Saturday, June 30, 2012
On Strike
Someone asked me why I was sleeping in the parking lot and I told them I was on strike against my employment agency. I got assigned a job a ways north and I drove there expecting an 8 hour gig and got 4 hours. The tile setter had fucked up the arrangement of new tiles and I tore them up faster than they had anticipated, saving some and tossing the rest, badly bruising my right calf on the dumpster and breathing more mortar dust than legally allowed by God. Brand new building. $25,000 mistake. Oggy's total payment after Uncle Sam's mexican mordida was $27. Problem is that it cost me $32 in gas to get there and back. So if I had taken the day off and walked down to Tacos More and bought $5 worth of barbacoa and Jarritos it would've been the exact same financial outcome. Of course, minus the bleeding face from flying chips of tile. It was actually the most laughably lopsided ticket I've ever had from any day labor operation. I seriously laughed when Kourtney handed me the check. Her indifference was priceless as she clicked shoe styles on the computer. The best is that I lost more money when I went to the Pakistani grocer's to cash the check. So I decided to strike because I'm a disgusting Communist.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Presidential Custom Work
LBJ...he wasn't all bad. His war on poverty probably helped four or five people. |
Dreaded cam switch |
The workshop (not pictured is the 101 degree heat or the patrol car watching my every move) |
Engineering magic. That silver split ring from china lasted a few weeks. I'm replacing it with custom copper flashing. The rubber o-ring was from a prototype failure. |
This is as important as most news. I trimmed it further so it wouldn't short the contacts. But it'll fail soon. |
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Don't Sleep in The Subway
Shortly after I recorded this video the emergency alarms went off in the music building and the entire place was evacuated. I asked those in the stairway if it happens often or if someone was shooting random victims from the bell tower. We plunged into the street not knowing what would happen next. I feel like all of this is giving shuffleboard lessons on board the Titanic. But a part of me thinks that is exactly what life is, a kid comes to you with a splinter on a boat that is sinking...what do you do? You take the splinter out. You teach shuffleboard. You sing gospel songs or Pet Clark tunes. Then the ship sinks. It makes no difference. You can't be like Whitman and think you are going to go on a rampage of mercy and take everyone out of their misery. Fuck it. The boat will sink eventually. Go learn to juggle oranges. I'm gonna go eat tacos and jarritos and watch the fireworks that are really emergency flares.
Gospel Hour
I shouldn't wallow in the tragedies of the past but these landmarks were on my way to the music practice rooms.
UT bell tower |
Memorial Plaque |
Memorial Pond |
Beside The Still Waters:
Beside the still waters in pastures of green,
The Shepherd is leading where all is serene;
By day and by night He will always be seen
Beside the still waters of peace.
For He's the Good Shepherd who died for the sheep;
His own He has promised to keep.
He lovingly watches and guards while they sleep
Beside the still waters of peace.
Beside the still waters the sheep find their rest;
The Shepherd stands by so that none can molest;
The flock, by His presence, is happy and blest
Beside the still waters of peace
The sheep know His voice and they go not astray,
For Jesus will guide all the way.
In paths that are righteous He leads day by day
Beside the still waters of peace.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Self Destruction
The job hunt has brought me to the lip of deadly contradiction. The same electro-mechanical manufacturer that supplies the wind turbine and solar industries also supplies the Military. It's like Philosophy was intentionally disposed of when George Washington divested himself from England. The Hoax that I'm pondering lately is related to America and what it stands for. If we repeat that this is the land of peace freedom and justice enough then maybe we'll forget that you'd be safer, more free, and better represented in Iceland. I read the upsetting tale of Anthony Graves yesterday and it really chilled my heart.
Breakdown Dead Ahead
Heat Index: An index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an
attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature.
Yesterday was a record 109 and it felt like 275. I had to take the key out of the van with a glove on my hand. Horrendous heat that made me feel like a lizard who had been run over in the street. I wanted to chop my own head off to cool my face in my blood.
