Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Sunset transition

I transitioned from rooftop skating and sunset pictures to here... Right down the street to the local bar. Im just drinking my beer and thinking about my life. One of the few times ive sat in a bar by myself and enjoyed it. This is Dave Rich, signing out.

sunset

Here it is, the sunset for today. Another beautiful day in texas. Unfortunately, still in the land and society of greed.

Today is TUESDAY!

Awesome...

So last weekend was pretty damn fun. I had a blast friday night at Damien's house when Rami showed up on his bike. He let me ride it and it was my first time on a street bike and wow did I have a blast! Its a 98ish Suzuki Bandit 600 and its not even a true sport bike but ohh man that thing is fast!

We commenced to drinking after that and playing rockband like we were the real deal haha. We all get together sometimes and do this and its a blast! Me on bass, Rami on guitar, Damien on drums and whoever on the mic. We also played some Wii and I showed them how bowling is done. Actually, Damien smoked me.

Saturday I really didnt do much. I hung out at my dads all day and we fixed the electrical problem in my car. Thank God it was just a fuse I missed when I went over everything. We reqired my trailer harness due to some exposed wire and he thinks the wire could have grounded it out causing the fuse to blow in the first place. I really hope so!

Sunday morning my cousins and aunt showed up. They are moving in with us for a bit until they can get on their feet. Her husband, my uncle, has been living with us for a little over 1 month now and hes working and doing great. Its a little crowded in the house right now but its not bad having family around plus they are cool. Im really glad we could step up and help them like this. I did take my cousin with me on a run to Kemah to drop off the last parts from my Catalina and I got a few more parts for the hobie cat. I got a new cam cleat with a pad eye for the furling line. My old one is stuck and not working all that well. I guess I could have taken it apart but I was feeling lazy and just picked up a new one for $18.

Well thats about it, Ill try and get another sunset shot tonight from the garage.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thursday has come and gone

Today was a great da at work. Xp worked fine. Everything worked fine, just small work things to do. ahhhh..... How nice.

I had some beers last night with the Dman and Raminator and we had a good time. I think we might meet up again tonight for big ass beer night at mollies in the woodlands, but we shall see. Here is your sunset shot of the day. Ive been thinking of starting a seperate blog for all my sunset shots i will start taking from the roof of the garage.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Another day in the office

Well, today was a hellacious day. I spent a good part of last night tearing into the electrical system of my car trying to find a short. I failed but i havent given up.

We decision was made today to roll our first Vista x64 machine back to xp x86. We are just having too much difficulty with autocad 2009 and its only going to get worse once the entire department adopts Vista. So we are gearing up to demote the machine back down.

I just got overwhelmed today. I questioned what im doing with my life, always running in circles. I feel that im wasting my precious time here on earth. Many people feel our time here is punishment and that the end goal is death and meeting our savious in heaven to live out our lives in eternal bliss. This does have plenty of merit with me but its not a solid foundation for me to adopt that will allow me to swallow what is considered "the hardships of life". I cant drudge on everyday in a pointless manner just to try and ignore it, biding my time until i die, get hit by a bus, or the apocalypse happens. so.... Ill do what i always do. Drink a beer and drudge on. That miraculous liquid, kept legal because it gives us faith and keeps us plugging away. If you drive drunk or act stupid, they fine you, and get what they wanted anyways. Money. The end goal.

We watched parts of a documentary today about monetary systems and how they are designed to enslave human kind. I say that agree and always have. I blame parts of my childhood for making me dependant on money. My family didnt have very much back then and i was born into a semi chaotic world of due payments and late bills. My parents did a fantastic job of hiding it but as children we pick up little things, said or not. So im afraid. Afraid of really letting go and throwing that caution to the wind. You can live without or with very little money. Enough to eat, travel, and sleep. I desire this life but im afraid to charge headlong. I look at my savings account, i now have 10K. I tell myself, wait until you have 20 before you quit. Why? Whats the point?

I took that pic while typing this post on the roof of a parking garage where i work. I often stand out here and watch "life". A little city with people, funtioning and living their lives. More often than not, there are fantastic sunset shots here on the roof. Perhaps i should start documenting them and blogging from here.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Pic of the 800 balloons

Here it is, Rami in a shitload of balloons.

My Weekend

Well, I got a lot accomplished this weekend. I finally had a friday off that I didnt have to work or cover for someone so I enjoyed my 3 days and worked hard on the boat. I dont think I worked half as much on my old and much bigger boat but Im hoping I will be rewarded for my efforts.

Friday it was dreary and pretty much crappy weather for trying to work outside on the boat. I called Rami up and learned he was planning something extravagant for his girlfriend for Valentine's. Basically, he bought a little over 1000 balloons and a small handpump and was going to need some help. So for the next 5 hours we pumped and tied balloons and had to call it quits at a little over 850. One balloon had a necklace he bought her and we hid it amongst all the others for her to find.

