Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in diver dude's LiveJournal:

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Monday, August 13th, 2007
5:36 am	long time gone It has been a long time since I posted. Still alive, but hurting inside. There have been some good things happening, such as getting an abandoned kitten. I will not list the bad things at this time. I named him the little bugger Fearless. Mainly because this 6 week old kitten has settled into the place quite well. Tawny, the big cat, has finally accepted it as a permanant resident and has stopped hissing and spitting at him. Now trying to determine if this is a pet for me or a pet for Tawny. Oh well! It dosent really matter. At least everyone is at peace. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, May 4th, 2007
10:00 pm	Cat Scratch Fever Finally we are getting some good weather as my favorite season progresses. That would be the mating season, closely corresponding with springtime. I witnessed an interesting event today that I felt I had to write about. My only co-habitant, Tawny the cat, was caught playing footsie with my tenant’s male cat. Tawny had previously shown only an attraction to small male dogs, and has been known to attack any feline (male or female) within striking range. Maybe she is softening up a bit, or getting a bit older, or maybe lonely because I have not been able to spend much time home with my current job. Maybe it could just be the warmer weather or maybe it really has something to do with the season. Both my cat and my tenant's are fixed, so there is no chance of them reproducing, unless the vets' work was horribly negligent. How amusing to see the change in behavior, being Tawny would normally hiss at the male cat as she made her way past the hallway door to travel to and from her favorite scratching area (that being the back driveway). Change can be good, I guess. This has really got me thinking. Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
12:36 am	April update I suppose I should update more than once a month. Seems when I look back at my previous entries that so much has happened, I don't really where to begin or what to say. Currently working a temporary engineering job as a designer/drafter at a company near downtown Cleveland. The company is barely alive. I can't figure out how they stay in business. My role there is typical of what I have had to do at previous jobs. Basically taking a job that is way behind in its assembly schedule, way over budget, loaded with more design problems than I can count, and straighten out the whole mess so that the company doesn't look too bad up in the end. Typical work for a contractor. Fixing up someone else's mess, then getting the heck out of there when it is done. Don't expect to get much credit for it once done. Has rarely happened in the past. Usually just a simple "Thanks! Your paycheck is in the mail." Some other news is that it looks like I will be doing another tenant search for the month of June. Cancer is getting the best of the older tenant downstairs, and her son will not be able to affort the place on his own. They have been there a year and will be leaving on good terms. I don't think there will be very much work involved for getting it ready for rent again. Wide awake right now. Fell asleep right after work. This upcoming week should be interesting. Need to get away from this computer for now. Current Mood: blah (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 12th, 2007
2:26 am	Decisions Tonight I am trying to work up a quote for a rehab of a beaten up property of a friend of my mom’s. A lot of decisions to make. I took a look at the place on Sunday and took a few photographs. A friend of mine stopped over and gave me some input on what the pricing should be. I would like to give them a good quoted price to get the job, but not go too low where I end up working for less than minimum wage. Rehabbing homes is a tough business. Cost control is critical in determining whether or not you make any money. Now I have a better understanding of why the estimators at the businesses that I have worked for have the biggest headaches. They are the ones with their heads on the chopping block. A few miscalculations can turn a job from a big profit maker into a big loser. Hopefully I make the right calculations and decisions on this one. Current Mood: determined (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
11:01 pm	The Times They Are A-Changin' I am trying to get organized here with little success. A typical evening trying to do everything all at once. Happy to finally have one year of continuous sobriety. I passed the one year mark last Sunday. Anyone who has known me through the past four years knows I really had to struggle to achieve this. I have had to deal with financial instability the entire time. Lost track of a lot of former friends. Gained a lot of new ones. I can't complain a whole lot though. Although the past year has been rough at times, it has been better than any year in recent times. I guess any year in my adult lifetime can count as recent times. Trying to do a career change right now. Had some success with home rehab and painting. This may be a future career for me, but it is not certain yet. Engineering jobs still come up from time to time. Re-selling junk still shows some promise. One person's junk is another person's treasure. May have to relocate to a warmer climate for both physical and mental health reasons. Cleveland's extreme changes in seasons is reaking havoc on my back. A recent MRI at the Cleveland Clinic showed some irreversable damage to two discs in my back. The only cure would be surgery, which I want to put off as long as possible. I am not really an outdoors person when the cold weather hits anymore. I used to love it when I was much younger, but now I stay cooped up indoors whenever the snow falls outside. Not sure what the future has in store for me. Don't want to go back to the former drinking daze though. Taking one day at a time now, sometimes one minute at a time. Current Mood: optimistic (Comment on this)
