i am strorg

stuff i might blog about, and the general sorry condition of my blog

2008-09-02T10:27:00.009-05:00

so in looking over my blog, i am quite embarrassed by some of my old posts. how clever i thought i was then and how corny much of it appears now; this may just be a function of my advancing age and the accompanying cynicism. one post in particular was extremely crappy and sappy and as such, has been deleted. more may follow...

so my last post was a list of things i might blog about. right now, i don't feel like blogging about any of them [especially those of a political nature] but feel i owe it to my vast audience to get something going. so here goes...

my new lawnmower

although i don't go through lawnmowers with the gusto of a bush-hogging jay sharpe, i've always bought cheap mowers and tossed them out once they got difficult to start [or the blade needed sharpening]. this year, when the 4-year old red mtd died, i treated myself by to a cub cadet at a cost that is over double my usual mower budget.

here's some stuff i like about it:

it's bright yellow which makes it easy to find.

there is no pesky primer bulb to pump three times; it has a nifty choke knob and it starts on the first pull every time.
it has on overhead valve engine, and while i don't really know what that means, i like having it.

the height is adjusted by one lever. no need to go to each wheel and adjust individually.

it gets pretty good grass mileage. the first two tanks got an average of 84,876,964 blades per gallon.

here's some stuff i don't like about it:

it only has a 19" cut width, 2" less than my last mover. if you don't think 2" makes a difference, you didn't read the poll in the october 2003 cosmo.

the horsepower [hp] rating is unknown. instead, mower manufacturers are now publishing torque ratings for mowers. this makes it very difficult to boast to friends and neighbors about the power of my new mower.
it doesn't pop a wheelie as well as my old mower.

stuff i might blog about

2008-08-22T10:37:00.000-05:00

the old guy that drives around mobile in a mercedes with the "i love hillary" bumper sticker.
stuff i like to drink.
how giant oil companies are making this a better world for us all.
my new lawn mower.
the weber dgav 32/36 progressive carburetor.

How I spent my summer vacation

2005-04-07T07:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday
Set up de-humidifier in 2005 Hyundai Elantra to eliminate intrusive rainwater. Just barely avoided mild electric shock from damp power cord. Nearly pulled muscle in back while lifting de-humidifier.

Sunday
Removed several 18-foot 2X6 heart-pine beams from apartment in back yard. (Hope the roof doesn't cave in.) One minor nail puncture to left index finger. A few splinters here and there. Likely inhaled a pound or so of dust, dried roach turds, and no telling what else.

Monday
Removed about 2 cubic yards of circa 1950 insulation (let's not even consider the possibility of asbestos) from apartment. More inhalation of noxious particulate matter. Discovered and eliminated about 12,000 jellybean-sized eggshells (hatched) of some sort. Likely some sort of reptile colony once resided back there. Programmed Terminex on speed dial for future reference.

Tuesday
Applied seven tubes of latex caulk to various cracks and crevices (don't even think about it). Fingernails, left eyebrow, and right nostril also exposed slightly. Stopped by the music store on the way home from Lowe's and bought the new Interpol CD (hey I gotta have a little fun!). Cut hole in wall to mount new breaker box and began demo-ing old wiring and fixtures. Plan to donate some articles to the Alabama Electricians Museum. This is likely to be a 4-Advil night.

bugger off

2005-03-25T13:42:00.000-06:00

it's friday and i'm off work...always nice to have a three-day weekend. got my taxes done and paid some bills...boring. car shopping this afternoon with elise when she is done with class. cooking something on the grill later and i can probaly be talked into having a drink as well. tons to do, not sure where to start. i need to go spend a few hundred bucks at lowe's and get the wiring done on the flat. (how do you like that international flair i created using "flat" instead of apartment?)

i love the phrases and words that the brits use. i think i'll go have a few pints, get pissed and tell my somebody to 'bugger off'.

