So It's the Last Day of the Year

I am glad this year is almost over, It was more of a transitional kind of year for me. I did not really accomplish much this year and with the advent of a new career looming in the near future I am just so anxious. I just cant wait for the clock to strike midnight, the bells to toll, and for the fireworks to fly! So I guess next should come all of my resolutions and such, that I will swear and promise to keep. Who am I kidding, I have never been one for "to-do" lists, they are just silly I think, I don't need reminders for what I know needs to get done. Resolutions are just another form of to-do lists. I guess that's enough of that. This should be my first complete year of blogging and I am looking forward to it. Tonight ought to be fun, and this time I will stick around for the Holiday, no taking off this time! You have my word on that. I feel like a little bit of live music, and still undecided of where I should go, it will depend on what kind of mood I am in. Whether I want to party or just hang out, and yes I know I kind of did the same thing not too long ago, but it is only rung four times a year with midnight tonight being one of them. I don't know maybe I should be like the Biffster and be out there making money pedicabbing drunk bastards around town! Or probably not! I highly doubt that L.A. is as bike friendly as Austin! There are just too many faux environmentalists in my state too willing to run some poor biker Ted off the road cause their Hummers and Escalades just need that extra lane room. Anywho, enough of my cynicism. Today will be fun and I must try to remain positive right?

BARNACLES!!!!

I apologize for cursing on the title for today's entry but I am a little ticked off. Some silly headhunter guy calls up and asked me if I was still in the jobmarket, I told him no, that I was waiting on the medical results for two companies. He was a little confused at this, apparently you aren't supposed to go this far unless you are taking the job. Why the heck not, why should I have to limit myself, especially if I have a possibility of failing their drug tests! I politely explained to him that as far as I was concerned nothing is finalized until all requirements were met, a drug test being one of them. He then asked if I was worried about the costs of this, of course not, why in the heck are companies so interested in what their employees are doing anyway. I am sure a lot of money is spent on pre-employment screenings, and a lot of money is spent on people like me that change their minds at the last minute for what ever reason. Who is really at fault here, I personally feel that a lot more money would be saved if companies just had a more liberal drug policy. OK, enough said on that, it feels so much better to get this out into the open. OK in today's news Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital straight out of Compton, CA, or King/Drew Hospital as it is known has failed a federal inspection, which will lead to them losing a lot of money up to $200 million. This is bad news for the already troubled hospital who had its trauma center closed about a month ago. A lot of people were crying foul, raising the ever so popular race card, including Jessie Jackson and some other local activists. Why are people so willing to save one of the most poorly managed hospitals of our time, hell the placed is dubbed Killer King for all of its horror stories that have permeated the local news. One of those horror stories involving a close friend whose details I will spare out of respect for his family. Anyways I just hope that something good will come of this, I am always hopeful for good things to happen especially out of the most trying moments. Oh to end things on a lighter note that barnacles thing with the title refers to a cuss word from the cartoon SpongeBob Squarepants. Alright I have a big day planned for today and no amount of negative energy will get me down.

Apocalypse!

Tornadoes in Southern California, what is going on in this world! Anyways there were a couple of small tornadoes last night, causing damage to just a couple houses or so. It doesn't look like any homes in the hood were hit! On more recent "Lou events", today I got asked to start the Hydrogen Plant job, I had taken the physical for this one last week, but I am not ready to make a decision yet. I hate delaying things. I need to know if I passed all the requirements for the power plant job. I hate making making these kinds of decisions, its not like I can refuse the job just yet, I need to know what is on the table before I can make the final decision. Those guys at AES better get back to me soon, well at least whoever does their lab testing, or I might just end up right back where I started. ugh! Anyways this decision might just affect the rest of my life, so jumping into it without fully viewing all my options is something I don't want to do. I wanna be sure, no regrets! More good news, my brother is a master mechanic for Lexus now, which means he can get some pretty good deals! I might have to get me a foreign car just for the good price, but no seriously, as far a luxury cars go those Germans leave a little to be desired. British cars aren't really my thing. Anyways I need to finish this entry, it is just taking too long. I'll probably add some more later, if I can remember.

Crazy Weather!

Thunder and lightning and tons of rain! Its kind of freaky that my direct tv system can forecast weather, well not directly, but being a satellite system it needs a signal from the satellite in order for yours truly to watch TV all day, sometimes when the clouds are real thick it loses the signal for a sec but comes right back. In all the years that I have had this setup never has there been a storm bad enough that causes a loss of cable for an extended period of time. But the freaky thing to it though is that when the signal does go away for a second or two it gives a very accurate warning to the heaviest part of the storm. Kind of like those sirens in some areas, but with my cable tv. That pretty much sums up the mood for today here. I did get one thing accomplished today, I went to do another pre-employment physical today, i got to see the results this time, no surprises all results were negative! Oh yeah, first time ever this has happened to me, the regular blood pressure cuffs were too small, they had to get the big one out, my bulging muskles are just too big!!! Maybe its time to lay off the 'roids!!!!! Wow, a tornado warning was just issued for Catalina Island and the storm is headed this way! Maybe I will get to hear those sirens here after all, I dont even know if they exist here, do they? I have never heard them before. Maybe we do have them but they're prolly rusted stuck due to lack of use!

Friendship Bell on Christmas!

