bartzilla.org

Been a while, eh?  Not too much to chime in on, I suppose.

Birthday times were fun.  Vegas with the family one weekend, blowout at the house the following weekend.  Wore myself down to the point where I had a crippling flu the following week.  All that’s said and done and it’s back to business.

Almost have the condo squared away. The bank sure is taking it’s time and being ultra-thorough before they sign off on my loan.  Hell, I know me well enough that I’d probably think twice about sticking 200K in my pocket. But, it’s close.  Once I get the keys it’s time to rip up the carpet, get some new paint on the walls, put some new carpet in and move  on in.  Very exciting.  Very frustrating!

Desert with Julie this weekend. One of those short getaway missions.  Going to go to the Salton Sea and check out the newly revamped North Shore Yacht Club, which is now a museum.  And we’re going to do a whole lot of laying out by the pool and swimming.  The weather promises to be in the low 100’s, so there will be ample opportunity to get some delicious sun and some refreshing swimming.

I’ll be taking a course in early August to earn my BBQ Judging Certification that’ll make my love for all things grilled, smoked and seared legitimate.  Previously I had thought I’d have to go to Kansas City to achieve this, but they have touring classes.  Upon completion I’ll be called upon to judge the fare at BBQ events in my area.  Excellent!  More on that after I complete it.

That is all.

I turn 40 this month. I got to thinking about this and I’m not sure how 40 got to be the big deal that it is. Is it because it marks what is the average half-way point in human life or is it just a nice, even number? I don’t have much planned other than a trip to Vegas with my girlfriend and my folks and maybe a bbq the week after.

I’ll let you know if I suddenly start feeling the urge to buy a convertible Corvette and get a hair piece. Then I’ll know what this whole “turning 40″ hype is all about. Otherwise, it’s just another flip of the calendar.

It was pretty sad to hear Ronnie James Dio died.  I was also surprised to learn he was 67 years old.  Seriously? At 67 that dude rocked harder than most hipster jackoff “musicians” half his age.  I saw him live when I was 15 and he had a giant sword and slayed a giant mechanical dragon that appeared over the stage.  Cheesy?  Yes.  But this was METAL.

A few years later a group of us went to the NAMM Show in Anaheim and did the usual stargazing and gear worship.  While we were standing in the cocktail line we noticed that Dio was right in front of us.  We chatted him up as the line crawled forward and he ended up buying our drinks and we chatted a bit more about Sabbath, Rainbow, Satan, touring, partying and anything else we could muster up. I have a picture of this somewhere that I should scan and post up (though I look like a total metal dork, please forgive me).  He was a champ and a hell of a nice guy.  While I don’t buy into this afterlife nonsense I’ll say that if he’s in Heaven, he’s slaying angels and if he’s in Hell, he’s got a nice, shiny throne to sit on.

Moving ahead, we’re going up to LA tomorrow night to a Chuck Palahniuk event.  He’ll be reading passages from his new book, singing book and whatever goes on at these things.  Should be fun.  I admire his work and some of his books can be listed amongst my favorites (Lullaby, Fight Club, Survivor).  After that, it would be criminal if we didn’t stop off at Roscoe’s for some fried chicken and waffles.  So, thy will be done.

I finished up all my CERT courses the other day by participating in a simulated earthquake disaster drill down at the NTC training area.  I drew the card of “Logistics Leader” which meant I had to stick around the equipment trailer and make sure the teams had whatever supplies they needed to aid in any search, rescue and fire extinguishing.

After the drill, the San Diego Fire Chief swore us in and we received diplomas.  Pretty nifty.  It’s been a while since I’ve take a class and have seen it all the way through without getting distracted, bored or having something come up that takes precedence.

Instead of sitting around and waiting for a disaster before I can spring into action, I’ll be taking some free followup courses like “Personal Preparation” and “Ham Radio”.  Not only will these satisfy the DSW requirements for a couple of years, but I’ll also gets some more hands on experience.  Since I’m an electronics nut, I’m particularly interested in the ham radio course.

That’s all for now.  I’m officially a low level member of the fire department and FEMA.  Hopefully I never really have to use this knowledge.  If I do, this means we’re all in deep shit.

