Wow it sure has been a long time since i have ever wrote an entry. A lot has gone on in my life since the last entry, i have dealt with two job losses in the month of march. The day after the last entry i posted i got fired, but it was all for the better anyway it was a pretty terrible company to work for. My lead hand is the only one left there today and hes having to deal with a lot of BS i read about it often on his facebook.
My next job only lasted a week, they decided to change their minds after that week. I was pretty pissed.
Two days after getting let go from that job i started a new one and its still my current job today. I got mixed feeling about the company. I love the fact that i'm learning a lot and getting to go out all over Edmonton to service road construction machinery, but i hate that i'm going as long as 15-20 days straight working for 11-16 hours a day at a rate of 24 an hour. I really hope that come the end of the year they will be willing to put me at journeyman wage. I'm not making enough to get a better place compared to this tiny room i'm living in still. Rent around this city is friggen ridiculous. But its not as bad now, when i first moved in there were 5 of us living here now its just me and one of the other guys. Feels a little more cozy i guess :-S
Well i'm off to practice guitar, until next time.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Well i gotta say work went by pretty smoothly today. Did a lot of sweeping around the shop, had to drive to the other end of the city to pick up parts for the broken down mulcher and had a couple of safety people come in to get ideas of what we do around the shop so they could make up proper hazard assessment sheets for us, that pretty much sums up work.
When i got home from work today, my daughters mom called me up. She was really upset that it didn't matter how much she disciplined all of her kids, they still rebel and get into trouble. I really don't know why some kids will listen to their fathers or anyone else but when it comes to listening to mom, its all a joke.
Took a walk to the store to grab some more coffee cream. Before doing so i stopped by a KFC to grab a bite to eat. Was really craving chicken for some reason. While i was there, one of my old coworkers from a past company i worked for stopped in to grab some food. Basically talked about where we were sitting at for jobs after we both left or got laid off. Told him my story about how I was going through a lot of places who didn't teach me very much about my trade.
I'm still losing my mind in this little box that i'm living in. Still waiting for the weather to warm up so i have good reason to go outside for more than 10 minutes. To soak in some rays and be in a better mood. There is so much i could be doing right now. Reading my Guitar for dummies and learn some music theory, playing guitar in general or even cleaning up my little shoebox of a room. I guess i'm just one of those kinds of people that if stuck in a small area for a long peroid of time will have a harder and harder time focusing on one thing. I hate this so much. Until another day when i whine about the weather. Wouldn't be surprised if its tomorrow :-S.
When i got home from work today, my daughters mom called me up. She was really upset that it didn't matter how much she disciplined all of her kids, they still rebel and get into trouble. I really don't know why some kids will listen to their fathers or anyone else but when it comes to listening to mom, its all a joke.
Took a walk to the store to grab some more coffee cream. Before doing so i stopped by a KFC to grab a bite to eat. Was really craving chicken for some reason. While i was there, one of my old coworkers from a past company i worked for stopped in to grab some food. Basically talked about where we were sitting at for jobs after we both left or got laid off. Told him my story about how I was going through a lot of places who didn't teach me very much about my trade.
I'm still losing my mind in this little box that i'm living in. Still waiting for the weather to warm up so i have good reason to go outside for more than 10 minutes. To soak in some rays and be in a better mood. There is so much i could be doing right now. Reading my Guitar for dummies and learn some music theory, playing guitar in general or even cleaning up my little shoebox of a room. I guess i'm just one of those kinds of people that if stuck in a small area for a long peroid of time will have a harder and harder time focusing on one thing. I hate this so much. Until another day when i whine about the weather. Wouldn't be surprised if its tomorrow :-S.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
I'm Bi-Winning
Still not an exciting day. Until this now clears and the weather warms up its gonna be dull for the next few weeks :-S. Last week i was watching the Charlie Sheen interview about how he is going to sue CBS for cancelling the show. Anyway, someone had made some kind of song from pieces of the interview and it was hilarious. I probably watched it at least 10 times today, and I garuntee i'll have it stuck in my head at work all day tomorrow :-S.
Went over to my moms for dinner later on and learned how to make some awesome tortellini. basically all you do is cook up the tortellini, steam some broccoli and add some Alfredo sauce. Good thing I'm quoting this to because i know i will possibly forget about it somewhere down the road. Definatley going to have to make some of it next week. It was awesome :-).
Caught a Flames game on TV for the first time in a month. Really happy that they beat Nashville and i'm hoping they can win enough games to stay in the position to qualify for the Stanley cup play-offs. They didn't win it back in 2004 when they lost to Tampa Bay, now is their time to rise back up and win it this year. I also won't be disappointed if Vancouver or Chicago win either, but no matter what I'll always cheer for the Flames before any other team.
Went over to my moms for dinner later on and learned how to make some awesome tortellini. basically all you do is cook up the tortellini, steam some broccoli and add some Alfredo sauce. Good thing I'm quoting this to because i know i will possibly forget about it somewhere down the road. Definatley going to have to make some of it next week. It was awesome :-).
Caught a Flames game on TV for the first time in a month. Really happy that they beat Nashville and i'm hoping they can win enough games to stay in the position to qualify for the Stanley cup play-offs. They didn't win it back in 2004 when they lost to Tampa Bay, now is their time to rise back up and win it this year. I also won't be disappointed if Vancouver or Chicago win either, but no matter what I'll always cheer for the Flames before any other team.
