Holy Bacon Smacker, Batman!

A week without a post. What's up with that? Last week turned out to be pretty busy at work. Some other things were taking up my time as well. Got my resume back in order, thanks to the help of a friend, and sent it out to a company. They called me for an interview, which I'll be going to soon. I haven't been on an interview in over 8.5 years, so this seems rather strange to me. Wish me luck!

The heat and humidity has been awful lately. My apartment is a huge mess, but I can't get myself motivated to clean it - it's just too damned hot! So I've been vegging out a lot, just trying not to move much so I don't make myself hotter. It's no fun to be sweating while just sitting there. I've gone out Geocaching at night with some friends, which is nice. At least it gets me out of my apartment!

Yes, I whine about the heat quite a bit. Put me out in 50°F in just jeans and a t-shirt and I love it, but when the temperature gets above 80°F, I'm a big baby. Why am I in California again?

One thing that's been a problem for me is sleep: no matter how much sleep I get, it's a restless type of sleep where I wake up over and over, sweaty and hot. So I've felt like the walking dead more often, lately. It doesn't help when I haven't been very active (because of the heat), either. Anyhow, that's the end of my rant about the heat...

This entry was brought to you by cool mountain air, a snow-capped peak, and a chilly natural spring.

Under the incadescent lamp

This weekend proved to be a very full one. Fairly early Saturday morning I hit the road, bound for Santa Maria to pick up Rece at my dad's house (he spent the week there after our camping trip). I made good time, as the traffic was very light... only about 3.25 hours to get there. I stayed there long enough to catch my breath, get a copy of some of my dad's amazing photgraphy, and have him pop my back.

On the way back we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen's for some more pea soup, but just a couple of bowls each. We hit a lot of traffic on the freeway, which worked out to be around 5 hours driving. It was incredibly hot, too!

Quinn and I planned for him to come over Saturday evening, so we could have a few brews and hang out. So he came over Saturday evening and we had a few brews and hung out... uh... I just said that, didn't I? We talked until pretty late, or rather early I should say.

This morning (Sunday) we woke up and I sent Rece off to be with his mom (it was her birthday today). After a proper breakfast at Dick Church's restaurant, we went back to my place and decided to jam a bit. Oh, I forgot to say that Quinn also planned to bring his guitar and an amp so we could jam. So he brought over his guitar and an amp... and... uh... we jammed - no Mason jars or fruits were harmed in the process either.

For those who don't know (that's everybody except for Quinn and I), the two of us haven't played together since some time in early 1989 - that's about 17 years, folks... 1/2 a liftetime ago for me. It's been around 15 years since I last played the drums for longer than 20 or 30 minutes (and that was only 2 or 3 times). Needless to say, I was very rusty. Quinn said he was rusty as well, but he sounded just fine to me! He's been practicing and making some music of his own lately.

We managed to play for about 30-45 minutes before needing a break (it was very warm in the garage) and then went back and played for about another hour. I must admit, I've so missed playing, let alone with Quinn, quite a bit! It took me awhile before I felt somewhat comfortable playing again. I began to loosen up around the last 30 minutes of playing, as the hidden drummer part of my brain and muscle-memory started to find one another again. It was also pretty foreign for Quinn to be playing guitar with a drummer again - which meant having to maintain a very constant tempo.

Hopefully we'll be able to do this on a more regular basis. The taste for making music is on my tongue and I fear that I'm about to get hooked on it again! I look forward to the soreness I'm bound to feel for playing so long... after so long of not playing - it'll be a nice reminder of a great time.

This entry was brought to you by a drummer, reborn!

Petite purple poppies

A plethora of pomegranate pulp poured perilously over the porcupine's pal, the platapus - a plan poorly prepared by prissy pre-teen pep-squad partcipants.

This post presented by pretense and pralines!

Grammar Nazi

Well, according to Godwin's Law, I've already lost my argument by starting this post with a comparison to Nazis. Oh well...

The written word comes easier for some people, but definitely not all. Hell, I know for certain that I'm far from following all the rules and best practices. One of the things that is very important to me is the correct usage (thanks anonymous!) of words - spelling and grammar. I read this article about some common grammar mistakes that I thought might be helpful for some people to read.

Beyond simple grammar, people often use words that sound the same in the wrong place. This web page has a pretty good list and description of how they're meant to be used.

So there you have it. My anal-retentive tendencies have gotten the best of me and now I'm getting persnickety.

This entry is afraid too know if your going to hate him allot for pointing out spelling and grammar mistakes. Heed hate to loose any friends!

Midnight Mentality

Late night, a few beers, and I suddenly slipped into introspection. For some reason the following popped into my head last night. It struck me as something I wanted to remember, so I saved it and now I post it here...

Why am I often so dark inside?
What is it that attracts me to the morbid and melancholy?
My darkness seems to be interrupted by periodic moments of vivid color.

This post was brought to you in the middle of the night.

