We're safe!!

Thanks everyone for all of your wonderful concerns and comments. You guys rock! I'm ok and my family is ok for now. The glaring exception is the welfare of my 92 yr old grandmother and my uncle who chose to weather out the storm. Their home is in old Algiers almost directly across the river from downtown New Orleans. We have been unable to get any news of their whereabouts. We have a feeling that they went to a shelter at the last minute but phone service is still down and there is no way to confirm that. I am very worried about them.

When I left home Sunday morning I had no choice but to head directly north to Jackson, Miss. but I decided to detour on the way up when I was finally able to get off the interstate and head towards Dallas, Tx by way of Natchez and Shreveport. I spent the night at my sisters house in Dallas and when I realized just how bad the storm was going to hit I decided to leave there and head west. I had an invitation from a very cool lady in Arizona to come out and visit and I decided that this would be a good time to do just that. I'm currrently in a small town near Tucson, Az out in the desert. It's been an interesting ride with a couple of minor problems along the way including a flat tire but I'm fine.

I'm staying in touch with my folks who originally ended up in Jackson, Miss. but they have since gone to stay at my sisters house in Dallas as well. A friend of the family decided he would ride the storm out in his home a block away from mine and we did get news from him that his house was flooded up to the mid floor of his split level home. They did get one short phone call from him and he was alive so far but stranded in his home. Gauging by what he told them it seems very likely that my own house was flooded up to at least waist level. That's not good!

I have no idea when I will be able to return home, but for now I'm safe and sound and have a place to stay as long as I need it. I'm really hoping to get some word of my grandmothers condition and I will update you guys when I get any new info. My home is on the southside of N.O. about 6miles from downtown just across the river. I have heard that the power will be off for an extended period, possibly even weeks and there is not even any fresh water available. Thankfully the house and contents are flood insured, but I have no idea if the house even has a freekin' roof on it at this point. There is a LOT of irreplaceble stuff there, money can't replace those things.

I do have 'net access but it's somewhat limited. I'll be back though!! You can bet on that!!

Bailing out,,,

and hauling ass!! Katrina is a mean, nasty bitch and is headed straight for us. Our entire area is under mandatory evacuation orders and the house will likely be very flooded!! Sumbitch!!!! What a fucking mess!!

I'm probably going to end up at my brothers house for the next few days, further north above Lake Pontchartrain. He has a 'net connection, hopefully it will continue working. He is actually in the path of the storm as well, but on higher ground.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you guys as soon as I can!! =)

Forbode

A form of ESP, as in: Using the air freshener before you use the toilet.


I just received the results of my webmasters certification class midterm exam. I scored 98%!!!! Can I get a couple of hell yeahs and a hallelujah? hehe weeeeee!!!!!

I think I'll stop holding my breath now... whew!!!

My New Kitty ... Updated!

I have a new pet! It's some kind of weird looking stray cat, hehe. It seems to like eating the birdseed spilled on the ground under the birdfeeder and it only comes out at night. It's kind of creepy looking but it looks so cuddly doesn't it? I took this pic from the backdoor, about 10ft away and it was very dark at the time.




Here kitty, kitty, kitty!!

Sorry about the lack of updates lately, I've been very busy with catching up on schoolwork and blogwork. Good news is that I am working on a commercial website for someone that I recently did a blog template for. They liked my work so much that they have let me redesign their business site and it looks promising that it will lead to a lot more commercial work in the future. Exciting!! woohoo!! You know how I love showing off but you'll just have to wait till it's completed to see it! hehe

I'm not going to be around much for the next few days at least but I will be back with a vengeance and an entirely new template for this blog, it's looking killer and suitably creepy, just in time for one of my favorite seasons of the year, Helloween!! weee!! It's almost done but I'm still working on the Flash header that will have some really cool content. The template is completely new under the hood although it will still be 3 columns like this one. If you poke around you can find a sneak peek...

I finally updated the "other" blog for those that are interested and I promise that I will get caught up on visiting everyone soon!! Keep the faith!!

