I'M IN EDINBURG!!!!

just not the right one. instead of having a week of vacation then heading to egypt, i was assigned to edinburg, TX, 15 miles from the mexican border in the southern-most part of the state. you can see the plant and location in my "location updater" there in the right sidebar.

it seems the tips of some of the hard steel blades have come off while the unit it running at 3600RPM. this usually doesn't lead to pretty things unless you consider this pretty (you know, by now, you can click on those for big and perty pix). i don't. this means a long outage. fixing the rotating parts usually isn't an issue, we can turn the rotor to get the blade to the top, and "blend" the edges smooth. problem is, there are non-moving blades (stator) as well. upper half and lower half. upper half is no problem because we remove the upper half and fix them on the ground. there is no access to the lower half ones with the rotor in place. if there were no stator damage, this is a 7-day outage, tops; but we see stator damage. that means pulling a bunch more casings, and i MIGHT get done in time for christmas. the good thing is, IF i'm done around christmas, i should be able to see jules for maybe my birthday and/or christmas and/or new years. my revised need date in egypt is now 2-january-08, which should work out quite well, but as you all know, nothing goes as planned in this field with this manager.

that's enough of the technical. sorry about that, maybe it's too much for a personal blog, but that's where i stand. at least i'm finally on dayshift. the only shitey thing about that is there's not really anyone onsite to go out with after work AND it's a bit tought to talk to jules online. because of the time difference, our schedules are almost completely out of sync.

texas is kinda of a weird place, at least this part of texas, since i shouldn't generalize, despite generalizing this PART of the state by the few people i've talked with. so, from the people i've talked to, they hate bush (WOW!!!) and can't wait to get a democrat in office. that really blew my mind, since bush was governor here. they kinda hate mexicans, a bit, even though they are so close to mexico. these are "right to bear arms, pry my gun from my cold dead hands" kinda people. "americans are americans and should speak american (english)" kinda people. one of the guys has a sticker on his hardhat that says "if i shot you when i first wanted to, i'd be out by now". yeah, those kinda people. they talk about guns and big trucks and arm-wrestling and breeding dogs strong enough to bite your head off. pretty much anything manly and violent. i kinda just don't fit in. i own a .22 rifle (basically a BB gun to these guys) that i haven't shot in years, i just bought a big truck but my tires are too little for these guys (and it doesn't have a winch), the only thing i know about arm-wrestling is from sly stallone's "over the top"... when i turn this hat around, it's like a switch, and dogs... i can take 'em or leave 'em. they're nice enough, they tell me to "cowboy up" a lot, though i know their making fun of the yankee. every time us yanks come to the south, we get hazed a bit.

quick story, last night i was at hooters watching the oregon ducks go down in flames to an unranked arizona (better for OSU), when one of the guys from site saw me at the bar. he came up and we talked for a bit, actually maybe an hour and a half or so. there was an attractive hooters girl, TheNaomi, behind the bar very much in earshot, and at one point i was talking about TheYoungerSister complaining about having to be on her feet for 8 hours a day at work, the guy said "well, it's better than working 8 hours on your back!" i couldn't quit laughing and neither could TheNaomi. it was so... just, WOW! she agreed that 8 hours on your feet would be better than working 8 hours on your back, but the pay on your back would definitely be better. then she went on how she doesn't understand how any woman could ever go hungry or be homeless. she's like "we have the power" (gesturing netherly). i couldn't believe it. it was hilarious. i mean, i think a lot of guys would agree but only around other guys. girls would shoot us for talking like that, and when she said it on top of his comment... well, let's just say my ribs were hurting by the time i got finished laughing. TheNaomi, you are cool!

good times, good times. well, back to work, lunch is over.

today was a waste

seriously. my schedule is messed up anyways trying to get back on a dayshift schedule, and today didn't make it any better. i went to bed around 1AM sunday morning and woke up around 5AM, not tired. bought some books online, ran some errands, goofed around, played some halo3, and went to bed around 1 AM again. before i went to bed, i got some bad news from jules, i wasn't in a good mood so i decided to sleep on it. i woke up today around 11AM still pissed about the bad news.

