$107.00 an hour....

I wish they kissed me when I pay that much an hour.  Arrrrrrggggg!!!!!!! It starts out small as most things do.  A drip in the kitchen that was coming from upstairs. The dripping must have been going on for some time in order to soak through drywall ceiling. I called the plumber and made the appointment. "How much? (FRACK!!!) OK come on over." I can not sodder Copper or build links. I just do not have that level of man skills. The plumber came in and looked at the work. He said that I could do it and would save money. Well that was the day before yesterday. What was supposed to be a 10/15 minute job took me an hour before I quit. Now here I have a house with no running water at all .The cylinder in the faucet was seized due to hard water build up.  I destroyed the cartridge inside the copper pipes as I tried to remove it. I called and the only appoint ment he had to work with was on emergency time. Ahhhh no thanks. That would have been a $100-200 more than what I had spent.  So for that night it was no water in the house. No ice, no showers no toilets. I "borrowed" 40 gallons in buckets from the neighbor to cake care of business. I also went and bought 5 gallons of drinking water for coffee and lemonade as well as essentials. Man it was living in a third world.  I would have rather been with out power than water.  I re scheduled the plumber and came back to rebuild the octopus of copper in my walls. The good part it was under $150 for the time and parts. Now I have to dry out the drywall and re do a portion of the ceiling and the wall in my sons room. Its always a project in the house. 

Stay dry everyone....

 

Cinco de blagh.....

Happy Cinco de Mayo.
      This is always a weird holiday for me because I always consider my self American first and Mexician second. When I was born about 40 years ago it was a very different world than today. What was stress in the house was how to fit in. English first. Celebrate American holidays. Try to make American foods. Granted we did always have salsa at home and tortillas sat next to the Wonder bread. 
      This generation of immigrant wants the country to bend to his will. The pride in the US is gone and they only have a sense of just staying for awhile then going back. For me I have zero tollerance on that type of visitor. Learn or try to learn the language. If I see someone making the effort I will try to meet them half way. When I see someone come in to the store and demand some one who speaks Spanish I tend to get angry and just speak to them in English and tell them that I understand it very well I just speak English.

I complain about this every year. I'm all for the Fenceline across the US/Mexico border. Lets control who gets in to the USA.. Let place heavy fines on companies that employee.  We have currently over 1.5 Million people here that are not supossed to be here. Lets put that in to perspective, Thats about the entire population of Chicago proper.

I'm first generation here and I'm at a loss for the new generation here. Kids born here that can't speak English.  I'm done complaining, The first person with a concrete answer gets my vote in November.

the other Halloween...

The night of April 30 is the year’s other night of witches, spells and magic
There's a penetrating chill in the wind. The bright moon rises behind the shivering, nearly naked trees. A profound sense of foreboding permeates the darkness. This is the night, after all, when witches ride their broomsticks through the sky, and the natural world is forced to confront the powers of the supernatural.

No, it isn't October 31 and this is not Halloween. It's April 30 and it's Walpurgis Night.

Like Halloween, Walpurgis has its roots in ancient pagan customs, superstitions and festivals. At this time of year, the Vikings participated in a ritual that they hoped would hasten the arrival of Spring weather and ensure fertility for their crops and livestock. They would light huge bonfires in hopes of scaring away evil spirits.

But the name “Walpurgis” comes from a very different source.

In the 8th Century, a woman named Valborg (other iterations of the name include Walpurgis, Wealdburg and Valderburger) founded the Catholic convent of Heidenheim in Wurtemburg, Germany. She herself later became a nun and was known for speaking out against witchcraft and sorcery. She was canonized a saint on May 1, 779. Since the celebration of her sainthood and the old Viking festival occurred around the same time, over the years the festivals and traditions intermingled until the hybrid pagan-Catholic celebration became known as Valborgsmässoafton or Walpurgisnacht – Walpurgis Night.

The Other Halloween

Although not widely known in the US, this May-Eve night shares many of the traditions of Halloween and is, in fact, directly opposite Halloween on the calendar.

According to the ancient legends, this night was the last chance for witches and their nefarious cohorts to stir up trouble before Spring reawakened the land. They were said to congregate on Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains – a tradition that comes from Goethe's Faust. In the story, the demon Mephistopheles brings Faust to Brocken to consort with the coven of witches:

The witches t'ward the Brocken strain
When the stubble yellow, green the grain.
The rabble rushes - as 'tis meet -
To Sir Urian's lordly seat.
O'er stick and stone we come, by jinks!
The witches f..., the he-goat s...
...
The broomstick carries, so does the stock;
The pitchfork carries, so does the buck;
Who cannot rise on them tonight,
Remains for aye a luckless wight.

the itsy bitsy spider.....

