sunshine makes me happy

Impression of William Wallace (circa 2010)

2012-02-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

RALLY! (Imagine me getting up on a stallion of great might and measure, holding a flaming sword, and shouting the following) "History is written by the people who aren't illiterate! We can be, nay, we ARE those people. We are a strong people who bring the gifts of togetherness and social well being. We can create a world where the beach ball is flat! We can create a world where instead of being alone, scared, and unappreciated, and judged. WE the people, can create a community that loves unconditionally. When all there is, is LOVE, hate can find no foothold in us. WE are so full of love and acceptance that no one will be turned away. Let's continue to make this reality grow.

" WE have been given a very mighty and powerful torch, it is our job to keep the flame burning so that it may benefit our community now, and it is also our job to ensure that this torch is passed on burning even brighter than we received it. This will be our legacy, and what we create here will be remembered. Together WE ARE STRONG."

Unposted writing from two... three? Summers ago

2012-02-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

So today... Was a really good day, the sun was shining, I got my unemployment check, second to last one. I spoke with my future boss, all the pieces are finally coming together. I start work soon, and although I do not know where I will be living as of July's end. I know the Lord will work something out, He's teaching me to be patient and trust fully in Him. It's NOT EASY, but I am at peace.

I think it's important to start off by saying that my folks and I are getting along. Aside from the minor run ins with the law which were, if you ask my attorney, completely ridiculous charges and we're working hard to get them dropped. We all knew that when I moved back in here that it was only going to be temporary. Originally I was just going to stay until my back healed. The time just flew by and the jobs weren't coming. I had temp jobs here and there doing random things. My parents and i agreed that I should be moved out at least by the end of the summer, after some negotiations and a bit of planning we ended up setting the date to the end of July.

Thank God my back is finally healed. That in consideration I was desperately looking for work. I got a lead about a man named James Bond (yes that's his real name) owned a cattle ranch in New Mexico, and that come summer he would need a ranch-hand, I had experience so I jumped at the opportunity to go on such a great adventure, and It was WORK! I had been searching for nearly 6 months, scrimping by on the unemployment checks that I used mostly to pay old court fees, bills and creditors.

I rested easy for the next couple months waiting for my chance to drive down to NM and start my exciting new life as a ranch hand. Well that job fell through, so I found out end of March that it was going to fall through. So I had to change my plans. A month ago, I was talking to my cousin Amber, who lives in Grand Junction, CO. My uncle also lives there, and I set it up that I would drive down there and work for my uncle and stay with my cousin until I could find better living arrangements. The plan was going to work out perfectly. Unemployment runs out in two weeks, I would have been down there by this week, starting to work, so that I would have a fat paycheck coming to me by the time unemployment ran out. This was I could eliminate any gaps in the cash-flow.

Fast-forward to June 16 or somewhere near that time, I go to court for the ridiculous 'possession of a deadly weapon' charge that I got in fife (long story, I'm sure it's posted somewhere, I'll find a link). The prosecuting attorney is trying to give me a year in jail and a $5000 fine for this stupid charge. To make the story even shorter, I can't leave the state until this matter is cleared up, which the way things are looking is going to be another 2 months at least. Then once it's all over I'm not even sure I won't be in jail even if it's just a small amount of time, a month would screw me.

I know most of you have never gone to jail. I will tell you this, when you think you might go to jail, it's really really hard to plan anything, because you know that either by going to jail, or while you are in jail you are going to lose everything you've worked and planned for.

Boss:"Why did you miss the first week of work Garrett?"
Me: " I was in jail"
Boss: "leave now"

So that's fallen through obviously, the going to Colorado, which means I'll be stuck here with no job while my unemployment runs out and I have a move out date in 10 days and no place to move to. I prayed and prayed and asked God what the hell was going on and what I was supposed to do?

That was 2 weeks ago. My folks were getting a little overwhelmed with all the kids in the house, since school got out and Austin was having people over all the time. My folks RARELY get a night alone, especially not alone at their own house. Austin went to camp, for a week, and so I volunteered to go camping so the parents could have the house to themselves. I don't blame them, they've both been working their asses off lately, and aside from doing most of the housework and landscaping, I sit around alot.

So I'm camping where I often do, in the parking lot of the office building that my dad rents his office from. It's very rustic and woodsy, and it's set back in the forest sort of, it's a really nice spot, I have a covered trailer that I use to sleep in. It's basically a box with wheels that you can lock from the inside, I sleep on the floor since there is nothing inside of this place it's just a trailer for hauling stuff. It keeps me dry however.

I also took the puppies with me so as to give my parents the ultimate relaxation experience. This was an interesting experience all in itself.

Back to my story, there's a very old white haired white mustache, dentures man who also rents space in this office building. One day He was looking out his window watching me play fetch with the puppies. He stuck his head out the window and we started a conversation about the dogs. He mentioned that his wife thought they were adorable when she had seen them earlier in the week. From what I could see from the parking lot his office looked cool, there were little tools and boxes of small parts and stuff, I figured that he made or repaired small engines or perhaps watches. I asked him out of curiosity what he did up there. He told me that he repaired hand pieces for dental offices. Drills, the other spinny flouride putter onner thing. Anyhow, I told him that sounded really cool, and it does. I love trouble shooting and fixing things, using my hands. Hell it's what I'm going to start school for, bio-med equipment repair technician! So this is all so cool.

He told me to bring the dogs up to his office and he'd give me a closer look and show me how it was all done. I went up to his office and I immediately got excited there was little tools, oscilloscopes, little parts of every kind. He showed me how to fix a drill that they use to drill out decayed tooth matter. I took to it so easily.

Doug, his name, offered me a job, paying $2 more than what I had asked for. I start training tomorrow hopefully, it's been tough trying to get in. He has to train me, because it's just him and I when I start working, he's a private firm so it's a low employee, he just hired a salesman so it's doug, the sales guy and me. I'm so excited.

God just dropped this into my lap and I believe it was because of prayer. A couple weeks

Using the force on my Laundry

2012-02-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Anyone else struggle with how to feel when more than half of your socks regularly match themselves while in the dryer? Only to remain somehow attached to one another upon dumping the basket onto the couch or the gravel, or concrete, whatever your into on that particular day.

Half of me feels like I may have been using the force, but like a 'running in the background' type of the force.

And since we've read over and over again about how cool it is to tell the truth all the time I can assure you that my sock do match themselves. Without magic, or prematcing them. Odd potatos.

Steve Jobs isn't dead, and neither are his spies

2012-01-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes what seems completely unnecessary (and kind of scary) can still have an actual function. Shopping rewards app ShopKick, for example, appears to turn on your microphone and record audio without you knowing about it. If you installed this shopping rewards app, you probably didn't notice or think much about the permissions setting that allowed ShopKick to record audio and take pictures. ShopKick's privacy policy suggests the company is using that recorded information to tell if you're listening to a commercial or show on TV—maybe to tell more about you so it can tailor the discounts or ads it sends you. Yes, that's creepy. But ShopKick's audio listening may also serve a necessary purpose—to listen for a tone within a store (inaudible to us) so it can tell if you're in a participating store, according to the New York Times.

taken from:
http://lifehacker.com/5864518/is-my-phone-spying-on-me-and-what-can-i-do-about-it

So I was thinking that I was wanting to get another iphone, then I stumbled across this article and decided that steve jobs probably isn't really dead and that he's coming up with new was to control the world from some underground bunker somewhere. Using our phones to hear our conversations and settle his lonely spirit.

2011-11-10T16:14:00.001-08:00

This is what my camper looked like when I first bought it back in early October. The roof was leaking, three of the four load bearing outside corners were completely dry rotted. The 'black' tank was half full of... well I won't go there. There were several windows either broken, or completely missing.

Zeitgeist

2011-06-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

Cooking at home, why I don't.

2011-06-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

4 seasons of seattle weather

2011-06-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

seattle weather

boobs, spiders, leonard nemoy.

2011-06-22T02:37:00.000-07:00

Random Coolness

2011-06-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

Which type of N.E.R.D. are you?

2011-05-01T15:37:00.001-07:00

Rio is not Rango

2011-04-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through movies I haven't seen with good reviews, when I remembered that there was a movie starting with an R, about a lizard or other reptilian character with the voice of johnny depp.

Turns out the movie I was thinking of is called 'Rango'

I was watching and watching and watching thinking my friend Johnny would show up any moment. Almost an hour into the movie I still was wondering where the lizard would fit into the story line. So far all I had seen was a blue bird get bird-napped and a bunch of shit about Brazil and Carnival! Finally the movie gets half hour from the end and I realize that in fact I had downloaded and been watching the wrong movie. Super freaking weak. Seriously I cannot explain how terrible this movie was. It was a lot like that movie Madagascar and Madagascar two which I never saw. The fact that blue was such a pussy and kept whining about wanting to be back in his cage with his mirror and bell in the voice of Jesse Eisenberg was pretty funny. I downloaded this movie, Rio by mistake. Dur.

Needless to say I was a little miffed but I had to laugh out loud.

We suck

2011-04-16T14:06:00.001-07:00

This is what happens to snitches

2011-04-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

I hate spiders

2011-04-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Open source Hardware

2011-04-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

http://evilmadscientist.s3.amazonaws.com/media/2011/04/oshw-logo2.png

Toying with the small minded.

2011-04-12T13:28:00.000-07:00

Leaving A&P this morning after a stunningly interesting lecture on blood, the circulatory system and the nervous system I sort of ran into a problem.

I was walking towards the exit when a kid of maybe between 17-20 kinda bumped into me. As he approached me I was thinking he was coming a little close, it probably had something to do with the uber-swagger he had going. I thought his pants were going to fall off and he had what looked like a blade or something in his pocket. I dismissed it cause I had to pee. I heard something coming from behind me after he passed.

I'm sure that this dude thought he looked like this.

But really he looked like this.

Both photos contain people who have very low self-esteem and probably had daddy/mommy issues. The guy my story is about looked like the whitey in the second picture.

It sounded like 'flag is on the wrong side homie,'
I turned around and said "What are you talking about?"

"Your flag is on the wrong side, yo gangsta it's disrespectful to the flag" This is when he pulled out his own 'flag' which is a red bandanna and started waving it around, which in gangland is calling out, or asking for a fight.

"I don't quite understand what your saying" Knowing full well exactly what was on this dumbass's mind (not a whole lot to grasp onto in there I imagine) Purposefully making him repeat himself,causeing him to look a little foolish which irritated him even more, just because it's so easy to irritate these people.

"I'm a blood nigga, and having your flag in the left pocket is mad disrespectful"

"I'm not a gangster dude, I blow my nose on this thing. I don't give a shit about your gang or it's colors" I said laughing a little and pulling my hankie out to show him.