At least that’s the case if you live in San Diego.

Last night’s CERT class went over terrorism and it’s pretty sobering to see what a bulls-eye San Diego has on it.  We have a huge military presence in town as well as an international border to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west.  Considering the city has decided public safety funding is less important than building a new football stadium or removing a cross from the top of a mountain, the odds of a catastrophically awful event here in town looms heavy.

But, there’s not a whole lot you can do about terrorism until it actually happens.  Sure, there’s a strike team that works behind the scenes trying to prevent something form happening, but it’s a cat and mouse game and usually it’s the bad guys who are a step ahead.   Nonetheless, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for the worst.

We also discussed how we’re to be mentally prepared to see someone die as they pretty much guaranteed that we WILL see someone die in our duties.  It’s easy for me to say that I have no problem with that, but who knows what’ll happen at crunch time.  I don’t think seeing a body or covering one up will be nearly as tough as having to tell family members what happened.  The psychology of that is pretty intense.

That was our last class.  Saturday, May 8th, is the final drill where we’ll be applying all that we have learned into some fake-real world type scenarios over at the place the firemen train at.  Search, rescue, triage, putting out fires, cribbing, teamwork.  And mayhem, no doubt.  Not sure if anyone can really fail the class (well, skipping the final drill would qualify) and we’re actually encourage to make mistakes.  Theory being that we should be able to hit the ground running when called upon.

We’ll also get to meet our local/regional reps to setup meetings and continued education.  I’m definitely looking into the Ham Radio course.

For several years I traveled for work.  Two consecutive employers had me going from state to state, country to country, over the course of a solid 5 year span.  It had it’s ups and downs, of course, but all in all it was an experience I’ll never forget.

Pros: You’re essentially only working 3.5 to 4 days a week, tops.  They may be longer days, but you could pretty much count on leaving home Monday and returning on Friday.  Travel days were also paid days, which is nice.  The kinds of jobs we were doing (webcasting, installing AV gear, etc), really didn’t demand the M-F/9-5 type schedule so it was basically a “Get It Done” type gig. Sometimes that meant three 12 hour days or 2 8 hour days with a day to check out the sights before going home.

Also, we were allowed to keep all the “miles” earned while travelling.  That included airline rewards, hotel rewards and any promotional rewards you received for using your credit card (I always opted to use my personal card over a corporate card for this very reason).  These rewards add up quickly and in about a year’s time I had enough to travel and lodge at just about any destination on Earth that I wished.

Last, but not least, there’s the adventure of seeing new destinations, different sets of locals and taking in their cultures.  Unless I’m out of my mind (possible), I’ve been to every state in the USA except for Montana and Alaska.  I might solve the Alaska issue with a personal trip someday, but not sure how Montana will figure into the mix.  There’s definitely places that are better than others.  For example, being in Austin, TX one week then Ocala, FL the next week is a pretty stark contrast, but as a road warrior you get over that pretty quick.  Every destination has some story and some odd stuff to see.  Over the years I’ve built quite a fascinating “Museum Of Oddities” of stuff I bought or found while on these travels.

Cons: One of the big issues with traveling is the travel itself.  Taxis, rental cars, airports, the middle seat, screaming babies, people shitting themselves, foul mannered flight attendants, airplane food, TSA, lines out the freaking door and into the airport parking lot, awesome hotels you’ll never get to enjoy because you’re falling into bed, dead to woe world and awful motels that make you move the dresser in front of the door at night.  It’s all part of the gig and you’re going to do it every week.  Some of these items can be remedied: you can get bumped up to first class after you’ve earned enough flight rewards (the food’s better up there too) and if you get to know your local airport shuttle crew, the taxi rides aren’t all that bad.  Once you stay at the same chain of hotels enough (I recommend Marriott… awesome rewards program), you’ll have a more likely chance fo getting a room when they’re “full”.  But it’s work just like any other job.

