So, I have Wednesday off - to see Caleb off on at the airport - and then a 3 day holiday weekend coming up.  I'm not really looking forward to Wednesday, to be honest, just because of the significance of what is going to take place.  I had always wanted at least 3 kids, would have helped mitigate this situation if such were the case.  But it isn't and now the so-called "empty nest syndrome".  Doesn't mean I'm not happy for my son in pursuing his dream, I just know how my heart felt yesterday at church when I started pondering this whole situation.

Anyway, the party on Saturday.  I didn't go into it with the pics I posted because I didn't have the time when I posted it, lol.  I was going somewhere, don't even remember what now.  Anyway, I sat down at a table with 2 old friends and we started making jokes.  Pretty funny stuff, actually, then a 4th person and another old friend I hadn't seen in ages sat down.  After reacquainting ourselves yet more came and sat down with us.  So it went until a man came up through a side door, squinting at me and a look of recognition.

I had no idea who this person was, but he definitely recognized me.  I just sat there and said hello to him after he came up shaking my hand and spent two hours after that attempting to figure out who this person was.  It finally came back to my memory.  He used to go to the same church I went to now going on a decade ago - we weren't really close or anything so I think that why he had been put into the dark storages of the basement portion of my memory banks, lol.

But there was a completely different atmosphere there, much different than the last time I was there for a party for whatever reason, which was at least a year ago.  The old abrasiveness of what had occurred at the church had rubbed off.  The air wasn't charged with negativity and it was a cool party.  I determined myself to make the rounds and speak with everyone that I knew from the past there, whether I wanted to or not, lol.  Also met some new people that were there because of Caleb.  On attempting to leave, I got hung up with yet 2 more people and we talked for at least another 30 minutes - which is when I remember it was my dad's birthday!

So I went over by where Caleb was, made the phone call and we both wished him a happy birthday and talked for a while.

That was it for the party, 4 hours of talking was enough for me.  There was a good hour long portion of it where we took pics and then we all prayed over Caleb - and by that I mean just about every individual and couple there not only prayed over him, but gave him prophetic words.  It was good.  I recorded much of it and intend on putting it on a disc for Caleb to listen to if he so desires, there was a lot spoken over him and in such events like that, it's difficult to remember everything that was said.

And now? Monday morning, lol, another weekend cashed out and gone, there was NOTHING in the truck routing system for today as of the time I left Friday afternoon.  I surely hope that something was put in there over the weekend, because there is NOTHING to DO at the shop at this point.  We have dealt with everything, the place is clean and I have no desire to sit around on my @$$ all day, attempting to burn up 8 hours.  I can't do that, I'll figure out something to do if such is the case, but I hope it isn't the case.

With that, I bid you a g'day.

ben

Well, it was a pretty cool party last night.  All the old = edgy - stuff from the past seemed to have disappeared with most of the people there.  Meaning, all the judgementalism and finger-pointing and bad-mouthing must have gone away with the winds, because excepting for one person, I felt none of that there last night.

I met with my pastor yesterday for a couple of hours at the church.  I'm not going to go into the specifics of the reason we had met - it wasn't a bad thing or something negative, but it was on a personal level coming from both of us so just not going to go there on a website that anyone on earth can read.

It was a good  meeting and I was happy to have had spent the time talking and praying with him.

Anyway, today is Caleb's big sending-off party.  I'm guessing the whole thing will be a bit uncomfortable since it's my ex-pastor and his brother and their respective families throwing the party. Long time readers know oh-so-well what I went through with these people in the past, so not going to go into all of that again, either.  I'm going for my son's sake and for the potential that there may well be people from the past that I haven't seen in a decade that I might get the opportunity to meet up with.

