Studying...

I've been reading so much that everything else I see is blurry. Though it is kind of nice and interesting to not be able to see, it's a little disconcerting. I have a romantic view of everything - nothing is in focus. Makes me think of that song "All Day Through The Rain" by Bora Yoon. She says: "Sometimes I like to leave my glasses at home and roam in a warm blur all day through the rain". I didn't stock up well enough to hermit in this weekend. I have to get out and buy more bread and smokes. I dread it: there's snow everywhere and I have to scrape my windshield. Maybe I'll just walk... I've found a lot of mistakes in the TDMM (the study book). They refer to a type of fiber connectors (LC) as Load Coil type connectors, when actually they are Latch Connectors. So will I fail if I correct them on the exam? It's too funny to me. I have my own words to help me remember the connector types: ST= Stab and Twist; SC= Square Click; and LC= Little Click. Works for me. They definitely love their acronyms. We could speak a whole other language based on acronyms. Frankly, I think acronyms are lazy. Like text messaging - I refuse to abbreviate in a text message. Like the ENTs say: "Anything worth saying is worth taking a long time to say it". Okay - I had to throw a Hobbit reference in there somewhere. You'd expect nothing less from me... Have a great New Year. Peace, Love, and Understanding. MsAmber

Looking for a project.

I've noticed lately that my thoughts regress too often to the negative. I'm not able to hang on to the "sunny side". I can blame it on the time of the year, the time of the month, or even on the amount of obstacles that keep diving into my path. But it seems that I'm missing something... something of vital importance. A Goal. I know that I tend to look backwards when I don't have something to look forward to... I did schedule my RCDD exam for the 22nd of January. That's a small goal. I can divert my spare energy into studying and preparing for that. I don't think it's enough though... I need a brain-diversion. Something so exciting that it occupies my dreams and waking daydreams. A Great Big Project. I'm thinking of buying a House. A project-house. A fixer-upper. Something that I can focus my energy and my budget into, with a future promise of returns or even a future place to call home. The only problem is: Where? I could live anywhere actually - I just haven't decided yet. As much as I know about the whole United States, I could pick someplace Geographically sensible. South-Eastern Oklahoma is very appealing, and it's midway between two major cities, but it's not very fertile. I could pick an old-country, mountainous setting - Kentucky, Virginia, or Tennessee. I kinda like the idea of a good sized wooded lot, maybe 15 miles away from a town, or an old house with 3+ acres or so on the outskirts of a town. Enough land to enjoy but not so much that it becomes burdensome. I know I couldn't be within a town, because I'm not all that capable of keeping the front lawn mowed and other "zoning" issues that may come up when I'm out working for months at a time. I'm fond of places in Arkansas; Missouri; Oklahoma; Louisiana; Tennessee; Kentucky; South Carolina; Ohio; Virginia; and Alabama. Well, THAT narrows it down...LOL. The place must have Water. A well or a pond. I don't want to be on anyone's city water, or at least have an option not to be. That's definitely a particular concern of mine. Water is important. I don't want to be isolated or hidden in the back-40. I'm not looking for a hermit-lodge, but at one time I thought I would like that. The house need not be Huge, but it needs to be interesting. Strange floor plan, or unusual architecture, something interesting and challenging. I abhor square houses and sheetrock. Yeah, I know... Bonus points for: porches, courtyards, windows, open floor plans, round rooms, root-cellars, usable attics, 8-foot ceilings, trees, oil-fired heat, detached garage, and flat yard space.

Facebook: A tutorial

Facebook: A tutorial. 1. When you join facebook, you basically have two screens. One is your “Wall”, where people can share information directly with you by “Writing/posting on your Wall”, or by selecting something on their own facebook, clicking share, and selecting or typing in your name. 2. The “Wall” is what visitors to your facebook page see, along with a few menu items like: Friends, Photos, Maps, or “Likes”. The visitor can click on the menu items and check out your photos, or places you’ve pinpointed to have been, or anything you have “Liked”. They CAN ALSO browse through the people you have “Friended”. 3. If they browse through your friends, and let’s say: They see “George” on there and they want to see what “George” is up to on Facebook, based on HIS privacy settings: (Friends Only or Public). They can click and Facebook will either show a minimal screen with his name and description and a button that says Content restricted to Friends Only, Do you know “George”, if so click here to send him a friend request. Or if his privacy settings are Public, then they will be able to see “George” and the activity on his “Wall”. They could then click through George’s friends (and his friends’ friends) and keep going ad-finitem. It’s generally considered in bad taste to just cruise through friends’ friend lists. (You are friends with George who is friends with Amy who is related to Josh who broke up with my sister…) There is truly only 6-degrees of separation between any two people on this entire earth, social networking has made that painfully clear. 4. The other screen that YOU have access to is called “Home”. “Home” is like an RSS feed where you can see all the activity on all the facebooks of all your friends in one place. Your friends do not see your “Home”, so it’s not like a billboard service. When you respond to something “George” posted on HIS wall from your “Home” page, it will show up on George’s “Wall”. 5. In essence: The only way I could be an embarrassment to you on Facebook would be A: Post something offensive on your “Wall”. B: Share something offensive with you specifically. C: One of your friends snooping through your friends list and clicked on me and was shocked at my “Wall”. (Probably shouldn’t happen, but yes, it could. My privacy settings are set to Public.) There is also this option to “hide” status updates from people who are annoying: Just copy and paste into your browser – it’s safe. http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_screen_filter_out_facebook_status_updates.html I don’t get the status updates from all my friends, because frankly, some of them are so active that it bores me to death to get through their “Farmville” requests and irrelevant chatter. So I just GO to their facebook page every once in a while to catch up on what’s going on, then I’m satisfied that everyone is safe, reasonably happy, and it’s “snafu”. Realizing that you probably don’t share my sense of humor or have anything in common with the life that I live, I understand that you perceive my updates out of context. Kind of like when Grandma was concerned that I was joining a cult when I announced the “End of the World, Zombie apocalypse” for the last day of my project. And, yes, in polite company, I may even be inappropriate – so I understand completely why you “Unfriended” me. However, in my defense, I work in construction, with men, I wear boots and get dirty and enjoy a beer now and again, so I don’t really hang with the “Sesame Street” crowd and probably never will. I cuss a little, but not too much. I think I’m a normal, red-blooded, blue-collar, underpaid, hard-working, good-hearted woman. Anybody who doesn’t get that or doesn’t like it can kiss my Gluteus Maximus.