Mezmerize
I'm amazed that i never knew about System of a Down until 2005 when they released their Mezmerize album. After getting into them a lot more, i found out that i knew a couple of their songs i just didn't know it was them singing them. The two main singles that I know off the top of my head on this album are "BYOB" and "Question?". I have no complaints on this album, just about every song is awesome. Some of my favorites include "Radio/Video", "Violent Pornography" , and "Old School Hollywood". If you haven't heard the songs before or just want to get another awesome song stuck in your head again, here are the links below to the songs...
Radio/Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX-kJKIRyhM
Violent Pornography - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w10tu0zcE7Q
Old School Hollywood - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgcJ1A9xrI0&feature=fvst
I haven't heard anything yet if System of a Down is releasing a new album yet, but if I hear any news, I will defiantly make a post and let all of you System fans know.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
I Feel Like A Cab Driver
Slept in this morning, didn't wake up till 1 PM. Always feels like the day is shot way too soon when i sleep in, thats why i hate doing it. Whenever a day rolls by that i don't have to be up for anything, then i won't get up at all. For all i know that will probably be the case tomorrow even if i set an alarm to get up or not.
So a friend texted me when i got up, one of her friends needed a lift 30 minutes outside of town to gether some belongings. Well i had stuff to do today, its a pretty sweet deal that i'm getting a full tank of gas out of the deal, but at the same time, your using up some of my time that i could be using so im gonna need a little extra for my time. I didn't get any laundry done or practicing in, its gonna have to wait till tomorrow, but even then i visit my daughter tomorrow so won't get anything done then ugh, i live such a busy life :-S.
Its a friends birthday tonight so i'm gonna be going to the same bar as last nite. I guess that bar wasn't cracked out as much as we thought it was. It will never be like the old hangout. So our search continues for a nightclub that has a dance floor and they play a mix of classic rock and heavy metal, and not just hard techno or house music. Thats why i loved the place and a lot of places around the city don't have that kind of feel to them.
So a friend texted me when i got up, one of her friends needed a lift 30 minutes outside of town to gether some belongings. Well i had stuff to do today, its a pretty sweet deal that i'm getting a full tank of gas out of the deal, but at the same time, your using up some of my time that i could be using so im gonna need a little extra for my time. I didn't get any laundry done or practicing in, its gonna have to wait till tomorrow, but even then i visit my daughter tomorrow so won't get anything done then ugh, i live such a busy life :-S.
Its a friends birthday tonight so i'm gonna be going to the same bar as last nite. I guess that bar wasn't cracked out as much as we thought it was. It will never be like the old hangout. So our search continues for a nightclub that has a dance floor and they play a mix of classic rock and heavy metal, and not just hard techno or house music. Thats why i loved the place and a lot of places around the city don't have that kind of feel to them.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Come on people, get it together
So i really don't know how much longer i can put up with how slow my workplace is. Seriously, for most of the day the three of us in the shop were inspecting an excavator. We needed some filters to do an oil change along with swapping out all of the other filters as well. We don't have a sufficient parts department, so if we need parts, we have to wait a few days for them. Sometimes i think the higher ups need to get organized so we can run a faster and more efficient company. The service truck has been out of service way before i even started. Its needs a whole new engine. The service manager thought he had one at a scrap yard, we waited a couple of weeks to see if it was the right one and no dice :-(. Another company thought they had the right one and still no dice :-(. If they would have just ordered up a new or rebuilt engine from a dealership of some kind, we would have it way sooner, the truck would be up and running and we would get a lot more business. Maybe i would be able to tag along for a few "Field Trips" and actually gain some experience in my trade. Honestly if this keeps up i might go seek employment elsewhere. It can't be that hard to find someone who will keep you around and allow you to work side by side with a journeyman who will teach you everything you need to know.
Well i think i need to go out for awhile. Some friends of mine found a new bar to hang out in and i need a drink or two to drown my sorrows in this crazy work day i had.
Well i think i need to go out for awhile. Some friends of mine found a new bar to hang out in and i need a drink or two to drown my sorrows in this crazy work day i had.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Is It Spring Yet?
Another cold morning on the way to work today, thankfully it wasn't windy like it was yesterday, went out to brush the snow off my car didn't take long for my hands to go numb. I would wear gloves if i didn't lose them awhile back feel kind of stupid for doing that, so i'll have to go buy another pair here on the weekend. Or maybe there won't be too much of a point since spring is almost here.
It was another one of those not too exciting work days. The loader i worked on for awhile finally got picked up and an excavator got dropped off because an inspection needed to be done on it. Besides that i spent the rest of the work day cleaning components out of final drive assemblies on the mulcher in the shop.
Traffic still sucked today, took me an hour to get home once again. I didn't feel like cooking dinner today, so i picked up a sandwich at Subway. At the end of the work day I still felt pretty energetic and i thought i would be that way when i got home..... nope, felt like someone had sucked the life right out of me :-S. I've been feeling that way since Monday. I don't know what it could be thats making me feel so drained. Possibly the cold weather or being cooped up inside, who knows. Maybe if i could get outside and go for a walk i could possibly feel better, but i don't wanna step foot outside in - 20 C weather :-S
The rest of the day wasn't too much of a waste, i managed to get a good 1-2 hours of guitar playing in, i even made a template on MS word so i could starting creating tabs for all of the songs i've learned so i don't forget them down the road.
It was another one of those not too exciting work days. The loader i worked on for awhile finally got picked up and an excavator got dropped off because an inspection needed to be done on it. Besides that i spent the rest of the work day cleaning components out of final drive assemblies on the mulcher in the shop.
