The End

Tonight is the end of the work week!  Yippee!  I love three day weekends.    And I get two in a row!    So, I just have to get through tonight and then I'm done for the week.  Soooooooooo happy!  I don't really have anything planned, really.  Just chillin' out and stuff like that. 

I was hoping the whole couch thing would be ready to go by this weekend... but they're still waiting on one of the pieces I ordered.  It's supposed to come in next week, though, so hopefully that happens.  I could pick up most of the stuff now... but I don't want to make two trips, honestly.  Seems like a waste of time to me.  And gas... and all that other stuff.  I certainly won't die with my lovely couch... I've not had one so not having one a while longer doesn't really change anything.  Right?  Right.

Lawsuit

My dad was over this morning getting some info from me & my sis (to put on some stuff that he has) and I asked him about the lawsuit that we have for my stepmom.  He said there's supposed to be a hearing the first of September... we'll see what happens there.  We're hoping... hoping... that the oil companies will just settle and pay out the wrongful death money.  ($350,000... all that's allowable in this state)  My guess is that they will... oil companies are not too popular these days and they don't need bad press... not to mention they'd most likely lose anyway... so why not just pay up and be done with it?  Hope it stays outta the papers.  (It's been in the papers and one news station locally... but you all haven't heard about yet.  Hasn't broke nationally... at least this particular story hasn't.  You wanna see what's going on?  Google "benzene lawsuits"... you'll see all those that are being sued for using this poison... including Coca Cola & Pepsi... who use it in their sodas.  Nice, huh?)

If they do settle and pay up, then we apparently have them by the short & curlys for the civil suit... you know, pain & suffering and all that good stuff.  Which has no cap and is where the bigger money lies.  We'll see how that all plays out, I suppose.  Personally, I don't care... I just want someone to PAY.  It doesn't bring my stepmom back, obviously... and doesn't hurt the oil companies (etc) but... it's something.  And something's better than nothing.  And it's an acknowledgement, too.  Right?  Yes... we killed your loved one.  We admit it.  With these large companies, that's about all that you can hope for...

I wish I had the money to just do nothing but travel around going to these hearings and what not.  I'm sure they're interesting.  It's sorta like movie stuff.  Really.  You know two of our lawyers were bought off by the oil companies and tried to make off with evidence?  Yup.  It happened.  A federal injunction stopped them from getting away with the goodies, though.  Crazy shit, eh? 

Work

For some reason, we had all three supervisors on shift last night.  Talk about too many chiefs and not enough Indians!  Sheesh.  Not that it changed anything.  Supervisors are little more than glorified line staff anyway... and since the majority of them on our shift don't do much as far as work in concerned... well... no reason to be excited about having an extra one around.  

Easy night.  I watched TV and played my game.  Ho hum.  The night actually took a long time to get over... for the most part, though I have to say the last 2 hrs went be really fast.  Go figure. 

Not to much there, though.  Just... nothingness, really. 

Moms

She hung out with my aunt & their friends last night for a while.  My mom & aunt used to work at the same place and they and a couple of old coworkers got together with another former coworker that came back from NY.  I guess they had a good time.  Eating pie and junk food like that.  

So moms tells me today that my cousin's son was diagnosed with ADHD and is on two kinds of medication.  Then she went on to say she didn't understand why so many kids have ADHD these days as it wasn't something kids were diagnosed with back in the day... and there are more and more diagnosis all the time.

Well.  My answer to that?  There aren't more kids with ADHD than there have been... there are just more tired parents and more kids that do nothing all day but sit around, watch TV & play video games.  Honestly... every kid that I've seen at my job that was diagnosed with ADHD (and that's probably half of them at least) behaves no differently than any other kid.  They don't bounce off the walls or have problems focusing... they're just normal kids with the activity level that kids are supposed to have. 

My cousin's son, in the times that I have been around him... I've not seen him bouncing off the walls, not being able to sit still... none of that.  I've seen him sit and watch others play video games (last Easter) and he wasn't antsy at all... actually, the older kids moved around more than he did. 

You got kids anymore that don't go outside and play.  Don't burn off energy.  Don't do anything.  Physical Education has been reduced or eliminated in some schools.  I look outside in the summer and I don't see kids out playing or riding their bikes or just... being outside.  When I was a kid?  We were NEVER in the house... no matter how hot, no matter how cold... we were outside doing something. 

Are there some kids that are seriously ADHD?  Probably.  I don't don't that there are some kids who benefit from medication.  Who really can't be still and focus.  I just don't think there are as many of them as the number of diagnosis would lead you to believe.  Even with those genuine cases, I think there are better ways to deal with the issue than medication.  Look at Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer.  He was diagnosed as ADHD at age 9.  His mother took him off medication and gave him a routine that involved swimming.  Physical activity can do more to treat this particular ailment than drugs can.  At least in my opinion.  (Your mileage may vary...)

Anyway...

That's about all I got.  I'll leave you with a few more random football photos that were uploaded here so I could email them elsewhere.  I like to embed the photos in the body of the email by doing the copy/paste thing if I have several photos to share... easier.  

Anyway... I didn't upload more just to torture my non football loving readers.  Honest.     

Looks like the quarterback is going to hand off to the fullback... but no.  He gives the ball to 15... a little misdirection to confuse the defense.

Another fake handoff... he is going to pass the ball this time.

Letting loose with a pass. 

Falling to the ground.  (Not a great shot, cuz they were coming at me, so I had to move and then reaim... so I missed the hit and just got this instead.  Damn it.)

He did NOT catch the ball.  (It went through his fingers.  In his defense, it was too high.)

Another pass...

Can't remember if this was a fake hand off or not... I think so...

