J_E_G.....From the land of OZ

Monday, May 31, 2004

Sneaking time for a short post before I have to run. Hope everyones memorial day weekend good. Mine wasn't too bad, spent saturday and today painting my front porch and sandwiched in between that was a quick trip to my sisters to visit with my nephew before he heads back to Ft Drum New York to get ready to ship out to Iraq. Had kinda a family get together at a lake by my sisters place.
Good news on the job front though. Got a job that starts on thursday, if I survive the application process that is. But more on that tomorrow, gotta run for now.
Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:39 PM

Friday, May 28, 2004

This friday is the start of a weekend with a first and some lasts. The first being the memorial day holiday, the first real holiday of the upcoming summer season. The lasts being the last day of school here, to go along with my last day on the current job. Yep, got to work this morning and was informed today would be my last day. Not surprising really, in fact I lasted about a week longer on this job then I thought I would. I hate to see it end, but I guess its time to move on. The good thing is I was at the man power office a few days ago and it looks like there's plenty of work waiting. So on I will move. I'm sure it won't be the same as the job that just ended, but then nothing ever is. it'll be what I chose to make of it.
So, who has big plans for the holiday? Wish I could say I do, but I don't and that's ok. I do think I'll be driving my mom and myself up to my sister's house for at least a day. Her oldest boy who is in the army is home on leave and is on orders to go to Iraq sometime next month. So we're going to go and visit with him for a while. Other then that no big plans. Any case I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. And if not sooner I'll see y'all on the other side of the weekend.
That's it for now. Later.

Couldn't resist one last shot of the building before I drove away for the last time.

Posted by J_E_G 1:01 PM

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Sitting here trying to think of something to post, but the words have abandoned me right now. So here are a few pictures I snapped while out watering the grass at work today. I hope you all like them.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:23 PM

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

It's been one of those days. You know a typical day combined with a what can happen next type of day. Went to work this morning, as exciting as that can be, watering the grass. In fact we ended up taking off a couple of hours early, I mean there is only so much watering you can do. I've stood around watching the grass grow so much I swear I can almost see the grass growing.
I took advantage of the extra time this afternoon to go down and renew my car tags, something I've been putting off. But I figured I better get it done now. For if I didn't I just know I'd blow it off and the next thing I'd know the month would be up and I'd be running around on expired tags. Something I'm sure that if it happened the local police would be more then happy to remind me of, as they handed me a ticket for expired tags. Of course when I went down to get the tags is when the what can happen next type of day started. Went into the office to pay for the tags, twisted my way through that railing thingy that makes you wonder if you're there to buy tags or get on a carnival ride. Anyway got all the way to the front of the line and realized I had forgoten to bring my proof of insurance with me. So yeah had to go out and get it out of the car and start the whole process over. Getting the tags went without a hitch. After I got everything done inside I went outside to put the 2005 sticker on the license plate. So I knelt down behind the car, wiped the area off and placed the new sticker on the plate. Then I went to get up and found that my knee felt like it was stuck to the street. I looked down and discovered that I had knelt down right on top of some gum someone had thrown into the street. Broke the grip it had on me and stood up, of course the majority of the gum was still stuck to my jeans. Decided right then and there to head to the house before anything else could happen.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 3:40 PM

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

So today turned out to be a very nice calm, cool blue-skied spring day. A far cry from the stormy turbulent day of yesterday. This year sure has been a bad one for tornadoes. Fortunatly they left us alone last night. Not so for the little town of Republic up by the Nebraska border. They were hit twice in three days. I bet they are getting tired of damn near being sent on a trip to Oz.
On a totally differnt topic, I understand there is legislation in the work to reinstitute the draft. The "draft" a word that used send even the strongest of young men into horrific trembles. I know I lived through the last time we had the draft during the Viet Nam era. I remember how it was to turn sixteen and trying to find any way to bring time to a standstill so the next two years wouldn't go by and you would turn that magic age of eighteen. Maybe it won't turn out this way if the draft does come back. One thing is for sure there's a hell of a difference between the way it was during the Viet Nam war and now a days. I was really hoping it wouldn't come to having the draft again, but I think it's inevitabe with the way Bush is going about things. He has our military spread so thin now as it is. The way I see it is there's two possibilities for us. And that is get ready to have the draft so that we'll be able to defend our country, or do away with the source of the problem. That is vote Bush and his warmongering ways out of office.
Ok enough of this. My apologies, I'm trying to keep the war and politics out of my blog, but sometimes it just seems right.
Time to scare me something up for supper. That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 4:47 PM

