there was a ton of blogs in my daily rotation. Hell, I read so many I'm surprised I ever found time to post. Then, I just kinda fell out of the routine and stopped hitting 20 sites or so every day.

I just didn't have the time.

Now, with the whole Blog Crush thing, I find my daily list expanding again. Not that I've linked all the sites yet or anything, but my favorites list is getting longer every day.

There's not really much more today. I'm kinda lame that way.

I will say this tho: We have a whole 'screw with you' theme that we do at Christmas. Not a malicious, hurtful type of thing, but a fun 'we got you' type of thing.

Like last year, telling my niece that the big tv/vcr/dvd combo that they were 'hiding' at her house was mine.

Only to reveal on Christmas day that it was, in fact, hers.

Or Pops and I wrapping and re-gifting a set of glasses we had bought for Sis (that she had given back to us).

You know, little things like that. We have plans for a couple good ones this year which I'll tell you about after the fact. I'm not sure if Sis read here much (or ever for that matter) but on the off chance that she stops by, I want them to be as much of a surprise for her as they will be for everyone.

I suppose that will have to hold you for now, as I'm drawing a blank.

Buenos con queso,

T.

There are some jokes I can't tell at work.....

Not because I'm being politically correct, or because I think I might offend someone. I've always thought that political correctness could kiss my non-existant white ass, and offending people with jokes is one reason we tell them, is it not?

No, this self-prohibition from jokes centers around the fact that people wouldn't get them, and I hate having to explain my jokes. Perhaps I should clarify that a bit. Just so you know, I'm not above repeating a bad pun, or pointing out the irony of a situation.

Hell, that's what I do. No, it's more along the lines of topical jokes. You know, the ones based on celebs or other people in the news. You see, most of the people I work with weren't even born when I was in High School. My bosses get them, cause we/re actually about the age. If, however, I was to ask C for instance 'What did Robert Wagner say to Natalie Wood the night she died?' I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even know who those people are.

Oh, and in case you're wondering 'I don't mind if you drink dear, just don't go overboard.'

Now you see, that's pretty funny. But it's very age specific, and requires you to know people from years ago that aren't all that prominent now.

Couple more things:

I was trying that whole 'comment verification' thing, but I'm not sure it was working. If you commented in the past couple days and it hasn't shown up, please comment again. I turned that crapola off.

Mark your calendars folks, cause I go under the needle again on February the 1st, this time to pay homage to Douglas Adams, and all things Hitchhiker related.

Well, except for the movie, that totally sucked donkey balls.

Or monkey balls.

Or both.

In any event, as you're prolly dying of curiosity, I'm getting the words 'Don't Panic' on the backs of my arms.

You'll either get that, or you won't. If you do, thanks for reading. If you don't, go get a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and if you can't afford one, let me know, I'll buy you one.

Ok, that's me done.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Leaving the ground at highway speeds.....

The airfoil is an amazing thing.

It's hard to believe that a shape is responsible for human flight, but there you have it. What brought me to this particular blog was thinking about my past. You see, a while back, when I still worked for the newspaper, the Civil Air Patrol was having a drill.

This is the group of people (all volunteers if memory serves) that are called into action when a small plane goes missing. There's prolly more to it than that, but I'm not going to do all the research to find out, and it's not central to my story in any event.

All you need to know is that none of the other photogs wanted to go up in the search plane, a Cessna 4-seater, and I jumped at the chance. I mean, really, wouldn't you?

In any event, I was in the plane slated to find the 'downed aircraft,' which was actually debris from an older crash, and I was stoked. I've had flight in my blood for as long as I can remember, and if you offered me a chance to go into the air in anything, I'm your boy.

So, picture it: I'm in the back, camera bag on the seat behind me, peering forward at the instrument panel. I had a class in High School, Aviation Science, and while I may not be a certified pilot, I can certainly read the instrumentation. I was watching the Air Speed Indicator (speedomoter when on the ground) intently, and I shit you not, we left the ground at 65 mph.

Yes, you read that right. 65 miles an hour. It's kinda cool if you think about it. Cars go fast enough to fly, if only they were shaped a little different and equipped with wings.

Not that I think it's a good idea for cars to fly. The idiots out there are bad enough on the ground. I hate to think what would happen if people could just take off and land wherever they chose. The very thought makes my blood run cold.

Buenos con queso,

T.

We all have crushes, I suppose.....

It's been a long time since I've had a crush of any type, but in the spirit of Blog Crush Day I've decided to come clean.

To me a crush usually implies somebody new.

Someone you've just met and can't stop thinking about. Someone who makes your life funner and more interesting. Most of the folks over there -----> started out as crushes, and have become life long loves.

The newest addition, and I'm happy to say, my Official Blog Crush, is

The Queen of All Things Sparkly.

I found her by way of NaBloPoMo, and she's the first site I check every day now. She's witty, sarcastic, and knows how to have a good laugh.

Go check her out, and you'll see what I mean.

Carne del diablo,

T.

I promise that when I'm famous, I'll still talk to you all.....

Well, at least I'll still blog.

I may very well be too important to actually talk to any of you, but at least you'll all be able to say 'you know, I knew him when he was nothing.'

You may wonder at the source of this soon to be new-found fame, and you are right to. I shall end the suspense, however with the following anecdote:

Some years ago, mostly at my sister's behest, I registered with Nevada Casting. As you might imagine, they get contacted and contracted to solicit extras as well as persons with speaking parts in movies filmed in and around Northern Nevada.

Yesterday, I received the following message from the abovementioned place of business:

Please read the attached document.



The dates that extras are needed are set for March 18, 19, 20, 2007, these dates could change. Extras are being paid for this film, $60.00 for 8 hours. Start looking for 70’s clothes. . .

Below is said attachment...

Toni Suttie announced that Taylor Hackford, Marty Katz, and Nancy Klopper have officially asked Integrity Casting to work alongside them on their new Capital Films project “Love Ranch”. Due to be released in 2009, “Love Ranch” is a drama centered on a married couple who opened the first legal brothel in Nevada.


Based on real events, “Love Ranch” stars Joe Pesci (“Lethal Weapon”, “Casino”, “Goodfellas”) and academy award winner Helen Mirren (“Teaching Mrs.Tingle”, “Calendar Girls”, “The Queen”). Taylor Hackford, known for producing and directing the blockbuster hit “Ray” will direct “Love Ranch” and also act as producer alongside Marty Katz (“Reindeer Games”).


Integrity Casting has asked Nevada Casting to assist in finding talent for numerous roles, including supporting and speaking roles as well as background players. Integrity and Nevada Casting have also been asked to provide vehicles from 1955 to 1976 for this period piece. Filming in Northern Nevada is scheduled to occur in March, 2008.


If you are interested in working as an Extra on this film you will need to come in to our office located at 100 Washington St. #100 and update your paperwork and bring in 3 pictures of yourself, preferably ¾ shots.