Sumpin bad is about to happen...

Peace... 

Monday

Got that outta the way.  I feel better now.  I hate Mondays.  I suppose most people do, but I really do because I get out of work 30 minutes later (I start 30 mins later... just this one day) and because of that, I get to deal with first shift.  And by "deal" with them, I mean see them... share my oxygen with them, etc.  The first shifters in my area are currently not talking to me, so I don't have to share conversation or pretend pleasantries with them.  That, at least, makes me happy.  

Nothing of any consequence happened at work.  The naughty boy is gone.  Not just from my area, but from the facility.  No idea where he was sent.  I know he's not at home because his father didn't want him.  (Because he's a shit head.)  So he's likely at some group home somewhere... which will likely mean he'll be back sooner rather than later.  One can always hope not, but that is the way it usually works out.

Sam managed to finally appear for work last night.  It was his first night on 3rd shift.  Never mind that he was supposed to start working 3rd shift on the 7th.     I can't say I missed him or that I'm glad to see him back.  I guess the good thing is that he's not on shift with Phil now, so there won't be so much sitting around doing nothing and shit.  Or one would hope, anyway.  Seems like Todd (his "buddy") is somewhat pissed off at him, too, at least that's what I've heard both Malachi & Kelly say.  Todd's pissed off because when Sam when to 1st shift, the very first thing he did was start talking shit about 3rd shift not doing anything.  Pissed Todd off.  But then... Todd is a dumb fuck, so I expect they'll be all buddy-buddy again in no time. 

The good news, as far as I can figure, is that I have only 3 more nights of work and then I'm off!  Yay!  Three day weekend!  Nanner nanner nanner!  

I was going to call the furniture lady today, but I see on her card that she doesn't work until Wednesday, so I guess I'll call her on Wednesday.  That's ok, I suppose, as I'm not in the mood to deal with that shit right now.  I mean... I'm not mad or upset or anything like that.  Just don't feel like talking to people, sales people...  see?

Saturday Photos

Of my nephew's scrimmage.  I took close to 90 photos, most without Zach in them because the sophomores didn't get to scrimmage until later on, so most of the first photos I took were of the varsity squad (juniors & seniors, mostly)... so, I'm not going to share them all.  That's alot and I'm guessing most of readers could give two shits about football, sooooooooo... 

Sooooooooo... I'm only posting the photos that have Zach in them.  Ok?  Ok.  

Zach (44) lined up at full back.  (Which is the guy down in the middle-ish area of the photo.)

Zach taking a handoff.  (Zach is just to the right of #17)

Zach being tackled by a linebacker!

Zach playing inside linebacker.  (They're waiting on the play to start)

On the sidelines with his friend, Andrew.

Waiting for a play to start...

Getting blocked by a really big guy!  (Also, look to the left of the photo, you'll see someone flying, horizonally, through the air... #26 or 36, can't tell for sure...  )

Zach getting blocked out of a play...

Zach flying through the air!  

Zach making a tackle.  (He's to the right of #62 &  has the runner, who is not visible, by the waist.)

My bil's new (first) tattoo.

This Week...

Nothing really planned for this week.  Just getting through the work week and what not... that's all.  Then the 3 day weekend this week and a 3 day holiday weekend next week.  Yay!  I'm so ready.  Of course, after these two long weekends, I'm pretty much done until Thanksgiving.  Boo-hiss.  But I suppose that's ok... I'll start stacking up the vacation time, then... right?  Right.  I hope to have a couple weeks + by early next summer.  Not that I'm going to use it all or anything, but I do wanna take a week vacation and go somewhere next summer.

Actually the plan, so far, is to go to Carlsbad Caverns this year.  I love the mountains, but I want to do more than just go to the mountains every year, you know?  Of course you do.  I figure that would be something interesting to do and take photos of... what the hell.  We'll be going earlier in the summer, too, cuz I have enough sense to not visit the desert in the full of summer time.     I'm thinking late May... maybe leaving Memorial Day weekend or something like that.  I dunno.  I won't start hashing out the details until December, probably.  (I'm a compulsive planner, so yes... I will start planning 5 months in advance.    I'm not obsessive compulsive about much... but travel is one thing that must be planned to a "T".  I hate surprises during travel... especially if I've never been where I'm going before.  Actually... I just hate surprises, period.  )

Of course, on the way to Carlsbad, I just have to stop in Roswell.  I mean, seriously.  I do. 

I have to go to the UFO museum.  And I have to take a photo of the street lamps.  Yes I do. 

UFO Museum Roswell, New Mexico

Roswell Street Lamp!   

I love stuff like this.  Seriously. 

Don't know what else we'll see on the way up or back... but I wouldn't mind stopping by Oklahoma City to go to the Murrah Bombing memorial.  I think that would be cool to photograph... and it could be on the way, depending upon how I decide to map things out...

Anyway...

That is all for me.  It's about time to get my doggy to bed with my mom and go get my shower on.  Yay.  Off to work.  Yet another day down.  That much I'm ready for.    You all be good.

Peace! 

Sunday... Already

Yeesh.  Time flies when you're having fun, eh?    Last week was a busy week (doing something almost every morning after work... yay.  ) and the the weekend has been equally busy.  I think today will consist of sleeping and not doing anything, in order to catch up on rest before having to return to work tonight.

Friday, after returning from the vet's with my 500 lb ferret (ok... 5 lb... but that's a big damned ferret) and his somewhat smaller cohorts, I went back to bed.  Because I was draggin' ass pretty bad.  I left work a couple hours early on Friday morning so I could come home and sleep for a while before my noon appointment at the vet.  Well... that only worked somewhat well.  I slept... kinda... sorta...

