It was just THAT kind of day.....

It was the kind of day you might find yourself chasing a rooster/chicken between your home office parking lot and a busy interstate. Then agreeing to fowl sit for the day until you can relocate it to the 'Land of Milk 'N Honey' . Or the kind of day, even, follow me here, that you feel the responsibility (read: job requirement) to remove debris from the travel lanes. I mean that's what the flashing strobe is for, right? Todays choice of debris was a 12' 2"x10" that you just KNEW you could move/retrieve quickly and alone.
It also was destined for the land of milk 'n honey.
I am sure that niether of these escapades were pretty to watch.
What a wonderful return to day shift! It took 4 grown DOT men + me to catch chicken/rooster. I learned that 4 grown men think it's a rooster since it has a comb and no amount of me telling them could convince them otherwise.
SHE turned out to be a sweet bird and since mom and dad are settled back at home with NO MORE TREATMENTS, it is the perfect time for Mama to have something to worry about and the hen is an ideal subject. Mom went into overdrive fussing over her. I should explain that these people have had flocks in the past but in light of sickness and travel had let them go 2 yrs ago. I hate to admit that sometimes very weird things happen for a very good reason.
Daddy was equally pleased with the 12' 2x10, even though it wasn't treated lumber and i refered to it as "the first joist in my new house".
I am including a pic of the new family member. ( the feathered one)

Beer in the fridge....?

Mini-me informs me that her college campus is "wet".

We had not discussed this, per se, but have had MANY discussions about alcohol. This child is no angel and I have encouraged her to be the moral compass, babysitter or 'mom' of the group. I have regaled her with stories and never fail to send an article or picture of what could be tragic results.

Luckily she likes to be different and it turns out that "different" is not drinking. I love to live in the fantasy world that she is telling me everything and a few days ago she tells me that she opens the dorm fridge to find beer.
So this is how i find that not only is her campus "wet", but her dorm ( and the fridge, obviously) is also! I insist that this cannot be possible for a freshman dorm, but am reminded that late registration placed her in an uperclassman facility.
So you might be thinking, didn't you research this before you sent her there? Not really. It was a given that she would go to Georgia College. I was way more concerned with financing and grade requirements and even more concerned about room mates. One of her best friends decided to go here as well and they agreed to accept random roommates. Luck was on Carrie's side as on moving day, said friend was not only in the same hall, but two doors down. Thank god she saw a familiar face on move-in day! She kinda wishes they had roomed together now. Roommate is nice but "suitemates" (two others that share their bathroom) are being blamed for the beer i witnessed in the fridge yesterday.
Now, I can accept this, since they all 4 share the fridge. I also might accept it even belonged to a boyfriend since young girls don't usually even like the taste of beer (if it had been Boones Farm or Seagrams coolers, i would have had to sit them all down). But I prefer to live in the fantasy world that she is being the 'wet blanket', designated driver, mom of the group and making the right choices.
I can't sleep well any other way.

Who needs sleep?

Clearly, I do. I am too old for night work as the dreaded "night work psychosis", or NWP, has set in after only 6 weeks of torture. NWP ( who's only advantage is weight loss) is known to magnify PMS and exacerbate existing character flaws.

This is my last week of night work for a while and I relish the idea of waking up with the birds and the sun again!



I have kept awake at night by documenting the demo of the only steel girder bridge on the project. This operation was surprisingly smooth with only 1 traffic mishap involving 2 cars and 7 teens. Six transported to the hospital with no life-threatening injuries. As always i send these pics to my daughter to scare the hell out of her. These kids admitted to shenanigans on the scene: "We were talking to the guys in the car next to us on the cell phone". The following pic is the result.

I offer some grainy pics of the actual demo. Again I state at how smooth the deconstruction went. This is one of the most dangerous aspects of the job for the operators, as they are literally pulling the bridge down around them.

If these are hard on the eyes, fear not, my dad is talking me through some settings changes and hopefully the captures will get better over time.

The beams are removed by the crane:

A different angle:

And finally the bridge is DOWN!

Moving on, my "crack" dealer has said i need to remove all the files that were miraculously saved and format hard drive and start over. He would have done this for me, had i sent him all discs with the computer. Take note.

I shall place this task in my able-bodied husbands hands as he is the one who introduced "crack" into this household. ( I actually went to Clayton state and studied network technology back in ummmmmm... '95, like when ethernet was new word and there were only 500,000 websites and i wanted to see EVERYONE OF THEM.)

So, much like the car, even though I know how to fix it and am totally capable, I will allow him this privilege.

:)

Faces to go with the stories...

Due to a recent hacker episode we had to put "crack" (what we call the Dell comp) in the hospital and $75.00 later we have it back but missing all pics and files from 2008. All i have left from this year i had to recoup from myspace ( go figure, it IS good for something). Hope to find them imbedded somewhere but for now i offer these images. None of them shot with my Nikon D70, just point snd shoot canon ( which is now a bad word in the house). Did not realize that Canon/Nikonians were so polarized til I swapped to the D70......



