Weekend is Nigh

With the first weekend off in a while I am really looking forward to this one! I am not the biggest Fourth of July person, and I don't care too much for the smell of pyrotechnics, so either way I must and will have fun. Hopefully I take care of some things tomorrow and I will have the entire weekend to do whatever I want. I just love having time off! I might even go to the beach this weekend being summer and all!

Trying New Things!

Well...in the spirit of trying some new things I decided that I would be attending the Anime Expo this weekend! Heck it's in my neck of the woods so why not? Although I am still not sure what day I will go but I am kind of leaning more towards Saturday. Somehow I just don't think I would fit in with this crowd, but you never know! Plus I don't know what I am going to do there, as a last resort I know they will have video games so I should manage. I almost went last year but I missed out. So hopefully I can have fun, and maybe at a minimum I can say that I went

Car Is Functional Once Again!

I had heard about this tire place near downtown, really affordable and great selection. I went there and they recommended buying a not so expensive tire, they were Z rated but I just could not get myself to buy them. I went with the Goodyear Eagles instead which are O.E.M., and at $160/tire I think I got a deal. I installed the wheels myself after getting them mounted at the tire place, I thought it funny when I got the car off the blocks that it survived a couple those earthquakes without falling of. The seats are on now, newly re-upholstered. I was thinking of postponing the whole engine thing for a while, something about a trashy looking car with new wheels and tires just does not do it for me??!!??

That's How it Works!

So I finally got my truck fixed, no more fuel leaks. I sure hate how when something goes wrong with it nobody stocks the one part I need. Something always has to be ordered! I got that drain valve in, and while assembling the sediment drain assembly (that's what they call the bottom of the fuel filter assembly) I realized that before this instance I had never understood how the heck the drain plug worked...the valve seat is actually upside down, therefore the stem must move inward to open up. Since the drain is on the bottom of the fuel filter you have to think way tooo much to drain this thing out. So what I am trying to say is...on this one it is "left-y loose-y right-y tight-y" don't work. It is the other way 'round, maybe that is how I broke the old one by going too far in the wrong direction!

Is There A New Movie Out?

I was reminded this morning of something that happened to one of my old buddies a few years back. Tom was going home from one of those pointless long days we had back then, you know, a bunch of hurry up and wait stuff. The route home taking him through a windy road that came from up from the lower base (higher security) to the upper base (lower security) area of the sub base in Bangor, Washington. Anyhow as he was driving home some nut in a subaru impreza decided to show off his rally skills and fly past him, you know since 4 cylinder cars are way faster than 8 cylinder American cars.....needless to say he lost control and rolled it into the ditch on the side of the road. This morning I was driving in to work southbound on the 605, roads being empty on a Sunday morning it was just me and some idiot in a little Mazda protege, he comes flying past me (this happens all the time) doing about 100 which is way unsafe for his car (explanation coming soon). I was coming to the river as the view opens up, this is where I usually look at the power plants and can tell what the status is way before I am on site, I noticed a plume of dust off to the right so I looked closer and saw tire marks from where he apparently lost control attempting to exit, and a chain link fence knocked over. I tried to get a positive look but was unable to do so. I immediately called the authorities and was surprised at how quick they got the pertinent information. Most economy tires in passenger cars are rated at just above 100 mph, quick changes in the loading of the tires at that rate of speed can cause them to fail as in this instance above i.e. braking or turning. I can only hope this person made it out ok.

Working Hard for the Money!

It took me like an hour this morning to get internet access going at work inside the polisher shack. I am regenerating our resin and luckily this morning I borrowed my brothers truck and brought in my laptop! It was a little cold this morning to ride, probably upper 50's and yes I know to many this is great weather, but I don't like wearing any gear. We had breakfast too! One of the other operators was running late, and the late guy usually does a food run. With all that said I think I got going somewhere around two hours into the shift.

So what's going on besides work, well not much...I have been neglecting sleep as usual, something always comes up late at night. I got the weirdest call from the Ford dealer where I ordered my parts, something about overcharging me? I thought 100$ for a fuel filter/water separator and sediment/water drain plug was a little steep but I guess somehow I was right, I still need to call them to figure what the heck they are talking about. When the parts guy was looking up the part on his micro fiche there were some compatibility issues noted which might be the problem. A discontinued part or superseded part number usually lists an erroneous price. I'll settle this Monday if I am not needed for overtime!

Tres Tragos Para el Camino!

I don't really know what it is about that Tequila stuff but I never can turn down a shot or two, this was even after turning down a glass of wine. I wasn't driving or anything like that, and I only had about three shots. Something about celebrating demands the consumption of alcohol, is it that we become a little more talkative? Or do ordinary conversations just seem a little more interesting when we are a little on the tipsy side of things? Eventually I did ride home, and now I am at home blogging whereas I really should be sleeping. Tomorrow will be a workday and I need my sleep. Well...maybe not a full night's worth since I did do some napping at training earlier today!!!!!!