I got up at 11a and let the dogs play outside until about 1130a, then I rounded up Isaac, Roran & Oliver to go to the vet.  I arrived early as it's not that far away from me, even though it's in the city.  (Unlike my regular vet, this one is not on the opposite side of the city!)  They got all taken care of there and I hung out and talked with the vet for a good 30 minutes after their shots.  (I've known her for several years as I was familiar with her years ago.  Before she was a vet, she ran a ferret shelter in my state... about 4 hrs from here, so I knew her via the internet.  When she became a vet, she moved to the city and I have met her a few times since then.) 

Left the vet, finally, when it appeared that Isaac & Oliver were going to be ok (no allergic reactions to their shots.  Roran only went to be weighed.) and drove home.  Stopped at McDonald's for some food cuz I was starving.  Put the weasels in their cage, let the dogs out, at lunch... went back to bed.  Much to the dog's dismay, I might add.   

Sorta slept until... close to 6p, I guess.  Then I went to my sis & bil's house for our pizza & beer party! 

The reason for the pizza & beer party was because her worst daycare child, ever, left.  This child is a spoiled rotten little brat and about drove my sis crazy.  This little girl was just... evil.  Not of her own accord but because her parents don't discipline her... at all.  (They have two older kids, my nephew & niece's age 15 & 12... they're older--father is several years older than I--and then they had this little tag-along at th end... starting kindergarten this year.  The basic issue is that they're just too damned tired to do anything with this kid, so they don't parent her at all.  They, literally, let her run things... and they make the older kids, espeically the 15 yr old boy, take care of her.  Actually, what they do to the 15 yr old boy is a whole 'nuther story... Cinderella like...)

So.  My sis was glad she was gone.  Of course, the mother wrote this big tear-jerker letter to my sis & gave her a gift certificate and all that sorta stuff on the kid's last day.  Made my sis tear up.    Then she said she almost felt guilty for being glad the kid was never coming back.  Almost felt guilty. 

We had our pizza and beer.  It was wunnerful! 

My sis & I went to Petco to get the stuff for the baby fish after the pizza.  The fry net thing (so the big fish don't eat them) and some food... also picked up another box of filters while I was there, since I needed some.

My sis put together the fry net thing and then I scooped baby fish and put them in their new home in a home.  I think I got most of them.  One got eaten by a frog (the fat frog, naturally) just before I could net him.  Poor baby fish.  If there were any that I didn't get, they're gone now.  I must've caught... 30 of them.  I hope they all survive.  Or at least 2 of them.  I have no idea what I'm going to do if they all survive!  Eeeeek. 

After the aquarium stuff, I went back to my sis & bil's house to continue consuming alcoholic beverages.  Of course... this only lasted until around... 11p or so, cuz alcohol + lack of sleep = drowsiness.     I came home, looked at my email and a few other things... then went nighty-night. 

Yesterday

I got up early (since I went to bed early, it was no problem!)... actually way too early.  I woke up at 0300.  Actually, the first time I woke up it was 0100-ish.  I had heartburn from the pizza & beer.  And a headache.  So I took stuff for both of those problems and went back to sleep.  At 0300, I woke up... and couldn't go back to sleep.  Which was irritating as hell since I had just gone to be around 11p.  Argh. 

I tossed & turned in bed until 0500, then decided to get up and get things done.  What the hell, I was awake anyway, right?  Right.  Wasn't happy about it, though.    I let Jesse out, then sent him back to bed.  Got more wood pellets (ferret litter) out of my truck (where I store the 6 40lb bags I buy) and brought that down here so I could clean the ferret cage.  (I didn't do their laundry, but I need to!  Bad!)  Let them play for a while as I was doing that.  Surfed the 'net while they were playing, after the cage was cleaned up.

When they were finished I got a shower and got ready to go to my nephew's scrimmage.  I wanted to go take photos.  It's a good time to practice one's action photo taking skills.  See?  Besides, it combines two things I love;  Football & Photography.  Can't beat that.  I made my sis go with me.    She had to leave me there for a while because of an appointment for Sadie to get her nails trimmed.  (Then when she came back, she told me she went a week too early.  Dork!  But the vet worked Sadie into the schedule just the same!)

Got some good photos... not as good as last year's, I don't think.  But I got a photo of my nephew sailing horizontally threw the air, about 3 feet off the ground after he took a hit from an obviously stronger junior.  As for Zach and his play... well... most of the time, he was man-handled by these kids that actually work out and are strong.  He did make a couple of good tackles... one I got a photo of (it's hard to see that he's making the tackle, but he did) and one that I didn't get a photo of because I was repositioning.  (To see Zach better when he moved from playing offense to playing defense.)

After the football stuff, it was about time to go watch my bil get his tattoo.  We went to the artist that my sis got her tat from.  I like her, she's very nice... and she doesn't charge an arm & a leg... plus she does nice work.  (I knew that from seeing my sis' tat... but I also looked at her work on the walls when we got there and her other art & flash.  She's got talent.)  My bil got his tat done... she let me & my sis come back there and watch.  (some places will only let the person getting the tat go back.)  We made jokes the entire time... she seemed to enjoy our sense of humor and occasionally joined in.  My bil got a (Dallas) Cowboys star with "cowboys" written under it on his arm.  It looks pretty good.  It'll look better when it heals up a bit.  I mean, it looks good now... but it'll look better when it's all healed up and stuff.

While we were there, I looked at flash in her books & stuff on the wall... I actually found a dragon that I loved on the wall!  I was simply shocked... as I've been looking for a dragon for... three years?  Something like that.  I've looked all over the 'net.  For other dragon tattoos or just dragons in general.  Tried to draw my own, even, but I have no artistic ability whatever, so that didn't work out for me.   

