Just Random Ramblings

Wednesday I mentioned about work and not knowing where I would be working come next week. Well they were supposed to tell us as of today. But get this shit, we go into the meeting at 7AM and they tell us that we have to come back at 630AM Tuesday morning. I mean what kind of fucked up shit is this? They have known about this change for months!!! It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. For the life of me, I don't understand it. I think someone needs to learn how to plan this in advance.

On a good note, I am off the entire weekend tho. That hopefully will give me time to catch up on things that have been put aside here around the house. I need to do some major cleaning. I also need to do a little painting. I am going to try and get to that. So wish me luck!

I am in the process of trying out a new rss reader. Do you know what that even is? You see that link that says "syndicate this site"? Well that is my rss feed. It's just a small program that checks feeds for you at certain intervals. I was using FeedReader. I like it alright, but it's gotten where it doesn't update. I have tried everything I think of to fix it, but no avail. I downloaded this program called Awasu last night, but I am not sure if I like it or not. So I am looking for something that I really like. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Sorry, couldn't resit posting this when I saw it.

Ashcroft: Terrorists Planning 'Spectacular' Gay Weddings

* Gayer-than-usual Chatter Intercepted *

Attorney General John Ashcroft today revealed that the Justice Department has collected "credible evidence" that terrorists may be planning "spectacular" gay weddings to coincide with the 4th of July holiday weekend.

"There is little doubt that these evildoers intend to hit us hard, the best way they know how with spectacular, flamboyantly gay weddings," Mr. Ashcroft said.

Mr. Ashcroft hastened to add that the Department of Justice did not know where or when the weddings might take place, adding, "When terrorists are planning gay weddings, they don't send you an engraved invitation."

But the Attorney General said that, according to chatter intercepted by Justice Department agents, "There can be no doubt that these gay weddings will be the gayest ever."

Just minutes after Mr. Ashcroft concluded his remarks, however, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge made a statement that seemed, on the surface at least, to contradict the Attorney General's: "While there has been some increase in terrorist chatter, the chatter itself has been no gayer than usual."

Mr. Ridge conceded that the intercepted terrorist chatter contained "some gay content," such as effusive remarks about the actor Brad Pitt, but that Americans "should go about their 4th of July activities without worrying that a spectacular series of gay weddings is about to occur."

~Copyright 2004 by The Borowitz Report~

Do you feel that I have neglected you lately? It's been a fucked up week to say the least. I think in my last post I stated that I had to go to work at 630 AM Tuesday morning to find out where I would be placed. Well, since I figured I would be on a night shift, I stayed up most of the night and slept about two hours before going to this meeting. Well this meeting turned out to be another bunch of bullshit. One thing is they tell us that the decisions would be made Wednesday morning. The other thing was that we were expected to work on first shift Tuesday. I want you to imagine my surprise when they said that. I went there that morning not intending to work, so I didn't have my safety glasses, my ear plugs, my work shoes nor my lunch. So I told them. And believe it or not they were sort of nice and told me that I could go back home and come back and work second shift, but I'd have to be in at 630 Wednesday morning and work first shift. Well I guess that wasn't so bad. So that's what I did. I went back home and of course I couldn't go to sleep for anything. I think I slept about an hour before going back in on second. And after I got home Tuesday night I managed not to hit the sack until about 1230 or 1 AM. And of course I was right back up at 5 to get ready to be there at 630.

Let's just say Wednesday was a long fucking day. I didn't think 245 would ever roll around. It finally did tho. I finally found out Wednesday morning that I will be going to a night shift (big surprise there) and that I'll be working for Scot, whom I worked for last year when I first started. I hear a lot of people talk bad about him, but I actually liked him and think he's OK to work for. I hope everything goes well. I start that shift Sunday night. They wouldn't make us start until Wednesday night, but if we do that, we would only work 24 hours next week and they don't want that! I know I sure as hell wouldn't want that. It's gonna be bad enough getting a 40 hour check one week and a 36 hour check the next. Can you say "no Outback for Robbie for a while?" LOL

I'll be on working first shift the rest of the week. Wait, that's only one more day since I've taken so long to write about all this. But truthfully this is the only day when I've felt like doing anything. When I came home yesterday I Was asleep by now! I actually slept from about 530 yesterday afternoon until 5 AM this morning - with the exception of the hour or so I was up and online talking to Jason. I was thinking about asking them if I can go ahead and start my new shift Saturday night so I can have a better check next week. But I think I might just enjoy the time off. I will be off next weekend for sure. This is unless I volunteer to work, and I can't see this happening at this point!