I have been away for a couple days, it was kind of a nice break, not very well thought out but nice nonetheless! It started on Christmas day when I decided to go do something touristy this Christmas, I rode my motorcycle over to the Friendship Bell which overlooks the Port of Los Angeles, and provides one of the most scenic views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island I think I have ever seen. I was very surprised to see that I was not the only one there, this place was packed! It was such a great day too, temp was in the upper 60's with not a cloud in the sky with a little bit of an offshore breeze provided by the remnants of the Santa Ana winds we had earlier in the week. I am not the most spontaneous person out there and I was surprised that Instead of going home I traveled around for two days on my motorcycle, I dont know why, maybe cause the weather was so nice? My range limited by lack of $$$, so I roughed it, I spent saturday night at a rest stop, good times! I feel for all those going through some bad weather right now, I actually love the snow and envy those with mad snow driving abilities, Flint and Tom are two that come to mind right now! I remember driving across the country with Flint in His Firebird and myself in my Pickup, that guy had some cajones as he pretty much cleared the road for me the whole time, even though it should have been the other way around since I had better tires for those driving conditions. But he had the skills. I dont think I could have made that trip out there without him, actually I know I would not have made that trip without him, thanks Flint for helping me get to Norfolk, VA! I now own a truckers atlas thanks to Flint, which saved my butt while driving home from Golden, CO a town right by Denver in the middle of a snow storm. Both the I-70 and I-25 were closed due to severe weather, and I had to get home for Christmas 2003 one year ago! So about 2000 miles, and alot of caffeine pills, and alot of small highways later I was home by Christmas morning at 3:00AM!!!

Christmas Eve!!!

Darn this stuff is good! Traditionally speaking! I have always been a fan of tamales, which supposedly dates back to pre-hispanic time, so why it has become a Christmas tradition beats me. With good food one must have good drink. This year the poison of choice-Cask and Cream. This creamy liquor stuff is good. I have not imbibed in almost a year, actually last time i drank was at the Christmas party for my previous, previoius employer over a year ago. I remember that I did not know anyone, and instead of just sitting in a corner all quiet like i normally do, i opted instead to get stupid drunk on someone else's tab. But getting back to the subject at hand. There are many styles of tamales, and some are not the greatest, but when prepared with stuff you like they can be so good. Its almost like a pizza I think, the only basic ingredients are the dough and the sauce, and even that is debateable. Over the years it seems that myself and family tend to like the ones made out of chicken way more than any others, and this year that is the only kind we are making. Simple recipe, a little dough (masa) prepared traditionally, sort of like kosher masa if there is such a thing. A little bit of spicy tomato sauce (mole). A little pre cooked chicken. For a little bit of variety, some potatoe and sweet potatoe wedges on some of them. Then you apply a coat of dough (masa) on some corn husks and apply the filling, wrap it around and steam the suckers. The chicken is cooked before hand, so the steaming is really only cooking the dough and whatever else you use as filling! Good stuff! All this food and booze is making me sedentary, which makes me ponder! I wonder what came first to the americas, the white man or the tequila???? Such a profound question.

Ah the Santa Ana's!

As much of the eastern part of the country is snowy and cold, here in southern California the wind is a blowing! Not just any wind but the so called Santa Ana winds. This time they are not as warm as I am used to but dry nonetheless. In local news some crazy is shooting at people in the local freeways, more toward the riverside area away from the city. I hope they get caught. People like that give regular gunowners bad names. Has anyone out there heard of the latest cloning of a cat? I saw the local news mention the story and I will admit that the little kitty is pretty cute! But at what price? 50,000$ is the monetary cost, according to UPN 13 news. I am surprised that someone is willing to spend that kind of dough on a little kitty cat. I don't know, but I am not particularly fond of this idea, but who am I to stand in the way of science. The idea is cool and I am sure that other applications to this kind of technology can be made, much like the dander free kitties that some other company is making. But why are some people so reluctant at letting go that they need to clone a dead animal, its not like fluffy is gonna pop out of a test tube and biggity-bam it's chasing the local mice. Same cat different parents is not gonna equal the same cat. But hey people are free to spend their own money however they see fit right? Oh yeah, I got offered the operator job at the power plant today!!! I am gonna take it! Oh and thanx to Chance for this sinister quiz!

If i was a serial killer i would be Jeffrey Dahmer. The psycho killer of the 90's, Jeffery dahmer abducted, drugged, sodomized, tortured, murdered and devoured his young male victims one at a time. After receiving calls of a rancid stench emanating from dahmers apartment, investigators found the decomposing remains of over 12 young men. Dahmer would drug his victims, then proceed to drill a hole in their head, inserting acid into the brain, keeping the body alive but killing all other functions. he called them his "sex zombies". After the body would die, he would then proceed to mutilate and pose the body, taking pictures, and cooking and eating what was left over. Kill count: 12-13 Find what serial killer you would be, Take the Serial Killer Quiz now!

In no way do I support murder nor violence this is for pure amusement purposes only!

Another one down!