He's sitting on a cliff ledge looking thing... and looking straight out (so you see his face in profile) and he has wings... and he's just... he's perfect.  I might see if she could turn his head a little so that he's like 3/4 profile... you know, so he's kinda looking off my shoulder when he's done... I'll have to see what she says.  I mean... it looks good the way it is, but if she can make him look out, that'd be cool.  I might also see if she can put a 4 leaf clover somewhere on the cliff edge.  Just a small, simple clover... like lying on the ledge between his feet.  Why?  I have a thing for shamrocks, clovers... whatever you want to call them.  It's the Irish in me, for one thing.  The other is that I feel like they're a protective talisman.  I have them in my cars and have had for years.  One of the things I had my dad & bil search for in my old, crashed Mustang back in 2002 after the accident, was my little clover pin... I had found it on the street years earlier.  It didn't have a back, so I had just tossed it in my ash tray (which I use to hold coins)... I always made sure it was on top of all the coins.  They did manage to find it, but just... it was under the floor mat on the passenger side of the car... but they found it.  (It's now in my truck with another small clover that I found.  My car also has a clover thing hanging from the rearview...) 

I think it would be cool to just have a little clover lying between the dragon's front feet.  Just a little clover.  There for luck.  My dragon will be blue with an orangish-red belly... I think I'll make the tips of his wings teal-ish colored and/or purple...   One the flash it's a green dragon with a red belly and the colors fade out to yellowish orangish at the wing tips.  I liked the colors of blue & orange/red that I seen on another dragon better... besides, I've always known my dragon would be blue.  Never a doubt about that. 

I get this all done... in two weeks.  Yippee skippy!  

She quoted me a price range of (and she said it'd be wide) $150 to $280.  Of course, she quoted my bil a price of $180 over the phone (which was well cheaper than the $280 to $300 + quote he got at the other tat place) and then when she was finished, she only charged him $80 for it.  So... I'm hoping her guestimates on price will be a little lower... though I'm betting I'll probably easily make the $150... my tat will be larger & more detailed than my bil's...  and if I ask her to customize it a little, it's going to cost more.  So... there ya go. 

Friday August 29 and 1p, I go get this stuff done. 

After the tat place, we did some running around in the city.  Went to my bil's bro & sil's house and hung out for a little while.  Got our university football tickets!  Yay!  (My bil's bro works for the university, so we get our tickets via him.)  Me & my sis go to the game on Sept. 6th.  So that'll be cool.  I like going to the games... but am so glad that I only go to one game a year.  By the time the game is over, I'm usually about ready to strangle one or more (usually more) of the 80,000 people sitting in my near vicinity.  Seriously.  We always end up with at least one group of fucktards sitting in front, behind or two one side or the other of us.  Drives me up a fucking tree and makes me want to pitch people down the stairs.  I don't do togetherness well and 80,000 peeps all smashed into a stadium, hooting & hollering for 3 hrs straight, pretty much works my very last nerve.  But... I enjoy the football aspect of it, of course.  So... it's kinda worth it.  For one game.  If I went to anymore, I'd assault someone, undoubtedly, and end up in jail.  Which would be bad.  

Came home around 4p or so.  Hung out with my mom on the patio.  And the dogs of course.  My sis came over, my nephew and at one point, my bil as well.  My bil & nephew wandered off eventually but my sis stayed until I started up the grill to get steaks cooked.  Then she got hungry and went to bother my bil about food.  (My sis doesn't cook... my bil does all that stuff.)  Then my niece & her friend brought over her friend's aunt & uncle's new puppy... an 8 wk old chocolate lab named Remington (he's going to be a hunting dog.) and he was just adorable!  Sooooooooooo cute.  My mom about died from all the cuteness.  Seriously.  She had to hold him, of course.  Twice.    I just petted him and let him give me puppy kisses.  I love puppy breath.  

After chow... well... I just hung out down here for a while.  Downloaded the football pics and once-overed them.  I'll probably fix them up later today.  Jesse ate his chow and I fed all the other critters.  I think I was able to stay somewhat concious until about 930p... I was so, so tired.  (I'd been up since 0300, remember!)

Now

It's Sunday and I'm up waaaaaaaaaaaay too early.  I don't have any intentions of staying up.  I got up because Jesse needed to go out and I had a headache... and I was hungry.  So, Jesse went out and I got some brain pain meds, a Coke and some snacks... which I've demolished already.     And I'm writing this hear thingy... so later on, I can concentrate on getting those football photos taken care of as I know Zach wants copies of the ones he's in and I want to work on the rest of them anyway. 

I've fed the baby fish... now I just have to feed the adults and then it's going to be back to bed time for me and Jesse.  (Jesse's already sleeping on the floor next to my chair.  It's even too early for him!   )  I'm not going to do anything today, except call the furniture place at some point in time.  They called me back on Friday, but I wasn't home most of the day... nor was I home most of the day Saturday.  Everything has come in except the mattress for the ottoman.  I think they want to know if I just want to have everything else but that brought down for delivery or if I want to wait for it all to come in.  (I don't want to wait, thanks!)  So, I'll have to call the girl back and talk to her about that, I guess.  I won't be doing anything else today, so I should be able to work that into my busy schedule. 

Anywayz...

That's all for me for now.  I'm headed back to bed.  Wish me some restful sleep, eh? 

Oh, before I go... here are a couple more baby fish shots.  One of my ferrety friends that has fish wanted a closer pic of them so they could help determine what kinda fish they are.  (We've pretty much decided they are balloon bellied molly fry)  So I had to oblige...