later...th

long time, no blog

2005-03-19T08:48:00.000-06:00

it's been several weeks since i posted. the newness of posting wore off, and although there has been lots going on, i just haven't had the time or the motivation to put it here.
some highlights:

I've been notified that i'm to be a grandfather.
The studio (Midtown Photography of Mobile, LLC) is open for business.
renovation of the guest-house out back is underway.
work is absoulutely hectic, just shy of chaotic.

so where to begin? nowhere for now, but it might do me good to dump later on. in the meantime, check out this groovy blog for some good reads. enjoy.

th

merry christmas

2004-12-25T08:38:00.000-06:00

hope this finds all well. we've had a cold christmas this year, which has been sort of fun. started a fire in the fireplace and we've opened the presents and had a cup of hot chocolate. my boss gave us some really nice schokinag drinking chocolate and we put it to the test this morning. we've opened the gifts and everybody is pleased. rachael got her ipod and ford got a nice leather coat. tracy got some red leather boots and a leather briefcase. i got some great kitchen knives and a leather coat. tracy bought tickets for all to see the dead sea scrolls in february. rachael gave me an ambulance limited cd (we saw them in new orleans at voodoo fest) and ford gave me a box of photos. her mom took the bulk of the photos so it was fun seeing old pics of my baby growing up. she's back in with us now...we're talking about getting the studio set up as an apartment for her.

time for a bailey's and coffee.

cheers all...tom

let them drink wine

2004-12-21T06:50:00.000-06:00

had a wine tasting party last friday. i guess about 40 or so showed...we counted 25 empty wine bottles the next morning. the sterling 2001 cabernet was the winner, but since that was our contribution, we disqualified ourselves. a sterling 1999 cabernet tied with the toad holllow zin for second, and brian and kathy shared the stash of minis...brian choosing the amber drinks and kathy the clear. i was surprised that the boone's farm blue hawaiian didn't fare any better than the one sympathy vote that it got.

the cat got into some stray cheese that was left around and puked from one end of the house to the other. fortunately tracy saw fit to clean it up as i continued to slumber. i napped on the sofa until 1 or so on saturday and then got ready to go to biloxi for a christmas party. after dinner and drinks we threw some money into the coffers of the casino....they looked like they could use it better than i. spent the night, had a shitty breakfast, and made it home before noon.

made a pot of chili and put a fire in the fireplace. brian and melissa came over after they put skyler to bed. brian and i sampled the bushmills black label that nitram brought as my christmas gift. did a side-by-side taste test with the bushmills white label. the black bush is so good. i need to have nitram over for a taste or six.

All your base are belong to us

2004-12-12T06:50:00.000-06:00

ok, so i know i promised 'why i love mobile' for my next post, but i ran across this and couldn't resist the urge to blog: All your base are belong to us

weekend winding down

2004-12-05T17:11:00.000-06:00

friday - tracy and i drove around and checked out few buildings for the studio...still leaning towards the dauphin street place. i think we'll try to get it moving this week or next.

saturday - decided to finally paint the front porch. of course, nothing is as simple as it sounds. there were several boards that needed to be replaced. the shitty tongue-in-groove boards from lowe's were too thin so that meant a trip out to mobile lumber. one joist was rotten so i scabbed in a patch there and then shimmed up a couple others where the footers had settled. everything sanded and primed by about 5 pm. started painting at about 7. it had dried enough this morning for us to realize we don't like the color. rain all day so can't put on another coat. (oil based paint is a bitch to work with.)

sunday - slept well under the influence of paint fumes and bushmill's. showered and blew sawdust, paint chips, and other building materials out my nose, all held together with a sticky base of mucus. rained all day. went to lowe's with my brother jon. he was in search of tools to demolish a chimney which were easily located. street flooded with all the rain. napped on the sofa until the cat jumped on my balls. dinner in a while with brian and melissa. skyler and rachie asked for spaghetti, although i don't know who thinks they heard a one-year-old say spaghetti.