No guarantees there and no disappointments if not.  I am half-hoping the meeting I had with my ex-pastor quite some time ago at the Starbuck's might be continued on today.  Nothing too serious, just perhaps we can at least have some kind of agreeable relationship.  Those people have been part of Caleb's life since he as born, literally.  They were there for his birth - though I was the only one that got to go into the operating room and see him removed from my ex's belly, lol.  They cut her open and I saw all of that stuff in there and I was very proud of myself that I didn't fall on the floor and pass out.  They weren't quite so sure, I had apparently turned white as a sheet seeing all the blood; guts; whatever all of that is that was in there.  I flatly said no, I am okay, I will make it through this and I did.

But they were there for him his entire life.  I'm sure he probably thinks of them as god-parents.  I certainly don't hold it against Caleb for having the kind of relationship with them, but from my end of things, I doubt I will ever see the kind of relationship we had - or I thought we had anyway - before the church fiasco/nightmare.  That whole point in time and the events that took place during that time just changed my view of them completely.  I forgive them but I don't have to be close to them.  But who knows. There are others that will be there that will also "charge" the air a bit.

But I'm still looking forward to it.  Many of them sowed into Caleb's trip - that's Christianeze for giving money to, lol - and I am happy that they helped him out. Caleb is still about $600 short but I guess he will be allowed to go, anyway, but he will still need to pay that money eventually.

So that's pretty much today.  I have done cleaning around here and normal Saturday stuff, other than that, just passing the time until it's time to go to the party.  I am one of those punctual people that always shows up early - but I am going to show up 10 to 15 minutes later than the stated start time.  On purpose, yes.  I have my reasons and I figure it's a good plan, lol.

Oh, forgot, guess I better get outside soon and get the pond filters cleaned, never-ending chore during the summer when the fish are eating a lot and - clogging up the filters with their waste, lol.  Winter is MUCH easier, they eat very little and the filters don't hardly ever clog up. The benefit of summer is the fish grow - and grow - and grow.  The big ones I wish I could put a stop to their growing, too much bigger and they are going to have to be moved to someone else's pond somewhere - but the small ones can grow several inches in a good summer season if they are fed enough.

Well, better get with it.  Got busy talking to a minister in Africa - funny the things you can do on the internet nowadays.

G'day.

ben

New ice machine finally arrived at work on Monday.  I spent the last day installing the thing.  We should have gotten one several years ago when the store opened, but for whatever reason it never happened.  Well walaah.. All the free ice I will ever need.  I can take a cooler to work with me, fill it up with ice at the end of the day and bring it home.  We go through a LOT of ice in my house, the automatic ice maker in the big refrigerator cannot keep up with the demand.

Which doesn't matter to me, I don't proclaim "free ice" to prospective tenants, if it's there, great, help yourself, if not, go buy some.  But, still, I can now bring home large quantities of ice on a daily basis as long as the machine is full.  Contractors that find out we have that machine may come in in the morning to fill up their ice chests, that's fine, they won't come in the afternoon to do so.  I had just gotten the thing running before I left yesterday, so I can't say decisively that it can put out large quantities of ice in a short period of time, but, the thing had already dumped it's first load in less than 20 minutes and was freezing it's next one when I left.

I am optimistic that the entire thing will be full when I arrive at work this morning.  It will be a new habit to get used to - taking home the ice, but one that I will readily grab onto.  The water is filtered, too, meaning the ice should have no "taste" to it at all.

Well, that was it for this morning, lol, it's time to be off to work - which has been painfully slow as of late.

G'day.

ben

I've Been Subpoenaed

The City Prosecutor just won't give it a rest.
I disagree with the man about putting the lady that owns the 3 dogs that mauled my Great Dane - Duke - on probation for 3 years.  He refused to bring it down to a maximum of 1 year.  He states that he wants "something" on the record so that if it happens again, he can get much more aggressive with prosecution.

Well I'm not out for blood.  It's a dog, he was treated, he got better, it's over. Would have those dogs attacked a human like that? I have no idea.  I can't foresee what I don't know.  A great number of dogs will attack other dogs and never consider humans as something they would like to bite into.

