J_E_G.....From the land of OZ

Friday, April 30, 2004

 

It's friday bringing an end not only to this week but also this month. Go out and have a great weekend, I plan on it even if it doesn't stop raining.

Posted by J_E_G 5:48 PM   

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

 

What a day today was. It started out fairly well, but by nine thirty nerves were stretched tight and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. You see today was our scheduled final inspection at work. Would they accept our correction from the previous inspection? Would they come up with a whole new list of corrections for us to make. However the biggest question was will they finally accept the building? I was the lucky one here, since I am but a lowly laborer, I was not invited to follow the group of inspectors (all 14 of them) around. That was fine with me, so I spent the morning working on the landscape.

I know you're all wondering did we pass and did they finally buy the building. Ok, so maybe you're not dieing of suspense but here it is. YES, we did pass. They did come up with a short list of corrections for us to do, but we turn the building over to the army people tomorrow. That short list of corrections inside the building should be completed sometime tomorrow morning. Oh yeah, with us turning the building over might signal the end of my job there. Nope, not yet. We still have some things to do outside the building, so it looks as though I'll be there at least two more weeks. Then I will wonder what I'll do next.

Who knows maybe I'll move. Yeah that sounds like an idea, a move to a warmer climate, bigger city, surrounded by desert and mountains. Actually it's more then just an idea, it's something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Still a lot of loose ends to tie up and plans to make. Tell you more as I figure it out.

It's hard to believe that in six short months the building I work at has gone from this



to this.

That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:19 PM   

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

 

Sometimes I sit here trying to think of something to post and nothing pops into mind short of the same ol shit. Tonight's one of those times. So instead of writing something I figured I'd........




just take you on a trip with me........



through.....



the car wash.



That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:11 PM   

Monday, April 26, 2004

 

Not much happening today to talk about, at least not around here. However I do have something I'd like to share. It is one of those e-mails that gets forwarded and was sent to me by a friend. It's entitled Robin Williams Peace Plan which in a way is amusing with a serious side to it. My question is are we really headed in this direction? What do you think?



THE ROBIN WILLIAMS PEACE PLAN

This may very well be the best thought out item we have
read since 9/11/01. Leave it to Robin Williams to come up
with the perfect plan ... what we need now is for our UN
Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message.

I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of
a plan for peace. So, here's one plan.

1. The US will apologize to the world for our "interference"
in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler,
Mussolini, Tojo, Noriega, Milosovich and the rest of those
good ol' boys: We will never "interfere" again.

2. We will withdraw our troops from all over the world,
starting with Germany, South Korea and the Philippines.
They don't want us there. We would station troops at our
borders. No one >sneaking through holes in the fence.

3. All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together
and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90
days the remainder will be gathered up and deported
immediately, regardless of who or where they are. France would
welcome them.

4. All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited
to 90 days unless given a special permit. No one from a
terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don't like it
there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would
never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab
drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5. No "students" over age 21. The older ones are the
bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" (for
"deport") and it's back home baby.

6. The US will make a strong effort to become
self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing non-polluting
sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil
in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope
for a while.

7. Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10
a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go some
place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their
production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites
would be enough.)

8. If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the
world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or
whomever for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need.
Besides, most of what we give them is stolen or given to the
Army. The people who need it most get very little, if
anything.

9. Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island some
place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here.
Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter
or lockup for illegal aliens.

10. All Americans must go to charm and beauty school.
That way no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The
language we speak is ENGLISH.....learn it...speak it...or
LEAVE...

Now, ain't that a winner of a plan.

The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying "Give me your
poor, your tired, your huddled masses." She's got a baseball bat
and she's yelling, "You want a piece of me?"

Time to kick back and enjoy the rest of the evening.
That's it for now.

Posted by J_E_G 6:51 PM   

Sunday, April 25, 2004

 

What a weekend, full of ups and downs like riding on a roller-coaster. Spent most of saturday just kicked back and chilling. That is till my brother calls and says my sister is in town and for me to come over. If I'd have known what was to be, I would have passed. It's one thing to be invited over to have fun, but when I got there all my brother seemed to want to do was rag on me and try and get me riled up. I didn't let that happen and got through the evening with the aid of the phrase whatever. Stayed only a couple of hours, visited with my sister and headed home.

Today was work in the yard day. That is after doing some chores inside. Got the grass cut and then headed to wally world to get me a new hose and some flowers to plant in the yard. That's been about it exciting huh.




