Watertown, NY, USA . "Public Square" (vintage, date unknown) but the monument is honoring veterans of the American Civil War so the date of the image is late 1800s

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

it's near ten PM and i'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop, or put another way for my pager to go off, i have or at least i'm supposed to have an inbound load that tonight which i have to go back to work to take care of but it hasn't arrived yet.......and i'm starting to get irritated.........but it was that kind of a day at work.......
it's near ten PM and i'm sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop, or put another way for my pager to go off, i have or at least i'm supposed to have an inbound load that tonight which i have to go back to work to take care of but it hasn't arrived yet.......and i'm starting to get irritated.........but it was that kind of a day at work.......

Monday, November 29, 2004

a frustrating day, had to go back in because a delivery which i need to handle personally came in at about 6:30 pm........only for a half hour but none the less.......
i have a bit of a cold which is really bad timing considering the vocal schedule for this week, if i get thru the week and have any voice left at all twill be a miracle

Sunday, November 28, 2004

weird weather day, when i left for church this morning i didn't realize how strong the wind was blowing, it was coming out of the east( which is rare here) and so where my car is parked is sheltered, when i got to church i opened the door and the wind caught it and almost blew it over.....by the time i left the wind and died a bit, now out of the west and raining cats and dogs.......coming home this evening after choral practice and evening service it hailed briefly......watertown weather my be bad, but it's never boring.....
practice was very stressful today, i was tired and the voice was just a bit off......plus with the size of the choir, and the fact that i'm all the way in the back it was hard to hear explanations and direction........busy week, i have 3 rehearsals this week ( 2 different groups) and then performance, friday, saturday and sunday........by sunday evening at this time i'll probably be 1/2 dead.......

Saturday, November 27, 2004

just took it easy, slept late, never got dressed, just stayed in all day and relaxed, well did do a few chores but nothing tough....watched some tube, played some computer games....really did surf much.. was a bum.........
my one cat smoky when she uses the litter pan (which i should note has a top and is enclosed except for an entry in one end.....perches in the entry with only her hindermost part in the pan....well i heard something funny....look over and the whole thing had tipped and was sitting opening side down, i figured she must have jumped off and tipped it over, well i got a surprise when i went to right it because she had managed to trap herself in it..........shessshhhhh!!!!!....always has been a bit of a klutz, but that takes the cake

Friday, November 26, 2004

not a bad day, slept late, ran my errands, went into big lots, i usually shop there once a week, for stable and odd ball food stuffs, boy was it packed to the walls, not a place i would do christmas shopping, not for anyone i really cared about, but different strokes as they say.....
spent the evening at my sister's, my nephew nate is home from school, kid is scary smarts, started taking courses at the local junior college at 13, enrolled fulltime at 14, and now at the advanced age of 17 is a transfer junior at RPI, in computer science....but the smarts isn't just in computers, really the only one of my family other then my daughter that i can really relate to (no pun intended)

Thursday, November 25, 2004

i just was over on blogrank and i'm actually in the top ten, how the hey did that happen....link is over on the right if you want to vote for the blog.....any how have just taken it easy all day, and really except for sunday i plan to take it easy all weekend. need to run some errands tomorrow, bank was closed by the time i got out of work yesterday and i need to pick up a few odds and ends, but i will tell you for sure i'm not going to the mall........day after thanksgiving the last place i'd go is the mall.......
actually ate breakfast this morning, in fact i made breakfast, that happens about once in a coon's age....had a traditional thanksgiving dinner ( homemade turkey soup, ice tea and a crusty roll oh yeah and an american chopper rerun)....i mean how more traditional can you get (hehe) .....we got just a dusting of snow today....just enough to give the evergreens a powder coating........

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Video recreation of JFK assassination marks a new low good grief, how can this be justified at all.....i was in the tenth grade when JFK was shot.and remeber where i was and the shock and grief that occured over that event, i even the cynical trollie is shocked at the ultra-low level that this sinks too

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

easy day at work, took the afternoon off, and did grocery shopping and made some turkey soup, played stronghold crusader most of the afternoon and then went to rehearsal tonight......went really well, we are about to lose our alto harmony singer and had a new girl singing with us tonight who i think will work out fine, totally different style then the current one but easy to fit the high and the low lines with so should be any easy transition......
have decided to stay home and just chill on thanksgiving, i'm really not in the mood to do the gathering thing....

