Something doesn't feel right

I'm not last on the Audient files sidebar anymore.

Weird

I'm bored

Friday night, I'm home. I've no beer or chips or popcorn. Just water.

I am the only white person on my street, and I don't care. My neighbors accept me, and have made me feel welcome, for that I am thankful.

We all need to think about what we say before we say it and be able to take criticisms as easy as we dish them out. Understanding that our opinion isn't the only one is a good thing too, and letting people have theirs is important.We also need to leave peoples business to themselves. We also need to be nice, and not so openly critical of people.

Hole in the water

I went to the Edgewater Yacht Club tonight for a work function and was talking with members about boating. I know this much ][ about boating.

Steph thinks I need to buy a boat.

I bet I could afford this one...

Thanks for the party, Audient

I think these are my two favorite pictures from Halfway to Dead

the first tailgate

a good time was had by all.

Man, it's Friday already.

A fast week indeed!

I was out all day yesterday on calls, and I'm happy to report that my Great Balls of Fire Dell laptop is intact. No flamage here.

Tailgating this afternoon should be a blast!

I'll leave you withthis picture taken some time ago from atop (about 170 feet up) the St. Stephens bell tower on the west side of Cleveland.

I was still a roofing inspector

I remember the day clear as a bell. It was about 10:15 or so in the morning. I was on a roof participating in a progress meeting with Doug Dangerfield. We left Charles Orr School and Head over to JFK off 55th.

The sky was clear as an early fall day could be. I remember noticing all the planes coming in, and it didn't seem like any were going out.

We got to JFK and I had the radio on, when I got of my car, I walked up to Doug's Jeep. WIth a puzzled look he asked if I heard what was gong on. I had.

We started another meeting, and I wandered away to find the principal hollering then found the head custodian glued to a 5" portable black and white tv.

That meeting ended and I followed Doug to another. I don't really remember it.

I remember trying to find my way up 55th to the freeway with all the other folks around 12 that day.

My mother called me, she was hysterical. She had been trying to get me on my cell "for over an hour", she cried/mumbled/blurted out, I've never heard panic or terror in her voice like I did that day, not even the night I wrecked my car and called her from a ravine. I told her I was fine, that I was on my way home and that I would call her when I got there. I did call, and she seemed a little better, just a little.

For the next three days I watched footage and reports and clips and talking heads and pundits and the press and the president and congress sing "God Bless America" on their steps and I cried almoast as much as I have ever cired. Thinking about it makes me well up. My Dad called, he was in a hotel in Pheonix I think wathcing it too.

In spite of my comments on my thoughts of the events over on Jess' blog, it was a hell of a day. I remember it like the day I watched the Challenger footage in Mrs. Schupska's 5th grade class and the Columbia footage in Steph's living room; clear as can be.

I'm not ready to see the Twin Towers movie because of my thoughts or political leanings, I'm not ready to see it because I'm not ready to cry again. Just seeing the comercial for the movie brought all these thoughts to the top of my head. Seeing the satelite shot of Lower Manhattan smoking into the atmosphere gives me pause.

The day I saw the hole, I cried like a baby. I have the pictures somewhere, I don't like looing at them.

I'm not sure what happened that day, but I pray it never, ever happens again.

phones in the bathroom

Twice now I have seen posts on friend's blogs relating how they were in the can at work. Not unusual to have to back out a steamer at the office, I say, done it myself many a time. However, these friends of mine told tales of overhearing co-workers having conversaiton on their (the co-workers) cell phone and also mentioned thier apprehension at flushing for fear of being rude.

I say to hell with the person on the phone. I hate it when I talk to people and they are in the can. I wouldn't stand in your bathroom at your home and talk while you are taking a leak or dropping duece. I think it's rude to be part of a phone conversation when the other person is making boat soap, and I don't do it to my friends.

So the next time you find yourself in that predicament, flush, flush, flush away!

Another thing that doesn't make sense; I heard a radio comercial for Walgreens pharmacy (spoken in english) bragging up the fact that if a costomer don't speak english, they can have their local pharmacist call another pharmacist that speaks their language. Think about it...