If you can't throw it away or otherwise get rid of it, then toss it in the middle of the yard and plant a flower in it.





Not a sight you really want to see outside the ER of your local hospital. What you don't see in the picture is the three other firetrucks and ambulance positioned around the rest of the hospital. Turned out to be a false alarm.....thank goodness.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:50 PM   

Saturday, April 24, 2004

 

May they rest in peace, and be remembered....All Of Them!!

(AP photo/Mat York)




While surfing around last night I came across the story of ex-NFL player Pat Tillman was killed in action in Afghanistan. I read the story of how he gave up a multi million dollar football career to join the army. This and seeing the photos of the memorials set up to honor him gave me a heavy heart.

But I soon came to realize that my heavy heart was not only for Tillman but also the hundreds of others (soon to be thousands) who have made the ultimate sacrifice and not really heard of with the exception of maybe having their name read once on the nightly news. What of the almost forty soldiers who will not be returning to Ft Riley or the seventy-eight who did not make the return trip to Ft Hood. Those and the many hundreds of other soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen who will not be returning home with their units. Where is the recognition for them, the memorials that we as thankful American citizens can sign. We need to be sure we remember and be given the chance to remember ALL who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, not just the ones of notoriety.

Of course if the Bush administration and the pentagon had it's way they wouldn't be thought of at all. They appear to not want us to know about those who have been killed in service to their country fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. They do not want us to see the images of the fallen hero's returning to their native country in flag draped coffins. In fact I believe the administration would be happy if they could keep us from seeing or thinking about any of the casualty's from the Iraq war, not only those killed but the many thousands who are wounded. What do they think they are accomplishing with this way of thinking? Do they think they are protecting us? Or maybe they think we don't realize that people will be killed? Well the last time I checked we the people of this country did not have stupid tattooed on our foreheads, it's war, of course we know there will be people killed. The administration claims it is out of respect for the families privacy that we are not to see these photos of returning hero's in flag draped coffins. But I don't see how it disrespects the families privacy when no names come along with these photos. My views are that Bush does not want us to see these photos for we might start realizing that things aren't as rosy over in Iraq as he would lead us to believe. But what Bush is in effect doing, is denying us the opportunity to share with the families and to go through the grieving process as a nation. It's time for Bush to start owning up to ALL the aspects of this war he started and quit trying to paint the picture of the rose garden.

That's it for now. Later.





The window in which Bush would like us to view his war through.

Posted by J_E_G 7:34 AM   

Thursday, April 22, 2004

 

It's been a gray and wet day. The kind of day that could sink you into the depths of gloominess if one would but let it. And I could have easily let this happen but I choose not to. Things are going good at work. This rain will help the grass we planted around the new building grow. And it's been enjoyable watching this build come to life with the addition of furniture and other equipment.





The rain is supposed to stay with us through at least saturday. But I remind myself that these spring rains are needed to bring forth life to the plants, flowers and trees around here. Thus chasing away the gray days of winter and replacing it with the deep green and bright colors of spring and summer that make this place around here just a bit more bearable to be in.








That's about all i can think to write for now. Although I do have a couple of ideas rattling around in my head but I have yet to transform them into words worthy enough to post. At least not yet. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:46 PM   

 

Won't be long now....


until my wild flower garden....


as well as the other flowers will be in bloom.

Posted by J_E_G 5:01 AM   

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

 

I've sitting here trying to get rid of a mild headache I've had most of the day. A headache caused by doing one of those should have known better, embarrassingly stupid things. Here's what brought about this mild headache. We were stripping off the skirting around the office trailer getting it ready to be pulled out when the job is done. When the skirting was put up they cut a small hole in a 2x4 board to support the outside water faucet. Of course the water pipe didn't just slip out of the hole so I had to pull rather hard and force the pipe out of the hole. The pipe did finally give, and when it did my head was positioned in a bad spot....right in front of the board. Yep, you guessed it, when it gave way I ended up slapping myself upside the head with the board. Smart move, right. Yeah I thought so too. It was one of those incidents where your first reaction isn't f**k that hurts, or even did I draw blood. Nope, it's a case where your first reaction is damn I sure as hell hope nobody saw me do that. At least the headache is finally starting to go away.