Monday, November 22, 2004

i slept well last night, in fact slept right thru to the alarm, which i hardly ever do, the problem was i didn't sleep long enough (pause while i pet a cat that won't be denied).........lilly is now well petted, although an adult, she is very small bodied, probably only weighs 5 Lbs. or so, got her at the local aspca when she was about a year and a half old and only weighed 28 oz......but a very affectionate cat.......anyways where was i......oh yah........just was so wound up from the day that i never got into bed until well after midnight and 6:50 comes to early......
frustrating day at work, nothing seemed to work the way it should, had two outbounds, the first went okay but the second.......i made a mistake on it, somehow i dropped a pallet short and had any empty hole in the load and didn't catch it until the very end fortunately it was close to the tail but i still can figure out how i did it.......probably will drive me nuts........well okay it's not a long drive to drive me nuts, heck you don't even have to get in the car, nuts is just across the street....ended up back in for an hour tonight.......
but i actually feel pretty good tonight...........but am wound up again....and really need to get some rest but only have 2 more days this week.......so have 4 off to get rested up........
i've got 2 invites for thanksgiving but i really think i'm going to pass and just spend the day alone....i need the down time and really don't what the hassle of a "family" gathering......i think i'll pick up some turkey legs and some giblets and make so soup.......

Sunday, November 21, 2004

the choral rehearsal lasted 3 hours today, and i went in with a voice that was some what less the 100%, so i'm pretty tired and the voice is pretty raw. this was the first practice in the loft, with the organ and instruments so as usually it was a train wreak, first time with that situation always is.....plus the choir is so big that we really are jammed in the loft, with very little room, and sang sitting down most of the time so my legs really tightened up, so i off to take a hot bath and try to get them loose.......
was a good day all in all i'm tired but really had a great day.......

Saturday, November 20, 2004

spent a quiet day, spent longer at work then i intended but transfer failed to run and i need to grab some supplies from the whse for production.......
went to the store that sells the good nys cheddar and got 1/2 a pound of the super sharp, really excellent, unfortunately they no longer carry the amish blue which was so good, will have to look for another outlet.......
my cats were and still are quite ticked at me.....i made shrimp salad today, and that is a no-no in their book, the only salad must be tuna, and i must share........ all came running with happy faces when the can opener ran, and then left in a funk......all three are now on my bed and everytime i go by they look pitiful and/or give me the evil eye

Friday, November 19, 2004

oh. i forgot to mention before that i had a very,very strange dream last night, more often then not my dreams are inhabited by "average" people.......no body i really know just your average man,woman,child.....from time to time people i know pop up but last night was a pip, it was inhabited by the tuttles......the dudes from american chopper, and right before i woke up my mom, appearing as i remember her from childhood appeared and said "when are you going to de-louse" at which point i awoke needing to go to the bathroom........if anyone knows what that means please don't tell me, i don't want to know....i mean i really don't want to know
i sometimes think that the canadian goose has got to be the loudest creature on earth, at least in large groups. i live astride one of the major flyways on the east coast and this time of year the sounds of geese in flight are very common. add to that that there are a couple of places in the area with breeding populations of the honkers......one is at a local cemetery.......there is a large reflection pool that they had domestic white geese and swans in....and the canadian geese kind of adopted the place.....obviously there has been some....well.....socializing between the domestic geese and the canadian geese because many of the younger birds are of shall we say mixed ethnic origins.....
busy day and work and a first......the driver who picked up the load going to nogalas was stone cold deaf......made communication a bit tough....he read lips but unfortunately i have a rather large, droopy mustache which interfered with the process, but i found if i over pronounced the words he got them fine.......but it reminded me of a conversation i had with my daughter the music teacher, we both agreed that as much as we enjoy reading if we had to give up either our eyesight or our hearing we would choose to hear rather then see.........as much as i would miss sight.....not being able to hear music would be for me a "soul less" existence........
stopped and got seafood on the way home....calamari and fried scallops.......enjoyed them greatly as did my cat aggie......

