Busy-ish last week

In D.C. Sunday / Monday. Stayed in an awesome hotel.  Being my first stay there, and wishing to make a good impression, they put me in the room furthest second furthest from the elevators.

Where's my complimentary Segway?

Truly, the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel in DC is a great place to stay...as long as you are on an expense account.

The Grand Hall to the Banquet rooms

Which also goes all the effing way

 to the other end of the block.

Wednesday to Friday in Dallas to review

 a full scale curtain wall lighting mockup.

Got a bit of sun. Note to self bring some 

sunscreen or a hat next time dumbass.

Next week we are going to blast the curtain wall mockup 

with this, and a fire hose to see if it leaks!  Weeeee!

Finished the week off with a little Beth Hart at the House of Blues.

K, that's pretty much done

That little thunderstorm  TROPICAL STORM! streamed rain all the way across the country to Washington D.C.
Oklahoma's only comment is, "Damnit"

It almost feels like a vacation

Totally disconnected from work.
Totally.
As in, all my servers and network infrastructure down to the firewall are powered down.

We have a Tropical "Disturbance" rolling into the BAR environs tonight.

On the SHTF scale of things, this is more of a rowdy frat party than a domestic dispute.


The old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"  applies here.
Two weekends in a row we've had spontaneous power outages at the office.   Thankyouverymuch Center Point!
This is a most ungraceful shut down for my servers.
I might be taking a day off if I can't get to the office in the morning.

I'm thinking of upgrading the Scion Rollerskate to one of these.

As I type, the storm has been upgraded to a NAMED TROPICAL STORM!

The weather channel people are wetting their pants with joy.  There have been so few named storms to report for years now, they have resorted to naming winter storms.

Pathetic.

As the first NAMED storm of the hurricane season, I Shall Call You, "Bill".

"Tim" was already taken by John Cleese in the "Holy Grail".

Update:

The truly IMPORTANT news of the storm event!

Note the headline banner......

Into Mordor

Mid last week I was informed we'd "won" a project and the client wanted me on site Monday to survey a building we'd be tearing down.

Washington D.C.

DC is a really great city*.

I've been there before.

In my college days as an aspiring architect I toured the cat walks in a Smithsonian Museum dome.  You lesser plebes have only seen this from the floor. I have actually been in between the inner and exterior domes of the building stumbling up and down turn of the last century metal stairs and planks. Weeee!

Of particular interest, the acoustics in this interstitial space between the domes produce quite an exquisite echo, particularly when an unnamed 20 year old retard yells out lyrics such as "whip it good" by DEVO. **

Fast Forward.

The unfortunate thing about this trip was I had the foreboding feeling that I was headed into enemy territory.  I have never felt this way about any city in which I've had a project.  Difference of political opinion?  Sure.
Religion and politics are two things I don't discuss with strangers.  Oh, also Global Worming Climate Change.  Wait, sorry, that was redundant.

On the way out, headed to Reagan to catch a plane, I caught a glimpse of the Washington Monument.  The "repair job" after the earthquake may have made it structurally sound, but it does not look good at all.  I wish I had a pic to share.  It is an image in stone of the state of this country.

It actually looked sad.




*  Over Saturday, and Sunday when I arrived, there were ten shootings, four of which reached ambient air temperature.  Aside from that it is an awesome city to visit because #History! No srsly.

**  I have never claimed to have not been moronic in my teens and twenties. It did however elicit a heartfelt laugh from my fellow morons.

I never thought I would be traumatized by dinner.... until tonight.

I am visiting a friend of mine in New Haven, CT and deep in the heart of their 'Little Italy' is a very nice, little restaurant.  Appetizers were great,  Atmosphere fantastic, nice wine...

The waiter, was pretty much fresh off the boat from Italy.  His English was pretty good but very accented and when explaining the off menu specials of the evening the lobster with pasta and a spicy tomato sauce sounded fantastic and while we were deciding my friend (who is full blooded Italian) explained to me what it was.  So that's what I ordered.

Apparently, even my friend who grew up in New Haven's "Little Italy" had no idea of the horror that awaited me.

The waiter brings out a bowl, spoon, small fork and cracker to crack claws.  I looked at the waiter and asked if I was going to be served a whole lobster with pasta on the side or something.. he gave me the quizzical dog look and walked away.   My friend thought that maybe it was just the claws or something... so not to worry all is going to be fine.

So a little while later....   this arrives in front of me....

Okay I wasn't expecting this at all!  so i pick through it a bit and see the green guts or whatever it is that is inside the lobster (my friend called it the tomalley pronounced tomale) and I thought I would hurl (had to be because it was green and apparently it's just fat not guts.. but it's.... green).   I did eat some of the meat but really it was just too freaky for me to stomach.

The Antenna are what killed my appetite. Even my friend was taken back by it and was pretty grossed out and considering some of the stuff she grew up seeing cooked.... that's saying something.

So the waiter asked if everything was okay....  I told him that I wasn't expecting that and it was  a bit troublesome for me to eat...    he said in his heavy Italian accent.... "If I had said 'lobster meat with sauce" the lobster would have been in the sauce..."  (I guess since he said lobster with pasta and sauce he meant the pasta and sauce is in the lobster.)

So lesson learned....    do not order off menu specials if you can't understand what the waiter is really saying....     or....    ask a lot of questions first.

I find this troubling because some day I will go to Italy.....    oye....   I better start learning some Italian.

If I get through the night without nightmares of lobsters chasing after me or jumping off my plate to sing the blues to me.... I will be amazed.

