11:48am: AND NOW FOR THE CLEAN UP CREW...
The little battles rage on, flames ungulf tiny pock-marked regions of my world, purging the parts that do not fit.

My realestate agent called me and said the bank has the contractor doing the repairs today. Fine, good. I asked about the FHA inspector, and he said that he's getting in touch the with loan broker to get the inspector over as soon as the repairs are completed. Good, fine. Do we have the title company? Yes, but we're waiting on an escow number. 

Waiting? Waiting? I've been sitting on my hands for about 3 weeks already, waiting for the go aheads from all my other duckmasters, herding their wards in a proper regimental collumn. 

So, with what utilities I have at my disposal, we will get this done, by hook or by crook, or crowbar, or ring of sauron, what have you...

-=T=-

4:26pm: Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California

Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California

THANK GOD.  It's a few years too late, but it's a start..

-=T=-

4:45pm: Texas school district letting teachers carry guns
Texas school district letting teachers carry guns 

in an ideal world, this would not only be unnecessary, but illogical to the point of making schools unsafe. However, we live in a world ruled with a slanted logic, and should confront the dynamics of the daily situations accordingly. 

-=T=-

4:39pm: SORT OF WIN IS STILL A WIN. GOOD NEWS.
got the news from the real estate agent. the house is being repaired by the bank, thank god, just hope it's in time for the fha inspection.

9:08am: RUSSIA/GEORGIA; WATER COURSE FINISHED
The Russian invasion of Georgia is way out of control, and far too heavy handed for what they have to gain, other than some severe chest pounding. 

It reminds me of stories of mobsters fighting over street corners with bazookas. East Ossetia is a tiny patch of eastern europe. There isn't that much to gain. In fact, it just might be a simple pretext for a planned invasion of Georgia. 

And what this I hear about Russian planes carpet bombing in the neighborhood of the Georgian president? Isn't that equal to authorized assassination?

This is the morning of a new world war.

------------------------------------------------------

I finished my water certification coursework last night. It took me 13 hours, at the end of which my vision was blurry, my mouth was dry, and I still had to drive home and wash my clothes for work today. I managed to get things done right, and I'm mostly intact for the week, so I'll live. In addition, I called the OWP office at CSU Sac and they said I can mail the coursework in. 

Freaking awesome.

-=T=-

11:35am: FARE THEE WELL, JIMMY
Ashes of Star Trek's James Doohan Destroyed in Rocket Launch 

brings to mind the picture of trailing smoke streams of a certain  ship in the nebula lit sky over the genesis planet...

or of a certain charismatic actor and his smile.

-=T=-

9:59pm: WTF?

In unity overture to Clinton, Obama wants Florida, Michigan, counted

11:10pm: THE BEAST
I murdered improbability, and reveled in it's fresh corpse.

Upon the dawn, I renew the assault, with a f*ckin' smile.

Tremble, young world, tremble while in my lethal gaze.

For an hour of peace is at hand.

My peace.

My hand.

-=T=-

3:31pm: Meme-non, The Great!
meme, nicked from shutt3rg33k

a stone: river rock boulder, half covered in mud
a tree: oak, on fire
a bird: something large and black, that squawks moderately.
a machine: Mack truck. Maybe a Peterbilt. Black, either way.
a tool: Ditch Witch
a flower/plant: Kudzu, (or the invid flower of life)
a kind of weather: Lightining storm
a mythical creature: Minotaur
a musical instrument: Electric Scottish Bagpipes
an animal: Sabertooth
a color: Midnight
an emotion: constructive confusion
a vegetable: Dude, Garlic
a sound: Roar of the crowds, lauding their victor!
an Element: Plutonium
a car: A furious, metallic red mustang
a song: "Raising Hell" by Run DMC
to trade places with another person: To see the LA skyline lit up from Mullholland Dr.
a movie: Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith
a food: Combination Pizza from Round Table
a place: Niles Canyon, with friends
a material: Gortex
a taste: Guiness
a religion: Zen
a word: Overlord
an object: The hurricane's source
a weapon: 50 cal. (or lightsaber)
a body part: upper left pectoral
a facial expression: a wiley, challenging grin
a subject in school: trigonometry/precal.
a cartoon character: Megatron, (or Khyron)
a shape: acute triangle
a number: 110, (as in %)
a month: October
a day of the week: Saturday (night specifically)
a time of day: noon/midnight
a direction: North
a piece of furniture: Waterbed
a sin: Lust, Pride, and Wrath, 1/3 each.
a historical figure: Charlemagne
a liquid: Battery acid
a method of death: disintegration
a planet: Jupiter(Jove)
a scent: Ash on marble
a sea animal: Megalodon 

-=T=-

11:35am: Yep, it's fire season.
We don't get a fog up at this elevation. Especially in the summer. It's never more apparant than when you look out the window and see a haze that obstructs the view across the street over the adjacent fields.