They're not easy to photography.  The stuff floating around is food.  It's powder... like talcum powder, so you can get an idea of the size of the fry.  Also, that dark blue next to the fish in the upper part of the photo?  That is two piece of aqarium gravel... also an indicator of size!

A few more... so far, as of this morning, they all seem to be well.  No floaters or sinkers or whatever you'd wish to call a dead one... I'll take photos of them as they grow.  This will be fun.  

Peace!  

~ Updated... Again!  At The Bottom!  ~

Well...

Survived yet another day at work.  The naughty boy was still in my area last night.  Of course.    You know... we wouldn't want to actually do anything about the fact that he's naughty.  I knew this was going to be the case all along, of course... so I'm not surprised.  It is seriously frustrating, though.  And annoying. 

Also annoying is the furniture people still haven't called.  I guess I'll have to call them here in a bit.  That rather annoys me.  I'm not so sure what's so damned difficult about making a phone call... especially one you said you were going to make.  If you're not going to do something or don't want to do it, then don't say you will.  Duh.

Work was uneventful last night.  I mean... just the normal stuff.  I played my games and watched TV... more of the former than the latter.  The latter is like... background.  I listen... if something sounds interesting, I pause the game and watch.  Then when it's not interesting anymore, I go back to the game.  Multi-tasking at it's finest. 

I Don't Have Much...

Really.  I probably have something that I want to write about... I usually do.  But sometimes, when it comes time to write shit, I forget what I was going to write about.  I should take notes so I don't forget, eh?  Then I'd probably write 100 page blogs and then you'd all be sooooooooo happy, huh?  

I feel incredibly tired at the moment and I don't know why.  I did sleep and all that good stuff.  It's entirely took late for nap taking at this point.  I mean... I guess I could get in 45 minutes... but that seems somewhat pointless right now.  Not even sure if I'd even fall asleep.  Bah.

Well, anyway.  I don't have much at the moment.  I guess I'll go surf around and see what I can see.  I'll wrack my brain tonight at work and maybe I'll have something to write about by morning.  

~ 1st Update ~

Look what I found in my aquarium when I went to toss some food in for the fishies...

Yes, boys & girls... those are baby fish... fry, to be correct.  Where the fuck did they come from!?!?!?  (Don't be smart, I know where they came from... I don't mean that!  )  They just... appeared.  No shit.  They weren't there this morning, that's for sure.  I wouldn't even have noticed them tonight had I not seen some little black thing go flitting by... I thought maybe it was a baby shrimp, because it was so small and because of the way it appeared to be moving.  So I went to get a flash light so I could see better... lifted the lid off the aquarium and this is what I see... a whole shit load of baby fish.    (The other stuff floating around is fish food... yes the fry are small.)

I assume they're baby glo fish... since the balloon belly molly has been without a partner for a long time... and I have 5 surviving glo dudes.  (And dudettes, apparently!)

Now what the hell do I do???  I want to watch them grow up... on the other hand, I can't have a kazillion fish in this aquarium... it's only 10 gallons.  Know what I mean?  (Obviously, it's properly maintained for glo fish, since they went and had babies in it!  )

My current thought at the moment is to not segregate them from the other fish... let nature take it's course.  If a couple survive... cool.  A couple is about all I can do, anyway.  I wonder, if the other fish are well fed, if they'll leave the fry alone... and if the fry will even survive eating the flake food?  Anybody know?  I put more flake food in after I found the babies... I just crunched it up into not much more than pouder... the fry were nibbling at the flake food, so I think they'll be ok.

I just... I don't know where this group of eggs or whatever was hiding... or maybe glo fish have live babies?  I have nooooo earthly idea.  I just completely cleaned the tank last weekend... I took almost all the water out, all the plants and fake (big) rocks and stuff... sucked the gravel up real good.  How the hell did the eggs (if there were any) survive that???

~ 2nd Update ~

Not a whole post cuz I'm fixing to go to bed here.  (Yeah, I know... early for me!  I got things to do tomorrow!)  I bought a net fry holder thingy so I could seperate the babies from the big fishies.  I have not as many babies as I had last night... seems the fish & frogs were hungry.    I figured that was going to happen... but it still sucks.

So.  I netted as many as I could (they're small and they're fast!) and put them in their own little home within the aquarium.  I hope a couple survive.  I bought fry food too... it's like... itty bitty.  

From what I read on the 'net last night and from what I gathered from some ferrety friends who also do fish, the baby(ies) momma is probably the balloon molly and not the glo fish.  Glo fish are genetically engineered fish and are patented by the company that created them, which also sterilizes most of the fish.  So... it's likely they're not the culprit.  The molly?  Well... I learned that mollies are live bearers, not egg layers and that a female molly can hold the sperm of a male for months and then spawn little fishies when the mood strikes.  She can also spawn several times, at different times as well.  So... even though the other molly died, it's quite possible that the remaining molly was already pregnant... maybe as far back as when I bought her.  

It would also explain why the molly fish looked like it was about to burst, eh?  (I do remember saying something to that effect here not that long ago...)  So... there ya go.  We'll see how it goes, I guess.

I had to place a call to the furniture place today since they didn't bother to call on Wednesday like they said they were going to, or Thursday for that matter.  Everything is in except the ottoman cushion thing.  So they're waiting on that.  I was to call her tonight and speak with her, but they close at 9p and I didn't get the message until about 930p... so I guess I'll call tomorrow sometime and see when that thing is coming in. 

