Smaller clothes and sirloin steak

Today I finally broke down and got some smaller clothes.  Since all my clothes end up getting dirty from work anyway, I went to the Hope Chest Thrift Store and got some smaller clothes.  I'm down from a 38" waist to a 36", and I can now fit into a large t-shirt!   YEAH!!

I picked up 2 Levi's jeans, 2 t's, a pair of Dockers shorts, a Giri bike helmet (those are like $40), and a photo frame for a friend for $19.  I love thrift store shopping.

They are part of hospice, so they do good things with the money.  There are several of the shops around town.  Check 'em out.  http://www.hospiceheart.org/hope-chest

For supper we went to George's Steakhouse & Bar.  We got a 10 oz sirloin and split it.   It was pretty good.  We had eaten there for lunch before.

new cell phone

I got a new cell phone today.  It's the Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE.   Whew, that's a long name for a phone.  :)  I sold my old one on eBay and took the money to buy this one.  I do that alot.  It''s been about 6 months since I got a new phone.  Frankly, I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did.  HA HA!!

It has a 4.7" screen and Jelly Bean.  It's pretty cool.  It's also LTE ready for when they torn the faster internet towers on in Modesto and Stockton.

Right now, the service sucks and they have a few towers down prepping them for LTE. Gotta take the good with the bad I guess.

Pioneer 10" sub install w/ MB Quart amp

I finally installed my subwoofer in my truck.

Here's what I have:

• JVC KW-AVX64 Double DIN head unit
• Sirius satellite radio
• 10" Pioneer TS-W259S4 single coil 4 ohm subwoofer
• MB Quart FX2.60 2 channel amp, bridged to 240 watt RMS @ 4 ohms
• Attrend A3671-10CP sub box @ 0.71 ft^3 sealed
• KnuKonceptz 4 gauge wiring kit

10" Pioneer sub.   Sub fires down towards floor when installed.

Amp under back seat, I want to hide the blue power cable to clean up the install.

Sub box mounted under seat

Proud of my power cable install.
This is the cleanest install I've done  under the hood.

This is the system all installed.  It took about 3 hours.   I have some things I want to tidy up to make the install look a bit more professional.

Asshole farmers and sunflowers

Why do some people think they are god's gift to us on this earth?   I went with a co-worker today to look at some erosion issues she was going to recommend some seeding on.  I think he destroyed some wetlands.

When "wetland violation" and "loss of USDA benefits" were mentioned he basically threatened my co-worker saying "... you will disappear in 4 days!"   Followed by "Just leave".   He said this at least 12 times in 30 seconds.  I wanted to punch him so hard.   What an asshole!!

Then no more then 2 minutes later, he says "Just forget you were ever out here and don't say anything to anyone and tell me what I need to plant for ducks and erosion control!"

My co-worker is super awesome and handled it VERY professional.  I am so proud of her.

That is all I am going to say about this!

This is our first full sunflower out of more than a dozen we have planted along the fence.  We can't grow 'mators but we sure have no
problem growing sunflowers.

Later tonight we are headed to some grocery store called Jimmy's, with a little bar inside for one of our friends birthday parties.  That's a first!!   HA HA!!

Court order

May 3, 2012...

I was on my way home to our anniversary dinner.  Forest calls me to ask if i took my bike in to get some under body LED lights we were talking about getting.  I told her no, then she proceeded to tell me my bike was missing.   My heart dropped.

Sure enough, someone stole it.   After 3 hours waiting on the cops,  we finally got to go to dinner. There were 3 of them involved.  They would alter the VIN number & sell bikes on Craigslist.

Today, I got the court ordered judgement against one of them.   She got 4 years probation,  100 hours of community service, ordered to pay me $100, and to pay the insurance $5,700.  Any bets to weather I see a dime of that or not?

Phoenix Noodle House for supper. It's so good,

Sandwich carry in

Today at work we had a sandwich carry-in.    Everyone signed up to bring different things to made sandwiches and we put them all together for a very nice lunch.    I had a turkey and pastrami on sourdough with gouda cheese.     Mmmmmmmm.   

After lunch I booked it to Modesto to help Sunny.   Man that boy is needy.   :)   We worked on 2 dairies today.