It's smoke, come to scare the animals, and threatening with a shadow that blots out the sun, over this whole town that's been burnt down three times before.

Yesterday at dusk I drove to the cliff and saw choppers dropping something on the top of the mountains in the distance, across the lake. That, and the giant plume of smoke consuming the southern sky was enough to tell me we were in for a rough weekend.

Then, later in the night, I smelled the same coming into my window facing the north, despite the fact that the fan was blowing out of that window, I checked outside, and it was real dark and quiet, all around. I spooked my neighbor as he couldn't see me less than 10 feet away from him, when I asked him if he knew the status. He told me there was another fire at Jackass Ridge, in addition to the one down highway 49 towards Mariposa.

It's fire season. And I'm going to drive up to my mom's place higher on the hill towards Yosemite. I'll be doing some studying, alone in the quiet. I'll be watching out for fires on her property, keeping my nose sharp for anything on their five acres. I might drive by mt brothers' five just to see if it's doing anything, though nothing's built on their land, just a shed over a pipe.

But I'll also have to keep ready for the call to take my wife and kids up from this tinderbox, for a chance to retreat to safer places.

Goddammit. There's ash on my car. F*ckin' fire...

-=T=-

1:20pm: LJD&D

4:33pm: AM I REALLY CONSIDERING IT?
looking at the property across the street and two doors down, for income property. turn it over in two or 3 years, pay the other two off. money money money...

it is doable.

-=T=- 

10:40am: VIOLENT MOVIES AS SLEEPING AIDS
Yesterday I bought the latest Rambo, Shoot-Em up, and Saving Private Ryan. I'm not in a mood, I just need to loud noises to sleep.

-=T=-

ps, Speaking of movies, I got the kids to see Hackers over the weekend. Other than one quick scene, it's more or less kid friendly. There's going to be more computer oriented media soon. Possibly Wargames, maybe Live Free or Die Hard. I'll come up with more. (Manhanntan Project? Is this movie still legal to own?)

7:31am: ON BEING THE DARK KNIGHT
Last night's dream was a Batman episode, and I was in the lead role. Very vivid. lots of detail. I had chased the joker to a small town, then out to a an old farmhouse, where he managed to dose me with some sort of hallucinagenic. While I was tripping, he would lunge at me, becoming various monsters. It was effective in disorienting me, as I couldn't understand or relate to where I was, and I was losing who I was in the meanwhile. So, I punched at the monsters, some of which were walls and fixtures, and some of which were my enemy. finally, I realized I was moving too slowly to beat him, because I was watching my movements, keeping control, not trusting my impaired self. Finally, I let myself become unrestrained, and through the fog, I beat everything, trusting my soul to not sin upon anything innocent that my come in my bezerker warpath.

Somehow, I passed out in the process. When I woke up, A farmer said I had beat the living daylights out of some weird clown. Evidently it was his old house he was safe. checking up on while the joker and I were fighting. I was relieved to see the trust I had in my elf restraint, even at such a subconscious level, was enough to keep this bystander safe. The farmer said, "Anyways, I've got him tied up upstairs." Then I started to panic angrily. "You don't know him. He's a genius, if insane." Rushing upstairs, everything very real now, I saw a number of hiding spots he might have crawled to or ensconced himself, each one a potential trap if he managed to loosen himself already.

There were piles of rags on the floor, boxes stacked by the wall, and a shower that was full, about to burst with water.  So, I waited for his next move, committed to a cause.....

Then I woke up, and Mar then started the shower in the bathroom.

-=T=-

9:32am: LORD, PLEASE DELIVER THEM FROM ALL EVIL...
they accepted my offer. today, i go to sign the paper and increase my deposit. escrow closes on sept. 1.

FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.

as i amass field bases, the structure of my dominion takes shape...

-=T=- 

8:35am: PROVING TO BE AN INTERESTING PRESIDENTIAL RACE
mccain and obama have been extremely close in gallop poles for all this month, so indicators are showing this is going to be an interesting race, even if the first mud volley has yet to be slung.

--------------------------------------

in other news, i promoted a coworker to King  Robert the Great today for transferring some material i could have easilly had somebody else do.