Thursday, November 18, 2004

was busy all day, i have two loads tomorrow and 2 on monday and spent today getting the 4 loads either staged or at least identified so i know where everything is.....from experience loads scheduled for friday are notoriously late, i got stuck last friday until 6 o'clock, so if they are all staged i can get thru them quicker
just got done watching survivor.......never have i seen a survivor where the majority of the people don't have a clue as to how to play the game, there is a large part that don't like eliza and want her off, really stupid move.....in all probability she loses to everybody in the final two, you keep people you can beat, not vote them off.......they just don't have a clue

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

nice late fall day weatherwise, but weird day at work, one of those where your busy all day but accomplish little, had several inventory problems that need to be taken care of and that pretty well shot the whole day......
have just chilled out tonight, nothing happening , nothing to report

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

well don't ask me how, but i managed to misplace my pager, i don't think it's in the house, because i paged myself when i couldn't find it and i don't hear it's annoying beep....of course i might have turned it off (something i almost never do) but in any case i can't find it.....not that on one hand it brings any tears to my eyes........i've had fantasies of smashing it, running over it with a forklift, or assorted other ways of removing it from existence, however it bugs me now where i might have left it, i could have put it on the table in the warehouse that the phone is on....the last place i remember being paged or.........well i really don't know...........probably left it at work but ........with any luck i'll never find it..........but on the other hand they will probably just replace it.....
work feeling punk this morning but had an easy day so took the afternoon off, did grocery shopping and then rested, rehearsal tonight went fine.....and i feel pretty good now, but i have to be half dead to miss a rehearsal, i really enjoy the making of music, it is when i feel the the most free, like a bird in flight........

Monday, November 15, 2004

a nothing day, work went fine, actually remembered to take the alternate route to work as they had the pearl street bridge closed again......have just done a few chores around the house and hung out tonight........nothing exciting...........just a normal, average day

Sunday, November 14, 2004

it was a beautiful day today, cool but really nice day for late fall/early winter....i know that in theory winter doesn't start for another month or so on the calendar, but northcountry weather obviously can't read or understand a calendar.......
practice was fun today, kids choir was there again, but long and hard......seemed like every section we really pounded was one where the T1 part was high enough to give me nosebleeds....normal the high parts don't give me much problems but i had a bit of a sore throat today so i ran out of really good "A's" very quickly....hit the notes and on pitch but the quality was not there....
i now have two invites for thanksgiving......sister and my daughter's in-laws.....but have toyed with the idea of just getting a couple of turkey legs and some hard rolls....making turkey soap and staying home.......this will be the first major holiday alone and i think i might want to spend it alone......not out of depression or embarrassment....simply a desire to be by myself.......weird on what is probably the most family oriented of the US holidays but true none the less.......will probably cave in and go one or the other but..........
this week should prove interesting at work, the IA show was this week end and it is the biggest industrial show in our line of work, so there should be a ton of literature and sample requests coming out of it.....so small package shipping could be busy this week, but if they are true to form they'll sit around on some one's desk until friday and all of a sudden we will be flooded with them......
am tired and need rest....think i'll call it a night........
(odd note to self: i really wish spell check would understand that i never use CAPS....well almost never)

Saturday, November 13, 2004

dang, one of the things i needed to do in the yard today was bring the hose in, i got about everything else done but still haven't brought the hose in.....i think i'm losing my mind, or what little of it that i had to begin with........need to get a shear pin for the blower but still have time....
worked briefly this morning, stopped and got a sweet roll and some coffee, had a nice chat and then went to big lots....i need to stay away from that place....i went in to buy one thing and ended up with 1/2 a cart of stuff like i usually do........i usually a good boy that way but i can't pass up a deal......

