Rapid Random

Just a few random things I wanted to post on!!!

My wife got lucky and got Jury Duty. Had her calling in since last Monday, but Friday was the first day they actually had her come in. So far, she's on a jury. I notice that when I was on Jury Duty, there were wild fires going on then, too. I saw the smoke rising from the hills yesterday when I was taking the boys to the railroad open house.

I know I've been hiking up there, but I remember the name of the place more than the place itself.

Incredibly hot this weekend. I kind of wanted to take the boys or the whole family to Universal Studios to partake in some of the moist activities that occur there, as well as getting some use out of the year passes. Of course, I don't think I'd drive, but take the rail line.




All images swiped from the 'Net.

The system went down several times on Friday. I wrote about it on my cup. "For a buggy system, it is remarkably stable" and "Do not attempt to adjust your computer. We are controlling the transmission." I wonder how many people actually made the Outer Limits connection.

Wifey's going to take the rail line to court tomorrow instead of driving. If she'd had the presence of mind, she could have gotten a Metro pass at the court and gone without having to pay. Hopefully (and if commuting that way suits her tomorrow) she'll pick one up when she's there tomorrow.

Instead of going to Universal, I did yard work yesterday. That, and the railroad open house. The lawn actually came out looking fairly decent just running the mower over it and weed eating around the edges. Had to cut back a lot of other greenery, too, it's that time of year when the Fire Department does inspections.

Writing about the yardwork reminded me that I should water the grass a little.

My mom called today and talked a bit to my wife. Catching half of the conversation I got that she'd bought something for my oldest boys' birthday present. As she was getting ready to hand the phone to me, wife tells mom that she'll have to tell me so I know what she got him. As soon as I'm talking to my mom, she starts telling me about a Stanley Kubrick video collection she bought. I thought that was quite cool, but a rather odd thing to have gotten for the boy. Apparently, it was not for my son but just something she'd picked up.

Earlier in the week I'd needed something for my cup, so I wrote part of an Emily Dickinson poem:
HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all!!!

If she'd had the Metro pass, could have used that to ride free to Universal. I don't suppose that she could grab a handful of them???

They had a note on the board at work to let them know if anyone is interested in a permanent Saturday shift. Oh yea, I am interested!!! Saturday shift means you get Fridays off, and the shift is from 6:30 to 3:15, so you've still got some Saturday left. If you don't fall asleep after work. It also means a little more gravy in your paycheck. Now, there's something to hope for!!!

I know there is more random, because I had a thing or two that got left off the last random!!! The hour grows late...

ÃÝË's Been Working on the Railroad

Now, this was cool!!!

There was a blurb in the paper about an open house going on at a model railroad club.





I've always loved trains, and, even without my input my youngest has pretty much loved trains from infancy.



They have their own building with a layout over 5,000 square feet, and a great amount of detail. If you look closely, in the first picture you can see there's a guy bungee jumping from the bridge span. I didn't even see that until I looked at the picture tonight!!!





It also happened to be pretty close to my home, so that was a plus, too!!!

Mask Unmasked

As mentioned in the previous post, here's my take on the musical play "Mask", which I got to see on Saturday.

I'll start out with the restaurant that we went to first. A real class place, although it seemed a little bit small. We shall call it intimate. It is called Maison Akira, and they bill themselves as French dining with a Japanese flair. When I arrived, there was a wine bar set up, and I had a few while sitting with several of my co workers. Appetizers, then onto the food. Really, really good food.

After that, on to the theatre for the play. I had never seen the movie and didn't know the story, which I felt was a better way to go into it. I kind of knew that it was based on a true story, but I didn't know that it happened just up the road (and quite near my old-old place of employment) in Azusa. Turns out one of my fellow fillers grew up there, and had seen Rocky a few times at the store. A show featuring a biker gang, a deformed kid with a great attitude, and his addict mother seems like a strange choice to be made into a musical. Now, what can I say about this??? The actors all sang quite well, as well as acted well. There was a good balance of comedy and tragedy. The story didn't seem to completely blow. I can't put my finger on what the downfall was, but somehow the whole thing did not work. About halfway through the first act, when I found myself more fascinated with the rotating stage than the action, was when I think I realized it wasn't working for me. Funny, my wife wasn't familiar with the movie either. The movie she thought of when I told her was the Jim Carey comedy. Now, that might just make a better musical!!!

