AutoJim's Brain Dump Zone

It's been a while... and what I believe.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:32:55 GMT

I'm okay. I'm enjoying my new job, which is providing lots of work, lots of challenge, and is keeping me busy. I did have a little event with a kidney stone last week that's ongoing (it hasn't pulled a full Elvis and left the building just yet), but is manageable.

So it's the holidays, and there are always some stresses of time & travel involved with that. Making it fun this year, I'm single again, plus I'm only about a year into my time in a new city. Which results in a lot of well-meaning folks telling me things I really don't need, nor want, to hear.

What follows is an editorial. It's about beliefs, which are close enough to opinion as makes no nevermind. You may not agree. Great! Don't try to change my mind, just keep making your own decisions. You don't even need to outline them.

So with some risk, here are just a few things I believe:

I believe religion is not the same as spirituality, and one doesn't need to follow any particular religion to have faith, nor is following a religion a prerequisite of being a good person. There Is No One Right Way. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something, or looking to line their pockets and/or their power base with your assets. You'll note that many religious leaders also would prefer that their followers let them do all the thinking for them. Turning off the brain is a living death, not a spiritual awakening. And that whole exclusivity-on-rightness thing, our-way-or-damnation? Ha!

Related to that, I believe one can find friends and support without joining a religion. Having someone willing to bring a casserole by after a Life Event is not exclusive to members of religious groups. I am fortunate in that I have been able to prove this -- there are people I know, unaffiliated with any religion, who would drop whatever else they were doing and come to my aid should I need it, and I hope they know I would do the same for them. And that's not even counting my family, who, I know, would likely cut off parts of their own bodies if it was necessary to save me -- as I would without hesitation do for them.

I believe that belief doesn't contra-indicate facts. Sometimes, a sequence of events happens that, on the surface, appears causal. On closer examination, though, you see that they are indeed coincidental -- two things happened in a particular sequence, but the first did not cause the second and the second would have happened even if the first did not happen.

I believe that trying to bludgeon someone into submitting to your dogma when they really have no desire to or intention of doing so is a form of emotional blackmail, if not outright abuse. Yes, that's right: this whole thing is just a statement, not an invitation to follow me. I may not be going someplace you really wanted to go. And I'm quite alright with that. I most assuredly do not claim any sort of exclusive on what's right and what isn't. THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY! Do your own thinking, make your own decisions, follow your own path, and I will cheer you.

I believe that if you are concerned about someone you love's actions or decisions, snarking at them in a public manner is precisely the wrong way to convey that concern, no matter how much humor it's cloaked in. Make a phone call. Send an e-mail. Pull them aside for a quiet chat. This is something I'll readily admit failing in the past, but I have made considerable effort to change my behavior and catch myself. I don't always succeed, but I do more often than not now. And I appreciate being called on it when I slip.

And I believe that it's absolutely vital to listen. Not just hear, but listen. There's a difference.

New Job!

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:07:17 GMT

Okay, last week, had the first interview, which lead to a 2nd interview, that after a bit of schedule shuffle, happened on Wednesday.

That 2nd interview in turn lead to yesterday afternoon's phone call with a verbal offer. The written offer arrived this morning in e-mail, I signed, scanned, and e-mailed it back, and my planned start date is Monday, October 26th. This is of course pending the usual reference, background, and drug checks, which will get going next week.

So, you ask, what is this new job?

"Mechanical Engineer, Sr. - DTS" with a company called Oceaneering. "DTS" stands for "Deepwater Technical Solutions". What I'll be doing is joining a team that essentially does "triage for the offshore oil & gas industries", as my new manager put it. Something underwater breaks, and it's too difficult/dangerous for humans to get to it, and too expensive to pull it up to the surface, Oceaneering's fleet of ROVs gets a call and the DTS group designs and manufactures a tool to fix the broken stuff.

Each job is thus different, and the turn-around time from getting that initial call to the tool going in the water to do its thing can be 4-8 weeks -- sometimes less. Why so quick (and for designing, fabricating, assembling and testing machines & mechanisms, that is *very* quick)? Because an offshore rig costs around $1-1.5 million *per day* to operate, and if something's broken, they're not producing, but the costs are still there.

I have quite a bit to learn, but I'm looking forward to it. The DTS team that I've met so far are great people, and the general attitude is one of getting it done the right way and quickly. Lots of engineering, lots of individual responsibility for a project, and something new on a frequent basis.