Darn Earlycomers!

I had to go in to work today for some required OSHA training, it was pretty sad actually since it was such a nice day out. I ended up daydreaming while I stared out the windows all day! I will admit that getting paid a nice chunk of change for goofing off all day is not that bad of a deal either. One more thing, I was actually an hour late. Pretty funny story since I was thinking I made it on time, I was so proud of myself! I over slept and had made up for it by breaking all sorts of driving laws on my bike while riding in. Me and schedules...one of the other operators clued me in on the first break that I was actually late. It all made sense now, I knew something was off when everyone was seated and on time when I got there!!!! I might need to break out that palm pilot thing after all to keep this from happening again, then maybe next training I could play me some dope wars!

Nessie on Vacation?

We have these retention basins that kind of serve as a settling area for our industrial waste water, they mostly serve as a place for the rust and oxides to settle out before it is discharged. These basins are about 5 foot deep and a little over the size of a football field in area. Last night as I was performing some valving for this said basin, I had it isolated when all of a sudden I saw a wake! This could have only come from something inside, but what? Moreover this tank has industrial wastes like acids, caustics, ammonia, and brine from our RO system. How anything could survive in this beats me? Even wierder yet...I was fixing the valving (it was turned over wrong) and the overboard pump for this said basin was deadheading causing the discharge line to leak at a union for a flange. I flashed my light into the puddle caused by that leak, when all of a sudden the water changes color from clear to red! You could see these little floaty almost bacteria looking horrible spawn things that just freaked me out. That link shows half my plant at the bottom right corner, the basin is kind of in the middle right.

Happy Un-Fathers Day!

Another holiday down! Today was pretty good overall, I started out with breakfast extremely early in the morning right after work. Turned out pretty good, I actually beat the Sunday rush! Getting seated right away is always a good thing, right? In fact I think it was a little too early for all the sunday drivers too, or maybe they were headed to the other side of the town to the Country Kitchen Buffet!!! After the meal I decided it was time to catch some zzz's in preparation for some more work tonight. Speaking of which...as I was coming in I realized that yours truly is the only guy in the shift without kids, I really should have thought about it some and maybe brought in a box of donuts or some coffee cake. Oh well, I am not much for holidays anyways!

Bored at Work!

I ran across this funny ad earlier at work today, I find it oddly hilarious! Not much else going on though. I am starting to get into a funk as of late...work and sleep seem to be what is my schedule. It is really tough getting adjusted to shiftwork too, I am still not used to planning out my life by a calendar. Anyhow I am thinking of getting the palm pilot out of retirement and carrying it with me all time now so that I don't miss important events. And even though I hate planning time off, I think I will have to start doing it for my sanity!

Another Nuke!

I met another Nuke last night, it is always nice to meet someone that shares your pain!!! Since we have been running the plant a lot more lately...being summer and all, our sister station from Redondo Beach sometimes sends some of their operators here to help out. You see they normally don't run due to the fact they are surrounded by condos and high priced real estate with whiney tenants, so whenever we run they come hang out! The guy who came down was a former Nuke mechanic that went through the pipeline in the early 80's, he had forgotten all of the bad stuff and even said he enjoyed Norfolk. I reminded him of how it did suck, and explained to him the no cursing signs in VA Beach, he was not amazed and remembered a lot of other silly campaigns they had when he was there!

Another Earthquake!

We just had another earthquake, it was pretty strong and quick. The first thing that I did was report it to the USGS via the earthquake website, and I guess it was like a 4.9 on the Richter scale. I think it was still shaking while I was typing. I immediately called my girlfriend to figure out if she was OK, which she was. It is important in situations like these to stay indoors for a bit, especially around high rises since you never know what kind of debris could be falling from above. I still remember our earthquake drills from school, kind of like those air raid drills of the 50's! Oh and I do have to go in to work tonight, and I am taking in the motorcycle...I doubt any freeways fell since it was only like a 4.9, but I am sure the extra power usage due to the quake will make for a busy night!

Earthquake Stuff

I did not feel the one we had a few days ago, I slept right through it! But I guess if we had a really big one I would have to find a way to get to work, I think the motorcycle might be the best bet. If the guys at work get stuck there with no relief we have emergency lockers with food supplies and stuff like that. I hope we never get that far but I guess that is the kind of job I got myself into, no one shows up to let you go home you just don't get to go home! Here is some cool earthquake stuff!

Working on a Day Off

Got called in for work, willingly came in and looking forward to coming in tomorrow as well. I took in the motorcycle to work and I have to say that I am now an expert at switching to my reserve fuel tank on the bike while riding, compression starting it after the engine runs out of gas. This is all accomplished in traffic without coming to a complete stop and hopefully only taking a few seconds. I really should just get a fuel gauge for it instead, but I think it is more exciting this way!

Taking One For the Team!