next time - - - why i love mobile

good hope

2004-12-04T07:03:00.000-06:00

a lovely shot of me in south africa. odd that the arrow is pointing towards my ass, don't you think?

saturday

2004-12-04T06:55:00.000-06:00

saturday morning is here. tracy and rachie plan to do some shopping today. i'll be painting the front porch. have to replace a couple boards and do some sanding, but this job is long overdue. with a christmas do planned we do need to get a couple things in shape around here.
haven't heard from elise in a few days. i assume she has been working and hanging out with holly. i guess she is happy living with her mother and the mother's new boyfriend.
time to crank up the sander and the saw and wake the neighbors...

wine

2004-12-03T06:08:00.000-06:00

tracy and i went to a wine tasting last night. the event was a silent auction to raise money for the leukemia society. a few folks from work were there...penny, tony p, dale s, jacob a, brandon s. wetterer was expected but didn't show. it was put on by a bunch of the health nuts that jog around town for fun. tracy donated a portrait session and made a few contacts. now we just need to get the studio open. saw monetta, an old friend. she is just a crazy as ever. wants tracy to do portraits of her dogs. need to remember to invite her to the street party next year.

no work today...three day weekends are good. finished off a couple of tasks at work that have been looming so that feels good.

ciao....strorg

2004-12-02T05:19:00.000-06:00

my daughter rachael

2004-12-02T05:16:00.000-06:00

my daughter elise

thursday

2004-12-02T05:07:00.000-06:00

nothing much to report. been a busy week. ten-hour days and an hour commute each way makes for a long day, but i'v got a three day weekend coming up. might dig up some pic of the girls and post.

will and emma

2004-11-30T05:10:00.000-06:00

there must be a zillion blogs out there. nitram stumbled across will's blog and sent the link to me. will has great writing style that cracks me up sometimes. the post about the cheese is a beautiful work of prose that fully examines one cheese relationship. after lurking about will's place i began to notice a dialogue between will and emma in many of the posts. i began posting subtle comments on both blogs and then began to notice a few here at the strorgatorium. i've come to look forward to my dialogue with my new british pals. i wish i could get back to london for a few pints.

boiled egg

2004-11-29T06:03:00.000-06:00

off to the mill now after a lovely boiled egg for breakfast (and two cups of coffee). i love boiled eggs...could eat half a dozen in a sitting if it weren't for the associated gas. no carpool this week since rms is traveling.

back to work blues...

2004-11-28T17:11:00.000-06:00

well the party has to end sometime and i guess the time is now. sunday evening at the ass-end of a week off from work. i am proud to say that i didn't even get the laptop out of the bag or check voicemail...i'll worry about that shit tomorrow. fired up the grill to sear some burgers and sippin' on a bushmill's while it heats up.

went out to the in-law's this morning and tried to track down an electrical problem. charlie and helen both got zapped in the tub the other day (not at the same time) and i think they may have a water heater on the blink.

watched some crappy movies this weekend: the day after tomorrow (don't bother) and terminal (even worse). need a good fix of pulp fiction or snatch or lock, stock and two smoking barrels. by the way, i need some new music to listen to.

Dauphin Street Location

2004-11-27T07:50:00.000-06:00

We went and looked at a building for Tracy's studio yesterday. There is a good building in a great location on Dauphin street right next to the Bakery Cafe`. Last tenant was a photo studio as well, so it's already rigged with some lights and such. Been empty a couple years so it needs some clean-up. John has agreed to let us use much of his equipment in return for use of one small room. He has tons of lights, stands, background rollers, and a full professional darkroom setup. Might try to get the building mid-December so that I can work on it during my two week vacation. Might try to solicit Nitram for assistance with computer network set-up and electrical work.

Rain today...glad I got the yard done yesterday. Need to pay some bills and do some filing. Guess I ought to log on to the laptop and triage the inbox. Fun stuff, eh?