Friday, November 12, 2004

not a stressful day just dang frustrating......i had 2 outbound and one in bound, they were all late, in fact the load scheduled for about 9 AM, showed up at 5 after 4 PM, not exactly my definition of about.......needless to say i got out of there late....like 6 o'clock late......was too tired to go out for dinner so stopped and got take out seafood on the way home......i love calamara but i think my cat aggie loves them more then i do......the little scamp eat like 5 or 6 of them......breading and all....need to go in for an hour or so tomorrow and catch up on a few things......
you know watching a short armed woman in a huge SUV trying to get the box in and out of the slot in the drive thru at the bank could have been funny if i wasn't in a hurry.....man did she make a meal out of that.......have yard work to finish up tomorrow and also need to run some errands i had planned for tonight but with the late out at work just didn't have the time, energy or desire to do.......off to surf

Thursday, November 11, 2004

it's headed for the mid teens F tonight, i have the heat on ( no duh) and all three cats are 6 feet or less from a register, and i will probably end up sharing my bed with all three before the night is out.
survivor continues to amaze me as this one being the dumbest group yet in figuring a reasonable tactic, as usually the power group made the mistake of taking the out of powers out first in a reward challenge, and yet the out of powers did not banded together, if they had they would have had numbers and revolt.......smart people but not....i repeat not game players......
the older i get the more i hate knowing how to drive a forklift, and to think that along time ago i couldn't wait to learn.....i spent 4+ hours to day on the lift and i'm sitting here now feeling every minute in my bones......and the last load today it was raining and the dock seal leaks........well at least i can skip my shower tonight (hehehe)
strange day, it was warm but over cast this morning, that cooled off and rained, then cooled off somemore and snowed, that stopped and warmed up a little and now it's clear and the temperature is dropping like a lead balloon.......
i get annoyed when my routine is broken, today was pay day but also veterans day so the banks were closed, so now i have to do thursday things on friday.......i'm so confused.....(hehe)

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

my cats have a very simple rule, if i run the can opener it has to be tuna, and if it's not tuna i still have to present the can for their inspection and on finding no tuna my name is mud.....well while making pizza tonight i opened not one but two cans which did not contain tuna......and i think i will be voted out of the house at the next tribal council........
was cold most of the day but it is predicted to warm up a little the next few days....that is if you consider 40*F warm.......i still have a bit of yard work i need to do before winter, and i need to get and replace a shear pin in the snowblower........just too old and too lazy to shovel anything but the bare minimum of snow........

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

did not get good night's sleep and have felt a little off all day......work went ok and i stop and did grocery shopping tonight, what with this being one of those week when i had run out of everything and the fact that they'd had some things om special that i stock up on when on sale i spent like twice what i normal do.....have somethings now on hand that i will have for months.....need to think about stocking up on some extra can goods.......winter is coming and we can get "snowed in" from time to time and it is helpful to have a few extra cans of food round the house for such cases
beautiful clear night which means it could get quite cold, predicting about 15*F, rehearsal went great......off to surf

Monday, November 8, 2004

my office is in part of the buillding without windows, so i go out to my car, and have so clear snow off it, okay so it was only a trace, but it's only the 8th of november, aaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!!!!
the register in the bed room when the blower is on ( it's only mid 20s F tonight, blows right on the foot of the bed, i have a little furry ball of cat (2 in number) curled up enjoying the heat, it probably won't last long and it will turn into a war, but as long as the blower is on i think we're all safe........have a pot of stew on which i must check.....

Sunday, November 7, 2004

today was the first sunday that we've had two services, one at 8:30 and the other at 11 with sunday school the middle, no one was sure how the numbers would shake out, but we had about 115 in the first service, which amounts to maybe 40% of the normal total when we had one, but we've just run out of room....and conventional wisdom says once you hit between 75=85% of your capacity you quit growing......i decided to attend the first service and although i have to stay thru the worship team in the second it gets me home about an hour early and takes the rush out of getting to choral practice.......
rehearsal went pretty good today, it's the first time we've practiced with the children's choir that is doing 3 numbers with us......I'm a firm believe in getting the kids involved......it's a good experience for them, and several have joined the main choir when they are too old for the kids choir, or their voices change or in a couple of cases they what the greater challenge......
am tired tonight but feel pretty good other then my voice is worn out........sundays i tend to abuse it........

