Monday, February 28, 2005

El Dorado Riding

Riding in El Dorado is nice. It is moderately flat with nice shouldars and there is wind. I'd prefer something a tad bit more hilly, just so I can get back in shape, but the rolling terrian here should prove to be a good area to get back in shape. Need to make some calls and talk to some locals about finding some other loops. All in all, I'm looking forward to riding and losing all this crappy winter weight.

In other news, Liz has returned. And she posted today. Which is cool. So, if anyone has felt odd about checking her blog constantly since she has been out of town.. well, no need to worry anymore.

I've been playing WoW lately. Game is fun, and slightly addicting. Especially when you are playing with friends. Very fun indeed.

Later

Friday, February 18, 2005

Long time coming.

Alright, here we go. This post is going to be long, detailed, and completely true. Of course, if the post ends up being short, then you'll know that having lied once I could likely do it again. Anyways.. here goes.

Monday was a crazy, crazy day. First off, I stayed up way too late the night before not sleeping. And only got maybe 3-4 hours of sleep. Had I known what was going to happen monday I'd have gotten a lot more sleep. But never-the-less, Monday started off as a normal day. Arrived on site, joked around with Stu and the Anti-chicken.. then Sub-zero and I made our way out into the facility to put out pumps. We had noticed some drift on one of our monitors so we also grabbed a couple of bottles of cal-gas to fix the problem when we got out there. It was probably around 07:40 or so when we headed out. We placed our pumps out, and then commenced work on calibrating the annoying monitor that was drifitng all over the place.

As we were standing there, no more than 100 feet away, a track-hoe was busy working on removing rubble and the like from the work area. We didn't think anything about this at the time since they are always doing work. I think the monitor wasn't calibrating correctly, so myself and the Z-man sort of were standing there making jokes and just trying to see if we could get it to zero at all. At this point I was turned slightly away from the pad (where the track-hoe) was and Zach had his back to it. Out of the corner of my eye there was a flash, pretty bright mide you, and an incredibly loud concussion. There was a slight blast of heat that rushed over us and I felt pretty freaked out. We just looked at each other, at the small ball of flame, then each other again. Quite intense. You know that feeling you get after you slam on your brakes so you don't hit an animal on the road, that sudden rush of adrenaline in your blood? Well.. I could have sworn there wasn't any blood left in me.. and only adrenaline.

At this time most of the area was evacuating, driving well above the posted 10 mph speed limit but I don't think anyone really cared. We got in our vehicle and started driving out the plant. As we got a better visual on the facility we noticed that the reaction caused a plume to rise off the bad. Driving quite well, Zach aimed us downwind of the plume and tore some shit up to get us there before the plume moved out site. Well, the plume was really moving, but we luckily just happened to be at the right place at the right time to get to the edge of the property before the plume exited the site. Also as we were heading downwind the operations radio informed us there was an incident. It was really nice to say that we were already downwind and preparing to monitor. Thought that that was pretty impressive and probably looked really good for us. We didn't detect any readings at this time, and we asked to come back and monitor between the facility and the administrative buildings. We did that, called in the night crew, and sent them out to do some community monitoring. We walked around for about 90 minutes doing some perimeter monitoring and got absolutely no readings. The rest of the day consisted of wipe samples, community monitoring, and not eating lunch until around 3. So, it was quite an exciting day.

There was a video of the actual reaction. I got to watch it the other day. Let's just say that I'm trying to somehow get my hands on a copy of it. I have a blank tape and everything. Maybe I'll be able to get it. The video is quite badass, and the concussion moved the huge track-hoe around eight feet. 8 feet! These things are huge.. and it was pussed around like it was some kid's toy. In the video, I can point out exactly where I am during the whole thing.. pretty dang close.. still makes me wonder.

Anyways, there were no injuries... amazingly! The track-hoe had a 1 inch piece of Lexan protecting the driver's compartment. At least, I believe it was 1 inch. Anyways, yeah, saved the guys life. He was fine other than for some ringing in his ears. After he got out of the vehicle he was high-fiving everyone, quite the apporiate response to just nearly dying. The track-hoe was wasted, some might even say it had it's shit ruined... the computer was fried and the thing had to be dragged off the pad by the new track-hoe. Anyways, no one was hurt and we got no readings readings during the entire "mini-incident". Quite awesome I must say.

Anyways, that is my little story. Did turn out to be long.. sorry for the length. But hey, I could have been complaining about the presidency and the such. Just kidding Sean. Alright everyone, I'm outta here. Going to get some work done and go check on some monitors.