The salary is not quite what I was making at the last job, but it's well within the realm of reason, and the overall package is great, as is the opportunity to grow. And the whole package is what I was concerned about, not a number.

And so now I just have to do all the pre-employment screening, which won't be a problem. No funky chemicals in my bloodstream, and a pretty quiet background, all things considered.

I do have to thank everyone who has been on Team Jim during this process. It's been a great boost to get a comment or an e-mail of support when things were looking rough. While I sincerely hope none of you ever find yourself in need of such support, know that I'll do what I can in return should it come to pass.

Updatery

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:12:51 GMT

Well, I had a great job interview yesterday for what I think would be a great job. Waiting for me this morning when I checked my e-mail was an invitation for a 2nd interview, which has been scheduled for Monday. That's about as much as I'm willing to say right now. :)

A simple, and ultimately fun, request

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:50:50 GMT

Some of my regulars also read me over on Facebook, and in that case, this is a repeat. But I thought I'd spread this around. Some of the folks here are on their way to Dragon*Con, some aren't, but are not on FB and thus hadn't seen this from me yet.

My old friend Valerie has a young friend going through some major stuff right now. Miss Riley is a real kid; Valerie knows her well and is doing a little something to keep Riley's attitude in the appropriate "Bring it. I'll kick it's butt" zone. This is no 'net hoax.

So if you could, please read through Val's note, copied with permission, and join Team Riley by sending her a card (address below). Maybe a little D*C weirdness? I'll forward digital pics (PG, please, PG!!!! She's 13!) on to Val for Riley, if you care to e-mail me same. Let's show the young lady a little love.

Valerie's Note:

I have an IDEA: Please send cards to Riley to show your support! Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 13, Riley Koepsell has been given a good prognosis for recovery, but she has to go through 6 months of tough chemo and treatment to get there. Ick! Let’s keep her spirits up during this time! Most of you tagged in this note have been following her progress, and THANK YOU SO MUCH for your good thoughts and support! She is finally back home and will continue to fight this. We can help.

I thought it might be fun to collect cards with good wishes or words of encouragement for her from many different people and places (Jenni – any chance for a Get Well postcard from France if you’re still there?! Sami – any Melbourne love you can throw this way?). Jim is already sending a bracelet care package, and Tanya is running a race with her name on a special ribbon for her (thanks, you two – you’re amazing!). What great friends I have! Let's all pitch in right now and do something nice for her.

Here’s the deal: You don’t need to be tagged to participate (I reached my tag limit anyway!), so if you’re reading this, you KNOW you want to do it! So get after it already, will you? ;-) Anyone who wants to support Riley on her journey to recovery can send her a card c/o me to:

Riley Koepsell
c/o Valerie Sargent
10 Serena Ct.
Newport Beach, CA 92663

If you’d like, include the name and artist of a song that you think might be good to listen to while getting chemo – something motivating, fun, inspiring or encouraging. We can help her build a playlist!

Again, thanks to all of you who have kept Riley in your thoughts and prayers during this time. I know she can feel the love, and all the extra support is appreciated. Thanks for jumping on the Team Riley bandwagon!!! You’re awesome. :-)

Love and hugs,
Valerie

Monday

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:40:49 GMT

...is here, and I'm still on the job hunt. I did spend a little bit of time today printing up some "personal" business cards with my contact info and, on the back, a bulletized version of my career objectives & general experience. I did this originally back in '07 after Metaldyne, but of course I've moved and thus have somewhat different contact info in terms of physical address and home phone, so it was time for some new ones. The quality of the DIY business card kits is much improved from two years ago, with much cleaner edges once broken out of the page.

The other lesson is I didn't print all 200 in the package at once. :) I still have maybe 150 of the last batch.

Hitting up some more of the suggestions I've received, getting myself "out there" for folks to see: that's how you do it. I had one solid nibble off my LinkedIn profile last week. We'll see where that goes -- I think I'm a pretty good fit for the position. There was another contact made that involved my making what amounts to a "cold call" on the business in question -- one where I'd met the business principal a few years back casually, and he might have even remembered me. This wasn't quite as random as it sounds: the business is expanding and some indications that they would be looking for engineers in the near future have been posted here and there. That would be an exceptionally fun job if it panned out -- the business in question is involved in things that push all my "I love working on this!" buttons.