Granted, duke had dozens and dozens of bites all over his body. His left ear had been chomped so badly it was loaded with staples to put it together again.  I get it, it was bad.  The dog was bloody from head to toe.  There was blood all over my car seat after I had taken him to the vet.  Again, it's a dog and dogs get over it.
What I want and what is fair and reasonable is her to pay Duke's vet costs.  Pets are considered chattel, there is no getting pain and suffering for a dog.  He was in pain and he definitely suffered. He limped for days after that attack.  He wasn't feeling good and I gave him aspirins for several nights to help.  Again, it's a dog. Yes, if I would have been there, I would have probably attempted to kill all 3 of those dogs.  These are animals and I do not believe any jury on earth would find me guilty of whatever charge might be trumped against me if such were to happen.

The police? The prosecutor?  They are claiming this lady was trying to clean all the blood off of them to conceal what those dogs had done to my dog - amazing that, allegedly, those dogs were also covered with Duke's blood - when they went to her house to confront her on it.  This is their beef with this situation, though the prosecutor has said nothing about that to me, I found that out from the lady herself.  My only problem with this lady - which is substantial - is that she will give me money and then disappear for weeks.  She doesn't give me that much: after all this time I have received around $80 from her.  

Court date set for next month, I have no choice but to go.  I don't know what the judge is going to say.  I don't know what is going to happen though I am pretty sure they are going to attempt to get me to agree to all of this.  I will say no to 3 years probation.  If they won't bring it down, I will refuse and they will have to drop the case.  Let's be reasonable.

First day back at work, getting off the last subject, after being off for 9 days.  I'm going to tell you right now that I could easily get used to being able to sleep until 7am instead of having an alarm blaring in my ears at 4:30 am.  But in the job I am at now, that's not going to happen.  Whatever the case, I sat down after getting in the door - I am always the first one there - and go onto email.  Manager will be gone today, no clue who is taking his place.  Turns out, the Operations Manager.

Well for the most part, the Ops Manager and I get along pretty well.  He came in and we shot the s*** for a while before I went off to get some things done - though in terms of deliveries, unbelievably slow day.  I got back from that and..........waaaaalaaaaaah.............our new ice maker had arrived.  This is a commercial scal ice maker. Every new store is supposed to have one, ours didn't get one but now finally, after several years,  one shows up on a freight truck.  Why do I want a commercial-grade ice maker? Because, we live in the desert.  I am at hot construction sites.  I want ice at the shop for when I am outside working.  And to be quite honest: at the end of the day?  Fill up a cooler and take it home!

I emailed my pastor to discuss a bit with him about his stance on praying for people after listening to his sermon yesterday. Turns out he meant nothing of the sort.  He understood after I explained to him how that may have come off.  I am guessing he is going to re-explain all of that this at Sunday's service.

Lots more, but enough for one entry.

ben

The worst part of extended time off vacation: sitting here half awake, downing coffee, wishing it were this afternoon so I could be home, off work and not doing much of anything, lol.

Church was interesting yesterday.  Number one, they had the lights off over the congregation.  I guess people like it, I don't.  It puts me to sleep.  2, the pastor made a rather startling announcement that he had almost quit the church - ie:, the church would have folded, due to disappointment and not seeing things go the way he had hoped and then 3, gathering from his sermon, he is not interested in praying for people individually and you need to do that for yourself.

Biblically speaking, seeking the Lord is both an individual and a corporate activity.  He had, however, asked if he could pray with me about a situation last week to which I had said yes.  It just turned out that we both had things come up and didn't have time for it.  It was kind of strange hearing that coming from a pastor of a church yesterday and I am going to have to rethink whether I want to continue with this church.  No hurry on that, though, let things play out and see what happens.

I dunno sometimes.

Whatever the case, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Mountains

So, Caleb and I left this morning at 9am to go to mom's property, have a little party for Caleb and a food fest and visit for a while. It will presumably be the last time Caleb and mom see each other until whenever next year.  When we arrived I was wondering what the heck all the caution tape was around the trees for?  My brother's 4-wheel drive Suzuki was in the way, had to wait for him to move his vehicle and then, getting closer, I realized my mom went all out on this affair.  She bought yellow ribbon and put it around trees and on fences and then up Luau signs all over the place plus she had Lei's for everyone.