Traffic still sucked today, took me an hour to get home once again. I didn't feel like cooking dinner today, so i picked up a sandwich at Subway. At the end of the work day I still felt pretty energetic and i thought i would be that way when i got home..... nope, felt like someone had sucked the life right out of me :-S. I've been feeling that way since Monday. I don't know what it could be thats making me feel so drained. Possibly the cold weather or being cooped up inside, who knows. Maybe if i could get outside and go for a walk i could possibly feel better, but i don't wanna step foot outside in - 20 C weather :-S
The rest of the day wasn't too much of a waste, i managed to get a good 1-2 hours of guitar playing in, i even made a template on MS word so i could starting creating tabs for all of the songs i've learned so i don't forget them down the road.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Revolving Door
Sometimes i think that some people who cross the street deserve to get hit. On my way to work today driving down a road a pedestrian comes right out of no where and decides to cross the street without looking both ways to ensure the way was clear. Its below -30 C with the windchill today so the roads are still icy. I slam on the brakes to stop for this guy and almost slide right into him. Don't need to be doing that in my lifetime, i've had my license for 10 years now and don't need to lose it over something stupid like that
Basically the biggest highlight of my workday today was going with another one of the techs to the other side of the city to another dealership to pick up parts for the mulcher we are fixing up. We had to do a good couple of hours of reorganizing at the place in order to get at the components we needed. Then loading up the truck afterward with the -30 something with the bad windchill wasn't that fun :-(.
So doing all that took up most of the workday. I was talking with one of the techs and learned that out of all the staff at the branch i'm at from the executives to the techs. One of the receptionists has been there longer than all of us and shes only worked for the company two years. Made me realize how much of a revolving door the company is that i work for. I was told theres lots of BS to deal with at my company, just haven't come across it yet.
The weather was terrible on the ride home. What normally takes me 20 minutes to drive home took me an hour. Thats how bad the roads were. Some wern't too bad, but for some people if its snowing its a good idea to drive 30 km/h on a main road and not care about the people behind you. Frustrates the hell outta me :-S.
Thought it would turn into another lazy day when i got home, i played around on my computer for a good 3 hours until finally getting up to make my weekly chili. Afterward i managed to pick up the guitar for a good 45 minutes and practice those audioslave songs i learned parts of over the weekend. I looked up a decent tab and after half hour i was able to get most of "One and the Same" down, except for the solo, there are some parts of it i don't know what Tom Morello does, but i just can't figure it out.
Basically the biggest highlight of my workday today was going with another one of the techs to the other side of the city to another dealership to pick up parts for the mulcher we are fixing up. We had to do a good couple of hours of reorganizing at the place in order to get at the components we needed. Then loading up the truck afterward with the -30 something with the bad windchill wasn't that fun :-(.
So doing all that took up most of the workday. I was talking with one of the techs and learned that out of all the staff at the branch i'm at from the executives to the techs. One of the receptionists has been there longer than all of us and shes only worked for the company two years. Made me realize how much of a revolving door the company is that i work for. I was told theres lots of BS to deal with at my company, just haven't come across it yet.
The weather was terrible on the ride home. What normally takes me 20 minutes to drive home took me an hour. Thats how bad the roads were. Some wern't too bad, but for some people if its snowing its a good idea to drive 30 km/h on a main road and not care about the people behind you. Frustrates the hell outta me :-S.
Thought it would turn into another lazy day when i got home, i played around on my computer for a good 3 hours until finally getting up to make my weekly chili. Afterward i managed to pick up the guitar for a good 45 minutes and practice those audioslave songs i learned parts of over the weekend. I looked up a decent tab and after half hour i was able to get most of "One and the Same" down, except for the solo, there are some parts of it i don't know what Tom Morello does, but i just can't figure it out.
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
While were on the topic about the Foo Fighters, I will also talk about one of my favorite Foo Fighters albums. Two of their biggest singles off of the album were "The Pretender" and "Long Road to Ruin". The songs even had awesome music videos to go along with them to. I was really into "The Pretender" for the longest time, gave me a good adrenaline rush lol. A couple of my other favorites off of the album were "Erase/Replace", "Let It Die" and "But, Honestly". Let it Die was also another song i listened to for the longest time, until it became a single on the radio and was played everywhere i went. That just killed the song for me :-(
Here are the links to Let it Die, Erase/Replace and But Honestly:
Erase/Replace - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1DenjYj_tg
Let It Die - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC9fQhEHw2o&playnext=1&list=PL4F6B46F1F86E8AE5
But, Honestly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOu6uYE7ig
I even have a link to the first single off of Wasting Light. Its called "Rope"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At3rZUgQsh8
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Double Post
I was getting pretty late to make an entry of my day yesterday, so i'm gonna post yesterday and today in the same post, starting with yesterday...
February 28th
woke up at 4:30 this morning, tried to get back to sleep since i usually wake up at 5:30. Didn't end up falling asleep and ended up waking up half hour earlier than usual.
We finally got around to finishing up the loader that has been in the shop since i started working for the company. There were moments I was afraid that the couple of us didn't do the job right and we would be stuck on it for a few more days. The quick attach cylinder head exploding and oil spilling all over was one instance why i would think that. In the end we checked it out and realized that the machinists who we sent it out to didn't do a good job at repairing it and one of the grooves where a snap ring was rounded so it would not sit in properly. Plus the bores where the locking pins slide in needed to be honed out some more which probably caused the cylinder to blow due to excessive pressure in the cylinder from too much resistance.
After honing out the pin bores and reassembling the cylinder, everything started working the way it should have. As for the rest of the day, i cleaned a few parts on another machine and touched up the paint on the bucket we fixed up.
After work, i stopped by to visit my daughter and to pick up my laptop. I really didn't want to go another day without a computer in my small living space. I went out to grab a few groceries afterward. I ran out of supplies to make my simple affordable chili. Seems like the perfect food for me to survive on when i don't have much for funds. I also picked up some yogurt, strawberries and granola. I've had the thoughts go through my head that i wanted to start eating granola with yogurt and fruit for breakfast, i decided now would be the time to start.