I interviewed for a power company today, the natural gas boiler plant owned by AES Global. It all sounded really good, and I think I might take this when they make the offer. I was a little worried about the age of the plant, but since I will be an operator that is not really a big concern. The interview went well, and I even met with the President of the southern California area, there are tons of plants and I think this offers the greatest chance of career advancement. They have locations in Latin America and I am sure my Spanish might come in handy a couple years down the road. The location is really nice too, it took me 15 minutes by car so biking to work would be feasible for a guy of my stature. They were really upfront about their pay, and since power in California is $$$ I think this job is just what my bank account needs. Bonuses can be up to 20% of your pay, half paid in cash and half into your retirement account. In other news I did my drug test for the Hydrogen plant job, it went ok. The clinic was in Long Beach near West Coast Choppers, I hate choppers and people who ride them! I will admit that those silly shows on TV are kind of cool to watch, but come on now how much is a piece of metal really worth? I have never really thought much about the west coast choppers guys, they have had a black owned business sign on their showroom for as long as I can remember. The signs became popular during the L.A. Riots to keep black people from burning other black people's businesses. Move on! Why should it matter who owns the business? When I drove by today their black owned sign was still up, also on their showroom windows was painted in large letters "Santa is Fake" with a demonic looking Santa drawn in. I don't think this is the right kind of message a "Black owned Business" should be putting out. I mean I know I am not black, but I doubt this would be in the black owned business tenet! Regardless I don't think its a message any business should be putting out. Although I am a fan of pissing people for all the wrong reasons, I did not think this was the way to do it!

Eureka a Template!

I think I am finally very satisfied with the look and feel of this template. I like this one very much only a few minor changes to Louiefy it. Any thoughts? I am still sort of working on the color, first attempt did look bad, as was noticed by others too. Oh and I think found a new workout routine "so the ladies will be all up ons"!!!!

Semi-annual Maintenance

I finally got around to cleaning my guns/gats today, depending on what genre of music you listen to. Myself I own two, thanks in part to Bob's gun shop located in an eastern town of Norfolk, Virginia the last place I called home. Apparently you are supposed to clean them after every use or about twice a year whichever comes first. And since I still have not accomplished my longtime carreer goal of becoming a druglord my guns have been suffering from lack of use!!! Levity aside, the real reason i have not gotten a chance to use them as often as i would like is that I have not found a range that is close to me, and who also wont rip you off. For some reason the ranges here seem to charge a good deal of $$$ to their patrons regardless of having membership and paying your dues. I dont think that is right and refuse to pay each time I go. It went well, I can "field strip" both guns in under a minute! Which is not much of an accomplishment since one of them is a Glock model 21 (argueably the easiest guns to clean), but the other one my fave is my Kimber, tactical custom 1911 model. I usually take my time when cleaning them, making sure every little corner is cleaned properly and oiled sufficiently. I love the smell of the cleaning solutions too, some different brands smell funny but the one i use smells kind of nice. I can't wait to put some holes in a target!!! Oh yeah for those wondering i wasn't in my underwear while cleaning my gats, although the thought did cross my mind! Even though i was properly dressed while cleaning my guns I still think the fed ex guy fealt a little uncomfortable when he came by!

I hate carrying paperwork!

After going around in circles a few weeks ago I found myself ready to finally get my motorcycle license. I really want to get it done now because since i find myself without a job for the time being, this fact has allowed me to stop shaving, so I want to do this so i can get my new license with a beard. Or at least thats what I call it, for those that have seen my try to grow facial hair in the past!!! I dont think they take a new picture anyways, to minimize costs they just reprint the pic on record. But to do anything at the DMV you need a copy of registration, insurance, and a picture ID. I seem to have misplaced my registration again, it costed 25$ to get a duplicate made a few months back. WTF, thats almost like one years worth of licensing fees for a motorcycle. Luckily it was time to renew my registration, so i should get one mailed to me shortly (shortly means like 6-8 weeks when dealing with the state). I have till the end of january to do my behind the wheel test on the motorcycle, or else take the silly written test again. So as soon as those slow DMV people hurry up and send me my stuff, i can go show them that i can safely drive around in circles so I can get my license.

I'm a Coffee person damn it! REV. 2

Ever since living in the northwest for a few years I became quite the coffee snob! But for a little bit over a year now I have had my coffee maker sitting in my storage unit, and have been taking care of my fixes via instant coffee. INSTANT COFFEE! Such an abhorrent way of getting your fix, I will admit it is kind of convenient though. So in the spirit of doing things the right way, and not the convenient way, I have been slowly making the shift over to Tea. There is so much variety out there, and with the winter season here, a little tea might be good for the soul right? Today I am trying something different, it's somewhat of an iced tea, and traditionally a Mexican brew! The tea is called Jamaica, and it is not pronounced like the Mediterranean Island, uhhhh, correction carribean island, thanks goff for keeping me honest!!! But (ha-MIKE-ah). It can be really good when prepared properly, and I would highly recommend trying some of the professionally made stuff before attempting your own brew, the drink can normally be purchased at your local Mexican restaurant. It is probably the red jug sitting next to the horchata! My previous attempts at brewing this particular stuff have not been so successful, but tonite it went well. It tasted and smelled the way its supposed to. Victory at last is mine!!!! Now if I could compare this drink to something just a bit more common it would probably be like cranberry juice a la kool aid style, seeing that the smell is really prevalent in this particular drink!

Jimmy Carter!

I saw Jimmy Carter on the Tonight Show last night when I remembered how I have wanted for quite some time now to meet this former president. It's somewhat of a little known fact that Carter was a nuke, although a Tod, but still a nuke. I wonder if he was as Disgruntled as most nukes tend to be or if he was a penis? Either way, whatever! Enough of that!
Today was great I did absolutely nothing! I watched three movies, all in a row, It was so great. I need to quit being such a bum, it feels really good though. I played some blackjack online, I still got it! I also played a game called bookworm on yahoo games, this game is the bombdiggity! Helps keep the mind sharp. I always score high, a good game can take a few hours so beware!!!

