Just A Brief Observation

As Lisa and I were walking around downtown Denver the day after Thanksgiving, there was a group of smelly, hippies walking down the street towards us. They were dressed up as zombies (although with smelly hippies you're never quite sure), shuffling down the 16th Street Mall. As they approached I saw some with t-shirts about consummerism and deduced that they were actually protesting the crass commercialism of Christmas shopping. Right after my first thought of, "Huge waste of time", I was curious as to why, with a war going on they decided to dress up and travel en masse to walk around bugging little old ladies and harried fathers with children in tow all over the evils of buying presents for loved ones. I assumed since bathing wasn't taking up any of their time they were just bored. Lisa and I had a good laugh, I remember giving her the old stage whisper and her agreeing that it was a huge waste of time. We moved on down the street and gave one last glance as we went into Virgin Records.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Christmas 2005

It has been a good holiday season so far. I’ve been spending it with Lisa and her family in Littleton Colorado. It’s been fun and relaxing. I’ve slowed down and done some things I haven’t done in awhile. I’ve read a book and am half way through another one right now. I haven't really read a lot in the last few years. I love to read but seem to put it off for other pursuits, like the XBox or wall staring. I’m glad I’ve gotten back into it. I read “The Pleasure of My Company” by Steve Martin. I’ve always loved everything Steve Martin does ever since I got “One Wild and Crazy Guy” on a vinyl disc way back in the seventies. I remember being a little too young (or naive) to stay up on Saturday Nights to see him hosting Saturday Night Live. I actually started liking him because of the song King Tut. I bought the album when I was probably around thirteen and didn’t get a lot of the humor but that didn’t stop me from stealing his routine and doing it in the caferteria during lunch. That’s right, I was the proverbial little fat boy repeating comedy bits for attention. I knew it was sad even at the time but one day I made milk fly out of Paul Clark’s nose so I didn’t care that it was wrong. I was a lunch room, well I was going to say God, and maybe in my mind I was but we know the sad truth. It was still fun though.

Anyway, you get the picture, I like Steve Martin and will see him in anything, which unfortunately means sitting through Cheaper by the Dozen. I think Bonnie Hunt is a genius too, so what went so horribly wrong?

At least his books are great. I loved "Shopgirl" and "The Pleasure of My Company" is almost as good. It’s genuis in parts. Steve Martin has a big brain (he actually had two of them once) and can really turn a phrase. The book is full of stuff like, “My plan was to walk by on my side of the street and not look over her way. This, I felt, was a very clever masculine move: to meet and ultimately seduce through no contact at all. She would be made aware of me as a mysterious figure, someone with no need of her whatsoever. This is compelling to a woman.” He has deftly captured my previous dating techniques. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, thank God for Lisa.

The story is short at 163 pages and a little uneven at times. The ending is abrupt and feels a little forced but it’s a great book that I would recommend to anyone who likes Steve Martin or character driven stories with happy endings.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

My Second Favorite Blogger

I was surfing around on Flikr and ran across a photo from Planet Pixel and checked out his blog. It has a hilarious post on the whole Tookie Williams protests. I especially liked the dig on Sean Penn. I feel an immediate connection with anyone who takes a shot at Sean Penn, kind of a kindred spirit thing. So anyway, I read the rest of the blog and realized that Jim from Cleveland is a lot like me except a much better writer. My blog is stymied by my desire to write my feelings down no-holds-barred but with the realization that other people will be reading them. I know I've covered this in past posts but I guess it eats at me. My first favorite blooger is my brother, Bryce, of course. Now there's a fellow that puts it out there. When he gets on a roll he can be one of the best writers I've ever read. And there's only just a little brotherly favoritism in that. I can think of no one else that could find a tie to Wendy's new ad campaign and Aleister Crowley's writings. And he made the connection from the comic V For Vendetta. How's that for connecting the dots. It's people like Bryce, and Jim from Cleveland and a lot of other interesting people who blog, that inspire me to try harder.

Actually while I'm on brothers I would be neglectful if I didn't mention my other brother, Brent. I mention him not because he reads the blog sometimes and I don't want him getting jealous of the Bryce lovefest. I'm bringing him up because of his pride and joy the Ohio Express girls' basketball club. It has been taking off thanks to his hard work. Being the oldest brother is something akin to being a parent I imagine. For the longest time you think of your younger brothers as your little brothers. That's not the case at all. Both of my brothers have surpassed me in many aspects and have become fine men that I would enjoy being around even if we weren't family. Although it's like yesterday that the three of us were laying around the bedroom they shared in Lyndhurst watching the "new" Mickey Mouse Club (the one with Lisa Welchel, not Britney Spears) on a nine inch black and white UHF television. I can't imagine having a sibling that you hate or can't stand to be around, my mother and father and two brother's have been (along with Lisa now) what have kept me sane during the thirteen years I've been on the road living in hotels.