Later...Strorg

Friday

2004-11-26T10:19:00.000-06:00

Beautiful cool fall day. Need to get out and get some fresh air. Steph and TJ are gone after their visit. Rachael and Tracy plan to do some Christmas shopping. A fire and a bottle of wine (or maybe a bottle of Bushmill's) are the order of business tonight. The snot machine is running out of steam finally. I think is was Will's advice that did the trick.

Some time off

2004-11-24T06:11:00.000-06:00

Have a few days off from work for the Thanskgiving holiday. Feels good to be away from work for awhile and I may not even power up the laptop for a couple days. About over the crud that invaded my head...even had a couple glasses of wine last night. Wanted to sleep in but up at 5am as if the alarm went off.

Ford came over for a visit last night. I asked her what she wants for Christmas and she asked to have her car painted. I might wrap a can of spray paint with a couple $100 bills in the cap and send her to Fact-O-Bake. Rachael wants an iPod. That is perfect for her...she can load it up with her favorite Black Sabbath, U2 and Elton John tunes. That child has some strange taste in music, I'm proud to say.

Tracy asked what I want. I never know what to say. I would like a vid card for the PC. Maybe something for the car, like that Neuspeed supercharger? Artwork and sextoys are always good too.

Dreary weekend blahs...

2004-11-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

Came down with some sort of bug starting Thursday. Worked Friday for a while then came home and got on the sofa, where I have spent most of the weekend. Too much to do to be laying around, but just don't have any energy or motivation right now.
The Firefox browser that I installed the other day is a bit buggy. Some sites don't display as they do in IE in that some tables seem to misalign. That's the only thing I've noticed so far.
Might go get some breakfast with the neighbors. First a shower to clear the snot from my head.

Later...Strorg

2004-11-20T10:20:00.000-06:00

Hand colored B&W print by Tracy.

Firefox Central

2004-11-20T07:12:00.000-06:00

Installed Firefox browser. Pretty cool stuff. Many of the features of IE so it has a familiar feel. Seems much faster than IE and has additional features as well.
Firefox Central

American Soldier

2004-11-17T19:10:00.000-06:00

American Soldier

Dry Spell

2004-11-17T19:09:00.000-06:00

Been a few days since my last bloggage...
Sunday night we drank beer and tequila with the neighbors. Closed the night out with the rescue squad hauling Janie off on a backboard. Amazing what happens to your head when you numb the brain cells with alcohol and then crack it on the concrete. Fortunately a night in the hospital and few sutures fixed her up, but it was kinda scary for a bit. I must agree with Tracy's comment about that being the longest I've been around Janie without her talking your ear off.
Tracy and I had dinner last night at Cafe` 615 downtown. Disappointed in the food and service but the company was good and the Bushmill's smooth. Ron G was in town along with Mark from the UK. Steph joined us along with Doug and his wife Heather.
Work piling up on me faster than I can tackle it. I'll catch up one day.

Later...Strorg

On Her Own

2004-11-14T13:32:00.000-06:00

Tracy gives her notice at Olan Mills today and plunges into the world of self-employment. Going digital with a Nikon D70 to start and a fairly good Epson photo printer. The printer will be for doing on-site dances and balls. Digital-to-print will be done via bulk processing company that John K has hooked us up with. There is a fucking ton of money to be made doing portrait photography.

CNN.com - Rapper O.D.B. dies at recording studio - Nov 13, 2004

2004-11-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

CNN.com - Rapper O.D.B. dies at recording studio - Nov 13, 2004

Now that's just a damn shame.

Friday at the Salt Mine

2004-11-12T18:59:00.000-06:00

I actually like working Fridays. Since we are on a 9-80 schedule with every other Friday off, half of the offices are empty, few meetings are called, and distractions are rare and usually welcomed. I'd like to swap my 9-80 off-day to Monday but I haven't run that by the boss yet.

