Gustav's Groupie

I wish I could wash my hands of this but they're already in it

2009-12-10T13:38:00.001-08:00

I just found out that one of the guys who has been helping us started spraying lacquer today. Through an airless sprayer. With a paint tip. Outside. On a cloudy, cold day. Fuck. Me.

For those keeping score, this would be the git-er-done supervisor I've mentioned before.

Hey, I know what else we should do! We should do all our finish sanding outside when the rainstorm comes through so we can wet sand like they do for automotive finishing. It can't fail!

Today is the first day in a long time that I've wanted to throw my hands up in the air all dramatic like, storm out to my car, tear out of the parking lot like man possessed and never, ever come back.

I want to take this man by the shoulders and say, "You're undoing everything I've spent the last 7 years trying to instill in this place! You are sacrificing quality for speed! The shit you do poorly now will come back to bite you on the ass! This is like deferred maintenance but worse because you are at a point in the implementation of this project where you can make this high quality and lasting from the start! This isn't putting off an oil change; this is building a car with sawdust already in the gearbox!"

Goddamn it this has been a shitty week at work. And it's only Thursday?

"They don’t want to listen to some reasonable voices in this."

2009-12-10T12:17:00.000-08:00

Ha ha ha ha, Sarah Palin thinks she's a reasonable voice in the climate debate and that the only reason she'd get clobbered by Al Gore in a debate about the issue is because anyone listening who sided with him would essentially be in denial. Thanks Sarah. You just made my fucking day. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

INGRAHAM: Would you agree to a debate with Al Gore on this issue?

PALIN: Oh my goodness. You know, it depends on what the venue would be, what the forum. Because Laura, as you know, if it would be some kind of conventional, traditional debate with his friends setting it up or being the commentators I’ll get clobbered because, you know, they don’t want to listen to the facts. They don’t want to listen to some reasonable voices in this. And that was proven with the publication of this op-ed, where they kind of got all we-weed up about it and wanted to call me and others deniers of changing weather patterns and climate conditions. Trying to make the issue into something that it is not.

INGRAHAM: But what if it’s an Oxford-style, proper debate format. I mean, he’s going to chicken out. I mean, if you challenge him to a debate, do you actually think he would accept it?

PALIN: I don’t know, I don’t know. Oh, he wouldn’t want to lower himself, I think, to, you know, my level to debate little old Sarah Palin from Wasilla.

Here's the venue I expect Palin to propose: Fox News, with Gore via satellite and his volume control knob within her reach. Yeah, you keep playing up that small town country bumpkin role Sarah.

Wednesday Smile, what'll ya have?

2009-12-09T16:38:00.001-08:00

I already cracked open a Blue Moon. Put your order in with the sea turtle.

Seriously, I hate stupid people

2009-12-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'll sum up this massive project by saying that essentially, 200 sheets of plywood need to be sanded and lacquered on both sides. I told everyone from the start that the slowest part of the project was going to be the lacquering, especially in the cold season. I told everyone from the start that the deadline was ludicrous and that we'd be lucky to get half done (something we haven't even done).

Yesterday, I had a conversation with three supervisors (all present at the same time) that our shop did not need any extra help because they were talking about hiring temp workers to speed up a process that couldn't be sped up. I said no and I said it for two reasons, one because we really didn't need any extra help, there was no work for them, and two because I hate being a supervisor for people who don't know how to do what I need them to do.

So what happens today? I'm working and in walks a supervisor with a temp worker. "Hey, we don't have any work for this guy, can you take him?" FUCK YOU! So, you tell me, what am I supposed to say to a supervisor who brings in an already hired, but not needed temp employee during the Christmas season? Yeah, I work in a place where I can't even trust my closest employees and coworkers to use my tools properly and I'm stuck with a guy who's first words out of his mouth are, "I've never sanded anything before."

God damn it do I hate stupid people.

UPDATE:

I managed to build up enough courage to go bitch out a supervisor and they came and took the temp away to find him some other work that didn't fall into the skilled labor category so often confused with the manual labor category.

This is what my departmental supervisor would love to do to my job.