Monday, January 8th, 2007
8:29 pm	A burst of energy. Getting a burst of energy right now. Perhaps the side effect of downing nearly a whole bag of almond filled Hershey's kisses. The National Championship pregame is playing on the TV in the background, but I find I really have no interest in it. Looked back on my previous updates and found that I did not do even one update last December. The month went by quickly. I somehow got through it with some shreds of sanity left. The holiday time with the family is always rough. Both parents and my sister cannot handle stress at any level and were flipping out the whole time. I did manage to complete a contract assignment for an engineering firm. It lasted from Thanksgiving to Christmas and allowed me to earn some money to buy Christmas presents and added to my unemployment benefits. Officially unemployed right now, but I have a one day side job to report to tomorrow for some painting prep work. Been extremely tired lately and my left hip hurts like hell. Both for no apparent reason. I hope this is not part of getting old. I have a re-wiring project going on in my garage as well as rehab of a futon. Trying to summon up enough energy to get out there and do some work. Feels like a have a ball and chain dragging behind me. Hope this burst of energy lasts for a long time. Current Mood: indescribable (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 26th, 2006
6:21 am	Sunny Saturday What a find day for late November! I took advantage of the great weather by hooking up with Karrie and Devin and doing some biking on bike path not too far from my house. We biked the section north of Rockside Road where most of the path is between the Cuyahoga river and the Erie canal. I took a few photos but ran into a software glitch trying to transfer the photos over from the camera to the computer. I had special agent Tawny assist in finding a solution, then had the problem fixed rather quickly. ( Read more... ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 18th, 2006
2:43 pm	No longer thirtysomething. Another Saturday morning with hopes of getting caught up on a whole weeks worth of work before noon. I already know this is not going to happen. Time flies when you are having fun. Am I having fun yet? Time is flying by for sure. Last Thursday was my birthday. Didn't really do anything special to celebrate. Stopped by to visit my dad at the assisted living center. He remembered he only had one can of Pepsi left and asked me to get more for him. But he couldn't remember it was my birthday. Stopped by Karrie's place afterwards for a few minutes. She gave me a card and an ornamental pepper plant. Her overly friendly cat, Tweeter, was all over me. So I got a lap dance as well as a little spice. The rest of the day was rather plain. Business as usual running around like crazy trying to find a way to earn a dollar. Still having no luck at finding steady employment. Side jobs here and there have allowed me to pay the bills. Very little extra cash though. Not sure how happy the upcoming holidays will be. Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
11:38 pm	The small and mighty... One more long day creeping by. I am tired but I can't sleep. Bored but I can't sit still. Trying not to let the little things get to me. The F-ing phone has rang over 15 times today. But no one wants to talk to me unless I promise to vote for them, buy some unneeded insurance plan, refinance my home, or whatever. Washing a load of work clothes right now. Washed the cat late yesterday evening. The mighty flea has shown its power and endurance. I think I have the little critters beat, but it was a rough battle. Tawny wasn't too keen on the flea bath idea, but was more tolerant of it this time. I didn't have to get the pliers out to unhook the cat from my skin (and my eyeballs are still intact, Karrie). I will have to get a deeper wash container next time, like maybe the size of a backyard swimming pool or small pond. The little furball can still launch herself out of the wash bin with one paw tied behind her back. I think she does it one pawed just to show off. After three dunks into the bin, I finally got enough of the soap off her fur to let her run off and dry. Not exactly sure how to describe it, but the cat self dries in about an hour. Need to focus on getting these CAD drawings done. Can't seem to concentrate though. I am getting too old for this. Have Steve Winwood's "Back In The High Life" CD (1986) playing in the background. Have Steve Winwood's Traffic LP "The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" (1971) ready to play next. Seems like just yesterday I was listening to its debut release. Oh hell! I am getting old. More coffee needed to keep going. Got to get away from this screen. Current Mood: caffeinated Current Music: Steve Winwood (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