March 1st
So I started off the morning by eating that granola, yogurt and fruit mixture i talked about earlier, its was pretty awesome, i was hoping it would be filling enough, but after working for an hour i was starting to feel a little peckish, maybe i'll try having some peanut butter toast to go along with it tomorrow morning. I don't like feeling hungry when i'm working, don't feel like i can perform as well on an empty stomach.
Friggen cold and icy out this morning, checking the thermometer on the dash it was -29 C outside. Almost got into a couple of accidents on the way to work as well because some people love to follow way too close behind me and when i have to make a sudden stop they don't know what to do when they can't come to a complete stop on an icy road. Thank god i didn't get rear ended because i really don't wanna stand outside and exchange information with someone else when its that cold :-S.
To start off my work day i had to get the loader all squeaky clean for the customer. I washed the outside and cleaned the cab out. Since we still had a lot more time till the customer would come to grab his loader, my service manager wanted me to put another coat on the entire bucket. After doing all of this painting i've gotten the nickname "Da Vinchi" in the shop now lol.
Later in the day, a couple of us had to go out to one of the machines in the yard and remove a drive line from one of the trucks in the yard. There were no spare parts of that kind in the building for the customer so we had to steal one from one of the machines. The job wasn't too bad besides having to work out in -30. Sure made the day go by pretty fast to. There are times the day goes by so slow when all your doing is sweeping the floor or picking up garbage. Can be frustrating sometimes.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Did You Miss Me?
This is gonna be one hell of a make up blog for not having my laptop for 3 days. I'll start with Friday..
February 25th
So the welder that has been working at my workplace for the past 2 weeks, this whole time i thought he was an employee there, but he was a contractor. He was hired basically to do all of the tough parts of making the mounting brackets for the bucket, once all that was done they told him one of the other employees could take it from there. He wasn't too pleased about that, i wouldn't be either. Before he left he hung around for coffee and showed us this photo album of all of the projects that his business had worked on over the many years. And i guess it wasn't fraud that made his company go broke it was dishonest customers he did work for and they never paid him. Talk about a kick in the nuts :-S
Was pretty exhausted after work was going to head over and see my daughter and drop off my laptop after i cleaned up, ended up napping for 2 hours. Got lucky though, no was home anyway, they had to take off to one side of the city to a computer store to get a computer problem fixed. Ended up dropping my laptop off at my ex's parents house. My daughter was over there so i ended up staying 20 minutes to hang out before taking off to a friends to watch the 2nd Trailer Park Boys movie. Friggen hilarious movie :-)
February 26th
My phone woke me up this morning. Guess one of my friends wanted me to help her run a few errands since she didn't have any means of transportation. In return she bought me lunch and paid me 20 bucks for gas :-). I was planning on just staying in and playing guitar for a few hours for my day off, but for me being broke, i needed all the money i could get.
We went out for dinner at Moxies, just ate a burger there, but decided to try it with avocado on it. I never had it before besides guacamole it was pretty awesome. Afterward we went out to grab a few groceries, read in a magazine while we were there that there will soon be new episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Can't wait for that :-).
We stopped my Marks work warehouse afterward to grab some work boots for her new job this week. She just needed a cheap pair of steel toes and they had basically every kind you could possibly want. She didn't end up buying any because there were no PINK steel toes in stock and the tan colored ones looked icky. Are u serious.... its a friggen shop your working in, dressing up in that kind of work is not a fashion statement, i don't care if your going to be one of the only women working there... geez :-S
After all that shopping was taken care of, i finally got around to practicing some guitar. Just played some of the usual songs i've been playing over the past couple of weeks and tweaking some of the effect pedals to find some awesome sounds. While playing around with the effects i figured out how to play part of the song "One In The Same" by Audioslave. Stuck at one part now to look up the tab on the internet...... Oh right, temporarly don't have my laptop, really goes to show i shouldn't be so reliant on a computer.
Went to a house party later that night, brought my guitar along to entertain a few people. The guy who lived at the place drank a little too much and ended up passing out early, as for the rest of the party, the one friend who i took out earlier to do some shopping, got a little too drunk and was really starting to annoy the bunch of us. Got to the point where i didn't want to be at that party anymore. Ended up taking a few people home and made 80 bucks for driving people around that nite.
February 27th
Not really eventful today, just like any other sunday. Buddy called me up this morning apologizing for getting really drunk and making an ass of himself. He wasn't the reason i left though it was that chick there that was getting all emotional.
Finally cleaned the garbage out of my car today, almost got a full garbage bag of trash, around 10-15 pop cans and someones cell phone probably from one of the people from last nite because it wasn't dead. Guess i'm gonna have to remember whos phone it was and where they are living at :-S
Was hoping to get my laptop back today, turned out my ex wasn't finished with transferring her photos over to her computer so guess i gotta wait another day for it. Weel i went 2 days without one, one more won't hurt.
Playing around on the guitar later on that evening, tweaked my tremolo pedal in a way that when i played the notes to "Like A Stone" by Audioslave, its sounded almost identical. Now when i get my laptop back i'm definatley gonna haveta look up a bunch of these audioslave songs and master them. It sucks i won't be able to do a few of the solos without a whammy pedal though, goona have to wait till i have money to get that one. It's between that one and a delay pedal for next effects on my list.