Additional information can be found by clicking on the attached link:


http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/artman2/publish/movie_news/Joe_Pesci_returns_to_our_screen_for_Love_Ranch_20151007.php


http://www.latinoreview.com/news/pesci-mirren-off-to-love-ranch-3062


I'm not going to turn those into links. If you want to visit them, simply copy and paste to your address bar.

You all know how to do that, right?

How you may ask, is this going to make me famous? Well, let me clear up the confusion. Some of you new readers may not know that I am, in fact, a long-haired hippie type. My hair is currently almost down to my ass. Now, couple that with a headbandanna, a pair of John Lennon spectacles, some bell bottom jeans, and a vest/tye dye shirt combo, and I'm the quintessential '70's dude.

See what's going to happen is this: I'm going to go up there, of course. I'm going to be cast as an extra. I'll end up meeting Joe Pesci, and we'll get along famously. He'll invite me to the premiere, where I'll hobnob with all the bigwigs, they'll see me in the movie, and my star will be launched.

I'm sorry to leave you all behind, but there's only so much fame to go around.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Can I be Frank with you....?

Heh.

You all don't get that joke, but by the end of this post, you will.

You see, I got a very unexpected phone call yesterday. I know you all have heard me talk about Michael, my son. For reasons of privacy, I've never really brought his mom F, into the conversation. That, and I never asked her if it was ok to blog about her.

In any event, back in the day (just before and for a year or two after michael was born) I used to work for her father, Frank. What can I tell you about Frank?

He was a GM line mechanic for 11 years.

He also worked special effects in Hollywood for about the same number of years. You remember the hydraulic lift in Ironside? Yeah, he built that.

Oh, and if you ever catch the appalling piece of crap called A Boy and His Dog, or failing actually watching it, just go to the above link and click on 'more' under the cast and scroll down a bit, you'll see the name Frank Rowe.

Yup, that's him.

This man knows more about motor vehicles than anybody else I know, or have ever known. For instance, once long ago, in the dim days before Al Gore invented the internet, and put worlds of knowledge at our finger tips, I posed Frank a question.

I had long wondered what rack and pinion steering was. I had asked several people, and never gotten an answer. One evening, it occured to me that Frank might have the answer, so I posed the question.

Well, not only did he have the answer, but he grabbed a piece of welding chalk, and got down on the floor and drew diagrams of both rack and pinion steering, and the more conventional worm and sector steering mechanisms.

I was dumfounded. Not only that he had the answer so readily, but that he was able to sketch the whole thing out in a matter of like 2 minutes.

Some years ago, he sold his property in California and moved to Idaho. I helped him in the move, and sadly lost touch with him.

Imagine my surprise, then, when he called me at work yesterday.

Talk about a voice from the past. We chatted for quite a while, exchanging stories from the last 10 years or so, and traded emails so that we can stay in touch. I even made some tentative plans to haul Pops up there to do some fishing. I'd need to get time off though, so we'll see.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share that.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Where are the Grammar Police when you need them.....?

Owing to the fact that my new job requires me to be online most of my day, I've been reading a lot more email.

Not all of it's mine, per se, but I do have to answer questions about our ebay items. When someone wants to know how big a diamond in a ring is, I get to tell them. When they want to know if we ship outside the United States (even though it is clearly stated on our auction pages that we DONT) I'm the guy that gets to tell the no.

Or when, no shit, I get an email asking what a Blu-Ray DVD is (we have several online atm) I get to put on my Techie hat, and explain the advances in viewing technology over the last few years.

Not all of these letters are coherent, and many have misspellings, but yesterday I found the winner.

Now, we had a ring on sale, and in the title, it clearly states the ring is CZ.

Now, if you don't know, that stands for Cubic Zirconia.

Kind of a no brainer, wouldn't you say?

Well, speaking of no brainer, here's a question I got about the ring in my inbox yesterday. Note: all of the capitalization is left as found.

"THE diamonds IS REAL, THERE ARE natural diamonds OR LAB. WHAT'S quality OF diamonds?
PLEASE LET'S ME KNOW. THANK YOU.'

The only thing that gives me hope is thinking that perhaps the questioner is not a native english speaker. I mean some languages, German for example, have different capitalization rule. In German, you capitalize every noun in every sentence.

I'm not sure which language dictates the use of all caps for words like 'OF', but I'm sure I don't want to speak it, let alone try to write something in it.

Oh, and I've added a new friend over there------>

It's Princess Sparkle Pants.

I like her, so stop by and say hi to her.

Ok, I need to fetch a cup of coffee and check my own email, and read all your stuff.

Carne del diablo,

T.

It was bound to happen.....

I think I may have mentioned that Sundays are my 'late days,' i.e. I don't have to be to work until 10am. I also get off at 5, which is nice. Due to the fact that I go in an hour later, I usually start my whole day an hour later, you know, getting up, shower, getting ready...all that happy horseshit.

Except for today that is. Yeah, like any good workbot, I got up at 7 and hopped in the shower. It was about 10 mins ago, as I was sitting on the couch enjoying a cup of Komodo Dragon and watching some NFL pregame stuff when it hit me.

It's fucking 7:30, and I don't have to be to work until 10.

Yeah, that's how I roll.

Well, in all actuality, it is. I'm usually early.

For everything. Even work. Even on the average day, I'm at work 15 mins or so early. It's just my way. 'Sides, I need that long to deal with the fact that I'm at work.

Oh well, I guess that means I'll do a little more reading this am.

Buenos con queso,

T.

So, once again, my prophecy is borne out.....

As I type this, 8:30 on Saturday, December 8th, the Turner Classic Movies channel is showing...

Drumroll, please....

Casablanca.

I know, right?

It was what, 2...3 days ago I was talking about it, and now, here it is. I wish I could channel this ability into a profitable enterprise, such as the stock market, or failing that, the lottery.

Or something.

I don't really have much to say tonight. I can tell you that I didn't do fuck all today, and I enjoyed the Hell out of it. Well, I went to WallyWorld for a few, but I didn't buy anything.

Oh, and I went to Papa Murphy's for dinner. 2 large pizzas for the price of one large from Domino's.

Oh, and Papa's is better.

Well, I guess we'll always have Paris.....

Carne del diablo,

T.

If it rains cats and dogs, what does it snow?

Horses and cows?

Pigs and chickens?

Sheep and goats?

I ask, because it was snowing today. We didn't get quite as much as they were predicting, at least down here in the valleys. I'm not sure what they got up top, but I'm certain it was a good amount.

It was supposed to snow all day, but only really did for a couple hours.

In other news, I should tell you that I'm typing this on my new (well new to me anyhhow) computer.

How many times have I mentioned my love/hate relationship with work?

Well, add another one on. I bought a HP (yeah but what do you do) with a P4 2.8 Gig processor, 512 megs of RAM and a 160 gig hard drive for the bargain basement price of $60.00.

Yeah, that's right, 60 bucks.

My old machine was just not cutting the gravy anymore, and I'm still waiting for my puter from California. It was just tood good a deal to pass up. Now, when Michael ships/brings me my other one, I'll have a good network set up.

Ok, I guess that's all I have today.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Play it again, Sam.....