Later

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Some really cool links.. well one sad one.

Alright.. here are some links that will probably make you laugh, and amaze you.. I'm not sure which way it is going to be. Sorry again for substituting clever original posts with links, but these are two things that you have to see. The second one is hosted by a co-worker, so click the ads and make him some dough. That's right... 8 cents a pop.

Awesome wind powered acrobatics here.

Another fat kid who should have left the webcam off. I hope someone edits a lightsaber into this one too.

Later

Anyone remember when Napster was free?

Well I remember good ol' napster. How popular it was and how everyone just loved the free music downloads. Well, everyone except for the RMAA and myself (merely out of free of reprisal.) But let us see. What does Napster do now? Well now they charge you. Money, for music. Rather than damn the man it appears that Napster is the man, well.. getting money from us for music. Well the whole point of this is this little article I stumbled across. Just thought it was interesting. I, of course, would never do such a thing, but thought it was interesting. The only person that might actually do it is Jesse, but he is so far above Napster that I don't even think this would even remotely interest him. Oh, and I also liked it since I'm a big nerd.

Check it out.

Alright, I know I said I was going to post a little narative about the reaction the other day. Sorry, but I've not gotten around to it. But know that it will be entertaining and completely factual (not a fact at all..) but at least it will be entertaining. I can guarentee you that.

Later

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Some interesting things.

Here are just a few links that might be interesting to check out. They are sort of along the lines of things Sean might rant about, but I thought they were interesting.

First one is from the LA Times. Sort of makes me both sad and angry. Here it is.

The next one is from RollingStone.com. Yeah I know, not the most reputable organization, but hey, it is an interesting read at least. I think the things discussed in this article might be sort of prevalent to our futures. So, read up.

Alright, later.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Just a quick post.

A few things that I've learned in the last day or so.

1: It isn't called an explosion, it is called a reaction.

2: Reactions are loud, and if you are close, also hot.

3: Reactions scare me shitless.

4: If you're scared shitless, it is a good chance that everyone around you is too.

5: Adrenaline can keep you pumped for hours.

6: This job is much more dangerous/exciting than I had ever imagined it to be.

7: Take nothing for granted, since you'll never know when a random drum of something is going to react and make a big "ka-fucking-boom" (quote from one of the guys working here.)

Later

Monday, February 14, 2005

Case of the Mondays..

Actually this monday has been quite exciting and adventerous. I mean, Valentines day and all, and I'm working out of town sort of sucks, but I didn't mind. Didn't get enough sleep last night, but that is completely normal. Got to the plant today and had massive amounts of excitement. Totally made up for the week of laziness that I had while working. Then, checking out my blog I discovered 14 comments!!! on one of my posts.. that even more made my day. Of course while reading through some comments on previous posts i noticed someone that I don't even know commented on my blog. Nearly blew my mind. I figured this as a safe haven for myself and my friends, where our crazy comments, rants, and musings on a variety of topics could be discussed in virtual privacy. Don't get me wrong, it is badass that complete strangers are commenting on my blog.. sort of makes me wonder if others who I've never meet are reading this right now thinking... "holy crap this guy and his friends are crazy.."

Alright, I'm gone.. need to get some work done.

Later

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Everyone has to check this out.

Alright, I know this might only interest me.. and possible no one else, but when I watched this it really amazed the crap out of me. So I'm posting it here in an attempt to show others what really blew my freaking mind. I swear, this guy is freaking strong and must be double or triple jointed.

Watch what I'm talking about here.

And of course, thanks to Ebaum's World for hosting this awesome little video and allowing me to find it.

If you are wondering what Scott Wills has to do with it, well I can't figure that out. The dancer has his own website located here if you are interested to find out more about him. There are also some more videos there.

Later

On salads and the such...

So I've been eating a lot of salads recently, partly due to the fact that I'm trying to eat healthier, and partly since usually a normal dinner meal doesn't really fill me up. So, I guess I'm eating healthier and eating more. That means the two are counter-acting each other, but hey, I feel better. Back to the salads and the point at hand. I've noticed that salads usually come with one or two large onion rings on them. Perhaps many people don't like to have chopped onions in their salads and are thus able to lift all the onion out of their salad without being bothered. Personally I like onions and the ring forces me to have to cut the onion with my fork. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but upon a slippery bed of lettuce and dressing I've often had difficulty cutting them. So last night when my salad (before the 2 pounds of crab legs.. yeah I know.. healthy!) arrived with a onion ring on it, I immediately started bitching to Zach. "Why to they put a ring of freaking onion on my salad?' Zach, being the brilliantly witty and funny guy that he is said.. "Ever seen that movie Stargate? Yeah, well the onion is sort of like a salad gate... a gateway to your salad!" I don't know why, but this caused me to start laughing a lot. I don't know, it was funny. I stopped laughing when I accidently rotated my onion ring slightly and my entire salad disappeared.