February 25th
So the welder that has been working at my workplace for the past 2 weeks, this whole time i thought he was an employee there, but he was a contractor. He was hired basically to do all of the tough parts of making the mounting brackets for the bucket, once all that was done they told him one of the other employees could take it from there. He wasn't too pleased about that, i wouldn't be either. Before he left he hung around for coffee and showed us this photo album of all of the projects that his business had worked on over the many years. And i guess it wasn't fraud that made his company go broke it was dishonest customers he did work for and they never paid him. Talk about a kick in the nuts :-S
Was pretty exhausted after work was going to head over and see my daughter and drop off my laptop after i cleaned up, ended up napping for 2 hours. Got lucky though, no was home anyway, they had to take off to one side of the city to a computer store to get a computer problem fixed. Ended up dropping my laptop off at my ex's parents house. My daughter was over there so i ended up staying 20 minutes to hang out before taking off to a friends to watch the 2nd Trailer Park Boys movie. Friggen hilarious movie :-)
February 26th
My phone woke me up this morning. Guess one of my friends wanted me to help her run a few errands since she didn't have any means of transportation. In return she bought me lunch and paid me 20 bucks for gas :-). I was planning on just staying in and playing guitar for a few hours for my day off, but for me being broke, i needed all the money i could get.
We went out for dinner at Moxies, just ate a burger there, but decided to try it with avocado on it. I never had it before besides guacamole it was pretty awesome. Afterward we went out to grab a few groceries, read in a magazine while we were there that there will soon be new episodes of Beavis and Butthead. Can't wait for that :-).
We stopped my Marks work warehouse afterward to grab some work boots for her new job this week. She just needed a cheap pair of steel toes and they had basically every kind you could possibly want. She didn't end up buying any because there were no PINK steel toes in stock and the tan colored ones looked icky. Are u serious.... its a friggen shop your working in, dressing up in that kind of work is not a fashion statement, i don't care if your going to be one of the only women working there... geez :-S
After all that shopping was taken care of, i finally got around to practicing some guitar. Just played some of the usual songs i've been playing over the past couple of weeks and tweaking some of the effect pedals to find some awesome sounds. While playing around with the effects i figured out how to play part of the song "One In The Same" by Audioslave. Stuck at one part now to look up the tab on the internet...... Oh right, temporarly don't have my laptop, really goes to show i shouldn't be so reliant on a computer.
Went to a house party later that night, brought my guitar along to entertain a few people. The guy who lived at the place drank a little too much and ended up passing out early, as for the rest of the party, the one friend who i took out earlier to do some shopping, got a little too drunk and was really starting to annoy the bunch of us. Got to the point where i didn't want to be at that party anymore. Ended up taking a few people home and made 80 bucks for driving people around that nite.
February 27th
Not really eventful today, just like any other sunday. Buddy called me up this morning apologizing for getting really drunk and making an ass of himself. He wasn't the reason i left though it was that chick there that was getting all emotional.
Finally cleaned the garbage out of my car today, almost got a full garbage bag of trash, around 10-15 pop cans and someones cell phone probably from one of the people from last nite because it wasn't dead. Guess i'm gonna have to remember whos phone it was and where they are living at :-S
Was hoping to get my laptop back today, turned out my ex wasn't finished with transferring her photos over to her computer so guess i gotta wait another day for it. Weel i went 2 days without one, one more won't hurt.
Playing around on the guitar later on that evening, tweaked my tremolo pedal in a way that when i played the notes to "Like A Stone" by Audioslave, its sounded almost identical. Now when i get my laptop back i'm definatley gonna haveta look up a bunch of these audioslave songs and master them. It sucks i won't be able to do a few of the solos without a whammy pedal though, goona have to wait till i have money to get that one. It's between that one and a delay pedal for next effects on my list.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
America, F**K YEA!!!
So another exciting 8 hour work day of trying to properly weld new lugs onto a loader bucket. My mind wandered quite a bit during the work day. A lot of the time i had that "America F**K YEA" theme song from Team America stuck in my head along with a lot of other funny things that i have seen or read on the internet over the past week. I decided that when i got home from work i would sit down with my guitar and try to learn that song. I was able to get it down in 15 minutes, now i just need to memorize the lyrics.
A lot of talk going around with the co workers during coffee break in the morning. I learned that the welder in the past ran a very successful business and actually had made over 1 million from it. He mentioned something about taken to court over some kind of fraud and because of that his business came crumbling down. If it wasn't for that he said he wouldn't even be working he'd be long retired. talked about this crisis in Libya to and how one of the causes of the price of a barrel of oil increasing was because of that. I heard one of the techs mention that gas prices were going to hit 114.9 per liter by the end of the week and probably won't be much better come the summer time. When i drove home from work, sure enough i passed by a gas station and it was at 109.9 per liter.
A lot of talk going around with the co workers during coffee break in the morning. I learned that the welder in the past ran a very successful business and actually had made over 1 million from it. He mentioned something about taken to court over some kind of fraud and because of that his business came crumbling down. If it wasn't for that he said he wouldn't even be working he'd be long retired. talked about this crisis in Libya to and how one of the causes of the price of a barrel of oil increasing was because of that. I heard one of the techs mention that gas prices were going to hit 114.9 per liter by the end of the week and probably won't be much better come the summer time. When i drove home from work, sure enough i passed by a gas station and it was at 109.9 per liter.
Appeal To Reason
Appeal to Reason was probably one of my favorite albums and probably was this album that really got me more interested in Rise Against. A couple of their big singles off of this album are "Re-Education (Through Labor)" and "Audience of One". Some of my personal favorites off this album are "Long Forgotten Sons", "Savior" and "From Heads Unworthy". Posted below are some links if you haven't heard these tracks yet. Enjoy...
