droll exhaust . . .

Twitter ReBorn

2010-08-31T21:07:00.001-08:00

I have returned officially to Twitter, well … I have been easing into to it the last couple weeks pretty good. This time I have purpose … oh sure I do!

I still don’t know who I am, but I’ve decided to keep looking for me. Who knows, perhaps I’ll find myself … somehow.

Wow, I just noticed that Sleestak have ears.

What to do

2010-08-30T18:59:00.001-08:00

That’s always the question no matter what the question is right? What to do about this, or that, or anything seems to be the burden we humans have.

What to do?

The summer is nearly over, the kids are heading back to school … mostly. I continue on with the job I do everyday expecting it to be different, or fulfilling or anything, PLEASE. It’s all the same really in the short run. Unless you look at life across a lifespan, the day-to-day changes seem nonexistent. But over a lifespan our narrative displays vast experiences and excitement and meaning. Or it should.

Still, what to do?

What do I do about things? From day to day, what things will keep me going?

I don’t want the generic answers either … oh, family, home, safety etc. Yes, at this point in my life that is a given. A grateful given, but as a person, a being … what to do now?

I don’t have much time left to “wait and see” … we have short lives really. Really really short lives.

I write like
Stephen King

Staycation is now ending and why it sucked

2010-08-03T22:22:00.004-08:00

Now on the eve of the end of my vacation I realize that I really was screwed out of a good break.   Not to be bitter but, I’m disappointed. This disappointment can be focused around the fact that my ear was infected and the medicine I was taking wouldn’t allow me to drink dairy, caffeine or be exposed to sunlight.   How screwed up is that? Then there was the pain.   Pain is a party pooper.
I got only a small portion of my chore list done.   At least it will save of us $45 per month in storage fees.   Still, I have fallen really short of my goals. Two trips to the doctor, one to the dentist is not how we spend a good two weeks vacation. No it is not.
Thursday I go back to the job I don’t hate, but I don’t exactly love either.   The worse part is that I don’t feel relaxed or have any good sense of accomplishment. I was sick on my vacation.   It absolutely sucked.
Oh, and I get to spend three more hours at the dentist this month to get my “roots planed”.   What the hell is THAT? It does not sound like another vacation, or actually as far as my vacations turn out, it sounds exactly like another vacation. Phooey, who needs vacations anyway. Bah!

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Day 5 Staycation - Pain

2010-07-30T08:44:00.001-08:00

The ear ache got to extreme yesterday and I took myself to the doctor’s office yesterday. I have a massive outer ear infection. PAIN. So I have been Rx’d some powerful antibiotics in both pill and eardrops form and I continue to down fist-full amounts of Tylenol. The prescriptions say I have to stay away from sunlight, dairy products (I probably shouldn’t have had that Dq Blizzard last night) and caffeine. So yup, life sucks. I won’t even tell you what is oozing from my ear right now. Feel Lucky.

I also got my blood test results back from the lab. The doctor was correct when he suspected bacon had actually replaced my blood. HDL 35 & LDL 163 (my glucose is on the high side and my globulin is low-ish …. whatever that means)

I now have to research a “Mediterranean Style Diet”. What if I just move to southern Italy, wouldn’t that be easier? And of course every doctors says “exercise”. Sure ok. gotcha.

So, I don’t know how I’m going to run back and forth from storage with this nail driving through my brain. But the project must be tackled. whoa! is me.

oh, my wife got a shiny new car last night. Yay!

So far, the staycation hasn’t been all party balloons and clog dancing.

sigh

Staycation Day 3 – Monkey Eggs

2010-07-28T13:33:00.001-08:00

My ear hurts.

I made eggs that formed the shape of a monkey.

I will empty my small storage unit today.

I have filled the garage up with crap.

I’m tired…

Did I mention that my ear hurts?

Day One Staycation

2010-07-26T09:51:00.001-08:00

Today is the first day of my vacation. On the agenda for today is:

Go get blood drawn for lab tests (doctor has reason to believe my blood vessels may be polluted with fried foods)
Blog about vacation (doing that now)
Continue with my garage cleaning project. Sorting recyclables for dump trip tomorrow morning.

Concurrently I am also learning how to operate my new droid phone. The picture to the right was taken with a camera app. I can’t remember which one, for I have downloaded a half dozen already. Fun stuff.