On a final note, Brent & Bryce, do not show this post to Mom!!!

The Circus Is In Town

My job here in Albuquerque has been a case study in government gone wild. The job itself is simple enough, we are building a GPO. GPO stands for Geophysical Prove Out. It's a test grid with ordnance both real and simulated for geophysists to check their instruments. It's a quality control thing for geophysical surveys. The process is simple. A UXO tech (me) takes a metal detector to a one hundred by one hundred foot grid. I check for any actual unexploded ordnance that may be there already. Than we start digging holes to place the "seeded" ordnance. Realistically it should take one UXO tech and one geophysics technician. On the first day we had the Geophysics division manager for Shaw, two Shaw project managers, the Army Corps of Engineers project manager and geophysics engineer for the corp, a Shaw archeologist, a Shaw health and safety rep, two Shaw geophysics techs, a representative of the Isleta Pueblo Tribe and two Pueblo tribal rangers (with M-16s by the way) and two UXO techs. I may be forgetting someone. It was a mad house. There is normally a work plan you follow with as little deviation as possible. Everyone had an opinion on how it should be done and they were almost all wrong. The work plan remained intact all of two hours. If ever there was a case for smaller government this was it. We were suppose to be here a week. Thanks to the delays, changes, interruptions and outright interference of all the PHD's I'm leaving next Wednesday a full three working days later than scheduled. "I'm from the government, I'm here to help".

Albuquerque

Lisa drove down from Denver Friday night to visit. She's a trooper. She left from work at five, left Denver at 7:00 p.m. and got down here at midnight. All while nursing a cold. Saturday we went to "Old Town". Which is Albuquerque's take on the revitalized down town tourist zone. All in all it was a little underwhelming. There were several bars and some antique and thrift shops. There were a lot of homeless people and empty buildings with for lease signs in the windows. Lisa and I were both use to down town Denver which is always hoping on the weekends. Downtown Albuquerque was surprisingly empty. In the city's defense the weather was cold so maybe it was keeping people in. I've been here a few times in the past and always kind of liked it. As far as the places I've travelled it's never really stood out but hasn't been a bad experience either. It's kind of dreary this time. It must be one of those places (like Zanesville) that are just depressing in the winter. It's like the whole town is sepia. Although Lisa's visit made it the happiest place on earth (sorry Disney World).

On To The Next State

I left Texas early this morning bound for Albuquerque, New Mexico. I just went one state over and it took me 11 hours! Texas is big. It was also friendly. Almost every car I came up on would pull off the road on to the shoulder to let me pass. I saw it the entire time I was there. Once you get into the cities though all bets are off. They are darting everywhere.

A few signs caught my attention. In Brownwood Texas I saw a billboard for Underwood's Cafeteria with the promise of hot rolls and cobbler. I 'm thankful to be living in a world with cobbler and hot rolls. Then in Union Texas on a gas stop I saw a curious sign next to the toilet. It read, "Please don't flush tissue paper down the toilet". I was perplexed to say the least. I thought maybe tissue paper was a local term for something else but couldn't imagine what it might be. Well I asked the girl behind the counter and sure enough, due to the poor water flow the owner didn't want anyone flushing toilet paper down the john. I was glad I didn't have business to attend.

The trip was good. It was an opportunity to do some travelling that I don't usually get to do. I went almost completely on back roads. It had it's pros and cons. I got to see a lot of stuff like Buddy Holly Square in Lubbock which you can get to via Mac Davis Lane. Lubbock seems to be a musical town. It was also a looong trip across a whole lot of nothing at times.

All in all it was a good time, I love driving across the country. It always puts me in a positive frame of mind to see the greatness of the country we live in. I also get to eat a lot of junk food.

Lisa & Sophie

Lisa & Sophie II,
originally uploaded by briankeithglass.