Got Isaac & Oliver vaccinated.  Took Roran in, not for a check up but just to see how much he weighs.  The vet said that he was the largest ferret she's ever seen.    He is so big, she actually asked if she could take him in back and show all the techs!  I said sure... you could hear them fawning over him, too.  I heard one say he looked like a baby bear.  (he kinda does... my mom says that, too)  Anyway... on Roran & Oliver... the weights go like this;  Roran weighs 4lbs, 14 oz and Oliver weighs 3lbs, 7oz.  So... Roran is just 2oz short of being a 5lbs.    He is a biiiiiiiig boy, I'm not kidding.  And it's not fat.  He's a two hander, literally.  His back is so wide that I can barely grab him across the back to pick him up.  No kidding.  As for as the shots, went... nobody had any reactions, so that was good.  (None of the rest of my guys weigh over 3lbs... though both Eli & Isaac are right around the 3lb mark... just under.) 

Tomorrow... if I get up early enough, I'm going to go over to the high school and shoot some photos of my nephew's football scrimmage.  (A practice game against one's own team if you don't know what that is)  It's early, though, so I don't know if I'll get over there or not.  We'll see...

Then later, going to watch my bil get a tattoo.  His first.  I wanna look at the books (flash) at this shop and see if they have any good dragons.  I want a dragon tattoo... but I'm picky.    It has to be perfect.  So.  Going to seek out the perfect dragon tomorrow.  I'm going to guess that I'm not going to find it.  But... I'll look.

And that is my update.  Now I'm going to bed.  That scrimmage is... well, not too sure when it's supposed to start, but Zach has to be up there at 0745... so... early. 

Peace!  

Wednesday?!?!

Can it be?  Already?  Yay!    That means just a couple more nights of work and the work week is all done.  I like that idea.  Of course, I'm going to be busy as hell on Friday... assuming my couch comes in.  The furniture people are supposed to call after 5p today.  It's after 5p right now... but no word yet.  We'll see, I guess. 

Work

Nothing too much going on.  As I figured, the naughty boy in my area was still in my area when I came back last night.  Apparently, Doran made calls to the kid's case worker so he could be moved but the calls weren't returned.  This just tells you what a dumb ass Doran is as if you want to move a kid... really want to move them?  You call probation.  Probation can tell you it's ok to move the kid... you don't have to wait on a case worker.  But, of course, Doran is a kiss-ass who got his position by... kissing ass... and has no fucking idea what he's doing.  Obviously.  So.  There ya go.  Hopefully the little shit will be outta my area tonight.  Not counting on it, though.

Sam... he is a funny guy.  He was in such a hurry to get back to 3rd shift... he was supposed to start working 3rd last week.  But... to date, we've seen not hide nor hair of him.  Just before he was to come to the shift, he called in sick three days in a row.  And now?  He's taken a week and a half of vacation.  Hmmmmmmmm... interesting. 

The other day, Kelly actually said something to me about Sam trying to get into her hours so he can have weekends off.  He sent her an email asking her to switch every other weekend with him, so he can have some weekends off, too.  I laughed.  I thought that was pretty damned funny, myself.  Kelly was less than amused.    I told her that, you know, soon enough he'll make a play for her hours.  She said she knew that it was coming and she was preparing for that day.  She also said she wrote him an email back and told him that she enjoyed having weekends off and would not switch with him.  Then she told ME (not him) that she remembered when he had weekends off and she didn't and she'd ask him to switch every now and then so she could enjoy a weekend with her family and he wouldn't switch with her.  Turn-about is fair play, eh?  This all should get really interesting...

I think Brett may have made a snide comment to me just before briefing last night.  He came in and I pulled out my cell phone to add my friend's (God kid's mom) new address & phone number... they just moved outta state and I want to get that information into my cell phone so I don't lose it.  Well... it looks rather like I'm texting someone, which I'm not... and Brett said something, but I didn't quite catch it.  And Rick, who had just walked in said something right after that, so Brett was distracted then.  I could've sworn Brett said something about texting, though... I'm just not sure. 

The deal is, we're not supposed to have cell phones outside of the lobby area.  Guess what?  I don't give a fuck about that rule... I always have my cell phone with me.  Part of the reason is that some staff were letting the kids use their cell phones to make unauthorized calls.  (Yes.  Really.)  Obviously, I'm not going to let the little heathens touch anything that belongs to me... so that's not happening here. 

Besides, my cell phone is more than a cell phone.  I can cruise the web, watch TV and listen to the radio on it.  And I do all those things on my phone while I'm at work, by the way.  Mostly listen to the radio while I'm playing my games... if there's nothing work listening to/watching on the TV.  And in control, I watch alot of TV... or at least I did last week, which was the first week I had the phone and was in control.  So there ya go.

I don't have a problem with Brett doing his job and saying something about the cell phone.  But if you've got something to say, speak up and say it... don't make snide ass little comments.  That kinda shit pisses me off.  If I can't him doing so again (and know for certain what he said), I'll make sure he knows this, too.  

Football Q & A

So does Zack play cuz he wants to or cuz mom and dad want him to? ~  mad_cow_diaries and I agree with previous comment as I thought the same thing that he was just doing it to please his parents and be one of the gang ~  englishjuls

Zach plays because he wants to play.  My sis and bil are not really interested in athletics.  Neither played any sports in school (no desire) and they don't push Zach to play football.  They did try to push him toward playing basketball, which he did for one year, but not so much for the actual playing of the sport... more for a way to get him in shape and help him stay in shape for football... which is the sport he wants to play.  He did play basketball for that one year, as I said... didn't really like it and didn't want to play again.  They suggested it might be a good idea to stay with it, just to stay in shape... but didn't push it when he didn't want to play again.  They also suggested he join track... but he won't.  Again it's for getting into shape for football... not because they want him involved in more sports. 