4:25 am	Balancing act Balancing out my time the best that I can. Somehow I managed to balance the checking account to the penny, then did some creative financing to pay the morgage. Looks like I will be able to pay the end of the month bills, but there won't be much left over. The field service job for the glass manufacturing company had come to an end a few weeks back. Seems they ran into too many internal problems with getting parts for both production and the warranty order I was working on, so all the temporarys were cut. Been doing odd jobs for money such as painting houses as well as a few appliance repairs. Hard to believe what I will do for food or money when desperate. Even did a wimpy job of transplanting some flowers for my sister for a cheap dinner. Finding out the flowers were pansies afterwards didn’t make me feel any better. But I must admit, they do look rather butch in the snow tire that was used as a base. Currently drawing up some blueprints for a home improvement project for a house in Lakewood. Can't remember the last time I did architectural drawings. Maybe my home computer equipment investment will finally pay off. Put a Dave Grusin CD in my stereo and found that I kind of liked it. This can't be good. My computer is making some strange noises now. Hope that my hard drive is not going soft. Better get back to these CAD drawings. Current Mood: confused Current Music: Dave Grusin - Cinemagic (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 9th, 2006
12:46 pm	sunny Monday morning Trying to wake up this morning. Downing some coffee and getting ready for an interview for a full time position later today. It is hard not to notice the shorter daylight time as each day passes. I am defiinitely not a fan of the cold weather season. Looks like it will be a fairly warm and sunny day today. If the weather forcast is correct, it will be one of the last of them this year. So much outdoor work to finish up and so little time to do it in. Last week I did one road trip for the glass equipment company. Traveled back to the east coast. This time it was to New Jersey. We are told there are many more to follow, but none are scheduled yet. Very frustrating finacially; hence the reason why I am still interviewing. A lot of running around to do today. Will hopefully have time at the end of the day to relax and put on my rat bite resistant boots and throw a few lines in while out on the rocks. Current Mood: pensive (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
9:01 pm	Still waiting Still waiting for word from the company I am assigned to for another road trip. My co-worker called today and was quite frustrated. He is trying to decide whether he can work in a short term work assignment with another company before things get going again at the glass equipment manufacturer. I have been wrestling with the same dilema. I had gotten a call from a competing contract firm who had a temp assignment I could start on right away. Both my co-worker and I seem to feel the same way. We really like the work we do for the glass equipment manufacturer, but are feeling the financial stress of not having any income for the past few weeks. If we take an assignment with another company, it may mean an end of work for the glass equipment co. Somehow I managed to pay the end of the month bills, with a small amount of cash left over. That cash won't last for long though. If I don't hear anything regarding a new startup date in the next few days though, I will be forced to persue other employment options though. This constant changing of jobs during past few years has been quite stressful. I really want to stay with one company for on a long term basis, but finances can't be ignored. My kitty cat has got to eat, ya know. Hope to have some resolution in the next few days. Current Mood: stressed (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 14th, 2006
10:48 am	Life in the fast lane. The last few days have kept me quite busy. Actually a bit too busy. It seems that way too many things have come together at the same time than I can handle all at once. Dealing with it though. Don't really have any choice. My new laptop computer was delivered on Tuesday. Also arriving on that day were the repair parts for my 5 hp air compressor. I have been walking a tightrope trying get everything done at once while staying sane at the same time. Yesterday I went to a local coffee house with trisquareangle and tried out the networking capabilities of my new laptop. Was able to log onto the internet service provider of the coffee house across the street and check my email from there. Could not use the ISP from the coffee shop we were at because it was a password protected network, but the one across the street had open access and we were close enough to it to pick up the wi-fi signal. Learned a lot from the short amount of time spent there and was really glad that we went. I am now assured that no matter where my new job sends me, I can still stay connected to the internet world. Yesterday I also decided to purchase a wireless router to tie in my laptop computer to my desktop computer. Have currently got it installed and running, but now realize that the default installation is open access and until I change it to password protected access, just about anyone in the near vicinity of my house can log into my ISP and use it as if it were their own. Should I have purchase a wired router for my home instead of a wireless one? Will work on securing my home network this morning. If I can't figure out how to do it, I'll have to disconnect the router until I get some significant amount of time to spend playing around it. So many other things to do around the house. I really want to repair the two air compressors damaged by the flood that are sitting in the garage right now. Also want to finish painting the front porch before I get another work assignment and before the weather turns truely foul. Been raining for the past few days, but still warm. Good weather expected for the weekend. Other things on my to-do list include stopping the perpetual drip from my kitchen sink, various repairs to my truck, wiring up the garage