Ok, time to go out and figure out what to fix for supper. And since I didn't put anything out to thaw I fear my choices are going to be somewhat limited.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 5:55 PM   

Monday, April 19, 2004

 

Monday the start of a new week, and it looked as though it was going to get off to a rough start. As I was driving down the road heading for the gate to get on post, I saw that traffic was backed up further away from the gate then usual. As I got closer I could see the flashing red and blue lights and knew this wasn't an ordinary traffic jam. I was right there was an accident that had blocked my lane forcing the road down to one lane. As I was waiting for the traffic in my lane to take our turn to move past the accident three more military police cars, an ambulance and firetruck arrived on the scene. As I went past I couldn't see much due to the darkness. It looked like two, maybe three vehicles were involved and one of them had their rear end pretty messed up. I never really heard what happened, but my guess is someone was following to close and couldn't stop before rear ending the guy in front. You've heard of the four car length rule for following a vehicle, well around here these people believe in the four foot rule. And the amazingly funny thing is they always act dumbfounded and can't understand why accidents happen around here. Heh, go figure.

As for the rest of the day after getting to work it went rather well. Spent the day still trying to convince the grass to grow. Put another way, stood there holding a hose, dumping gallon after gallon of water on the ground. On the bright side I was out enjoying this nice day we were having here.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:03 PM   

Sunday, April 18, 2004

 

So yeah I made it up to my sister's in Topeka and back. Got the brakes fixed and headed back home late last night. All in all not a bad little excursion. Was hoping to get out and about in the big city(well big by Kansas standards) to take some pic's, but it just wasn't meant to be. Took a little more time on the car then we thought it would.

Right now I'm sitting here waiting for the storms to roll in....if they roll in. The weatherman says they will, but they have been known to be wrong. Hell we're even under a tornado watch, though I don't know why, I went outside and I didn't see no tornado to watch. OK, just kiddin, the fact is they issue tornado watches like every other day that any more I don't even pay attention to them. Now a tornado warning might peak my interest.

Alright I seem to be drawing a blank on what else to say, so I'm off to get my work clothes out of the dryer and prepare for the upcoming week.
That's it for now. Later

Posted by J_E_G 9:40 PM   

Saturday, April 17, 2004

 

A quick post before I get ready to head down the highway to go to my sisters. Going up there because her husband is going to help work on my car. Ok, he's going to do the work on the car, when it comes to those things my knowledge is very limited. Lately the car started to have a grinding noise, yep time to do some work on the brakes. Seems having the ability the bring the car to a safe stop is an important aspect in the art of driving.

Time for a blog recommendation. I found the link to this blog in the comments section of Kat's site. Words On A Page written by Wanda in my opinion is a very well thought out and well written politically oriented blog. However those of you who might happen to be pro Bush and in favor of all the bullshit that is going on in this country and the world now may disagree with me. I highly recommend it (for what that's worth) and think it's well worth reading.

Ok, almost time to hit the road. That's it for now. Later.



Words On A Page

Posted by J_E_G 9:48 AM   

Friday, April 16, 2004

 

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately.


A lot of thinking.


The trick now is to....

put those thoughts into words



and


the words into actions.

Posted by J_E_G 7:33 PM   

Thursday, April 15, 2004

 

We took advantage of a beautiful day today at work to do some landscaping. Seems the way the grass was growing or not growing was another of the things unacceptable to the inspectors yesterday. In fact we had three temp's come in to help. We spent most of the day filling in spots that had washed out, sowing grass seed and watering. It was so nice being out in the blue sky and sunshine that I didn't even mind pushing around a wheelbarrow full of dirt.

Question....How do you bring a job site to a complete standstill. I found out the answer is simple. Take one good looking female temp worker bent over getting grass seed out of a bag while showing off to all who was nearby and anyone else for that matter that she was indeed wearing a thong under those tight jeans. Yep, that's the sight I ran into as I came around the corner, five guys frozen dead in their tracks, jaws hung wide open and eyeballs bouncing on the sidewalk. Yeah I admit it, I looked too. I mean come on I'm a guy and besides you couldn't miss it. It may have been accidental but I'm not so sure she didn't know exactly what she was doing. And to think just a few days ago I commented on .Kat's blog that nothing exciting ever happened out where I work.

I also got to practice the fine art of patience on the way home from work. The pic below shows the line of traffic I ran into trying to get out the gate and off base to get home.




This is where the patience came into play. Below is the scene ten minutes later, moved a whole ten yards I think.