Personally, I agree with the track thing.  When I was in high school, if you played football?  You'd better damned well be on the track team, too.  The coach pretty much insisted on it.  You didn't have to... but when our coach talked, boys listened.    And boy's joined the track team.  Of course... he didn't push this so much on the kids that were also wrestlers, cuz they had their own way of staying in shape... though some wrestlers/footballers were also on the track team.

Zach just doesn't seen to get it that the more things he does, the more he's in the eyes of the coaches.  They want to see kids with heart who come out and do whatever they need to do plus 100 other things just for the chance to be on the team.  A coach is 100 times more likely to play a kid with tons of heart & zero talent than he is to play a guy with a bunch of talent who's heart isn't in to doing what needs to be done. 

All people gonna do just go in the backyard or go out on a field where your permitted to and play with him. Build the confidence. I know, he should go out and try as much as he could. He probably doesn't "believe in himself" as much as he should've. The backyard idea - its just a suggestion.  ~ CandyInOklahoma

Zach spent alot of the summer playing football with some friends.  Of course, most of the kids he played football with were a year or two younger than him... so he could dominate and be the force out there.  Like I said, he's intimidated by bigger, older kids.  And you're right... he doesn't really believe in himself. 

I've kinda played with him a little bit... but it doesn't translate well to what he does on the actual field because, even though he is scared to death of me (physically) he knows that I won't intentionally hurt him or whatever... so he plays harder with me.  When it comes to those kids who are actually going to hit him hard?  He's afraid. 

Die Fische

I thought the little green glo fish was dead this morning... but when I gave him a little push (he seemed caught up in a plastic plant) he swam away.  I just looked for him now when I went to feed them and he's gone... I looked everywhere for him... even got out the flashlight to look in the dark nooks... moved stuff around to eliminate the dark nooks... no little green glo fish... not even a corpse.  I have to assume it died some time during the day and the shrimp disposed of it's remains.  Poor little glo fish. 

The rest all seem to be doing well, so I guess that's a good thing, eh?  I guess, maybe this weekend, I'll see about getting another fish or two.  I'd like another balloon belly molly for sure.... maybe another green glo fish to make my sets of two complete.  I'd like another bamboo shrimp, too.  Or something.  

Blast From The Past...

Every now and then, I like to go back and post past entries (or parts of past entries) from the date of the current blog.  Today is one of those days!  (Lucky you!)  Enjoy these blasts from the past!

From August 13, 2001...

Sean & Rocky

Click here to read the wonderful true story of a little boy named Sean and his special ferret, Rocky.  This is a great story, folks, about what the love for/of an animal can do for a person.  Sean is autistic and Rocky is has helped him in many ways!  There are several parts to the story... the first is a note about how Sean became fascinated with his father's new Christmas gifts, ferrets named Ping & Pong!  Other "updates" bring you to the story of Sean meeting Rocky and those things that have happened since.  (The last update was March 2001...)

Deaf Ferrets

Another link on this same web site (Wolfy's Wondifferious World of Weasels!), has a section on deaf ferrets.  Click here to learn more about deaf ferrets and Waardenburg's Syndrome. 

(Note:  The links to this story are still working, so if you click on them you'll go to the stories mentioned.  Also, I have to say that Sean's Rocky passed away a couple of years ago.  Sean got a new ferret... can't remember his name off hand, though.  I believe it started with a "P".) 

From August 13, 2002...

Sarah

Sarah will NOT be returning to work tonight.  (Imagine that!)  Apparently, she has gotten a week's extenstion on her time off.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... that's interesting, me thinks.  I'm assuming that she's damn near used her time up or she would've just taken a month, you know???  So... now we'll see what happens come next week, I suppose.  I'm not looking forward to her return... I don't think anyone else is, either.  She just brings so much bullshit to the shift and nobody wants to have to deal with it anymore.  (It's always wonderful when she leaves for 6 or 7 months.  And, noooooooo, this is NOT the first time...) 

 (Those reading here for a long while will remember the never ending Sarah Saga... well... it did end eventually, but boy it took forever for an end to be reached!)

From August 09, 2003

Training

I get to do some wrasslin' next week... for training.  I got my medical clearance from the surgeon yesterday, so work is all keyed up to get me going again.  Yippee.  Training should be fun.  We'll see how sore my knee and shoulder are after wrestling around for two days.  Oi. 

They've also started training three new guys.  (I'll be doing my wrasslin' training with them... yee-haw.)  The one new dude, Nick?  He looks sooooooo much like Brent, I thought it was Brent at first.  I was like "What the fuck is Brent doing here???  He's supposed to be in DC!!!"  But, alas... when I got closer, I saw that it was not he...  Sure was freaky, though, I'll tell ya what... cuz I was pretty close and still thought it was Brent... man... I hate shit like that!  

I think Nick & Josh are going to be on 2nd shift when all is said and done and the other new guy, Billy, will be on 3rd... I think.  I don't know that for sure, but I think that's the way it's going to go.  First shift is full... though you'd never know it by how few people actually bother showing up for work every day... 

They seem like ok guys.  Nick just came from the group home I used to work at... they're about to get closed down by the state... again... from what he was saying.  It's not the same people running it, but one of their friends... and running it in the same fashion, Nick said.  Though he did say that this guy, a Nigerian psychologist (who'll likely lose his license over this, according to Nick), ran the place well for about a year... before he got greedy and turned into a control freak.  Figures... those types always say they're in it for the kids... but they always prove they're actually in it for the money...  Sad & pathetic...

I didn't see anything of Billy.  They were all training with Brad Thursday night, and then they just hung out.  Nick & Josh hung out... Billy went home... I guess.  Maybe he's still working another job.  They were training from 11p to 0300, after all.     (So as not to interupt Brad's schedule)

(Finally getting medical clearance to return to normal duties 13 months after my car accident...)