Does anyone out there use Yahoo LaunchCast? Mine is acting really freaky lately. It used to do really good about playing a lot of songs that I had rated, but the last week or so it's not playing many songs I've rated. It is however playing artists that I have rated. I have written Yahoo about it, but it certainly isn't better. I think they are fucking with it, and they have it all screwed up right now. I know Jason said he was having problems with his song titles and such not updating. Mine are updating, but it's giving me a lot of shitty stuff. For instance, for the last ten songs it has played, only two of the songs I had rated. It used to be much better. Should I be looking for an alternative to it? And if so, what is there?

OK I think that's enough for now..

Don't you hate it when you just can't sleep? I know I went to be early last night - like 9PM - but hell I had been up since 5AM. I figured I'd sleep til about 5AM this morning, but no! About 4 I woke and couldn't go back to sleep. I think I had gotten used to sleeping in the day once again. My body just hasn't adjusted. I guess I don't really need to adjust now that this is my last day on first shift. Starting Sunday I'll be back on night shift.

The good thing with the new shift is that I will actually have days off. I am going to be off every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Hell that means that if I want to make a trip somewhere for the weekend, it shouldn't be a problem whatsoever. Of course I am going to miss all the overtime I have been getting. But I'll survive. I might have to sign up to work a little overtime every now and then.

I am not really sure what I'll do this weekend. I think Jason and I are going to have supper over at his house tonight. I'll know for sure when I get off work I'll be off next weekend too, so no telling what I'll do then. I might try to actually paint my bedroom that I've been saying I was gonna do for two months. I think that sounds good. The bad thing is that everything will have to be taken out of here in order to do it. That means I'll be offline for a while so I can take the computers and stuff out of here.. I might be bad tho and hook my dsl modem straight into the laptop and hook it up in the living room! LOL That just is too bad. I know I'll have to hook up something in there so I'll still have some sound to listen to while I paint. I could turn on the stereo, but then I'd have to dig out my Cd's and I am not sure what I'll do there. The good thing about moving everything out of here is that everything will be nice and clean when I move it back in here! I might even rearrange my room a tad. I am not sure yet tho. But I still think I want to make a few changes.

I am very satisfied with the painting of the rest of the house. My living room is finally finished after months of procrastinating! I just have to buy new blinds and curtains to go in there. I will try to do that next week tho. We'll see what happens. I might wait a while. It depends on how my money situation goes too. I am still trying to save money to have my truck fixed too, and get that damn windshield fixed in the car.

Well I have rambled on long enough for now. Perhaps some of you should send me words of encouragement toward my upcoming projects! LOL I might need some sort of motivation to get going on them!

OK I finally got tired of waiting on Ten Big Ones to arrive at the library for me. So I went ahead and just purchased the damn thing! So now you know what I'll be doing tonight! Jason's mom was nice and gave me One for the Money and Two for the Dough already. I just have to get books three thru nine now. (IF anyone wants to get me a late birthday present! LOL Hardback preferred!)

IF you decided to come by here over the last couple of days and nothing was here, well don't ask what was wrong. Because I certainly couldn't tell you. I know I was having some other network problems here too - among other things! But I hope everything is all better now.

I am off this weekend. I know one thing I really need to work on is getting this house cleaned. I was doing OK with it, but I managed to drag out a bunch of stuff and have left it. The good news is that I am just about completely finished painting - with the exception of the other bedroom (which is nothing more than a storage room). I don't think I am going to bother much in there on count of it would be too difficutl to move out all the stuff that is packed in there. And not to mention other than the Spongebob yellow paint, it doesn't look that bad. I can still paint the doors, and I will do that. But I have to make a trip to the paint store first because I am about out of trim color. I still have to do a little of the trim in here as well. But hopefully about two or three more hours worth and it will be all finished. And then I just have the task of getting all the window treatments done. But I'll worry about those after I get everything all nice and clean. And I might need some encouragement in cleaning as it's not my favorite task. For that matter I could always use some help doing it too! Any volunteers?

I finally finished Ten Big Ones. It was pretty good. I will have to say there were a few parts in there when I just about rolled off the bed laughin so hard. I highly recommend the Stephanie Plum series! Like I said earlier Jason's mom gave me the first two in the series. I just reread those over the weekend. I'm going to start reading the third book later, maybe tonight. I am not sure. It really depends on how tired I am. If you want anymore information on them, go to www.evanovich.com You can read the first part of each book if I remember correctly.

I also notice that no one has given me any encouragement to clean or get my home projects done. It would be even nicer for someone to come help with them! I guess that's just wishful thinking on my part. Oh well, I am used to disappointment by now. Life is full of disappointment, just have to make the best of it and move on.

I really think I need a few days to go away somewhere. But I am not sure what to really do. Perhaps I should start looking around and maybe plan a little getaway in a couple of weeks. My question is really where would I go. I would really like to go visit Alanna. But that would take more than a weekend. I mean after all it's like a 15 hour drive or something like that. Who knows what'll happen. I'll probably be stuck here bored out of my mind and ready to pull out my hair.