I was helping my oldest brother do some repairs on her driveway - anything I guess to get close to him, he's just off on his on world forever I guess - but he was being cool.  Chris and Linda - my brother and his wife - basically came up this weekend to do the party, they were not otherwise going to come up to their cabin this weekend, they apparently had other plans that they had to alter to be there.  So that was really pretty cool and nice of them to go out of their way to go up there and be a part of it.

It was a huge feast. My ham and ribs plus a lot of other stuff.  I brought up so much meat there was a lot left over, both my mother and my brother have food to eat for a while, lol.  It was kind of a sentimental thing leaving there today - we did not stay overnight - just because I knew this would be the last time mom sees grandson for a year and of course life, who knows what may happen.

Caleb also dropped a bomb-shell on all of us today, something I had not heard before.  He will have no internet access on the Salvation Army compound in Hawaii.  Meaning he can't send us emails or update his Facebook wall or anything like that at all.  The SA does that on purpose, but a lot of missionary organizations really do that as well. They want you to focus on the Lord and the reason you are there, not on all the technology and junk that the worlds thrives on nowadays.  I remember going through 5 years of having very little access with the world and travelling around Mexico with NO access at all.  I did not miss TV - and I still don't, lol - Facebook and the internet did not exist at that time or if the internet did exist, it was in it's infancy, laptops and all this other stuff we have now simply weren't around.  You remember, the days when payphones were everywhere?  Yeah, that era, lol.

It is really good for them to do that with the recruits they bring over there, but for a parent, that's kinda hard to take.  So beit and such is life, but I am not going to sit here and say it isn't going to affect me.  They did tell him on the Sabbath Day he can take a bus to the library and use the internet there if he likes, otherwise, it's not a happening event.  Knowing my son?  Probably won't be hearing much from him.  It's basically write letters and send them out.  I didn't write letters when I was on the mission field but I did make phone calls here and there to talk to my mom and my dad.  Well, this is just something that we're all going to wade into and see what happens.

Going over to visit him will not happen, not the way they have it set up over there.  I mean, I have always wanted to go to Hawaii so I could go anyway and spend the day he has off with him, but other than that it just won't work out.  It's okay, though.  But on my bucket list are to go to the 2 states I have never been to: Alaska and Hawaii, and I really would like to take a cruise ship up to Alaska.  I know, seasickness. I don't really think that's that much of a problem on a giant cruise ship that isn't getting tossed around as much by the ocean.  I could be wrong, however.

I'm winding this vacation down.  It has not really been one of those relaxing type of vacations, but I didn't expect it to be.  It's been go, go, go.  The drive today up there and back wasn't really that bad excepting on the way back it was raining so hard it was hard to see the road in some places.  I'm just tired of traveling/driving and now the car has a heating issue of what the problem is I don't yet know.  Fans are working, there are no leaks, the engine is running fine as far as I can tell and so, I assume either a clogged up radiator or a faulty thermostat.  I am going to start by flushing out the cooling system and replacing the thermostat and see if that fixes it.  If it doesn't, I will either pull the radiator and have it cleaned out or I will take it into a shop to have it evaluated - does it have a blown head gasket?  It doesn't act like it does.  I have seen plenty of cars with blown head gaskets and they don't run well at all.

Start with the easy - and cheap - stuff first and go from there with it.  I have no more long drives to go on at the moment, just getting to work and back and it's not overheating type of thing, it's just the temps are getting up there, much higher than that car normally operates at and I know cars: you don't deal with them, they will deal with you.

________________________

I wrote all of that yesterday and just didn't finish.  But no sense rewriting what already happened, so there it is.  It's almost my bedtime and yes, I would love to have a few more days off. I have realized in the last 2 days that I am getting bored at work.  Yes, I keep busy, but it's the same thing every day and we have been slow for quite a while now. I think it's the slow part that is getting me bored and the fact that I rarely get a longer run. I am kept in-town with a few out-of-town runs but nothing too far out of town.  I am also realizing that this isn't my life's calling and that ministry is what gets me going.

