It's A Ride!

So, for the last week or so, I've been sick.  Mostly it's been bronchitis, but there are a few other things going on also.  Mostly it's the pollen count aggravating my allergies.  It hasn't been much of a fun time actually.  Getting past it is pretty wonderful.

Late last year I did some serious allergy testing at a local clinic here in McKinney, to find out that I'm allergic to just about everything. I've got the pics to prove it, but I'm sure you don't want to see them.  It was a comprehensive test.  There were 65 things I was tested for. 

The categories of allergens were divided into eight different allergens per block.  Grasses covered two blocks, mold one block, etc.  Since my allergies were so bad I decided to go for the most comprehensive, which was eight blocks.  I also added bananas as a single test.  After the test, I'm pretty much allergic to everything except pets and most molds.  And not really allergic to bananas.I'm actually allergic to the birch family, which is, in a molecular sense similar to bananas.

That test taught me a lot about myself, such as why I was so sneezy and itchy during my years in carpentry.  I love woodwork, but the environment kicked my ass.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm off to allergy shots.  I spent a whole day getting it started just to get the immunity built up.  A once or twice a week visit to the clinic, and it's shots and a half hour to make sure there's no reaction, and then bam, off to work.

Early in January, I couldn't do it anymore.  My body was reacting.  I had an EpiPen but thankfully never had to use it.  The positive side was I wasn't having allergic reactions to anything.  The negative side was I was fighting myself and probably went into it too quickly.  I called the doc one morning in some discomfort and we agreed the shots had to end for the time being. 

It's amazing how the body works, enough of something gets attention. 

So there I was with two prescriptions to manage it, and that was all I needed to get back to a comfortable and normal state. 

Comfortable and normal are two things I can say I don't have much familiarity with.  Over the last several months I was in a high stress position at work, having to manage something larger than I had to manage before. I was also driving in a dangerous vehicle.  Normal didn't exist to me at all.  I was flying by with whatever life handed out. 

Work has gotten much more sane since about November.  It was then I noticed car problems.  I owned a 2005 Ford Escape with about 100k miles on it, much fewer than my '99 Ranger that i traded for the Escape back in '14. 

Last year, I had to replace the alternator in the Escape, because it started dying on me randomly while driving.  Not just at low speeds, but while doing 65-70 on the highway. So I got the alternator, but after reading the instructions on its replacement, I realized it was above my level.  It was all "remove your front axle" and stuff like that.  I was like HELL NO. Luckily we found a guy on Nextdoor that could hook that up.

That didn't fix it.  There was another part that could've been the culprit.  Bought it and put it in easy.  A week later, it was dying again.  I had to milk that for another month. It was like driving in a death trap.  For yet another month I kept going.  Somehow.  That on top of the work stress and changes got to me.  I started furiously researching vehicles on AutoTrader, in an attempt to find something affordable. 

I was way underwater on the Escape, and had to find a damn good deal on something new in order to make a trade that wouldn't break us financially.

One day it happened.  I saw a new '16 Colorado with ridiculous rebates and awesome financing.  I had to go to the dealer's website just to make sure it wasn't a typo.

It wasn't. 

That day I drove out to the dealership in Decatur, which was about 50 miles away from work and 65 away from home.  After a couple hours, it was done.  I was driving in something awesome and safe.

It's been about three weeks since, and there are some big payments in the future, but I'm thankful for the new ride.  It's safe, it's a truck, and it's just now dawning on me that I can relax a little bit and take control over so many things that not too long ago, I was just hoping made it so that I could survive. 

Mountainside: Part Two

“Do you have my location?”

No answer.  After another long pause, “Location?”

“Yes.  We’ve got you sixty meters from the entry point.”

Arlo looked at his surroundings.  There wasn’t much room to maneuver the side of the cliff.  He took a good look at the mountainside and determined the location of the entry.  He had two options.  One was a straight ascent up the cliff and a difficult lateral path.  The other was a more jagged diagonal climb to the point. 

“Do you have a strategy, A-1?” said a voice from his communicator.

“Yeah Furmin, 63 up 12 over.”