Took about twenty-five minutes to go the half mile and finally get out of the gate and headed happily home. And here I sit now with supper having been cooked and eaten and on my way to catch up on some blogs.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:36 PM   

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

 

It was a rather interesting day at work today. After being postponed for nearly a week we finally had our pre-final inspection on the building today. This was the first one of these inspections I had experienced and I had been told they were tough. I soon found out that what I had been told was very true. By the time these inspectors finished ripping us apart there were seven pages of things that needed to be adjusted, fixed or even redone. Most of what was found wasn't things that the people I worked with had done. It mostly involved things subcontractors had done. But since we represent the general contractor who hires the subs we bore the brunt of what came tumbling down today. I do foresee certain floor layers and painters being recalled to the job to to redo the floors and walls. Hopefully they'll do it right this time. Oh well, like I told a coworker today, it's job security. At least for a little while longer.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:37 PM   

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

 

Got home from work this evening and fixed me some roast chicken breast for supper. Sat down after I ate to do some blog reading and fell asleep at six thirty, just now woke up. Damn that means I missed GW's press conference. And I so wanted to hear what new half truths and the like he would come up with tonight, not to mention watching him tap dance his way around the questions he would be asked. Oh well, my guess is I didn't miss much.

Right now I'm going back to sleep, damn cold.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 10:22 PM   

Monday, April 12, 2004

 

Right now I'm sitting here with a feeling of rising pressure in my head as well as feeling as though it's stuffed full of cotton, waiting on the latest dose of cold medicine to start working. These last few days the temp's outside have been riding a roller-coaster going up and down, warm then cool. You know how they say changes in outside temp's are very conducive to catching a cold? Well they're right! Felt it coming on friday, but then felt fine over the weekend so I thought I had shaken it before it got hold of me. However when I woke up this morning I discovered otherwise. So I took some medicine and headed off to work. But guess what dummy didn't take the cold med with him to work. Yep, yours truly. So from the time the medicine wore off till I got off work was like moving in slow motion. Won't make that mistake tomorrow, that's for sure.

Ok time to go fix my supper, chicken noodle soup and vitamin C. That and some rest and I should be able to shake this in a couple of days.....I hope.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:26 PM   

Saturday, April 10, 2004

 

Was up bright and early this morning although I'm not sure why, I just can't seem to sleep in even on the weekend. Fixed myself some coffee and turned the tv to C-SPAN, that is until I'd had enough listening to the Bush-ites call in spouting their brainwashed propaganda about how good a job King George oops I mean our president is doing. Then went out and washed some dishes left over from last night, vacuumed the floors, put in a load of laundry, ran to store to get oil for mower and mowed yard. And did all this before noon. It's nice what a good nights sleep will do for you, except I didn't get that much sleep last night. Oh.....maybe it was the eight cups of coffee I drank this morning.




Another pic of the river I walked along last weekend. I must say this river holds true to it's name. This is the republican river and you will notice how it flows to the right.

Before I end today I'd like to wish everyone a happy Easter, and if you don't celebrate this holiday then I wish you a happy rest of the weekend.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 3:21 PM   

Thursday, April 08, 2004

 

Posted by J_E_G 8:25 PM   

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

 

Sever storms to the west, sever storms to the east, but the only storm around here is the occasional one between my ears. Right now there are a lot of things spinning around in my head like a twister spinning its way through a Kansas prairie. So I'm not going to try and form words into a post right now. Instead I'll let my photos do the talking for me. Hope you enjoy them. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:56 PM   

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

 

Had an interesting start to the day this morning. Seems the guy I work for and with was running late this morning and didn't make it before they closed the road down leading to where we work. So I had an hour to kill since he had the plans for the day as well as the keys to the room all the tools were locked up in. Since we've changed to daylight savings time it is now dark again when I get to work, giving me the chance to spend some of this time I had to kill watching the light of day roll in. As it did it exposed a sky that didn't seem to know if it wanted to be overcast or clear. There were plenty of clouds along with patches of clear sky. So it was unclear if it would be cloudy with a chance of rain or a sunny and warm day. But as the sun came up it took matters into it's own hands as it appeared to extend two arms through the holes in the clouds as if to shove the clouds out of the area. And you know what, it worked, as it turned into a nice sunny day. It also turned out to be one of the warmest days yet.

On my way home from work I stopped in at the grocery store and when I parked I looked up and there parked in front of me was this......





It was what appeared to be a new Nissan Z. That's about all I know about it except that I sure wouldn't mind having one of my own. I know dream on hehe. I think this is one car that Seduced could appreciate.