I had a dream of spiders last night. I was watching TV after being on line
for a bit. At some point I drifted off to sleep. The dream was intense,
very vivid in color and sound. I could see the spiders getting near the
house. Mind you the size of most of these were very large. I'm talking the
size of a dog. The worse part is that they made sound. Very typical sci-fi
movie giant spiders.
I think I was only asleep for about 15 minutes before waking up, but in
the course of the dream day had passed. I was held hostage in my own house
keeping the spiders at bay. I guess I saw the mist or 8 legged freaks one
too many times. They had some freaky large sized spiders in these movies.
The rest of the night was not so bad. My head hit the pillow and then
I woke up. I feel like I'm losing my ability to dream and thats a real
shame. I used to dream in full color and with great sounds. Great dream
mytholigies were built in my own dream scape. As I get older I feel like a
door is slowly closing on me. I'm afraid I am losing the ability to dream.
I used to keep journals of the dream creatures in my head. Places that
exist in both the dream and waking world, but now the dreams are more
mundane.
I hope that your dreams are vivid and full of life. Even a scary dream
can make you feel alive.

PAX AMERICANA

The good net...

Its getting near the point where I don't want to turn on the news any more.
The price of this and that climes every day. Political unrest here and
here. People are even protesting the Olympics because of what China is
doing to Tibet. Again I've been heading online to become entertained; I've
keyed in a few more interests to "stumble upon" and have been clicking
away. I had to chucke because in about 2 weeks I went through over 1000
pages with about 7-8 web sites per page. All of which are related in some
way to what I like. The question remains is what have I been
liking/enjoying as of late?

Camping, Astronomy, Hunting, Card tricks, Sci-fi, Bizarre, horror movies,
comic books, Open resources, wifi, green energy, automotive repair and
maintenance; There are many more but this is inside of my main focus. At
least most of this stuff is free of negative news.

I have had more of a chance to play with my knuckle headed sons in the past
few days. They are really excited about a few movies that are coming up;
IRONMAN, The Hulk, BatMan, Indiana Jones even HellBoy. To tell you the
truth so am I. I'm excited about the Will Smith superhero movie (Hancock?).
I've seen stills for Watchmen and and very hyped about that. I just hope
they do it justice. It was so well written. I have to chucke - on the
Simpson's they had a Watchmen babies lunch box.

So yes I am escaping on to worlds both sacred and profane. The INTERNET and
movies are or rather say can be wonderful escapes to temporary places.

I hope your worlds both real and fantasy are great. Peace.

PAX AMERICANA

Name game.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/17/us/17surnames.html#

Whats in a name. Is not a rose by any other name smell just as sweet?

 

Names have always been a huge factor anywhere you go. It can determine your whole future. In the USA we are lucky/unlucky enough to have a mish mosh of names. I know that I have avoided Dr's by name alone. I wanted to deal with some one more "Western". Is this wrong? You bet it is. I know I have been passed up for things because of my first name alone. Is something we have all done at one time or another.

In Mexico the last name is traditionally what gives you your history. It would be as an example Jose Ramirez Gonzales; That would break down to Jose who's father is last names Ramirez and Moms maiden name Gonzales. If you had only one last name you would have had a history of a bastard child. In older movies you laugh because you can follow a persons history for 10 names or so.
The Irish have a similar history in their names as well. Names like O' Patrick would be son of Patrick while Fitzpatrick would be bastard son of Patrick. Some names are more straight forward; Miller , carpenter, mason etc. My own sons name will be a mish mosh of names. Western and Irish first names with a very common Mexican last name. 

The US has a host of names that can be a little odd as well. Aferican american names cane confusing. Striving to make their babys name unique parents sometimes give names that do not follow any rules to spelling or phonics. This again can make people skip a person by name alone.  Names can open doors or be anchors as well. 

Peace.

 

Sunshine...

I walked outside with out a jacket today. I had my cup of coffee and
just had to breath and start the day. I felt the Sun on my skin as the temp
started to rise. I closed my eyes and tried to soak it all in.
Work was work. Same things with different people. The kicker was that
the Sun was out. No heat , lots of wind , but the Sun was out. Between
office visits and taking care of customers I walked outside and stood in
the wind and sunshine. This is what I had needed for months. I want to get
outside and go camping with the kids. I was to set up a site and grill and
go fishing. Maybe if the weather allows I'll drop a hook in the pond. It's
fun just to watch the day go by this way.
I'll keep it short today, I want to get back outside. I hope you had a
chance to open the windows of your car or house and just let a little of
the outside in.

PAX AMERICANA

The pope the pope the pope is on fire.