If you don't speak english, will the english spoken comercial mean anything to you? And second, how they be able to ask for the other pharmacist?

I hope the pharmacists don't take calls while they're in the can whipping up some septic fruits!

thanks dave

to the dave, thanks for stopping. I sit here in the back yard, and am a loner. Not sure when I'll have folks over next.

in the yard

Mr. Bebout and I are in the yard. Where are all you?

For the record

There was never any "poop" next to my garage or anywhere on my property. There may, however, be an eronius peice of scat from Bella.

I do not "dig in poop" nor am I a "poop digger".

Thank you.

White House Memo

If you don't want people to sure you, change the laws, or write new ones that keeps them from suing you or bringing crimnal charges against you.

See it here. Or here. Or listen to it on NPR.

How can our President parade around the country and world shoving "The War on Terror" up everyones nose, but not call the individuals held as a result of this WAR prisoners of war?

If your not outraged, your not paying attention.

back yard

Since there is no more thrid row seat, I'd like to extend an invitation for friends to stop by Friday evening and enjoy a couple cold beers in my back yard. the garage will be open andthe stereo tuned to WNCX, and there might be a fire in the ring to go through some of the pear tree that I took down. I'll have some hi-life and maybe some natty light

Delerium

IF you can get a ticket, go see Cirque Du Soleil's Delirium, it is absolutely amazing. Almost spiritual.

Huge thanks to Vera, the gal with some childrens non-prof that got Steph two tickets along with some other folks from town. We got a back stage tour as well.

If could run away with this circus, I would in a second.

I'm so... smart?

I really shouldn't drink at home by myself.

I end up starting fires and cutting down my pear tree with my saw-zal.

outrage

I'm watching the NBC Nightly news with Brian Williams. So far, three thigns have given me cause to feel outrage.

1 - Don Rumsfeld trying to use crafty terms to explain away the continued violence as NOT a civil war.

2 - The health of Castro, and the fact that the US has "a plan in place to deal with a regime change."

3 - Complete support of Isreal in the conflict (are you kidding? it's a fucking WAR! guess that's the fourth thing to be outraged about) with Hezbola.

I guess one thing I can be happy about is my mortgage has a fixed apr for five years.

Who the fuck is the US to have "a plan" to deal with Cuba. What are we gonna do, lift 40+ year old sanctions that have had a quetionable effect on their economy?

We're a hell of a nation, huh?

Gmail

After 8 years of chadsteven@yahoo.com, I'm switching to chadshelms@gmail.com.

I feel so cool.

Employee of the Month?

Not me, but I might need to use my time this way tomorrow if I don't get this report done...

Procrastination

I'm at my kitchen table where I should be working on a report for work.

Instead I've pulled about 13 odd nose hairs out. A couple made my eyes tear up! I should get a trimmer.

I'm just not really in the mood to write things like "excessive mortar build up on the cavity drainage medium due to improper striking of the inner face of the outer masonry wythe potentially eliminates exfiltration paths for water potentially accumulating in the wall cavity space" or "randomly cutting the outermost wire of the ladder truss type reinforcing compromises it's integrity and poses a building risk considering the structure is built in a documented seismic zone" or like "not providing the specified mastic to the joints of the rigid insulation boards installed in the wall cavity creates a pattern of decreased thermal efficiency through out the entire wall system."

Just some excerpts from the report I'm struggling through. Wanna help?

time in the big house

I've never been to prison.

Actually, I have, I've been in the Ashtabula County Jail twice. Once when I was a little kid I got busted stealing a bouncy ball from Ben Franklin, and the second was a school field trip. Kind of a messed up field trip.

Mom was so pissed about the bouncy ball that she put me in the car and took me to BF to make give the ball back and apologize. I was a sobbing blithering idiot doing it, then she took me a block over to the jail and asked the nice guard to let me into a cell and scare the hell out of me. The guard, sharing my mother's appreciation of shock punishment for children, agreed.