Did you know that Humphrey Bogart never said that in Casablanca?

Much the way Cary Grant never said 'Judy, Judy, Judy.'

I'm not sure where the Grant quote got distorted from, but if you watch Bogen & Bacall in Casa, you will see that the closest he ever gets is when he says something along the lines of 'you played it for her, you can play it for me.'

I'm not sure why that's on my mind tonight....

It may be the alcohol.

Or, it may be that I'm just tired as Hell, and need to sleep.

It may just be that I wanted to talk about it.

I'm not sure. Which, by extension, means that none of you will ever have so much as a clue as to why I chose to bring this up.

That makes me feel empowered.

Or some such happy horseshit. Look for more coherence and insight tomorrow.....

Siesta con agua,

T.

As rare as hen's teeth.....

No, I don't really have anything rare to talk about, I'm just trying to put some more things up that will bring random searchers to my page.

No, really.

For instance, google 'day old bread stores.'

Go ahead, I dare you. Open a new window and search it.....

Or 'Oh, Weezer, you know I love ya more'n my luggage.'

Or even 'it was snowing yesterday.'

I don't understand it. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, my little corner of the web here is pretty much under the RADAR. I mean, it's not even a blip.

Kinda like a bumblebee on an air traffic controller's screen.

So, what I want to know is how do I rank 4th on a list of over a million references to 'day old bread stores' when all I ever did is post about them

Once.

Like months ago.

It boggles the mind.

Well, it's that time again....Work beckons.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Ok, so I didn't post yesterday.....

It was kind of nice to have a day off, actually.

Well, a day off from blogging anyhow. I did still have to go to work. We were busy as hell (well the store was) and the store was packed with people almost all day long. I helped out with the phones and letting my fellow employees know when someone needed a question answered, or wanted to see something in one of the locked cases. It was a hoot!!

Oh, and the Raiders surprised the Hell out of me with another win. That's 2 in a row..... I almost soiled myself when I heard that. Well, I actually kinda saw a little of the game, including the ending. We only get one channel on our t.v. wall (no cable in the store) and it happened to be the channel that carried the game.

That's 4 whole wins this season. They've officially doubled their wins from last season. Yeah, it's the second year in a row it's been tough to be a Raiders fan. And yesterday, they even beat their arch nemesis, the Denver Broncos.

What can I say, I'm stoked.

So, it's back to work again today, and I'm looking forward to getting through this week, and having a couple days off where I don't have to do anything.

Especially something funeral related.

Ok, guess that's me done.

Carne del diablo,

T.

I guess it was inevitable.....

Not only that I would tire of using movie quotes, but also that my sunglasses would die.

The pair I have (had) now haven't been around very long. 6mos tops.

But sunglasses are just one of those things.

I digress.....

I have a few pictures that I'm going to post tomorrow. There were some pretty interesting sights today.

Ok, I'm not going to get all maudlin, because Greg wouln't have wanted me to. The service was dignified, and there were some beautiful sentiments expressed (thank you wendy for your words), and thanks to Bruce, I actually 'lol'd' for real.

It was just a chuckle, and everybody else in the building laughed harder than I did. There were some tears too. I couldn't bring myself to speak. I just couldn't.

After the service we went to the community center and hung out. Everyone tried to be happy, and I talked to people I hadn't seen in years. All in all, it was a good celebration of his life.

Brob and Wendy (im sure youll be hearing more about them) opened their hearts and their house to us this evening. They had wine and cheese, and music, and most importantly, friendship and togetherness.

I had a couple of moments when it was touch and go, and I'm not surprised that I'm tearing up now, but again, it was a good celebration of his life. Everybody told fun Greg stories and some of us are already planning a camping trip in June (note to self ask for time off now).

Thanks also to Lynette for driving, and Pat for splitting the beer.

Thanks to Mark for his stories, and whatever realtive of Woobie that was.

Thanks to Rich and Owen, and Bruce (and im not sure how to spell) Shealey, and Denise and all of you.

Oh, now a brief explanation of the new photo up top:

I was standing on Brob and Wendy's back porch, and I was trying to take a picture of the big cloud in the bottom of the frame. It was dark, and the camera chose somethin like a one or 3 second shutter speed, and I just held still, and tried to keep the camera steady. As you can see, I got more than I bargained for. Everyone at the party (and everybody else) agrees that that's Greg's face in the upper lefthand corner of the image.

On that note:

Carne del diablo,

T.

You've got red on you.....

Ok, this is it.

The final day, the final post of NaBloPoMo.

It's also the last post before I go bury my best friend. I suppose I could blog tomorrow morning before I leave, but I don't see it happening. Since I'm not driving, I intend to take my camera along.

I suppose I would have taken it even if I was driving, but at least now I can take some road pix as well.

Well, maybe.

Tomorrow is going to suck. I'm trying not to get too depressed, but it's tough. I just know that the service is going to tear me apart.

This is kinda lame and disjointed today, and for that I apologize. I've just had tons on my mind lately.

On another note, my right elbow is hurting like a mutha fucka, and I'm not sure why. I'm beginning to think that it's from using the 'saran wrap roller tool' that I use to pack the snowboards (and anything else i feel like) more securely. Whatever the case, it feels like somebody is knifing me in the elbow.

But only when I use it.

Which, in case you're wondering, is all the time.

Ok, I've got to get ready cause it's almost time to head to breakfast.

Siesta con aqua,

T.

You bet your size 6 ass.....

I found out today that packing a saddle for shipping is even a bigger pain in the ass than riding on one.

And, the bad news? Yeah, I have four more that I have to pack on Sunday when I go back to work.

I've pretty much got the snowboards down. They're still kind of a chore, but nothing compared to the fucking saddle....

It wasn't nearly as bad as the keyboard mind you, but I wasn't having fun with it. Today was also my Friday, which is a plus. The checks didn't show up (which they sometimes do), so I have to stop by work tomorrow and pick mine up. That's the bad part of getting paid on Friday. Oh well, at least I'm working and get to pick up a check.

It won't really be all that inconvenient, as we're going to breakfast tomorrow, and work is between here and there, so I can just pop in.

Michael has decided not to come for the funeral, but his mom (my ex if youre having trouble with the math) is.

I also found out that I don't have to drive as L, one of the High School crew rented a mini van and is picking me up. That's kind of a mixed blessing, cause driving would have given me something else to think about.

Ok...so, one more post (tomorrow) and I will have knocked the shit out of the whole NaBloPoMo thing.

Oh, one more thing: This still disturbs me.....

Pulpo ranchero,

T.

I don't think I need to sit with you fuckin' dildos anymore.....

So, as we near the end of this whole NaBloPoMo, I only have this to say:

Woo Hoo....I made it.

Well, if I manage to post for the next 3 days anyhow.

I don't imagine it will be a problem.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting shipping day.

4, that's right, 4 of our snowboards sold from ebay. They all have bindings attached, which makes a challenge to ship. Of course, it all depends on how many people actually pay for their boards before I get to work tomorrow.