When I talked to some of the others who were there today at work, the consensus was pretty much the same among everyone. Interesting, last year's outing the food was perceived as "just OK" and the play as sensational, and this year the roles are reversed.

Work Perks Revisited

Just a little update on some of the cool goings-on at work. I had my annual review this week. It has several categories that are ranked 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 3 being meets their already high expectations. I scored two 1's and a 2, with the rest being threes. I asked about a few of the other categories, how I could possibly do better, and was given the answer that several of them were either go or no go type categories. Either you get it, or you don't. Not so easy to score better in those categories. Anyhow, this should translate into an even better raise than last time... in six months!!!

Something I didn't have in the last perks post was the annual outings. They may not have been posted at that point, but this year they have the choice of the golf outing, a gambling cruise (not real gambling, but for prizes), or lunch and showing of the play "Mask". I don't golf, so that was out. One of the guys said the restaurant for the play outing is excellent, and he usually ends up spending more than $100 when he visits. Also, it is local to me. However, unlike last year's outing to "Wicked", I hadn't heard rave reviews about the play, and didn't have a whole lot of interest. Of the three, the cruise sounded the best to me, so that is what I signed up for.

Earlier this week, there was a notice posted: We still have extra play tickets, drop your name in the bowl and we'll draw names to see who gets to go to this in addition to their selected event. I put my name in and was selected. Apparently, there were so many extra tickets that if you put your name in, you won. I think they were recalling the response that they received to the "Wicked" outing last year and ended up over buying. That happens this afternoon, perhaps there will be a review on it later.

The ticket drawing that was mentioned on the last perks post, I scored!!! I'm going to the NASCAR race!!! Whoo hoo!!!

The picture on this post is my cup from Friday. It's about as busy as I've ever done. I rolled it across my scanner as it scanned, and it came out pretty decent. The part about the sexually transmitted diseases was per Pank's suggestion. I used to always bring my own cup to my previous job, but they don't have good lids, a must. Good times, good times.

The Black Friday Random

Welcome to the Black Friday random post!!! Although, it will likely be Saturday before it is posted. I have much randomness in me, but I'm sure some will not make it into this post.

A little background as to why this is titled the Black Friday Random Post. Last week they fired one of us fillers, a longtime worker who was well liked. No love. In a show of mourning for this loss, almost all of us fillers agreed to wear black today.

Gene Simmons was on the Mark & Brian show the other morning. Interestingly, what he mostly talked about was the economy. He basically echoed what I've been saying, the economy isn't really that bad, and it's a GREAT time to buy up stuff!!! Thank you, Gene!!!

I wonder how Jerry Lee Lewis feels about the group The Killers.

A few weeks ago, a couple of times my water cup at work got tossed out. I hadn't been writing my name on it, I'm one of the very few who use the biggest cups. I discovered soon after that that it doesn't matter what you write on your cup, just so long as you write something, it doesn't get tossed out.

I bought a few Asian pears last weekend. They were on sale for a pretty decent price. I pulled one out of my lunchbox at work on Monday, and most everyone was impressed with them. Asian pears rock.


Did you know that Gene Simmons copywrited the image of a bag of money with a dollar sign on the side??? Clever, who would have thought to do that???

There was yet another lunch and learn the other day. It was about the plants and garden areas around the building. It was actually one of the most interesting ones I've been to.

A couple of the girls forgot to wear black today. One went home on her lunch break and changed. The other went to a store and bought a black shirt.



A while ago, my oldest made up a little sign out of notebook paper. It said, "HILLARY EATS PUPPYS". I thought that was great, and asked him if I could have it. I taped it to my tray at work. Not a lot of people noticed it, but those who do are always greatly amused.