-=T=-

11:30pm: UNITS OF MEMORY
it just occurred to me that i'll have to get used to units of memory above gigabytes.

which is ... terrabytes?

total guess., hint me.

-=T=-

9:58pm: what you will, given the eventuallities both finite and unbounded
the seller on the first bid wanted nothing to do with the conditions of my loan, so he declined. yeah, i tried again using another angle, but i only got so far before i knew i was burning a channel, so i gave in to probability and let the sale redirect itself.

hence, today. looked at more properties, found a gold bar studded with diamonds in the ruff, and pwnced. mofo. i ate this chance with fervor topped with gusto, and loved every morsel.

the hinges on this kind of deal were rusty, and i got the phone i needed to oil them. 30 minutes after getting to the agents office we ploughed our way through the barriers and had a new draft written and faxed. i don't mind being the first one in, in this kind of circumstance. we looked great, and the house i'm buying for 90k sold in 05 for 320k.

and it's effin pristine.

so, we'll see what happens.

go team.

---------------------------------------------------

beyond that, someone today gave me another trophy by repeating the line i've heard others say, and it's the kind of affirmation i just love to hear.

"tim can sell an ice cube to an eskimo."

then someone else went above and beyond the call....

"tim can sell a catsup popsicle to a rich woman with white gloves."

yes, a little much, but i won't waste it. not one bloody drop.

-=T=-

1:25pm: oh, to be me... / 550 metric tonnes of yellow cake uranium
i placed a bid on a house in modesto, and it was a bold bid at that. yet, i wished luck and mercy unto those i am buying from. 

conferenced with my lender this morning. she's very enthusiastic about the possibilities, so it was a good pick me up in the early muck of monday's aftermath. 

the real estate agent was eager last night too. i kept asking him questions, and he kept up with me well enough for an old guy. i did get the sense he wasn't sure how strong i was into the purchase, which i suppose would have been interesting to see what his rreaction would have been if i left him there. 

----on a different note----

also, i noticed iraq sold 550 metric tonnes of low grade uranium to canada, which canada will use for reactor fuel. this yellow cake uranium is supposed to be below "dirty bomb" yield, but if it's worth throwing into a reactor, it's probably not all that worthless. in addition, this is from hussein's mid-70's to mid-80's nuclear arms research stockpile. 

i know from 1991 reports that cyclotrons were being shipped from china to lebanon, syria, and north korea. this made any low grade fissile material of a sufficient quantity to be within a few years of weopons grade nuclear matter.  i did reports on this in the fall of 1991, and to me this makes it public knowledge. anything said to the contrary was just pointless. would lebanon buy cyclotrons without the ore to refine into fuel? would the stockpile in the region be worth something as an exploitable cache to it's greedy and immoral owner?

as it is, we might have pushed back the nuclear years for an at present volatile region. given time, they will own this capability, and will demand more bargaining chips than oil presently buys. 

who are we to hold them back?<rhetorical question>

-=T=-

2:11pm: HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
Happy Independence Day!

-=T=-

1:26pm: big brother has a standing warrant to search your info

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7488009.stm

While I trust the US government more than I trust the PRC, this is still a step American lawmakers are taking too similarly to when China demanded, and got, political information on it's citizens from Yahoo and Google. Please, let this not lead to other precedents down that long spiral path to the end of good intentions.

If this is the start of a revolution, then it's on.

-=T=-

8:02am: TO MY SON AND HEIR
happy birthday, you 7 year old adventurer. the world is yours.

-=.Dad.=- 

10:44pm: ONCE UPON A TIME & the indian gods within
i was shiva.

i was brahma.

i was vishnu.

not the proper order, but what order from chaos i brought to the field. i came with running shoes, on a bike, from near and far, to test myself and challenge the rest.

i did what was natural, what was brought forth from within my own needs and yearnings, for the crowds were silent as the wind, and as such invisible. the stands were hot from the day spent under a solar shower, and usually when i got to the field, it was at a twilight angle that shaded them. hot shadows cast on the lack of an audience, and still i came on, for i had yet to meet my match.. below me, extending from my foot stood my opponent.

something urged me on to the ancient field. for years i had prayed to my power that i could still do it, still become, and the answer always came back that there was no better proof than to go to the ground, bring the temple, dig hard, and push beyond the body's capacity.

that was always the doubt. if i did it, was it the body's doing, or something more pushing farther than it's limits? purely, i could not get up in the morning, and roll over, and call it that day's victory, but never was it enough, even if i ran at top speed, to move with power and beserk disaster as a comet might plunder through skies. only the search, the prayer to the temple, splitting the twilights, could i find the answer, though such revelations were never more than fleeting, and far from healthy.