But I'm not counting my chickens at all. I'll keep looking until I land the next job, whatever it turns out to be.

For my writerly friends...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:31:09 GMT

Non-Sequiter explores the need for outlines... or at least having an idea where the story is going.

Miscellaneous updatery

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:20:19 GMT

(this may be ported from LJ to FB if things work as expected)

Thanks to the kindness of many, I've received a fair number of leads on potential jobs, which I am following up in a steady and methodical manner.

In other news, I think I've got the unemployment situation sorted. As it turns out, because it was less than a year ago that I filed last, I still have benefit weeks available from Michigan, so I had to re-open my claim there. What a difference a few months make: I was able to do so online, including updating address, and via an automated phone system (updating direct deposit info), without having to once speak with one of the surly humans who populate the Michigan UIC offices.

Lest you think I'm down on government employees, no: the young man I spoke with at the Texas unemployment commission was very polite, considerate, and answered my questions in a way that completely dispelled my confusion about how the different state systems interact (the short version: it's a federal system administered in individual states, so there is cross-communication between states), plus informed me that once my remaining 16 weeks of eligibility in MI run out, I would THEN be eligible to file in Texas. I am sincerely hoping it doesn't come to that, but it is nice to know it's there.

Also, I've been told that there's some sort of stimulus-package deal that subsidizes COBRA health insurance benefits, which I may take advantage of. One of the problems with COBRA, as many of you know, is that the unemployed ex-employee has to eat the ENTIRE cost of the continued insurance, which is often stupidly expensive (example: continuing my GM coverage on COBRA would have cost me more per month than paying the office visit and brand-name prescription refills 100% out of pocket would have cost). I'll have to see what it ends up costing, but if it's reasonable, I'll probably keep it. I have 3 months of "free" insurance continuation from BHI anyway, not that it really matters as I haven't even started using up my deductible, though if I can't get my HCRA money out and returned to me, I will go ahead and use it so as to not toss that $1000 or so in the HCRA away.

And on yet another front, well, I get by with a little help from my friends. The amount of support I've been receiving is astonishing and I greatly appreciate every single one of you who has taken the time to drop me a note, a comment here, a post on FB, or just sent positive thoughts to the deity of your choice or in my general direction. I just hope I'm able to pay back/pay forward the karmic debt I'm incurring. Thank you all.

Updatery

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:53:35 GMT

Home. Alive. Healthy. All is well.

FF, you always pick times I'm gone to wonder about my status. If I'm injured or dead, there will be a post to that effect. If I'm silent, it's 'cause I'm not here. :)

New Stuff Week at Nuevo Casa del Crider Sur - and a birthday.

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:18:16 GMT

First, the birthday. Everyone be sure to wish neutronjockey a happy natal day with what's left of this Thursday. And jaylake has a birthday on Saturday.

Okay, so after spending the Memorial Day holiday weekend in Tulsa with my HD, widescreen-owning relatives, I broke down last weekend and acquired a lovely 46" Samsung LCD and a 26" Insignia (Best Buy's house brand, made by LG) LCD. The Samsung dictated a new piece of furniture from IKEA to hold it. Best Buy had a sale on, plus 36-month 0% interest. Apparently, my credit rating is still good, 'cause I was approved in about the amount of time it took the data to go from the store computer to the mothership and return. Hurray for that.

And I even had two social functions last weekend. Enjoyed both.

So:

Friday evening: Social Engagement #1

Saturday, TV purchases, IKEA purchase, set up Insignia. Go to Social Engagement #2.

Sunday: assemble IKEA furniture.

Monday: big TV is delivered in AM (barely -- 11:55 *is* between 8 and 12). 1992-vintage 26" Sony with jury-rigged inputs is carted away to be recycled (yes, really). Assembled TV and other AV goodies Monday evening.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Enjoyed same. Wednesday, called DirecTV to arrange HD equipment/service upgrade from existing standard stuff.

Thursday: New stove! Thanks be unto landlord-to-the-stars Gary Swafford for that. Oven achieved temp in mere minutes, instead of an hour, and achieved *set* temp, not a random one, again unlike the old one. Old stove was carted away to be disposed of properly. Dinner served quickly. :) Now watching Game 4 of Stanley Cup finals, wondering if the officials will be allowed to have their Leader Dogs on the ice for the 2nd & 3rd periods, 'cause they clearly need them.