"I'm a blood nigga, you wanna fight?! I'll cut you up nigga, stupid ass whitey what the fuck you looking at me for." (this kid was as white as the blow he probably had for breakfast.

"That's too bad" I said rather mockingly

"what was that?" He said coming closer to me, leaving only about 10 to 15 feet between us.

"I said that sucks your a gangster, are you looking for a fight? Because I'm not interested in fighting" Thinking to myself I could take him easily, granted he didn't have a gun or a knife, like I suspected.

I turned around and started walking away all the while, from a distance, he kept egging me on calling me names and saying he was gonna bring his 'boys' back and kick my ass.

"I'm gonna cut you up if you talk shit about the colors, bring my boys back and cut you up nigga."

I'm obviously not black, so maybe this dude wasn't as smart as he didn't already look.

"Your not worth getting kicked out of school for bro" I said politely and seriously. He was hopping mad so after he turned the corner, I quickly followed him. I listened as he was walking down the hall, and watched as well. He was flipping his gang sign all over the place, and I could hear 'I'm a blood nigga'

Hilariously enough the whole thing was caught on tape. I am friends with the security guard who works at bates, one of them. He told me that right after the punk confronted me looking for a fight, he tried to get into a fight with someone else. He had a fairly large blade on him turns out. Didn't go to Bates, but was at school looking for someone to stab for an initiation purpose or something. That's what the guard told me, said he'd chased this kid off before, and that next time he was going to taze him. I hope I'm there for that.

My adrenaline was pumping so hard. Right when he said that he wanted to fight, instantly it was like electricity flowing through my veins, I actually felt taller and stronger. It wasn't hard to walk away, like I told the douche, fighting unless it's defending myself is not worth getting kicked out of school for.

Also instead of getting stabbed and kicked out of school today I went and bought a kit-kat bar so I could sit and think about the good decision I'd made. Hurray for me. Also hurray for boobies.

Yum, pig brains

2011-04-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

This unfortunately is a real product. Let me tell you, it's not the insanely high cholesterol that's stopping me from eating this.

Disney the way we dreamed.

2011-04-08T21:22:00.001-07:00

erotic disney? I can't decide which despicable act I like more.

things I like today

2011-04-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Dream Bedroom

2011-03-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

true love

2011-03-26T13:13:00.001-07:00

Random things that turn me on

2011-03-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

A nice ass in a tight pair of jeans! The ability to hold an intelligent conversation! The just-slightly porny way you say “f**k me”! All three are practically guaranteed to turn any man on, but they’re also sort of, I don’t know, obvious. So when I read an article over at Modern Man declaring “8 Everyday Things Guaranteed To Turn On Women”—and finding it relatively accurate—I decided to unearth the same scientifically proven factoids about men for the benefit of the sisterhood. After all, men are both exceedingly complex and irritatingly simplistic creatures, so it makes total sense that the following eight surprisingly everyday things are the turn-ons that really work.

1. Downloading from torrent websites. Not that I’m encouraging illegal downloading or anything, ahem, but there was a time when I was on the wrong side of the law and downloaded all my music and movies from torrent sites. Torrent sites are ideal for downloading large files—I won’t get into the tech mumbo-jumbo, but basically, tell a dude you use them and his eyes will light up like a Christmas tree. I have had not one, not two, but three dudes immediately say, ‘Wow. That’s hot,” when I dropped this info.

2. Being handy with a screwdriver or drill or some other tool. There’s something about a woman who can dismantle her own vacuum cleaner and can identify a jig saw that makes a fella sprout wood. Major bonus points if you also assembled all of your Ikea and West Elm furniture by yourself.

3. Cooking pork loin. Well, not necessarily pork loin and not necessarily cooking it for him. But being able to say, “Oh yeah, I made roasted pork loin [or Beef Wellington or whatever] for Christmas dinner—it came out pretty awesome,” makes him think,Mmm, I love pork loin. Pork loin good. How do I get closer to this chick’s pork loin?And then BAM! His food boner turns into a real boner. I have gotten laid more ever since I really found my way around the kitchen and I don’t even have to cook for a dude to have him be turned on by the fact that I can cook.

4. Doing yoga. Even if the guy would never do yoga himself because he doesn’t think it’s “real” physical fitness, knowing you’re flexible will get him thinking about all sorts of positions he could put you in. Do a back-bend at a bar and watch the men come a-runnin’. (I’m only kind of kidding.) Similarly, though I am not a runner, I have heard from friends who have run half or full marathons that men are always impressed by that information. Setting and accomplishing a goal is sexy, especially one that requires a lot of stamina.

5. Being a good driver. I don’t mean driving like my mom and always using your blinker and staying within the speed limit, either. No, a woman who drives fast and aggressively is showing she’s both competent and a challenge. He may even want you to take the wheel in other ways. Bonus points to the woman who can drive a stick shift.

6. Quoting random song lyrics in everyday conversation. A friend of mine landed her last boyfriend—a big hip-hop fan—when she told him, “I need my third eye poked,” referencing a lyric from a Common song. This works just as well with a hipster, punk rock enthusiast, or a fan of classic rock, and if the lyric is relatively obscure—i.e., NOT “Baby, I’ll be your free bird”—even better.

7. Wearing white cotton underwear. Not everyday or anything, because then its virginal luster becomes too commonplace, but every once and awhile will be a pleasant surprise to behold. A guy friend of mine told me that white underwear has that innocent, “not meant to be seen by others” allure. Whatever. This is great news for women in relationships who can spice things up by splurging on a 3-pack of Hanes rather than some ridiculous get-up at Victoria’s Secret. And it’s even better news for single ladies like myself who hate doing laundry and ran out of clean lacy thongs five days ago and “Whoops!” have a date tonight.

This is all so accurate. I would say that the white underwear, the good driving, and computer/tool skills are the top ones for sure.

Taken from thefrisky.com

prevent crying

2011-03-26T11:50:00.001-07:00

"The Creed" of the BioMedicalEquipmentTechnician

2011-03-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

“Creed of the BMET”

I am a highly skilled expert Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET). I am credible and have the highest integrity. I shall never forget the lives and health of others who depend on my profession. I am a Guardian of patient safety!

I will always use proper equipment, for I know what can happen if I substitute unsuitable equipment in order to accomplish my job.

I will always use the proper technical data and checklists while performing my job. I will follow them carefully and overlook nothing.

I will keep my test equipment calibrated and my tools in the best serviceable condition. An uncalibrated instrument could endanger a patient; a worn tool could injure me or my co-worker.

I will recognize my limitations and I am obligated to seek the help of those more experienced than myself if for whatever reason I am unable to complete my job.

I will never forge ahead into uncertainty where the life or health of a patient might be endangered.

I will set my standards higher than “the book” requires. If I am not satisfied with my work I have done, I will remain behind and do it over 1000 times or until I am satisfied.

I will take ownership and pride in my work. While some may describe maintenance people as “grease monkeys”, I know I have been trained without parallel in order to perform complex tasks. My organization has invested thousands of dollars and placed precious lives into the skill of my two hands. I will remain forever worthy of that trust.

I will strive to be the very best BMET in my organization! Even if I am not, I will do my job as if I am. I will never falter nor shall I fail.

I will try to spread my positive attitude to those with who I work. If I have a positive attitude, I will be working as part of a team of individuals contributing to a better healthcare system.

It is my duty to support all healthcare providers or those who help the sick, disabled, infirmed, and injured. I will be ready at all hours to perform my assigned tasks placing these duties before personal desires and comforts.

I will think in the abstract, I will think outside of the box, I will take suggestions from my team members, I will not dismiss any suggestion that may solve the problem. I will not stop until I have solved the problem, using all resources at my disposal. I will not show up someone by thinking I am smarter or better prepared. I will be humble in my work and just do it! I will not brag, nor will I toot my own horn by asking questions that only I know the answer of.

I will teach and I will be patient with those who either do not know or are in need of service training, I will give my knowledge freely and expect nothing in return.

To all of this …I give my word.

Taken from http://bmet.wikia.com/wiki/Creed_of_the_BMET

RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

2011-02-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

Favorite Beverage

2011-02-24T13:26:00.001-08:00

I think I might have just realized that medium flat diet pepsi could be my favorite drink, besides medium flat a&w rootbeer.

Gotta Love Tabloid Headlines

2011-02-19T22:54:00.001-08:00

Below

2011-02-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

I am home by myself tonight, and while scrolling through the free movies on demand I stumbled across 'Below'.
I'm loving it already, as far as scary goes for me it's already set underwater in a submarine. It's got this guy, bruce greenwood.

These are the people I recognize. It's quite a bunch.

Granny Can Rock it

2011-02-19T21:58:00.000-08:00

I think if my grandparents didn't have to dabble in the are of fighting cancer. I think they would have been cool and hip like this. This granny can rock it, and I think her selection of music is incredible.

Things that never were

2011-01-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

First Day of E-cigarette

2011-01-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is going to take some getting used to. I'm still smoking regular cigarettes. I just like the flavor better, I will certainly need to try out some other flavors. Possibly get the throat kick drops, they are supposed to make it feel like your smoking a real cigarette, hence the 'throat kick' name. I'm freezing.

I'm standing outside the commons mall, typing on the hood of my truck. It's dark and it's about 38 or 40 degrees outside. I'm about to go see the green hornet. It's really weird, I've been walking around smoking my e-cigarette indoors. I'm not really in the mood to explain it to people, and it looks so real, besides the blue light, that I'm afraid I might get confronted, and told to leave.

I'm about to go inside.