I have seen my share of famous people in the past, and never really cared much about it. But while I was having the most fun that I have had in a long time this weekend I met Jessica Drake! Yes indeed, (pinching myself) I met Jessica Drake. She was uber hot in person, and was very nice. I asked her for her autograph and she knew how to spell my name, so after I shut my jaw and stopped drooling over myself I was literally thinking and saying to myself wait till the guys at work here about this. I have never looked at other people for approval, but I think this might be one of those moments...I did this for every guy out there, for the guys at work, for all the single guys out there, Yes I took one for the team here!!!

I Need Parts!

I had a christening ceremony earlier in the day for my truck, from now on it will be called the Lou Valdez!!! Just Kidding! You would think having your blinkers on would signify that you know something is wrong, so I guess this is my way of saying thanks to all those who were reminding me I had a fuel leak on the way home today. I indeed made it home safely, cleaned out the engine compartment, and cleaned out the driveway with some stuff I got at a local auto parts store. All thanks in part to a faulty drain valve that has failed open. I tried buying a new filter and a drain valve for my fuel separator on the truck but diesel places shut down much earlier than normal places. Oh well!

I also went house browsing today, all the houses were pretty sharp both on the inside and out but the parking situation was terrible. So needless to say I did not make any offers today.

Many Factors Involved

On my drive home from work Monday evening I noticed that engine speed in my truck was slightly but very overlookably erratic under constant throttle and load, got home did nothing about it. So the next morning when I started it up it was still doing the same and progressively getting worse, I tried driving to work turned around headed home. It had gotten bad enough that it would shut off at idle slowly draining my batteries every restart. Luckily I made it home, with the batteries dead, but home nonetheless. The problem is readily apparent (or at least I should hope it is) for anyone that drives a diesel, my fuel filter/water separator was full of water making it run like crap and eventually run no more till. I did not feel like playing with it, so I hopped on the motorcycle and came just a little late. Now I should have known something was going on with the fuel system when it acted up on me the day before, and a with few simple checks I would have noticed the sensor that tells you something is up was unplugged. Not making things easier the drain had been clogged for who knows how long since I had to poke the line out in order to get water out. Hopefully tonight I will get a chance to get it up and running since priming the fuel system is a pain, at least I charged up the batteries.

Happy Thoughts!

I was falling asleep all day at work today, I was so tired that I fell asleep drinking my coffee. I was the only outside operator today and managed to hold down the fort, and before I knew it those twelve hours of work just flew right by. Got home OK and I had the best intentions of catching up on some much needed sleep tonight, but here I am just killing the time in front of my computer. At least I managed to take a short little nap earlier. But only time will tell if that was enough, hopefully tomorrow I will be fully recuperated, ready to take on a whole new day!

Total Domination

I went to Speedzone today, it was kind of fun but a little too crowded for my liking. Maybe next time it will be like a weekday kind of thing, you know like whenever I play hookie from work or something...as a matter of fact I think I feel a cold coming on right now! I totally ruled at the track, I lapped everyone on one of the rides called the slick track thanks in part to the years I spent driving my Firebird on bald tires. This by far was the highlight of the day, I can't wait to be doing donuts in my 'bird once it is all done! Have I mentioned I am thinking of getting my car painted blue, I hope this doesn't ruin what Tom, Flint, and I had going when we all parked in the same parking lot!!!!

Lounging Around!

Today I got to rest a little, this was a nice way of spending my Saturday. I watched a couple of movies on TV and just kind of put mind and body to rest for a bit. I felt refreshed ready to take on the world just in time to get stuck in traffic, on a Saturday!!! But such is life here in southern California. I did get to watch an amateur production of the play "Peter Pan" tonight, and I liked it. Gotta support the Arts right? Plus I like changing things up a bit, keeps the mind going!

Coming Together

I need to start piecing my car together. After getting my wheels and seats back from the shop I am still waiting on putting it back together, I also got a new cupholder for it since I had never had one on the driver side door. I really should get this done this weekend, but I like my time off, and working on the car does not seem to count as time off. What if I worked on my car at work, would that count as work? Other people do it, especially washing their cars with some high quality water, that happens a lot!

Should I Feel This Way?

I helped out my girlfriend today with picking her car up from the shop, she kind of got the impression that they were trying to take advantage of her, so I stepped in to help. I went to pick it up today say late afternoon'ish, and ended up driving it to work. I did not have any more time left to switch around cars. Now trying not to sound too stereotypical here, her car is a little Japanese car, you know, the perfect girl car...reliable, economical, and SMALL, good for the fuel economy, bad for me!!! So as I realize that I am driving a typical girl car on the way to work with no girl in the car I started to get a little embarrassed. I was reminded of the movie "Corky Romano" with Corky driving the little yellow miata singing the song "Take on Me"!!!! That gave me a little chuckle. I felt really bad when the gate guard asked me if this car was mine (I already get enough crap from them for owning 3 vehicles) but I politely explained it was not mine. I even felt slightly embarrassed parking next to all the manly trucks in the parking lot (power plant industry being mostly men)!!!