I usually sleep in a bit and straggle in to the office at 8 or so instead of 7 or so. Hell I generally work an hour past quitting anyway. Tried to catch up on some paperwork this morning and then lunch with GMEE at the Mexican joint on 90. Actually made progress on several things today which always feels good. The week in general felt unproductive with Jeet and Company visiting, so I was please to close the books on a thing or two.

T should be home soon. We are going down to talk to John and Laurie later. John deploys to Kosovo on Sunday. Not sure how this will impact the photog business for T, but we'll work something out.

Spoke with Kit today and we might get together later on this weekend. Penny is running tomorrow so they didn't want to get go out tonight.

Sorry for the dull blog...Strorg

Black Bush

2004-11-11T18:51:00.000-06:00

I've poured up a couple fingers of Bushmill's Irish Whiskey. That stuff is so damn good...I wish I could get my hands on another bottle of the Black Label (Black Bush, they call it) at the Cape Town duty-free, but I don't see myself back there anytime soon. I imagine they have it in New Orleans. Speaking of Cape Town, I've been feeling a bit out of sorts due to the way that whole project has panned out. Fourteen months, eight refineries, tons of good people, food and drink, beautiful sights in faraway places...truly a good experience. We delivered a great product...one we thought the customer wanted. But locally anyway, it's taken off like the proverbial lead balloon...and my name is securely attached.

I've been trying to cut the strings since Sam left so I can focus on my new job, but now that somebody else is doing the cutting for me, I wonder if it's because I didn't deliver.

Anyway...Rachael is off on a long weekend camping trip with the HBO (Hiking, Biking, and Outdoor) club. I haven't heard from Elise in a few days. I imagine she has been busy at the candy factory. Tracy should be on her way soon...I better have a G&T ready for her when she gets home or my ass is grass.

Ciao...Strorg

Not enough sleep...

2004-11-10T05:33:00.000-06:00

I woke about an hour before the alarm went off and lay in bed for 45 minutes trying to get a few precious minutes of sleep. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to sleep once you start to imagine the worst possible outcome to every aspect of your life? Here are just a few of the questions that I perused while tossing and turning this morning:

What if my kids both grow up to be leeches that live with me the rest of my life, instead of becoming rich and buying me a house on the beach?
What if my wife runs off with her best friend?
What if I can't find any clean socks while I'm getting ready for work?
What if I can't make the deadlines on the 87 things that I've committed to at work?
What if my zipper is down and I make an ass of myself in front of the leadership team during my presentation?
What if my zipper is not down and I still make an ass of myself in front of the leadership team during my presentation?
What if I start blogging when I finally get out of bed, thereby wasting precious time that could be spent looking for socks?

All kidding aside, that was one hour that I would rather spent sleeping...Strorg

Fine Wine in Crack Town

2004-11-08T08:01:00.000-06:00

Had dinner at the Gaston's last night. They have some really cool digs in Washington Square, a couple blocks from Calaghans Irish Grill and just on the outskirts of crackville. The purchase and restoration of old homes is slowly reclaiming that part of town. The Gastons back yard is like a New Orleans courtyard and the night was nice so we ate outside. Tracy and I brought a bottle of wine that I bought in Cape Town and it was excellent.

Well I'm blogging from work which is probably not too cool so I'll keep this short.

Later...Strorg

Complex Model

2004-11-07T15:31:00.000-06:00

Hmmm...blogging. I actually had a blog set up a year or so ago but never did much with it. Nitram cranked up a blog over at http://rms2.blogspot.com/ that got me thinking, why not? Let' s see where it goes.

I've spent most of this beautiful Sunday writing some code for a project at work. I can get more done in five hours at home than I can in a whole week at work when it comes to coding, especially if I stay away from the Bushmill's Irish Whiskey.

The neighbors across the street are nursing hangovers. I hate that I missed the party last night (especially seeing 'Mellow Moves Meek" on the dancefloor at Martini's) but I feel much better for it today.

Later...Strorg

Coming soon: "What's in a Name" or "The Origin of Strorg"