Critical Foreign Dependencies

2010-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

15. (S//NF) Following is the 2008 Critical Foreign Dependencies Initiative (CFDI) list (CI/KR organized by region):  [BEGIN TEXT OF LIST]    

AFRICA Congo (Kinshasa): Cobalt (Mine and Plant)  Gabon: Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade  Guinea: Bauxite (Mine)  South Africa: BAE Land System OMC, Benoni, South Africa Brown David Gear Industries LTD, Benoni, South Africa Bushveld Complex (chromite mine) Ferrochromium Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Palladium Mine and Plant Platinum Mines Rhodium    EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC  Australia: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Brookvale, Australia Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Sydney, Australia Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Nickel Mines Maybe Faulding Mulgrave Victoria, Australia: Manufacturing facility for Midazolam injection. Mayne Pharma (fill/finish), Melbourne, Australia:  Sole suppliers of Crotalid Polyvalent Antivenin (CroFab).  China: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Chom Hom Kok, Hong Kong C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing Shanghai, China China-US undersea cable landing, Chongming, China China-US undersea cable landing Shantou, China EAC undersea cable landing Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Tong Fuk, Hong Kong Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Fluorspar (Mine) Germanium Mine Graphite Mine Rare Earth Minerals/Elements Tin Mine and Plant Tungsten - Mine and Plant Polypropylene Filter Material for N-95 Masks Shanghai Port Guangzhou Port Hong Kong Port Ningbo Port Tianjin Port  Fiji: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Suva, Fiji  Indonesia: Tin Mine and Plant Straits of Malacca  Japan: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Chikura, Japan C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Shima, Japan China-US undersea cable, Okinawa, Japan EAC undersea cable landing Ajigaura, Japan EAC undersea cable landing Shima, Japan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Wada, Japan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Wada, Japan Japan-US undersea cable landing, Maruyama, Japan Japan-US undersea cable landing Kitaibaraki, Japan KJCN undersea cable landing Fukuoka, Japan KJCN undersea cable landing Kita-Kyushu, Japan Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) undersea cable landing Ajigaura, Japan Pacific Crossing-1 (PC-1) undersea cable landing Shima, Japan Tyco Transpacific undersea cable landing, Toyohashi, Japan Tyco Transpacific undersea cable landing Emi, Japan Hitachi, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Port of Chiba Port of Kobe Port of Nagoya Port of Yokohama Iodine Mine Metal Fabrication Machines Titanium Metal (Processed) Biken, Kanonji City, Japan Hitachi Electrical Power Generators and Components Large AC Generators above 40 MVA  Malaysia: Straits of Malacca  New Zealand: Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Whenuapai, New Zealand Southern Cross undersea cable landing, Takapuna, New Zealand  Philippines: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Batangas, Philippines EAC undersea cable landing Cavite, Philippines  Republic of Korea: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Pusan, Republic of Korea. EAC undersea cable landing Shindu-Ri, Republic of Korea FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Pusan, Republic of Korea KJCN undersea cable landing Pusan, Republic of Korea Hitachi Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV Busan Port  Singapore: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Changi, Singapore EAC undersea cable landing Changi North, Singapore Port of Singapore Straits of Malacca  Taiwan: C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Fangshan, Taiwan C2C Cable Network undersea cable landing, Tanshui, Taiwan China-US undersea cable landing Fangshan, Taiwan EAC undersea cable landing Pa Li, Taiwan FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Toucheng, Taiwan Kaohsiung Port    EUROPE AND EURASIA  Europe (Unspecified): Metal Fabrication Machines: Small number of Turkish companies (Durma, Baykal, Ermaksan)  Austria: Baxter AG, Vienna, Austria: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Octapharma Pharmazeutika, Vienna, Austria: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV)  Azerbaijan: Sangachal Terminal Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline  Belarus: Druzhba Oil Pipeline  Belgium: Germanium Mine Baxter SA, Lessines, Belgium: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Glaxo Smith Kline, Rixensart, Belgium: Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA, Wavre, Belgium: Acellular Pertussis Vaccine Component Port of Antwerp  Denmark: TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Blaabjerg, Denmark Bavarian Nordic (BN), Hejreskovvej, Kvistgard, Denmark: Smallpox Vaccine Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Bagsvaerd, Denmark: Numerous formulations of insulin Novo Nordisk Insulin Manufacturer: Global insulin supplies Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark:  DTaP (including D and T components) pediatric version  France: APOLLO undersea cable, Lannion, France FA-1 undersea cable, Plerin, France TAT-14 undersea cable landing St. Valery, France Sanofi-Aventis Insulin Manufacturer: Global insulin supplies Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing Alstrom, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Alstrom Electrical Power Generators and Components EMD Pharms Semoy, France: Cyanokit Injection GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. Evreux, France: Influenza neurominidase inhibitor RELENZA (Zanamivir) Diagast, Cedex, France: Olympus (impacts blood typing ability) Genzyme Polyclonals SAS (bulk), Lyon, France: Thymoglobulin Sanofi Pasteur SA, Lyon, France: Rabies virus vaccine  Georgia: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline  Germany: TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Nodren, Germany. Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Sylt, Germany BASF Ludwigshafen: World's largest integrated chemical complex Siemens Erlangen: Essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals Siemens, GE, Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators Draeger Safety AG & Co., Luebeck, Germany: Critical to gas detection capability Junghans Fienwerktechnik Schramberg, Germany: Critical to the production of mortars TDW-Gasellschaft Wirksysteme, Schroebenhausen, Germany: Critical to the production of the Patriot Advanced Capability Lethality Enhancement Assembly Siemens, Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV Siemens, GE Electrical Power Generators and Components Druzhba Oil Pipeline Sanofi Aventis Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Lantus Injection (insulin) Heyl Chemish-pharmazeutische Fabrik GmbH: Radiogardase (Prussian blue) Hameln Pharmaceuticals, Hameln, Germany: Pentetate Calcium Trisodium (Ca DTPA) and Pentetate Zinc Trisodium (Zn DTPA) for contamination with plutonium, americium, and curium IDT Biologika GmbH, Dessau Rossiau, Germany: BN Small Pox Vaccine. Biotest AG, Dreiech, Germany: Supplier for TANGO (impacts automated blood typing ability) CSL Behring GmbH, Marburg, Germany: Antihemophilic factor/von Willebrand factor Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics GmbH, Marburg, Germany: Rabies virus vaccine Vetter Pharma Fertigung GmbH & Co KG, Ravensburg, Germany (filling): Rho(D) IGIV Port of Hamburg  Ireland: Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing, Dublin Ireland Genzyme Ireland Ltd. (filling), Waterford, Ireland: Thymoglobulin  Italy: Glaxo Smith Kline SpA (fill/finish), Parma, Italy: Digibind (used to treat snake bites) Trans-Med gas pipeline  Netherlands: Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Beverwijk, Netherlands TAT-14 undersea cable landing, Katwijk, Netherlands Rotterdam Port  Norway: Cobalt Nickel Mine  Poland: Druzhba Oil Pipeline  Russia: Novorossiysk Export Terminal Primorsk Export Terminal. Nadym Gas Pipeline Junction: The most critical gas facility in the world Uranium Nickel Mine: Used in certain types of stainless steel and superalloys Palladium Mine and Plant Rhodium  Spain: Strait of Gibraltar Instituto Grifols, SA, Barcelona, Spain: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV) Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline, Algeria  Sweden: Recip AB Sweden: Thyrosafe (potassium iodine)  Switzerland: Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc. Basel, Switzerland: Tamiflu (oseltamivir) Berna Biotech, Berne, Switzerland: Typhoid vaccine CSL Behring AG, Berne, Switzerland: Immune Globulin Intravenous (IGIV)  Turkey: Metal Fabrication Machines: Small number of Turkish companies (Durma, Baykal, Ermaksan) Bosporus Strait Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline  Ukraine: Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade  United Kingdom: Goonhilly Teleport, Goonhilly Downs, United Kingdom Madley Teleport, Stone Street, Madley, United Kingdom Martelsham Teleport, Ipswich, United Kingdom APOLLO undersea cable landing Bude, Cornwall Station, United Kingdom Atlantic Crossing-1 (AC-1) undersea cable landing Whitesands Bay FA-1 undersea cable landing Skewjack, Cornwall Station Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing, Southport, United Kingdom TAT-14 undersea cable landing Bude, Cornwall Station, United Kingdom Tyco Transatlantic undersea cable landing, Highbridge, United Kingdom Tyco Transatlantic undersea cable landing, Pottington, United Kingdom. Yellow/Atlantic Crossing-2  (AC-2)  undersea cable landing  Bude, United Kingdom Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd., Presont, Lancashire, United Kingdom: Critical to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter BAE Systems Operations Ltd., Southway, Plymouth Devon, United Kingdom: Critical to extended range guided munitions BAE Systems RO Defense, Chorley, United Kingdom: Critical to the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) AGM-154C (Unitary Variant) MacTaggart Scott, Loanhead, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom: Critical to the Ship Submersible Nuclear (SSN)    NEAR/MIDDLE EAST  Djibouti: Bab al-Mendeb: Shipping lane is a critical supply chain node  Egypt: 'Ayn Sukhnah-SuMEd Receiving Import Terminal 'Sidi Kurayr-SuMed Offloading Export Terminal Suez Canal  Iran: Strait of Hormuz Khark (Kharg) Island Sea Island Export Terminal Khark Island T-Jetty  Iraq: Al-Basrah Oil Terminal  Israel: Rafael Ordnance Systems Division, Haifa, Israel: Critical to Sensor Fused Weapons (SFW), Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMD), Tail Kits, and batteries  Kuwait: Mina' al Ahmadi Export Terminal  Morocco: Strait of Gibraltar Maghreb-Europe (GME) gas pipeline, Morocco  Oman: Strait of Hormuz  Qatar: Ras Laffan Industrial Center: By 2012 Qatar will be the largest source of imported LNG to U.S.  Saudi Arabia: Abqaiq Processing Center: Largest crude oil processing and stabilization plant in the world Al Ju'aymah Export Terminal: Part of the Ras Tanura complex As Saffaniyah Processing Center Qatif Pipeline Junction Ras at Tanaqib Processing Center Ras Tanura Export Terminal Shaybah Central Gas-oil Separation Plant  Tunisia: Trans-Med Gas Pipeline  United Arab Emirates (UAE): Das Island Export Terminal Jabal Zannah Export Terminal Strait of Hormuz  Yemen: Bab al-Mendeb: Shipping lane is a critical supply chain node  SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA  Kazakhstan: Ferrochromium Khromtau Complex, Kempersai, (Chromite Mine)  India: Orissa (chromite mines) and Karnataka (chromite mines) Generamedix Gujurat, India: Chemotherapy agents, including florouracil and methotrexate    WESTERN HEMISPHERE  Argentina: Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine finishing  Bermuda: GlobeNet (formerly Bermuda US-1 (BUS-1) undersea cable landing Devonshire, Bermuda  Brazil: Americas-II undersea cable landing Fortaleza, Brazil GlobeNet undersea cable landing Fortaleza, Brazil GlobeNet undersea cable landing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Iron Ore from Rio Tinto Mine Manganese - Battery grade, natural; battery grade, synthetic; chemical grade; ferro; metallurgical grade Niobium (Columbium), Araxa, Minas Gerais State (mine) Ouvidor and Catalao I, Goias State: Niobium  Chile: Iodine Mine  Canada: Hibernia Atlantic undersea cable landing Halifax , Nova Scotia, Canada James Bay Power Project, Quebec: monumental hydroelectric power development Mica Dam, British Columbia: Failure would impact the Columbia River Basin. Hydro Quebec, Quebec: Critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast U. S. Robert Moses/Robert H. Saunders Power, Ontario: Part of the St. Lawrence Power Project, between Barnhart Island, New York, and Cornwall, Ontario Seven Mile Dam, British Columbia: Concrete gravity dam between two other hydropower dams along the Pend d'Oreille River Pickering Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada Chalk River Nuclear Facility, Ontario: Largest supplier of medical radioisotopes in the world Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility, Allied Signal, Amherstburg, Ontario Enbridge Pipeline Alliance Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada Maritime and Northeast Pipeline: Natural gas transmission from Canada Transcanada Gas: Natural gas transmission from Canada Alexandria Bay POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Ambassador Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Blaine POE, British Columbia: Northern border crossing Blaine Washington Rail Crossing, British Columbia Blue Water Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Champlain POE, Quebec: Northern border crossing CPR Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario (Michigan Central Rail Crossing) International Bridge Rail Crossing, Ontario International Railway Bridge Rail Crossing Lewiston-Queenstown POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Peace Bridge POE, Ontario: Northern border crossing Pembina POE, Manitoba: Northern border crossing North Portal Rail Crossing, Saskatchewan St. Claire Tunnel Rail Crossing, Ontario Waneta Dam, British Columbia: Earthfill/concrete hydropower dam Darlington Nuclear Power Plant, Ontario, Canada. E-ONE Moli Energy, Maple Ridge, Canada: Critical to production of various military application electronics General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada, London Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the Stryker/USMC LAV Vehicle Integration Raytheon Systems Canada Ltd. ELCAN Optical Technologies Division, Midland, Ontario, Canada: Critical to the production of the AGM-130 Missile Thales Optronique Canada, Inc., Montreal, Quebec: Critical optical systems for ground combat vehicles Germanium Mine Graphite Mine Iron Ore Mine Nickel Mine Niobec Mine, Quebec, Canada:  Niobium Cangene, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Plasma Sanofi Pasteur Ltd., Toronto, Canada: Polio virus vaccine GlaxoSmithKile Biologicals, North America, Quebec, Canada: Pre-pandemic influenza vaccines  French Guiana: Americas-II undersea cable landing Cayenne, French Guiana  Martinique: Americas-II undersea cable landing Le Lamentin, Martinique  Mexico: FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Tijuana, Mexico Pan-American Crossing (PAC) undersea cable landing Mazatlan, Mexico Amistad International Dam: On the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas and Ciudad Acuna, Coahuila, Mexico Anzalduas Dam: Diversion dam south of Mission, Texas, operated jointly by the U.S. and Mexico for flood control Falcon International Dam: Upstream of Roma, Texas and Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico Retamal Dam: Diversion dam south of Weslaco, Texas, operated jointly by the U.S. and Mexico for flood control GE Hydroelectric Dam Turbines and Generators: Main source for a large portion of larger components Bridge of the Americas: Southern border crossing Brownsville POE: Southern border crossing Calexico East POE: Southern border crossing Columbia Solidarity Bridge: Southern border crossing Kansas City Southern de Mexico (KCSM) Rail Line, (Mexico) Nogales POE: Southern border crossing Laredo Rail Crossing Eagle Pass Rail Crossing Otay Mesa Crossing: Southern border crossing Pharr International Bridge: Southern border crossing World Trade Bridge: Southern border crossing Ysleta Zaragosa Bridge: Southern border crossing Hydrofluoric Acid Production Facility Graphite Mine GE Electrical Power Generators and Components General Electric, Large Electric Power Transformers 230 - 500 kV  Netherlands Antilles: Americas-II undersea cable landing Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles.  Panama: FLAG/REACH North Asia Loop undersea cable landing Fort Amador, Panama Panama Canal  Peru: Tin Mine and Plant  Trinidad and Tobago: Americas-II undersea cable landing Port of Spain Atlantic LNG: Provides 70% of U.S. natural gas import needs  Venezuela: Americas-II undersea cable landing Camuri, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing, Punta Gorda, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing Catia La Mar, Venezuela GlobeNet undersea cable landing Manonga, Venezuela  [END TEXT OF LIST]