I was taken into an empty cell near booking with a CO and read the riot act. I took it as well as a 10 year old could take it, still sobbing and being a blithering idiot. I'm sure Mom was just outside the door waiting and watching to make sure the big bad CO didn't go too far, at least I hope she would've been. I remember the guy was smoking and ashing in the stainless toilet. The walls were beige (of course) and I think the plastic mattress was blue, why I remember is beyond me.

It did scare the hell out of me, but I still tried shoplifting things over the years.

The f'ed up part is, the CO that had me in the cell ended up marrying Mom. You all know him as Larry.

It's funny really. So many people think they are writers but really they just ramble on with words and sentences that look like they tried to copy something from a manual or spec table. Sometimes you stumble on the occasional blog who's author is intuitive, creative or artsy and can write something that you want to read or makes you laugh. I don't try to be either, my thoughts are my thoughts.

My previous job had me writing technically most all the time. Odd thing is I never had any formal training for it, I was just able to pick it up as I went. I've thought about that from time to time, about how I've been fortunate to have the opportunities I've had and make what I've made out of life. I didn't follow the road of the typical high school kid; off to college after graduation then a job in my field. How often does that happen, anyway?

I like me now, and that's really all that matters.

Customer Service Workers of the World Unite!

Customer Service Workers of the World Unite!

I love the next blog button, this guy seems to have some isues and a funny spin on them. I hope he keeps posting.

I'll get all Lou Ferrigno on your ass

OK, so I probably won't get all hulk like, but the sterioids the doctor prescribed along with the antibiotic sure kicked the shit out of my poison ivy.

Thank god, now if I'm lucky, it'll scar.

weekend fun

can be summed up with these

a good time is being had

here at my buddy chris' house, we are partying and drinking and eating and bacci'ing

i am loving it, am tipsy and have hijacked his pc for this post.

i have lots of crooked pix to post later

peace!

my brain hurts

chad? it's raining and your windows and sunroof are open.

thats how audient woke me up about an hour ago. now i'm home and ready to fall back into a fitfull slumber as i've some heartburn and a brain-ache.

thanks for the meat on a stick, good cheap vodka and scotchy.

ow

alien larvae

the bastard should be shot

UPDATE!! A nice lady at the vet, where the kitten was headed to for it's trip to a better place, took it in and will nurse it along. A happy ending indeed! The vet said the little thing was only a day or two old.




I was just on a call, and a construction guy called me over and showed me this kitten. It was in a plastic shopping bag, it still has it's umbilical cord. It's eyes weren't open so it can't be but a week old. It's off to a better place, but while I was holding it, it was trying to suckle the heel of my hand.

Why are people so fucking ignorant?

I don't get it.

The Fed says the economy is slowing; so the Dow goes up 160 points, but the dollar looses value. The CPI is up .3%, not the .2% they thought it would be, but that doesn’t consider energy prices.

So, the stock market is up, but the investors really aren’t making as much money as they thought because the dollar weakened, and the price of oil will go up because the dollar weakened.

And with these tid-bits, how is good news that the Fed might not bump up rates again in a few months?

nothing of import really

in the last few days, not a whole lot has happened.

ryan is of to florida, he left yesterday. he decided to head down there to give life a try somewhere else. I wish him the best and i'll miss him. inspite of the fiasco we had a while back, i'll miss him. he's my brother, come on.

it's hot, damn hot. hot enough for some crotch pot cooking. hot enough i buzzed my hair off.

the truck is good, the sabb is good, the mazda still sucks. i swung by the saab dealership to get my plates and title work and had hem put a new hood emblem on. they washed my car, all they did was put a hood emblem on and they washed my car. they better have, the friggin emeblem was $46.

any one wanna buy a mazda? it's got new tires and the a/c works!

if i could find the person that crapped so much stuff in this house, i'd give em a smack. there is a pile of stuff next to the drive. i thought it was all leaves with some weeds and crap growing up through it. nope. well there were elaves, but under the leaves was a pile of dirt. a wet pile of dirt. i tried to dig it up and since it hot as balls, i stopped.

time for a tall glass of iced tea.