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Update: Where the hell is MY head, hehe. Here's 2 new templates for me to show off, hahaha! One is at J's Ramblings, one very cool lady from Cali and the other is The Dick List with a rocking animated .gif header. Bring your sense of humor to the Dick List site, very, very funny!

Seafood Platter

One of the many things that separates humans from the rest of the animals on this planet is the ability to create on demand and use fire at will. Without that one basic, yet fundamental ability, life on earth would be sorely different than it is today. Virtually everything that we create, use or develop depends upon using that skill. Sure, we could have continued on with stone tools to work with wood and other soft materials, but the abilty to create metals from ore is what really started humankind onto the path of technology that we now depend upon for nearly every aspect of our lives. We have been using fire in all sorts of primitive ways for eons now and you would think that fire safety would by now be inborn and bred into our psyche and that you should naturally have a basic understanding of how it works. In other words, the shit hurts like a bitch when you touch it, no? Yes!!

We went out to dinner last night at Middendorf's on Lake Maurepas just northwest of New Orleans for some of the best seafood around. The fried catfish is their specialty and they can cook it like nobody's business. People come from all over just to eat there, it's always a good experience and the place is out in the middle of the swamps on the edge of the lake. The occasion was my dad's birthday and my mom brought along a beautiful cake to slice up after the meal. My sister was in from Dallas and my brother, his wife and two teenage sons were also there to join in on the mini celebration. After everyone was suitably stuffed with a wide variety of seafoods it was time to cut the cake. I watched as my mom took out 3 candles and stuck them in the top of the cake and attempted to light them using my lighter. She ended up burning herself because she angled the lighter downward with her finger above the fire rather than below. I could see instantly that the way she was holding would lead to disaster but I was too late to stop it! She burned her finger! I dutifully pointed out the correct way to hold the lighter, the candles got lit and the wish was made as we sung happy birthday.

Witnessing my mom burn herself immediately reminded me of an incident that I was a part of years ago on a construction site. One of my crew members had burned his hand badly with a welding torch and had to be sent to the doctor for care. He had some lame ass, mumbo jumbo excuse for burning himself, something about his hand slipping or something and it really made no sense to me. But, as the supervisor on the job I had to fill out an accident report describing what had happened, etc. One of the questions on the form was "What was done to insure that this type of accident never occurs again?" I filled in "Instructed employees not to aim welding torches at their hands." Which, even as smart alecky as I was being was the absolute truth, I told them not to aim the torches at their hands! You would think that this would be an unnecessary warning, wouldn't you? Apparently not, maybe we really aren't as smart as we think we are, hehe.

Before turning in the report I had to have the man read and sign it. When he saw what I had written he yelled out "This make me look stupid!" I just laughed and said yes it does, funny huh? And then I turned it in. I think he was pissed at me for quite a while, hehe.

Oh yeah, I ordered the seafood platter for dinner, damn, that sucker was piled high with shrimp and oysters and a huge stuffed crab and lots and lots of fried catfish and fries and holy shit, that fucker was good!! Yummy, but I couldn't eat it all!! But don't worry, I brought the leftovers home for lunch today. I think I'll use the microwave to reheat it though, them fires can sure be tricky!!!

Click Click BOOM!

Every now and then I get the urge to just go out and throw rocks. I used to love throwing rocks when I was a kid, it was all the entertainment I could afford usually. I always loved the feel of a good smooth rock rolling around in my palm, rolling it between my fingers, enjoying the cold hard feel that made me feel invincible, and joyfully destructive. I was an excellent rock thrower, I would hurl them at everything and anything, old cans and bottles, trees and windows, old cars and trucks and sometimes even people when I was angry. I don't recall ever meeting anyone that could throw better than me, I could hurl them very hard and with very high accuracy, hitting my target much more often than not. Maybe I should have been a pitcher, but baseball bored me to tears growing up. I just liked throwing things and I wasn't allowed to just throw the ball, I had to throw to a specific spot, and I hated being told what to do.