you see, jules and i had been planning on meeting up in columbus this weekend. we haven't seen each other in 2 months or so because of work. we are getting things back together and miss each other, and it seemed things were going to work out. she was supposed to be coming back from qatar on friday, and she was going to come to columbus to see me before i flew out to egypt on tuesday. the customer she is working for decided they want to keep her there until 17-december. that SO sucks!!! that means by the time she gets to egypt, we won't have seen each other for almost 5 months. it's so not right. i don't know why we work for this company anymore. the company really doesn't fight for us at all. we provide a valuable service to the customer, but our company doesn't compensate us enough and acts like we are machines that don't need time at home, time with family, want to use our vacation how we see fit rather than what fits their schedule. i'm just pissed. we were both looking forward to getting to see each other for a few days, and it's all down the tubes like that. now we have 2-3 more months before we get to see each other. FUKK!!!

anyways, that led to my useless day. like i said, i woke up at 11AM, TheNephew stayed home from school because he was sick, and i stayed in my room playing halo3 most of the day... literally. from 11AM to 8PM, with a few bathroom breaks and maybe a few TV breaks when i was frustrated, i played a video game. i should've cleaned, i should've at least left the house, i should've read or packed. i'm just really down because of this shitty decision by the customer in qatar.

tomorrow i can't do the same. TheMom is going for a consult for an addition to her tattoo, i believe TheOlderSister is going as well, i have to hang xmas lights, and then TheMom, TheOlderSister and i are probably going to bw3 for wing night. i think TheNephew is staying home again tomorrow, so he'll probably lay on the couch watching cartoons while we are working. i really do need to clean my room. since i'm leaving for maybe a year or more in a week, shouldn't leave it in this state while i'm away. plus, there might be things in here i want to take with me.

i'm not tired, it's 1:30AM, and i'm pissed about not seeing jules, but i'm going to try to go to sleep. we'll see how well that works.

TheNephew channeling MrT

or chuck lidell i suppose. TheMom put the pictures up first, so check them out there. his mom, TheYoungerSister, did the original cut, i just decided to trim it up and take it down to the scalp. he looks bad ass.

weekend vacation

i was going to go to columbus, the regular vacation spot. i have nothing to do so i visit my friends and try to drag them out to a bar or three. then i figured, i haven't talked to TheJay in a while, maybe i'll visit him in cleveland.

then, as i was driving down to TheFBar for wednesday night jitterbug (i don't jitterbug, the oldies have taken over the dance floor for practice on W night), i get a voicemail from TheJay to call him.

i call him, as i'm parking, he wants to know if i want to go to belize!!! hmmm, nothing to do, no work, sure why not. his wife works for an airline and they get the BOMB-DIGGITY hook up. at one time, i thought that either jules and i could quit TheGeneral, and the other could get a job at an airline, and we'd be set. one of us gets the jobs, the other gets the cheap global vacation trips, but things ended before they could begin there. anyways, tomorrow i'm driving to cleve-town, then friday we fly to belize, i feel bad about being a 3rd wheel, but 1) he invited me and 2) i'm good at playing dead when people are having sex next to me or in the bed next to me, so all is good. maybe i'll meet a hot central american, hah hah hahahahahahhhaha.

anyways, that's what i'll be up to until my company screws it up tomorrow. we'll see what happens.

i looked at the stars tonight, they were OVERWHELMING, seriously. we have property "up on the hill" and i wish i was in a state to go up there, pitch a tent, and savor them. stars are so god damned beautiful.

please, go out tonight, try your best to get the bright lights outof your line of sight, and embrace the stars. i want a truck, i want a house, but i want a kick-ass telescope so much more. jules and i went shopping once in columbus, and i saw one i wanted... she said i needed a house first to use it at.

grrrrr.... kinda like needing experience to get a job, but needing a job to get experience. you just can't win. goodnight hank c., thanks for the fingers.

oh yeah, i have a bad habit when talking to people as i get out of the car. i called TheJay, and locked my keys in the car. i didn't realize it until i was leaving to go home. luckily TheYoungerSister answered the phone and brought me my spare keys. as much as we don't get along, i have to thank her. "Thanks". going to bed now. b