Wow - it's been another bunch of years since I updated my blog!!

Not much new.

See ya next time!

Where have I been?

This has been in draft mode since 2006.  OOOPS!

Holy Cow - sure seems that life passes by fast. So let's catch up, shall we? Since last we met.....

• I've acquired yet another Mustang - this time I 2004 Mystichrome Convertible Cobra. Seems like a great idea at the time, but put it up for sale almost immediately as it was not a smart purchase for Ohio. The car currently is used to keep my Genuine Ford Mustang Car Cover in tip-top form (shaped like a Mustang, that is)
• The Big C has claimed yet another family member. Yep - used to have 4 brothers, now I'm down to to. It's crasy to think about that, but that's what it is
• Speaking of family, I see far too little of mine. Odd in that I tell myself I really have to "try harder" to spend some time with them, but it just never seems to happen for whatever reason. Too much time on my ass worrying about myself I suppose
• Also on the car front, the Bullitt was showing signs of anti-freeze in its oil, so the much anticipated forged engine and turbocharger install is well underway. Occasionally I make the mistake of looking at my credit card statements and see what I'm dumping into this car.... but hey, it's only money - right? I got incredibly lucky and got directed to an engine builder / mechanic / body guy not too too far just across the border in PA. So far he's fixed my rear suspension for me and did some great work at a decent price. He meets my single largets criteria - he works on cars like he would if they were his own. Should be fun as the turbo goes in an we get ready for summer!
• A tree hit my house over the last winter. No major damage, but I lost a few shingles and a branched penetrated the front of the house. More opportunities to part with my cash. I am so fucking tired of the "hurricane season" that now seems to comprise an Ohio winter. I mean, seriously, what is the friggin' deal with 90MPH windstorms???
• Planting season is upon us. The spring thus far has been incredibly nice. If anything, a little dry. This weekend I bought 5 yards of dirt and 5 yards or much (for the bargain price of $300) now all I have to do is spend a week moving to various locations around the house.
• Several folks contacting me aboot the dog and the holistic (herbal) heartworm treatment he went through. Kinda nice to share that stuff with others. Hard to believe he has been cured for over a year now! Actually, he's do for a checkup as we speak.
• Holy cow - I went to French Polynesia for 10 days. Ended up on an atoll called Rangiroa. It was so awesome. Made some friends (world travelers no less), ate some great food, took in some local culture, took 9GB of photos, and generally had a great time (well, once again managed to fry myself in the sun on day one), all while wondering how in the hell I could possibly run away and live there forever. I should have blogged that whole experience here (I did take notes with the intention, but it never happened). It was a once in a lifetime kinda thing.
• Watched a State Trooper hit a deer. Apparently this moron never saw deer before in his life as deer almost ALWAYS travel in groups > 1. He was coming towards me and a deer jumped out in front of his car (he was maybe 10 yards away) and instead of slowing down he just kept on hauling ass. Deer number two appeared from the same thicket and sure enough - BOOM! dead center in the middle of the grill. Poor little bastard got thrown 15 feet in the air and into the ditch on the opposite side of the road, where it started to flop around on its front legs, too much in shock to realize its back half was already dead. Amazingly the trooper did not turn around immediately. I suppose he was looking for a safer place to turn around. At least I hoped that he was going to come back and put the poor thing out of its misery. Now I get to drive by his little carcass on a daily basis.
• On the Linux Ninja front - some of my mad Leenooks skilz have apparently fallen to the wayside as in April I went to Red Hat again to try and get my 4th RHCE cert. Sadly, the week I went down there I was ill with a double-barreled sinus infection (so sick, in fact, I sought out the help of a professional while in Raleigh, NC) and I did NOT pass the test this time around. I was bummed, but I was so sick I could not even think straight. I lost my voice for like 5 days - a new record for me (and a joy to my fellow traveler). On top of that the instructor SUCKED BALLS - he could NOT keep on-topic, and felt that everyone needed to be intimately familair with all aspects of his life, past, present, and future, and we eneded up liek a full day behind in actual study time. To make matters wrose there was a Red Hat employee (off th help desk) in the room, and he too had a rich & colorful history that had to be talked about ad neauseum. If you're going to go to Raleigh for the RH300 class be sure to ask who is taching the class BEFORE you go - if they say it's "Chuck" tell them to get you into another class becuase you will be wasting $3000!
• In general I am suffering a real malaise WRT the job front. I want out of this place so bad, but only want to leave if it means a new job in Florida.