This was not going to be his path.  Any time Arlo gave any information to the Pacifics he made damn sure to give some misdirection. He had little trust in them, even though they saved him and his crew.  Something didn’t seem right.  He did enjoy the equipment he was provided, though.  A nice Chamo suit kept him invisible on the ascent.  The body suit he was wearing blended him into the cliffside perfectly, and his communicator was cloaked with ancient radio frequencies that could easily be encrypted and hidden.

Arlo moved up the jagged mountain carefully and inched his way to his target.  Three hours into this careful mission, it was a game of patience and a journey of tiny moves.  He knew he was off his planned course, and within seconds…

“You’re off course, A-1. “

“This takes time and care, Furmin.”

Furmin was the communications and tech officer back at camp.  Her real name was Minnie Furlong, and she made it her personal mission to be Arlo’s pain in the ass.  Her bob-and-shave haircut immediately made him groan the first time they met at the rescue of his ship, the Fenix. 

“Be careful, A-1.  Watch out for kickers.  Furmin out.”

Arlo was relieved at this.  Micromanagement had been a part of his life for so many years, and it was nice to hear the queen of nitpicking had let him do his work.  Arlo estimated there were about forty five meters left until he reached his goal. 

Minnie was right, there were probably kickers in the mountain he needed to watch out for.  He had never seen a kicker in real life, but had heard some stories from the Pacifics and some of his fellow officers.  One soldier had stepped on one during a mission to Tokyo and blew his leg off.  Another climbed a mountain in South America and accidentally tapped on one when he was nearly at the top of a waterfall, only there to get intel on the area from an elevated perspective. 

Arlo noticed a spot on his current path that looked tampered with, and not exactly natural.  He activated his glance goggles.  They indicated to him a kicker charge, but could not detect the strength of it. It was five meters to his left and one meter up.  Go under it, he thought.  Give yourself a couple meters leeway.  He analyzed it, and if this was the only kicker within ten meters, he could scoot under it and then ascend directly.

“90 minutes, A-1. We have to plant and roll.”

This irritated Arlo.  He was not one to be reminded of the situation constantly, nor did he need play-by-play.  As careful a mission as this was, he just needed some silence to get the job done. He proceeded to do a lateral climb and give himself two meters of free space so as not to trigger the kicker, or any other item.  He was aware security measures such as cameras and radar were all around, and the only equipment keeping him hidden were the radio, Chamo, and his own careful movements. 

There was radio silence for another forty minutes, and this is all the time Arlo needed to get to the designated entry point.  From here, it was no longer a matter of careful steps on a cliff, it was about planting the bomb and timing an escape that didn’t result in death or disaster.  Arlo took a deep breath and prepared.  The Chamo went down the side of the mountain, the communicator was set on fire, and the glance goggles were turned off and buried in a pile of debris at the entry.  Arlo was only left with a dressy outfit, and the destruction of the communicator was a signal to the Pacifics that he had reached his destination safely.

The last radio transmission came from A-1. “I’m in. Let it go.”

Late 2016

It's been an interesting year, folks.

We've all experienced this year in different ways but in large part have seen what's happening around the world.  So here's how the last bit of it's shaped up in the land of Paperclip.

As you know it's been a busy year in my life.  Getting my old job back was an absolute blessing.  As soon as I had the busy times down it got much much more difficult.  That was six months ago.  It is just now beginning to get manageable.  As it stands now though, I am closing out an old platform, so it isn't going to be heavily busy with that until it's time to switch to the new system.  Then it's a learning curve complemented by almost the same chaos.

I started this year with a few different ventures.  Getting my old job back was the beginning.  Also I became a minister and performed two weddings.  That was awesome.  Spending time doing the logistics and getting the feeling and performance aspects correct were both challenging and very awesome.  Helping join people together in marriage is one of the coolest things I can ever say I experienced.

For now, in the somewhat less crazy period of my current career, I've been able to do a few other things that help my creative side as well.  A few months ago, I had one of those early-morning dreams. You know the kind that are chaotic and bothersome, and move so quickly that they wake you up.  I woke up about a half hour before the alarm, and was furiously thinking about how much I like hot dogs, and making a website or something just dedicated to hot dog recipes, ideas, sausage makers, etc.  It hit me like a frying pan that morning... It was an instant brainstorm, and it led to the idea of a hot dog recipe/enthusiast site called Weinerly.