Who can we blow up and not care

2010-12-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

This is obviously a section in which many many reports have come in and been consolidated to decide which countries we need and which countries we don't.

You got a pipeline running through you? Well we won't blow you to hell, too near one of our chemical factories? we won't blow you up either. Is your name panama? do you have a canal? We won't blow you up either. Russia... well. Your boned.

S E C R E T STATE 015113  

NOFORN, NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1/29/2019 
TAG PTER, PGOV, ASEC, EFIN, ENRG, KCIP 
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR INFORMATION:CRITICAL FOREIGN DEPENDENCIES (CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND KEY RESOURCES LOCATED ABROAD)  

REF: STATE 6461  PLEASE PASS TO RSO, POLOFF, ECON, and MANAGEMENT (GSO and IT).  Classified by S/CT DAS, Susan F. Burk, Reason: 1/4 (B), (D), (E), and (G)

Greatest Leslie Nielsen line ever

2010-12-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Knife Case

2010-11-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

The year of anxiety and building faith

The court saga began on September 11 of last year.

I was pulled over for speeding in a school zone.
The day I was pulled over was the first day of school in the fife school district and I had driven through the school zone to the hardware store to get some saw blades for the table saw at work. By the time I had checked out and left the hardware store the school zone lights had began flashing (for the first time all summer). I proceeded to head back to work going the posted speed limit of 30mph. Not even 100 feet after the high school on my right hand side I saw red and blue behind me.

At this point I had no idea what I was being pulled over for. I was off drugs, not drinking, working nearly 60hrs a week at the farm and homeless. So in my mind there was nothing for the police or the government to harass me about at all. I was completely at ease and although polite and courteous I was nonchalant because I felt that there was nothing to fear possibly just a misunderstanding.

The officer took my license after telling me that I was going 10 over in a school zone. This was news to me. After running my license the officer, hand now on his weapon, slowly approached the work truck and asked me to slowly get out of the vehicle. After handcuffing me and sitting me down on the rear-bumper of the truck he informed me that my license was in fact suspended and that I was under arrest for DWLS in the 3rd degree (lowest degree there is). That's when he noticed the knife in my pocket, the knife I had purchased at Wal-Mart beginning of summer to aid in my work on the farm. The link for you to buy one is here (gerber @ Wal-Mart).

After using 3 very strong centrifugal motions the knife snapped open in the officers hand, at which time he said I was also being charged with possession of a deadly weapon. My boss was then called to come pick up the truck and myself, I was released from handcuffs had my picture taken (where I looked like a james dean-ish thug, if I can get a copy I'll post it, it's almost funny, until you realize it's how I looked in that pic that started the whole process with the prosecutor.)

Interesting Side note: Not long after I was pulled over on this stop is when I got into the car accident with Monica, where Sake died and my back was all messed up. IF I hadn't been pulled over only two weeks prior to this event, actually it was more like 5 days. I would have still (unknowingly) been suspended, and therefore NOT covered by my insurance. Because I was pulled over I was able to get my license back and reclaim insurance before the accident which in effect saved me thousands in medical bills and will also get me quite a nice settlement sum.

More than a year later, today we went to court to find out that the prosecutor whom was the one that thought I should be charged and given a year in jail WAS NOT IN COURT TODAY! His assistant came in his stead. I'm not sure what the cause of his absence was. I was told that it is a VERY rare occasion that this prosecutor ever misses court. This is what saved us. The prosecutor's assistant owns the very same knife that I was caught and charged with. That being the case, he agreed to drop it if I plead guilty to driving with a suspended license. If the regular prosecutor had been there I would have been given a trial date, and we'd still be praying and crossing our fingers respectively.

This is a complete miracle, I mean seriously. The chances that this prosecutor who is the biggest cold-hearted hardass in fife would not be there on today's date, well it's nothing short of God's handiwork.

I just want to thank all my friends and family for praying and encouraging me. You all have made me feel that I'm loved and special.

My knife case

2010-11-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

This is the administrative code the prosecutor in fife is trying to use to put me in jail for a year. Funny, notice how it says EVERY PERSON WHO: Manufactures, SELLS (fred meyer, goodwill, safeway, gi-joes, REI), disposes of <-- that one is weird huh, ANY KNIFE having a blade which opens, or FALLS? seriously?, or is ejected into position by the force of gravity, or by an outward, downward, or centrifugal thrust or mo

RCW 9.41.250: Dangerous weapons — Penalty — Exemption for law enforcement officers.

apps.leg.wa.gov

(1) Every person who: (a) Manufactures, sells, or disposes of or possesses any instrument or weapon of the kind usually known as slung shot, sand club, or metal knuckles, or spring blade knife, or any knife the blade of which is automatically released by a spring mechanism or other mechanical device, including centrifugal force, and or downward or sideways motion.

This is what I will be dealing with starting Nov. 30th of this year. 3 days. I'm super aggravated and very upset.

pigs, OMG

2010-11-17T16:18:00.001-08:00

I just heard some information personally from someone who just completed a 3 year extensive look at the pork industry in america. The lead scientist is related to my family somehow, he gave me ten points he found during his search and each made me want to vomit. For instance in all the farms 7 out of 9 pigs tested positive for MRSA. And pigs create 10x the waste of people. so one hog farm creates 4,000,000 people worth of waste in 1 year. The land around these farms has to be clear for 40 miles to avoid infecting the surrounding land, water and animals.

Note from a stranger

2010-11-16T13:53:00.001-08:00

I got this message on my youtube account. milo126 Apparently someone watched all my videos and then decided to write me and he had this to say:

Hey brother

Just wanted to let you in on a secret, you're a good guy. Any dilemmas you have with society should be shrugged off immediately because if there's anything I know for sure in life, it's me being able to determine if a man is good or contains malice just by looking at his face on multiple occasions. Don't worry so much about people, they're overrated, trust me. And to the douche bag who doesn't like you, the reason he doesn't like you is because he doesn't know why he doesn't like you. But I know why he doesn't like you. People are afraid of what they don't understand, he doesn't understand how you could be so genuine, real, and down to earth. We may not know each other, but the minute I stumbled upon one of your videos, I felt an immediate connection. We could have made great friends had we met in this life, but perhaps the next. I also know why we never met, call this corny, but the reason we haven't met is because the world requires people like us and of our caliber to be dispersed around the world. To provide every area with that one truly special person. You may joke about being a genius, but the truth is, you probably are one. Just because you can't solve differential equations doesn't mean you're not a genius. There are many types of genius, and I'm pretty sure your mind matured and developed way ahead of the chumps you saw in High School. That right there is genius. Observation and repetition is key to the developing mind. Those who learn to listen, observe and analyze at a younger age usually acquire more wisdom at a higher pace than those who don't. We make our fair share of mistakes, but at the end of the day, we're well aware of what we do. We do it for the experience of experiencing it, not because we need to learn from them. Take care Garrett, I hope you absorb everything that's written. How often do messages from stranger to stranger like this occur? Not very. Live life, I would be honored to meet you one of these days, and I pity the person who had the luxury of being friends with you but turned it down, I really do. It angers me.