to code, thatching the lawn, etc., etc. The list seems to go on forever. My paying job is temperarily on hold until some technical problems are resolved regarding the bearings we are installing. The company hopes to have them resolved and back in stock sometime next week. After that the workload is expected to be quite hectic. Already been on three repair jobs in the past three weeks. The last one was to Burlington, Ontario. That was my first time in Canada. Nothing really exciting to see in Burlington, but we had a chance to stop by the Canadian side of Niagra Falls for an hour to snap some photographs before continuing on back home. I still haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera yet. So much to do, yet so little time. Rome was not built in a day though. I'll just have to tackle one task at a time and accept that whatever gets done gets done. The rest will have to wait for another day. Current Mood: busy Current Music: The Eagles (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006
11:43 pm	shopping done, the end of a long day It was a long day today. Finally winding it up with an update. Was up early at 6:30 this morning. Went out to breakfast at Sal's diner, took a 1 hour nap, then went to Southwest General Hospital to meet up with some former misfits of society. Need to find someone to take my paid spot for camping at Cook's Forest next weekend. Will not be able to make it because of the work trip to Canada. Didn't find any takers at that meeting. Maybe will find one at Tuesday's meeting. Mid afternoon was spent with trisquareangle and her son at a friend of theirs. Filled up on the food served. Always have a good time at Joe's place. Late afternoon was spent helping to move a used stove from one house to another for a friend of my sister's. Stopped at Home Depot on the way home, picking up some grass seed and grub killer for my lawn. Quickly cut the grass before it got too dark. Will have to trim tomorrow. Finally was able to relax on the front porch a bit and enjoy the evening sunset: My shopping for a laptop PC is finally finished. I placed an order online with Dell. Hope to have it arrive in approximately a week. Always a bit apprehensive when making big purchases. I believe I made the right decision on this one, but still a bit uncertain as to how fast this investment will pay for itself. As was said from one coworker when switching careers "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!". Time to smoke a cigar and turn in for the night. Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Tawny playing with a wire tie. (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006
10:37 pm	Back home. Now time to shop. Back home from my trip to Fall River, MA. A lot learned on this trip. Learned how to make the most of flight delays. There were delays at Cleveland and Philedelphia airports while traveling to the Providence airport. Also were delays at the Providence going home. Found that Fall River is a rather dead town. Apparently, it used to be a bustling industrial city at one time. We were working second shift and able to finish early each day. After work we found it difficult to find a restaurant open after 9:00pm. Even the pizza shops closed at 10:00pm. The best dinner we had in Fall River was by buying a refrigerated philly cheesesteak and bag of potato chips at a gas station and washing it down with some Gatorade. Had a couple good (but not great) lunches at a Portugese restaurant downtown and also at a seafood place at the edge of the city. My co-worker had brought a laptop, but had forgotten the WiFi card for it. Turns out that the Best Western we were staying at stocked a loaner card and allowed him to borrow it. The laptop was really cool to use once we had the WiFi card. Using his PC answered a lot of questions I had in shopping for a laptop PC. Will be pricing and maybe ordering one from Dell as soon as I am done updating. Would like to have a PC of my own for the next trip within the U.S. Our next trip is scheduled to start Thursday. We will be going up to Canada; not sure what city. Will be a short trip; expect to be back on Saturday. Had been fun work so far. Seemed to hurdle the obsticals thrown in front of us with plenty of clearance. Hope the future trips are just as fun. Current Mood: optimistic (Comment on this)
Monday, August 28th, 2006
10:42 pm	Getting set to fly I just finished packing for another trip for my new job. This time flying to Fall River, MA. Leaving super early tommorrow. Have to get up by 4:00am and get to the airport by 5:00am to have enough time to get through security checkpoints and catch my flight. I have never been to the northeast coast. Looking forward to this trip. Last weeks trip to Cincinnati went really smoothly. My work partner and I had got the entire job done in 10 hours. This week we have two machines to service and expect them to take a bit longer because of them being older models. Will be flying back on Saturday. Starting to price out a laptop computer. Need to learn a bit more about how the WyFi setups work before I put some money down. This will allow me to correspond and do banking while I am away on trips. Seems weird how the further I get away from the people I know in Cleveland, the more desire I have to keep up with correspondence. Tawny the cat will be staying at my mom's place for the trip, as she did for the Cincinnati trip. The cat seems to enjoy visiting there. Has a window to look out with a bird feeder a short distance away in the back yard. Crazy cat has dreams of catching one someday. Very long day today. Need to catch a bit of sleep before getting up so very early. Current Mood: tired (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006
