Plan "B"

Howdy,

Not a lot of time today (but it's Friday - YIPPIE!). Here are some more pictures I promised, but haven't gotten around to uploading until now...


Kim shootin' things...




Kim shootin' things...




Kim shootin' things...




Celeste's Shirt (One of the pictures I don't remember taking on the 4th. Some will be posted. Others - um - won't.




The lower waterfall (fisheye)

Time out! I call a time out! I need to catch my breath. It's been entirely too crazy at work lately. I've been working 8 hour days at work, eating dinner and working 3-4 hour evenings. 'Course, it's not *all* work. I have to exhale ya' know.

I'm beginning to get it though. I'm beginning to fully participate in my life - even though my life is 50% work / 50% sleep. It's been an interesting month or so. I see more. I notice more. I sense more. Is this what I've been missing?

Last weekend was only the second weekend this YEAR that I didn't have anything planned. I ended up working through it, and I had two chances to go out. But I had to be good and get this project worked on. This weekend's the same deal, but eventually I'll have a weekend that I don't have pressing work to do, and nothing on my social calendar.

Here's a list of what I want to do when my head's above water:

See the sunset at the ocean. put my bare feet in the sand. and think.

Work on some creative projects I've got going on at the house. my umbrella idea, assorted electronic ideas, new solar array.

Surf the 'net for fun, or work on the cruise web page.

Pick up my dream home design work again. it's a 4-plex now, and a darned nice one too.

Draw - just draw - pickup a pencil & paper and start drawing.

Write - yes, write. I've got a lot of things floating around in my noggin that I want to commit to paper before they escape.

To that end, Marta and I have been talking about creative outlets recently. She likes what I did with the mailbox (although that's not done either), and who knows - maybe I'll take up welding like I've always wanted to. Welding's neat. Not only do you get to work with fire, but you get to make stuff too.

It's not such a long stretch to see why I like programming so much. I may be just "o.k." at it compared to others, but I really love the idea of creating and seeing my creations do things. Welding, programming, umbrella projects, electronic do-dads, solar stuff - they all do something when I'm done.

That's probably why I don't usually care for writing. Or reading for that matter. I don't see the outcome, but in the case of the things floating in my head - I just have to commit these to paper. Call it prose, because it's certainly prosaic to the wrong readers. But it's my thoughts. It's my experience. It's my life.

Time In!

# posted by Johnny @ 7/28/2004 07:41:00 AM 0 comments links to this post

Teresa Heinz Kerry - "Shove It!"

Hillary Rodham Clinton - "You go girl!"

Are these the people we want running the country? Sounds like ghetto-speak. And, what is it with the women of the democratic party using their maiden names? Just something wierd about that. I happened to be one of the rare people who actually saw the improptu speech given by Ms. Kerry, and YES, she used the term, "Un-American". Later, when asked (politely, in my opinion) what she meant by it, she said that she never said it and that the reporter was trying to put words in her mouth. Frustrated, she let out, "Shove it!".

I understand being nervous while speaking in public and possibly just letting your mouth run to the point where you don't remember exactly what you said. I also understand mis-speaking or saying something that has some "spin potential". Heck, I even understand getting frustrated to the point where, "Shove it!" would escape your lips. Lastly, I understand that Ms. Kerry is not running for office, so should not be held to any standard.

What I'm having a problem with is Mr. Kerry's response: "My wife speaks her mind appropriately." It's almost never appropriate for me to vent my frustration in such a public display. Although I may do/say dumb things that I regret, I would never expect my spouse to stand behind any frustrated, dumb, comments.

Anywho, not to be too political or biased one way or the other (I'm going to reregister to the Capitalist Party), I found this yesterday and LMAO!!!

Just a short note that will make sense only to one person. I got in my truck Sunday morning on my way to church. The mileage read 000094. I got back from church and the mileage was 000143. Not ignoring the fact that my old church is roughly 25 miles away from my new house. There's some odd significance in the numbers of my new truck's odometer. Like the song says though, "always something there to remind me."