I did try out for pitching and learned to throw a ball very well. I could throw those hard and fast too. I was a terror in the schoolyards with a baseball, especially those great big indoor softballs. I loved hurling those at people, I could wack someone in the back of the head or in the stomach easily from a long ways off. Yeah, I was a bully, but not just any bully. I was the guy that kicked the asses of the real bullys, the assholes in school that always seemed to make everyone else's life miserable, that picked on girls and fat kids for no reason and were always going around picking fights with everyone to prove... what? I don't know, they were just assholes, plain and simple and I loved making their lives miserable in any way that I could. I knew these guys were afraid of me and I cultivated that image readily by going out of my way to step in to a fight even though I wasn't directly involved.

I also hated when these idiots would do stupid things to disrupt class, like decide to try to show the teacher who was boss and refuse to listen to instructions and follow along with the class and just generally being disruptive to a point where nothing was getting done. In other words wasting everyone else's time while the teacher had to stop the class to deal with the moron(s). I recall one incident in particular where this idiot was doing those exact things and I got so pissed I jumped up from my desk and went over to the assholes desk and lifted it up from the front and tipped him over backwards, sending him sprawling across the floor with his books and stuff, when he scranbled to get up I walked over and kicked him in the ass, knocking him down again and told him he better stay down because I was going to fuck him up. Everyone in class started cheering me and shouting at the asshole that he was a coward and was too chicken shit to get up. He stayed down until I walked away. He never disrupted that class again. We got sent to the office, he got a 3 day suspension, I got a warning. I was the new class hero, I had done what everyone else wished they could do, but didn't.

Sometimes, I wish I could throw rocks like I used to do. It made me feel good and alive. But I no longer have a penchant for being destructive so I don't think it would be as much fun as it was in those days. Although, sometimes it feels pretty good to build something first and then destroy it.

The Plans

Me and the mystery lady have been working out our plans to meet face to face and it's looking like the big date will be Sept. 2nd. She will be flying in to New Orleans, where I will pick her up at the airport. And yes, we will be getting a room, LOL. She'll be able to visit for up to 4 days, maybe more and we've made some plans for sightseeing around the city, and maybe do some late night Bourbon St. fun. And, of course we have plans for satisfying our base sexual urges as well. I'm sure we'll be doing plenty of that! Hell yeah! Yes, I know, you'll all want pictures!! hehehe. Don't hold your breath!! Damn, now if I can just hold out that long, that's over 2 weeks away!!! As far as her identity goes, we're still discussing whether or not it's a good idea just yet, but you guys will be the first to know!!

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The weather here has been a bit hot and humid with almost daily afternoon thunderstorms. It's also mosquito season. A really scary thing, the local health dept. came by and attached an official notification to everyones front doors saying that they have found encephalitis carrying mosquitos in our neighborhood! That's fucked up! You can't even walk out your front door without worrying about contracting some nasty ass brain swelling disease!! Who needs gun carrying terrorists when you have mosquitos that can kill you right on your freeking doorstep!! Anyway, they've been coming around almost daily with a truck to spray some kind of chemical into the air to kill the little blood suckers, if the mosquitos don't get your ass, maybe the chemical will! Mr Lee is a prophet!! hehehe

Spotted some unusual new birds in the backyard the other day and they've been coming back and scouring the area for food every day since, I'm not sure what the hell they are, maybe one of you guys might know.

They look pretty cool, with a long narrow beak that curves downward and they aren't very skittish either, I was able to get pretty close before they were alarmed enough to hustle off away from me. They didn't fly though.

The hawk has been coming around pretty regularly too and I'm beginning to wonder if it's scaring all the other birds away. The bird population in the yard at any given time has been pretty low lately, I think the hawk has been using the backyard as it's own personal hunting ground, LOL. Occasionally I've found small piles of feathers in the yard, bird feathers don't just fall out in a pile, they had to have been plucked out!