Saturday, November 6, 2004

got to work and found out that because of a misunderstanding numbers had already been put in, but the transfer hadn't run so i spent sometime running a shuttle with a pickup between the whse and the plant.....also ran resin.......and then stopped on the way home to pick up some fixings for some stew.....ran in to S and had a chat for awhile......
the main job for this afternoon was yard work, if you've never tried to rake leaves in a 25mph wind with gusts to 45mph don't......got the bulk down but really couldn't get it finished because the piles were blowing all over, now if they end up in somebody else's yard ....them is the breaks....but they were just blowing around in my yard.....i need to train my leaves better.......hope the weather holds off until saturday, because with the time change it's almost dark by the time i get home from work, and still have a few things to finish......

Friday, November 5, 2004

felt alot better this morning but still not real good, but had a great night's sleep last night and by the end of the day felt great, went out to dinner chinese, and had planned to do some shopping but started to get really tired so didn't bother.......need to go in for a couple of hours tomorrow and the have some yard work to do, leaves and mucking out the dead annuals from he beds, cutting back and protecting the perennials, but shouldn't take more then a couple of hours......I just rack the leaves and mound them around the base of the perennials, works good, and next spring will just turn them into the soil for some organic mix.......

Thursday, November 4, 2004

boy did i feel lousy when i awoke this morning, but went into work hoping that as i woke up a little and was active i'd feel better, but that didn't happen, and i left after a half day, still got a bit of vacation left to burn, cashed my check, paid a few bills and got lunch....wasn't in the mood to make anything so got take out....and have spent the rest of the day quiet and in......feel some better but not great......
looks like survivor has turned into a battle of the sexes, if it holds, it could be the last 6 left are woman, but it seems like those never do, but should be fun to watch......

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

i had one of those days today about which a fellow i knew many years ago would have said. i swung the axe hard today but i couldn't get any chips to fly......i was busy all day but really accomplished nothing, the whole day seemed like damage control, and that gets to you, by days end i had a headache that i thought was going to rip the top of my head off........no fun.......
a good friend passed on here within the last few days, i've know him for many years and the family as well....played ball with his son.......he was a WWII vet and one of the gentlest, nicest men i've every know.....you will be missed....R.I.P .....
had my usual pizza for wednesday night supper, not the the pizza is usual but i usually make it on wednesday night, i use a boboli crust......spread on olive oil, garlic,anchovy paste, crushed red pepper, a bit of oregano....then shredded mozzarella, bacon, salami, grated cheese and top with black olives......not for the faint of heart

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

by 10:30 i thought i had the day covered, all that was left to do was the transfer, and run inventory for problems, i told my clerk i was headed to the warehouse to do the transfer, well 1 vendor rep, and a phone call and then fax from the
foundation, and taking of inventory and i got to the warehouse at a little after 2:30.....(oh yeah i stuck lunch in there somewhere)
they, that is the foundation were doing a quote for an order and wanted me to figure out approximately how much space it would take up, now i have a cheat sheet (otherwise know as a spreadsheet) set up with what they usually ship, so all i have to do is plug in the numbers and i have the answer in a flash, but no, can't be that easy ever, 3/4's of the items where new to them and i had to go dig up all the items and the boxes to figure out pieces cube and weights, and then construct a new spread sheet for the new system.......and the fun is only beginning....the order (if they get it) will fill two complete 40' ocean containers......and although all the products that go are common things that we stock, the amounts are huge, now only two things can happen.....i'll never hear another word about it, or RDC will come over and inform me that they have the order, have already scheduled the shipping date and i have 2 weeks or less to get it out, now i know that in one case my supplier and in the other we deal direct with the company that makes the parts are not going to have the amount i need in stock so it will probably take any where from 3 weeks until next christmas ( and i don't mean the one coming) to get the things in house....but i don't dare order them until the order is firm, in some cases it would amount to a lifetime supply......rats......
i should be thinking about supper, but practice is a half hour late tonight, and i'm just not in the mood to think about cooking........double rats
(question after running above thru spell check, why do i always leave the first c out of practice???)

Monday, November 1, 2004

not a bad day, not a bad day at all, work went okay, it wasn't too bad a day for fall, and although i'm still pretty stiff and sore i will survive......
played a little blogshares tonight, and a whole lot of stronghold crusader........just wasn't in the mood for the tube tonight, the american chopper was a rerun......
but am very tired right now, and althought i have a bunch of things i'd like to say....just don't have the mental clarity right now to put them into any meaningful order