Long Forgotten Sons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYuSHn4iYU4
From Heads Unworthy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-4bana7wBk
Savior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qhry7ufxno
And if you haven't heard the new Rise Against song, its called "Help Is On The Way" and i have a link to that song to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVE7OPKoVtQ
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I hate these kinds of days
Basically all throughout the day i have been really tired, there were a few moments at work where i almost felt like falling asleep. Maybe if i was a little more productive at work and it wasn't so slow maybe that would help out a little bit, but for the past couple work days i haven't really done a lot and its really getting frustrating.
One of the managers came and socialized with us during the first coffee break today. He brought up the subject about how he knew someone who over a period of time had collected all sorts of antiques and when his wife got really sick he sold his entire collection of antiques for 5 million. I asked the manager if this guy collected any antique guitars. He didn't but supposedly the managers hobby was collecting all sorts of antique guitars, so we talked about guitars for a good 10 minutes before coffee was over and afterward he showed me a picture of one of his latest guitars in his collection. It was an old strat, but what made it so rare was the particular shade of blue in the body color, there were few made with that body color, it would usually be around 10 grand, but since there were modifications made to it, the value was cut down by at least half.
When i got home after work i basically slept for a couple of hours. Afterward didn't have much motivation to do much of anything. Was gonna have a chili for dinner, couldn't work up the motivation to make that, ended up eating spaghetti instead. Didn't do much on the guitar either, just played with a few of the effect pedal i have. I did manage though to get my Boss Phase Shifter set up to sounds pretty descent, was pretty happy about that.
Maybe its just this cold weather thats keeping me boxed up inside my place. If it were nicer outside i know i would go out at some point and go for a walk around the block to clear my head, but i feel like i'm trapped in this tiny shoebox and i'm losing my mind. Maybe by the fall i'll move out and find a bigger place, the renting a room situation is alright in some areas, but i don't think i could do this for another year.
One of the managers came and socialized with us during the first coffee break today. He brought up the subject about how he knew someone who over a period of time had collected all sorts of antiques and when his wife got really sick he sold his entire collection of antiques for 5 million. I asked the manager if this guy collected any antique guitars. He didn't but supposedly the managers hobby was collecting all sorts of antique guitars, so we talked about guitars for a good 10 minutes before coffee was over and afterward he showed me a picture of one of his latest guitars in his collection. It was an old strat, but what made it so rare was the particular shade of blue in the body color, there were few made with that body color, it would usually be around 10 grand, but since there were modifications made to it, the value was cut down by at least half.
When i got home after work i basically slept for a couple of hours. Afterward didn't have much motivation to do much of anything. Was gonna have a chili for dinner, couldn't work up the motivation to make that, ended up eating spaghetti instead. Didn't do much on the guitar either, just played with a few of the effect pedal i have. I did manage though to get my Boss Phase Shifter set up to sounds pretty descent, was pretty happy about that.
Maybe its just this cold weather thats keeping me boxed up inside my place. If it were nicer outside i know i would go out at some point and go for a walk around the block to clear my head, but i feel like i'm trapped in this tiny shoebox and i'm losing my mind. Maybe by the fall i'll move out and find a bigger place, the renting a room situation is alright in some areas, but i don't think i could do this for another year.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wow i have to say today was pretty interesting...
Before heading to work i had to fill my car up with gas, don't even have enough money to fill it up a ll the way. Well technically i do, but not a lot. I have 45 dollars left to last me three weeks. When i jump back in my car its then i realize i don't have my phone on me, i tell myself that i have everything as i'm walking out the door, guess i didn't today, ugh :-S.
Was all ready to work hard today, ended up assisting the welder in the shop with installing new mounts on a loader bucket. Basically all i did in the 8 hour work day was stood around, watched him weld parts onto the bucket, help move heavy parts back and forth from the bucket to the work bench to do welding on them or to cut material off, and to grind welds off of the bucket. Yep that pretty much sums up 8 hours of work. I seriously can't think of any other way i could explain it to allow me to stretch it out into a longer sentence.
Didn't bother going back home after work was over, would end up backtracking pretty far if i was going to go see my daughter and sister. My place is on the opposite end of the city. I went over to visit my daughter shes in the living room watching Toy Story 3. I had gotten her that movie for Christmas, it wasn't until a week or two ago that she started getting into it. Lots of the time i'd be over visiting and that movie would probably be played at least 2 or 3 times. Its amazing how kids don't get bored of watching the same movie over and over again lol.
I stopped in to visit my sister afterward, she ordered in pizza for our younger siblings, if i would have known that i wouldn't have gotten subway earlier on. Oh well, not too big of a loss i guess, still ate pretty healthy today i guess. She had a friend over who had to leave to go to a band practice just as i got there. So i ended up riding along with him and my sister while she dropped him off just to catch up since i haven't seen my sister since Christmas. Ended up staying an hour afterward. She had been practicing guitar for awhile and was curious on a couple things like tuning into drop D and how to do this one Coheed and Cambria song. Haven't heard the song before, but i gave some advice on how to get close to a drop D by ear.
After all that excitment in the day i finally made it home, its 10:00 and i gotta be in bed in an hour, lets see if i got the stamina to play a little guitar before bed.
Before heading to work i had to fill my car up with gas, don't even have enough money to fill it up a ll the way. Well technically i do, but not a lot. I have 45 dollars left to last me three weeks. When i jump back in my car its then i realize i don't have my phone on me, i tell myself that i have everything as i'm walking out the door, guess i didn't today, ugh :-S.