Sleepy ice cream

2010-11-01T03:31:00.000-07:00

2010-11-01T03:30:00.001-07:00

Sleepy and brownies with frozen dairy desert.

New Harry potter... This I like

2010-10-28T12:38:00.001-07:00

what? This isn't a game?

2010-10-25T21:39:00.001-07:00

Animal Abuse and Enlightenment

2010-10-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

Where to start. I guess I'll just start how I always start right in the middle, then go forwards and backwards at my leisure.

~~DOG~~
The past month and a couple of weeks. I've noticed that my temper has started to show up more in this |See reference to time period|. Most of the people I know in fact pretty much everyone I know has never really see me get too mad about anything. I'm not one to start confrontations and I'm certainly not one to shout out in anger at anyone. Sometimes if someone is driving stupid I'll yell. However I'm very mild mannered sure I get irritated and annoyed and agitated, just like everyone else. I'm more prone to talk about it to myself and just relax.

Well I was thinking about it today, just now in fact and I was realizing something else. Animals: I get most irritated with animals. Then just now as I'm writing this I admit that I get irritated with a large number of people quite often, and I shrug it off because I don't want to be rude or hurtful towards the people. I've starteed to yell at dogs though. I cuss and call them names, and last week I even kicked my roomates dog. He wimpered, gave a little cry. I didn't hurt him really it was more of a spanking, and it's happened several times mostly with my smacking his ass with a stick in the hopes he'll listen to me. He yelps, not so much out of pain but out of surprise. Still I was and am still looking for a way to calm my temper down and find a healthy outlet for it.

I am not too fond of this behavior. I love animals, and they love me. Yet I've started to take my anger out on this incredibly stupid and irritating and frustrating, annoying, gets under my skin, drives me up the wall, stupid, dumb, retarded, infuriating, aggravating, bothersome, exasperating, mindless, tiresome,moronic, troublesome, naive BAIN OF MY EXISTANCE DOG.

I then just realized just now as he was following me around the house, walking right in front of me so I trip, and just sitting there staring at me panting loudly and whining. I realized that I was being trained, molded, sculpted and taught how to be patient, kind and accepting. This is the exciting part! I realized that if I was being tried and tested so much and so often I must be, being prepared for something. God is preparing me for something. When I realize that's happening I get so excited I can't even see straight. I start praying and asking him to reveal to me what it is! Everything happens for a reason and accidents and coincidence just don't happen randomly. I think it's all there to serve a purpose.

Sure the dog is sitting behind me whining about God knows what right now, but when I think about it as Clarissa Worely put it so elegantly "People and things, in your life that test you, try your patience, and force you to grow are 'Dumbells'. As in weights, they are things that you must try and pray about and grow strong by having to deal with them. Working your character, emotional, and spiritual muscles and letting them grow.

It doesn't take all the irritation away, but it sure helps me smile knowing that I'm being polished so I can shine somewhere else.

I feel much better getting that all out of my head.

2010-10-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

garrettburke.blogspot.com

2010-10-17T00:06:00.001-07:00

2010-10-16T23:44:00.000-07:00

winter is here. finally. I don't say that like I have been waiting for it. I just knew it was getting cold, and the days are much shorter and I'm getting less and less happy.

Then this evening I walked out onto my porch and I had that feeling. That really strange feeling that accompanies memories. Some are hard to identify, others I remember all too well.

Seasons seem to have a big impact on my brain. I remember different things at different times.

For instance, winter cold bundle up don't move dana meth treatment cold alone miserable what happened to christmas why don't I feel the joy I used to? A fog of uncomfortable ness washes or more over suffocates me, but at the same time I feel like I've been lost in space, in the ultimate cold and the ultimate alone, you can't get any aloner than in a vacuum.

The point... well that's the point isn't it. There is no point. That's how winter often makes me feel, as though the world is just going to freeze over. I know this isn't going to happen, I'm not afraid it will nor do I visualize what it would look like if it did. I'm simply talking about the feelings that an event like this could have on people. Namely me.

Are you going to kill us?

2010-10-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to tell you how funny this story is.

Little background, I moved to a place that has a lake right across the road from my house. I go walking there everyday with my newly adopted dog Padawan. He's insane about chasing stick that I've thrown in the water.

I decided that in order to collect some firewood for our ever coldening house I should take my chainsaw over and chop some wood. Well I felled a few trees and ran out of gas, so I started walking back on the path towards the parking lot.

When I was just about to come out of the wooded part I noticed 5 kids walking towards me, I was sweaty, wet, dirty and carrying a smoking chainsaw. They all gave me this look like OMG, he just killed someone.

I went along with their terrified glances, and acted as if I had just commited some hanious crime using my chainsaw. I also had a fairly large buck knife which has red paint on it that looks like blood, in it's sheath on my back. So when they turned around and looked at me all they could see was a bloody knife, a smoking chainsaw and an apparently crazed man who looked very guilty.

I was almost jumping up and down with happiness at the thought of these kids being so obviously scared of me.

I went and put the chainsaw in the truck and proceeded to walk back into the woods. Not far into the wood I found all 5 of them sitting around some standing, there was a pop can with a smoldering piece of marijuana on it semi-hidden behind the kids back... I knew right away, I also saw that some of them had already toked a bit, and being so young they were getting more paranoid by the minute.

I told them their can design was terrible and I grabbed it, fixed it into a proper pipe using my buck knife. RIGHT when I pulled my knife out, there was a kid, a bit younger than 13 probably and he looked at me and said, serious as a heart attack, he looked at my knife and goes "are you going to kill us now?" I waited took a puff off the can, handed the can to the kid who had asked me. I didn't reply... then he asked voice shaking, what was the chainsaw for?

I paused for effect then I told them what was up, how I was chopping firewood and that they had nothing to worry about. I told them that I was not going to kill them, the kid who asked me pulled out his bag and offered me his weed as if it were in exchange for letting them all live. I didn't take it, I just laughed and started walking away.

"you got lucky this time, now don't be walking around these woods by yourself, it's not safe..."

is the last thing I said as I laughed long and menacingly and disappeared into the thick of the forest.

Best story ever, if I could only convey the looks on these kids faces... Shear terror, surprise, suspicion, and a desire for mommy. Such good times.

Building 7

2010-09-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

debunk building 7?

the ants [an experiment]

2010-08-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Garrett Burke I'm exploring china lake and it's surrounding grounds. I've spotted more than 10 ant hills in the area, and plan to go mark them all with spray paint, in order to more easily track the ants from nest to nest. Next is black light with flourescent ink.2 seconds ago · · Comment · Like

Garrett Burke dur, I was distracted. What I mean at the end there, was I'm going to find the most active mound and spray all the ants (after disturbing the mound to make more come out) with fluorescent paint then I'll come back the next night and see if I can spot any of the ants. I did it with spray paint to two of them and very shockingly they cleaned up all the paint, and I could only find one ant with paint on it.

UPDATE:

I've gone and marked over 5 hills with paint, very thoroughly.

I waited 3 days and came back to inspect all the ant hills. I found that all of them had the paint completely removed from the majority of the mounds. The outer rings of the mounds still contained twigs and pine needles with a touch of paint on them.

The shocking thing, in every case, was that I couldn't find any trace of the painted branches. This means that the at least double fist worth of twigs and needles covered completely in paint had literally been taken so far away I couldn't find the pile. I couldn't find a garbage pile of any kind when I thought to look for one.

I looked and looked and studied the hills for a good ten minutes each. I only saw one ant that still had any paint on him. I'm not sure what that means. Did the others die and get taken to the trash pile? Did they go into hiding for fear of being more easily spotted by pray?

I'm not sure what all this means, I can however tell you that I'm very excited to go and try it again.

Pip's Misfortune ~ a tragedy

2010-07-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

Wandering through the wooded path Pip suddenly got a chill; looking around for what had
startled him he realized that the forest had changed drastically. No longer was it the warm
breezy open forest, whose birds chirped carelessly and squirrels scampered playfully. No,
this forest was thick, Pip could barely see five feet in any direction he looked. The thick
prickly foliage had created a dead, windless almost eerie silence. Not sure which way was
home pip hurried off in the direction he thought was the way out of this terrible place.
Hurrying along the path the feeling of panic welled up inside pip with every passing moment.
His pace quickened... his ears picking up strange and unsettling noises, a howl hooting,
something scurrying through the underbrush. Trying to keep his mind occupied Pip began to
realize where he had wandered to. This was the Never Forest, named for mice going in.. and
never coming out. Pip was sure of himself as a woodsmouse, and his ability to navigate his
way even through the roughest terrain.
As if set there by a force greater than himself Pip nearly ran into a door, set into the
side of a small rock hill, hidden by thick underbrush and years of moss growth. The wood of
the door, though old appeared to be in well kept condition and felt very out of place here
in the middle of the wood. Looking around Pip could see no other signs of life, no fire
ring, no smoke, no tracks of any kind lead to or away from the spot. Curious and weary from
walking all day Pip decided to have a look inside...
Slowly walking up to the door Pip put his paw against the heavy grained wood and gave a
push, surprisingly the door swung open with relative ease, making no sound only the faint
whisper of air being sucked in passed the door as if some seal had been broken. No light
came from within, reaching into his knapsack, Pip pulled out a match, and struck it against
the rough stone surrounding the door. Light immediately illuminated the door and foliage and
sent a slit of light past the door illuminating a dirt floor and a stone stairway leading
down into the darkness...

Ignoring his sixth sense pip cautiously stepped past the door frame and entered the small
dirt floored room and peered down into the darkness. None of his senses helped him in his
vain attempt to listen, smell, or see what lay beyond and below the stone stairway. All of a
sudden a puff of air filled with a strange smell, earthy, moldy and dark blew past Pip
nearly knocking him off his feet, followed by the faintest sound of gears beginning to turn.
Curiosity peaking Pip slowly began to descend into the darkness, the only light coming from
his torch.With every step downward Pip could feel the air grow chilled, aside from the initial wisp of
air, the air was stagnant, and smelled strongly of rotting plants and damp earth. Making his
way down the staircase which wound around and around. The stairs started to level out and
just beyond the bit of light from his torch pip could see a stone floor stretch out into the
darkness. To his left against the stone wall, pip saw what looked like an ancient candle
sitting in a thimble, attached by pieces of twine to a walking stick. His match, and only
light was growing dangerously close to his little paws, so reluctantly Pip lit the lantern.
The feeble wick immediately took flame and bathed the room in an orange glow. All around him
on the walls, Pip could see gears stacked up on the ground, hung on the wall. There appeared
to be a workbench set into the far wall, wires, gauges and tools were strewn about the room.
The smell of metal, both hot and cold hung in the air, along with the smell of a fire...
recent fire he guessed.