This is the Droid you are looking for

2010-07-22T09:14:00.002-08:00

This month is wireless contract renewal month. You know what that means? New phones! The timing couldn’t have been better. Our renewal date came two days before the release of Verizon’s new Android OS phone; DroidX, DX for short. Actually I think it is Droid to the X power. Whatever you call it, I think the X refers to its size. It’s a huge cell phone. It feels like a step backward to make things “bigger” (remember those monster phones of the 90’s?), but really what’s that iPad thing anyway? It’s an iTouch on steroids.   This Droid has some of that Gigantor-like feel, making it hard to fit in the pocket of a pair of Levis.
The size is warranted however, because doooood! The screen is awesome! And unlike a BlackBerry I can actually watch YouTube videos on a 4 inch screen, on MY PHONE. (sometimes size does matter)   I don’t have a rocket pack or a flying car yet, but the future is now my friend.
This guy is fast, so fast that the processor seems to heat up in your palm. It may take a while before I get the hang of typing text however. It has a very sensitive touch-screen and is slow going and error-full in comparison to my BlackBerry key pad. I’m sure I’ll get used to it soon.
But the best thing is the Apps! The Apps are like crack.   There’s an application for everything! (there’s probably an app to help you find crack)
The phone does seem frail but only because of the enormous screen. I am looking around for some kind of protective case which will, of course make this thing seem even bigger.
“A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.” - Jebediah Springfield
“An embiggen’d phone gives the smallest man a noble spirit” – Jugbo
Search Amazon.com for droid x

I don’t think you understand

2010-07-11T13:04:00.002-08:00

… you can’t hear the craziness in my head.

Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital Mental Health and Mental Illness

Hot in Topeka

2010-07-10T07:25:00.001-08:00

well, in Oregon anyway … in the valley.

This is at least ten degrees cooler than it has been for the last three days. Which is great, don’t get me wrong. However, our house hasn’t cooled off yet, and it’s currently 84 degrees in my home office, at 8 am. It will only get worse regardless of what the forecast is for outside.

My daughter’s grandmother is scheduled to visit us this afternoon. She has flown in from Philly, which I hear has the air temperature of Hell’s Sun recently. So Salem’s weather probably is just fine to her, but I’m done basting. I think I will reschedule our rendezvous in an air conditioned restaurant.

MIA . where’s my water bottle?

2010-07-09T23:04:00.001-08:00

I am missing my water bottle. It looks very much like the one in this picture. I would like it back please. I am very thirsty. If you find it, please let me know. Like I said. I am very thirsty.

Twitter … vacation

2010-07-07T21:55:00.001-08:00

When in the course of human events …

That’s how all proclamations start right? I’m taking an extended break from twitter, and most other social media. It’s become a distraction in my life, as so many fun things are. Twitter, in the way that I do it, is pulling my focus away from my real life.

Is social media a bad thing? Not at all. But when it becomes a part of someone at the expense of others then it requires a pause, some time for reflection. I spend way too much time looking down at my blackberry and not enough time looking forward, literally and figuratively.

I have much to do this summer and I need to focus at the tasks at hand. So I’m going off-grid in a minor way. I may blog a little more, even take a little more pictures. But the constant feed of information has to stop, at least through the end of summer.

There’s a movie, “Until the End of the World” Where in people get a hold of a device that plays back their dreams and visions. They couldn’t stop watching it; it was video crack. The only way to break the addiction was to lay down with Aborigines and travel through Dreamtime for a night.

I need to lay down with an Aborigine.

See you in the fall Twitterverse

My Son at Seventeen

2010-07-05T16:42:00.001-08:00

My son Eli turned 17 this last Friday.

He has two more years of high school left (had a redux of kindergarten). He’s thinking about going into the military after graduation. I told him he’ll have to get a haircut.

It seems like only yesterday when he was 4 year-old when I and his mother split up. He’s had ups and downs like many of us, but he’s turning out pretty good. I wish his grades were better, but he’s very intelligent. I wish he had a job, but he’s thrifty with the money he has (if your goal is buying a lot of cheetos, which it is). I wish he’d even get a hair cut, but not really.

Soon he’ll be on his way with his life. I’ll miss him. He’s grown too fast.

What Else Isn’t Coming to Keizer Station

2010-06-18T13:18:00.001-08:00

This week the Salem/Keizer Oregon area almost had a Trader Joe’s. Well, we all thought we were going to have a Trader Joe’s until our hearts were dashed by a sign maker’s mistake. Keizer Station will not get a TJ’s. sigh.