Catalina Island!

I've got it! There are no cars allowed on the island by outsiders, the only ferries are people ferries, and if you live there, there is like a 5 year waiting period to even own one. Alternative: Electric cars (i.e. golf carts with more umph), Bicycles, and your own two feet. I was there just a few years ago and don't remember seeing one car at all. There is also a huge Buffalo herd that roams freely around the island, rumor has it that a small herd of 14 was brought in when filming a movie, the heard never left! There is no hunting allowed yet, sorry Dex! This is what really gets me though, there is a casino on the island famous for it's Art Deco design. I don't really care much about the design just the fact that I could walk back home stumbling drunk! Much like All Star Lanes Bowling and Casino. I doubt there would be any pipes in ditches to drag back home with you though!!!!! I think this would be the perfect place for me when I hit it big, hell it might even be a good place for a band, playing to tourists from the mainland! I will have to get my bicycle out and ready and go for a ride around the island to see what opportunities if any this island might have for me, and/or the greatest rock band of all time!!!!

Not a Pothead!

I found out today that the Air Products people are interested, the only thing left in this process is for them to finish my background check! After that I will have to take a drug test! This is the part that i am worried about, one of the few times where I dont really know for sure if I can pass a test. It has been a while though, and during that time frame I was working out constantly where I was drinking a crap ton of water and eating alot of food. So I am almost certain that I will pass, and since It only took a few hits to get me messed up it's got to be out of my system right? I spoke with Andy Curts today as well, he was contacted by Air Products since i used him as a reference. He said good things obviously, Its good to have intelligent friends!!!! I think some of the examples he used I had used as well, validating my sea stories. I also got an e-mail from an old friend that I have not heard from in a while. I felt bad because I have not talked with her in a while. I can get so self involved at times that I can go for a while without keeping in touch of those who matter. I need to be better at keeping in touch with friends, I think thats why I like blogging so much, it makes it alot easier to see what friends are up too!!!! Oh yeah I quit my old job too!

More Proof Positive!

I started out friday with a second/final interview for the hydrogen operator position in fabulous Carson, California, it went very well. The only negative was due to the fact that I showed up about a half hour early, i figured it would be difficult to get into the plant and it sort of was, but still I caught them during their lunch break. I felt so terrible, they were all so diligently eating their burritos from Diana's Mexican Food while trying to make small talk. Oh well, I was impressed at the fact that all of the workers there from technicians, operators to supervisors happened to move to California for this job. Which means that this job is a. very selective, and b. desirable, hell one of the ladies is British. I got to tour the plant too, it is so impressive and I would be in charge of a Natural Gas Boiler, Feed/Condensate system, a small turbine generator, a reverse osmosis plant, and the Steam Methane Reformer plant, and other stuff that I dont remember. I was like wow, I could do this! The plant is only six years old too!!!! I liked the way they did the interview too, it was all pretty easy stuff, for a nuke, they usualy had to stop me from answering too much in detail. One of the ones I geeked out on was asked by the head honcho, who asked "If i spill this glass of water will that water still be here in a couple of weeks?" I think he stopped me right as I was going to talk about the ventilation (air conditioning) of the building. Unfortunately to add more to my indecisiveness I found out that same day (Friday) when i got home that I passed my test for the Operator position at San Onofre Nuke Plant!!!! I am sure that was the hardest part since everything else will now be based on plant knowledge and not IQ related crap! I was so happy when I found out I passed! I am so ready to quit my insurance job, and am not looking forward at the next few months of paying the bills, or not paying them for that matter!!!!! The choice will be between the Hydrogen Plant, and the Nuclear Power Plant, I think, nothing will change the fact that ever since I was a little ted, I was fascinated by that site, and in a weird sort of twisted way everything that i have done with my life seems to be leading to the nuke plant. Oh well, soon it will all be just a matter of $$$, and will most likely stay in the area. Hell I dont think I would even fit in in a wealthy neighborhood for the nuke plant. I just want to do squeely burnouts in my trashy firebird, and ride around in my noisy pickup truck with a dirt bike strapped in the back a la Tom Rupprecht. Hell it might help me get some mad b-tches according to Beau Sanders!!!! I also thought this site was cool and was impressed to see that my name is just one more common than the word vanilla, Vanilla Ice you ain't got nothing on yours truly!!!! Oh yes I did come up with a legitimate negative to this positon as far as career advancement goes, any supervisory role would involve moving to a seperate facility, more than likely out of state. I am more than happy being a worker Ted, but I dont know!!!!

I need help!

I am such a wreck right now, I dont know what to do. I am basically looking at three jobs right now all with different pros and cons, I really need people's opinion on this. I am in the process of interviewing for three jobs, all about similar pay but different areas.
The first is the one I interviewed for today. I did well, it is for an operator position at a steam methane reformer plant with air products. I will start with the pros.

