Personal

OMG!!!1!! Wrong fucking image.


This is most likely long overdue.

Where to start?

I'm old. Sixty five years and counting. I've never mentioned this even though you could have easily discovered it had you wanted. I didn't give my age because most under thirty would think I'm senile and unable to elicit any cogent arguments. Shit, even old codgers like me might well think the same. Well that's pure bullshit. My mind is not Swiss cheese...yet. I am viable.

I don't live in the US. Most of my life I did live in Western Washington, but many would not understand how I could harbor feelings and passions about my country if not there. More bullshit.

Its most probable I'll never be allowed to return to the US. I'm too fucking critical of the moron and am on the "no fly" list.

In a matter of weeks I will probably be fucked by the IRS. I've tried my best to reason with them, but to no avail. Hey, maybe I will get to the US! Can't afford to see my children and grandchildren otherwise.

Now I can get on with posting without reservations. Enjoy the graphic of a jeepney.

Two small things. Almost all Jeepnies reference God or Jesus and I have no fucking idea what SCORGEM means.

OK, a third small thing. My real name is Larry which pissed off my maternal grandmother because its a nickname and not a proper name. I was named after Harry James who my mother loved. I asked my mum why she didn't name me Harry James. And typical of my crazy mother she replied, "I don't like the name Harry."

Now you know why I'm not very sane.

Personal

This reminded me of an anecdote from a few years back. Jesus H Christ with a shell, it was probably six years ago.

Anyway I took my then fiancé and her daughter out for dinner. It was in Asia and I specifically chose a restaurant which served escargo because I love it. It was the only restaurant I could find that did serve this delicacy. Unfortunately they didn't understand drawn butter so I had to make do. Its really not the same.

I suggested her daughter try one. She was adamant about not putting a snail in her mouth.

After some teasing and cajoling by her mum and I she did timidly try one. HUGE MISTAKE!

She cleaned my plate. She couldn't eat the rest fast enough.

Ours were much smaller than the picture.

Note: Headline links to source.

Personal

The point of this post is 3-fold.

I spent some time in Cork, Ireland for a major corporation. From the offices we were in we could see the above insane asylum (locals' term, not mine). We couldn't see the river Lee in the foreground. It was as dreary and scary looking as the photo depicts.

The major corporation had very deep pockets and enormous resources. One day I was on the phone to the US. I told them I had info for them. By satellite, I hit the "enter" key. Immediately they said, "Got it". I was astonished.

If you should go to Ireland, don't miss Cork. Visit the Blarney Castle and kiss the stone. Hope your photo turns out. Mine didn't.

Dublin is nice (Guinness plant anyone?) as are Limerick and other locations, but Cork is so fucking charming you will never forget it. Besides, they have probably the best pizza in Ireland and steaks you won't believe.

Almost forgot. ALL meals include potatoes.

May you be in Heaven
a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

Personal

This will be a meandering post, but its my fucking site and I can do that. It may only appeal to men, but whatever...

I put myself through university by working summers in highway construction. The pay was unbelievable and I got plenty of overtime at time and a half.

For a while I drove an earth scraper similar to the one above. My training in this 75 ton machine consisted of: It will do 35 mph when loaded. If there is an emergency the brakes won't stop it quickly, push this lever and the "can" (scraper part) will dig into the dirt. Hold onto the steering wheel as tight as you can because it will go from 35 mph to 0 mph in fewer than 10 feet and throw you out.

Pretty fucking scary for a teenager to have to comprehend.


Anyway, got our dirt from a lake bottom with a CAT dozer pushing us. I'm not exactly proud of the fact I lowered the can so deeply once I stuck a D-9 CAT which is one huge, fucking powerful dozer. They had to send in a second D-9 to push the first one and my scraper.

This leads to an anecdote I want to share.

Another driver, thank God, was coming out of the lake bed to a frontage road. A woman was driving there. Each thought the other was gonna stop. Neither did. The scraper's tire went up onto the hood of the woman's car and punched the fucking engine out of the car and into the road. Also, thank God, the scraper missed the woman behind the wheel, but not by much.

Another anecdote.

To get the dirt from the lake bed meant building an earth damn to keep the water out of the lake. This was done with a smaller CAT dozer, D-6 as I remember, and the damn had to constantly be added to. They asked if I could do it. To keep working, I told them of course I could.