I have to make a couple calls tonight about Greg's service. There are a couple people that I'm not sure got the email. And I know for sure that Michael and Faith didn't. So, I'm off to make some calls.

Buenos con queso,

T.

My name is Violet, and I was born into a world you might not understand.

A couple things today.

Firstly, I found out that Greg's services are going to be over the hill in CA. It's like a 2 hour drive from here. I've already googled the directions, so I'll be able to find it easy.

Not so easy is going to be the event itself. I'm doing alright with it now, but I still have my moments. A certain song will trigger a memory.

Or a movie.

Or just a random thought will lead to one that leads back around to Greg.

I can usually stop the tears, but not always.

In lighter news, I got another one of those 'why in the hell are you hitting my site' hits today:



I mean, I'm flattered that the President of the University of California stopped by (or at least someone in his office did), but what in the FUCK could I possibly have said or referenced that would have brought him here?

Oh, and by the way, that whole 'Frankenboxing' post from yesterday kinda came back to bite me in the ass today. One of the things that we just sold was a keyboard. This isn't exactly the one that I sold, but it's close enough for government work.

It took me the better part of my day to do it. First, I had to disassemble it. That was the easy part.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I will tell you that I had to put the pieces into 3 different boxes, and they weighed 14, 16, and 68 pounds.

Yes, you read that right 68 FUCKING pounds.

Needless to say, I'm a bit miffed at that particular item.

The good news is that we got $405 for it. Not that I get the money or anything, but at least I made the store money.

Ok, I've done all the damage I can here for the night.....

Carne del diablo,

T.

ToooooePiiiick

There are days (like today) when I feel somewhat like a submarine commander.

You may wonder what in the hell I'm talking about, and you're right to. Well, one of the things that a sub commander needs to do is find a 'firing solution' for an enemy target.

Now, I can hear you ask what in my day could possibly requrire me to calculate the destruction of a ship, and to that question, I reply :Not a fucking thing.

But, I do have to figure 'shipping solutions.'

Today, for instance I had to find a way to package and ship 33 lbs of rubber concrete stamps. Yes, that's right. We got a payment of $227.50 for those stamps that weren't going to sell.

Well, that's all well and good, but finding a way to make them UPS friendly was not easy.

First, as they are made of rubber, they're flexible. Quite flexible in fact. I solved that problem with saran wrap. No, not the kind you buy to cover the pie you're taking to your sister's house, but the kind on a roller handle that we use to wrap things like Xboxes to the games/controllers/accessories that you brought in with you.

Second, as I mentioned, they're fucking heavy.

Third, they're like 2 feet by 2 feet square, and only like 3 inches tall for the whole stack.

Believe me when I tell you, this can be a thorny problem.

How, you may ask, did I solve this dilemma? I'm glad you asked.

I fell back on a talent I call 'Frankenboxing.' Since you're going to ask anyhow, I'll go ahead and tell you what that is. I used 2 UPS priority boxes (turned inside out) to form the main part of the box, and the fit was just about perfect. The problem was, the ends of the stamps were still exposed. This is where the real talent comes in.

Using a couple more of the boxes and a utility knife, I fashioned 4 corners that I then taped to the ends of the box, covering up the holes. It sounds a little complicated, and I'm not sure I got the idea across, but just know that when I was done, the stamps were securely packaged. And I only used like half a roll of shipping tape to make it so.

Oh, by the way, for those of you keeping score, Pops decided that we should go gamble a bit tonight, and I hit a 6-spot with 2 nickles in, and cashed out $160.00

Yeah, it was a pretty good day, all in all.

Buenos con queso,

T.

If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor he'd be pralaines and dick.....

I wish I had tons of excitement to report today, but it was a very average day.

I worked (not exciting), played some video games, and watched some t.v.

Yeah, I'm just the most exciting person on the planet. Couple that with the fact that I'm so fuckin tired I can barely type, and you get this lame ass post.

Well, at least the Raiders won.

That makes 3 whole wins this year.

Carne del diablo,

T.

This movie won't just scare you, it'll fuck you up for life.....

Ok, so again, my days off were busier than my days on.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and today was a very long, tho enjoyable day.

I was up early (surprise surprise) and around noon we went to see Enchanted.

It's a pretty cute flick.

After that we drove to Reno for the free carriage ride with Santa. This was followed by coffee at Starbucks. Sis gets a discount at all of them, so that was cheap.

Oh, and just so you know:



That's right, 4 shots.

Cause I'm just caffeine addicted like that.

After that we went to this place called Red Brick Pizza, and it was fucking great. You know the pizza is good when there's literally nothing left. No crusts, no slices...even the cheese off the cardboard serving platters was gone.

Then we went to L's house to drop off some baby stuff, and then had the long drive back home.

Well, it's not really long, only like 30 mins, but when you're stuffed and tired, it seems like forever.

Now, I'm going to pass out. I'm absolutely wasted.

Buenos con queso,

T.

So if you're from Africa, why are you white?

It's been a loooong time since I've worked retail.

My last 4 or so jobs, going back oh, I don't know....8, maybe 9 years, I've had the luxury of working in food service, customer service, or a state office. I can't say I've missed it.

It's not so much the people, although that can be a trial.

It's not even running a cash register (which i can do well but dont have to in my current job), or any of the other things you might associate with working in a store.

No, for me it's the holiday music.

Now, don't get me wrong, I kinda like some of the songs. Well, some versions of them anyhow. But I only need to hear each of them like once a holiday season, and I'm good.

But this evening, after EIGHT. STRAIGHT. HOURS. hours of it, I've already had my fucking fill.

I'm ready to eat a fucking bullet. One of our local stations, Sunny 106, plays nothing but holiday tunes from the day after Thanksgiving until....who fucking knows.

I think I heard every fucking one of them 4 or more times today. I hope I don't go postal. I could totally do it too, cause we've got plenty of guns and ammo in the store.

If you see a headline from Carson City about a holiday massacre, look closely for my name.

In other news, I actually braved the crowds today for some door buster deals. I only went to 1 store (best buy) but I got a 500meg USB harddrive for 99 bux, 2 (2 gig) SD Ram cards @ 14.98 each, and a copy of Madden 07 for the PS3 (9 bux).

We got to the store at 4:30, when it was a balmy 15 degrees out, and after a short 30 minute wait, we were let in. It was kinda anticlimactic, actually. We were in and out of the store in like 15 minutes.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, this is really fucked up.

Ok, that's your post Tday post.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Buddy the Elf, What's your favorite color?

Ok, so Happy Thanksgiving, and all that.

Poppa's got the bird in the oven (been there since 7) and the smell is driving me batshit. I want to open the oven and just tear into it, raw as it may be. We're going to sis's when the food is done (eta on the turkey is 1ish) and will prolly hang out there for a good bit.

Michael's down at his aunt's house for the holidays, and is going on a mad Black Friday shop tomorrow. I, however, get to work. I may even have to do a bit of 'extra stuff,' like wrapping gifts or showing weapons to people. We're going to be a bit short-staffed, and I offered to lend a hand.