Ok, so it's back to my dreaming of a dream car or something even nicer. I'll let you figure that one out.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:38 PM   

Monday, April 05, 2004

 

Got an e-mail from one of my brothers the other day, or rather a form e-mail from him. That's how he communicates with me anyhow. A form letter or more like a newsletter e-mail style, about what he's been up to with a few pic's thrown in and addressed to the entire family.

So part of his news was that he was planning to get married, well remarried in september. Seems like I'm the only one in the family left who can use the word married. Part of his big announcement was he's getting married in Hawaii. Humm that ought to be an easy wedding to attend....not. I think I'm beginning to see a trend or a tradition in the making here. He is the second one in the family to go to Hawaii to get married. I'm trying to figure it out here, is it they just don't want other family members attending their weddings or what. I always thought that a person held their wedding locally so family and friends could attend and then went to places like Hawaii. I believe it's called a honeymoon. Oh well it's their life and their call. Oh, and the more I think about it, I believe it may be somewhat of a trend and not a tradition, because I definitely don't see me getting married in Hawaii. If and when that ever happens that is. But that's a whole other story for another time, if at all.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:16 PM   

Sunday, April 04, 2004

 

Here are a few of the pic's I took on my little walk yesterday. I'll post more as the week goes on. Well all but one that is. Somehow I lost it off the computer or the computer ate it. I was dragging pic's to a folder and took it to far and my pictures closed on me, and when I let go of the mouse button the pic was gone. Vanished, disappeared, fell into photo limbo I guess. Can't find it anywhere, even did a file search and it came up empty. And damn it, it was one of the better photos grrrrr. But hey, it's only a photo, I'm not going to bang my head into any walls over it. Anyway hope you enjoy the photos.

Time to catch up on some blog reading and get ready for the start of a new week.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:27 PM   

Saturday, April 03, 2004

 

Today was somewhat of a busy day. Not the made tremendous accomplishments kind of busy, but rather I just stayed on the go it seemed. Got up this morning and took care of some things around here while waiting on the mail. I normally don't wait around on the mail but my paycheck which is mailed to me on fridays was not in the mailbox when I got home yesterday. So I was waiting and hoping that all it was was some sort of snafu that delayed it for a day. That turned out to be the case, for it showed up in todays mail...phew.

After retrieving the mail I decided it was to nice a day to just sit around the house. So I decided to head out to this nature walk along the river and have a relaxing walk. I even took a pic or two, ok so at last count I took about thirty pictures. Spent a little over an hour and walked about three miles in the process. Funny thing about walking like that, you tend to work up an appetite. So I thought what the hell , I may eat soup the rest of the week but I'm gonna treat myself tonight. Alright I'm just kidding, about the soup that is. I headed out to Coach's, a cozy little place out on the highway and had me a juicy KC strip steak with all the fixings. It had been a while since I had done that and it was good!!

So now that I'm stuffed to the max, I'm going to download those pictures I took and hope I got at least one or two good enough to share with you good people. And then I'm just going to kick back and chill the rest of the evening.

Oh, and the dog in the picture above belongs to my brother and his family, that I got the honor of dog-sitting last weekend while they went out of town.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:33 PM   

Friday, April 02, 2004

 

Spent the day putting sealer on cement floors, even though it was so nice out I could've thought of a lot of other places I would have rather been. We are getting close to having this building ready to turn over to the people who are going to occupy it. All that is left really is tying up some loose ends and fixing the things that the inspectors find wrong. Might be done in a week or two, and I must say I have mixed feelings about that. It will be nice to be part of the completion/creation of this building, but then it will mean I'm back to the what's next. Oh well, I'll worry about, no I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. But wouldn't you know it, I finally find a job that I like, one I actually look forward to getting up and going to and it only lasts six months. As they say that's life.

Now to figure out what to do this weekend. And here's hoping everybody has a great weekend.
That's it for now. Later.



And in case you were wondering the STRAWBERRIES were fantastic.

THESE are for KAT, just the way you ordered them.





Oh what stories they could tell, if only they could.

Posted by J_E_G 7:41 PM   

Thursday, April 01, 2004

 

Seems that even on the sunniest of days there are storms clouds hanging just on the horizon waiting to sneak in on me. Must keep moving forward to stay just ahead of them. Have some major life changing decisions to make which may also include a move.






So now I have to come up with answers to the basics.....how, what, when and where. Especially the how.

But right now I'm going to fix me some strawberries topped with some french vanilla cool whip. Anyone care to join me.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 8:01 PM