I reserved the .com and started a facebook page that morning.  Haven't done too much with it since, but after peeing on the proverbial fire hydrant, I did manage to get a free hot dog roller from work and make an initial video.  I've got a couple recipes, and a couple of my friends have some good ones too.  I've got a vision for where it could go, but I'm not saying too much here.  Surprise is important.

I've also been really craving listening to and trying to get good at creating music again.  It's hard to do with an unpredictable and difficult schedule, but it is possible.  It's just coming really slow.  Being busy is important because it means the bills are paid, and that home is taken care of. It also takes precedent over creative ventures and projects. Maybe that's why the ideas are piling up but the action on them don't get too much of a shot.

Such is life, though.  I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far.  I guess at this age, it's the priorities that count, and there's still got to be a little bit of energy left for the sandbox when there's time for it.

Mountainside: Part One

An except from a novel I'm writing about a futuristic sabotage mission:

Flyer 23 silently glided west, cloaked, on a thousand click pace nine miles above Earth.  The scenery was beautiful below, only a few clouds floated above the Balkan Mountains, and the swift flight made them look like gentle hills to those who observed.

“Arlo, you ready for this?”

“Yes Minnie. Boomer and Shale made sure I got all the details down.”

“You are quick to act, I’ll give you that, but getting into the Peak is going to take a little more than witty gusto.”

“Something you’re very good at, I might add.”

Minnie frowned at this.  She knew what was at stake, and didn’t think much of Arlo stepping in on her brand of wit.

Minnie replied, “True, but you’re the one going into the hole. You know they don’t mess around at The Peak.  One careless move and you’re done for.”

“You really think I don’t know this?  The only reason I signed up is because you got us out of the mess in the Pacific.  We just needed a ride.  Not a mission.”

“Well, now you’ve got a ride, and a mission.“

Arlo looked through the window again and looked at the hills below.  Dammit, she was right again, and wouldn’t let him forget it.  Flyer 23 had him and his friends at their disposal, and though their story made complete sense, there was still something uncomfortable about joining them and becoming part of an adventure.  What if their story wasn’t the whole story?  Sure, everyone knew there were some secrets at The Peak. Everyone knew that the East and West weren’t quite ready to mend fences.  The non-participants of the world sure weren’t going to take any sides.

Minnie was still there, as if waiting for a response.  Arlo simply nodded in acknowledgement.

“Arlo, do you have everything you need? We have forty minutes to the drop.”

Reluctantly, Arlo acknowledged again.

“Yes.  Chamo, com, and both my packs.  And the payload.  If I have to let it go at the wrong time, I’m sure you’ll get the signal.”

“I’m sure we will, hotshot.” With the word “hotshot,” Minnie pressed the com into Arlo’s sternum.

Thirty-six minutes later, Flyer 23 prepared Arlo for his solo drop just south of The Peak.

Here Goes

I know it's been a while since I've written... and there have been so many changes in the last seven months.Here goes.

2016 has been a really bizarre and eventful year for me.  I lost my keys back in March. I mean, 100% gone.  Still haven't found them.  Jamie found a locksmith to replace my car key, and made copies of the other ones.

The next month though, Grandma took a turn for the worse.  There was little time to prepare, but we drove to Mtn. View to go visit her.  It's about a 400 mile trip each way, and we had to leave Friday and come back Sunday, maybe Monday.  I forget.  It was kind of depressing to go to the nursing home to visit, but there was a lot of family there.  I was ready to see Grandma and everyone, but wanted to spend a little bit of time with her because I knew it would be for the last time.

Jamie cried privately, during the moments we went outside to smoke. The next Friday morning, she passed away, 25 years to the day after my Pa on the other side of the family passed away.  The funeral was the next day, so we went back that weekend.  It was very sad and very emotional.  She was buried in the Cove.  There's a cemetery there with many Canards and relatives, a place I connect with through family history, and want to be buried at when I pass, though it's far away from home. It probably won't happen since my roots are pretty deep here.

The service was very ordered and dry.  Personally I didn't think it was enough of a tribute to her life.  It was alright, I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but the mood of it was too formal.  We are all family and friends.  At the burial, we all met several even distant family members. And old family friends.  It wasn't a large event.  But there was love there.  As we left Mountain View, I thought to myself, I have no close family anymore in the town i partially grew up in and made so many memories in.  Grandma has travelled to Heaven, and the lady who helped raise me for a time is not in this life anymore.