It's a lame post, but that's all I have right now. Perhaps I'll post more later.

Buenos con queso,

T.

What the Hell's a Jigawatt?

Man, what a day.

It was busy as fuck at work, and I'm worn the fuck out.

The only saving grace is that Dave wanted to front me for a bit of video keno, and I was lucky enough to cash out 50 bucks.

That's not a ton of money, but when you started broke, it does have some appeal.

Tomorrow is Turkeyday at the sis's house, as I've told you. Pops (the poor bastard) has to be up at the ass crack of dawn to start cooking, as we're shooting for a 1pm dinner time.

Is it still dinner if you have it at 1pm? I'm not sure. By the clock, that's lunch as far as I can tell.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post some things I'm thankful for.

Oh, and Happy Birthday again, Michael.

Love and rockets,

T.

Awesome, oh wow!! Like totally freak me out, I mean right on. Toros sure are Number 1.

Is your bleach totally awesome?

I ask, because as you can plainly see:



MINE is.

So, the holidays are upon us.

Well, Thanksgiving is anyhow. And of course Christmas is just around the corner.

There is something that happens before even Thanksgiving though.

Michael turns 20 tomorrow (wednesday).

So, in case I can't reach you tomorrow, Happy Birthday!!!

Just one more year until you can drink and gamble. You do know it's going to be the longest year of your life so far, right?

Thanksgiving is as sis's this year (as usual) and Pop's is doing the turkey and his kick-ass Brussells sprouts. Oh, and he'll be making gravy as well.

I was hoping to go out for Black Thursday this year, but they need me at work on Friday, so no go. I mean, I could prolly get up and get a couple things that I want really cheap, but I'm sure it would be at the cost of passing out at my desk at work.

Which I usually try to avoid.

Well, there's food downstairs, and it's calling my name, so I'm outtie.

Buenos con queso,

T.

I think I fucked a squirrel to death, and I don't even remember it.....

Well, not really, but that is a movie quote.

Can you name the movie?

How are you all doing with the quotes?

Nobody's even been guessing....

Ok, now I'm calling for you to see how many you can name.

I really don't have much today. It was a rather routine day at work, with the exception that something I listed on ebay is going for lots more that I expected.

One of my managers said that they 'weren't good sellers' and she didn't really expect to make any money off of them. Heh.

I'm hoping for a bidding frenzy at the end to push the price up even further.

I was also noticing that NaBloPoMo sounds an awful lot like Nipomo, a small town not far from where my son lives.

Especially if you say it fast.

Oh, and any of you care, my one nod to the 'unreality t.v.' is coming up. As a rule, I hate hate hate the tripe that they try to pass off as entertainment, and I'm proud to say that I've never watched a single minute, let alone an entire episode of Survivor, The Bachelor(ette), Big Brother, or any of the other shitfests that seems to be the rule of air these days, but I do loves me some American Idol tryouts.

But only the tryouts.

I've never watched an episode where they actually perform or get voted on, but the tryouts are fucking hilarious.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Oh, Weezer, you know I love ya more'n my luggage.....

I'm going to be brief tonight, because I have a lot on my mind.

The get-together was good, and we kept it really upbeat, because Greg would have wanted us too. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in years, and we even had a surprise call from the Brushman....I'd expalin, but nobody would get it.

You either do, or you don't.

Here's a picture of Greg from way back. It was taken by my friend Bruce:



His service is indeed on December 1, but we still don't know if it will be up here in the Reno area, or over in Auburn/Foresthill.

As I said, brief.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Waiter, there is too much pepper in my paprikash...

We were supposed to go out to breakfast this morning, but things fell through.

Instead, we were forced to eat waffles, bacon and eggs prepared by Pops.

If you can't tell, there's a bit of sarcasm there. I'd almost always rather eat Pop;s food than food out at any restaurant.

I'm sure I've told you this, but he's 40 years a chef (retired now of course) and can not only make anything, but most times, it's better than you've ever had it.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't tried the rotissiere chicken at Costco, get yer ass down there right now and buy one.

They fucking rock.

On another note, I've just finished watching Firefly.

Not an episode, but rather the entire series. It saddens me to report that this is one of the shows I killed simply by liking, or rather loving it. It's my anti-superpower.

All I have to do is find a show during it's first season, start watching it religiously, and then, of course, love it. What pisses me off most about this particular series tho, is the movie.

You see, the made a movie called Serenity. Now, don't get me wrong, the movie is fucking fantastic. What pisses me off is that when it came out, it was a HUGE success, and got tons of critial acclaim. People everywhere loved it.

If even a tenth of those fuckers had taken the time to watch the series, it would probably still be running.

Well, except for my uncanny ability to kill t.v. The first recorded instance of this is Police Squad. They've made what, 3 or 4 movies from that series, and it lasted exactly 6 episodes.

Six.

And it was one of the funniest fucking things I've ever seen.

There was another qirky little show called Key West.

Yup, killed that one too.

And I'm With Her.

Oh, and most recently, Dirt.

They have all fallen to my uncanny evil power, and I'm saddened by it. I'm afraid to watch t.v., to like, for the simple fact that when I like, they die.

Oh well, guess I'll just soldier on.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

She's the coolest girl in school, and everybody worships her, because she's Heaven.

I swear, it seems that my days off are more filled and more tiring than my days on...

I woke up early (no surprise there) and spent basically the whole. Fucking. DAY. Running around shopping.

I'm bushed. We went to Target, WalMart, Trader Joe's, Costco, and Scolari's, one of our local grocery stores. I'm about as tired as I need to be.

I posted this about a year ago, and it never got the comments I thought it should have.

Therefore, I'm making you read it again.

And hey....Comment this time, aight?

Ok, so I'm off tomorrow, and we're slated to go out to breakfast out at Dave's work. The food out there is pretty good. Rumor has it that my sister is going as well, but we'll see.

Sunday, of course, is our little remembrance get together for Greg. I hope I do ok at that. I'm semi-coming to terms with it, and I think I'll be able to maintain my composure, but I'm not making any promises.

I did find out that Michael (my son for those of you new here) and his mom may be coming up for the services. That would be pretty cool.....

I'm going to leave you now, and eat something.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Say hello to my little friend.....

Ok, I almost missed today's post.

I'm not proud of that fact. It was a very strange day. The net went down at work today, then came back up...then went down again.

I did get to leave early because of it, I mean really, if your job is to list stuff on ebay, and you can't access the 'net, you're pretty much bull tits, if you get my meaning.

So, I've been trying to remember movies that Greg and I saw together, and here are the ones that come to mind: Grease (the first time), The Empire Strikes Back, Scarface, The Terminator, 48 Hours, Aiplane, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Uncommon Valor, Heavy Metal, a couple Bond movies, For Your Eyes Only, and Never Say Never Again, if memory serves, The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, and Friday the 13th.

Oh, and I should point out that this was in the theatres, people. Oh, and you can add A Nightmare On Elm Street to that list.