It can be physically draining and we all know how un-awesome sleeping on an airplane is, but that’s why it’s called “work” and why we get paid.  Otherwise it’d be called “play” and we’d be flat broke.  You learn to adapt.  You learn not to see your friends and family for extended periods and you learn how to get around that pesky jetlag (melatonin and valerian root).  You accept the fact that the people deep in the heart of Mississippi might march to a different beat than you do (unless you’re from there, then keep on marching y’all).  And, most importantly, you have to accept the fact that you have a pretty sweet gig, no matter what you find wrong with it.

And that’s where I screwed up.  My last travel job ended in 2005 and that was by my own doing. I wasn’t making spectacular pay and figured I’d make more by flexing my computer muscle in the office.  I was half right. After a couple dead end jobs, I finally found a nice paying gig doing basic programming type shit.  But I sure do miss it out there.  I guess I needed to see both sides of the coin before coming to this conclusion.  You don’t know what you got until it’s gone, and all that shit.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get the chance to do it again someday.  For now I’m sitting in my cubicle/coffin and lamenting the past.  And, friend, that’s no way to live a happy life.

Lately I’ve been trying to get out and do some more walking, mostly on my lunch break at work.  It’s always nice to get out, get some fresh air and leave the suffocating and stifling confines of the cubicle.  Plus, getting some exercise can be good for you.  Dog knows I can use it!

I went out and got the Nike+ shoe-bud (to use in conjunction with my iPhone) and some Nike running shoes.  The shoe bud failed about 2 months into it, but I downloaded a great app called Motion-X, that uses the GPS in the phone to track how far my walks go and then emails the data out to whomever you wish to read it.  It also sends you the data to load into Google Earth so you can map out all the terrain you’ve covered.  AND… it has controls for the tunes.

Jamming out some tunes is a pretty important part of the walks. It’s easy to cover long distances when you can lose yourself in some Atari Teenage Riot or Eyehategod for a good hour.  I’ve tried walking with some friends at the office and while that’s pretty fun I run out of things to talk about after a few minutes. Plus, I tend to rant and curse a lot, so it’s probably best I don’t let work know what I really am all about.

One problem I’m having is pinky toe blisters.  A couple weeks ago both toes were giant blisters like oversized whit and red grapes ready to burst out of their skin.  Makes subsequent walks more painful indeed.  I suppose I should head over to a foot specialist and get the right shoes for the job.

So, that’s how I get my exercise these days.  After 4 hours in my cubi-coffin, I set out to the streets, looking for that elusive duffel bag of money that that some bank robber or mobster hid before he died.

Hey, gotta have something, right? Without hope, there’s nothing to look forward to.

CERT training was good times tonight.  We did Search & Rescue and Cribbing.  Tonight was the most hands-on participation we’ve had since the class started.  While not incredibly challenging, it’s a lot to remember and who knows how much you actually will be able to remember when TSHTF.

For Search & Rescue we divided up into 2 teams. One team went into the structure, hid and pretended to be injured, disoriented or dead.  Then the other team would roll on in, take stock of the situation, triage those found and try to account for everyone.  Easier said than done, especially in teams.

Cribbing was fairly straight forward. Stack the blocks appropriately for maximum strength and remove the victim from whatever precarious position they’ve found themselves in.  There’s an official way to do this, and we learned that method, but who knows how organized it will be if you’re really trying to crib a howling human trapped underneath something.  Either way, solid knowledge on the subject.

Teamwork and personal safety are 2 of the biggest parts of training like this.  We’re being trained by members of the San Diego Fire Department, so I’ll trust them on this.  In larger groups, there’s a bit of disorganization, but that’s to be expected.  All in all, I’m in class with a fine group of people and the trainers are excellent and mix a good dose of humor in with the seriousness of emergency response tactics.

One more class then the big final drill and graduation on May 8th.

Yet another change made. Obviously. But I’m using one of the older designs that I was fond of but, for reasons I can’t recall, discarded at some point.

So, what’s old is new again and maybe I’ll update a little more.  Comments are on, even though I despise them, so play nice.

All the stuff in the /outbound section will probably be seeing far more action than this site, but if you want, latch on to the rss feed to see when I update the blog part.

Oh, and this should look pretty nice on an iPhone, though I haven’t tried it out yet.  I installed a plugin that is supposed to make it look like a native iphone application or some shit like that. If it’s lame, I’ll ditch it.

Ok. That is all.