Depthmarker

2009-07-08T20:52:00.002-05:00

I'VE NEVER SEEN DOGS SPOON BEFORE...

That's a true bond I think...

2009-07-07T23:11:00.003-05:00

THE ARCHITECTURE OF INSECTS

I see lots of insects on my daily travels...sadly , some of them are dead spinning around in skimmers , which is sad , but most are around pools or in them getting water or needing to be rescued . and rescue them I do. I don't discriminate ...if your a bug in distress I'll help you out of a jam.
In my travels I have observed a lot of insects and spiders and ( as D liked to call them "stingin' lizards" or scorpions ) . I have netted out scorpions from pools who were prone on the bottom for god knows how long (at most a week) and were still alive.
The variety of armor and specialized appendages and shells and wings are amazing to me.
At one of my regular stops there is a huge wolf spider that lives behind where I stack the chemicals in the equipment room.I look forward to seeing him (or her)on my twice weekly visits. Giant emerald green beetles and giant rhinoceros beetles are common as are those fucking stink bugs or assassin beetles I despise that can give you a nasty bite , but if they are in peril I rescue them.

It's like mini karma points...:)

2009-07-07T19:11:00.000-05:00

UNTIL WERE ALL SHITTING RAINBOWS

HA!

2009-07-07T05:25:00.003-05:00

PALIN'S "NO QUITTER"

Except she quit. Why has no one mentioned her and her moron of a husband's ties to the A.I.P ? That would be the Alaskan independence party...a terrorist organization ... I mean third party.
Please run in 2012...please.

2009-07-05T18:09:00.002-05:00

PUSHING MY FACE IN THE MEMORY OF YOU AGAIN

I'll never lose this pain....

2009-07-05T13:38:00.002-05:00

A MONSTER IS BORN

A while back , me an LT traded guitars...he got my tobacco sunburst telecaster and I got his black Les Paul. Well , my tele had some electronic issues and LT took it upon himself to correct them , including a transplant of the bridge end pick up.
It now sports a mini double humbucker...killer sound.
I drove Annabelle out of the house (!) and caused Irene to howl (!!)...

2009-07-05T05:03:00.002-05:00

AND NOW...HEADLINE NEWS

* 1.6 million seek 8,750 Jackson memorial tickets

That is a headline from CNN. It's like that movie Idiocracy come to life.
What's wrong with people ?
Nigga's dead...nuff said.
I guess it's easier to focus on the death of a junkie ex pop star alleged kid dick smoker than it is to focus on whats really happening in this country. Fucking sheep.
And the media is feeding it. Fucking media.
I wonder if those guys that got killed in Afghanistan the other day were in mourning for sir dance a lot and just got so wrapped up in the thrall that they didn't see it coming through their grief. Billy jean don't want my -BAM!-erk...something like that maybe.
It makes me sick.

2009-07-03T22:36:00.002-05:00

SAMARITAN ?

I was pulling a pool cleaner out of one of my pools the other day , and about a third of the way out , on a part of the hose that floats on the surface was a clutch of little black eggs encased in an adhesive gelatinous blob. Probably frog eggs , maybe toad , or...could it be something else?
I think a lot of people would have just wiped them off and discarded them as so much flotsam and jetsam ... I transferred them as gently as I could into a container , brought them home and put them in my former Beta bowl.

Hopefully the will hatch out into tadpoles and I can release them in the creek behind our house. Then in a year or so , when I see a toad hopping across our porch I can wonder..."Hey...is that one of mine"?
:)

2009-07-01T22:32:00.002-05:00

THE WEATHER CAN CLOSE THE WORLD WITHIN IT'S HAND

Clouds followed me this morning...I raced to get pools done before the sky opened up on me...I got 3 out of the way and the sky opened up on me at #4 , and it rained and rained...with thunder and lightning.
You don't want to be pushing a metal pole around in water in an electrical storm.
I had some important stops ahead of me , so I went home and dried my clothes and ate lunch and then headed back out.
I haven't been out in the rain cleaning pools since I was at Hines...You know , it's kind of cool being out in it , an adventure of sorts...until you are soaking wet.
Then it sucks.
I got to my important stops and only rolled over one stop that I'll hit on Friday...I may hit it tomorrow , we'll see. This particular stop has a very mean dog that needs to be contained. I don't get these mean dogs...I'm a dog person - dogs love me.
The dogs I should be afraid of on my route love me. I have one customer with 2 pit bulls. Pit Bulls mind you , and they love me.
I have another with a pit mix and we are the best of friends.
Go figure that one...or two.
Lot's of dead and bloated toads this week...in skimmers and auto fills...Gotta be the rain...Bums me out . How do you make the route and give a decent burial?