• It is only like eight miles away

• The HR lady (who was single and hot by the way) knew what a nuke was, making the interview really informal. She said alot of nuke's end up at Hydrogen Plants

• They seem to want me on board as soon as possible

Cons

• At about 22$/hr it pays the least

The next is with AES global, it is a huge electric company with a bunch of contract plants everywhere. The job here is an operator position, and here too I did real well in the first interview and the interviews were with the team leaders of the plant, i think they are like EWS's.
Pro's

• It is the highest paying, the technician makes 25/HR and I dont really know what the operator makes
• It too is very close to home like 10 miles away
• The technology is simple, the only difference is the heat source-natural gas boilers, and the TG's are GE
  

Cons

• The plant is really old, like 60's old

The next is at the SONGS plant which would ideally be the next progression in my carreer as an RO.
Pros

• It is unionized, although i dont like labor unions, I am sure that this make it a plus
• This is the only job that I have been looking at that I have found on my own
• The position is for a reactor operator apprentice and the pay is almost the highest at 24.75/hr for this entry level position. I am sure this offers the greatest opportunity for advancement since this is an apprentice position
  
• I allready did this job and was good at it

Cons

• They are not looking at hiring any time soon not till like february, the process will be slow and I still dont know if i am even a consideration
• I would have to relocate, to a wealthy area which requires $$$ that i dont have

All this crap is interfering with my job, with interviewing and lack of motivation I think people are starting to notice at work. Of course it did not help that my manager found several copies of my resume at the printer. I knew this would happen somehow, you see I attempted printing some copies of my resume to take with me to the hiring conference. First attempt failed because the printer was unplugged, I then decided to try another printer and bingo the other one worked. I figured since I had no printer status, and the printer was not connected that would be the end of it, But sure enough I guess as soon as it was back online it shoots out my resumes. Luckily they were found by my manager, who kind of knows I am unhappy there, he also knows that I want to work at a power plant and if given the chance I would take it. He was cool about it, telling me I should be a little bit more discreet about it, I told him not to worry.

Secure From The Drill!

My schedule is crazy, I interviewed for another job today. It was the position that had caught my eye at that silly Orion conference. The Orion people had called me to ask me where I had been and if I would be there for my interview, I was like whatever and decided to go. It was kind of funny that I had to drive for 2 hours and back just for one interview, with a power company that is only miles away from me. It is actually right off one of the river beds that I used to ride my bike through. The position advertised was a technician job, I told them I am an operator and would like to be considered for an operator position. They asked me some basic interview questions, and also asked me if I had been involved in any high stress situations. I only recall one, it was with section 2 during a steam line rupture drill, with Eng Buchanan and Steele as EDMC. I was the RO, Wally was the EO, and I think Goff was the TH, I dont remember that one, but I am pretty sure if was the GOFF, and Breckel was the RT. I remember we had everything isolated, even one the RX loops, and the boat starts sinking thanks to the Cone not expecting a loss of propulsion, we secured from the drill immediately, The Eng assumed the watch and ordered a single loop fast recovery startup I was like biggity bam ain't no thing, I was in the power range super quick like, thanks in part to my excessive SUR, I was very very very close to causing a protective action. Luckily no one noticed, they trusted me as a good RO and I needed very little permission, or acknowledgements to do anything. Wally did his thing shifting the electric plant while keeping the engine rooming moving along. I think this whole incident only lasted a few minutes, we were a good watch section! That is the only part that I do miss about the Navy, I explained all this to them in non navy talk and they were kind of fascinated by it. They then asked how I felt during this stressful situation, I said it felt good, knowing that your watch section was operating like clockwork! If i get this job I will have to consider it, the technician job pays 25$/hr and I would assume the operator makes even more. At the end of the interview where they ask you if you have any questions for them I dazzled them with my knowledge of their site, I knew which rivers they took suction from and since I had not seen any cooling towers I asked them if they had any problems with clogged condensers from all the trash in these rivers, apparently they have some way to filter this out. That was it good interview overall. Always ask for business cards too, at the end of interviews, it makes writing thank you notes really easy, especially if they have an e-mail address. I then analyzed this whole day and I realized that these headhunting companies really piss me off, you see the way they make money is commision based. The more people get hired, the more money they make. And one of the things these f-ckers do to better their numbers is to get weak candidates to interview just before a strong candidate, to make someone look better per say. They do this by getting a feel for how you interview by making mock interviews with their own staff, since I was disinterested and not thinking of coming back they thought I was a dumb dumb, and they basically had me come back to make someone look better. They even schedule you to interview early in case you are late it wont matter since they think you suck and wont get hired anyway. I was almost late too, thanks to our president, he visited camp pendleton near my favorite power plant, traffic was really bad near the base, sort of like norfolk when the the Reagan was commisioned, really really heavy. Its also near the part of the I-5 with the mexicans crossing freeway sign, I wonder if Mr. Bush saw this sign since its on the way to the base, or if he took his chopper. I was flying fast and furious style after traffic cleared and made it with 10 minutes to spare. I got a drink of water and went to interview, It was good, I was a little nervous at first, mostly from driving wrecklessly for the past half hour, but soon calmed down. It will be a natural gas powered boiler plant with a crapton of GE turbine generators, I think I could handle it, I got some books at the library to learn me up on the differences so I can be better prepared for future interviews if any. I mainly go to the library because there is this cute girl who I kind of got the hots for, I had not been there in a while and luckily for me she is still single. She made her hair all spiky too, but she is still hot.

Steroids and Professional Sports!