I am also hating living in the desert.  I like tall trees and streams/water.  I don't want to live in a desert.  I really don't like it here anymore.

Whatever.  I need to get a plan and get with it.

Goodbye vacation.

Soon, goodbye to my son.

ben

9th picture down from the top.  Look closely.

San Diego

Okay, finally getting a chance to write up an entry on the trip.
First, it was 5 hours there and 5 hours back.  That's including stopping to eat and get fuel.  Lol.

My sister-in-law wanted to drive but after seeing how slow she was going to go, I opted out of that.  It would have turned into an 8 or 9 hour trip and I am allllllll about getting trips over with.  Not that I wouldn't have minded being a passenger, but adding THAT much time to a trip like that was just not in my plans.

We arrived at the hotel and I was pleasantly surprised.  The King's Inn San Diego is a very nice hotel for the price.  Not a 4 star place, obviously, but FAR better than that hell-hole down the road - Motel 6 - and only a little more per night in terms of cost.

The rooms have central AC/heat, not those window units and there was a mini-fridge.  2 Queen beds, firm but comfortable mattresses, a couple of chairs and table.  The bathroom was small but who cares.  I mean, okay, I liked that bathroom at the Marriott I stayed at last year in North Phoenix, it was a treat unto itself, but this hotel for as low as $73 per night or even lower depending on when you book and if you do it online, is definitely a keeper.  Our room had no front window, which didn't matter, because it would have "overlooked" the wall on the other side.  We were at a part of the hotel where it curves.  The window in the rear of the room was wonderful.  Nothing fancy, but it was a hillside covered in vines and various landscaping.

I did not, however, sleep that well the first night.  I have no clue, no explanation.  We got on the boat that next morning and I took a motion-sickness pill - they don't work on me but I took one anyway - and expected that I would drink several beers, which worked last time to get rid of any motion sickness.

However.  I know that's not a sentence, but it's going to have to do here.  Sea-sickness started hitting me only 2 hours into the trip and I didn't want to drink beer at 8 am.  It got worse, too, until the point that I couldn't DRINK or EAT = anything.  I did not have a pleasant trip on the ocean. But no matter, neither did anyone else.  The captain of the boat couldn't find a school of fish to save his life.  He drove that boat for a solid 4 HOURS before stopping, claiming he had found some fish.

But we only stayed there 5 minutes and away we went.  No-one caught anything.  Second stop some 30 to 40 minutes later. Same thing, 1 person out of 51 pulled a fish in.  Away we went.  This went on all day long.  I didn't drop a line in the water a single time, but Caleb was all over it every time we stopped.  He tried to catch fish and he couldn't land a single one, but that because the captain simply wasn't finding them.  In fact, most of the anglers caught nothing that day, I was on the ocean for 14 hours, 12 of them extremely seasick and I can only think of one other time when I was REALLY happy to get off a piece of machinery and onto solid ground - it was  a flight for execs on a new turbo-prop - new back then anyway - about a 30 seater - I turned white as a sheet and I literally got out of that plane and kissed the ground when we landed.

Regardless, back to the motel, that has 2 pretty decent restaurants.  Prices a bit stiff but what else is new at hotels and their prices on things.  Not to mention California.  I hadn't eaten since the evening before - there was no way I was going to eat anything on that boat, I would have just lost it all over the place.

Interesting thing, though, Caleb, on the 3 hour trip back to land after fishing, had his Bible out and a minister stopped to talked to him. They talked forever.  I was too sick to even listen to what they were saying, much less attempt to join in the conversation.  But after we got off the pier, we all stood in a circle and prayed.  It was really cool, actually, and I was already starting to feel a bit better after being on dry land.

Oh, the restaurant: Fajitas. EXCELLENT.  They were very good.

That night?  I got into bed and yes, I slept 10 hours, only getting up to go to the bathroom.