Elevated frustration level Orange

What I want to say: "I am going above and beyond the call of duty in working for you. I have been working without the support I should have - which you signed this document stating that you would provide. You continuously ask for more, then act like you have every right to expect it from me, turning the situation around to always make it seem like I haven't been doing my job correctly. I am making compromises that get me in trouble with my own bosses because you don't know the restrictions that THEY place on me. You want what you want no matter how unreasonable, and no-body in your organization will stand up for me against you, so I'm stuck between seeming uncooperative with you or displeasing my bosses. What you need to understand is this: I don't mind taking responsibility, I don't mind going above and beyond, I don't mind working WITH you to really make this project a success, and I have no problem taking a certain amount of heat from my bosses for giving a bit more than is required. In fact, all my projects have been very successful. I just want you to consider that I have many more responsibilities that you don't see: I have decisions to make that require not only knowledge of my trade, but knowledge of contractual obligations and restrictions. I am responsible for the overall project and the daily needs of 11 people. I am 100% dedicated to the successful completion of this project. However: If you believe that I am not qualified to manage this project, then I urge you to report this to my superiors and allow them to move me to another and replace me on this one. But I assure you that anyone else would not do as much or be as accommodating as I have been, or provide you this quality of work." Instead, I say: "Yes Sir, I'll see what I can do."

Amnesia pill

I'm not insecure. Never really have been. I mean, I have my moments of doubt - wondering if I'm too far gone for a real relationship, but it's only temporary. I know that I'm kind, independent, fair-looking, competent, generous, adventurous, funny, bold, intelligent, loyal, etc. What the real problem seems to be is that I don't feel love. I don't trust - anyone. Even those who DO love me, can't get me to see it. I am subject to temporary infatuations. They usually last about 18 months, then it's over. I'm sure that it has much to do with my childhood and being betrayed by those who were supposed to love and nurture me, broke my ability to trust. How do you get that back? And don't tell me to go see a shrink, a shrink would just make me re-hash all the memories I've tried so hard to put behind me. I'm not looking to dust off all the bad things in my life and re-live them. I'm looking for an amnesia pill. Make me forget so that I can see the rainbows and flowers again. It's the last thing I need to do for myself. Learn to trust. How do you learn to trust?

Harrisburg PA

An uninteresting blog post. I'm going to wash the truck today and vacuum it out. I went to Moose's LZ last night and had a prime rib with baked sweet potato and a Guinness Draft beer. Man, was it good! This morning I bought and drank an energy drink, so I've cleaned the house and swept the porch. It's only 10:00 a.m. and it's already starting to get hot outside. Well, that's my day. Have a great day yourself. MsAmber

Pet Peeve: Drive Thru Timers!