Ok, now concerts: Rush (x2), ZZ Top with Quiet Riot (remember them), Duran Duran, The Scorpions, Yes (on their farewell tour)...I know there were others, but I'll be damned if I can remember them.

Of course, you have to take into account that Reno didn't (and still doesn't) get the big names for some reason. We took what we could get, and we were thankful for it.

Ok, I think that's gonna do it for the Greg stuff. I mean, there's a thousand stories I could tell, and prolly as many that I've forgotten, but y'all don't need to hear them all to know that he was my best friend, and that I loved him.

I'll try to be a bit more upbeat.

Ok, well, I'm bushed, so I'ma crash now.

Buenos con queso,

T.

I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain.

I apologize.

This was supposed to be my last Greg post.

I was going to list the movies we saw (those i could remember) and some of the concerts we'd seen (again those i could remember), but my roomie decided that we should go out drinking/gambling.

Well, since you asked, I lost my ass. I couldn't hit the floor if I fell out of my chair.

So, tomorrow look for a longer post about Greg and I.

Here's some food for thought though....our friendship pre-dates CD's.

No, really.

T.

I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.

Let's see....where was I?

Oh yeah.

Well, things happened, as they always do, and somewhere near the middle of my senior year in High School, there were some circumstances that were beyond everybody's control, and to make a long story short, Greg's mom invited me to move in with them.

Yeah, I was kinda shocked too.

So, now I was living with Greg and his Mom. Strangely, the constant contact didn't sour our friendship, as can happen. It was just like before, only I didn't have to go home after hanging out.

I'm kind of skipping ahead here, but shortly after graduating, Greg, his girlfriend Tina, and I moved to Florida. The story was that when his mom sold the house, she'd be joining us to be with Bob, her semi-husband. Well, things kinda fell apart between her and Bob, and his mom never came.

Greg moved back to Nevada, and a few months later I moved back to California. Maybe 6 months after that, I moved back to Nevada also. I was living in Carson City, and Greg was in Reno, but we still found time to hang out.

Again, things happened and I found myself moving. The distance never mattered. I always called him on his birthday if nothing else, and at least once at every place I lived in California, Greg just showed up.

It was like no other friendship I've ever had, and I miss him like I'd miss my left hand.

I've heard that his services are going to be on December 1st, which is a Saturday. That works for me, as I have Saturdays off anyhow. There's also going to be a.... what do I call it....Everyone who knew him is going to get together on Sunday, and just sort of be together for mutual support. I'm going to have to take the day off, but I already know that works cool with that. Maybe I'll work a half day or something.

Ok, I'm typed out for now.

Buenos con queso,

T.

By the way, food and rent are not the only things around here that cost money.....You sleep on the couch.

I met Greg in the 8th grade. For me, that was at the tender and rather uncorrupted age of 14 or 15. That seems old, but I was one of the lucky ones born in January, and at the time, if you weren't 5 by the time school started in September, you had to wait a year. I spent my entire school career about 6 months older than all my classmates.

But, I digress....

Greg and I met because neither of us dressed out for P.E. I'm not really sure how it happened, but pretty much that whole school year, neither one of us dressed nor participated in P.E. (except for the 3 weeks we had bowling go figure) but that's not the wierd part.

We both passed. With A's and B's, I might add.

So, there you have us, two guys bullshitting for an hour a day. It seems strange to think that from that grew the best friendship of my life. I'm not sure when it started escalating, but it was soon 'going to Greg's after school,' followed shortly by spending the night, which would usually mean spending the weekend.

Somewhere in there, we found out that we were basically the same person, but in two different bodies. He'd start talking, and I'd have an answer. Didn't matter if we'd started the conversation hours, days, or weeks before.

It was the same with me. I'd start, and he'd know what we were talking about. We liked the same music, the same cars, the same type of girl (which was never a problem really). We even put our shoes on the same. We were constantly asked if we were brothers (tho i never saw the resemblence).

8th grade led, as it will, to High School. We tried, and managed to get a few classes together. He lived close to the school, so the after school at his house continued, hell, it became a daily thing. I was living with my Pops at the time, and he was cool with it. About half the time I'd get invited to stay for dinner.

I can't tell you how many hours we spent in his garage, playing pool and listening to KOZZ. Or hanging out watching t.v., or listening to records. Yes, actual records, and no, not The Brothers Four, but cool bands, like Rush, and Sammy Hagar.

Or just doing nothing at all. We could do that better than anyone I know.

Ok, I can hardly see my screen through the tears, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for more.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

Surely you can't be serious....I am serious...and don't call me Shirley.....

I'm still a bit befuddled.

I wanted this to be a post about Greg and all the things we've done together.

I wanted to be eloquent.

I wanted to express my loss.....

I'm just not ready yet.

I'll try tomorrow.

T.

Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever.....

I'm not really sure how to start this post, nor am I sure where to go with it, so I'm going to be brief.

My best friend died yesterday.

I've known Greg since 8th grade, and that goes back a lot of years now. We didn't see each other often, but that never seemed to matter. Whenever we did see each other, we would take up right where we left off, as if had been hours, not years since we last spoke.

In fact, I hadn't seen him since his wedding.

I don't have all the details yet, so I can't share them, but it looks like I'll be attending another funeral in the near future.

Uh, yeah.....guess that's all I have in me for now.

Carne del diablo,

T.

That's the beauty of argument, because if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.....

For those of you keeping track, I finished my book yesterday. Have I told you that I read fast?

Well, I do.

It's always the same. I'm waiting for the next book in a series (stephen kings dark tower series leaps to mind), it finally comes out, I get the book, and I'm done with it in a day and a half, and have nothing new to read.

That's not to say that I don't read it a second (and sometimes a third) time, but it's not the same at all.

At least sis has the next two books.

It looks like we're going to go join Costco today.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I lurrrves me some Costco. I can spend all day in there just wandering around. There's just so much stuff in there.

I love stuff too.

I'm feeling quite a bit better than I was two days ago, but my head is still stuffed up, and I've been sneezing a lot. I never sneeze unless I'm sick.

No, really. Like once a month, if that, unless I'm sick. That's one of the ways I can tell I'm getting sick. I start sneezing.

Well, if I'm going to go out of the house today, I'm going to have to shower. I guess I'm headed that way now.

Buenos con queso,

T.

What about it, Pretzelman, what's your story?

I've decided to start titling with movie quotes again.

The posts may or may not have anything to do with said movie. It depends on if I have anything else to talk about or not.

I'm still sick. Not as sick as I was, but I still feel like I've been eaten by a coyote and shit off a cliff. In a effort to get a handle on this crap, I'm taking today off as well.

That, combined with it being my Friday will give me 3 days to beat this crap into sumbission.

I hope.

At my sis's behest, I'm reading Twilight. I'm only a hundred and a half pages into it, but it's pretty good. I fully intend to read a ton of it today. That's just about all I'm good for today.

With any luck, I can finish it today. She's also got the next 2 (i think) books in the series, so I'll still have stuff to read.

Ok, sorry for the limited fun, but my brain is just not cooperating.

Oh, and the quote?