Trimming the tree: A two day affair

2009-12-08T20:37:00.001-08:00

Today, good friend Mike was able to lend me a hand and the service of his pick-em-up truck in the errand of procuring my Christmas tree. Thanks Mike!

This is the biggest tree I think I've had. After I cut it to size, the top juuuuuust scrapes my ceiling. Perfect. And it's very full. You can just see Ivy scoping it out and probably thinking about drinking tree water in this picture.
In this picture, you can see that I have rigorously implemented my George Bush policy of a thousand points of light (probably the only phrase ever written by Peggy Noonan that I actually subscribe to, though not necessarily by her original intentions). But seriously, I don't wrap my trees in lights. I saturate them. There are lights on every branch from tip to trunk. That's how I roll. I like depth in my tree.

You can also see that there are no lights on the top portion of my tree. See, that's because I drove to the store to get more lights after not having enough (the perennial bane of my tree-decorating; every year I need more for some reason). Then I drove to the store again because I got the wrong ones because I was too tired to properly read the packaging. I just didn't have it in me for a third trip to the store, so I cracked a beer, made dinner and declared that I would finish tomorrow.

And last, but not least, you may notice in the bottom right corner that at some point, Domino brought his teddy over to give it a close up view of the tree. My cat is so friggin' weird and adorable at the same time.

And here you can see Domino inspecting my discovery of the properly packaged "personal" sized M&Ms. Damn straight 42 oz. is personal sized. 'Bought time they figured out those measly little fun-sized packages didn't cut it. Yes, I do need over two and a half pounds of candy.

This woman writes children's books???

2009-12-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

Carrie sent me this article from The Daily Beast by Meghan McCain (yes, of that fame). It's one of those anti-Hollywood screeds, or what I like to call, someone grasping at straws to shore up the conclusion they've already drawn. It's kinda sad really that she gets paid to do it and I don't. This one starts with her announcement that she went to see Brothers, the new Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman film.

I'll just take issue with this quotation here because, well, that's kind of the linchpin to her whole article.

I’m always curious about Hollywood’s take on our soldiers and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, many of these films typically portray our soldiers as deserters—Stop Loss is another classic example of this stereotyping—or complete whackjobs.

I didn't actually see Stop Loss, but the synopsis I read tended to show the protagonist in exactly the opposite light. Seems like the film dealt with the struggle to reconcile the pain and gravity of war with camaraderie and a sense of duty.

Of course, the bigger point here is the hypocrisy in stereotyping Hollywood as a typically monolithic anti-war bloc by trying to cherry pick examples of anti-war films. Maybe Meghan should go see The Hurt Locker. Or, if she wants to see some other recent war films that aren't explicitly anti-war (at least not as much as Three Kings or The Thin Red Line or Platoon or Full Metal Jacket) mayhaps she should pick up a copy of Saving Private Ryan or Blackhawk Down or We Were Soldiers or Tears of the Sun or Top Gun or Windtalkers or the HBO series Band of Brothers, or most of the military films from the 80's (see: the first three Rambo films).

And if that doesn't do it for her, she should skip over the 1960's and 70's and head directly to the 40's and 50's. John Wayne has an extensive military movie role collection. His films border on propaganda with how pro-war and pro-manly-man they are. Sheesh, his character's name in Sands of Iwo Jima is John Stryker.

Of course, it sounds like she's more interested in propaganda anyhow. Films that reflect negatively on war can't be good, right? We wouldn't want people to understand the carnage (physical and mental) associated with such a thing. Next thing you know, Meghan McCain will be advocating against war photography. I mean, who needs these old pictures of Antietam anyhow? Who wants to see a grown man in camouflage weep? This isn't very valiant at all. Those pictures just depress me. Let's look at a picture of a soldier handing out soccer balls. Now I've forgotten all about that nasty war business.

Movies about war have a long and checkered history with Hollywood, but the industry is hardly unified in its stance. And even if they aren't putting out pro-war movies based on real life, they're doing a damn good job of getting kids excited about war-like violence anyway (see: Transformers, GI Joe, etc, ad nauseum).