While looking for an image to use on that topic, I found an image of a bumper sticker that goes with it nicely.

The first thing that I wrote on one of my cups was, "Touch my cup, and I'll break your arm!!!" I considered adding and expletive or two, but decided against it. Needless to say, EVERYONE wanted to touch it. The next day I wrote, "Go ahead... touch my cup... you know you want to!!!"

They should make Gene Simmons the Federal Reserve Chief.

They made quite a bit of progress on the bin structure addition at first. Doesn't seem like much has been done recently, though.

One of the orders I got the other day was for something called a "ball vibrator". Naturally, they ordered two of them.

Ever notice that every election year they tear up the roads most everywhere??? That'll get votes, block up traffic for months.

I find that putting a 512 on my cup is usually most effective. I've had to explain the mystery of 512 to several people because of this. I explained it to the new girl, and she didn't believe me!!!

I think part of the reason those Asian pears are so expensive is the packaging they use on them. Have you seen these??? They look like a Styrofoam fish net stocking!!!


Gene Simmons wouldn't be the Federal Reserve Chief. There's not enough money in it for him.

One time, a customer ordered an eye bolt. Just one eye bolt, nothing else. As I was packing it, I asked myself, "Who orders just one eye bolt???" A few minutes, the answer came to me: The Cyclops!!!

The back of my son's Hillary sign said, "Pick up after your dog". No one will see that now, because it's taped with that side down.

Today I drew a picture of an anchor on my cup, and put the lines, "You're an anchor on the line, of a clock that tells the time, That is running out on you" for Counting Crows' "Richard Manuel is Dead" (a deceptively upbeat tune, considering the title). I would have used a lyric from "When I Dream of Michelangelo", but I was unsure of how to spell Michelangelo.

One guy at work always dresses all in black. One of the girls, when we were planning Black Friday, said, "Be sure to let him know!!!"

When we were discussing Asian pears, one guy missed the beginning of the exchange. He asked what we were talking about, and I replied, "Asian pears." He had a blank look for a few moments, and I had to explain to him that I wasn't talking about two Asian dudes.

We drove the Falcon for the first time in a while a couple weekends ago. My younger boy noticed my 512 dome light, and asked if that was where I got the idea for 512. Chicken or the egg, boy.


When we were at the store last weekend (buying Asian pears, among other things) Counting Crows' "Daylight Fading" came on the sound system. I thought that was great, that they were playing a song with the lyric, "Well, I heard you let somebody get their fingers into you".

The Fall of Fort 7

It was a peaceful morning, a little foggy, but no figures broke the fog. All of a sudden, a big shadow came through the fog carrying the monthly rations and 20 troops. Fort 7's security gate opened, when all of a sudden, a mortar round broke the scilence and collapsed the trenches! A nearby Sargent yelled out, "Mortars!" as 5 more rounds hit the fort. Two tanks broke the fog and opened fired with the 50-mm machine guns mounted to kill oncoming troops. Fifty battle-ready troops advanced on the tanks while others mounted the fort's defence cannons and machine guns. Troops came from the fog carrying rocket launchers and C-4. Then, just as the first tank exploded, he fort's automatic sentry turrets activated and cut down the the fog-trooper's front lines and the fort brought out the 2 antitank vehicles they had stored in the gradges. All of a sudden, the fog cleared and 3 Osprey helocopters came through the air, heading for the fort. the anti-air guns opened fire just as the troop carrying a HAVOC nuke came into the fort, planted the nuke, and ran for the motorcycle stashed by the shed. The enemy troops retreated and the fort roared in victory. Little did they know that a HAVOC nuke was planted in the barracks.

The preceding short story was written by the oldest for a quick short story assignment at school. The instructor said it was even better than their own. I thought it was pretty good, too. I left the misspellings in, to present it in "as written" form. He's been asking me to post a link to his site on here for a while to get traffic going that way. Please click over. I think he has delusions about the popularity of my blog :Þ