Was all ready to work hard today, ended up assisting the welder in the shop with installing new mounts on a loader bucket. Basically all i did in the 8 hour work day was stood around, watched him weld parts onto the bucket, help move heavy parts back and forth from the bucket to the work bench to do welding on them or to cut material off, and to grind welds off of the bucket. Yep that pretty much sums up 8 hours of work. I seriously can't think of any other way i could explain it to allow me to stretch it out into a longer sentence.
Didn't bother going back home after work was over, would end up backtracking pretty far if i was going to go see my daughter and sister. My place is on the opposite end of the city. I went over to visit my daughter shes in the living room watching Toy Story 3. I had gotten her that movie for Christmas, it wasn't until a week or two ago that she started getting into it. Lots of the time i'd be over visiting and that movie would probably be played at least 2 or 3 times. Its amazing how kids don't get bored of watching the same movie over and over again lol.
I stopped in to visit my sister afterward, she ordered in pizza for our younger siblings, if i would have known that i wouldn't have gotten subway earlier on. Oh well, not too big of a loss i guess, still ate pretty healthy today i guess. She had a friend over who had to leave to go to a band practice just as i got there. So i ended up riding along with him and my sister while she dropped him off just to catch up since i haven't seen my sister since Christmas. Ended up staying an hour afterward. She had been practicing guitar for awhile and was curious on a couple things like tuning into drop D and how to do this one Coheed and Cambria song. Haven't heard the song before, but i gave some advice on how to get close to a drop D by ear.
After all that excitment in the day i finally made it home, its 10:00 and i gotta be in bed in an hour, lets see if i got the stamina to play a little guitar before bed.
Well sure has been busy today, have been up since 9 and spent a huge majority of the day practicing guitar. I'm happy to say i've accomplished lots today and hope to keep this determination going throughout the week regardless of how sluggish i feel after 8-10 hours working.
Got a good start on learning "The Unforgiven" got the acoustic rhythm part down at the beginning along with the main intro and parts of the verse. Yesterday my brother was showing me stuff that he had learned on the guitar in his lessons. Showed me about the sweep picking technique. Was happy to see that he had gotten that good, but at the same time i'm thinking "i gotta start practicing more, hes ahead of me if if he knows just a little bit about sweep picking and thats very important to know when it comes to shredding" I looked up a video on you tube so now i got a good. Hope to have the first part mastered in a week or 2. Not gonna be easy.
Its gonna feel good going back to work again tomorrow, being over my cold and having more energy i'm confident i can put in a good 10 hour day, and afterward go visit my sister. Haven't seen her since Christmas, i'll have to show her all the pictures i got from the Heart concert i bet she'll be jealous of them lol.
Got a good start on learning "The Unforgiven" got the acoustic rhythm part down at the beginning along with the main intro and parts of the verse. Yesterday my brother was showing me stuff that he had learned on the guitar in his lessons. Showed me about the sweep picking technique. Was happy to see that he had gotten that good, but at the same time i'm thinking "i gotta start practicing more, hes ahead of me if if he knows just a little bit about sweep picking and thats very important to know when it comes to shredding" I looked up a video on you tube so now i got a good. Hope to have the first part mastered in a week or 2. Not gonna be easy.
Its gonna feel good going back to work again tomorrow, being over my cold and having more energy i'm confident i can put in a good 10 hour day, and afterward go visit my sister. Haven't seen her since Christmas, i'll have to show her all the pictures i got from the Heart concert i bet she'll be jealous of them lol.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Getting Back In The Game
Well I think its safe to say that the worst of my cold is officially gone. Since i didn't see my daughter on friday, I figured I better do so today. Knowing my sister was gonna be in town as well i'm sure she would have loved to see her.
When i arrived at my moms house, i didn't see my sister there, i guess she had taken a later bus and wasn't gonna be in the city until 10 at night. Guess i will have to make some plans on tuesday to stop by and see her when i'm on that side of the city.
Talking with my mom i explained the situation i was in with being pretty broke and there not being enough days left in the month to generate enough income to pay for my rent. I'm thankful my mom is so awesome that she helped me out with my rent and provided me with some extra food to tide me over a couple of weeks :-)
While i was visiting, i borrowed my brothers guitar and practiced a few of the songs i've been trying to master over the past month. I was amazed that i wasn't doing all that bad playing them even after not playing the guitar in a week. I think the next song i'm gonna learn will be "The Unforgiven" by Metallica. The next issue of Guitar World came in the mail for me and had that tab in it so i'm gonna practice that one.
Got a full day of nothing tomorrow. I think that will be a perfect opportunity to get some practicing in, maybe even start reading my book again. Its just staring at me on the dresser gathering dust. I'm back working again, so my life is no longer on hold. I can carry on building myself up without having financial stress throwing off my focus.
When i arrived at my moms house, i didn't see my sister there, i guess she had taken a later bus and wasn't gonna be in the city until 10 at night. Guess i will have to make some plans on tuesday to stop by and see her when i'm on that side of the city.
Talking with my mom i explained the situation i was in with being pretty broke and there not being enough days left in the month to generate enough income to pay for my rent. I'm thankful my mom is so awesome that she helped me out with my rent and provided me with some extra food to tide me over a couple of weeks :-)
While i was visiting, i borrowed my brothers guitar and practiced a few of the songs i've been trying to master over the past month. I was amazed that i wasn't doing all that bad playing them even after not playing the guitar in a week. I think the next song i'm gonna learn will be "The Unforgiven" by Metallica. The next issue of Guitar World came in the mail for me and had that tab in it so i'm gonna practice that one.
Got a full day of nothing tomorrow. I think that will be a perfect opportunity to get some practicing in, maybe even start reading my book again. Its just staring at me on the dresser gathering dust. I'm back working again, so my life is no longer on hold. I can carry on building myself up without having financial stress throwing off my focus.