Friday: Continued enjoyment planned, because...

Saturday: DirecTV HD upgrade happens in the AM. Will be watching Game 5 of Stanley Cup finals in glorious HD that evening.

Work continues (a good thing, too, 'cause I have to pay for all this stuff), and is actually going well. I know fuel prices are creeping up again, but offsetting that for me is that if oil hangs out in the mid-60s, we get more business. If natural gas can bump back up to $5/MMBTU, we might see the US rig count go back up a bit, too. Translation: more drilling = more business for us. It also = less imported energy (which is a good thing all the way 'round).

Hope all is well in F-list land. :)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Fri, 15 May 2009 01:13:39 GMT

Life continues apace. Currently have a bird on my shoulder and watching the Red Wings game.

While doing laundry.

Leaving for a week-plus in Tulsa on Saturday. Mixing work and pleasure.

May 11, 2009

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:44:39 GMT

I have been told that as of shortly before 9am, Eastern Time, Karen and I were officially divorced.

I'm holding up okay, though I feel rather alone in the grand scheme of things at the moment.

I really should be doing laundry, but instead I'm going to finish this bottle of wine first.

This won't make much sense if you're not on my F-list

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:27:24 GMT

Catharsis is good.

It wasn't as big a gap as the last one...

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:33:52 GMT

I said "try", FF. Not "succeed", but "try". There is a difference.

Been pulling longish days at work partly because I get going on something and don't like to stop, and partly because there's not exactly a huge inducement to rush home. Well, the next two weeks are going to be a bit different as I have a lot of house prep to do on the off chance that my friends M and J come from Michigan for the upcoming Houston date on the SCCA Solo National Tour calendar. They were, then they weren't, now they might.

So I have to finish the living room, the 2nd bathroom, and the front bedroom. I am very good at not doing anything for hours on end, so it's going to require some motivation on my part, but that's as may be.

Yesterday I got out on the bicycle for a bit. I did about 5 miles, but it was the 1/2 mile of grass that killed me -- the extra drag from the St. Augustine grass common here was Just Enough to bring the pain. I'm out of shape, I'll admit it, and have quite a bit of training to do before tackling one of the group rides the local bike shop hosts.

The '65 is safely in my garage. The '99 is currently in the trailer on race tires. Scooter is a good bird.

My oven still sucks.

And the house will be fit for company in a couple weeks.

Jeez, has it really been that long?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:59:09 GMT

I guess it has.

I'm alive.

I had a MOST entertaing bout of something that was most likely campylobacteriosis food poisoning last week.

I'm better now.

I'm also on Facebook, which is a bit part of why I haven't been here much lately.

I'm still working on my house. This week I got the garage whipped into shape so I can get the '65 out of the trailer and into the garage... making room in the trailer for the '99 just in time for Sunday's autocross. :)

I'll try to be better about posting here. Honest.

Tuesday.

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:12:04 GMT

It's the day after Monday.

I really should be in bed at this point (it's just about 11pm), particularly since I'm working on maybe 3-1/2 hours of sleep last night.

Full moon. I don't sleep well on full moon nights. Been that way for a while now.

Work is. It's going pretty well.

Discovered today that I have to get an annual inspection sticker for the trailer, before I can transfer title & tag it. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. One more bloody complication.

The wind has been blowing 20+ mph most of the last couple days, and it's really gusty right now. Severe thunderstorm watch for here, tornado watch north & west of here. Line of storms coming through in a bit. This is related to the storms that dropped a tornado or two up around Oklahoma City and made a mess, unfortunately killing a few folks.

I'm heading off to bed now. Just as I sat down to dinner earlier we had a power flicker, and while the 'puter is on a UPS, I'm looking to get other stuff shut down and hit the sack myself. This house survived Allison, assorted and sundry other severe weather (12+ inches of rain in a couple hours), and Ike, so I'm not horribly concerned, but, well, I'm tired. :)

The weekend in summary

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:28:40 GMT

Saturday -- I got up sorta early, pulled the driver's seat out of the Cobra, reinstalled the OEM seat belt buckle, and reinstalled the seat. Maybe 15 minutes start-to-finish. Then went to get it inspected -- only to discover that my friendly neighborhood place's inspection machine wasn't working because C (the shop owner) moved it to a different phone line (so it shared his fax line instead of having its own dedicated line) to save a few $ and the computer in Austin doesn't recognize the number it's calling from... even though he'd called Austin on Friday and made sure that wasn't a problem. He suggested I run down the street to the Goodyear/Gemini store.