Today it is a mere 104 and it feels like it is 113 degrees and I'm not sure that is even accurate as it doesn't take into account the radiation from the asphalt. Indescribable heat. Withering. I'm falling asleep in the library from abuse. Exhaustion has set in and only a visit from the police is missing before I sag into a collapse. But they have air conditioning at the mental institution so I'm not worried. It's like the cold in Alaska when my jeans actually froze and cracked because they had some sweat in the fabric. At that temp any moisture in the air becomes ice, ice fog they call it, and when you breath it you involuntarily cough because your lungs reject the frozen air. So people wear masks or grow beards that filter the moisture. Then your beard grows icicles that freeze together and you can't open your mouth. All within 2 minutes and it's amazing how quickly your brain becomes single purposed on survival. That is the kind of heat I'm dealing with here, the kind of heat that leads me to a parking lot where I'm pouring hose water over my body totally oblivious to the lines of children waiting to take their driving school lessons. A man doesn't think clearly in this kind of heat but I'm thinking clearly enough to have quit any manual labor for the rest of the summer. I'll slice chicken breasts with scissors on an industrial killing line before I lug boxes of nails to the attic of a $20 million renovation. I'm a pussy because this is Texas and the foremen and contractors don't hesitate to do what it takes to get the job done. Deadlines loom and they would do everything themselves if they had time. They don't hire you as a slave or to do work they can't or wouldn't do. No, they merely need help doing too many jobs. The heat isn't even a factor to a contractor on a $20 million gig. Steel beams could melt and sag and they would merely order more. They are not wimps. I am the wimp and I surrender before the war is lost. I'll fight another day but not for $6 an hour sweating blood onto concrete.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Hot Hot Hot
Really, latitude doesn't matter anymore. Altitude is the only hope. Orgonite Help us! |
How can anyone look at this and think the temperatures aren't out of control? The problem is that fucks like the Koch family and Inhofe and the Heartland Institute cunts and the other people with their heads up their asses like Bush who said, "The science isn't settled" with such slimy betrayal...the problem is that THEY AREN'T RISKING ANYTHING (other than the future they will tentatively control with national guard brutality) We hit 108 degrees here today, a record high. La Paz, Mexico was a mere 97.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Recipe: Bake Oggy at 104 Degrees for 4 minutes or until crispy in middle
Weather for Austin, TX
104°F | °C | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | ||||||
Clear | ||||||||||
Humidity: 19% | 104° | 79° | 104° | 79° | 102° | 77° | 102° | 77° |
My brain is pudding...I'm starting to sound like I live in Austin.
I missed out on a $8000/month clinical trial. Bummer but maybe it's for the best. No career as a human lab rat.
Austin Energy owns more than 2,600 MW of total generation and operates three natural gas powered plants in the Austin area. We are also part owners of two power plants outside Austin, one powered by coal, the other by nuclear fuel.
Decker Creek Power Station | |
Constructed: 1967-78 | |
Location: Northeast Austin | |
Fuel: Natural gas, fuel oil as an alternative | |
Output: 926 MW | |
Sand Hill Energy Center | |
Constructed: 2001-2004 | |
Location: Dell Valle, Texas | |
Fuel: Natural gas, combined cycle | |
Output: 480 MW | |
Fayette Power Project | |
Constructed: 1979-1980 | |
Location: La Grange, Texas | |
Fuel: Coal | |
Output: 600 MW | |
Co-owned with the Lower Colorado River Authority | |
South Texas Project | |
Constructed: 1988-89 | |
Location: Bay City, Texas | |
Fuel: Nuclear | |
Output: 400 MW | |
Co-owner of 16 percent of two 1250 MW units | |
Renewable Energy | |
Source: Wind farms | |
Location: West Texas | |
Output: 439 MW | |
Source: Methane from landfills | |
Location: Austin, San Antonio | |
Output: 13 MW | |
Orgonite Brings Rain
1969 Ford Econoline and 1974 Vespa Ciao |
Sunday, June 24, 2012
temps
102°77°
100°77°
104°79°
100°77°
Inside the van it's 20 degrees hotter. So I got a 12v fan. Bliss. when you leave a 120 degree attic, 110 actually feels nice. 90 consecutive days over 100 degrees last year. We're trying to break the record this year.