I'll give you a hug if you know what movie it's from.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Sick as a dog, day two...

I really hate calling in sick.

No, really. I feel like shit (even more that just being sick) because I feel like whomever I get when I call in is trying to hear if I'm really sick, or if there's fun going on in the background, like I'm callin in to party all day or something.

As you might have guessed, I just called work and told them that I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday, at which point, T, my manager (who shared my birthday did i tell you that) actually heard my voice and said 'eew.'

She then proceeded to tell me not to come in, because they'd rather have me stay home than infect everybody at work.

It was one of the most plesant call ins I've ever had.

I love my new job.

Now, if I could just stop wanting everything in the store, I'd be set.

In other news, at Poppa's prompting, I bought a new printer yesterday. Acutally, it's a priter/fax/scanner. It's a Canon PIXMA MX300, and so far it seems to be pretty cool.

I haven't tried out the scanner or fax yet (who do i have to fax i mean really), but the printer is pretty much the shit.

I'm having a vision of my future....I see....Theraflu....

That's all.

T.

Why is it that everything fucks with you when you're sick.....

And I mean everything.

From car keys to DVD players to video games, just about everything I've touched today has tried to fuck me over in some fashion today.

I won't bore you with all the details, but just as a f'rinstance, my car stalled out 3 times on my way to work. And not because I was managing the clutch badly. I was out of gear, and coasting to the stop sign/light all 3 times.

Oh, and in case you missed it I'm fucking sick.

I woke up at 4am with my throat on fire. I've also been sneezing all day, and I'm achy and run down. In fact, I was feeling so shitty I only worked for about an hour today.

Not that any of you care.

I'm gonna go freebase some Theraflu.

Carne del diablo,

T.

Building a better boy band.....

As somebody that's never given 2 shits about Boyz 2 Men, or N'Sync, or any of the other made up bands, I feel that I have every right to bring you this post.

I was innocently searching ebay, trying to get prices for a stack of records (yes actual vinyl) when I came upon the following album:



I turned it over, as I did with each of the 50 or so albums, and was stunned to find out that these 4 guys (only frat brothers btw) had put out 5 albums in 3 years.

I mean, just wow. Think they were pounced upon and exploited?

I was just as impressed with the brief history of the band which was printed on the back cover. I have reproduced it here in it's entirety. If you want to actually see the back of the album, let me know. I have a pic of that as well.

Greatest Hits can mean any number of things. In the case of The Brothers Four, it means another recording milestone in a fast three-year climb to success.

In July of 1959, I heard a very exciting group from the University of Washington. I listened, then I got very excited and we hurried to sign The Brothers. A recording date was set and Columbia Records proudly issued the first album by The Brothers Four.

A radio station in San Francisco discovered a song in this LP that spelled "hit" to them. This led to the release of Greenfields as a single. It spread like wildfire and became the most popular song in the United States, and such faraway places as Spain, France, Japan and Australia. It sold well over a million copies.

That's pretty much how it started. Today, The Brothers Four head the list of star concert performers. Name a college, and The Brothers have probably played there. They have also received acclaim from the toughest audience of all, a New York nightclub crowd at Basin Street East. Chances are, if you haven't seen them in concert or at a nightclub, you've probably seen them on one of the many major TV shows on which they've appeared.

It gives me great personal pleasure after three short years to tell you the story of The Brothers Four, and to introduce this, their first Greatest Hits album.

Oh, and by the way, judging from this pic:



all four of them are gay as a maypole.

They all look ready to gobble some man meat. Oh, and look at the covers of their other albums:



Now, I consider myself pretty well versed (heh versed) in the field of music. With the exception of rap, which I personally don't consider music, I'm pretty well rounded. I listen to country, both old and new. I listen to Punk. I eat, sleep, and breathe Rock and Roll. I love Classical music, and even a surprising amount of 70's soft rock is on my list of tunes I'll listen too.

One of the buttons on my radio is also set to the oldies station (which increasingly plays songs released when i was a kid which pisses me off), and I've never heard of these geeks.

Or is that Greeks, as they were frat brothers?

I don't know what's sadder, the outfits they're wearing on that album cover, or the fact that they're still at it.

Ok, I'll leave you now, and hope that this brought a little sunshine to your dreary lives....or something like that.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Daylight savings time is stupid.....

I mean, really.

Everyone pulls that 'wow, I get an extra hour of sleep' routine, but it's all bullshit. Your body, if it's in a routine of rising around a certain time, will wake up near the hour earlier time, and you'll be screwed. Your clock may say 5am, but your body still thinks it's 6. Granted, some people may be able to go back to sleep, but if you've woken up, checked the clock and reminded yourself that it's DST, the odds of falling back to sleep are slim.

At least that's how it is for me. Not only do I always wake up earlier that I need to, when this shit is going on, I'm always tired, because my body won't let me sleep that extra hour.

Yeah, it's stupid.

For those of you interested, there's a new Simpson's Treehouse of Horror tonight. I'm going to be watching it, as if you didn't know that.

Oh, and my Raiders lost. Again. What the fuck, guys?

Looks like another 2-14 season.

Oh well, at least Dago lost too.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

Ratchet and Clank fucking rocks.....

Just thought I'd let you know.

I figure I'm halfway through, maybe more, but sometimes it's hard to tell with the R & C games. I've been playing it way too much.

I did take some time off today, as it was L's baby shower, and I was the designated photographer.

It was pretty fun, and I ate way too much food. I've never been to a baby shower before, and let me tell you, I've never felt more butch.....

I wish I had more energy tonight, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow for a more involved post.

Maybe with pix, if I feel up to it.

Ok, time for a quick snack, and bed.

Well, maybe some Ratchet and Clank too, who knows....

Carne del diablo,

T.

It's nice to be appreciated.....

As you know, I recently got a new job. I'm always aprehensive after starting a new job, as I imagine most people are. You're never sure if you're doing quite what's expected, not quite sure what the bosses think of your work....Worried that you're going to get called into the office and told you're not working out....

Well, yesterday I found out that I must be doing something right. Our salespeople make commission on what they sell. As the ebay guy, I don't, as the things on ebay sometimes make more money than we loaned on them, and sometimes don't. I get a higher hourly wage tho, so it's all good.

Imagine my surprise then, when on yesterday's check there was an additional 75 bux marked down as 'commission.' Fearing that some mistake had been made, and worried that if I cashed the check, I'd be 'caught' and made to pay the money back at some future date, I walked into the office, and asked about it.

Apparently, I'm just doing so well, and they're so happy that I'm 'a normal guy, and not full of drama' like their previous ebayers were, that they decided to show their appreciation in my favorite way: Cold hard cash. I was totally stoked. Still am in fact.

In other news, I was over at Andie's yesterday, and she had a meme up from Sue, and since she had a link to Sue's page, I hopped on over there. Sue, in turn had a link to NaBloPoMo.

So, it appears I now have another reason to post every day for a month.

If any of you feel like it, you should come along.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Andie's gonna be jealous.....