Saturday I got up early (around 10) and started working on the trailer for the boat again with a new determination to finish up. I learned that Ace Hardware carries the apparently rare rectangular U-bolts I couldnt find anywhere else short of the internet. So after $30 in bolts, I assembled the trailer with the help of my uncle who is living with us right now. We got the trailer almost finished and then the rain set it. I went to the bar that night to meet up with Joe and I learned of a small electrical issue with my car. My step dad said he'd seen it before and it was due to my dual filiment taillights. Thank God someone knew because Im pretty mechanically inclined but I hate tracing electrical issues.

Sunday I finished the trailer and began finishing up the actual boat. We got the new siderails mounted and got the chainplates riveted into the tramp bars. I retensioned the stay that runs over the dolphin striker and fixed a pin that was missing. All my rigging showed up this weekend and I was hoping to rig her but I couldnt find the damn turnbuckle I needed at the local West Marine so once again, Im delayed another weekend. Thats when I noticed that small electrical problem go from small to huge. Basically, the bulbs were not the answer. My dad, who was a commercial electrician once upon a time, helped me trace a little and basically it looks like somwhere 2 circuits have fused together. I have taillights but no dash lights, ac, or brake lights. When switching the fuses, I loose all lights but regain my AC and power windows. Amazing! So, my dad offered to help me tear into it this Saturday which basically ruins my plans to head to Austin to check out a 30ft Allied sailboat. O well....

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Arrrrrgggg

Ive been eyeing a boat in Austin and I will be heading up there next weekend to check her out. I wont say just yet what it is, but its a pretty awesome boat. Only around 50 were ever built and this is number 12, which is kinda cool.

Im also pretty excited about finally having my 3 day weekends back after I lost all of my fridays off in Jan. I work a schedule at work where I get every other friday off and this happens to be my weekend so Im pretty excited. Ill be working on the hobie and the trailer all weekend trying to get everything ready. Ive got all the new rigging on order and it should be in sometime next week. Now.. if I can just get a week of 70F or higher weather the water will warm considerably in the bay and Ill be taking her out for my first sail on a hobie cat. Im veryyyy nervous and excited at the same time. I cant wait to feel that speed!

Monday, February 09, 2009

My Weekend

It was pretty exciting i guess you could say. I took my elementary friend Kelli out sailing on a buddy of mines boat. Last weekend we sailed the gulf so we are kind of addicted now and decided to head out again this weekend despite all the small craft advisories. Well the waves were there (4 to 6ft swell) but no wind! Wehad a blast anyways.

Then sunday i drove to College Station to visit my dad and his gf. We had a good time and played a bunch of xbox360. The introduced me to a game called "Left 4 Dead" and i was very impressed. Not only did it have me on edge the whole time but it also scaredme a few times! Awesome game!

Well thats about it. Surf was up but still too cold. Sprightly is almost here so i can hold out. And yea yea i know im a wuss and all that fun stuff lol.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

The Day of Vista (x64)

So, today we got to deal with not only the annoyances of Vista but Vista x64 at that. So we got our first lesson in microsofts ass backwards driver insertion of 64bit systems. Not to mention that we also decided to bring online our first server 2008 machine, also x64.

Anyways, enough geek talk. Im working on the possibility of going sailing again this weekend with Garnet. Ive been sailing with him quite a bit recently and ive been all over the place as he refuses to just baysail. We are headed out for another sail into the gulf this weekend with a forecast of 15 to 20kts of wind and 8ft seas! This should be fun as it will be my biggest seas yet. Ill keep you guys posted and have some pics up soon.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

New machine install

Today we installed our very first Vista machine. Its running on a Dell T3400 which is a 2.8ghz Pentium Quad core. Thats right, QUAD. Its running vista x64 with 8 gigs of ram. Thats right .... 8gb of ram!!!! We topped it off with a 26" LG lcd display that kicks ass. This machine basically kills anything in its path. Awesome!

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Im Back!

In action!

Just got the posting from my phone working again so Im going to make an attempt this year to post like never before, even though Im pretty sure I say that every year. Im just on the go so much that the phone is the perfect way for me to get back into blogging.

A few updates...
  1. Work is still good... but as always if your a fan, Im ready to get outa here
  2. the step to "getting outa here" is getting much closer now. Literally saving $1500 every month.
  3. The Hobie is starting to look good. I sourced some new rails on the internet from a guy parting out his hobie for $50!!! Major painting is going on along with new rigging installation. Getting her ready for the spring time! Also looking for a good name, shoot me some idea.
  4. Hobie trailer is 85% done, just need to order these damn rectangular U-bolts from this site on the internet. Belive it or not, Home Depot and Lowes both do not carry said U-bolts.
  5. Ive been sailing like crazy on friends boats.. did a trip last weekend where we sailed 20 miles out into the gulf of mexico!

Now...Im going to try hard to stick with one of my new years resolutions, and that is to blog more! Im back from the dead... Dave Rich signing off.