Standing in awe Pip continued to look around the dimly lit room. To his left Pip could see
hundreds of nails protruding out of the stone walls each holding a different spring, cog,
piece of mechanical bric-a-brac. The edges of the room contained crates of wood all shapes
and sizes. Some open to reveal shiny metallic pieces and others apparently empty. Looking
deeper into the room Pip could see a hallway that led off into the darkness. Slowly stepping
into the room, Pip was in awe at the sheer volume of mechanical and electrical equipment.
Which obviously had been collected over many many years by someone who was constantly
building and designing something. On the wall over the work bench Pip could see hundreds of
pieces of paper, some schematics, rough drawing sketches. Some showing maps of the forest
and surrounding areas, Pip spotted his town circled in red, though he could not gather his
bearings enough to see where he was in relation to home.
Feeling no real danger, Pip continued down the hallway leaving the workshop behind. Inside
hoping he would run into someone who could send him back the way he came. Walking down the
hallways, Pip zigged and zagged left and right, all the while hearing nothing but the
occasional scurrying of a small insect or the slow drip of water off the ceiling.
Walking along the dark damp corridor, Pip began to get an uneasy feeling. Near the edge of
his light, Pip was beginning to make out things that brought fear to his heart. Broken
mousetraps, a skeleton of a mouse that appeared to be his age caught in the deadly metal of
the trap. Loosely clutched in the left paw of the deceased mouse was a small sword, made of
a surgical blade and melted plastic wrapped in twine. Gingerly pip reached over and slowly
pulled the blade away from the bony fingers, instantly the hand and arm crumibled in a puff
of dust. Somewhere in the back of his mind pip could recall hearing something about the
unique blue shirt the dead mouse had on. Some old horror story told around the campfire long
ago. All of a sudden....! duh...da da du da du du! All around him pip heard noises and saw
strange lights. The sound was like that of an old timey record machine slowly grinding to a
start. The dim light slowly growing around him to that of a dark gloom. Looking around he
could see many strange things that at first would not register in his increasingly
bewildered mouse mind. Before him stood a great space, decorate in the way of an old time
vaudevillian theater, complete with old dusty maroon curtains hanging from floor to ceiling
row after row of seats tapering down the floor of the great room ending at the stage, many
in various stages of decomposition. As pips eyes adjusted to the low dim glow of the many
christimas light bulbs spread throughout the chamber, he felt the cold finger of panic creep
up his furry chest. On the walls arranged into many strange shapes and patterns were bones,
thousands upon thousands of bones. No longer able to take the feeling of sheer terror Pip dropped his torch and ran squeaking into the darkness. Suddenly as if has just disappeared the floor dropped out from beneath Pip and he could feel himself falling, the air was loud rushing past his ears. I hope there's... crack the sound was loud in the quiet belly of the cave. the sound of Pips neck cracking on the rocks echo'd through out the underground cavern... then his eyes rolled back and the air slowly seeped out of his chest. and Pip O. Squeak the third was dead.

Underneath his small battered corpse lay hundreds of identical mice... All out searching for truth and meaning, finding death instead.

At peace with the craziness

2010-07-25T00:36:00.000-07:00

2010-07-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went and worked for about four hours with Doug. The old man who owns the hand piece repair franchise I just started working for is so cool.

He acts like a kid, has a kid my age who has really long hair and is in a rock band. Doug is just super cool and fun to be around.

I had so much fun learning how to do everything. I get hand pieces, in this case drills. I line them up 6 at a time, I test all of them. For appearance, drill speed, gripper, button, sound, feel, water, and fiber optics. I have to say I picked up on it really really quickly. I love fixing things, solving problems and finding solutions. This was just up my alley. After testing each one, I found that 3 of them weren't working. Means they needed new rotors, and 2 wouldn't hold a burr, which is the name of the bit you stick the drill to drill with.

So this is a picture of what's inside the head of a dental drill. You can see the bearing, the button, the turbine (that blue sharp looking thing) and then you have the same setup on the other side. The turbines as you see them there are all put together, but before they look like that, you have to test each one for consentricity, which is basically to see if it will spin perfectly straight when turned on. Then you have to put them all together, that little piece your looking at right there is smaller than my thumbnail. And there's about 12 pieces that go into making it look like that. Half the time I'm using a magnifiying glass and I'm almost always using a dentist type pick or other small sharp instrument to pick up the pieces and put them in the right places. It's insane it really is.

I love it though. This guy looks like a serious dork, but if you look closely he's got all the pieces of a hand drill taken apart and it looks like he's re-assembling it.

Try not to look too close at this guy he's kinda scary.

I'll post more pics of my workspace and what I do later on. I'm working again on Monday.

2010-07-13T01:00:00.000-07:00

I just had an extremely upsetting, anxious, loud conversation with someone. Basically I was called childish, dull and not understanding or caring. I guess that there are a few implications I missed. Namely if the parental units are downstairs together alone, I'm to assume that they're in highschool again; and I'm to treat them as such.

I should know that when a movie gets over that's when the frisky, adult type stuff takes place. See usually when that happens I'm told that there is going to be a 'date night' in that case I stockpile all the food and drink I need for the evening in my room so I can leave the parents alone and not worried about someone coming down the stairs and seeing them making out or whatever.

This always works great for everyone. Now about 50% of the time I'm told nothing, they will just sit down and watch a movie, I'll come downstairs to let the dogs out or grab a drink/snack and that's when the conflict starts.

I'm supposed to know that when a movie is over that's when it starts getting hot and I should not come downstairs for any reason. However there is no consistency, logic or standard for how these nights are supposed to go. The only sure way to not get a verbal reaming is to wait till VERY late at night when I'm sure they've fallen asleep in their room. Then I can go downstairs and grab a drink and some food and take the dogs potty.

This causes somewhat of a distressing situation for me. I can't plan for something that they just assume I'm going to figure out is going on. I was literally told tonight that I would have to be 'stupid and oblivious' to not know that after a movie when people are alone they make out and do things they wouldn't want people catching them do. Even though tonight when I came down to grab some fruit and water and let the dogs out, mom was playing farmville and dad was halfway into another movie. Yet I was treated like I walked in on them having sex. I keep going through it in my head, looking for a way I could have seen what was happening and avoided this confrontation.

I wrote out the scenarios in my journal, and posted some stuff to facebook, now I'm processing the whole thing on my blog, and the more I process the more I think she just snapped and kinda went ape-shit on me for no reason. She even admitted to freaking out on me because I should have known better than to come down after their done watching a movie. I would have guessed that considering the time Mom would have either been sleeping already or on her way to bed seeing as how the movie was over.

I assumed wrong on that one, she got a new laptop so instead of going to bed or doing anything normal like they usually do they stay downstairs much longer because mom can play farmville while keeping up the illusion that they're spending time together.

Mom told me to hurry up and move out, that they didn't want me around if I was going to bother them all the time like this. Since they started their unplanned and unannounced date night I have been downstairs twice for a total of 5 min once to let the dogs out get water and ask if they were having date night, and then I volunteered to get 'out of their hair' to which they said I was fine I wasn't in their hair.

When I came down a second time it was terribly obvious to me that the mood had somehow shifted and Mom was on the war path. I couldn't avoid the lashing, I used every diffuse the confrontation technique I know and she still ended up yelling at me. I tried to diffuse the situation, but I ended up just having to walk away apologizing as I went, the whole ordeal upset me so much I ended up throwing up most of my dinner. Which means now I'm hungry and stuck upstairs totally unprepared. Today started off a really good day, I got a job and I cleaned my room and got some great sun. Then I was verbally assulted. Good times... NOT.

I know what's going on now, I just had to think about it. I still couldn't have handled things in any more of an adult manner than I did. I believe it was mom who was in the wrong tonight, flying off the handle for no logical reason.

God forgive me for whatever I did, and please be with Mom she's obviously very upset about something.

this is pretty funny, this chick and her friend are hilarious

2010-07-12T22:35:00.001-07:00

here's the facebook page, so you can actually read it

"Barefoot Bandit" Colton Moore, this kid is a bad ass.

2010-07-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

This guy is my hero. Ever since I first heard about his shenanigans, living on the lam, in the woods, stealing planes. OMG. I'm sad that this had to come to an end. I can't wait to see the movie.

good music is so freeing

2010-07-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

Garrett Burke This is what fills my soul. Amazing music set to great visuals. Thank you lost! Seriously, listen to this song and try to not smile, and feel all warm and fuzzy all over. These are the times when you feel like it's gonna be alright, like the dark heavy blanket of life that's been resting on your shoulders covering your head is lifted but for a few minutes so you can see the sunshine. You feel it's strong warm presence against your skin. Your ears prick up at the sensation of a bead of sweat running down the side of your neck.

Yesterday this would have been too hot. Last night it would have been too cold. Right now, here in this moment there's nowhere you'd rather be than sitting here in your sunbeam, slowly soaking up the warm radiation and stretching your arms and legs out in strange curls, punctuated with the sounds of yawning and contented mumbling.

Your entire life has led you to this moment of pure joy, warmth and pleasure.

I have to pee so bad

2010-07-11T21:11:00.001-07:00

I'm going to see how far I can get in this post before I have to go running to the bathroom.

Today was one of those cool days where you wake up and you can barely see any of the world. There's a chill in the

Grafting Thumbs, and toilet paper

2010-07-11T19:27:00.001-07:00

So I've been really really trying to explain to my dogs the importance of using a sanitary piece of paper on their rear ends, as opposed to their tongues. So far I've ran into a few snags. A) My dogs don't speak english. B) My dogs don't have thumbs. Meaning I would have to teach them english, then graft thumbs onto their paws... Forget it, use your tongue dogs I give up.

awesome sauce

2010-07-11T00:04:00.001-07:00

alright now, it's really important you don't f*ck this up!

2010-07-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

shameless whoring and self promoting

2010-07-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Sad but so very true

2010-07-10T15:24:00.001-07:00

lost in lost

2010-07-09T14:41:00.001-07:00

Do I really need to say more? Doesn't matter, I'm missing lost. 18hrs and counting

best day ever. God is good, all the time~all the time, God is good

2010-07-08T01:45:00.000-07:00

The events....
I think God has given me a glimpse of how wonderful life can be when He's an integral pert of it. There are 3 pretty specific days

Accomplishment
Retrospection
Firefighters
Police
Fire
Burning
Soul Filling Prayer
Hiking
Guitar Hero
Popsicles
Community
Pizza with friends
Finding my nose in a state of perfect nirvana
Snuggling with smell

I will be turning this into a narrative (based on a true story, written by himself)

AND! Last but not least.