2009-06-30T19:58:00.002-05:00

NEWS ON THE LAW ENFORCEMENT FRONT IN AUSTIN

Item 1...
It's called TACT , for targeting aggressive cars and trucks , and it works like this :
2 cops are driving around the city in a city bus ( an empty city bus ) looking for asshole drivers. They spot one and radio to a nearby patrol car who gives the asshole a ticket.Apparently , each bus operation has 10 officers involved , 2 buses , 20 cops , one day nets 24 tickets.
A huge waste of money and resources in my opinion.

Item 2...
The "No Refusal" weekend. during 4th of July weekend , if you get pulled over and are suspected of driving under the influence and refuse a breathalyzer test , a warrant is immediately issued and you are taken to a mobile lab where a contract phlebotomist draws your blood...and you have no say in the matter.
Driving under the influence is not good , but this is fucking police state shit.
Someone needs to challenge this new thing the APD is doing , surely , there's some rights violation(s) that could be argued here.

Our nanny state status continues to grow unchecked.

2009-06-30T00:28:00.001-05:00

4 REASONS WHY I GET UP EVERY MORNING

2009-06-28T21:10:00.006-05:00

THEY SAY TIME MAY GIVE YOU MORE THAN YOUR POOR BONES COULD EVER TAKE

I wish I could claim that title as my own , but I can't. It's a line from an Iron and Wine song . But it sums this life thing up nicely.
It occurred to me on my way home from seeing Wen how special we all are and I had this idea about why these re connects keep happening.
They are reminders of ties . Ties carry weight - but it's worth it , that weight amounts to your character.
This weekend I :
Hung out with Annabelle ( 25 years...15 of those married )
Hung out with Bill and Al and Carlos ( known them for 30 + years )
Saw Wendy ( 36 !! years )
Talked to Carolyn on the phone (ditto...and my first wife , which is to say the first woman I loved enough to marry...and while we failed at it miserably , she is a great friend now )
Talked to Mark on the phone ( 27 years )
Hung out with dogs..Theo ( 14 years ) , Irene ( 9 years ) and Layla ( 3 months...but the clock is ticking )
And while not technically the weekend ... dropped in on Billy boy at his job on Thursday. ( 35 + years )
Talked to Jon on skype with our new headset ( 30 + years )
Left an absolutely hilarious message on Joel's phone ( 16 years )
I need to call Special K ( 6 virtual years :) ).
Had new friends over for dinner ( 8 weeks )...the clock is ticking.
everyone compliments me on my physical appearance ... and that's cool , but what they're really seeing is inside.
I will never be complete , but this is damned close.
I usually leave the sentimentality shit to Billy boy , but I just had to say...

2009-06-28T16:48:00.003-05:00

ONCE UPON A TIME

In a land far away (but still here in Austin) this was the hospital at Bergstrom AFB , now the base is an airport , and the hospital is now the Hilton. When I was a boy , this was where I would be taken when I was sick.
Back around that time , this was my girlfriend . Who is staying at the airport Hilton with her family.
It's funny how these kinds of re connections keep happening to me . Wendy and I have a unique history , BF & GF off and on , but always friends. And more alike than we would ever admit. The image that's burned into my brain of her is an old yearbook photo and no matter how old we get to be we will always look like this to my memory... nice kids huh?
Her mom was there too , she had no clue who I was , but after introductions , remembered my name . After about an hour or so , she remembered who I was and it was a very funny moment.
I had forgotten that Wendy's mom was english...and it was nice to hear the accent again.
And it was nice to see Wendy and meet her family (part of it anyway).
Time marches on but we still look pretty damn good I think.
Another want I can check off my list.

2009-06-28T12:56:00.004-05:00

Too old for 20 hour days

Yesterday I was up at 5 am, worked 7 to 3 and then stayed up past 1 am this morning. It was fun, at least the part of the day after I got off work, but I sure am tired today. I had trouble doing this sort of thing when I was a teenager and could sleep until noon the next day. It's even harder 30 years later when no matter how hard I try, I can't stay in bed past 8 am. So I won't be rigging up the shade cloth experiment for the squash plants and I'm probably not going out to buy that hard drive I need for my computer nor will I use my 30% off coupon at Borders that expires today and forget doing any laundry. Instead, I think I will be sitting back with a cold glass of sparkling water and doing a whole lot of nothing since it's back to work again tomorrow. This only one day off routine is getting old, but this time it will be worth it since I will have both Saturday and Sunday off this upcoming weekend. Woot!