The next month began a whirlwind of work stress that is only now subsiding.  I'm in the mortgage business, and early this year, rates started dropping dramatically, increasing business for all lenders.  Just an aside, mortgage rates are not based on the Fed rate, they're based on the 10 year Treasury bond.  That's why rates change so frequently and don't exactly follow the Fed rate.  Follow that on financial websites and you'll know when to bite.  Anyhow, the 10 year hit a record low earlier this year.

There were four people on my team for the system I'm on back in May.  There's a new system that was deployed early this year, and I was on the team dealing with finishing out work on the old one. Right after Memorial day, two of them abruptly left the company.  There were no replacements.  The only help the remaining two of us had was sending bits of our work to a site and California, and another one on Florida.

My one remaining teammate has some health issues that can be unpredictable, so I never knew when she would miss work.  We get along pretty well, so please don't think I'm being critical.  We both have been up against the wall for months.  I've had to cover when she was out. She had to cover when I was out.  It was like dancing with the devil just to go to the office.  For both of us.

Things have been shuffled around a little bit now.  It's just now beginning to be sane there, if you can call it that.  It's toughened me up a hell of a lot.  I'm thankful for my job.  I get paid pretty damn decent, so I'm flexible and trying to make the best of it.  It's made me a little bit better with confidence and other work related stuff too.

That's just a couple things about the last seven months.  More to come.

Just Going To Start Writing And See What Happens

Every once in a while, I like to freewrite.  The mood gripped me earlier tonight, and now I'm just getting around to it. Do you ever feel like you've got to pee, but when you try to go, nothing happens? That was me an hour ago, creatively.  But now I'm loosened up enough to just let it flow.

I just get the itch to write sometimes. It's my way of expressing the various things that bounce around in my mind.  I'm not so hot at hanging out with a group of people at happy hour, or getting into conversations with large groups.  I'm more comfortable listening around people. Folks I know, yeah, but large groups, ehh.  I like a nice one-on-one conversation. But writing, it's totally personal. It's unbridled expression, the type that isn't absorbed nor flows in casual conversation.

Just typing this stream-of-consciousness stuff is both relaxing and mentally engaging.  It's almost therapeutic.  After thinking about what to write, I came up with some stuff.  Writing is a reminder that life isn't cookie-cutter routine, no matter if it seems like it.  Especially right after work, the one time of the day, where a majority of it is complete, and for the most part has been almost fully defined by routine.

This is true, especially on a Tuesday.

So about two weeks ago, my keys disappeared.  You know how you lose your keys, and go on a frantic hunt for them for like 45 minutes, and then they show up?  We did that shit for six days.  And they're still missing.  Jamie's second set of car keys is gone, as well as my first set. Jamie had to get a locksmith out so we would both be able to drive once Spring Break was over.  It was completely nuts.

Insurance covered it, so that's good.

I've been really busy at work for the last 6 or 7 weeks, helping out through a large transition.  That's partially why I haven't been keeping up on the blog.  But, I'm not complaining.  Overtime is quite nice, after coming out of last year's unemployed period.  It's going pretty well there.  I'm lucky to have a good job and work with cool people.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I am now an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.  I signed up because I have been invited to officiate my best friend's wedding next month.   At first I thought ordination was a requirement to officiate.  In Texas, anyone can perform the ceremony.  But I'm still glad I signed up, it's very cool.  It's going to be a really big event, and I am super happy for this couple.  It's gonna be a wonderful day!

I went over there last Saturday to visit and kind of work on ideas for the wedding. Before that, Jamie, me, and the girls went to Sherman to check out the mall there. The mall had pretty much nothing going on.  It was about 2/3 abandoned, and looked and smelled like 1981.  But it was fun when we found an open store.  When we left, we went to Hastings.  Because, you know, if you have a Hastings nearby, they got all the good stuff.

We also got hungry and went to a place called La Mesa.  It was kind of sprinkly outside and rain was coming, so we chose La Mesa to eat.

It. Was. AWESOME.