I wonder how she's doing. I sent her this URL, but haven't heard anything yet. I notice that her blog has slowed significantly. Odd for someone who loves to write.

Word to the wise. Accidents are just not worth it. JP's Mom used to say, "you'd be right - but you'd be dead right." Good advice Mom. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could have done to alter the outcome of this one. I'm over my little black raincloud symptoms and feeling better.

It helps that I have a new truck. It also helps that I'm coming out of this whole thing about even - plus a 4 year newer truck. And it doesn't hurt to have learned something.

*******************************************************

*       P U R C H A S E   D I F F E R E N C E         *

*   (not including taxes, licensing or registration)  *

*******************************************************



                       INVOICE        MSRP       ACTUAL

Base price:            $12,189     $13,180      $12,189

Regional Adjustment:         -           -            -

Optional Equipment:                                  

    HE                     788         875            -

    BL                     160         299          160

Color Adjustment             -           -            -

Destination Charge         540         540            -

Incentive Adjustment         -           -         +750

Customer Cash Adjusted  

 True Market Value     $13,677     $14,894      $13,099

Incentive (as down pmt)      -           -         -750

Actual Price           $13,677     $14,894      $12,349

So, for today's pictures, I decided to go back to the cruise and get some out of the way...
This one's a QuickTime video of a "Survivor" Game.


On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!


And from the formal collection...

Kim and Me and ME


The Men


The Women

# posted by Johnny @ 7/23/2004 05:44:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

O.K. I interupt the drama of my recent accident to bring the following into light. Michael Moore has no shyness about receiving a 3 minute standing ovation during the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for his depiction of the events of 9/11. Alright - reality check: Think about it people! The Cannes Film Festival takes place in France. FRANCE!!! It's like holding an award show for gun owners in Texas and hoping someone shows up. Then, they give an award to the guy with the biggest truck.

Do you ever think that Mr. Moore will ever do a documentary on fat, arrogant Americans?

I miss my truck sooooo much. Seeing it yesterday brought me back to when I had to put Holly to sleep :-( The estimate guy was at the yard the same time I was and he said it was totalled. Now, I have to find some time to get a new vehicle. In the interest of saving as much time as possible, I'll likely just get another Tacoma.

Side view


Front impact view


My view


Their view

Um, where do I start. Sometimes the planets just line up and things happens, and there's nothing you can do about it. But this lack of control doesn't have any affect how I feel about them. This was a weekend like that. Had I done anything differently, it would have been an otherwise fun and uneventful weekend. The more I keep playing it back in my head, the more I keep thinking I should have spent 5 more seconds here or shaved 5 seconds there. I could have avoided everything. It's no use though.
I'd accepted an invitation to a wedding in Monterey, California. This was my 3rd trip to Monterey this year - yikes! I was picked to drive and we had an otherwise uneventful trip all the way down. Since I was behind the wheel, Kim was subject to my collection of mid-80's disco. We were about 1 mile from Lover's Cove, the location of the wedding, when all of the sudden ... well, there's probably something in my insurance policy that prevents me from discussing the accident. Long story short, Kim's sore and bruised and achy and my truck is soon to be a soda can. I am otherwise no worse for wear. There's also a carload of South Koreans in a dented rental who are having a very different vacation than they had planned. I feel horrible about Kim's injuries. Almost to the point that I don't want to call for fear that she'll have bad news for me. I've been calling every day anyway to check up on her.
I feel wierd about what happened and I'm just waiting for the lawyers to make their money at the expense of these poor Koreans and me. I've learned from experience that noone wins except lawyers in cases like this. Be it car accidents, death of a loved one from natural causes, someone looking at you cross-eyed, whatever. Believe me when I say that I'm no friend of a zealous lawyer.
It did get me thinking though. I used to pray that God keep bad things from happening to me. Makes sense, right? But in that frame of mind, how am I supposed to deal with events like this? I was setting myself up for failure and disappointment. Instead, I've decided to pray something else. God, let me learn something from the things that happen in my life. I think I'll grow more if I treat my life as a series of learning experiences. It seems to be the most healthy outlook I can muster right now.
P.S. I didn't bring my camera, so there's no picture of the day - and "yes" I'm kicking myself for it.