I would like to address all the corporate fast-food restaurant chains who have bought into the concept of drive-thru timers. Drive-thru timers are unfair to the employees of the restaurant who live in fear of the repercussions of having an average drive-thru time of 2:11 (two minutes and eleven seconds). The Timer reports an end-of-shift average to the local manager and sends a network message to the corporate office to tattle on the average for each shift. Drive-thru timers are unfair to the customers. Almost every experience I have with a drive-thru goes like this: At the speaker: "I'll be with you in a minute". At the speaker: "Can I take your order?" At the speaker: "That will be $9.00 at the second window" At the window: "$9.00 please." Then they thrust out my drink and my change at the same time, then my bagged food, before I've thrown the change in the console and put the bills in my wallet. I can't put the straw in the cup without being rushed to get moving. I can't even turn away from the window to set my drink in the cupholder before my bagged food is being shoved out at me. This happens every single time - I've tried making myself more efficient to handle the fastball pitch: I've cleared out my cupholder ahead of time. I've got my wallet open in my lap to make paying and putting away my bills more convenient. I've even considered putting a change-cup in the door holder so I don't have to waste all that precious time turning towards the console to pitch in my loose coins. There's just no pleasing these people - they want you to simply slow down to 15MPH, pay in exact change and have the back window open so they can throw your food in. Now, in order to shorten their average time for the shift, sometimes the manager will circle through the drive-thru and order just a drink, and then circle around again and order another drink, so a couple of :20 (twenty second) drive-thru times will average out their shift time to just under 2:11. So, they are cheating the system anyway. The purpose of having me wait at the speaker is so they don't get backed up, that makes sense. But it still proves that the system is beatable, and just having the system in place is robbing the customer of a pleasant experience. Also, because of the timer, the staff is focused more on the drive-thru speed than the dine-in speed, so my choice is to either get my food fast and rudely, or slower and complacently. I SAY BAN THE DRIVE THRU TIMER! OUTLAW IT! P.S. How long does it take to cook a chicken breast? Certainly longer than 2:11... wouldn't you wonder at a chicken sandwich that was cooked, made into a sandwich, wrapped, bagged, and served to you in under 2:11? That's my rant for today.

I went to Sears

So I went to Sears to buy a new battery pack for my Craftsman 19.2V cordless drill. Mind you, I just got off work, so I'm in jeans, steel-toed boots, and a tool pouch on my hip. A single battery was $40, or two for $66.30. So I bought two. Then I saw that they have the little cordless 5 1/2" circular saw that matches my set so I picked up one of those and a new blade for it. I get to the register and the cashier looks at me and says: "Does he have a charger?" I really was laughing - on the inside - so I repeated back to him "Does HE have a charger?" I think I might have shaken him up a little bit... 'nuf said.

Had to share...

What happened???

I've written this blog post twice. It didn't publish the first time. I went online and downloaded a code scanner for my smartphone, then I went to www.e-nigma.com to read more about the QR barcodes and they had a utility to create your own QR code. I made one that points here. I see all kinds of possibilities for this technology... If anyone has any experiences (good or bad) with scanning these codes that are found almost everywhere nowadays, please let me know. Anyway... I'm still here in Pennsylvania. The weather finally broke and it's a beautiful sunny day outside. So I shaved my legs and put on a dress. I'm just going to hang out and enjoy the lovely day. Maybe I'll paint. Have a great weekend. MsAmber

In Harrisburg Pennsylvania

What an interesting place. I need to show you what I've been driving lately: A big Skytrak forklift. It's baaaad! For 2 1/2 weeks I've been unloading trucks. I've gotten pretty good at that forklift.

I've driven around to get the hang of this place. It's a little confusing, but I'm close to Hershey, PA; the chocolate factory and amusement park. I have some very distant memories of the place. I always remembered being a little kid and being at Hershey Park. I remember getting a plastic candy bar that I filled with water from a water fountain and squirted out. I was fascinated by the little squirty fake candy bar. I know I have been to Hershey Park and my sister was there with me because we had to hold hands. I just have no idea when it was. I just have a distinct memory of the waterfountain, the sunny day, the pea-rock embedded walkway, and the plastic Hershey candy bar. I'm going to try to dream and remember more details about it tonight. Maybe I can pull some more details from the memory.
Maybe I'll call my sister and ask her about it tomorrow and see if the memory jives, she has a phenomenal memory and she was old enough probably to put in into context.

Anyway...
I'm starting a new project here and I should be in this area through the Summer. I'm looking forward to it. There are several caves I want to explore. Indian Echo cavern for one.
I'm going to see about getting family to visit me here, we'll do the touristy thing and have a good time, but when I'm by myself: I'm going to take the cavern tours. That's my favorite thing in the entire world. I imagine myself as an old-time explorer and that I'm the first person ever to see the dark deep crevices that are older than anything you can imagine.

Well, I'm watching a movie. I better pay attention to it - there's a fight scene and I'm missing it.

Peace Out.
MsAmber

Countdown!

This project is nearly done. I'm ready to get the caravan rolling again. I've packed up and re-arranged the RV. I've packed my tools back in the truck. Only thing left is my TV, clothes, and dishes; and I'm ready to hitch up and go to my next project. Heard a rumour that it might be New York? I don't care where, just gotta go. This place is boring! Cows and dairy and Amish. Yep, that's about it.
Cheese curds all around!
It's 30 miles to the nearest Home Depot!

I've been having some female-troubles since October. I'm apparently on an 18-day cycle now. It's just too much! I have a consultation to discuss the new radio frequency procedure (ablation?), which may cut back on the problems I've been having. It's either that or a hysterectomy. I had my physical and a full panel of bloodwork, and I'm otherwise healthy. It's just perimenopause is kicking my ass and it's hard to work like a man when you have the inconveniences of being a woman - especially at this "unique" time of my life (eg: perimenopause!). I'm done ovulating so I don't get the dose of progesterone. Makes me a little crabby and impatient - I'm living on coffee and nicotine and breakfast cereal. Whew!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the heck out of here and back to civilization.
Wish me luck!

MsAmber