2009-06-28T10:52:00.003-05:00

I WAS GOIN' HOME

I haven't bought any new music in a long time , so yesterday I got the new Iron and Wine CD - Around the well.
Here is a great cover of New Order's Love Vigilantes...

...with our rifles and grenades and some help from god.
I think of our brave men and women overseas and in conflict and wish them god speed.

2009-06-28T10:12:00.006-05:00

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Sweet italian sausage and three cheese tortellini.

On skewers with pineapple and sweet onion...brushed with vodka sauce.

Grill till done...

Fucking awesome...h/t to Annabelle for finding the inspiration for this recipe.

The grrrls enjoyed the porch time and our guests , as did we. It was a very nice evening.

2009-06-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

THEO

:)

2009-06-27T16:55:00.002-05:00

IRENE

:)

2009-06-27T15:21:00.003-05:00

HOMELESSNESS BUSINESS THRIVING IN AUSTIN

I drive a similar route during the work week , and at loop 360 and Bee Caves I see the same 2 older guys with signs proclaiming veteran status and homelessness and god bless.
They are older men with knee braces.
Today there was a different guy there...whose sign proclaimed he was ashamed to admit he lost his job , had a family and needed help...and oh yeah , god bless...
These guys could be legit , I don't know for sure , but it seems odd to me that territory is staked out and seemingly shared.Time share intersections...interesting.
There's this other guy back up the road at Walsh Tarleton and loop 360 who has a sign that says he needs money for a bus ticket home....I have one small problem with this...he's been at this corner for almost 2 months. You could bum enough money for a one way ticket to anywhere from this intersection in 4 hours...something is amiss.
I'm beginning to think that standing on the side of the road with a pathetic face and equally pathetic sign is the new cottage industry here.
I miss the guy at Manchaca and Ben White who had a sign that read "3 dollars short of a 12 pack"...at least he was being honest.

2009-06-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

LAYLA...

:)

2009-06-25T20:18:00.002-05:00

WILL YOU JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THIS SHIT

This is our porch thermometer at like somewhere around the 7ish PM mark...It's in the fucking shade...

I made beef fajitas with grilled onion tonight...squeezed a lime on them and a bit of the guisada magic dust...nice. That's San Marcos green sauce on the finished plate . It rules.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It would appear that Micheal Jackson is taking a dirt nap tonight...RIP nigga...say what you want about him , his influence on popular culture cannot be denied . And the sad trajectory of his life should not be ignored.
Farrah Fawcett also spun off this mortal coil today...damn , you can't punch it to a 30 year old poster of a dead pop icon. So I took mine down...just kidding ... she was never my type for celebro-masturbation fantasies . But my poster of Bea Arthur will reign supreme :P

2009-06-25T06:39:00.004-05:00

Hot, hot, hot

Been a long run of 100+ degree days. This year is actually an improvement over last year, but it still seems too hot, too soon to someone who has lived here all her life. My mom has lived here even longer than I have and agrees that it's a bit of a mind-fuck. Both of us are having a hard time remembering that it's the month of June even though we see calendars and dates every day. Somehow our weather memory keeps overriding those dates and categories that we humans place on time and seasons and we keep thinking it's a least a month later in the year. And it doesn't matter that we spend our time inside in the air-conditioning. We still have that lethargic lull in the middle of the day, the need for a siesta and the desire to do things in the late, late evening instead of getting to bed early.

I've mentioned this before, but we didn't have air-conditioning when I was a kid. We didn't really need it since it literally wasn't as hot at as is now. I don't mean hot as in temperatures measured by the weather service. Although if I look, I wouldn't be surprised to see that it was 10 degrees cooler 40 years ago. No, what I mean is it wasn't as hot at my parent's house - we were still on the outskirts of town at that time so it was much cooler than in the city proper and you could actually have breeze blowing through even on a calm day - you don't get that there anymore. However, it would get to be unbearably hot in August. That was expected and so we'd pack up and go camping for those three weeks or so. This wasn't just my parent's ritual, but also their brothers & sisters as well so the camping trips were always a bit of a family reunion. One year we even went to Mexico (!) and camped out in the middle of nowhere at an abandoned lake resort. That sounds adventurous now, but it was even more so back then. Anyway, there was a point to all this discourse that I've now forgotten and I have to run off to work. Perhaps I was just trying to figure out why my weather memory and instincts are much stronger than any damn calendar. Because that calender might say June, but my body says August.

2009-06-22T20:49:00.005-05:00

I'VE BEEN A BAD DAD...