10:11 am	Morning projects Tuesday morning and already scurrying about trying to get something accomplished. Just started on fixing a leaky faucet valve on the kitchen sink and a few minutes after starting, my mom calls and wants help hanging a mirror at her place. Mothers have a natural knack of throwing wrenches into the wheels of progress. No matter what I have planned to fix up at my place, her place is always a higher priority to her. Well, it will have to wait until I am done here for today! I have already got started and am not stopping until this darn sink faucet is fixed. Yesterday trisquareangle stopped by and helped me with setting up a web site and reading the HTML code needed. We didn't get to work on the eBay items, but I was not that concerned with that at the time. I always appreciate her stopping by. One of the few LJ friends I have that has actually seen the inside of my dusty bachelor pad. Off to work on this place now. Also need to cut the grass and do some more painting on the porch. After that, maybe I'll hang that mirror at my mom's place. No promises on that though. Current Mood: determined (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 20th, 2006
9:28 pm	I did a little research on the portable Singer sewing machine I was messing around with. One web site identified it as a model number 127. It had a link to another web site which identified it by the serial number as a class 27 (a.k.a. model number) manufactured in 1907 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. That would make the machine around 100 years old. And yet it still runs as good today as the day it was manufactured. They sure don't make things nowadays like they used to. As far as work goes. I got a call today from my new work partner. Seems like he will be a rather nice person to work with. We have a meeting tomorrow morning to pick up our itinerary and finalize the arrangements for my first assignment. We will be driving down to the Cincinnati area later in the week. He already completed his first assignment at a place in Tennesse, saying that it went pretty well for the most part. The biggest problem area was in the wiring the new electrical controls. It took longer than expected, but they got through it. Already looking forward to this trip. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 19th, 2006
10:41 pm	Learning a new trick Spent some time today learning some new tricks: Somehow I never thought I would be sitting behind one of these machines. My sister came over today for a few minutes and gave me a few pointers on how to keep one of these things running properly. She also spent some time running the big industrial Singer in my garage and the other portable White sewing machine. I don't give her credit for too many things, but I can't give her enough credit on her knowledge of sewing machines. I couldn't believe how fast she was able to restring each machine. The bottom sides of each seemed to have completely different bobbin systems, yet she adjusted the one on the Singer pictured and the White. Had a little trouble with the bobbin on the big Singer, but was able to sew with the machine until the bobbin became troublesome. Impressive! Especially considering there weren't any manuals, instructions, or diagrams to refer to. So what am I to do with three working sewing machines? I have no intention of being a seamstress. Maybe this was meant to be good practice for my upcoming field service assignments, where I will be faced with all sorts of manufacturing equipment to service on a jobsite, using only the small bag of tools brought with me and whatever I can dig up on the spot. The work is expected to be done during shutdown too. That means usually second or third shift work, or if during the day it will most likely be on a weekend. Not too many additional resources available at these times. If problems arise that you can't figure out and can't find another technician on call, then you are really in a pickle. So maybe messing with these sewing machines was really a good thing. By the way, is anyone good at identifying these sewing machines. The one pictured has a few patent dates on it, the last one being Jan 13, 1891. The only other ID I can readily see on it is H1265539 stamped as 3/16" high letter & numbers into the base just below the bobbin winder. Could it be a collectors item? All I know is that it seems to sew really good. Current Mood: nostalgic (Comment on this)
Friday, August 18th, 2006
10:26 pm	Patience At last, my boss at the new work assignment called me today. He apologized for not getting back to me sooner. Apparently there were a few possible assignments available during the week, but the dude I was paired up with had scheduling conflicts with all of them for whatever reason. He is on the shit list now and probably will soon be canned. One of the guys from another pairing did a trip or two and wasn't performing as expected so was canned for that reason. So this coming Monday, I will be teamed up with the unpaired dude and go over plans for a repair job in Cincinnati later in the week. Looks like our four teams of two have now been whittled down to three teams of two. If another team is not trained and added, that will mean more work for everyone, which is fine with me. I was getting rather concerned with the lack of work hours during the past two weeks. I desparately need the income from these trips. Tawny the cat will stay at my mom's place when I travel. She seems to like it there. Plenty to explore. Really likes the sun room a short distance away from the bird feeder. Patiently waiting to start, but time is going by fast. Expect to be on the road in no time. Current Mood: optimistic (Comment on this)