Heart
So I gotta saw, for being around as long as they have Heart can still put on an amazing show. Ann Wilson being 60 still has a set of pipes on her and Nancy being 56 can still rock hard on the guitar.
Not quite sure what the song was that they opened with, but the second song in was "Heartless" followed by "What About Love" and "Straight On". They put out a new album back in August called Red Velvet Car. The songs they played off that album were "Red Velvet Car" "Hey You" and "WTF"
One of my favorite parts of the concert was when they performed the song "Alone" I was blown away at how amazing Ann's singing was and how she could hit those high notes. After the song was over she got a standing ovation. Just before the encore they ended with "Crazy on You" and "Barracuda" It was pretty awesome to watch Nancy do the intro acoustic part to "Crazy on You" pretty sure she extended the length of that part by an extra minute.
During the encore i didn't know any of the songs that they were playing, then they walked off the stage and i thought that was the end of the show. But they came on for a second encore and finished the night off with "Dreamboat Annie"
Well I'm really glad that i got an opportunity to see Heart in my lifetime. If Heart comes to your area i strongly suggest that you should go see them. You will be blown away by the show they put on. I'm amazed at how well all my pictures turned out being as far as i was. Here are a few from the show.
Not quite sure what the song was that they opened with, but the second song in was "Heartless" followed by "What About Love" and "Straight On". They put out a new album back in August called Red Velvet Car. The songs they played off that album were "Red Velvet Car" "Hey You" and "WTF"
One of my favorite parts of the concert was when they performed the song "Alone" I was blown away at how amazing Ann's singing was and how she could hit those high notes. After the song was over she got a standing ovation. Just before the encore they ended with "Crazy on You" and "Barracuda" It was pretty awesome to watch Nancy do the intro acoustic part to "Crazy on You" pretty sure she extended the length of that part by an extra minute.
During the encore i didn't know any of the songs that they were playing, then they walked off the stage and i thought that was the end of the show. But they came on for a second encore and finished the night off with "Dreamboat Annie"
Well I'm really glad that i got an opportunity to see Heart in my lifetime. If Heart comes to your area i strongly suggest that you should go see them. You will be blown away by the show they put on. I'm amazed at how well all my pictures turned out being as far as i was. Here are a few from the show.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Getting Better
Well i don't think i'm safe to say yet that i've made a full recovery, but in comparison to the past few days i feel like i have a lot more energy and i know i'm confident that i will be ready to work hardcore come tuesday.
Finally got some organizing around my room done, got rid of all of the bottles and took them down to the bottle depot. Just about got 20 bucks out of all of them. Also while i was there i caught a glimpse of my old room mate from 4 years ago. Have absolutely nothing to say to that useless waste of skin, i feel stupid that i had him living under my roof for 5 months. He was never around ever, he harly paid his share of the rent and when he did he never paid in full. It was always a couple hundred here and there. That bastard owes me 2 grand. I'm not the kind of person who beats people up, but if i was i would make him feel some pain for what he owes me.
Started practicing guitar again today for the first time in a few days. I plugged into my amp and tried out some Tom Morello scratching effects. I watched a video on you tube a few months ago on how he does some of the tricks that he does, and after a lot of practicing, i can do a bunch of them. Theres a few i can't do with the guitar i have, so i'll have to set some money aside and find one similar to the "Arm The Homeless" that Tom Morello uses.
Well i'm off to go see Heart. After the show there are a few friends who are celebrating birthdays today, gonna be tough to decide which party i should go to afterward.
Finally got some organizing around my room done, got rid of all of the bottles and took them down to the bottle depot. Just about got 20 bucks out of all of them. Also while i was there i caught a glimpse of my old room mate from 4 years ago. Have absolutely nothing to say to that useless waste of skin, i feel stupid that i had him living under my roof for 5 months. He was never around ever, he harly paid his share of the rent and when he did he never paid in full. It was always a couple hundred here and there. That bastard owes me 2 grand. I'm not the kind of person who beats people up, but if i was i would make him feel some pain for what he owes me.
Started practicing guitar again today for the first time in a few days. I plugged into my amp and tried out some Tom Morello scratching effects. I watched a video on you tube a few months ago on how he does some of the tricks that he does, and after a lot of practicing, i can do a bunch of them. Theres a few i can't do with the guitar i have, so i'll have to set some money aside and find one similar to the "Arm The Homeless" that Tom Morello uses.
Well i'm off to go see Heart. After the show there are a few friends who are celebrating birthdays today, gonna be tough to decide which party i should go to afterward.
For all the Heart lovers
I figured since i'm going out to see Heart in concert tonight, why not put up a small guitar tab for one of their popular songs "Crazy On You" I haven't learned how to play the whole song, the beginning acoustic part is pretty tricky, might take me awhile to get it down. But i always love playing that part in the song where they first bring in the electric guitar. Anyway heres the tab for that part
e-----------------------------------------------------------
B-----------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----2--0--------------2--0--------------2--0--------------
A--0--------3--2--0-----------3--2--0-----------3--2-----0--
E--------------------3-----------------1--------------3-----
e--------------------------│
B--------------------------│
G--------------------------│ X 2
D-----2--0-----------------│
A--0--------3--2--0--------│
E--------------------1--3--│
B--------------------------│
G--------------------------│ X 2
D-----2--0-----------------│
A--0--------3--2--0--------│
E--------------------1--3--│
B-----------------------------------------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------
D-----2--0--------------2--0--------------2--0--------------
A--0--------3--2--0-----------3--2--0-----------3--2-----0--
E--------------------3-----------------1--------------3-----
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