From August 12, 2004

Work

A nice night, really.  No new kids during our time there.  Our population seems to be starting to drop a little bit.  Which would be fine.  We actually had enough people that we didn't have to use oncalls or OT to fill vacancies... but only just enough people.  Phil is still not working because of his poor lil finger.    Sad.  So very sad.  But true. 

Control was a piece of cake, as usual.    Kate stayed an hour over, because she had some meeting with the county earlier in her day... so she had to make the lost hour... doing it on our shift is by far the easiest way to do it.  (she got paid for the meeting, but it started an hour later than actual work, so she had to make that time up)  So, anyway, she just hung out in control with me for that hour.  Malachi was escorting and he came in, off and on during that time, as did Brent.  So... it was all good.  La Familia, all together!  (Which really causes management a great deal of stress, by the way...)

Kate & I just chatted.  We're trying to pick a date to go see my brother's band play.  It's a matter of finding the perfect date and venue.  Actually, the date matters not to me... it's more of a Kate thing, as she's got other commitments and what not.  Me?  I'm free to do what I want, when I want.  (Which is a beautiful thing!) 

The rest...

The rest of the night was just... slow and easy.  Brad spent alot of time in there... and Brent & Malachi were always stopping by as well.  I was rarely alone in my little box.  Which is fine.  The time goes by so much quicker when you have visitors all night.

From August 12, 2005

Steve

Speaking of him... he is so silly.  He had me laughing pretty good last night.  I relieved him in control.  When I came in, he was like "Dude... you gotta help me!"  I asked him what he needed help with.  "I need you to sneak me outta here."  Sneak you out?  Please explain!  "For the past two hours, I've been giving Nakia shit about Ramsey and she's looking to kill me!"  

Ramsey is one of our detained youth.  Seems that Ramsey thinks he would like to enjoy Nakia's company... "Cut her up", as Steve said... which is slang for having sex with her.  So, after Steve found out that Ramsey had said this to other staff, he started calling Nakia on the radio about every 15 minutes (for two hours, remember) telling her that Ramsey was requesting to speak with her.  Just picking and picking at her.  

Apparently at some point in time, she expressed her desire to kick Steve's ass. 

Nakia is a former collegiate athlete.  She is larger than Steve.  She's also got alot of 'hood in her, if you know what I mean.  There's not a doubt in my mind she could whoop the shit outta someone (male or female) if she was angry enough.  No doubt.  Apparently, there wasn't much doubt in Steve's mind, either.  

So...

I agreed to save him.  She was coming up to control from her pod and he was effectively trapped.  He wanted to avoid her all together.  I told him to stay in control, she wouldn't be able to get him... but that wasn't good enough.  "She'll just wait me out!"  So, I told him to hide under the counter (his options were running thin at this point) and she wouldn't even see him, then he could sneak out another door. 

He was afraid, being somewhat visible under the counter, that she would see him.  When she came up to control to turn her stuff in, she asked me where Steve went... I told her that he had already left.    She walked right by control to the lobby and never saw him.  He was quite relieved.    I then had to spring him out the sally port (garage where law enforcement enters the building) so that he could get to his vehicle without going anywhere near where she might be.    So... it was a successful mission. 

(I really miss Steve...  )

August 13, 2006

Friday

Didn't do much.  I did stay up for quite a little while.  I finally went to bed around noon.  I played Civ 4 until that time... well, after playing with Jesse outside for a good spell, of course. 

Grilled some steak for chow.  That was pretty yummy.  Just kinda hung out.  My mom was chatting up this stray tom cat.  Nice little guy.  He has a wound that's oozing.  Not a good thing.  But, other than that, he's a nice cat.  Very friendly and easy going for a stray, not all jittery.  Let me look him all over... even peeped his teeth with no problem.  He wasn't freaked out by Jesse or anything.  Mom fed him because he was hungry... and a little on the thin side, but not terribly so.

I checked for the cat later that night, but didn't see him.  There was more food out.  I thought my mom had done it.  I found out later, though, it wasn't her.  At any rate, the cat was nowhere around, so I went on to bed.

(And that would be our Max cat... he found a home here.  )

From August 12, 2007...

Sooooooo...

That's it in a nutshell.  I didn't really do a damned thing all weekend.  But that's ok.    Now I have to take my silly self back to work and earn money. 

Which is good.  The owner's of the house contacted me again and wanted to know if I would reconsider buying the house... they dropped the price about $3500.  So... I'll look into it.  Down to $119,500... so... I'll look into it, but I really don't think that's going to make much difference in the long run.  They said they were willing to negotiate, too.  So.  Who knows?  I guess I'll be contacting mortgage lady again in the morning and see what she can do me for, eh? 

Alrighty then... I'm up outta here.  I'm actually sleepy, believe it or not.  That might be a bad thing since I'm going to be at work for the next several hours!    Not terribly sleepy, though.  I think the weather did that to me.  Anyway... I'm posting this up and getting outta here.  Y'all be good...

(I ended up buying the house, of course...)

So...

There ya go.    A little of me from the past seven years. 

It's now 720p and the furniture people still haven't called.  Why do I get the feeling that they won't be calling today???  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm... figures.  Wonder if this means my shit won't be in on Friday???  Hard to say.  I wouldn't be surprised, though, if it wasn't.  That's the way shit works anymore, right???

I'm not going to be very happy if my shit doesn't get here in time to be picked up on Friday, that's all I have to say... I want to have that damn couch!  Damn it. 

Well, anyway...

Going to post this up and come 'round and visit all y'all.  Ok?  Ok!  

Peace!