I then got to thinking about what other stores aren’t coming to Salem. I’m no fortune teller but I have a good idea that none of these stores (Defunct Retail Stores) will return. I remember a few stores that used to be in the area, one I worked at for five years before it got ate up by Rite Aid. Payless Drugs was one of many stores devoured by larger corporations, hi-jacked by ecommerce, or turned into retail road kill by the economic woes of our time.

When was the last time you’ve been in a sporting goods store that had been around for a long time? Remember Anderson’s Sporting Goods in downtown Salem? Aaaah, memories.

Towel Day 2010

2010-05-25T05:56:00.001-08:00

In remembrance to Douglas Adams, Author

Towel Day

Evolution

2010-05-23T14:07:00.001-08:00

I don’t know about you, but I have problems using all my accessories at the same time. This is particularly true when it is raining, and it does quite a lot of that here in Oregon.

The umbrella, coffee, and blackberry (or other hand-held technology) is very hard to use with the standard two hands. @willbragg had found a solution here: Umbrella with Coffee Cup Handle, but I still don’t see how you could use that without getting soaked by rain and/or latte. Maybe some kind of long silly-straw would help, but I’m ridiculous looking already. No need to add insult to injury.

So I have decided that evolution needs to catch up with our needs. We all need to sprout at least one extra arm. Why should the insects get all the glory of a poly-manual existence? I for one, would love to have the same increased utility function as Ganesha.

Somebody needs to get on this.

Awesome 3000

2010-05-08T09:26:00.001-08:00

Addie ran the Awesome 3000 back on the 1st of May. It seemed like chaos down at the stadium but it was surprisingly orderly. The worse part was finding parking, but even that didn’t turn out to be that bad. I had a great perspective to get some great shots of her rounding the corner to the finish line. I think it was a 2k for her heat. I could be wrong.

It was a great day. After the race we went out for burgers and beers … well, the kids didn’t have beers.

Buttons

2010-05-07T09:49:00.001-08:00

I’m home sick today.

I made some buttons for jugbo.com

go check them out ….. www.jugbo.com

I’m still working on the site. I am trying to use methods I’ve never used before. This little section was made with Fireworks CS3

The Choice is Clear – MySpace Glee Audition

2010-04-25T18:14:00.002-08:00

Glee song

Glee | MySpace Video
Go take a listen to Sarajane (my step daughter) auditioning for Glee ... DO IT

Neglected

2010-04-20T22:06:00.002-08:00

me and my camera 2009
Originally uploaded by jugbo
I am totally neglecting my photography. I am lame. I need a new project. I was thinking about doing some kind of photoshop/photography project every week.

The Digital Photography Book

Grocery Shopping

2010-04-10T20:04:00.001-08:00

I hold the food funds (for now) in my bank account and that means I do much of the grocery shopping. Which means I have to make lists; shopping lists. Today I didn’t haven’t anything on my list but margarine. Yet, the house was still void of food. My wife did emailed me a shopping list that mostly comprised of a certain teenage boy’s food wishes. I was also too lazy to look around the house to see what we needed. The only thing that was going to save me was the power of the interwebs and social media networking.

I leveraged the power of Twitter and Facebook to fill my shopping list.

Here’s what we ended up with on the list:

my wife @cljungling	Dave O @dave_gumdrop	Karla @KandN	PDA @MnLs	Erica @HellcatBetty	Jennie ML @lpezjen	salemrebekah @salemrebekah
Ched cheese, Prov cheese, Swiss cheese, Ritz crackers, Saltines, Boy bread, Strawberry frosted poptarts, Hot pockets, Kettle corn, Hot chocolate, Oreos, Fish! Fish! :D Tuna	pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels, bring home for emma	Asparagus, Kettle Chips, red peppers, gr onions, plain yogurt, whiskey, vodka, chocolate chips, mushrooms, I think that's it for now.	Tuna, spinach, avocados, lemons, limes, orzo, Swiss & goat cheese, baguette, hef.....	pita, hummus, milk, OJ, tortilla chips, salsa/guac fixins, plain yogurt, lunchmeat, mushrooms, ground turkey, wine, brie, baguette.	Linguine, lemons, cream, green onions, romaine, apples, bacon, salami, 2 baguettes, cream cheese, white cheddar, yogurt, oj, coffee	Spinach, feta, pecans, and strawberries. Oh, and throw in a baguette.

I ended up buying almost all this, no really I did. I did leave off these items from the list: Fish! Fish! plain yogurt, whiskey, vodka, orzo, goat cheese, cream, white cheddar and ewww, brie. Either because I didn’t know how I was going to use it, or I wanted it fresh (fish fish), or the store I was at didn’t have any.