2006 Summer Vacation - The details

This is the trip that Rece and I look forward to every year. We always go to San Simeon State Park and spend our time enjoying the peace and quiet there. It also affords me some introvert time during my birthday week, as I can sometimes get overwhelmed from too much social activity (which tends to be the case on one's birthday). Anyhow, I figured that a brief summary of our trip was in order for the 2 or 3 people who care to know about it - so here goes...

Day 1 - Roadtrip up to Santa Maria (Tuesday)
My dad lives along the way to San Simeon, so to take the stress of trying to get out super early in order to secure a campsite (I never reserve, relying on the first-come, first-served sites), I arranged it so that we'd stay a night at my dad's place and get out early enough to get a site the following morning. That way we could take off some time before noon and take our time driving up there, stopping wherever and whenever we felt like it along the way.

My car's odometer flipped over to 100K on this trip, which I photographed (not included in the Flickr photo gallery), which I felt required a stop (when it reached 99,999.9 miles) and to mark that location in my GPS unit. How geeky is that?

Our first planned stop was Pea Soup Andersen's. I can't take a trip up the 101 and not stop there - it's a tradition! First we found a geocache somebody had hidden in the parking lot, then we went in and had far too much pea soup. YUM!

While I gluttonously spooned soup down my gullet, I realized that despite our numerous trips up this way, Rece had never seen Solvang. It was only a few miles off, so I decided to head up there for a quick peek. When he asked where we were going, he mistakenly heard me say "Soul Fang" which I found quite hilarious. "Yes, Rece, it's a town full of vampires."

We found a couple more geocaches along the way and made it to my dad's place shortly before dinnertime... not that we had any room for more food.

Day 2 - Camping Day 1
After a good night's sleep, we took off for San Simeon State Park. As usual, we had our choice of campsites and opted for one we'd been in a couple years prior.

There was a group of tents in the 2 campsites next to us that turned out to be a bunch of kids from a YMCA club. Rece had fun hanging out with them - they really were a good group of people.

We drove down to Harmony, a very tiny town with a population of 18. We were there for a geocache, but I also picked up a birthday card and mailed it out from there - so it would have a Harmony postmark.

We nabbed a few more geocaches and picked up some groceries that I had opted to buy locally instead of trying to keep them fresh and "unsquished" on the trip.

Day 3 - Camping Day 2 - Gabe's birthday
Wanting a change of pace, I decided that a drive up the coast was in order. I had downloaded info for a couple of caches about 45 minutes drive up the coast, and wanted to go check them out. We found a nice rocky beach to eat lunch and nabbed just one of the two caches.

On the way back down we stopped to view the elephant seals and Rece got to feed some very friendly squirrels (as can be seen in the photo gallery).

I had promised Rece that we'd go to the beach so he could play in the ocean, so we stopped at San Simeon beach, next to the pier, for a couple of hours. It's unusual for me to spend much time sitting out in the sun and this reminded me of why (headache, lethargy, blah)... oh well, at least Rece had a good time.

Day 4 - Camping Day 3
With the YMCA kids having left the previous afternoon and nobody camping next to us, we managed to get a very good night's sleep.

We planned to go picnic at San Simeon Point, which was something we had kept saying we wanted to do, but for some reason we never managed to accomplish. This time we did it, and also completed the walk along the entire point. I can't express the beauty of that place, but suffice it to say, it's a place we feel compelled to visit every time we're up there.

As with the other days, we also found a few more geocaches.

A family set up camp next to our site that afternoon and we spent the evening talking. A nice group of people, who also come here every summer.

Oddly enough, this was the only evening that Rece and I felt compelled to get out and watch the sunset. I got a few pictures of it while we were there. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is out there?!

Day 5 - Camping Day 4 - Drive back to Santa Maria
After a hearty breakfast (bacon, eggs, O'Brien potatoes, toast, juice, coffee), Rece and I packed up our campsite and hit the road. We took our time, finding quite a few geocaches along the way, eventually making our way back to my dad's house.

Long, hot showers were in order for the both of us, followed up with dinner out. My dad suggested the Roadhouse Grill (in Santa Maria), which turned out to be a good choice for BBQ ribs... mmmm...

After we got back and I was reconnected to the digital world, we went to the Santa Barbara County fair. It was interesting, to say the least. Let's just say that I'm in no hurry to move to Santa Maria. We did have a good time, though, which is what really matters.

Day 6 - The drive home
The plan was for me to leave Rece with my dad for the week, so I left him there and took off to meet up with a friend in Santa Barbara. She and I had lunch (sushi - YUM!), I introduced her to geocaching (which she seemed to find interesting), and went out for some delicious ice cream.

The rest of the drive home was fairly quiet, but it was just what I needed to clear my head and prepare to re-enter the daily grind.

This entry wishes it could have stayed longer.

2006 Summer Vacation - the photos

Rece and I take a trip up to San Simeon every summer for some camping. We did this last week and had such a great time and took lots of pictures. I've uploaded around 1/3 of them to a Flickr album, if you're interested in checking them out...

Gabe & Rece's Camping Trip

It's after 1:00 am now and I'm not feeling especially alert enough to write a blog about the trip right now. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow.