But that is beside the point. What Meghan McCain is really advocating is the stifling of a certain frame of view. See, even war photography is biased, just as any film will be, documentary or not. What the camera is pointed towards, what the person behind the lenses decides to focus on and capture is and always will be subjective. You can send two photographers into battle, one taking pictures of valiant soldiers fighting on, the other taking pictures of dead and wounded; you will get a different sense of war from both perspectives. Who is to say one perspective is more "right" than the other?

I like to think I have a pretty well rounded collection of war movies and I watch them pretty frequently. But there's a reason why I don't have just movies that give me hard-ons for the military like they do for God according to R. Lee Ermey. You know why?

Sometimes it's good to be reminded just how fucked up war is. Just how twisted young men and women can become by traversing such a violent and coarse event. Just how messed up your head can get while you shove your hand into a comrades thigh to try and pinch off a bleeding artery. Just what it takes to make soldiers think they can rape a young Iraqi girl and then kill her and her entire family. Just what it's like to have a limb blown off, only to live the rest of your life with a painful injury and reminder. Just what it's like to have a private military firm open fire in a square and kill 17 civilians.

Maybe it's okay if every now and then, Hollywood decides to make a movie that doesn't necessarily frame soldiers in a heroic light. After all, they are only human.

This shit just got real

2009-12-07T14:02:00.001-08:00

Apparently, my verbal admonitions to coworkers about the usage of certain tools was not enough. Either that, or they have incredibly poor memories. So, once again, after finding a nice chisel jacked up, I went with the large note taped to the storage container. Maybe that will be enough. I effing hope so.

In other news

2009-12-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

I'm totally dressing up as the young Ben Bernanke for Halloween next year.

A PSA from your local blogger/amateur meterologist/wikipedia searcher: It's currently graupeling

2009-12-07T12:34:00.001-08:00

As I was driving back from lunch today, a mixture of raindrops and soft hail were hitting my windshield. It wasn't snow, and it wasn't hail and it wasn't even quite sleet so I did some poking around on the internet. It's called graupel.

What was lying on top of my feet this morning

2009-12-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

Apparently, at some point in the middle of the night, Domino got up to drag a stuffed animal/toy of his up onto the bed to sleep with him. I promise you that this picture was taken of the scene as discovered. Nothing was altered by human hands. Hilarious.

Just messin' around

2009-12-04T16:36:00.001-08:00

As I was walking to my car to go home this afternoon I saw that the last of the ginkgo leaves were falling from the trees near my office. They're one of my favorites because of how uniformly bright and yellow the leaves get in the fall. Some day I hope to have some in a yard attached to a home.

Anyway, I collected a handful of the leaves and headed home unsure of what I intended to do with them. Upon arriving home, I was quick to realize that I hadn't yet sent in my rent check so I walked down to the post office and saw that the last of the callery pear tree leaves were falling too and that they were bright, bright red. I had a flash of insight! So I grabbed a handful of them and stuffed them in the pocket on the front of my hoody.

And then I saw the shrubs near Veni's had all their berries on display so I grabbed a couple sprigs of those as well. Yes indeed, there were the makings of a craft project in my near future. So, I present to you my dining table centerpiece. It's loosely tied together in the middle with some nylon kite string.

Save us Bill Cosby!! Or whoever wants to own the xenophobe platform

2009-12-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

The latest salvo has been fired in the break room bulletin board fiasco:

Well, at least I can say without a doubt that I know who it is after seeing that handwriting.

I know what I'm doing with my afternoon!

You got served!

2009-12-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse told all the whiny Republicans who continue to harp on the page length of the health care bill that it has less words than a Harry Potter nove l, essentially illustrating their attacks lack substance (which is really no surprise to anyone at this point but I bet they get the blood of the letter writer in my previous post pumping).

WHITEHOUSE: If you look at the actual language that you would read if you were interested in the substance of the bill on the House side and do a word count on it, it has fewer words than a Harry Potter novel! I don’t think it is too much to expect that members of the Senate should be prepared to leaf through the equivalent of a Harry Potter novel when they are embarked as on as a significant of an effort as we are in reforming the health care system. I think it was about 256,000 words, if I’m not mistaken. It’s smaller print, admittedly, than a Harry Potter book because of the way in which the bill is transmitted in its traditional format is very few words per page. So it looks big, and one can make very entertaining demonstrations with it on the floor.