You see, Dave, my roomie offered to finance a trip to the Gold Dust the night before last. And, after a nod from the Keno gods, I cashed out 80 bucks, with which I liberatted a copy of this game.

What can I say?

The graphics are sick, the gameplay is fluid, and you better hope you've played one of the prequels, because if you don't know what you're doing, you could get lost very fast.

So, attribute my short post to the fact that I'm going to try and get some play time before I go to work.....

Fiesta con fuego,

T.

So, we did pumpkins tonight.....

Here's how they came out:



Here's another shot, minus my mom's:




I'm pretty tired tonight tho, so that's all you get for now.

Camcho de la Hoya,

T.

Ok, Newark, I know you're out there.....

I don't know if I've ever told you this or not, but I lived in California until I was 11. In and around the cities of Walnut Creek, Berkeley, and Concord (and its konkerd not concorde thank you very much.)

I went back to CA to go to school, and I was in and around the Central Coast. You know, San Luis Obispo, and Pismo Beach.

I've known a lot of town names in California. Partly due to that fact that when I was working at 7-Eleven, they started adding town names to the Lotto tickets. I don't remember exactly why they did it, but I think it was a matching game or some shit.

Anyhow, I thought I was pretty good with CA city names.

Especially in the Bay Area. Then it happened. Just a few days ago, a week maybe. I started getting hit pretty hard from Newark CA.

In the NorCal Bay Area, where I grew up for crying out loud, and I've never heard of it. So, let's welcome Newark CA into the fold, and let me extend this invitation: Please, comment on a post, and introduce yourself.

In other news, Herman has been in town the last couple days....I don't know if I told you that. That's Dave's brother, and he delivers trailers and stuff all over the United States, and he stops by when he's in the area. It's cool. He's a pretty mellow guy, and we always have a good time when he's here.

Of course, we made him (well pops did) halibut. I mean, we've got like a whole frikkin fish for fuck's sake. The World Series is on downstairs, and I'm doing my level best to ignore it.

Fuckin' baseball.

My Raiders lost again today. Not a Surprise, really. And, both Miami and St Louis managed to remain winless for the season. That's 0 and 8, for those of you scoreing at home. Who get's first draft pick if they both lose all 16 games?

At least my boy's have won a couple games. Hell, They only have to win one more to beat last season's record.

Ok, I think I'm done blahering for now.

El poquito grande,

T.

I don't know what was up.....

By my inet suuuuuccccckkkkkeedddddd yesterday.

Nothing would load, all the game faqs I tried to download were dropping at like 5-6k a second, instead of the 575-617k I'm used to.....It was like somebody dumped molasses on the world wide web, or something.

I hate it when the net is slow. Computers and the internet in general have always worked slower that I do.

When I was a video imaging tech at the paper some years ago, I had a routine for processing the AP wire photos. There were a series of keystrokes in Photoshop that we used to make the photos print ready.

It included such things as changing resolution, converting to CMYK from RGB, and other such tasks. No matter the size of the photo, or the original quality, I'd open the image, start hitting keys, and the have to wait while the puter caught up with me.

Nothing has changed. I'm still moving faster than my electronics.

Oh, well, maybe the new computer that Michael is getting for me will help some. We'll see.

Ok, I have to go make some beef jerky.

See you on the flip side.

El poquito grande,

T.

My internet is moving at a glacial pace....

So I'm not long for it today.

I don't really have much to report anyhow, so.....

Yeah....that's it.

Buenos con queso,

T.

It was a busy day at work today.....

I listed like 7 different cordless drills/screw guns.

It was like 'DeWalt festival day' or something.

Tomorrow, I'm on jewelry.

Like all day, to hear T (one of my managers) tell it. If you haven't, you should stop by and check out some of the stuff we have for sale on ebay....some of it's pretty cool.

I'm too whipped to do much more.

Sorry.

El gato de las muertes,

T.

You may notice.....

The new page element over there ----->.

That's a link to the top products over at J-List, and my first attempt to actually make money with this site.

It's a site that sells all kinds of cool and wacky stuff from Japan.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm facinated with the Japanese culture, and am hoping to travel there sometime in the future.

If you click over there, and actually buy something, I get a small percentage of any sales.

Not enough for a ticket to Japan, of course, but money to be spent on the site, buying some fun and wacky stuff for myself.

So, if you're in a spending mood, pop on over and order somethng.

El poquito grande,

T.

Search me.....

It never ceases to amaze me what searches bring people to my site....

I mean, I'm kinda wierd and random, both in naming my posts, and in what I say.

I think you all (both) know that.

I just thought I'd share some of the recent ones.....

1. Rainbow Fuckin Randolph.

2. Au Jus

3. Who would have thougt?

And, a new on that was there today when I started this post:

4. What are you, a fucking idiot?

I mean, I expect 'the price of convenience,' or some combination of those words to hit my site.

Hell, even T.J. is a valid way to get here, but blue malayan coral snake?

For Pete's sake, is nothing sacred?

Oh, btw, I ate myself into a fucking coma last night, so you have to wait for the pix. We seem to have forgotten it was seafood nite....hmmmm.....

Yeah, look for pix Sun or Mon.

Outtie.


Carne del diablo,

T.

Happy Birthday, Mom.....

That's right, today is my mom's birthday.

I'm not sure, because I don't keep track of such things, but I think she's 29 today. It could be 28 tho, I just don't remember.

We have plans for the whole clan to go to Casino Fandango (i tried to find a pic online but no luck) for dinner. You may remember it from this post.

I'm going to starve myself today, in hopes that I'll be able to eat myself into a coma later. I'm going to take my camera, so look for some pix later.

It's also my best friend Tammy's birthday today.

How wierd is that?

Also, it's payday.

It's also 'omfg the ads are so good we have to shop at 4 different stores' day. I wish one store would just have everything on sale just once. It never happens that way tho.

So, as I sit here waiting for coffee to brew, I'm taking full advantage of the time to do absolutely nothing, as I know my day is going to packed once the sun comes up.

Guess that's all.

El poquito grande,

T.

I don't really have much today.....

Well, I did get my shipment from BMG yesterday.

Yeah, I fell for it again, and joined a 'record company.' Course, they're all CD's now, but who cares.

I bought one selection, and got some freebies. Yesterday I came home to find the goodies.

4 are replacement discs : Jewel-Pieces of You, Alanis Morisette-Jagged Little Pill (bought this one like 3 times), and a pair of Rush's Roll the Bones, and Grace Under Pressure.

The other two were new for me. Risin' Outlaw, and Lovesick, Broke, and Driftin', both from Hank III.

That's Hank Williams Jr, jr, if you don't know.

Or something.

L had me listen to one of his CD's the last time I was up there, and I loved it. I don't think either of the ones I bought is the one I listened to, but I like them both anyhow.

I'll tell you one thing, he can sure sound like his grandpappy when he wants to. He's got his own sound too, but on a couple of the tracks, he sounds just like old Hank.

So, there you have it. The excitement for Thursday morning.

Hope you enjoy your day.

Carne del diablo,

T.