This entry can't believe how long it takes to resize, crop,
color-correct, upload, title, and caption 68 pictures.

Going backwards

I'll be posting about my vacation last week later tonight, but in the meantime I just felt the need to vent about my work situation.

Since I've started working here, I've received a small increase of pay at the beginning of every year. It was linked to performance to a good degree, which is to be expected. What was nice about this increase was that at minimum it helped adjust my pay against inflation, but usually it was more than just that - which meant positive growth.

We also used to receive regular work-related training/education paid for so our skills were kept current. With the inevitable upgrades and changes in software and technology, we did at least a minimum to keep up with things. This also helped maintain our value in the marketplace.

I haven't been to a training class for over 2 years now. We're using software that I'm no longer trained for, which means having to learn it on my own - often through some trial and error. I'm a smart guy, but I can't help but wonder if there are better methods to accomplish things or if I'm missing some key steps or information while doing my work. It's a constant source of frustration.

I got back from vacation while our first checks came in after the new fiscal year (when I'd notice an increase, if one was given) and checked to see what the increase was for this year. Nada. I'm still making the same as last year. So if you take inflation and the increase in gas prices into account, I'm effectively making less this year than last - and my marketable skills aren't as current as they should be. This isn't a good position to be in.

So now I need to take a hard look at whether or not a change is in order. If I stay here and things continue like this, I'll be worse off as time goes on. Sure the year didn't pan out as we had hoped, but the position I'm in has no way of controlling how well we do - unless I don't do my job and people in the building are unable to get out and raise money.

My job isn't glamorous or in the public eye, I don't get much attention for what I do - it's a behind the scenes support position. If I'm getting a lot of attention, it's usually because something isn't working right. People are able to do what they need to do on their comptuers if I'm doing my job. I've done my part of the deal, as always, and even go beyond it with additional help with all sorts of things as needed - plus some new tools and functionality to provide even more ways for staff to stay or be more productive.

What all this rambling and ranting comes down to is that I feel a bit used and unappreciated. I know I do a good job and that I do it well. We'll see if the turnover increases in the near future in response to this with other staff that might feel the same way. To me this is a case of being penny-wise, but pound foolish. Something has got to give.

This entry just wants what's fair.

Ready to go!

Because of odd scheduling conflicts, I had to delay leaving on our camping trip for a day. Hopefully we'll be on the road by noon tomorrow. It's a good thing that I had a couple of days to fudge with, otherwise the trip would have to be shortened - which would have been no good.

Both Rece and I are anxious to hit the road. This is our annual camping trip and it's gonna be a blast, I just know it. In the past our camp-outs have lasted only as much as 3 days + 2 nights - but this time we're going for a whopping 4 days + 3 nights. Yeah, living on the edge... that's how I roll, yo.

What's going to be a little different this time is that we're going to make a deliberate effort to create a true photojournal of the trip. I mean that we'll take pictures of everything we do - and a lot more of ourselves (using a tripod, as opposed to our typical arm-length shots).

There's also a great spot right at the ocean where we keep saying will make for a good picnic spot, but never seem to do it... well, we're gonna do it this time. Yep, I said it - a picnic on coastal cliffs, overlooking tidepools. I don't care if saying it gets me 20 years behind bars for sitting on a blanket and eating roast beef sammiches!

So anyhow, I just now (yep, mid-blog writing) decided against bringing beer and crossed it off the list. Why bother? It's just Rece and I. Wow... why did I even bother to write that?

This entry wants to go sleep in a tent... NOW!

What a night!

I went out for drinks with some friends on Friday after work - something I don't ordinarily do. We ended up drinking a lot and...

...heck we even ended up going out to a club for some dancing. Yeah... me... dancing. I was too drunk to care. Anyhow, I'm just going to say that I had a lot of fun and in ways that were pretty new to me. It was such a blast and the company was top-notch! I just might have to do this more often.

This entry didn't seem to care too much about his two left feet last night.

The Mighty Quinn RAWKS!

My old friend Quinn and I had a garage band going for awhile back in high school. It didn't go anywhere but it was fun while it lasted. Well Quinn continued with music after high school, got a band together (Squeaky Wheels) and even went so far as to cut a demo tape (that's what we used before CDs, kids). Responsibilities and life led to that band not continuing and Quinn sorta let his musical talent go dormant for a spell.

Over the last few years, he's putzed around with music on the computer and has learned how to self-produce to an extent using his own equipment. Well, up until now, most of what he's created would probably be considered tinkering and just messing around. This all changed as of today. Check out his blog and listen to the song he created - IT EFFING RAWKS!

This entry is Quinn's biggest fan!

Happy 4th of July

Time for another video blog. Nothing exciting or funny in this one... just me yacking my face off.

This entry wants to watch things go snap, crackle, & pop!

We're all related

I read this very interesting article about how everybody on the planet shares one common relative at some point back in history. I sorta like the idea.

This entry ain't heavy, he's your brother.