The static is gone. I just hope it's for good. I was getting a lot of static in my Logitech Z-560's when I turned the volume up and down. Sometimes I could stop it temporarily by using some compressed air on the volume knob. But the other night I changed the speaker wire going to my satellites. Luckily for me this set of speakers using regular speaker wire. I purchases this babies a little over two years ago. About a year or so ago I started getting the static problem. I never thought about changing those cables tho. I was reading somewhere a couple of weeks ago about reviews on the newer Z-680's and someone said the hissing sound associated with that line will go away when you use better speaker wire. I had been meaning to try this around here. I am not sure if this is completely solved the problem, but I hope it is. I know I have not changed out the wire going to the rear satellites and they still have static in them when i move the volume. So this seems to reason that it solves the problem. I will have to put up with those (or them them off or disconnected) until I go buy some new speaker wire. I really need to order a different set of wire, something like what I use on my speakers in the living room. I have Monster XP in there. I really like it, it's cheaper than regular Monster cable and works well for me. Also that wire is not quite as bulking and is nice and flexible. I have to also order the connector pins and some banana clips. That's the thing with my satellites, they have connectors for banana clips in the back. I stopped in Radio Shack the other day to purchase some banana clips. It wouldn't be so bad, but I really dislike the new layout of their stores, not to mention they are really overpriced. And anymore when I go in there, you cannot get anyone to help you. They just stand behind the counter and try to look busy. Maybe I should go visit one with a familiar face in it. I doubt I'll do that tho, because I am sure I can find what I need somewhere else - and cheaper too! LOL

In other news I finally upgraded to a static IP. I got tired of having to go and change my settings on my router each time I connected and got a new IP. And the way it seems Bellshit isn't going to upgrade my area to the higher speed DSL capability anytime soon. I guess I shouldn't complain too much tho. I mean except for some minor glitches here and there, I rarely have problems with my service. Well this was after they fixed my line problem last year. And I do seem to get about full speed across my line. I usually get about 1.4 megabit per second download speed, the max is 1.5. I would love to get the newer Xtreme package tho, the download speed is up to 3 megabits per second. That's what Ricky has. He got it a couple of months ago. If I remember correctly he gets about 2.5 megabit down. Of course it's not as fast as Jason's cable (which is like 4 megabit) but we don't have the downtime issues like Jason's been having lately! I guess each provider has it's good side and bad side. We just have to choose which one we want to deal with!

I want you to get this shit. I just changed shifts this week. I went back to a 12-hour shift with rotating days off. Well they tell us last night when we get to work that we have a meeting this morning at 7AM. Guess what they tell us in the meeting. You got it, our shifts are changing again! Right now the line runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. And we have problems keeping up with customer demand. This is their solution: to go back to 8- hour shifts working 6 and 7 days each week. They guarantee we will be off every other Sunday. They are going to add the number of people per shift. But I just don't see that helping a whole lot. Maybe it will, I am not sure. And only time will tell. They claim we'll do better And guess what shift I get to be on - SECOND! I hate that fucking shift. But the good news is that I am scheduled to go work in turning. This will go on for at least a few months. I guess since I am new to this line, I have to find out if this way will actually work. I honestly don't see it happening, but I could be wrong. I certainly have been wrong before.

The good news is that I can pretty much bank on getting a 48-hour paycheck each week! And I might get a little more every now and then. I can definitely use the money. Especially since I have not gotten my fucking raise. I need to give things time to settle and speak with Scot about that. Hopefully I'll get it before too much longer. I deserve my damn raise after all the hard work I did on the other line. But I am not sure that will account for a damn thing now. It's gonna kind of suck though because I am only guaranteed to be off every other Sunday. That doesn't leave me much time to see people and enjoy some time to myself or whatever the case may be at the time! LOL I guess people are just going to have come see me after work if they want to see me! That kind of bothers me too about things I have to do around the house, clean, mow the lawn and stuff. It's going to be difficult working this shift. But I will have to make do the best I can. As aggravating as it is, I guess I should be really thankful that I have a job. But I was really looking forward to being off every other weekend. So this will be my last three day weekend for who knows how long, so I really need to try and make the best of it!

I saw this article in the paper today while I was work. I just got a kick out it. How would you like your name to appear in the paper for this kind of story. This is taken from The Aiken Standard

Suspect sought for assaulting dog

By KAREN DAILY Staff writer

The Aiken County Sheriff's Office is searching for a North Augusta man who police say sexually assaulted a brown and black dog behind an apartment complex in North Augusta Wednesday evening.

Deputies hold a buggery warrant for the arrest of Aquileo T. Recendiz, 26, of 111 Old Aiken Road, said agency spokesperson Lt. Michael Frank.