3 and counting

3 days with rain outside and no leaks inside.

shazam

bad truckstop chinese

work took me to ashatbula today to do an estimate.

i was reminded that the people in astraybula are the same as they ever were. Having worked in the cleveland area for that last 5 plus years, my reasons to visit bula have been nill, and then only to visit family really.

i saw more k cars and rusty grand ams with plastic windows than I have in a year out here. a girl with abnormally short arms and missing teeth gave me the stink eye, maybe because i was staring. a lady paused to finish a cigarette before going into the building i was looking at and i noticed she was fat, had a support bandage on one leg, was wearing slippers, had a biggie frosty in the other hand and dress that looked like a mu-mu.

ashtabula only has itself to blame for the recent stagnation it's been experiencing. ashtabula, the only city in the world, the WORLD, to have an elected city manager and the last one was named "augie" who hadn't graduated high school, and he won hands down then quit before his term was up. couldn't see that coming?

so on my way out of town, i realized at 2:40 i hadn't had my afternoon grub. i decided that magic dragon from flying j was the answer. not sure why, but i did. wish i hadn't.

so for $5.95 i had me some governor's chicken, fried rice and an egg roll with a big soda. the chinese was in a big styrofoam container. so irested the container on my chest, ate while driving at 70 mph with my knee and answering e-mails on the blackberry.

guess i was a little dummer when i left. that's dum, P R K, dum.

fixt roof

as you can see, there was much going on at the new KNOB HQ. the roof, it don't leak no more. and with the nasty storms that blew though today i don't mind saying that I think I did a good job.

much thanks to the helpers, my brother, steph and the dave. without ya'll it wouldn't have been done as quick or as fun

not to mention my rad truck, it hauled all the crap without a care in cleveland.

now on to the rest of the interior stuff, and oh yeah, siding the dormers. not sure what to use, cedar or vinyl...

roof n stuff

tomorrow i will embark on fixing my roof ,finally!

sunday an impromtu get together will be held for my bro, he's moving to FLA next friday.

swing by if'n you want

home

i just got home a little bit ago.

it's so nice to come to my home. i know it's mine and I can do with as I please.

i'm so happy i bought a house, and now i have my own Home.

sweetness for only $600

i bought a 1981 chevy 3/4 ton pick up, four speed manual (3 with the granny gear) and an in line six.

body is good for the year, it's been painted kind of robin's egg blue, and rocks. a brake is hanging up, but that didn't slow her down on the freeway tonight.

i'll call her sweetness

oh, and the basement has no more linoleum on the the one side.

working hard

today i worked my tail off in the house.

there are no more walls in the basement seperating the kitchen from the bathroom from the laundry from the furnace from the water heater.



there is no more stupid island in my kitchen with cabinets above it nor a dishwasher. the dishwasher is in the living room. i replaced the sink base and sink and counter the sink is in, moved the stove next to the sink and the fridge where the stove was.



there are no more crazy ramblings and green stripes in the living room.

in all, three pick up truck loads of stuff went out of here.

chad's fungus emporium in the basement is closed.

many many thanks to mom, larry, ryan, bella and oberon for all their help. it's starting to feel like the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a freight train heading right at me.

pics came

kristen is an idiot, wicked is a fine show

no offense kristen, but i thought it made for a snappy title

yup, went and saw Wicked tonight, great show. just the right amount of humor, nothing to campy or juvenile, several subtle jokes and play on words that were great. soe of the humor was reminiscent of the old warner brothers cartoons. there were hints of politocal messages in there too, nothing slamming the current administration with a broadway show.

many many thanks to little miss idiosincracy for the show.

the mac just anounced that it's 12:00, so I'm off to bed!

a dry basement makes chad a happy boy

that is the culprit, that ball of hair and roots and schmutz, it's about the size of alex cat.

i swept up and re-bleached the basement last night, but not as strong, and took up a bunch of linoleum. after that little bit of cleaning i realized how bad it was.

i think this weekend i'll be ripping out the partition walls that make up the laundry and bathroom and kitchen down there.

anyone wanna help?

roto rooter

$235 later my drains drain.

fucking cool!