David and I with his oldest daughter to the left.... we have 5 together!

My beautiful kids...

My wonderful husband....

The job I hate to love

Work. Feels funny to call it that. Shoud call it sit and watch, or better yet, lie in wait for the next stupid move by one of the largest contractors in the east. I cannot count the number of times over the years that individuals have asked me " how do i get a position like yours? " mainly because it looks like I do nothing and, as a consultant for a state agency, am highly overpaid.
Quick rundown: all work for the state must be inspected and approved for payment. Sounds simple. Build it to the plans and specs. That would be great if the same entity that wrote the specs also designed the plans. Not so. This is where a major amount of $$$ is wasted (my money, your money) on redesigns needed that should have been caught by pay grade 16's in the field plan review. Fear not though, we have our own Palinesque commissioner who is trying to straighten out the good old boy network. Loved her til she muddied the waters by dating-firing-marrying a DOT board member. Not a cool way to gain respect of the near dead board members.
Steering away from the politics now....
Working nights for the past month since we cannot close lanes during the day and i am the "bridge lady" so I must oversee certain phases of work whilst my project manager gets his beauty sleep. This week we are installing pipe, grading new roads and ramps and managing the CRAZY traffic during lane closures. Here's a thought: If all the blinking lights are blinding you then SLOW THAT DEATH MACHINE DOWN.
FACT: death benefits are written into the cost of a job. Simple as that. It is akin to playing "THE LOTTERY" to get on the road, only crops don't thrive upon your death.
Current example: last week a 69 yo lady from Tenn traveling to see her boyfriend in Fla late at night rammed the back of a blue light who was running interference (rightfully so it seems) for the men setting out lane closure. She gassed it instead of braking to try to merge wayyyyy too late into only open lane and was forced into the closure to hit a cop. Bad night for her. Upon interviewing her in her tossed about state (no seatbelt. i mean really people) she stated " I was headed to see my boyfriend who called me and asked if I could be there tonight instead of waiting til saturday". Could not help but form the cartoonish thought of a long distance elderly booty call. Of course my dad took offense in hearing this story & her age and thus ensued the only slightly uncomfortably 'old people have sex too' talk. We both noted that he was lucky he didn't have to drive anywhere to have sex unless THEY wanted to. Hilarious!
Closing request: please advise of pitfalls and or unwritten rules of blogging. I already feel as if I run on too long.............

More me... PMS mode

More about me.... I am married to my third and best husband! Too young the first time to make it work (product: daughter & extreme dislike for New Jersey in the winter), almost lost my soul in the second (product: son & extreme understanding of alcoholism) and only after swearing off of men did i finally meet my knight.
My daughter is a anxious freshman at Georgia College and State University, only 30 minutes away ( not far enough). My son is a too handsome fella who needs an ego reduction but knowing his father this will only get worse.
I was raised around construction and in the country. When i DECIDED that college was not for me ( did not change that thinking til age 30) I went to work in a soils lab and have worked in the construction inspection field ever since. Workboots and hardhat, BABY!
The most important realization of this century for me has been that this industry will kill you. If not an errant drunk/drugged driver, silicosis or skin cancer is pretty much assured. For this reason I am not as enthusiastic as i used to be about "changing attitudes towards women" especially at the risk of my health. Sadly I have spent 20 yrs in a highly specialized field that is not really transferable. Dream: to have my own restaurant, and pursue photography.
If this blog takes a depressive tone, fear not the mood changes quickly! :)
My best friend from high school ( an english major, writer and successful business owner) just moved home from California and this is opening a new chapter for me. She is highly encouraging and doesn't allow one to be depressed, even the required 2 days a month.
Both of my vibrant parents have cancer dad-Lymphoma, remission; mom- Myeloma, partial remission. Cancer sucks. Treatments suck worse. Emory University hospital rules! Insurance companies also suck.
k. I will come back when I feel better and so many things don't suck.

Picasa link

www.picasaweb.google.com/misticblu

I decided to just link my picasa page instead of trying to upload pics..... for now anyway..... until i figure out blogspot.

First ever.....

First blog. EVER. Which is amazing since I am frequently told that I talk to much and am full of useless facts. This stems from a childhood without television and a need to consume information like food. Parents are older hippified types who abandoned conventional power 30 years ago for the benefits of solar. I read an entire set of Brittanica (probably dated around 1967) and every book in the house. Favorites included Mark Twain, and Best American Loved Poems. Musical tastes were also skewed to the parents with Harry Chapin, Jimmy Buffett and Pink Floyd topping the lists of preferred listening. I am an information whore. Some call it a control issue. I just feel the need to KNOW everything. I don't read as many books anymore, just find myself scrolling until my hand cramps.
I must give props to Mrs. Lime for inspiring me to start putting it all down in print. Will continue soon with more narcissism and start uploading some pics (amateur at best, dughter of a dark room ghoul). Comments greatly appreciated!!!!