It's just been so hot.
I haven't had the energy to take the grrls for walks the last couple of days , yesterday I didn't even go outside. I preferred the cool and dark of the bedroom and TV and dogs.
Today when I got home , I got the usual greeting from the dogs , except for Layla. Now Layla jumps , but today she was jumping up to face level with me.
So tonight we went for a longer than usual after dinner stroll.
I think it was good for all of us...even though , by the time we got back at 8:45 I was sweating like I was pool side at 2:00...and it's only June.
I've got this weird thing in my vulcan crotch on my right hand that I initially thought was a chemical burn...
I'm sensitive to the stabilizing chemical in chlorine tablets ( cyanuric acid ) and prolonged exposure makes my hands break out in little itchy blisters unless I'm careful to rinse off between stops. Anyway...the more I look at it , the more it looks like a spider bite...I think.
Mostly it itches and I keep thinking of "Mary Jane rotten crotch" for some reason.
Kyle and I exchanged Father's day greetings yesterday , and you know what ? That's pretty fucking cool.
We're planning a camping trip for August , just me and him and Sean...should be fun.
There must be water , and shade . I'm leaning towards McKinney Falls . It's close and has very nice camp sites.
Heat index tomorow and for the rest of the week 103 to 105...hoo whee!

2009-06-22T11:59:00.005-05:00

Kudos to my boss

I signed in to work at 7:00 am this morning as scheduled because well, that's just how I am. I was hoping that when my boss came in later this morning and saw my email about the very important thing I needed to do today he would let me have rest of the day off. And he did! So I got the very important thing taken care of and now Rob and I can sleep just a little easier tonight.

Another nice event this morning was that one of my patty pan squash plants had a bloom on it. It's a male flower, but a bloom nonetheless. I was beginning to think I'd get nothing off this plant because it only gets a little bit of sun now. Looks like there is hope for some patty pans after all.

2009-06-21T21:48:00.007-05:00

Squash and work update

I have harvested five squash off the plants so far this year. That one batch of squash, cooked with onion and seasoned with nothing but a little butter, salt and pepper, was the most delicious squash that I have tasted in a very long time. And it wasn't just because I knew that I grew it - it really did have amazing flavor. The 100 degree heat is here now and I suspect between that and the squash borers we may not see any more fruit. I did another BT injection on the plants on Monday, but it doesn't seem to have worked as well this time. Ah well, I still consider the squash planting to be a great success and next year, I'll be wiser and maybe do even better.

Work has been a real pain in the ass, but at least it's been a pain in the ass at home and not the office. Working at home really does make it easier. One good thing that has come out of this was that I discovered just how much I really do know about this kind of stuff. I don't have any formal training or certifications, but have been doing this sort of support in one form or another for over 20 years, even if it wasn't my official job title. I started poking around on the internet looking at the certifcations that are available, thinking that might be a ticket out of this current job, and I found couple of practice tests. While I certainly have plenty more that I could learn, I do manage to pass the practice tests for some of the certifications right now. But I pass those just barely and running out and taking a test tomorrow isn't something I'd want to do since the tests are too expensive to take a chance on it. It will take me some time anyway to save up the money to pay for certification testing and I figure I can spend that time studying. Maybe in a month or two, I'll have some initials after my name that will look good on a resume.

Speaking of studying, I got a good laugh last night as I was reviewing a CCNA web-based course that had a demo available for a chapter on the OSI model. As luck would have it, this is one part of the test that I don't need to study, but I watched it anyway to get a feel for the type of study materials this company offers. It was lecture based with slides and rather boring (hopefully just because I know this stuff already.) Anyway, the instructor kept referring to sending to "the other side" when talking about sending information to another computer and each time I'd get a visual of that psychic that used to have a show that would come on late at night. It was one of those shows that I'd kind of half-watch while half-asleep because I knew if I got out of bed to turn the TV off then I'd wake up too much to fall back asleep. I don't remember the guy's name, but he was always helping people from the audience talk to dead family members on "the other side". So being bored, I kept thinking of the sending computer as being in the here and now and the other computer being off there on "the other side" and that meant it was in the ether (as in, the heavens) so then the ethernet cable was, of course, the ether-net! Haha! Okay, maybe you have to be in my head for it to be funny.

Anyway, I need to run to bed. I don't know what my boss was thinking to schedule me at 7:00 am on a Monday morning. That only gave me one day off (today) and I haven't worked at 7:00 am in years. Gah! And I have something very, very important to do tomorrow (my normal day off) so I might just have to work an hour or two, then clock out and let them put me on probation for the absence.