There's a Mystery afoot! Who started the fire....

I'm having a strange feeling.... that it's going to be a long day

2010-07-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an incredibly productive day. I got so much done. I cleaned the kitchen, mowed the lawn, picked up poop, did the household laundry for 4 people, one of whom is a teenager. Also the laundry from my week on the lam. I sorted all the clothes I've owned for the past 10yrs or maybe 6 into piles of: Nice, Work, Donate, Dump.

I put up a large piece of construction paper on my wall and written down my 1 month, 6 month, and 1 year goals down. The picture took backwards and I don't care to fix it. I'm sure there are plenty more goals, dreams and ambitions. However I need to start with the basics otherwise I'll get overwhelmed and NOTHING will get done, which is how it already happens far too often. I just feel better knowing there's a place nearby, that's huge and fun to write on that I can at any time vomit things from my brain onto this piece of paper, and at least for a moment; not have to think about it in my head any longer. Stuck in my head is not where I like my ideas, goals, dreams and ambitions to get stuck.

Basically I worked non-stop from about 8am-10pm and beyond. Then I tried to get a good nights rest which turned out to be a futile effort. Seems as though I might have taken too much stimulating medicine/vitamins too close to bed time. Niacin being one of the big culprits, since it was responsible for my sweaty, clammy hands, profusely sweaty body, and inability to stay still or get cooled down comfortably.

Today I have a big list.

Wednesday

Finish Ivy

Remove from fence
clean up clippings
put tools away
don't get eaten by man eating spider

2. Sort clothes again

nice
work
donate
dump

3. Clean out and resurface shelves in all kitchen cabinets

Empty all cupboards
Wash every surface
paint spots that need touch-up
line bottom of drawers and shelves with something

4. Clean, Organize & Store all un-needed stuff in attic

Empty foot-locker
Pack up all non-essential clothings and things
Haul everything you don't need into the attic
Organize the stuff that's already there and make my stuff look nice and invisible

DiggerList (cheap construction materials)

2010-07-06T16:10:00.000-07:00

Being the son, born and raised, by a Dad who started his own construction company in his early twenties. I've learned the importance of getting a good deal on materials. Especially when it usually makes up half of your bid. If you can bid at regular material price and get it for half that, you can either lower your bid or make more money. Either way this site is cool.

The more I search it the more I'm realizing that it's really for small residential projects, possibly some bigger ones, but mostly small. A majority of the items are in new condition but are the left-overs from other larger jobs. Hence the discount, either sell it, or pay to have it dumped. Pretty easy decision if you ask me.

Ultra-Realistic Mask is AWESOME

2010-07-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Ultra-realistic mask is way too creepy. [VIDEO]

This is incredible. Imagine the applications that you could use this for?

Robbing banks, Framing people, getting back at your enemies. Simply make a high-def mask of them put it on and go get into trouble. Then simply take the mask off!

On the other hand, if someone were to make on of these of me. I would have a heart-attack. I would find someone to wear it then I would go play endless pranks on people. So so cool.

Wonder how much they cost to have made, and what sort of computer file it takes to get the detail etc that you need for this.

Who died in an oil spill on top of the sea?

2010-07-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

Who's still crying? Is it only me? Spongebob Squarepants!!! We'll miss you buddy.

Pretty much here's how it went.

2010-07-03T04:13:00.001-07:00

I woke up just now and my left armpit hurts. I reach over expecting a bug bite or something. I find a soft sticky blob of something. I try to pull it and it's stuck fast to my armpit hair! I've never had this happen to me before ever! Kinda insane and exciting at the same time.

Pretty much here's how it went.

2010-07-03T04:09:00.001-07:00

I woke up just now and my left armpit hurts. I reach over expecting a bug bite or something.

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I got the job!

2010-07-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

I needed to do some laundry, somehow I lost a bunch of socks or at least I thought I did. Seems that I had more but they disappeared. Anyway, I went to do laundry at my friends house, we played guitar hero for a couple hours it was freakin' awesome. The puppies were playing with the other dogs there and we all had a blasty blast.

I arrived back at my 'house' a couple hours ago, and the nice old man that I had been curious about opened his window and started asking about the dogs. I had seen this guy plenty of times, old white haired man, probably early 60's or late 50's, really nice guy. He said that his wife had seen my dogs previously and she wanted to know what kind they were.

Anyway he and I got to talking, and for some reason he mentioned that one of his 2 employees had just quit. I instantly jumped in after asking him what he did, to say I would love some work. He explained that he fixes dental equipment, he showed me how to do a little bit of it today we worked on a drill. There weren't that many parts, there's the turbine, two bearings, a clip and four fingers.... I'm so excited, I love that kind of stuff! That's what I want to go to college for! Equipment repair! He said that he would train me how to fix the two most popular brands of tools. He has a very large are of sales, most of washington state, except for vancouver.

I will know when he gets back from his sales trip next week

Pray for me everyone! and thanks to those of you who have been already.

heading back up the mountain.

2010-07-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've been peniless for the past few days, I found a can of chili in my truck and some honey almonds. I also had some bananas, this is simply a result of poor planning on my part, and the universe giving me the finger.

I rarely write down plans, and when I do actually write any resembling a plan it immediately get's destroyed while I watch. I've learned that there is no real set steady course that I will be heading in my life. Possibly never will I be on any sort of straight and narrow. God must have designed me for other places.

I'm working on right now making God more real in my life. Having him be the companion I need and have been searching for. So many people go through life not knowing their purpose and searching for meaning, and from what I'm hearing from other people in my position or who have been in my position before is that you need to make God your focus and everything else will fall into place.

I'm struggling to do that. It's certainly not easy.

Getting started with God.

2010-06-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm having a good day, all things considered. It's the sort of day, well it's not the day, or the time I'm referring to really. I'm talking about how I feel, my genuinely good outlook on life and the calmness I feel.

Jesus calling the book I read every morning when I first get up said something that really caught my attention. It talked about asking God to come be with you right after you wake up, when you aren't fully coherent yet, and you haven't fully woken up. Just say his name and he will make the rest of your day go well. Not go well, but he said that you would be able to experience the day, tailor made for you. I don't have the book on hand or I would quote more specifically.

I had to wake up early this morning, at 7am. Yes for the unemployed that is fairly early, though I should be getting up much earlier.

I was so tired and groggy, and I was freezing, it's been warm but last night was a cold one. I had the puppies to snuggle with and keep me warm and that was nice.

I woke up and wispered jesus' name and so far this day has been just fine. I've been in a fairly good emotional state, despite not being able to shower. Also almost being out of money.

I will survive, God and I will get through. I'll get through with God carrying me...

2010-06-27T02:07:00.003-07:00

2010-06-27T02:07:00.001-07:00

f-my-life

2010-06-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

Garrett Burke i just cut my finger nearly to the bone... left index. this will be the third major need stitching cut on the same finger all within one inch of th middle knuckle. this time i wasn't even playing with a knife like the first two times. this time i wad stripping a 9v battery to get at the aaaa batteries inside... also i hate one hand typing :(

2010-06-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

my latest facebook post

2010-06-26T19:02:00.001-07:00

Garrett Burke I was having a bad day already. Just emotionally in the pits, nothing has really changed between now and the last time I was at an emotional peak. Just my emotions. I hate it. I just finished a big project, to relax and recuperate I like meditating. As I went to put the buds in my ears I noticed that there were no buds there. Looking over at my dogs, I saw the chewed buds laying at both of their guilty looking paws.

my latest facebook post

2010-06-26T19:01:00.001-07:00

Garrett Burke I was having a bad day already. Just emotionally in the pits, nothing has really changed between now and the last time I was at an emotional peak. Just my emotions. I hate it. I just finished a big project, to relax and recuperate I like meditating. As I went to put the buds in my ears I noticed that there were no buds there. Looking over at my dogs, I saw the chewed buds laying at both of their guilty looking paws.

background check

2010-06-25T21:32:00.001-07:00

Garrett : 1 Adventure: 0 bwa ha ha ha

2010-06-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

So as some of you may know. I will be leaving the state here soon to go on an adventure. This thing has been a long time coming, and it's not the adventure I had in my mind. It's strange, this adventure kind of came out of the rubble and destruction of the other adventure/life plans I had in my mind, and even some of those I wrote down on paper.

I will be leaving you all in a trail of dust no later than july29th. I know that I will have everything squared away by that time. It's my personal deadline the point of no return. The absolute last day I can be at my folks house. One day longer and I would probably go insane. I love them, and i appreciate the hell out of them letting me stay here.

However I am going crazy trying to be my own person and our lifestyles clashing so much. I'm not a 50 year old adventist. That alone, well the age and the Adventism is enough to make any 25yr old man who's trying to find himself a hard place to live. Mother is fickle, and father is deep rooted. Ha it would be, and is sort of funny watching the entire family drama.... when I'm not living there.

I will be starting the official 'saga' as in the story from day one of my adventure. I'll probably start it between July 12-19 not sure why, I just get the feeling that something is going to happen between those days and it would be a nice mark to start the story. We'll see if anything happens.

Right now. I have a few more things I need to buy that I don't have money for at all.

Deep Cycle Battery
Solar panel for roof
Mace
Radiator
Brakes
Tire (need an extra one, 'cause I do not have a spare.)

There are some other things, but these are the things I need the most. Not in any particular order, though the highlighted stuff is stuff I need to make sure I don't break down in the middle of nowhere.

I guess I should put the call out there: if anyone knows how to replace a radiator. I would be eternally grateful if you could show me how so I can install a new one before I leave.

Also if anyone knows where to get the things I listed at a reasonable price I would be very grateful as well.

Since I'm not telling anyone where I'm going or how long I'll be gone, I've made a decision. I'm going to start giving clues as to where I'm going as my blog goes on. When I actually get in the truck and start the journey, then and only then will I even consider telling you all where I'm going. I plan on taking the scenic route and it might take a few weeks to get there, so I might have to just tell you where I'm going to sleep each night. The truck will have a canopy and has plenty of room to sleep warm, snug and safe. I'll never have to go be destined for anywhere!

clue~the trip in a straight shot takes about 19hrs according to Google maps.

Found this while browsing today

2010-06-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Found this on the counter this morning. I think it's really awesome. It sure makes a difficult thing to deal with, like difficult people, easier to write off as just a learning experience.

On this day, God wants us to know....