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Finished up a way cool new template for Lady Myles over at Evil Torturing Angel, you guys have to check her out if you've never been over there, she writes some great stuff! Guaranteed to get the blood flowing too! Hell yeah! Tell her I sent ya and maybe she'll spank you personally!! hehe

The Call of the Wild!

Life never ceases to amaze, just when you think that you've already explored so many possibilities in your life that you get tired of running down one way streets or turning into dead ends that suddenly, a new road or possibly a turnpike opens before you and all seems right with your own little world again. In my previous post I was really just being silly with my plea for salvation from my life of solitude and not actually imagining that anyone would take it seriously. Hell, most of you know me by now, I don't take much of anything seriously, I like to let things just sorta flow and go. I'm a pretty easy going and fairly simple guy. I don't need a whole lot to make me happy either, I can be satisfied reasonably easy as well.

One of you fine ladies out there that reads me has answered that crazy plea I made with a serious offer of fuck buddy goodness! How cool is that?!?! She's not new to me, we're old friends as far as bloggers go and we've flirted before in the past and actually touched on the subject in previous conversations a good while back. She saw my post and sent me a very cool email explaining her feelings, basically pouring her heart out to me and told me in not uncertain terms that she is looking for the same thing that I am! It's an offer that I simply cannot refuse! She is really cool and very attractive but she does live more than a couple hundred miles away. Not an insurmountable distance however, and we will be negotiating the logistics of meeting face to face in the coming days/weeks.

I know that you would love me to just blurt out her name but I can't, not without her permission and blessings of course. And, you know I'm not one to kiss and tell! Although, I have told many stories about my long past relationships, I certainly wouldn't give out the details of a current or recent affair. Besides, we have a lot of negotiating to do, hehe. This is as real as it gets! Hell yeah! Keep tha faith!!

I'm a Monk! Fuck Me!

Occasionally I take stock of my life situation and right now I find myself to be too damn much like a freekin' monk. I spend long hours everyday writing, writing , and writing even more into the late hours of the evening. The only things missing are the robes, quill pen and candlelight. Not words but code, lots of html code, it does tend to get boring, and if it weren't for rocking out to my favorite metal stations on Winamp I swear I would go crazy doing this shit! I really have no life to speak of these days, I hope to some day have enough money to buy one. The thing I miss the most though is sex of course, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm one horny mofo!! The local dating scene is a wasteland of women that I cannot seem to find a common ground with, I seek but I cannot find what I'm looking for.

The women in my age range seem to have become too much like my mother, too sedate to be exciting and their interests clash with my own on a level that makes me feel like I'll never find anyone to truly love again. Demon Queen and I chilled our relationship a while back for a number of reasons, one being distance and others that I can't go into here, I miss her and I know she misses me. Maybe it can be patched again in the future, but that seems doubtful at this point in time, although we still care about each other. She really is cool and special and is a knockout in the looks department, woohoo!! Luv ya babe!! Anyway, I find myself to be a free man once again.

Ah, hell, maybe what I need is a good fuck buddy, I haven't had one in quite a few years and I miss it! Hear my plea! Any cool ladies looking for a hot, sexy and very discrete relationship and you live within a couple hundred miles of New Orleans, gimme a yell dammit! hehe. My email address is in the sidebar as always!! Stop laffin' dammit! I'm serious!! Saaaaaave me!!

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My work shoes!! Flip-flops and Levi's!! Working at home has it's benefits!!

I've been busier than a watchdog in a fire hydrant factory and I bring for your viewing pleasure not one, not two, but FOUR new blog template creations!! The first one is at Victoria's Secrets, many of you know Vicki, one cool grrrl!! The next is Poker is War, a new blog written by Christel's husband, and is an anniversary gift from her to him! Cool huh? Next up is Jack written by a really nice lady that loves her pets very much! And finally, one that I finished just this morning, Chris and Her Crew!! I've just met her, she's from Wisconsin and she writes some fun stuff!!