Well, I guess I'm not going to be loosing this weight I gained on the cruise. I fear that I'll have to break down and admit that I'm not the same waist size that I was in high school (20 years ago - yikes!). Well, it was a good fight, but it looks like I'm going from a 32 to a 34 waist.
 
In other news, I've got 45 days until this project is due, and I really don't think I'm going to have it done unless I really buckle down and get crackin' on some of the larger issues.
 
Also, this week marks my 6th anniversary at work (5th if you don't count the year I took off). I've only got 288 more months to go until retirement! Woo Hoo!
Today's photo is a Lynch from last week.

# posted by Johnny @ 7/16/2004 07:25:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

I'll try to make this a long story short, but I don't think I can. In a nutshell - I get it now. I won't go into the minutia of how I got there, but I ended up on my nephew's porch at around midnight last week. We were talking - not chatting. It made me realize that we chat a lot, but we rarely talk. We were talking about things that really matter; things that are important. Not politics, not work, not petty things of the day. We were talking about relationships and things that make us who we are. It may have helped him, but it certainly helped me a lot.

At 3:00 am, I decided a few things:

You can understand a lot about another person just by paying attention.

Be creative even if you think you suck. And for crying out loud - find an outlet!

Be above the petty. Don't dwell. Resist the urge to overcalculate. I don't know how many ways I can say it.

Selfishness and Arrogance can be my monsters too and can keep me from High Places if I let them.

Saying you're sorry doesn't mean anything if you don't mean it.

Being sorry doesn't mean anything if the other person is unwilling to forgive you.

And the kicker... In the middle of our conversation, Jude said something like, "It's not what you say, it's how they feel about what you say."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. It was a years worth of sensitivity training in a single sentence. Yes, I've heard that before, but for whatever reason, it never had the impact it should have. And, it should have. So, in a nutshell (help, i'm in a nutshell), I think I've grown. Thank Jude.

I had a wonderful, interesting, meaningful time in WP this year. I hope I can do that again. Except next time, I'm going to stay up past midnight on the 4th. And maybe I'll play more beergammon.

Today's photo is of Aileen and Shane at the pool.

P.S. Have you heard about the cruise?

# posted by Johnny @ 7/13/2004 02:12:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

First things first. Here are some photos I promised.

Getting ready for the parade (fisheye)


Josh Entertains the masses on the 4th


Alex


Mothra


Lend me a hand. Don't take my &*#%?@ picture!


Chris doing his "Butch Cassidy" impression

Just some lyrics to make us think.

Dashboard Confessional:

So quiet
another wasted night,
the television steals the conversation
exhale,
another wasted breath,
again it goes unnoticed.

Please tell me you're just feeling mtired
cause if it's more than that I feel that I might break
out of touch, out of time.
Please send me anything but signals that are mixed
cause I can't read your rolling eyes
out of touch, are we out of time?

Close lipped
another goodnight kiss
is robbed of all it's passion,
your grip
another time, is slack
it leaves me feeling empty.

I'll wait until tomorrow
maybe you'll feel better then
maybe we'll be better then
so what's another day
when I can't bear these nights of thoughts
of going on without you
this mood of yours is temporary
it seems worth the wait
to see your smile again
out of the corner of your eye
wont be the only way you'll look at me then.

So, I think I'm starting to understand why my computer has been getting slower and slower. I recalled this nifty program called 'defrag'. Say it with me, "de-frag". I took a look at my disk, and anyone not color blind (and some who are) can see that my harddrive was in serious condition.

The White area is free space. The Red area is fragmented files. You be the judge.


Update: 15:20 pm

Update: 11:10 am the next day