truck

i've been wanting a truck. i have a 1991 mazda 626. i had a lot of fun cutting a hole in my tub last night.

i'll think i'll make a truck out of my mazda. i could cut AND weld things to it.

that would be so great, i think i'll do it.

it's only worth a couple dollars a month

really, high speed internet access is only worth a couple dollars a month, but they fuck you by charging 14.99 up to god knows what.

and i think i know why now.

the service is sub standard and un-reliable so they have to charge as much as they do for all the tech support people.

i've been to sbc's "level 2" support twice now. am on the line right now with them, his name is "paris". great

nope

the drain cleaner didn't work. damnit!

the size of a rat

alternate post titles;

"the bleach is making my eyes sting"

-or-

"i bought this house why?"

so i have a bit of a water problem in my basement.

with every shower came water running along the floor, as with every load of clothes.

shower mystery was solved when i discovered how the drain was plumbed; into a cocked up floor drain under the basement tub! to fix i cut a hole in tub (much fun with grinder!) and plugged the old floor drain. then re-plumbed the shower drain into the main soil stack. fix-us-maximus

laundry mystery is tentatively solved. i snaked the drain into which the tub that the washer drains into drains, and the first ball of shit/hair/drain muck i pulled out was as big as a rat. and stinky, really stinky and mushy. i almosted yacked, almost. the second ball of shit/hair/drain muck i pulled out was the size of your average feeder mouse. also stink and mushy. i almost yacked, again. i ran a tub of water through the washer and the drain is still backed up. i snaked it again and just got a small hair ball. still gross. ran more water and still a back up. i then dumped half of a bottle of the nastiest meanest causticest drain cleaner money can buy down the damn thing. in t-minus 1.5 hours i will deluge the drain with a tub of hot water to see if it did the trick. fix-us-maybeus

so with the ongoing water issue, there is a bit of mold. ok, it's really like chad's fungus emporium, shit's growing down there. i know, gross. i won't be alarmed if you all turn down my party invitations. so i decide i need to dissenfect. i mix a comercial sray bottle with a 4:1 water:bleach solution, and srayed it on everyhting that looked like it might need it. a bit strong, and a bit much.

ok it's making my eyes burn, and i'm upstairs on the second floor typing this, and i sprayed everything over a half hour ago. maybe i should open all the windows and go for a ride in the new saab car.

yeah, i need to leave for a bit.

living for the weekend

it seems lately that I just live for the weekend. drinking and music and fiends and fun.

it's kind of nice

third row seat

we had fun at the beeb's last night.





see?

it must be in the water

i got a new (to me) car. a 2000 saab 9-3.

haven't named it yet, any sugestions?

HFCS

man, that's nasty stuff!

not sure why, but I googled "high fructose corn syrup" and a few interesting articles came up. it messes up insulin production, messes with collagen and leptin produciton, is only processed by the liver causing more fat deposits and promoting cirrosis, incfreases uric acid levels (kidney stones and gout anyone?) can elevate blood cholesterol levels, and it's in DAMN NEAR EVERYTHING!!

check it out, it's not good for you.

no wonder america is getting fatter...

i drove home in my shorts

a storm came in, a pretty big one and fast this afternoon. took out the power at the office and through the warehouse.

i work for a masonry contractor, and we are building the new building across the street from the office. the masons have two of the four walls built up to about 18 feet high. but with bracing to hold them

now don, he's 68 and an old time italian mason, said not to worry, them ain't goin no-where

vince, who owns the company, said he didn't care. if they did come down, it was his money payin to rebuild em and the for lawsuit if they fell on someone.

so in the rain, me and a field guy went with barricades and caution to close the sidewalk, then into the muddy site to grab waco planks and brace the walls. i was soaked through by the time i crossed the street. we were out there for an hour, with vince, the owner, bracing walls.

vince was not happy...

because i was soaked through, i grabbed a VIP t-shirt, stripped to mu undies, and drove home. glad i didn't get stopped.

Oh, and i fixed the AC. happy day!

a couple shots from yesterday

we had a good time at eddies, then made a stop to lake shore park to look at the cars.