Which I did. The dolt there drove the car to do the brake check, etc. and was put off by the rattles from the solid rear upper shock mounts, and said he couldn't pass it if it has rattles, which is total bull feces, but there you go. Absolutely refused to consider that it's perfectly normal when you use Heim joints for rear shock mounts instead of rubber bushings that it will make a little bit of noise even though nothing is in danger of falling off the car.

So I took the keys back, drove back to talk to C, and he's going to make himself available for me tomorrow after work providing he gets his machine communicating with Austin again.

After this, I took the Cobra back to the house, got the truck, and took it for a LONG overdue tire rotation at Discount Tire, where, lo and behold, they've now got their computers networked and were able to find me in the database as a customer even though my last purchase from them was in Michigan (before, not even different stores in MI could tell I was a customer from a different store). Free rotation, and I had them balance the Hoosier Wets on '95 Cobra R wheels that I acquired from M just before I moved. Reason? The BFGs I'm using for street tires are old, hard, and worn almost to the wear bars, and it's remarkably easy to break them loose on dry pavement. Tomorrow's forecast is for rain. So I got the Wets balanced so I could put them on the car today.

Then a trip to Lowes (have a gift card from Christmas) to get various household stuff, a stop at the local bike shop to get a new floor pump (K kept the one in MI), and a quick dinner at Willie's Grill & Icehouse, followed by a stop at the bank, and home.

This morning, sirens about 7:45 or so. I dozed back off, and awoke some time later to the sound of gas-powered saws. Turns out a house on the next street over (to the east -- the previously-mentioned Shatnerwood is north of me) burned -- a lot -- and with the winds we were having, thankfully not so bad that early in the day, it caught the next house to the north as well. The good news: nobody hurt. Everyone got out okay. Prelim cause is apparently a transformer on a treadmill, of all things. It's bad. The neighbor to the north now gets to file another insurance claim (they still have temporary roof patches from Ike), adding fire, smoke, and water damage to the tally.

The word from the neighbors is that the local fire department (which is technically a volunteer department) had a lengthy and un-coordinated response, taking about 20 minutes to get there. I didn't see the response, so I don't know, but I do know the Cy-Fair VFD seems to be well-equipped, well-funded, and numerous, so I'm hoping this is just an anomaly.

Today, I got a few things put into the attic -- I'm going to need help, I think, as getting me and stuff up the folding ladder is, well, hazardous. I also changed the Cobra over to the Wets, and did my weekly grocery run. I've been doing laundry this evening.

Terribly exciting, I realize. :)

Kitchen-y things

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:53:39 GMT

So tonight I made dinner: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, cream (well, milk) gravy.

Implements used: my great-grandma's cast iron skillet (circa 1896), which I received from my grandma in 1989 when I got my first apartment on my own; and my new Calphalon 8-quart pot. Potatoes in the pot, CFS and gravy in the skillet.

My stove works. For suitably broad values of "works". The burners don't have the oomph I'm used to from the nice (new) GE stove we had/K has in Michigan, so it took a while to get the spuds to a boil (the 15,000 BTU Burner Of Doom in MI makes short work of that task), but I eventually pronounced it Dinner, ate it, and it was Good.

Then I had to clean up.

I officially hate my kitchen faucet. It's too short, combined with a shallow sink, and that means cleaning the 8-quart stock pot and my extra-long potato masher (purchased at IKEA in Michigan at the time I was moving into a newish townhouse that had a tall faucet and a deep sink) is a bit of a challenge. The good news is that it's in such poor shape after 20 years of use that I have authorization from the landlord to replace it.

I've cooked here before, of course, but it's still satisfying to make something you like from scratch using the old family recipe (there's a secret to the breading, and before you ask, if I tell you, it's not a secret, hmmmm?). And there are potatoes and gravy left over for microwaving later (or, more likely, tomorrow).

Yay.

Stupor Sunday and assorted and sundry

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 03:15:52 GMT

Well, as in "I could find myself in a stupor if I'm not careful".