This is a picture from Thanksgiving that I thought was cute. It's of my fiancé and her mom's dog, Sophie. I actually named Sophie when Lisa's mom first brought her home as a puppy. Lisa's mom, brother, sister, Lisa and I were having dinner at their favorite Mexican resturaunt. They were floating all kinds of suggestions but nothing really fit. Than in an unexplained flash I blurted out, "How about Sophie?" Everyone stopped talking and looked at me with what I briefly thought was a collective look of of disbelief, but it turned out they approved. I don't know why I thought of that name but I'm glad I came up with it. I felt like my acceptance to the Miller family was solidified. It's been over a year now and Sophie is a big, goofy pooch with a talent for knocking things over while chasing Opie the cat.

Torture Is...

...this blog.

Torture Is...

This is from Rueters story about the stir Congessman John Murtha created a few weeks ago: "Murtha has said Iraq cannot be won militarily and the United States must withdraw to send a signal to Iraqis that they are 'free from the United States occupation.'

Murtha's opposition broadened a partisan divide in Washington and prompted the Republican-led House of Representatives to engineer a vote on Friday on a resolution to pull U.S. troops immediately from Iraq."

This is from a completely different Rueters story: "Talabani told a news conference his country was not under foreign occupation and it would be a disaster if U.S. forces left the country too soon.

'Those in Iraq now are foreign forces under a UN Security Council resolution and with the consent of the legitimate government,' he said."

Talabani is the President of Iraq by the way. Maybe it's time for our leaders to start working with the Iraq leadership. Like it or not their concerns and well being are ours now too. I hate to sound like a cheerleader for a war. I'm not, but I hope we don't pull out too soon otherwise the whole thing will have been a wasted effort and the troops's deaths really will have been in vain.

I wrote all that crap at the time it was happening and wasn't going to put it on the blog. I'm trying to write about enjoyable stuff. I gave up arguing politics at work a long time ago, it just got me worked up but now my old buddy Law & Order has turned on me. L & O always dabbled in political stuff but the past few months they have really been raising my ire. First some goofy "illegals in a box" slam on the Minutemen and then tonight, ripped from the headlines "torture at Gitmo". When did loud music, bright lights and sleep deprivation become torture? We all got a big laugh in 1989 when armored vehicles were blasting Krokus at Manuel Noriega, it was televised after all. I hate to also sound like a cheerleader for torture but we better define the differences between torture and interrogation before we pc ourselves right to HELL!!! Sorry, that was just for dramatic effect.

Thanksgiving Day Part II

I had a little adventure on the way to Denver for Thanksgiving. The newscasts were warning that this would be the biggest travel day of the year so far. Gatesville Texas is about forty miles from the Waco airport and my flight was at 6:21 a.m. I have a compulsive need to arrive early for these types of things. So I leave at three and arrive at 4:00 o'clock to find the airport closed! It's a small regional airport with two gates and the place was locked up tight as a drum. So much for the mad press of humanity. I arrived at the DFW American Eagle Satellite building which brought back fond memories of the flight from Dallas to Lawton, Oklahoma I shared with none other than Carrot Top, pre-steroid. That was fun. I think I was the only one that recognized him. He looked nervous, glanced at me with a look of either, please don't acknowledge me or, please ask for my autograph. I'm really not sure which.

There were no exciting celebrity siting this time. The flight went off smooth. The return trip however was a mixed bag. Lisa and I went into the aiport and looked down from the upper deck. The security line was wrapped around the bottom floor of aiport, and Denver aiport is no small building. I was starting to get a feeling of dread but that compulsion had kicked in and I was three hours early. I got to the American Airlines counter and there was no one in it!!! It took me five seconds to check in. Even on my best day this was unprecedented. Things were starting to look up. Lisa and I enjoyed a coffee and headed for the security check point. As we passed the United counter there was one of their employees directing the line around the corner. I couldn't help but think as busy as United was and American wasn't it was good for me but looking bad for American's financial future. This day just kept getting better. By the time we got to the security line it was just a matter of walking to the x-ray machine, it had cleared out that much in 30 minutes.

Of course all this good travel Karma I had collected on the trip was about to bite me in the ass. Firstthe wind had picked up in Dallas so they turned the air traffic around, we landed in Dallas and taxied around the terminal for what felt like three trips. Needless to say I was running through the terminals to catch my connection. That's typical however. What really turned the day around was the flight in the twin prop Saab back to Waco. That wind was really kicking now. Literally the minute we took off I was sick. For the next fifty minutes I was in a cold sweat the likes of which I've never sweated before. I'm usually really nervous landing in Texas on a windy day, but as the plane came down sideways all I could think was "A crash will put me out of this misery". Once we got down and I made my way to the baggage claim I was greeted by the empty spot on the conveyor where my bag was not.

It still was all worth it to see Lisa though.