Next morning.  Seaworld.  I had to think about that for a while.  I ended up heading to the Waffle Spot restaurant and having a LOT of water - I was really dehydrated and didn't even realize it - and numerous cups of very good coffee, ordered Eggs Benedict. I decided that I would just get my mind into the idea that I am going to spend the entire day there and might as well enjoy, no matter how strung out I was from the previous day's - mal-adventure.  Not saying I won't ever go seafishing again, but I guess if I'm going to go, I better start drinking beers the second my foot hits the deck of the boat.  Tammy states emphatically the it's a proven fact that beer will stop sea-sickness.

So, we get to Sea World.  Not familiar with the place at all, I just started walking and we found the first hing and went in and started looking.  We went to ALL the shows - WELL worth the walking all over the place and the rather hurried pace when realizing the show was about to start and yes, they shut the gates and won't let anyone in after a show has started, with personnel standing there refusing entry.  Fortunately, we made it in time for all the shows and all of them were funny, very-well orchestrated and the orca whales; seals and dolphins were so well-trained.  It was amazing to watch them in action.

It was a very enjoyable day and we went to every attraction and every show there, sans the Mantra ride. I was NOT going to get on a roller coaster after what I had gone through the previous day, but I did tell Caleb he could go if he wanted to.  No thanks.  Lol.  I'm here to say that Sea World San Diego is a class act and anyone going to San Diego, if you've never been, should add it to your itinerary.

The shark exhibit was awesome.  You walk THROUGH the aquarium with solid plex-glass walls and rounded ceiling.  The sharks are swimming beside and over you.  We were quite impressed with a very large Sand Shark, I think it was, that was about 8 or 9 feet long. It was the biggest thing in that tank and it just slowly swam around in a somewhat huge circle.  This was a massive aquarium.

I dunno, I had a great time and so did Caleb and my sister-in-law at SeaWorld.  My sister-in-law did not go on the boat with us the previouis day, instead, she went on a whale-watching boat and she said she got sick as well -but throw up type of sick, like puking over the side of the ship.  The swells in the sea that day were pretty large, I will attest to that and apparently even that large ship was getting knocked around, she estimated over half the people on the boat were throwing up off the side of the ship.  It was so bad, they gave them all coupons for a free ride the next time they wanted to go.

Well, I won't be in San Diego again anytime soon for that.  My vacation is over, my money for it is gone and moving on.  Slept very well that night, too.  Like about 9 hours of good, solid sleep, the likes of which have eluded me at home for quite a long time.

So it's over, we're home and I am cooking BBQ ribs and a ham for tomorrow's affair up in the mountains.  Yup, the travelling ain't over, as we are going up to mom's property for a send-off for Caleb.  Grandma needs to see her grandson before he leaves for a year.  As expected, my middle brother isn't going to show up but my oldest brother and his wife will be there.  It'll be good regardless, though I think it a bit of bulls*** that my middle brother isn't going to show up, considering he has had ample advance notice.

But that's him, we don't talk and life goes on.

Next?  I am going to post a review on the hotel on here.  It will end up showing up somewhere on a Google search for people looking for hotels in the Mission Valley area and I want people to know that if they are on a budget yet still looking for a decent hotel in that particular area, this IS the place to go.

Going to slow cook the ham - the only way I can cook the thing and actually take it up there in a cooker to keep it warm.  I have heard slow cooked ham is quite good, I will be finding out soon enough.  I will cut the ribs into three-rib sections and probably just have to micro-nuke them up there to heat them up.  The ribs I want to take to give my mother a taste of them.  I have not had anyone ever tell me my slow-cooked ribs are somehow less than good. Most people devour them like it's Porterhouse steak.

Although I am on vacation - and only 2 days  left of it - it's been pretty busy.

Saw J.D. last night.  I was up later than normal and came out to find him on the computer.  We talked for quite a while.  He was talking about the night when I had told George to turn the freaking surround sound down.  He witnessed Mark and George getting into it, with George starting the altercation.  J.D. was surprised at the time, he stated, because they were yelling at each other. I heard nothing.  If I had, I would've been out here (here - my kitchen where my computer is also at) in a flash to deal with it.  Probably just as well I didn't hear all of that, I was already fuming from the inconsiderate nature of a person to not take into any accounting how other people might feel about turning up the sound level on a system so loud, you can't even hear the TV in your OWN ROOM.