I got up early, drove the 60 or so miles to Gulf Greyhound Park, helped C change tires, walked the course, dodged the raindrops, and took our runs first heat on a drying course. Worked Course Control 2nd heat, which meant i was inside the timing truck (which is the old SCCA National Solo timing truck, one I've spent a LOT of time in over the years) when the mixture of sunny weather, light rain, and a couple of heavy downpours happened (yay me, and as New Guy in Houston Region, I also proved myself capable in T&S (not really a surprise as I did that job in Detroit on a regular basis) to the HRSCCA crew, so I'll be back there again.

I pushed C to drive harder in his own car, and he managed to get off a couple of clean runs where I coned every run. But I'm happy with the outcome -- I got a feel for the surface at GGP, and C felt he learned some things about both the car and his driving from working with me, so a win even though I didn't get a trophy.

After we got a late lunch, went home and I started laundry and missed the pre-game, but I have the Super Bowl on anyway. I do things during the game and stop to watch the commercials for the most part. It's just me and Scooterbird for a one-human/one-cockatiel party tonight.

On to assorted and sundry... Letterman has had a stellar run with musical guests lately. A couple of them were memorable enough that I checked them out on iTunes and wound up buying (I still had a lot of gift card credit) the entire albums from both. The first is The Airborne Toxic Event, which played their single "Sometime Around Midnight" on Letterman on the 15th. Wow. Just Wow. The performance (which you can watch on their website) was musically astounding. Very well-crafted, and the song itself just grabbed me. This week, Andrew Bird impressed me, particularly with the use of the Leslie Speaker (old-school analog tool to get Doppler effects -- it's two speaker horns that rotate via a motor), but not quite enough to buy the album just yet. MENEW was plenty good, but not go-buy-it for me.

But then on Friday, The Gaslight Anthem played "The '59 Sound" -- and though their album of the same name has been out for several months, another bang-on performance and music that grabbed me enough to check further -- and I bought the album.

Well, as I type this last line, the Super Bowl is over. The Cardinals gave the Steelers a run, but the Steelers pulled it out on the last drive.

And I have laundry to finish up. :)

Lazy Saturday

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:43:47 GMT

I was lazy today. I did eventually get to where my trailer is stored and retrieve the rain tires and the inner seatbelt buckle for the driver's seat in theCobra, oh, and the sockets I will need to reattach same.

I'm bringing the rain tires with me to co-drive a new friend's Mustang in tomorrow's Houston Region SCCA Solo event. I'm just not ready to run my car yet -- of course, in Michigan, Detroit Region's season doesn't start until the end of April or the first part of May.

The forecast is calling for rain tomorrow, of course, hence the rain tires.

Should be fun. Borrowed cars do go faster. :)

I also went to the HEB again. Another stocking-up run -- getting a lot of staple items and supplies that I just didn't have. And now I do. Hoping it's the last one for a while -- that gets expensive fast.

Off to bed relatively early tonight because I have to be at the event early tomorrow.

This is what passes for excitement in my life.

The weather, it changes as you watch.

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:59:58 GMT

It hung out in the 70s most of today. When I left the office shortly after 5 pm, it was 71 on the overhead in the truck. Due to getting caught in the Weekly Rush Hour Random Stoplight Failure backup (it happens weekly, but in different places), I had a chance to watch the wind shift from the south to the north-northwest, and the temperature dropped 22 degrees in the hour or so it took me to drive the 9 miles home from work.

Yes, you read that right: it took me an hour to drive about 9 miles.

One other semi-amusing thing from yesterday: it was the first full day I had my new multi-function printer/fax/copier/scanner hooked up. I came home, and... I'd already been faxed something by mistake (as opposed to fax-spammed). Some sort of disability claim form from a credit union to a woman I have never heard of. I called them and let them know they needed to pay better attention to detail.

More Texas... on a Monday

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:17:54 GMT

So I took the Cobra to get the state inspection today.

I'll be taking it back again later. After I reinstall the OEM seat belt buckle on the driver's seat. Apparently the SFI-rated and FIA-approved 6-point Simpson racing harness I have in the car (mounted to factory seat-belt attachment points) won't pass the Texas Department of Transportation inspection rules unless I can produce a USDOT cert for it (I can't). I have the buckle. It and the appropriately-sized wrenches are in my trailer. I have to unbolt the seat track from the floor to get access to the attachment, but that's just 4 bolts. It's just a pain in the ass.