I was glued to the television set last friday night watching 20/20's interview with Victor Conte, the founder of the now infamous Balco undergoing investigations for it's undetectable steroids. It has been a well known fact that baseball players have been abusing steroids, mainly because of the lack of testing, and very little is done when a player does pop positive. Cocaine has also been used by many including Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, and Ken Caminiti who recently passed away due to life long abuse. Mark McGwire was known for using Andro which is a steroid precursor not considered a drug, and can be bought over the counter at GNC's or other places like Max Muscle. It is always pretty obvious who takes these kinds of products, and the only thing that really bothers me about this is when players try hiding the truth, Fu-k Barry Bonds, F-ck Marion Jones, -uck Tim Montgomery. I am surprised that people aren't throwing the race card trying to defend these cheats. Even Jones' former Husband admitted to working with Conte while she still denies everything. I have nothing against people who use drugs, however I do have a problem when they get caught and lie about it especially when they use it for monetary gain. I differentiate the recreational use of drugs vs. the professional use. Hell if they want to do the 'roids they should join the Mr./Ms. Olympia competitions where the use of steroids is condoned.

Random tidbits!

Really busy weekend! The power went out again, it was like dejas vous I could have sworn that this exact same thing happened last saturday. I think something near must have a large load that only comes on saturdays. The only thing that might have that capabilty is a huge hospital, i mean this facility is so big that its got two cooling towers, and a helipad on the roof, BIG. This power outage took out street lights in my neighborhood, which made me realize that california drivers although notorious for being bad drivers, are still not as bad as the ones I saw on the east coast. People were actually doing the right thing when coming to an intersection whose traffic lights are not on at all, this in contrast to the commonwealth of Virginia where people had no idea as to what to do. I am glad i am living in California! I also went to a crappy little hiring conference by orion, it sucked, will never go to one again. I had no interest in any of the companies they wanted to set me up with, and for those getting out beware of positions calling themselves Field Service Engineers, it's like a glorified name for fixing high priority crap and for some reason they like TED's for these positions. You will always be on call in a position like that, I am only interested in two positions at this time San Onofre Nuke Plant, and a Steam Methane Reformer operator/tech position near my house. The pay will be less near my home, but I wont have to move and If I get offered this job and if I like it I might have to turn down the job at San Onofre, I dont know what to do. I will interview with air products this wednesday for the Hydrogen plant job, and I think I can get it. If I do and get the San Onofre Job too I will be in quite a pickle, I dont know, why is life so unclear. Both are forms of energy which are considered clean and hydrogen might be the future in automobiles. I think I might like staying here vs. moving out to San Onofre, although the surf might be better and the housing is prime I dont think I would fit in. I mean I like living in the ghetto, its where I grew up.

I don't know how I did!

I tested for an operator apprentice position with Southern California Edison for the San Onofre NUKE plant today, I dont know how well I did? It reminded me of an IQ test, it was weird. About 20% of the test had nothing to do with the job. And it was designed so that you don't finish it, it had several sections that were seperately timed. The math portion was really retarded, alot of it had conversions that made you use their charts. Which would have been fine except that their conversions were purposely wrong, this was frustrating. Especially when converting between the same english system just to smaller units, since when is a gallon 130 oz, and a cubic yard 28 cubic feet, WTF!!!! I could have done better if they did not decide to change things around. Oh well other than that it was pretty basic chemistry, mechanical, and a little bit of electrical theory which I did real well on. I will find out in about 2 weeks if I passed so I can take another test!!!! I really want this job, starting pay as an apprentice is higher than all of the jobs that have ever been offered to me yet, once qualified about six months to a year after starting, I think pay may be in the three digits.

On Hold Once Again!

I have only been involved in three situations where I have had to call the authorities for help. None of them have really been all that serious, but nonetheless meritted a call for help. What I have noticed from my minor experiences is that with all that technology one would assume that newer mediums of communication would offer the quickest response. Well not for me. You see last night I was driving home on the 91 freeway, which really sucks by the way, and although good intentioned a carpool lane with no shoulders is somewhat dangerous. So when I saw a car that had just broken down in the carpool lane with the passengers (there were like 5 diligently carpooling) deciding it safer to run across to the safety of the right shoulder than to wait it out in their own car, I found myself really concerned. Moreover being middle of the night I figured that an accident was very likely to happen soon if the smokeys did not intervene. So instead of calling 911 since this is not an emergency yet, I called the CHP directly! I was on hold forever, I kind of expected it though, and by the time I was able to give my report I had almost forgot what exit this was at. I thought about it when I got home over some terriyaki chicken and steamed rice, not Chung's Terriyaki caliber but close enough, I recalled an incident that happened when I was driving cross country in my butt-rock Firebird a few years back. I witnessed some poor soul drive themselves off the interstate when I hopped on my CB radio pushing the button for channel 9 and gave a succint distress signal along with location which was responded to immediately. I dont think the authorities seem to value real time information as much as they should, I was luckily able to give an accurate location last night because I am familiar with the location but in an unfamiliar area any attempt at describing the location would have been near impossible.

How SLUTTY are you!

I cant help it but post one more silly test but I think this one is kind of cool. I wanted to get 69% so i guess i failed!!!! Just click on the pic and take the test

Word Of the Year!