thus, on i came, again, and yet again, and was it to prove or bathe in the proof, to cleanse the mind of doubt that i might not have a soul without this power? what power? was it what god had given to me, fated in the stars at birth, and nothing more? was i a slave to my destiny?

the answer was in the hot dusty wind. the remnant memory lingered like an old song, ringing in my mind about temples, souls, and competitions.

dismounting my bike, i discarded the unnecessary items. wallet, hat, glasses, bearing myself out from the traits of this world, free from the terrestrial. knowing the starting point was casual by then, and i had long ago done it in the dark, at night time, blinded to exactness that could not escape the capture of my recollections. taking my position, i readied my oft sweat soaked stop watch, and exhaled, only to feel the start come on. finally, after breathing was calm and deep, and the stretches were pushed, i regained the start position, and initiated the push that began my run.

the first 1/4 mile was always done at top speed, without break. i often saw no point in slowing down, and kept to the fastest when i could. the next 1/8 was a rest if i needed it, then it was either another full 1/4 at top speed or i was forego the break and not rest until the beginning of the second 1/2 mile. i commonly took the 3rd 1/4 at a pace, to gear up for a top speed last 1/4, and finish within range.

my friends know me as a beserk runner, and they know i would throw up as a matter of course after finishing. a few times i lost all energy while falling to the ground, and once i passed out, going black after the familiar explosion of stars across my vision. i ran to beat my body's ability, i ran to escape the limits imposed on me by chance, i ran top preserve my spirit, and i ran to crush the probability that i couldn't do what i was doing. i took the possibility and brought it into the world, per force, with the willpower to earn it, and the power to become more than what i was. in those memories of long ago, i am driven to victorious stature against an unnamed foe beaten in the wake of my speed, and the echoes of my footfalls were added to the truth of humanity's direction.

ultimately, the hot dusty breeze in the shadows of my streaming jaunt flew behind me, and i was the answer to why they blew. my temple was bright, celestial, divine, and i was awash in it's eternal glow.

those days pound away, echoes of future days. i see them again, and again, for this is my way.

-=T=-

9:15am: THE LAWNMOWER'S CURSE (REVISITED)
So, again, i go to mow the lawn very quickly last night. Trimmed some of the ugliness up in the front yard, and set to work on the back.

Not five minutes later, after I'd chewed up the ugliness around the walnut trees, the mower all of the sudden got real loud. And I see smoke. And not from the mower. A bolt from the exhaust section had shot out and was burning grass all around it from being so hot. The rest of the exhaust was loose, so it was just blowing air right through the machine. 

After a few minutes of carefully taking the hot bolt inside and cooling it off, I then got the tools I needed and set to work reconnecting the exhaust. Having doen that, I then got back to mowing the back. Five minutes later, it was still running hot, and tried to quit on me. Fine, I stuck it out, waited for it to die, but it seemed to be satisfied with threatening me that actually following through. 

Five minutes later... it got so hot the shaft temporarilly warped and grabbed part of the inside plating of the lawn mower, mangling it, and wrecking the blade. Fine. I understand. You want to play hardball. Well, I was the best then, and I'm still more than a match for you now.

So, out came the tools again. I flipped it over, ripped out the mangled steel with my hands, undid the ruined blade by rachet, flipped over my spare parts mower and undid the good blade on it, rebolted it and flipped it right side up, bolted the good blade on the working mower, used the hammer to pound out a corner to outside a 1 inch reach of the blade's radius, and  flipped it right side up and started it back up.

All that was in the range of, oh, let me guess, five minutes.

As I'm mowing along, the mower is actually back to it's proper self, and I'm chopping up basically rolled over grass, making tiny oat flakes everywhere that kind of looks like smoke but settles like sand, and, finally, after five minutes, it does. 

I ran out of gas. 

Fine, you want to play like that? I can play too. 

So I went inside and played with my cell phone til I got tired, took a shower, made some food, put on Spiderwick, and fell asleep to some relaxation mp3's. Woke up 3 times. Thirsty. 

Yeah, I play rough.

-=T=-

10:01am: DR. WHO MEME
When you see this, post a quote from Doctor Who on your LJ


"I'm the Dr! I can do anything!"

(I blaspheme my long time fan-senses by quoting this most recent of episodes. However, the impact of the intended hubris is in quite stark contrast to many other Dr's, so it's been a little long in shaking it.)

-=T=-