General ramblings -

• Things that suck near my house:
• mice
• flies
• mosquitoes
• the typical motorist (speeder, litterbug, fart-can muffler or just total POS car, and the never ending stream of posseurs that spend more on the stereo than they did on the car)
• the toothless, unwashed, pickup-truck driving mouth-breathers that come from 4 counties to shop at the local Wal*Mart
• the local Wal*Mart for never having exactly what you want, only things that come kinda close (and FUCK them for injecting their meat with "up to 12% of a solution" - a solution of what??? Friggin water and salt, that's what....)
• the seemingly never ending supply of assholes that don't know how to drive in general, but especially don't know how to pass an Amish buggy on the road (they either _never_ pass them, or do it too loud, too fast, too close (to the buggy), or too close (to oncoming traffic)
• ODOT (they're 1.5 miles away and only come by once a winter to insure every mailbox is annihilated)
• Things that don't suck near my house:
• watching my dog tear ass around the yard (he's totally psychotic)
• hawks, turkeys, turkey vultures, owls, hummingbirds, deer, etc
• my dog trotting aroun with a rabbit in his mouth (hey, if he don't eat 'em young I'm just gonna shoot 'em as adults - they've got a whole forest to eat but insist on my garden as the main course)
• the color of the sky - it's FREAKY how blue it is
• my landscaping. 6 years of work are showing up well
• living near the Amish - it's quite cool, and you gotta love the fresh syrup and produce!

What's going on with me?

Well, I've been digging Twitter so much I thought it's about damn time I get into some full-on blogging again.

So of course, I have a sh!tload of stuff to get done tonight (I'm on the road - in Missouri). So this is it for now.

Lame, but gotta start somewhere.

08-08-08

Gotta post something!

TSA has a blog!

My profile has a whopping 163 views since inception. Let's see who peeks after I poke my $.02 in the TSA blog. C'mon big brother, don't be shy - leave a comment!

Hugs -
Don

Wow - over a year and no post. Man, I'm lame. More later. Maybe.

Angry Engineer: Dynamic Compression Ratio

Angry Engineer: Dynamic Compression Ratio

Impending doom....

Well, I have thus far managed to make it past Christmas, but I'm not looking forward to the week ahead. Myself & Bro#4 were supposed to head to upstate NY to visit Bro#2 last Saturday, who is sadly nearing the end of his go-round on this mortal coil. There's 2 things that seem to kill my family - attacks of the heart variety, and "The Big C". It is the latter that has had it's way with Bro#2.

We had an ass-kicking weather week here last week, so the aiport closed Thursday - that, combined with the holiday traffic in general left the Cleveland area virtually void of rental cars (Bro#4 having a full-size van and me having a 340HP Mustang = we need a rental). I was stunned to see that there there was not a car to be had, save a Ford Focus from Hertz for the princely sum of $50/day. I don't relish the 7.5 hour journey to begin with, much less jamming my 6'3" frame (and Bro#4's 6'4" frame) into a Focus during a blizzard. When I hang up here I'm going to look into this again - perhaps tomorrow will be the day we head out. We have to do it soon - or we'll not see Bro#2 again until he's in a jar on the mantle.

No real plans for New Years - not that being sober is necessarily boring, but it does certainly make some options less attractive based on the "Ameture Drinking" nature of any given event. It will likely be a hors d'overs type meal and loads of TV, then off to bed to feel a little older, wonder where my life is going, and hoping that I get there soon....

Rock on-
Don

Finally going to blog....

Well, after much deliberation I have decided to create an actual blog.
Sure, I've made some travel journals (like those here and here and here)

I've made a feeble attempt at a web presence in the past, the lingering history of which still lives on - the ISP not taking my stuff down after more than 4 years since I paid for service...

If I had actual bandwidth available out in Hooterville I would very likely have my own domain with loads and loads of super-fun content, but given that any work I do is via dial-up there's not much fun to be found at 40kb/s.....

No idea what I'll blog here, or how often that I'll do. Those of you that know me even remotely know that like most sentient beings I have strong opinons on pretty much everything.... so lets see what happens.....

For now -
Don