It's Friday and I have nothing planned for this weekend, maybe I'll cruise thru the french quarter if the weather is nice, maybe go shoot some pictures, whatever!! Hope you guys have a solar powered weekend!!

Thar's gold in them thar computers!

Well, at least there used to be. About 12 yrs ago when I was living in the Atlanta area my GF at the time's father owned a computer salvage business in Alabama and he wanted me to come and take it over. We would be partners at first until he was ready to retire and then me and his daughter would take it over fully after a couple of years. The business was amazingly easy and there was a lot of money involved in parting out computers for scrap metal.

Now, I'm not talking about desktop PC's here, the type of computers we salvaged were generally built by IBM in the very late '60's and all thru the '70's and '80's. These were huge mainframe computers that everyone has seen in countless motion pictures and TV shows. You know the ones with the big reel to reel tape drives and such. These things were monsters weighing upwards of 3,000 lbs and stood about 6 ft tall and up to 6 ft wide and 3 to 4 ft deep. Massive high quality steel doors and steel frameworks inside the cabinets that held thousands of high quality circuit boards and processors, some were even water cooled and needed an accessory machine with air conditioners and huge radiators to keep them cooled down! Hard drives that had 10 and 12 inch diameter discs with big industrial electric motors to spin them up, hard drives that were bigger than a large microwave oven and were housed in aircraft quality aluminum castings. Very high quality materials used throughout.

And GOLD, lots and lots of gold, solid gold pins and connectors, heavy gold plated copper electrical connectors and cables that were made of very high quality gold plated copper that interconnected each machine through holes in the floor under each machine. Even the thousands of small circuit boards inside each machine could be smelted down to retrieve a considerable amount of gold. There were also many exotic metals on some of the boards like tantalum alloys and platinum and other precious metals used in transistors which we also salvaged out and sold separately to metal refinerys. Huge roomfulls of these machines could be found at data processing centers, hospitals, military installations and utility companies that needed to keep track of hundreds of thousands of peoples accounts. Everything that we stripped out of these machines was sold with virtually no waste except for the plastics and glass.

The steel we sold by the 10,000 lb truckload, the aluminum would usually be brought to a scrapyard and sold in lots of 3 to 4,000 lbs at a time and the copper was separated from the insulation on the cables and torn out of electrical windings and sold for about a $1.00 a lb. We had 3 large trucks and a couple of forklifts to haul this stuff where ever it needed to go.

And the most amazing part about all of this was that these machines were still working! Machines that sold for upwards of a quarter million dollars apiece when they were new and first installed were now being scrapped. But, they were being phased out with newer faster machines that took up only a fraction of the space that these monsters once occupied. We were an IBM approved salvage operation, in that they could rest assured that we would completely dismantle them for scrap and not resale them to third world countries for profit. I suppose for proprietary reasons that IBM wanted these machines completely off the market and I suppose that some may have had classified technology used in their construction.

I was involved directly with the operations for about a year and her father started making changes to passing the ownership of the company over to us, he was dragging his feet and kept putting us off on his retirement. And then out of the blue, their son that had showed no previous interest in the company whatsoever was released from a jail sentence unexpectedly and now decided he wanted a piece of the action. He was a good for nothing lazy and dumbass fucker that I could not stand to be around and now we were supposed to split the company profits equally. I saw the handwriting on the wall and got the hell out right away. I knew that if I stayed I would have been stuck with 100% of the work and only 50% of the profits if I had to work with the stupid redneck, lazy, good for nothing moron with an ugly criminal record. The bad part was that I didn't have anything in writing from the father on who would get ownership. I waited till we made one particulary good haul from this data processing center in south Atlanta, pocketed my cut and then said see ya's! and sayonara mothafucka!!

I'm pretty sure now that all of those computers are long gone, back in the days when we were doing it the supply was starting to get a bit slim and hard to find. It was one of those deals where you knew there wasn't a long term future in it so it wasn't a huge loss.