Alright, actually it didn't, but I thought I'd nerd it up a bit. But I did get pissed off when trying to cut my onion caused a piece of lettuce to fly of my plate and land on my arm. Stupid onion ring. Maybe I'll just start doing what everyone else does and remove the ring of onion from my salad.

Anyways, this post sucks hairy monkey balls.. but deal with it. I have nothing else to work with. Take it easy everyone.. and pShawn.. I hear we might be coming to visit you sometime in the near future? That would be fun I think. (Liz forwarded me an e-mail of sorts describing your thoughts in case you were wondering.)

Later all

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Spades

Spades rocks.. I play too much spades.. work needs to make me more and play spades less.

If anyone wants to play.. leave me a message and I'll get online and play with you.

Later

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Howdy Peoples

So I got me some rollers coming in soon, when you might ask? Probably this afternoon. I doubt shipping from Conway to El Dorado takes a long time but who knows. I mean, we ordered tubes over a week ago and they still haven't arrived. I'm really excited about the rollers. They are just so much fun, and torturous, but fun none the less.

Work here is actually pretty interesting, much more so than Texas City was. Perhaps it is because I have someone to work with, rather that to just sit in a room all alone. But we are in an administrative building, so we have to pretend to be working, rather than the blatant disregard fro work that I was so good at in Texas.

Anyways, I'm going to go play some HL2.. thus far joey I've only played mutliplayer with a guy from work. It was pretty fun, but I'm going to throw on some headphones and see what the single player is like. I'll keep you posted. Had some trouble installing it mutliple times before I realized they make you install both HL2 and CS:Source, which I think is stupid, but whatever.

Also.. Sugar Loadzz... "do you just roll tape whenever a slouch in a sideways baseball cap shows up?" Onstad is a freaking genius.

Later

Monday, February 07, 2005

El Dorado

Alright, so I've now spent a total of 2, yes that is right, 2 whole nights in my new apartment. Many of you might be wondering, well so what, you moved in 2 days ago right? Actually no, I moved in, let's see, when was it Niki, on the 10th of last month? Yeah, that sounds about right. So, I'm paying rent so Niki can have her own place, and I get a place to keep all my junk. It is wonderful.

Actually it isn't so bad. I've gotten ot visit 5 different states since the 11th of january, so that isn't so bad. Work is just crazy like that sometimes. Sitting around in El Dorado should be a blast, seems like nothing really is going on here, and it'll allow me to catch up on blogging and e-mail. The internet here is uber-fast, much better than having to use my phone over in South Carolina. I also brought my bike and everyhting so maybe I'll be able to convince on of the night shift guys to let me work there shift or something. I mean, the weather is beautiful and I have my bike.. it would be a shame not to ride. Or maybe I'll just call Erik and have him ship me some rollers down here. Hell, that might not be a bad idea. Hmmm, decisions decisions.

Well, everyone, I'll be trying to get some pictures posted up here. I have a freaking hilarious picture of Sean attempting to do a hand stand. Had I been faster with my camera I'd have gotten sean collapsing aginst the wall in an attempt to do a hand stand. I'm sure he'll deny it, but Liz was there and can back me up.

Alrigt, I need to get back to pretending that I'm working. Seriously, I can't believe I get paid for this.

Later all

Thursday, February 03, 2005

Decay update

For those of you that have been religiously reading my blog, then this title will probably mean a lot to you. Well, actually it might not, but whatever. The possum, or whatever it was, is almost gone. In fact, I would say maybe just 2 more days will completely get rid of it. Basically what I'm saying is that on Friday after a meeting with some plant employees, I get to go home. I'm pretty stoked about that. I get to go online here in a few minutes and buy me some plane tickets. Ahh, demobilization is a wonderful thing.

Most of our shit has been packed and is ready to go. Need to talk to some of the RJLG guys and let them know we are leaving. Well, basically I'm going to go into their "office" do a little dance, point in their faces and laugh since I get to go home. I know that probably isn't the best way to handle it, but I'm sure they will see the humour in it too.