Enough.  I have a lot to do today and not much sunlight left to do it.  Mark took care of the dogs and watered the plants once = which is all I asked him to do, however, the ponds were WELL down in water levels.  Between the plants using the water and evaporation in extreme heat, it doesn't take long for them to go down 8 to 10 inches or even more depending on how long you let them go without refilling.

_______
Long interlude.  Filled up the ponds, turned on the landscaping drip system, ribs coming along nicely, ham back in refrigerator.  All sites I read say it only needs 6 hours on low heat.  Sort of a juke motion.  Can't wait until I get there to put on the ham, it will be too late in the afternoon before it's done.  But I can't keep cooking it, either.  The answer?

Ummmmmmmmmmm........................

I usually wake up at 4:30 am.  I can put the thing on until we leave, turn it off, transport it up there, turn it back on for however long it needs and it will be done.  I am not even going to put it IN the cooker tonight.

Well, the idea that there is now another night's worth of stay at the hotel brings up an interesting prospect.  Shall we therefore do something that day, at least into early afternoon, before departing for home?

I was not asked about this, Caleb doesn't know neither does he care - he'll stay as long or short as we are staying - and I am just pondering.  A day at the beach? Wade out into the ocean and enjoy something I haven't done in decades?  I dunno.  I wonder what the water temp is like.  I get cold easily in water if it's too cold and I have found Pacific waters to be some pretty cold stuff.

We'll cross the bridge when we get there.  Caleb will be a go for it - I don't even have to ponder that.  Me?  Dunno.  My sister-in-law?  Probably.  Should I bring it up? Only when that morning arrives and if I feel like it.  I'm guessing a full day on the ocean and a full day at Seaworld is going to do me in, but then again, I have spent plenty of time on beaches laying on a sheet and sleeping with the sound of the surf tantalizing me and intriguing my imagination and generally causing me to feel very much at peace.

I just talked myself into.  I didn't remember that aspect of it until I just wrote that out.  I don't have to DO anything on the beach! I can just lay back and sleep! As long as the temp is good, well now then, we have a completely different scenario.

Okay, MOST of my beach-sleeping experiences have been wonderful. No, no-one has ever kicked sand in my face because if anyone did that, I would consider that an assault and I don't care HOW big that person is, I am going to "defend" myself.  I'm talking about the time when I was laying on the beach, a sheet under me and folded over top of me, sleeping away, when the sound of something strange hit my ears and slowly woke me up.

WHAT - is - THAT - SOUND?!!!  It was not natural and having had been asleep - and never exposed to the kind of sound before - well it took a minute or two - maybe it took longer and I just don't remember.  I didn't look over, which is what probably would have gotten me to figure it out sooner, until my curiosity piqued. Eventually, I was awake and yes, I did look over to see what was obviously 2 people going at it - sex - and then realized it was 2  guys.

I won't go into this further, as I was not happy about the situation, but whatever.  They didn't stay there forever, thankfully and then I was left to myself.  Why they had to choose THAT spot to do it, so close to me, I don't know.  They could have moved WELL down the beach, away from everyone if they are going to engage in such behavior in public.  Sheets be damned, that doesn't mute the sounds and certainly, GET A ROOM!

Regardless, I am now reminding myself to take a sheet with me on this trip.  If we do go to the beach, they can go in the water as long as they want - my son is a seal in disguise, he can stay in the water all day long and love every minute of it - I will do my thing and we can all be happy.  Which is not to say I won't get into the water, but again: Pacific water is MUCH colder than Atlantic water.  I have been in both dozens of times over, I can say that with authority.
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That was yesterday.  I don't always post entries the same day I write them.  In fact, I have a large number of them that have never been posted and never will be.  Regardless, started this day - Saturday - out with a bang.  Here, there, over there, back there, down there - all over the place getting things done for the trip.  Walmart; hair cut; remove everything from the car and then the carwash and vacuum it all out and then Armor-All all of; the bank to deposit a tenant check and get quarter wraps.