Congratulations to all of you out there who post diligently on your blogs, but especially all my friends with blogs. I am very glad that this kind of thing is getting some recognition!!!! Enough of that though and on to current Lou events. I got contacted by another headhunter, this time I got really excited about the job he was talking about. It would be at a hydrogen recovery plant next to a refinery, it is an operator position, with some electronic stuff too, I am not really pumped about the job per say but the fact that it is so close to me rocks! It is less than 8 miles away in the city of Carson according to the headhunter guy. But I am sure if I mapquest it will be more like 6.9 miles away!!! Another thing I thought was cool was the fact that the headhunter is from Colorado Springs. Now admittedly so my dream job would be at the San Onofre nuke plant which is really far away, and I would have to relocate and I am sure I could not find a home that close to the site. But this job on the other hand I could ride my bicycle to work, and even though part of the ride would have to go through some bad parts of town, mainly Compton, the ride there would be through a nice wide open street!!! As a matter of fact I could get there by just taking two different streets, Imperial HWY to Santa Fe Ave. which turns into Alameda. So I guess technically its three. These Streets are fairly new too, and the last stretch of the ride would be through a stretch of alameda infamous for its street racing. No problem to me though, maybe if I get a spoiler on the bicycle I can get pulled over!!!! I know I can get this job and hopefully I can go interview soon.
On another note I cannot admit to anything like this, especially now that I might be in the job market, but I was impressed at the accuracy of this quiz. I got this quiz from Christina I will compare the results to one of my favorite movies "The Big Lebowski" if I drank still I would have me a white russian. Take this quiz for yourself!

You are Marijuana. Mary Jane, Weed, Pot, Chronic,
dank, Ganja, the sticky green...The easiest of
all drugs. You're not particular, you'll f%&k
anyone up, and for that reason, EVERYONE's on
your case...harsh, dude.
What Drug Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And a musician I admired Miles Davis was known for his use of this drug!

You got served!

Not talking about the movie! Apparently someone is claiming that their little chihuaha was attacked by our dogs who are kept inside a gated/fenced property. Our dogs are mutts but are about the sizes of a lab. Since our dogs are fairly large with large snouts something does not sound right. Is it possible for a larger sized dog to cause any considerable damage through a chain link fence? Or is it more probable that a smaller dog would stick their snout allowing itself to become a target? I dont know, but what I do know is that this guy is not well liked and has been known to taunt other neighbor's dogs. When walking a dog I would hope enough control be in place to keep this from happening. I looked it up. Some local codes state that in order to legally walk a dog it must be vaccinated, licensed w/tags displayed, and the leash no longer than 6 feet, there is also some verbiage about the one doing the walking, apparently it is a requirement to be competent. I think that last part might be in our favor, but whatever, pets are pets. I know its usually a grey subject with pets, especially since I was not even witness to what happened, something just doesnt seem right though. The hearing is not till january and I will look into the other dogs licensing, vaccination records, and hopefully get some pics with the dogs not wearing their tags. Anything suggesting incompetency on their part will be great.

Good Movie

I just finished watching one of the better movies that I have seen this year, now for those out there who know me now that is not really saying much because I will watch almost anything, hell I have seen some pretty forgettable movies. This year though I have not seen too many in the theatres and dont really plan on it, I just mostly see them here on TV since I am paying $$$ to the direct tv people so might as well take advantage of it. On IFC tonite was "Prey for Rock and Roll" it was pretty darn good, I missed the first couple of minutes but darn this movie was amazing. It brought back so many feelings. Back in the days of when I too was part of a band. For those out there who know what I am talking about we need to get together again I hope! Now this movie is not for the faint of heart, it was pretty graphic and nothing was held back. I thought Gina Gershon was amazing in this, I think I have a little crush on her now, just a little one though. Have I ever mentioned I have a thing for older women!!!! Not geriatric old but you know what I mean right?!? I want to play so bad, I have not played my Ibanez along with my Marshall amp in over a year now, what a combination, It gives me chills just thinking about it. Acoustic is good but nothing beats obnoxiously loud guitars, although it was bad for the hearing not using hearing protection I think ended up being good for the soul!
It is getting late now and I wish I could write some more about stuff I actually did today but I need to do the dishes.

I GOT THIS IN THE MAIL!

Our records indicate the expiration for your enlistment in the individual ready reserve is in the next 90 days. It then goes on and on about some navy stuff and some propaganda which I dont really feel like going into!!!! It was good news, I guess I had joined that stupid DEP program earlier than I thought. What does all this mean, well not much, but in a couple of weeks I will be completely free of the military, no more junk mail, no more threatening letters trying to force me into giving the navy updated contact information. I never once returned one of those and it did not seem to affect me at all. So when you Teds get out here shortly Nate and Dex dont bother returning those.
More good news, the power is finally back after being gone for a whole day and a half. I was just starting to worry too. I had emptied the fridge and cleaned it out with soapy bleachy water and cleaned out all the drawers real well. Just as I was done and thinking about buying a crap ton of dry ice the radio came on, I had disconnected most of the appliances including the fridge to avoid those high starting surges just a little bit of courtesy learned from my shitty old job. The outage was a bit more prevalent than i thought too, and either 69 XFMR's decided to blow up simultaneously yesterday or standard operating procedure for the power company is to replace all of the one's involved in the outage.
I also got a lot of stuff done today, I got the motorcycle out put some miles on it! Dont want to clog out the carburetor's in my baby. I rode it to the local DMV, which so happens to be the one in Compton, I got some practice going around in circles at the DMV obstacle course painted onto the surface of the parking lot, I still have not gotten my license just my permit. I should have no problem passing the obstacle course hell I almost have a full year of practice cause I have been to lazy to take the behind the wheel test.
I also put some miles on my poor little truck thats been sitting for almost two months, unfortunately diesel prices here in california went higher than gasoline for some reason. It had been sitting for so long that the diesel in the tank was making the truck smoke, so i gave it a few new gallons of diesel and once it went through the smokiness went away.