Love it.

Friday Freakout: A pure gem!

2009-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

I just want you all to enjoy the beauty that is this letter to the editor.

America is in the midst of a change that is of historic proportions. The Democratic-controlled Congress and President Barack Obama will change America forever. The only question is whether this is good or bad for America.

It generally comes down to: gays, liberals, the elite media, the ALCU, lawyers, rappers, actors, Islam believers, and all convicted felons believe the change is good and America is a racist and evil country. Traditional Americans, Christians, veterans, police, Republicans, and most working people believe America is a good and just country.

The sad truth is the America-is-bad group won't discuss the politics of change, they already know all they need to know, and any negative news of the change "offends" them.

Are we all so sure we know it all that we will bet our grand-children's future on it? What if all fears of millions of Americans turns out to be reality? Has any Obama actions shown a love for America?

I pray we can talk to each other to minimize ignorance so that the next vote will be to restore America to its previous glory and not a continuation of its dismantling. I hope that all vote informed, or not at all. And for God's sake, watch what President Obama does, not what he says.

Jim Harmon
Friant

Someone did a good job of cramming all their crazy into the word limit, didn't they? I love the mutual exclusivity of liberals and working Americans or gays and veterans or Christians and lawyers or elite media (whatever the hell that is) and Republicans. Ha ha ha ha! Talk about taking your black-and-white world view to a fundamentally flawed extreme.

I also love the implication that Obama's behavior could have an impact on God. I know it's just a turn of phrase but it's funny to me to imagine some deity hanging their forehead in the palm of their hand, "Oh that Obama fellow is causing me so much grief!" It's just so...Greek! Like Hera despising Heracles. Damn divine heroes failing to please their step-mother deities!

"I pray we can talk to each other to minimize ignorance...."

Jim, let's have coffee some time. I'd love to help you with minimizing your ignorance.

Ha HA! I found them!

2009-12-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I forgot I had on the old computer was a collection of pixel art desktop background designs I had drawn through college. They were just simple geometric designs that I'd build on MS Paint in a small grid such as the one below that is maybe an inch square.

They weren't ever anything spectacular but it was my foray into the medium for a brief time and it was a fun way for me to get lost in the really tiny details of something just to give my brain something else to do. I'd usually draw one or work on one when I was writing a paper and needed a break.

Once it was done, it was just a matter of clicking the selection in the drop down menu to make the image my desktop background (tiled).

I'm cleaning out my closet

2009-12-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

So far I have two bags of clothes for the Salvation Army. I already know what will become of them. Next fall, all the high school kids will be raiding my collection of knit pullovers so they can throw dorky 90's sweater parties. Or more hopefully, some people in need will get some warm clothes for the winter.

Also, I found my old laptop from college. Fujitsu Lifebook C Series (if you're not familiar, they make some pretty badass tablets now) with a 12" screen. The battery is shot, but I plugged it in and it came right on. Windows 98, Netscape Communicator, my virus software is warning me that I haven't updated still. What a beast! It's a little nugget of my life from 1999 to 2003 when it was put out of commission by my then brand new iMac. I remember buying it just before Christmas in 1999. My older brother and I drove from Madera to Best Buy, in the still young River Park, and I wrote out a check for the thing. I'll have to sit down with this thing when I get free time and check out my old papers. It still has my Napster files too. Hmmmm...do I dare recollect my music choices?

And yet more musings on work

2009-12-02T13:44:00.001-08:00

As an addendum to and continuance of the thoughts in the post below, it is fascinating (and absolutely frustrating) to interact with most of my close coworkers and supervisors. I doubt if I will ever be able to clearly define what separates me from them whether it be generational, philosophical, religious, or some combination of all those things with some cultural socialization thrown in to boot.