I am serious, we all ate ravenously and I experienced the best fajitas of my life that day.  Five tortillas.  I used all of them.  It was fantastic. No meat or veggies were left on that frying pan.  So if you're ever going north on 75 out of the Dallas area...

http://www.shermanlamesa.com/

In other news, I'm trying to get a little healthier these days.  Slight changes in diet, habits, exercise right now.  There is a group up at work that works out in the fitness center right behind our work area. They go every single day.  I'm giving it a whirl tomorrow, but it'll be a little time to get worked up to the daily thing.

Well, that's all for today... I've got a cool idea for a meme.

Sights and Sounds

It's been interesting lately.  Good interesting, and bad interesting, but mostly good.  Since the last time I wrote, I've experienced a hardcore month-end at work, and survived.  Some of my worries about the people I care about have subsided, and other worries have shown up. I've listened to an incredibly huge amount of music, and I've experienced some social situations that are quite rare. 

So that's the viewpoint I'm writing from tonight.  My comfort zone, what little of it still exists, has been upended many times, and of course at this time, for better or for worse.  I figure the best thing to do is make sure that the seatbelt and restraints are secure, and my hands and feet are in the car at all times.  That's what you've got to do when you cross the yellow line and get into the ride.

At the end of January, I got to do some overtime.  It's not the kind of overtime where you're all "Hey, there's so much I could keep busy with," but rather the "I've got so much to do and it has to get done and OMG can I make it happen" sort. The chaos type.  And that doesn't bother me, really.  I actually prefer to be in the hot seat and on a mission if I'm working extra.  There's just more meaning in it if it comes with extra accomplishment.  And it was needed, and it got done.

I love listening to music at work.  Much of the time it's heavy metal.  Or electronic music.  Those are the two types of music I like to listen to while concentrating or working on something.  It's fast music. It's very dynamic and it takes a lot of talent to write either of those types of music.  Occasionally I'll slow the tempo down with one of many other types of music, but the fast and flighty stuff works for me.  I think that's why I also enjoy Bach so much. He was a badass.

I'm looking forward to going to the Mac Sabbath show on March 3. I got the next day off from work, since it might be kind of a late show.  It's on a Thursday.  I thought it would be fun to go to it just because it's so ridiculous.  Everyone's a little hesitant to see me go, since the last time I went to a metal show at Trees, I broke my ankle in a mosh pit.  I mean, come on, I think I've learned my lesson.  Duh!  When I went to the Power Trip show back in 2011, I was debating on whether to film a couple of their songs from the balcony with my phone, or get into the mosh pit and actually be in a real mosh pit.  I chose wrong the first time!  So at this show, I'm going to capture a couple songs on my phone.  I have a WAY better phone this time, so I'll find a good spot early and go from there. 

I mean really, I'm not trying to break any bones here.  Been there, done that, got the X-ray.

I really do like music.  And ever since I got into the Mac Sabbath, Elvana, etc. mashup thing a few weeks ago, I've been following other artists as well.   Turns out a week from Saturday, mc chris will be doing a show in Fort Worth.  I've always wanted to go to one of his shows.  Not sure if I mentioned it here before, but he did inspire Grace to do a school project about Milton Hershey.  It'll be a fun show to go to.

In other news, yesterday, Grace and I went out on a bit of a Sunday drive.  Jamie was doing some things here at the house, and so I took Grace riding around.  We started a half a mile from here, and decided to go down a road we thought hadn't been built.  And we ended up way out in the country.  She was naming horses and cows, and we even saw a couple abandoned houses, a "broken farm," some old barns, and a tiny town forgotten by many, but taken care of in a cool way by a few.  One of those tiny towns, with a city hall, a Baptist church, and no stoplights or gas stations.  This place was tiny, and really cool, because it wasn't the sort of town anyone would ever think of as a town.

Then we went to another small town, this one much bigger by comparison. And there were early 20th century Victorian homes for sale.  Some of which are possibly haunted.  Not the one next door to the church though. Maybe.  You know what they say about homes over 100 years old, if they're haunted... hey, they were there first.

Which brings me to today.  It was nice for a Monday.  I was productive, and even when it got stressy, it wasn't so bad.  It was a day of small victories.

I can't get all this written tonight. But that's why it's a blog.  Because it can't all be written in a night.