According to South Carolina law, "whoever shall commit the abominable crime of buggery, whether with mankind or with beast, shall, on conviction, be guilty of felony and shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary for five years or shall pay a fine of not less than $500, or both, at the discretion of the court."

"We have two witnesses who saw this individual whistle to the dog and lure the dog into his grasp," Frank said. "He then carried the dog into fenced area behind the apartment at 111 Old Aiken Road where he sexually assaulted the dog."'

Frank said a deputy responded and completed an incident report and interviewed Recendiz that evening.

"At the time we did not make an arrest because this is not the type of case we typically see so we had to research the South Carolina code of laws, and once we identified buggery as the proper charge, the investigator assigned to the case this morning obtained a warrant for his arrest."

Frank said police have searched for the man, but as of late Thursday had not located him.

He is described as a 26-year-old Hispanic man with black hair and brown eyes. He 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 120 pounds.

Anyone with information is asked to contact investigator Chuck Cain at the Aiken County Sheriff's Office at 1-800-922-9709.

Well work is getting a little better. I can honestly say I am getting used to the move I made a couple of weeks ago. The next few days are going to be rough though because we have to change part types. I have been talking to my supervisor about my raise I should have gotten over a month ago. He said he is trying to check on it. But he has to get someone out from under someone else's desk. Of course I am not saying any names for certain reasons. But I thought that was pretty funny. He also said that the channel manager knows about the situation as well. I am hoping they retro-pay me for the time I should have gotten the raise and have not gotten it. But I have a feeling they won't do that, but I am certainly going to ask about it.

I was going to try and get up in the morning to cut grass, but I can definately scratch that idea as we got some much needed rain. Does anyone know of someone who does lawns at a reasonable rate? I would be willing to pay someone anymore as I really can't find the time to take care of everything. And I know my landlord is probably beside himself about it.

I came home tonight to the lights being on in the kitchen. I was kind of surprised because I know they were off when I left for work today. I figure the power much have blinked or something. I came in here with the computer and find the modem was offline. Sometimes if the lights blink the ones in the kitchen will come on automatically for some reason. It's something to do with the X-10 switches. It's not that big of a deal I guess. Of course it could be a big surprise if I was not expecting it! A couple of weeks ago while I was cooking they would cut off everytime the washing machine changed cycles. It was kind of funny.

Well I need to get off here. I just thought it would be nice to write a little in my much neglected blog. Now I have decide which movie I want to watch tonight! I watched Blue Streak last night. I think I'm gonna go shower and then go find something to watch. It's not like there is anything much better to do right now. I guess if I was a club person, I would head out there. Oh well - the joys of working second shift.

I am sitting here shaking my head. Ginny called me a little while to say my obituary was in the paper today. I thought that was kind of funny. Of course the middle name doesn't match mine when I actually went online to look. It could have been a good excuse to be off work - "Sorry I can't come to work today because I'm dead" LOL Daddy called right after that to ask when I was coming up there to help him move. I'm like never. As I told Krista Sunday (and either she didn't relay the message or someone wasn't listening) I have no days off. And honestly if I do have a day off work, why the hell would i want to spend it helping someone move? Hell if I have a day off I feel certain that I'll want to hit the Outback for happy hour!

I see that no one has volunteered to come mow the lawn for me. There was no need in trying to get up this morning to do it since it rained last night. I might try to do it tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see. I would be willing to bet that once I get my riding mower here, I wouldn't have to beg a certain someone to do it. Hell for that matter it would only take me like 35 or 40 minutes to do it so I really can't see paying someone to do it then. But I am going to try to get it done tomorrow. Ginny did say she would see if Eddie would bring my riding mower to me.

I am hoping in about three more weeks I'll be able to get the truck fixed. I am not holding my breath on it tho. Every time I think I am going to get it fixed something else comes up that requires the money I had saved for the truck. So I am crossing my fingers this time! We'll see. Wish me luck!

Well it's time for me to leave for work. It's going to be fun the next couple of days because of changeover. ICK! See y'all tonight when I come home - that is if I have anything worthwhile to write.

Yep, I am sitting here again for another boring night. Not much to do at this hour except stare at the four walls. This is more of the joys of working second shift. I did go over and visit with Regina for a bit. I had to go over and get my package that came for one thing. She took it from my porch because she thought it was going to rain and wasn't sure if it was something that would hurt to get wet. Well I am glad she was thoughtful enough for that. We sat and talked about work for a bit, but not much of anything of importance.

Not much happened at work today. Big whoop, right? The next couple of days are going to be kind of rough tho as the changeover is going on. And by the time we get all the bugs out and get everything running half way decent it will be time to changeover once again. There is still of course no word on having a day off. Certain people seem to think I am going to be going all out of my way to help them if I do have a day off. I have news for them, when I finally get a day off, I am probably going to just sit around the damn house all day and do nothing! I'll need some time to rest.

OK, so there are my few words for tonight.