Here I have an immediate coworker who has taken more and more to the philosophy, "I won't see it from my house," when speaking of quality levels. This is something he picked up from an old boss and which he shared with me as a joke relative to his then standard of quality. And of course, there is my supervisor who is more than happy to opine on the deservedness of any customer we've had or will have. His adage would ring thus, "People treat nice things like shit and should therefore not have nice things." Add in another satellite coworker who maintains the git-er-done work ethic which includes but is not limited to "might makes right" and "we'll put that on the side people see least." Throw in a departmental supervisor with a superficial knowledge of woodworking and a fantastic knowledge of office furniture catalogs who wouldn't know what proper lead time for a project was if it bit him on the ass and you end up with the clustercuss that I deal with on a day to day basis.

What we ultimately get is customers asking for things that are just not kosher in terms of quality level and 80% of the company they interact with is more than happy to be complicit in churning out crappy product. So I find myself missing out on a meeting only to find out that we've sacrificed some level of craft in order to make something go quicker. The slippery slope that plays out there of course is a growing customer base which knows we get shit done quickly and expect it that way for them, leading to more corner-cutting.

There is an overall lack of thoughtfulness that pervades the work environment here. It's a battle that I've been fighting for my entire 7 years. Up until about three years ago, I felt like I was winning people to my side. Now it seems that I've lost even my coworker who pays lip service to our old ideals when I'm around but then trades them in for economy the minute I'm gone. I used to have dreams for this place. I still have this quotation taped on the door to our shop.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.

Maybe I'm misapplying it....

The decline

2009-12-02T12:15:00.001-08:00

I remember when I first started here. I hadn't worked in a cabinet shop for about 4 years and my coworker (then a senior member of the shop, now you might call us equal) was leery of my coming on after a string of terrible employees. I assuaged his concerns about the quality of my work; then surpassed them.

The one that stands out the most to me was his admonishing me to not spot sand. In other words, if you have a panel and one tiny spot was filled with putty or there was a scratch somewhere, you must sand the whole panel and not just the blemishes. Why? Because sanding the wood gives it a different texture and sheen. Even an amateur eye can pick out spot sanding after a couple of pointers. If you live in an older tract home that hasn't had any cabinet refinishing/painting, you could probably spot one or both of two things, spot sanding or cross-sanding (and if you're ever in my apartment, I'll happily point it out on my kitchen cabs).

It wasn't really a big deal. The years and years I'd spent in my dad and uncle's shop was more than enough training in the art of sanding (not to mention sweeping and building face frames; the three big jobs for a teen in that shop).

What do my eyes see in the shop this morning but my coworker spot sanding. He doesn't care anymore. He's happy to spot sand and finish pieces looking to experience high wear with one coat of low VOC lacquer. The customer is wrong, and yet he doesn't even have the guts to face them down anymore. He can't even strongly recommend against it. He just shrugs his shoulders and says, "That's what they want."

It's like watching a broken man capitulate to someone he knows has no clue. More than anything today, that is what is bothering me.

I'm this close to curse words in the post title

2009-12-02T09:32:00.001-08:00

I'm sick, I'm at work watching my coworker sacrifice his standards once more, and I can't access my blog directly (hence the fucked up post you see below that will now sit until this afternoon, festering as a shitty pile of fucked up HTML code). I couldn't be more frustrated and angry. Thank you confluence of shit, fucking up my morning.

Now, I will attempt to calm myself in the midst of said coworker passive aggressively intimating that I'm being lazy today and not carrying the load in spite of being ill. It's his way of projecting frustration with an idiot supervisor that micromanages and does it poorly. I'm sooo on the verge of yelling at someone in a cathartic outburst.

Wednesday smile: video edition

2009-12-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

If you haven't seen this already in the last week, you've been missing out. If you have, then it deserves another viewing or 15.

Tuba Christmas!!

2009-12-01T13:45:00.000-08:00

Don't forget that Tuba Christmas is this weekend! There are two performances, one at noon and the other at 1 pm in the Manchester Mall. Go to the south end and enjoy some free Christmas music from lots and lots of low brass. I'll be there; come say hi.