Turns out I used many of the veggies to make a salad tonight, and the pastrami, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut to make yummy Ruben sandwiches for dinner. Something I wouldn’t have thought of if I didn’t have my “special” list.

It was fun, and the twitter peeps came through, thanks!. You Facebook people didn’t help at all; slackers. You don’t get a Christmas card this year.

peter cotton tail falls

2010-04-02T22:26:00.002-08:00

peter cotton tail falls
Originally uploaded by jugbo

this was too funny for words, so I recorded it.

Spruce Goose Trip

2010-03-28T18:32:00.003-08:00

During spring break, which was also a vacation week for me, my daughter and I took a trip to Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Or. This is the home of Howard Hughes’ famous Spruce Goose, a very large airplane. I mean this thing is huge, taking up nearly the length of the building and the height. Granted the building was built for the plane, but still. The behemoth is surrounded by all kinds of static display helicopters, jets, and planes from da Vinci, Wright Bros, WWI, WWII, and all the W’s after that.
The drive up was nice and there was hope that it wasn’t going to rain but that luck ran out soon after we arrived at the museum. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the static displays outside the facility. We’ll have to hit those on a dryer day.

Evergreen has also added a space museum. There’s a lot of spacey, rocketry kinds of displays there and I guess somehow they plan to get a space shuttle in there. At least it is on the map labeled “coming soon”. It’s set up in a war-to-space kind of evolution with some v-1 and v-2 rockets on display and some other military rockets/missiles. I was impressed most by the Titan II rocket in it’s own display silo with a control room. It was ever so geeky nerdy cold war era awesome. But the only thing the missile really reminded me of was that planet of the apes where all the underground humans worshipped that big atomic rocket. Creepy.

The part of the complex is rather new so I see them getting more and more exhibits. They have a really nice lunar lander/rover display a helicopter hanging from the ceiling with a burnt-up capsule hanging under that, all very cool. Also housed here are the X-15 and SR-71 planes. A couple of my favorite planes in history just from the manly speed they pushed.
Speaking of space Addie and I caught an Imax 3D move about the space telescope “Hubble 3D” there also. Yes, they even have their own Imax Theater. The movie was very good and the stars looked as they were dumping right into your lap. I recommend it to anyone.
My favorite parts of the movie are when the astronauts had to fix and/or install components on Hubble. I reminded me a lot of when I had to install a new faucet, with my arms all cramped up, going places they really can’t fit, holding tools that I really couldn’t get a real good grip on. Ahh, good times.
Even though it rained most of the day, and was more expensive (especially after lunch and the gift shop) than I had planned, we had a great time.
You can find more pictures of the trip over on my flickr page, in this set: Evergreen Aviation 2010 (be sure to look there to discover the new attraction to be built. hint: water feature)
Links:

Sandy Cat

2010-03-22T12:11:00.004-08:00

sandy cat
Originally uploaded by jugbo
How much is too many cats? This is number six. We're on the cusp of being one of those animal collecting families you see on Animal Cops. This one, Sandy we call him, is a stray from another part of town. We're holding him until an owner is found and if not he's ours.

He's a character and he gets along pretty well with the other cats. He has a horrible cold and sneezes a lot. We're teaching him how to use tissues, but it isn't working.

Cat Owner's Home Veterinary Handbook, Fully Revised and Updated

Computer Geek, ftw

2010-03-13T17:46:00.001-08:00

Today’s Saturday:

This morning I got up and took our van to be serviced because we got one of those coded messages that light up on the dash warning us of emanate explosion. The truth is I got that light two weeks, so Honda can suck it. Your secret is out. The car won’t explode, at least not right away. $121.00 later it was ‘serviced’. I had fun waiting … check out my tweet stream starting here: Car Dealer Lounge

Then I drove across town to help my dad out with his new computer. He wanted some file sharing set up between his new Window 7 desktop computer and is Vista laptop. It took a while but I got them talking nicely. Firewalls always give me hassles with home networks, but I fixed it. (yes, that’s a typewriter next to a laptop, it’s like I am in a time machine)

Next I went to the outlet grocery store and bought off brand food products but did NOT buy this:

Eeeew

But now I am off for a night at the theater with a hot chick.

We’ve been sick

2010-03-06T14:54:00.001-08:00

So far as I know, this head-cold-from-hell has spanned at least three households. The only real cure seems to be a long dosage of sleep. Two 12-hour days of sleep for me seemed to shake it off.

I hope.