Kaboom!

I have never heard something blow up this loud, well actually I have, but never this close. The Transformer that powers my neigborhood located in my backyard decided to call it quits in a very eventful sizzle then bang. Last time I heard one of these suckers go was about ten years ago +/- a few during the L.A. riots, one of the local video rental stores went up in flames overheating its transformer located near the store and bang it blowed up! These are the regular auto transformers you find everywhere, and although little they they have a very high power rating therefore packing a good punch. There is only one house with power here, actually an apartment complex it must be powered by a seperate transformer, and since I still have wireless internet it is probably someone in that apartment who is kind enough to share it with me!!! I am also near a large hospital where i might be getting a signal too, both in the same direction so I know where to aim my bridge to get an internet signal. I called the power company right after this happened to tell them my power was out, they asked really retarded questions like "may we be of excellent service to you?" I was like hah? She finally asked "how can I help you?" to which I replied the transformer in my backyard blowed up and I would like to know if you can restore power by this evening! I wanted to watch the fight on pay per view tonite, it is probably going on right now but still no power, luckily I did not order it, because pay per view is non refundable and I would be so pissed If I would have spent 69$ and not be able to watch it. I had to get some new candles too, I hate the dark, had some left over from the hurricane but needed some more. I also saw Sean tonite! It was nice seeing him. We did some catching up at a burger joint near his friend Eric's place. I got to see his new ride, I was impressed. He made me want to start playing in a band again, and since he is not that far away it is definitely a possibility. Another thing that came of this day was near that burger joint was a refinery where I had interviewed for a position almost a year ago, it was for a company called BOC gases at a CO2 plant, during the interview process I found out that the Carbon Dioxide is a byproduct of the refinery process and that this carbon dioxide gas is processed (compressed and cooled) and then sold mainly to the soda people. I was kind of disgusted at first but then soon forgot about it, since I did not get the job, but every now and then I get reminded of why soda is bad for you. I mean this stuff comes out of petroleum, yuck! Oh well hopefully sometime tomorrow the power will be back and the fridge wont stink too bad.

"A" for effort!

Well I was impressed, brining the Turkey was probably the best thing I have ever tried. It made the turkey 10 times better and juicier. Another thing that I tried today was cooking the turkey upsidedown, breast down actually. This makes the breast pieces a little juicier too, this led to the only trouble of the day. The Turkey was literally falling apart. It was that good, all the meat was falling off the bone. I have never seen that happen, and now I have to turn it upside down to get the turkey breast side up! This was very difficult nearly impossible, I made a mess. Not too big of a deal since it was just my family but could have possibly been a disaster in any other occasion. TASTE 10 PRESENTATION 6.9 that about sums it up. All in all good experience overall, next time I will figure out a way to flip the bird after its done without destroying it or else just cook it normal style!

Turkey Time 2

I got up early so I could get the turkey in the oven, I hope it turns out good! I am cooking the turkey breast side down it supposedly makes it less dry on the upper parts of the turkey. I cant wait till its ready, I hope it turns out good because I think i might have gone overboard with the cayenne pepper with the seasoning. I will get to work on the other stuff later, but thats the easy part.

My Arms Wide Open!

Flashback! This goes out to my gambling buddies, Kevin and Mike! Good times, Good Times! I dont really like Creed that much, I apologize to those out there who do for the following, but I was in Orlando when Creed broke out and every other song played on the radio was by creed. So unfortunately I dont really like them, however the songs are catchy, i will give them that. On the way home tonight Creed was on the radio, it reminded me of this one time in Ted camp!!! No seriously, one night when we went out gambling and later to karaoke at the 19th hole, all I remember from that is 3 dollar margaritas and Creed playing in the background, the guy singing to it karaoke style was good, when we got drunk enough Goff decided that a great way to use our winnings from the casino would be to go to Toy's Topless the local well you know, very few people went because of the bremelo's! I remember the reasoning behind it was like well if it sucks then the only money lost would be the cover charge, and since we were high rolling it we would still end up positive overall. It was so bad that nobody would admit to going there. And yes it was bad! We were there for only a few minutes long enough for Kevin to get a "Lapdance" then we were out of there so quick, we ended up at the casino again and finished the night strong!!! All this from one song playing in the radio, Thank You KROQ and Creed for reminded of such a forgettable night!

Turkey Time

I went shopping for turkey stuff today, we got a 14 pound bird! I got all the other stuff to go along with it. I am going to try something different this year, I am gonna use the gravy mix powder stuff. I dont like making my own and buying it in tin cans does not make any sense to me. For those with Turkeys in their freezers it is just about time to start thawing them out by placing them in the fridge, hope everyone will have a good thanksgiving with loved ones! Lines were long today and I am sure they will get worse and start running out of stuff at the stores. Football, Turkey, and Family will be the theme this turkey day, keeping the tradition going. I will be watching the Detroit game and hopefully this year the Lions will win! Go Lions!

I finally decided to move my blog

I like how this site looks better! Plus the other site seems to be having some problems lately!!!