The Pope is coming to NY and I don't have any feeling about it. People are flocking from across the country and I'm only going to guess from Mexico and Canada as well to see him. Even when I was a practicing catholic I was not impressed in the Papalcy. They seemed like magic wizards living in ivory towers and out of touch with the common man. Giving their edicts on morality and Christs teaching. This from men who have not been with a woman in how many years??
This is not Christian bashing. Please understand that since high school I have been very close to the Lutheran church. The pastors within the church can marry and are encouraged to do so. They can then teach by doing. They can relate their family experience to their congregation. Some even have woman as pastors. I have no problem with that. There is no reason that a woman could not pass along the word of God.
When I was younger - much younger I thought about becoming a priest. Giving myself 100% in to the word of God. I love the message that all can be forgivin. I just grew tired of the idea that the church can never be wrong. That it was infallable. Everything has its flaws; from diamonds to translations of the word of God. There is a line of scripture that breaks it down for me, forgive me if I butcher it... Go in to your closet and pray to god. No magic show and no big displays that alot of people need. Just you and God and prayers and answers.

   All organized Religions have placed women in 2nd place. Somthing wrong about that. I have always tried to keep women on a pedistal. Mom, sister, girlfriends, lovers and wife. All have been important in my life.  The Jews recognize  Lillith as Adams first wife. She left him because she had wanted sex on top. ie. She wanted to be at least equal to Adam. So off she went bearing demon off spring. She is what is a classic night hag.

Alyways Im way off track here . My mind wanders with out my coffee.  I hope if you are Cathloic you can enjoy the Popes visit. If not at least enjoy the rest of the week.

Kill it with fire.....

It feels like winter again. I'm having a hard time going to sleep at night
and its catching up with me at work. If I'm not busy I tend to want to take
a nap. It is getting harder to shake that feeling. It almost feels like
winter depression again. I think if I eat better and earlier I can avoid
this.
My weight loss has stagnated. My job does not go well with a weight
loss program. I eat breakfast with the kids. I eat lunch when ever there is
down time; lets say between 2 and 6. Dinner is always near 8 to 11 pm.
Maybe if I pack several smaller sandwiches and snacks. Grazing through out
the day? Perhaps. I have not gained any weight past my starting weight but
I have not lost any. That too feels like a weight for depression. My
friend is doing great and is looking good. I just hope he does not yo yo
and get big again. We would never hear the end of it.. How god just wants
him fat.
Right now I'm dealing with yard work. I like doing that. It gets me
moving and I always fell like I have done something right when I'm done. I
have dumped about 12 lbs of seed in the back and now I just need to
fertilize. I have a skunk(s) That have dug their way under my small porch.
I can smell them when I'm in the basement. I saw the hole the dug in the
moist earth. Now I need to kill them. Poison? Sharp sticks? Gasoline? Small
pistol? Bricks? Scott Peterson? The INTERNET suggests Cayenne and black
pepper. I want a more permanent approach. However I think this may put me
at odds with the law. I know I cant trap them with out a license. I pretty
sure that killing them in a violent way involving fire is out of the
question as well......
Somehow I see myself taking a tomato juice bath outside on my deck
before this week is over. I can just picture it now. Man vs Nature and me
on the side. A quick spray and I'm calling in to work.....
OK goodnight everyone. Thanks for listening.

Pax Americana.

Death and taxes....

It never fails it comes around year after year, Taxes. You have to get
all the numbers , socials, papers that are sent out once and you hope you
didn't toss away. Put them together and send them off. People look forward
to getting back a refund. I rather not. I would rather not get back
anything and know that I set up my taxes correctly. People forget that the
refund is money that is your that you gave too much money to the IRS. That
is money that could have been in your pocket to begin with not a bonus that
you get to spend willy nilly.

I got some money back from the government but I owe the state
$21.00. I have no clue how that works, but I always owe about 20-25 to the
state every year. Its not like I'm going to spend my refund for something
fun this year. That goes to pay the taxes on the house. Arrrrg ..... If you
live in Illinois the state tax went up .5% on sales tax. As a company I
figured we are going to pay 1.9 million dollars to the state for this. That
sound like a load of mismanagement. ....

It never fails that I pay for things that I never use. This tax hike is for
the RTA and CTA. I have taken the "L" maybe 5 times in my life. I always
have said if you want to play you have to pay. Raise the ticket prices and
be done with or simply shut it down. Privatize it and let some one outside
the city manage it. I guess we also pay for prisons and other things we
don't even see. Again I doing mind paying for thing sI use; the schools,
the roads, the library but the CTA and RTA... I think its BS. Hell if I'm
paying for the prisons let me draw in a lottery and kill a death row
inmate.

I always wonder if renting would not be easier. I didn't mind the apt where
I lived , but again it was not mine. Its a loving burden to own a house.
I often walk around the house after everyone is asleep and take note on the
house. Its like a captain of a ship doing a walk around. Its necessary for
the upkeep and to take a mental inventory of the house and whats inside.
It keeps me in check of what clean up or fix-it project is next on the
never ending list of to - do's. Anyways, good to chat with and as always
its good to vent.

PAX AMERICANA