Monday, May 24, 2004

Twisting The Night Away....Again
Yep, looks like we're twisting the night away again. And I'm not talking about dancing. It's turned into a rather volatile evening here with storms brewing up all around here. Good thing is so far these storms and many tornadoes are not in our area. But we have been warned to keep our eyes open. Hopefully things settle down soon.
I caught most of the speech our so called president gave tonight. I say our so called president because as I was listening to him I wasn't sure if he was the president of this country or the president of Iraq. To tell you the truth, as far as I'm concerned they can have him. I really don't know which is worse the winds outside or the windbag on tv.
That's it for now. I think I'll head outside and see if there is any activity in the sky. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:44 PM

Sunday, May 23, 2004

I'm kinda lacking on my updates lately, it's been a busy weekend. Oh ok, so maybe Ive not been that busy, would you believe lazy then. No, can't be that either, after-all I did get the yard mowed. Aww hell, let's just say I took a little blog break.
Now I know this year is flying by. It seems as though just last week schools were starting up for the. And now this weekend the high-schools and colleges in this area held graduation ceremonies. I was sitting here thinking about how we call these young graduates our future leaders, and well damn, we're building one hell of a world for them to step in and lead wouldn't you say. Makes one wonder what these yong people are thinking as they step out into the world of adulthood.
I did get out and about a little yesterday when I went down to investigate one of those traveling carnivals that had parked itself in our friendly little town over the weekend. Nope, didn't partake of any of the rides. To damned expensive, that and I don't do things that go round and round. That's where I snapped the pic above.
The weekend is dwindling down and so is this post. Time to do a little catching up on my blog reading and get ready to face the new week ahead.
That's it for now.

Posted by J_E_G 6:24 PM

Thursday, May 20, 2004

I like a good surprise every now and then just like the next guy. Only not when it comes to work. Those are usually the kind of surprises that aren't good. And that's what we got today at work. As I've said before we're down to getting the grass to grow around the building before we are finished. At least that's what we thought. Until yesterday when we found out that not only are we responsible for getting the grass to grow, but also for cutting it the first time. And if that wasn't enough, today they tell us that the dedication ceremony is monday morning and we need that yard looking ship shape by then. So now we're scrambling around trying to come up with a lawn-mower so we can get things done.

Yep we have one day to get this looking good and ready for the big wig VIPs monday. But not to worry, we will have it done and ready for their precious ceremony. It just would have been nice to have a little more then one days warning. Like I said I like surprises.....sometimes.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 9:45 PM

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

After a very rainy day yesterday, I'm sitting here with my coffee in hand listening to the birds chirping right outside my window. Hopefully that's a sign of a better day to come today, weather wise anyhow. With the day off due to the weather yesterday, what I thought was going to be an easy going relaxing day turned into a busy one with chore after chore around the house here popping up before me. And to top it off, I must have been more tired than I thought I was. As I sat down to make a post here last night I fell asleep in my chair before I could even pull blogger up on the computer. Well at least I'm feeling more rested and ready to go after that long nights sleep. Speaking of which, I better get my ass in gear if I want to make it to work on time.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 5:42 AM

Monday, May 17, 2004

Gonna do something a little different with this post today. Not going to talk about what's going on around me or in the world as a whole. I'm not about to say what it is I did or didn't do the past three days. But rather this post is coming from within, something I'm not used to doing, so bear with me.
This past weekend along with the typical house cleaning, laundry and yard work I took some time to do a lot of thinking. Thinking mostly of the fact that, no I'm not where I feel I should be at this time in my life. At this point in my life I should be embedded in a good job thinking about the retirement years to come, not sitting here in a job that's about to end, wondering what I will do next. How I got to this point is to long a story for me to put into words, that and I don't have the right words at the moment. However to put it in a nutshell somethings been standing in my way. What could that be, other people, objects, circumstances. No, what has been standing in my way I've determined is ME.
It's been right in front of me all along. Now this may sound selfish but I don't think about me enough, I don't stand up for myself enough. I've avoided many a situation for fear of rocking the boat and making waves. I realize now that for me to move on changes need to take place, which isn't going to be easy (at least not for me). There will be many things to be unlearned and a lot of things to be learned or relearned. The need to think more about myself, to stand up for myself more. To charge head long into any situation and not take the easy way out, even if it means making a few waves. I cannot keep walking through my life as if the world is made of eggshells. I'm seeing now that there are going to be waves and what I need to do is hold on a little tighter and ride them out. I also know this does not mean I have to do away with being the friendly, positive, caring person I already am. That's a part of me that will always be.
There you have it, I have a lot of work ahead in reshaping myself. And putting it down in words is a start. I could probably go on but as I said I'm not used to making such an open post from within like this, and if I don't stop and hit the publish button now, I'm liable to rethink this and hit the backspace key instead.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 4:47 PM