100°77°
104°79°
100°77°
Inside the van it's 20 degrees hotter. So I got a 12v fan. Bliss. when you leave a 120 degree attic, 110 actually feels nice. 90 consecutive days over 100 degrees last year. We're trying to break the record this year.
Failure To Launch
Another ridiculous project that cost me time and money |
How am I checking the tail light? By propping a mirror up behind the van. |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Troubleshooting
One of several portals to another dimension in my van |
It's either my heaven or my hell when something goes wrong with the electrical system in the van. You know a trip has really started when you are half naked in the van, a lightning storm is crashing down around you, you just worked 6 hours unloading hundreds of 145 lb Masonite doors for another cookie cutter multi-unit condo flesh factory being built in the 104 degree heat so that you feel like a Chimichanga that had been left on the buffet table too long, and neither your tail lights nor turn signals work. It's awful because unless it's the fuse or the bulb or some simple ground problem then it's guaranteed to cost you 10 hours of troubleshooting. This problem was literally a tour de force that required total dedication over two solid days and nights. And it required Oggy ingenuity the likes of which haven't been seen since I repaired a 40 year old neutral safety switch using copper flashing. This time I only had to rebuild the turn signal cam switch using hair pins and magic. The horn is the next project.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Random Images
I'm making a belt buckle with only Jarritos bottle caps so I guess you'd call this research or getting material.
Someone crazier than me. Yeah, Texas is gonna make pot illegal and let all their free field workers out? Ha!
I'm dangerously close to driving to Vera Cruz. I hate cities so much! God how do people live in cities? The mayhem and crime and bicycles trying to fight cars. What gets me is the lack of intention. It's all default living. No one can explain anything except as an economic stimulus. How fucked up are we that stocks are the only driving force to any social event? It's exhausting to live in a city with a place that tries to teach kids about trees. "This is a salamander. it can swim and walk." Really? Are we that out of touch? It's 118 degrees here!
Someone crazier than me. Yeah, Texas is gonna make pot illegal and let all their free field workers out? Ha!
Bongo injury |
Delayed Motion
I was scanning the classified ads for clues from a mystery admirer who might be leaving me coded messages. Like every other word starts with the letter that creates a larger message directed to me.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Obama Declares June 18-25 "Get Your Shit Together" Week
"Quit whining about Japan and China and get your shit together!" |
Obama continued, "Seriously, you sound like a bunch of assholes."
Obama may declare early July as "Don't Give Up So Soon, You Pussy" Week.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Stress
Since I've rejoined the Babylon Drone Brigade I've been under tremendous stress. I really don't know how people do it year after year after year. It must be the coffee or some innate delusion that fixing some stranger's plumbing or erecting a fence or sorting dirty trash or cutting out cancerous breast tissue has some larger meaning. How else could we all keep plodding on day after day in the grind? Maybe it's the collective contract we agree on that you contribute something to the greater good even if it is unclear what that might be or why money is involved. I guess we're just a dumb animal who survives because we are dumb. If we were any smarter we'd go crazy. Or maybe I'm just projecting my hectic existence on everyone else. You all jump through hoops involving psych tests, transmission failures, flesh eating bugs, crickets mating on your forehead, drunks passing out on the floor of the gypsy van that you live in and sunburns from sorting rocks in 108 degree blazing sun because Texas needs another bar-b-que restaurant. Right? Or is that just me?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Getting Your Shit Together
I was rapping to a worker as we drove to a job moving heavy furniture and he looked up to me as a wise old gypsy and I said, "It's a bad time not to have your shit together."
Monday, June 11, 2012
Magic Bus
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Petition to End Gossip Mags
Trash |
I am so repulsed that supermarkets still allow these magazines to be sold directly in the checkout aisle. I started this petition because I know people will rise up and help the cause. hahaha. I'm also thinking of ways to sabotage the gossip mag racks. Any ideas? All you facebook addicts could promote the petition and actually do something useful but that would mean beings something other than a disgusting pawn for Rupert Murdoch.
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