 This was my office for the day! 

Staff meeting and kitty bath

After a marathon 2 1/2 hour staff meeting, I told the DC that she needed to give us some work to do.  Meaning, my co-worker is driving me nuts and I need to keep her busy!   :)

I was supposed to meet a farmer at 4pm, and he didn't show.  I hate it when they get busy and forget.  It's almond harvesting season, so it's ok.

Here is an almond ready to be shaken off the tree, then swept on the ground with a sweeper to put them in wind rows, and finally a huge vacuum type machine picks them up and takes them to be processed.

After I came home, I installed my subwoofer and subwoofer box. Looks good!

I was taking a bath, and kitty kept getting closer and closer and closer.   So I picked her up and gave her a bath.   She didn't mind the water, but I didn't dunk her in.  What a nice kitty.

Degree = excuse to not work hard?

Today my co-worker come in this morning, 30 mins late, and asked "What are WE gonna work on today?"   I replied with the usual "I'm checking irrigation designs and writing practice requirements.  What are YOU working on today?"

That pissed her off, so she put on her headphones on a "listened" to a webinar all freakin' day.   They are normally 60 to 90 mins long, so she must have put it on pause and did other things online, because I would glance over from time to time to see her looking for free books online.  :(

I left at 1:30 to go to Modesto for an appointment and she wanted to know were I was going.  I told her "To do my job!"    :)

Supper was good, thanks Fo.  She cut up skinless chicken breasts into strips and but them on George Foreman grill and steamed some broccoli.  Top it off with some long grain and wild rice.  Yum, yum!

I called the Sand Creek Group today to see what services they offered and they gave me the name of a counselor in Turlock.  I will call her tomorrow to set an appointment.

The Grey

This movie was just what I thought.  Man gets in a plane crash in Alaska, which is really British Columbia.  Man is on the run from wolves.  Man dies from wolves.  The end.

Lazy Saturday

It's weird how I plan to do one thing all week, then that day comes around and I don't do it.     I have had a serious lack of motivation these last few weeks.  I wonder if it's from working 45 to 50 hours a week and needing time at home to chill.

My friend Kristin, purchased a truck last week, so I have been thinking of ways to bring new life to my old truck.   I did order a subwoofer speaker, a 10" Pioneer sub, and amp.   Now all I need is my stuff to come in.    Internet companies that are based in CA, now have to charge sales tax to residents that live in CA.   What a bunch of crap!!   Like I need another reason to leave CA.

I have a Rough Country 2.5" front leveling kit, I bought about a year ago and I have been waiting on new tires to install it since it needs an alignment at the same time.    Forest's boss has six 35" tires for super cheap.  I think I might look at them.  Bigger tires will cause my MPG to drop a little, but they look bad ass!   :)

It's ribs for supper tonight.  Yumm yumm.

9/11

This is my first attempt at a blog.



Today is the 11th anniversary of 9/11.  This is my story.

I had been in Sebring, FL for 9 months now. 

David Sleeper, the mobile irrigation lab Soil Conservationist, and I were evaluating some irrigation systems in an orange grove.  We heard some bits and pieces on the radio as we worked until about 11:30am.   

David and I finished and made our way to the grove house, where they had the TV on.  I sat in amazement and shock as I watched the 2 towers fall, the plane crash into the Pentagon, and one the brave passengers brought down in the field on Pennsylvania.

David asked me, who is an incredibly nice and sweet old man, at least 100 times "Who would do this?"   All I could say is "I don't know!"  I had never heard the term Al Qaeda before and didn't know who or what that was.

To continue my story, we went back to the field office where my DC had an old black and white tv on he got from storage and the whole watched for a few hours until he said, "Lets all go home!"   I couldn't afford cable tv at that time in my life, so I went to a local pizza place to watch the news coverage, and they didn't mind as I wasn't the only one there watching.  I was there for a few hours until I went home. I went back there the next night, too.

I remember the feeling of sadness and anger over the people that claimed responsibility for this.  My eyes were opened to a world that wasn't as nice and caring as the country boy from Indiana would have liked it to be. I donated blood that week in honor to our brave men and women that fell that dark day in Americian history.

Never forget!!