Friday, May 14, 2004

Back on Wednesday I made a light hearted post concerning tornadoes. I can do that because they just don't hit around here. But there are places in this state where they take tornadoes seriously, especially in the southern and eastern part of the state. And Wednesday was no exception when about twelve tornadoes were spotted. Luckily there were no serious injuries during this outbreak. Even though it's almost like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz below are three photos showing why tornadoes are taken seriously in these parts of the state. Click here to see some amazing video of the same tornado pictured below.
Ok, that's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 9:15 PM

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Posted by J_E_G 3:03 PM

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Today was a rather slow day, at least at work it was. We spent most of the morning waiting on a tractor with a tiller to be delivered. It finally showed up and we just about got the rest of the grounds tilled and planted with grass. And when they finally show up to pull away that office trailer we can get the rest of it planted and be done with it.
Right now I'm sitting here keeping an eye on the window wait for those ominous clouds to appear. But so far there are none in sight. We are under our first tornado watch of the year. I think it's the first, hell it may well be the second. I know this, it is one of what will be one hundred tornado watches we will be put under before the summer is over. Seems like everytime the humidity is high along with the air temp we get a tornado watch. What amazes me is the fact that we always get issued a tornado watch but not a thunderstorm watch. I mean I always thought the two went hand in hand, in that tornadoes followed a sever thunderstorm. You know I have never heard of a tornado dropping right out of the clear blue sky hummm. This is one big reason why I take all of these tornado watches with a grain of salt. Now a tornado warning is a whole other story. But then again we never seem to get those around here, all around us but not here. Which is ok with me. I wouldn't mind seeing a tornado, but I want it to be out in the country with no people and buildings around and from a safe distance. I doubt that will ever happen though.
I have been thinking lately of stepping up to the next level and doing an audio post or two. That is if my shyness doesn't win out and I end up chickening out. What do you all think? Which is the best audio service to use audlink or audblog?
Time to run. That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:32 PM

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

There's nothing like the smell of freshly mowed grass. And as I sit here with the windows open that sweet fragrance is permeating throughout the house. Thanks to the fact that I finally remembered to get some gas for the mower and got my yard cut before it officially became a jungle.
It was reported on the news here yesterday that we in this state will be graced by the presence of our president G.W., oh lucky us. However things have taken an interesting twist, on tonights news cast it was reported that an invitation was also extended to John Kerry who has accepted and will also be in our fair capitol city next monday. They will both be attending the 50th anniversary celebration of the Brown v. Board of Education court ruling. With the two of them in attendance at the same time what started out to be a run of the mill celebration could very well turn into an interesting event. I can't wait to see what happens. If I could swing it I'd get a ticket and go myself, but I'll just have to watch it unfold on tv.
Here are a couple of shots I snapped yesterday on my picture taking venture.

Oh, and not to worry, before I left the area this little guy had already scurried up a tree well away from the tracks.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:40 PM

Monday, May 10, 2004

THE MORNING AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE

Posted by J_E_G 8:38 PM

Just my luck, after spending a rather boring weekend I was actually looking forward to going to work on this monday morning. However due to the fact that it was pouring down rain this morning I gave myself the day off. I was able to do that because today I was the only one on the job. The big boss is back in Texas and my coworker/supervisor is not back from taking the u-haul loaded with office equipment down to San Antonio. Believe me it's not that I didn't want to work today, but the only thing I had to do today was work on the landscape and water the new grass. And since mother nature was taking care of that for me, I couldn't see any reason to stand around there with my thumb up my ass doing nothing. So I headed back home. Now I'm going to head out on a picture taking venture before this house swallows me up.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 12:16 PM