My oven is... lame. Set to 350 degrees. Let it get fully heated up. What should've taken 35 minutes took over an hour. I need to get an oven thermometer. I did eventually get to eat dinner, however.

At some point I'll start unconsciously considering this place home. It's close, but not quite there. Something only more time can take care of.

It's BAA-aaack!

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 04:07:34 GMT

Writing this on my primary home computer, which is up and running after not having been used since approximately 8 December. I got the Jerker put back together, my new Samsung color laser all-in-one (K kept the fax machine and the Samsung color laser printer, I got the newer model), and the computer hooked up and a month's worth of backlogged updates installed.

The laptop has served me well for the past 2+ months (since before Thanksgiving), but I'm happy to get back on my good ergo keyboard at my nice workstation.

And the chili I started last night? It was very good tonight. Had it with fresh flour tortillas I got from the in-store tortilla maker at HEB. :)

Back to it this week...

In which I do Texas things

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:50:00 GMT

Somewhat amusingly, a state that I'm reasonably sure is will-issue for driver's licenses (all you need is a pulse) has a mandatory annual vehicle inspection program, which in my county includes emissions testing. As I need the inspection before I can get plates, I took Leviathan the F350 (which, being a diesel, doesn't need emissions testing, just the safety inspection) to one of the local places today. I'll take the Cobra for its inspection soon (it needs the emissions test).

And then I went grocery shopping at the closest HEB, which is apparently a Texas institution. It is a very nice store, and I will be returning. The benefit of this, of course, is that I now actually have food in the house. I've even started a batch of chili, which will be ready to eat around dinnertime tomorrow.

I just wish there was a Whole Foods closer to my house. The nearest location is just under 17 driving miles away. Maybe we'll get one out this way soon. There's some fresh development going on.

There are a few things I still need to pick up, but I have enough things to actually eat at home now for several days. Yay!

It's the little things. :)

Ah'll get all the sleep Ah need when Ah'm dead.

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:30:08 GMT

The post title is spoken by Sam Elliot in "Road House". A short time later, his character is, in fact, dead.

I couldn't sleep last night. Which given that it wasn't a full moon, is a bit unusual. I remarkably was able to get though the day at work coherently with minimum caffeine intake.

Through the week. Going to try to accomplish a lot this weekend. I'll see if that's possible.

I'll sleep at some point. Probably very soon.

Too many decisions!

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:04:16 GMT

Well, not really. but I have multiple events competing for my time this weekend. There's a Houston Region SCCA Club Race (a Double Regional) at Motorsports Ranch Houston, and I could go flag (that I'm home writing this tells you that I didn't do that today), and might still do that tomorrow. Mustang Club of Houston is also having their annual indoor karting event later this afternoon, and their monthly meeting tomorrow afternoon.

The problem with working both days of the race is that I lose both days of the weekend, and I have several things I want to do today, including moving my trailer to its new indoor home, which finally became available this week. Also, I have some Christmas presents in the form of gift cards I'm going to exploit at Target getting some Calphalon cookware (it's maybe just a little less heavy than their primary line, but it's also about 1/3 the price of their primary line, and it works quite well in our experience in MI - K kept that set, I'm getting a new set), and I'm going to do some grocery shopping(!!!).

I might still go to MSR tomorrow and flag. I need to get days in to keep my F&C license anyway.

Oh, and my new printer showed up yesterday. Ordered late Wednesday night from Staples.com. Behold: network-ready color laser all-in-one, and it had: $100 instant savings, $100 easy rebate, and I had another $50 e-coupon. Also ordered a network cable and a shredder (K kept the one in Michigan), which had a $50 easy rebate. I got the all-in-one for the price of the printer-only, non-networked version using the same printer engine.

I haven't set it up yet, but after I get the kitchen finished, the computer work area in the living room is the next item on the Get Sorted list -- and this includes unpacking my primary home computer. I've been using the laptop exclusively for about 2 months now with the exception of an hour or so in Michigan just before I moved.

Oh, and for those of you keeping track at home, I did 5 loads through the dishwasher and washed a lot of other stuff that isn't dishwasher-safe by hand, but the kitchen is ALMOST done.