This has been a blogpost from Belle, live from New Haven CT.

Tomorrow I will be going to New York City for the first time....    I can't wait!!   Hoping to see my nephew tomorrow who lives in Brooklyn.

Belle.  

Belle is quite excited

We are not growing cucumbers. However, the next door neighbors have a vine growing up, and through the fence which is leafing out on our propity!
Inspecting the leaves and blooms this evening, Belle proclaimed, " I'm pretty sure this is a cucumber vine."

We have had a prodigious amount of rain this May. That vine is looking quite fat and happy.  Aside from the small fruit tree orchard we've planted in the back yard, we might have some serendipitous  cucumbers as well.

We have a preteen peach tree planted last year that has many buds and one excessive pubescent peach nearly dragging the branch to the ground.

Our biggest concern right now is that all the rain is going to drown the trees.

What I should have said to Ted Cruz

As Belle mentioned, we met Ted Cruz Saturday night, by shear chance.
In my own defense, we had been bowling..poorly...drinking mostly*, and having a grand time.
The tourniquet tournament was over and we were, uhm still drinking and shooting the sh bull.
After Ted discerned he was in friendly territory, Belle mentioned she'd voted for him, upon which I mentioned I'd already donated money.

Ted looked me right in the eyes and gave a heartfelt  Thank You.

I was not expecting that.
Somebody else said something, and being inibriated  enebriated  into my cups, I looked away and did not respond.

When I said I'd donated money, I was not expecting to be thanked or patted on the back or anything else.
My intent was to let Ted know I'd thrown my support behind him.

What I should have said is, "No, on the contrary, thank you for loving this country enough to go through the excoriation of running for President. We really need you right now."

Thank You Ted.



* Speaking for myself. Belle was driving.......

You meet people in the strangest places.....

Saturday night was the annual company bowling tournament.   It was a fun night.  Kx and I had a great time, though now I'm sore in places I forgot existed.  Amazing the muscles that use when you're bowling.

At any rate, after the tournament was over and we were all gathered by the snack bar, talking, finishing up our adult beverages and someone said...  "That looks like Ted Cruz!"

Kx turned around and said.."That is Ted Cruz!"

Before you know it, we were speaking with him.  Of course I was in shock as to what on earth he was doing at a bowling alley in Houston, so in my inquisitive yet polite manner I asked him... "I'm sorry but why are you here?"

He just smiled and stated that he was taking the family bowling.....   then of course I proceeded to tell him how much I enjoyed having him as my Senator and that he has my vote and wished him the best of luck on his Presidential run.

All in all he was very gracious and kind and just seems like a regular guy.  I like that about him, plus I do like his politics.

On the way home I was just in shock and awe and felt rather excited yet somehow a little humbled to have met an actual US Senator and the fact that I shook his hand and didn't feel the need to wash my hands afterward was certainly a bonus!

He was kind enough to take a photo with me which he certainly did not have to do but it is a memory that I will take with me for years to come.

I guess it just goes to show that you just really never know who you're going to meet and sometimes you meet the good guys in the most unexpected places!

Until next time...

Belle

Stay tuned,,,,,,     I have been a busy little bee with regards to getting to various concerts these past months and have met some really cool artists, I really need to get on the stick and blog about it.  (Kx will be thrilled really, I've been neglecting our blog for way too long now.)

A comment turned into a post - Mother's Day

My Uncle J was listening to some twenty somethings
Now, personally, I advise against this as it will lower your IQ if you are not careful, but The Big Guy is, admirably, fearless.

When they are 8, 9 or 10, you are smart, almost god like. They develop a sense of humor that actually makes you laugh. You actually have conversations with your offspring. It is a most wonderful time for a parent.

When they hit the teens, the whoremones kick in,  you don't know shit.
Have a problem you can't solve? Hire a teenager, they know everything!

From what I've read, the human brain does not reach full development until the age of 26.
Around 28, the females are feeling the tick of the biological clock. As you approach the mid-life age of 30, this gets quite intense.
 At this point in your life, you find yourself attending more Engagement parties, Weddings, Baby Showers, etc, etc.  And yet, you are still not married?

Personally, I think the voting age should be 35, when you have some real skin in the game.

I digress.

To the point of Uncle J's post:
They are young and stupid girls that think they are all grown up'n stuff.  Especially when legal drunk.
They have jumped the shark if they can they can get get to the age where they realize their parents weren't such dumbfucks after all.*

That day comes for most of us, raised by Parents, and more importantly, Moms that cared.




*without drunk naked pics of them posted on facebook....for eternity.

The thin veil of civilization

Drizzling rain today. A transformer, close enough that we heard its splodey "good by cruel world" cry, gave up the ghost. The news says it was a 2015 Millennial Snowflake Model*.  OMG it's raaaining. I quit. I'm going to Starsucks for a latte!


Therefore, I am home early today.
Our office building is without power.

This happened sometime this past Sunday as well.  The 'puter network did not care for it much. Monday morning was a rough start.   Today I was present to gracefully shut things down before the UPS ran out.


Our electrical grid does not look like the image above, but the frequency with which we lose power in this building is appalling.

The electrical grid across most of this Great Nation, unfortunately, does look like that.
Western civilization runs on electricity.  How fragile it is.
Invest in candles and Coleman lanterns.





* I totally made that up, but c'mon the wind isn't even blowing.  Okay, it was actually some homeless dude trying to steal the copper cabling that got lit up by 35 KV.
K, I made that up too. The truth is it was probably something more stupid than I can even imagine.