And then? Applebee's.  I go there about once a month.  They have good food and there is a waitress that I connect with on some level.

After that, home and cleaning out a pond filter, a  couple loads of laundry and cleaning my bathroom? Time for a nap.  I'm on vacation, lol.  2 hours of that and then off to the airport to pick Caleb up.  Home and I've had enough for one day.  Well, I had thoughts of wrapping up more quarters, but have decided to dump that one on my son.  He can count out 40 quarters per wrap 13 times over and then I will take them to the bank.
That's it, besides numerous phone calls from my sister-in-law who hinted at changes to the schedule and which I determined were not in any interest that I had, at all and therefore just stated this is the way it's going to be.  People do vacations differently, that's fine, but she was no factor in this equation until this week when she stated she wanted to come.  Great, but it's my show, not to sound egotistical or otherwise - whatever adjective you'd like to insert - this is time to spend with my son.  I don't think she will be an intrusion on that, I just don't want to change the schedule excepting that since we are now staying another night, I figured we might as well go spend a half day at the beach and then drive home.

Whatever the case, my change I have saved up should be more than sufficient for eating money - but who knows, lol.

Well, off to other parts of the internet - namely - to pay some bills online.

G'day/nite.

ben

Well.  I went to Concentra this morning - industrial medicine type of place - to get my medical card renewed.
Nothing of great interest - a long wait as it always is - but when the put that machine operated blood pressure tester around my arm and the thing came up with the results, well it was shocking.  Showed my blood pressure at 157 over 94!! YIKES!  I tell this nurse no freaking way.  My blood pressure is definitely NOT that high!

Well, she says, we'll wait 20 minutes after you have calmed down a little and see

 what it's at.  They have terminology for it now, I think the nurse called it White Suit Syndrome or some junk like that.  Where it's now a proven fact that your blood pressure goes up when you come into a doctor's office.

I think it's those machines giving bad readings.

Well whatever.  Vision test, pee in the cup, all that wonderful stuff though they spared me the hernia test and I certainly wasn't going to ask them for it and then finally the doc comes in.  How's it going, brother?  Older gentleman, but very cool.  I get my blood pressure checked again: 112 over 82.  Okay, the bottom number still a bit high, but the top number at least was reading normal for me.  Thank you God!!

Done deal, another 2 years of certification, paid for by my company thank-you-very-much.

I get back to the yard to hear about the 23-year old wonder that works at our place.  He came into work - late - he still hadn't arrived by the time I left - and then, according to my manager, came in, got on the computer, did nothing, then went outside and got on the phone with a personal call for half an hour.  My manager shipped him downtown for the day, the manager down there needed him for something.  Apparently, they are going to try him out in another division and see how he works out there, cause honey, he ain't worth a s*** at our place.

Well whatever.  Friday is here.  I'm sitting in a huge recycling yard, waiting for them to unload the semi.  Last thing I think I will have to do today at work before leaving early.  I have OT and the company isn't giving out OT right now - though I completely understand, numbers are WAY down across the board at all branches in the southwest region.

I do hope business picks back up eventually, I do miss the extra dough on my paychecks.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law decided she was going to get a third night for San Diego.  I was contemplating whether to do that or not.  Seaworld stays open until 10:00 at night, I don't really think I'm going to want to drive home after that.  In fact, I am quite sure I won't want to.  The hotel brought it's prices down 10 bucks per night, wish I would have known that was going to happen or I would have waited - but at the same time, I probably wouldn't have wanted to take the chance even if I had known.   So I am going to go ahead and get a third night as well.

Well whatever.  Weekend almost here and I am going to spend it getting junk done around the house, thoroughly cleaning out the car and just reminded myself to get an oil change on it before we leave, not to mention a nice hair cut help as well.


As for now?  I need to get offa here, they are almost done unloading the truck.

ben