Neato

2009-12-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

More research that shows the possibility that God is more an anthropomorphized, egocentric manifestation of the belief-holder and less an autonomous being with separate wills and thoughts.

Things are altogether harder when it comes to predicting the will of a deity. Religious people could try to consult with their deity through prayer, interpret sacred texts like the Bible or Koran, or consult with experts like priests of imams. But the fact that different denominations have such diverse views of God's attitudes shows that these sources of information are inconsistent at best. As Epley says, "Religious agents don't lend themselves to public polling".

He thinks that these uncertainties make it more likely that people will increasingly look to their own beliefs when inferring those of their God. That's made easier by the fact that we often think of deities in very human terms, despite their omnipotence and abstract nature.

Of course, many philosophers got there first. The very word "anthropomorphism", now mainly used in the context of animals, was coined by Xenophenes in the sixth century BC to describe the fact that the pantheons of different cultures tended to share their physical characteristics. And many people, from Rousseau to Twain to Voltaire, are credited with the line: "God created man in his own image and man, being a gentleman, returned the favour."

Epley's results are sure to spark controversy, but their most important lesson is that relying on a deity to guide one's decisions and judgments is little more than spiritual sockpuppetry. To quote Epley himself:
"People may use religious agents as a moral compass, forming impressions and making decisions based on what they presume God as the ultimate moral authority would believe or want. The central feature of a compass, however, is that it points north no matter what direction a person is facing. This research suggests that, unlike an actual compass, inferences about God's beliefs may instead point people further in whatever direction they are already facing."

It's frustrating, I know

2009-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

But when a $200 tool is acting finicky in a way that suggests a bad wire connection or dirty electrical contacts, throwing the tool down hard on the work bench is not likely to improve the situation.

So nice to be back at work after the long break.

Working at the Table Saw: Poetry in Motion

2009-11-25T13:31:00.001-08:00

Working at the table saw is and probably should be one of the least scary and safest jobs in a woodshop. I always see herpetologists talking about how rattlesnakes rarely pose a danger to you unless you do something stupid. Pretty much the same thing with a table saw but even more so (they lack venom and the ability to lunge towards you, though they can sometimes rattle). Hand tools frighten me oh so much more. I've more often seen the effects on the human body of nail guns, circular saws, jigsaws, chisels, and so on.

If you ever find yourself in front of a table saw, you'll probably fall into one of several groups of people:

A. Scared out of your ever-living mind, "That thing is sharp and spinning!!"
B. A complete and oblivious fool but nonetheless brimming with confidence.
C. Respectful, probably not very good at it, but willing to give it an intelligent go.
D. A natural with innate feelings about the motions and physics involved.

If you find yourself in the first group, back away slowly and mind your footing. With time, you might be able work yourself into group C. If you're in the second group, you won't know it, but hopefully someone nearby will be able to stop you before you add to the decor a handsome deep, red hue. If you're in the third group, you could end up being quite successful with the tool or you could be average in the sense that if you owned a saw and had it in your garage, you might be able to turn it on three or four times a year and do some rudimentary DIYing. If you're in the fourth group, then you'll pick it up rather quickly and probably do quite well.

There's a lot going on when one uses a table saw, especially with sheet goods. The blade, the fence, the table, the balance of holding the piece against the fence and pushing through, your footing, where your hands are, the follow through. With time, these are all things that your body either internalizes or it doesn't. Imagine it like a person learning the piano. Sure, memorizing the scales and their corresponding key placement is first, but then balance of control, pressure, etc come into play. Plenty of people can learn where middle C is and how the notes are laid out, but they'll never play a beautiful song. Some people just can't tune their bodies like that.

When you're ripping a 4x8 sheet of plywood (with time and practice in most cases) your hands will automatically move to the points they need to be so the board doesn't torque back into the blade. You'll spend more time watching the material along the fence than you will look at the blade (I almost never look directly towards the blade, it's a peripheral check there). You'll feel what needs to be done.

And if not, call me up and I'll give you table saw lessons at something like 20 bucks an hour. *wink*

A thankful Wednesday smile

2009-11-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful that none of my friends have neutered me.