Friday, May 07, 2004

Warning this post may tug at the heart strings a little.
When lunch time rolled around I decided to head over to the post exchange (PX) to eat. The px is like a super department store for the military. There is a mall style food court there and thats where I was headed to. So I got there and bought me a chili dog and small soda and sat down. I know that's not very much, but hey it was hot out and I really didn't feel like eating that much.So while I was sitting there eating my chili dog I saw a young soldier come in with his two daughters. I'd say one was about seven and the other three or four. Both cute as can be, happy full of life and obviously excited to be having lunch with daddy. Before he sat down he went over to the wall where there was a remember the troops poster hanging and he pointed and said, look girls this is daddy's name here. The oldest enthusiastically shook her head and said proudly "yes, yes it is daddy". I thought it was a very touching scene. ( Alright I can be a sentimental sap at times.)
But then it happened, a sad thought came across me that shattered the happy scene that had just unfolded before my eyes. And that thought was, I wonder in the weeks to come and the weeks that have past how many wonderfully happy, full of life young children are or will be sitting there wondering where daddy is and why he isn't coming back. I hate thoughts like that, hell I hate times like these.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:35 PM

Thursday, May 06, 2004

When doing strenuous work out in 90 degree temp's always remember to drink plenty of water. Duh, everybody knows that so no need to say that....right. Well, yes most everybody does know that including me. However people get busy and sometimes don't think to drink plenty of water, including me. Yep, just about dried myself out today. I got so involved in trying to get a chore done today that I didn't think to rehydrate myself as the afternoon went on. That is until my mouth became so dry that even cotton seemed wet compared to it, and suddenly all my energy seemed to be depleted. That's when it dawned on me that I hadn't been drinking the water needed to keep me going. The good thing is it was right at quiting time and I headed straight for the house where I downed to 17 ounce bottles of propel fitness water and am working on a third. I take this as a lesson learned, fortunately all I got today was extremely thirsty. I was lucky, it could have easily been worse. So from now on I'll not only have plenty of water on hand, but I'll also be sure to drink it.
Ok now it's time to kick back relax drink more water and catch up on some blog reading.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 6:06 PM

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Well wheather I'm ready for it or not, want to accept it or not this job I'm on is about to end. With what we did today it started to finally sink in I believe. We spent today packing boxes and loading up a u-haul getting ready to turn in our job site office trailor.
Well, as they say when one door closes another door opens. I sure hope so. Hopefully my next job will be as good as this one was. Work that I actually enjoy doing along with co-workers that get along and work together as a team to get the job done. The latter being what I'll miss the most. But then who knows what the future holds in store. I'm not going to stress about it, I'll just do my best to keep moving forward in a positive direction.
Ok I hear the shower calling and after a day with the temp at 93F a cool shower will feel truely fantastic I'm sure.
That's it for now. Later.

Posted by J_E_G 5:25 PM

Monday, May 03, 2004

Posted by J_E_G 6:38 PM

Sunday, May 02, 2004

Before I get started first things first, I want to send out a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Melissa over at Butterflyteeth.

So we're fighting this war to bring about the joys of freedom to the Iraqi people. Freedom from a tyranny, oppression, and torture. In light of the latest news stories and photos dealing with the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners I have to wonder what kind of freedom we are bringing to Iraq.
Now this may be just an isolated incident or it may be wide spread and these people were unlucky enough to get caught. I know I'd like to believe it's just an isolated incident, and it may well be. But what bothers me the most about this is the statements made by those who were caught doing this. They are blaming the higher ups in the military for not giving them the proper training in how to handle and treat prisoners of war. So here's what bothers me, we are in sad shape indeed if we have to provide extra training in use of "common sense" and having a knowledge of "right from wrong".
I also do not buy into the excuse of well they did it to us. If that be the case what kind of example are we sending to the Iraqi's and the rest of the world when we stoop to their level.
I know I didn't go into to much detail, I just wanted to give my short two cents on this subject and offer up some food for thought. Also I choose not to post any of those pic's of this torture, I'm sure everyone has seen them enough already. If not, it shouldn't be that hard to find them.
With that said I see the sun trying to pop through the clouds outside so it's time to get on with this day. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.
Later.

Posted by J_E_G 7:37 AM