So now there's a teenager on a D-6 CAT dozer he'd never run pushing dirt along the top of this dam which was barely as wide as the dozer. There was a whole lake on the left and a 50 foot drop to the lake bed on the right.

Another anecdote.

The earth scraper had hydraulic steering. Which would move the whole cab. Once when I was climbing into it, I grabbed the steering wheel to pull myself up. The fucking thing swung toward me and threw me to the ground.

How I ever lived to adulthood is still a mystery to me. But I do have to admit I loved all of it.

Yeah, rereading this, it is a guy thing.

Personal and US is fucked

For a while I worked for PAY n PAK which was bought out by Eagle Hardware which was bought out by Lowe's.

The big gobble up the smaller.


This is the best representative of the PAY n PAK logo I could find. Its like PAY n PAK doesn't exist on the internets tubes except as an Eagle or Lowe's store or a fucking unlimited hydroplane boat.

I would scan the PAY n PAK patch on one of the shirts or caps I have, but can't find one right now.

BTW, we who worked at PAY n PAK were ecstatic whenever "The Pride of PAY n Pak" won an unlimited hydroplane race. And that fucking boat stomped the best. And, should any Pakr's [my word creation] read this, we were very proud of our orange and white team (the colors of our required shirts).


Eagle was a pretty good organization. They hired competent people and ran the stores well.


Lowe's is also a good organization which basically changed nothing about Eagle Hardware from the customers' standpoint.

Here's where the fucking really person shit kicks in. Most of my life I lived in Everett WA. It was sans PAY n PAK, but we had an Eagles Hardware, later to become Lowe's and a Thurmond's. It was DIY (Do It Yourself) heaven.

Now we fucking change gears like an F1 race car.

When working for PAY n PAK, I saw Dave Heerensperger systematically change from US produced products to PAY n PAK branded products produced in China.

Yeah, the customers wanted lower and lower prices and, of course, PAY n PAK profits didn't increase. Muahahaha.

Oh yeah, Heerensperger was a fucking piece of work. He visited a store and asked to see the manager. The employees told him the manager was across the street (I think at a bar), Heerensperger went across the street to confirm what he was told and went back to the store, sent everyone home and chained the doors. This is all hearsay, but I trust the sources.

I did witness Heerensperger's entering a store, saw a light display he didn't like and tore the whole fucking thing down. Such a lovely man.

Why is it the most successful people in US society are also assholes? Just asking.

Stanley Thurman. You will be interested in his story.

Personal

I have to admit this. I'm reluctant, but feel the need to confide.

My favorite game is rock, scissors, assault rifle.

Maybe that's why I'm anti-gun control? Muahahaha.

Personal

This will be a strange post, but its my blogsite, so I'm allowed.

In a discussion with one of my sons, he said he feared me the most when I spoke quietly.

Be it known I never abused or hit my children.

Well, that isn't entirely true. Once I spanked my oldest with a piece of Hot Wheel track. It left welts and I never ever used corporal punishment against any of my children thereafter. I was so ashamed.

Personal

MEMORIES

Some of these may not relate, but perhaps some will.

My first car.

My first NEW car.

My first born. Gawed was he ugly all purple and bloody, but he became so beautiful.

My first time making love. It was awkward, but great.

My first time experiencing nature's fury...earthquake.

My first time driving over 100 mph. Scary, but exhilarating too.

My first time hearing a particular song.

My first time in Muir Woods.

My first time meeting someone special.

My first time realizing I'm not anyone special.

My first love.

My first chat.

My first windstorm.

My first puppy. Pappy didn't look exactly like this. He was more spaniel than poodle, but its a fucking visual aid, already.

My first . . .

There is no end to this.

Good news and bad news

Good news: The cockroach is alive. I'm so happy I wasn't talking to a dead cockroach.

I've named him 바퀴벌레.

Bad news: The cockroach isn't talking to me. I think I may have forgotten his birthday.

In talking to the brick, it said I have to get a fucking life. Not unexpected, except the advice came from a goddamn brick.

Personal

OK, lets see where we are. Its raining like a sum bitch. Where did I put the fucking plans for an ark?

There's a dead bug of some kind in the bathtub. At least the fucker's dead. Its the live ones that bother me.

Listening to Travis Tritt who always satisfies.