So yeah, since i'm going to be home Friday, and The Ride is having a 112 (I think that is right) mile ride saturday morning, Sean sort of convinced me to do it. Thanks. Actually I'm looking forward to it, though I have a strange feeling it is absolutely going to KICK MY SORRY LITTLE ASS! But eh, it'll be worth it right. 6 hours or so on my bike.. couldn't be better right? Oh I'm stoked. Probably won't be able to finish it, but maybe I'll just have to take it slow and finish on my own. I can handle that I believe. We'll see if the lifting and running kept me in decent enough shape over the past few weeks.

Alright, I'm outta here. Going to try to clean up the hotel room a bit before tomorrow.. don't want to be a complete ass to the hotel staff here.. they have been pretty cool.

Later

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Just some thoughts

I've noticed something recently, and this is mainly going to be a rant, but I feel pretty strongly about it so well, bare with me. I've been watching a lot of TV recently, mainly since I can work, and watch TV at the same time (thank you Quality Inn) but I've notcied a lot of infomercials for a variety of exercise products. From DVD workout discs, to new "revolutionary" equipment. Sometimes I wish I had a lot of money so I could purchase every new little thing, and try it out. I can't believe that everything out there actually nearly as good as they say it is. Does the Ab Lounger really work out your abs 210% better than a normal crunch? I would love to try it out and give my opinion on it, but I have a hard time justifying spending money on any ol' workout. I mean, I broke down and bought Core Performance, and loved it, but I doubt that I'd love every workout out there. And even now, I just sort of suplement Core Performance into my own personalized workouts.

But anyways, back to my original rant. In these informercials all I see are startling ripped guys and really skinny women. Then they always show "real-life" stories of ugly fat people losing huge amounts of weight and becoming skinny beautiful people. And under each of these little "real-life" stories there is a little blurb about "results not typical, individual results may vary." Well, what are typical results? That the person bought it, tried it for 2 weeks, didn't see startling amazing results and threw it in a back closet. Then they see another amazing item on TV and the cycle starts all over again. And all the while Americans are becoming fatter and lazier.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think a lot of people are active and don't need to worry about anything. Society has created a horrible image that both men and women attempt to achieve (and oddly enough the only people I ever see on these infomercials are this body type) but I don't think either sex need to have this body. But I don't think flooding the market with difficult to use products that probably just end up detering people from actually working out. I think society needs to stop trying to tell us what we should look like and just let us be. Then people who aren't happy with how they look wouldn't be shy about going to gyms or just getting out and working out. But I'm sure there are people out there who don't feel comfortable going to a gym and working out. Gyms can be very intimidating, with all t he machines and super-fit people casting side-long glances at you. Eh.. stupid society.

Alright, I started this post a while back, and have been distracted many times, so I sort of lost my train of ranting thought.. sorry about that. Anyways, have a good day, and go do something active.. go run, or swim, or bike, or paddle, or climb, or play a sport, or whatever. Just, do something.. the human body is an amazing machine, don't waste it.

Later

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Quick post

So yeah, I have been meaning to put this up for a while. But the guy I'm working here with, Jeremy, who the other night was trying to pick up some ladies at a bar.. and he used the comment describing one of them as "adult braces ugly." I don't know why, but I thought it was really funny.

Later

PS: read and comment on the previous post.

Just a quick thought

This thought just popped into my head. It relates a lot to the fact that I've been watching a lot of TV lately (due to work) and The Incredibles (great movie by the way)... but why do so many super hero types wear capes? I am hoping that everyone who reads this regularly, or blog stalks, will perhaps put their two cents in and let me know what you think. Bonus points for extra clever answers.

later

WTF?

Alright, I don't know why I did it, but I just agreed to get a pink tri-suit for next year. Why? I don't know... since everyone else is doing it. I have a nice pink jersey from The Ride, and now I'm going to have a sweet pink The Ride tri-suit. Geez, I'm such a nerd. I'll make sure to get a picture up here whenever I get it, since i'm sure you'll all be incredibly jealous. And as well you should be.. since it is totally going to rock! I'm going to stand out at races.. it'll be wonderful. Well, not entirely, but I'm sure it'll help me get over my shy complex. Since everyone is going to be staring at me and probably mocking me behind my back.. but everyone will be behind me since i'll be kicking their ass. Ahh... confidence in my sub-par racing abilites.

Doing some soil sampling tomorrow.. looking forward to it. Well, not really, since it is going to be cold and probably raining tomorrow. There is going to be nothing there, I wish I could just tell the people that there isn't anything there, but eh, it is what we are doing here.

Hope everyone is having a good day.. I would tell you about mine, but you would all get insanely jealous.

Later