Is this boring you? Sorry, but its part of having a blog.

The picture? Whatever. Just advertising the best web browser out there.

And sex always sells.

Have I mentioned I might kill to have Travis Tritt's voice?

Personal

Sorry about yesterday, but my fucking life got in the way.

I had a HUGE meeting with Pepsico® which came off very well, much to the astonishment of my wife who, because she knows little about my talents, never knows what to expect. Mostly she thinks I'm an idiot, but she had no choice but to trust me on this one.

Personal

My sis-in-law was worried no one would care for her "babies" so I went downstairs and discovered a room full of dogs. Five to be exact. They're Japanese Spitz and are cute as hell.

Technically, I think one ore two of them are mine. Its a hazy line.

Its almost impossible to walk without stepping on one of them. They never stop moving and love people. You can't go anywhere without one of them tagging along.

Does this seem like I'm bitching? Not at all. I love 'em. Well, not so much the fleas they seem to attract like a magnet near nails.

Britain's queen launches YouTube site

Life is amazing.

I listened to my maternal grandmother as she described travel by covered wagon across the US. Before her death, she saw commercial jet aircraft.

I watched Queen Elizabeth's coronation on a TV not unlike the above image. It really dominated the room. It was pre-PC, but it was real time, with a slight delay I would guess, and I witnessed history unfolding. Awesome. Of course now the internets tubes are instantaneous.

Now the queen is launching a YouTube sight. What a great dame.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II launched a channel on the popular video-sharing website YouTube Sunday, British press reports said, citing Buckingham Palace.

Sit back and enjoy what's unfolding around you.

Via Japan Herald.

Cancer Study: 'Graveyard Shift' Might Be a Literal Term

Rejoice in your having a 9-5 job and quit your bitching.

As strange as it sounds, researchers have established that people who work at night may be more susceptible to contracting certain types of cancers.

Hmmm. My CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia), which I've posted about before, hit me when I was on graveyard.

And I attributed it to carbon-less paper, Post-It® Notes and too much Diet Pepsi® (lately Pepsi Light®). Duh!

Via Wired.

Personal

I don't usually "do" YouTube. My computer is too slow and I have no bandwidth, but...

Trying to relive my days of glory, I had to find Sawyer Brown.

Years ago I entered a karaoke contest just for the hell of it. Funny thing, during the entire contest I was sober as a preacher. Some Girls Do is the song I used.

Anyway, it started with 15,000 people. Yep. Fifteen fucking thousand people.

I made it to the last 100. At that point the contestants were either pros or highly trained singers. I mean we few armatures had to hold the microphone close to get any volume. The others held the microphone 2 feet from their mouths and still blew us away.

I lost, but it was fun. So is the song.

Some Girls Do - Sawyer Brown.

Personal

This is not my style at all, but I need to educate you.

I have CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). As I've told my family and friends, if you have to have cancer this is the one to have. The oncologist said it won't kill me. Its much like HIV/AIDES. It lowers one's immune system so other things can kill you: pneumonia, influenza, viruses of all sorts, bacteria, infections are all enemies.

His prognosis was that I would live until at least a normal life span for me. So I have no problem.

If I get a scratch or worse, it takes weeks or months to heal. Its just the nature of this silly ailment.

For the last several years, thank God, my white blood count hasn't changed. Its high, but stable.

This I find so amusing. I asked my doctor if I should worry about the cancer spreading. She just laughed. Great woman. She said it's in my bone marrow and blood. Its already everywhere in my body.

Oh, fucking thanks for that information. Yeah, I find humor almost everywhere.

There are no symptoms. I feel fine and function as well as any blogger can. No meds. No pain. No nothing...

The only thing is, I have to avoid my cousin-in-law who has TB. I have to avoid anyone who is sick with anything infectious because I could catch it. Otherwise my life isn't too complicated.

I truly think I'm gonna regret this post.

Personal

Many think I'm stupid. Hell, I'm related to many of them.

I'm quite intelligent and stupid in some ways as we are all.

Why anyone would accept Bush's foreign policy as acceptable is stupid.

Why anyone would accept the Democrats' ignoring what the American public voted for is stupid.

To allow so many to die, on both sides, in Iraq and Afghanistan is stupid.

Maybe I am stupid.

Stupid is as stupid does, right?