That difficult people are very important, -they teach us tolerance and acceptance, if all was going your way all the time, you would become a spoiled child. Difficult people are just one of the ways God teaches us to expand beyond our egos and accept other perspectives on life.

I really get a kick out of this.

2010-06-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sure, the first time I saw this I laughed hysterically. Quickly I regained my composure and decided to tread just a little ways down the path that this photo pointed the way to. Let's see, if I do some quick math, take into account that Jesus loves me, AND probably loved the kittens as well.... I can only be personally held responsible for the wrongful deaths of 4,963 kittens. poor kitties.... it's like that movie where they have the big red button. Ha! Your wang is like the button, you have to touch it and a kitten will die somewhere but you'll still get the orgasm.

my puppies a synopsis

2010-06-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

these are my two little hunny bunnies. Ha, I called them that in front of my mom the other day and she couldn't believe it. I can't believe it myself sometimes. Who has that mushy of a name for their pet?

I do. I'm in love with these dogs. They are my best friends.

The one on the left I call princess, though her name is elle, due to the fact that she doesn't like getting dirty, she's a VERY picky eater, and she likes to eat shit quite often. Elle, also thinks that she HAS to be the center of attention, at all times, no matter the circumstances or who's turn it is.

Ava, on the other hand, whom I call snaggletooth, is the tom-boy of the pair. She loves digging, getting dirty, wrestling, though she is more aware of pain than elle is. Ava is the one that's in love with me. I rarely see her in the same room as I am, without her staring at me the entire time. Like she thinks that if she takes her eyes off me for a second I'll disappear. She is incredibly timid, which only leads you to love and care after her more. I love my dogs, I have to leave them in less than a month! I'm super sad.

mental -{strengths}

2010-06-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

These are some of my main strengths. There are 6, however I cannot locate the last one. Here are a fantastic five to keep you entertained though.

Creativity, ingenuity, and originality
Humor and playfulness
Love of learning
Forgiveness and Mercy
Curiosity and interest in the world

Do these strengths seem to accurately portray who I am as a person?

HELLO

2010-06-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

we are sexy and also super awesome

2010-06-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

I just found this super awesome picture that I took the day I got my haircut, and the day we shaved the girls. Everyone looks so happy! Well the girls look pathetic with their hair that short. Austin looks in good mood though, I forget where we were going but we were having good times.

Two hours tweaking

2010-06-23T03:16:00.000-07:00

Ha, I just sat here and in a major caffeinated way tweaked around with my blog for the last two hours... three hours...

damn. well there's a lot of cool new stuff along the edges and at the bottom. Also I've been blogging, so there is something to read.

Moving, Puppies, Sadness

2010-06-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

I think it's been talked about enough that I can finally come out and tell you all that I'm moving out of state for a while.

I'm not entirely sure how long I'll be gone, though it will be at least 6 months. Where I'm going I have a place to stay while I look into getting my own place. When the plan was first coming together, I don't think I had thought far enough ahead to the puppies. The entire process was going to be really easy, slow, no rush to get into a situation where I've got bills piling up again. However, upon my last conversation with the person I'm going to be staying with I was informed that they are allergic to dogs and cats.

DOGS! That means my little kids. The two bright shining stars in my life. My puppies. Ava and Elle.

I am totally in love with these dogs. I haven't felt this way about animals since we had maggie, the little orange, white, black and brown mixed kitten we had. We just got into the groove of things, and were starting to fall really in love with her. Since we had been raising her from just a couple weeks old, we were really attached. It's normal for us to have a cat that's indoor, but eventually they get the itch to go outside. We had molly for 13yrs or so, maybe less. We also moved while we had her, and she went outside all the time. She also decided that when it was her time to go, she just wandered away one night and didn't come back. She was really really old, so my folks said that cat's like to go away and be alone when they die. I was crushed when that happened, I feel like I looked for that cat for days. Maggie got hit by a car, we found out when a nice citizen (unfortunately the one who killed her) called us after we had been missing her for 3 days. He left a message to the effect of "I think I ran over your cat, maggie, I backed over her, it was an accident, sorry". So that sucked. We've since gotten elle, which I call kitty, and though I'm not as close to her as I have been with my other cats, her and I really get along.
She will wrestle with the puppies like she's just as big and strong as they are.

When I finally get where I'm going which is about 1,300 mile drive. 20hrs with stops and one over night.

The first point of business after securing some sort of work with uncle Mike or someone else in the area, I will be searching for a place that will allow dogs. It's all an insane situation. I will miss the puppies, but I will know they are taken care of and that they are safe and being loved and cared for.

Here's where my moral dilemma comes in. The kitty, Mario, and the girls are like family. They wrestle and play with each other and they snuggle and talk to one another. I can't describe something more endearing. Firstly the girls won't understand where I've gone. As it is Ava, will wait at the door for me, or sitting on the couch looking out the window for days waiting for me to come home. She doesn't eat, she cries the whole time and Mom said she has a hard time getting her to peel herself away from watching for me. That breaks my heart. Ava will think I left her, and that I won't be coming back. Elly will eventually figure it out, Ava is the one who will be completely destroyed by my leaving. She sleeps in my bed with me every night. Arm in paw, sometimes nose to nose, I mean we snuggle close. She'll lay her head on my chest and listen to my heart-beat and fall asleep to the rise and fall of my chest as I slowly breathe in and out.

The second problem I have is that the girls are so integrated with kitty and Mario that I don't know how well anyone will react being away from their friends. Mario is well... he's mario. His obsession still is, and will always be mom. Kitty I also realize is her own animal and would probably notice the girls gone but it wouldn't effect her day to day life.

I want to get to my destination and have a place of my own, that accepts pets in the first month, at the longest. The girls would for sure miss playing with kitty and mario, they would be so excited that they were with me they probably wouldn't think about it for too long.

Mom would miss the puppies terribly. She's slowly coming to terms that even though they are 'her' puppies, Ava has pretty much given her heart to me entirely. Elle thinks I'm pretty awesome too.

So is it worth it? To do my best to find a spot where I can have the puppies with me? I'm getting a canopy put on the truck, which will make it water tight and secure for sleeping in, storing my stuff, and perhaps for building a little house for the dogs to live in. I mean if I just put them in the truck at night, and kept them out and about the rest of the time it wouldn't be bad at all. Hell I could even sleep in the truck in the parking are of the apartment complex I'll be staying at.

Though am I being selfish? They do bring a lot of joy to mom also, and if they stayed here, although I wouldn't be around they would have whole lot more outside of the kennel, and outside the house playtime. I'm worried that if I start working a whole bunch then the puppies will just be left alone too much.

I guess the only thing I can do is go, see what the situation looks like, gather available options, and make a decision. I should pray about it too. I need to pray about the whole trip. I haven't really asked God much about if this is the right thing. I have a little, and the doors keep opening, and the needle seems to be pointing East.

I haven't started to get butterflies yet, though I haven't really thought a whole lot about how I'll feel leaving home, leaving my dogs, my mom, Tom Butler, the foundations family I have here. Though my breakup with M, kinda put a damper on foundations group activities. If I had known in the beginning, I wouldn't have dated her for so long. I would have broke up with her when she was feeling like she needed to move out of state. That would have been perfect. "I love you" "I love you too" , "I have to move out of state, it's just something I have to do" "I understand, I'll always love you, hopefully we'll meet up again someday".

Oh well. I'm starting to get that little bit of a sinking-homesick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I've been in this same place for a long time. I've never lived out of state. I've pretty much lived within 45mi of where I'm sitting right now. Mostly west and north of here, since right where I'm at is like half mile to the sound. Sort of looks like the ocean until you look up a little farther and see the giant mountains marking the Olympic peninsula.

I quit smoking

2010-06-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

Officially today, as of like... let's say midnight, I became a person who used to smoke! I've been toying with the idea for a long time. I've even quit cold turkey a few times recently and lasted a few days to a week.

Couple weeks ago I downloaded a 4 cd, quit smoking um... how would you say. It's part hypnotherapy combined with facts and other strategies to help you quit smoking, and not have to deal heavily with the mental withdrawls. I started listening last week. Everyday. Every night. I did the exercises, some involved imagining really smelly things, or gross things and associating that with cigarettes... I don't need to get into the details.

I quit tonight though. I've been smoking off and on since I was 13, and at 25, I don't like it, I fucking hate it and I don't want it to be part of my life anymore! It's not! It's not as scary to type definitive things like that anymore, it's almost comforting. So hurray, go me.

God is hugely involved in this process.

The adventure begins... starting in sadness

2010-06-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

I'm using this Sunday to get things started, the packing, the cleaning of the room, the painting of the walls.

It's all bittersweet, mostly sweet, but the hugely bitter part of it I just learned, is that I won't be able to take my dogs with me. I've come to love them so much in these past 8 months. I can't think too much about it, or I start to cry. They are such good puppies and they give me so much love. They have been my drug these past months, helping me get over all the hurt and insanity in my life.

When Monica and I split up, the puppies were there. When I wound up in the hospital with cuts all over myself, when I came home the puppies were there, not judging me not hating, just giving me unconditional love. Tons of it. I love it.

I love them, they're like my children. I know it's going to help me grow and learn, and it's probably good that I'm getting the opportunity to grow and learn how to be content with just myself and God.

The real hard part is the puppies won't understand. As it is, whenever I leave they sit by the door almost non-stop until I come back. They think I'm their alpha-dog, and they really don't know what to do without me. They sleep with me every night, and not just on my bed, they sleep in my bed, snuzzled up next to my chest and face.

Leaving them is going to be harder than splitting up with Monica, I never really cared for Monica that much, looking back. Ha hindsight is always 20-20, well I guess that's not fair. I cared for Monica about as much as a drug addict can care about his new medication (Monica).

Please everyone pray for me, and if you want to give me some up-lifting words, or give me some sort of ideas about what I should do, or if you have any advice about anything. I'm always open to hear from people who are wise and/or care about my well-being.

Love you guys!

ZIT{geist}

2010-06-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've realized in the past 72 hrs, two things. I'm insane, and I'm an artist. As long as both of those things fly tandem inside my brain, I will never be satisfied with a project. Once again, I'm forced to put out a product that I would be happy to work on for much longer. However, I've promised the public a movie, not just a movie, a windows movie maker abortion; I will deliver.

Ding-Dong, did someone order awesome?

It's coming, blame the music

2010-06-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you who were told that the final full length zit movie would be posted at sundown. I might be a few minutes late. I still have 3 more minutes. but I'm not going to get this audio thing fixed before then. Bare with me, and we'll all be happier. I promise you it will be online tonight.

perils of summertime

2010-06-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

I have a word or two to say about slivers. First of all slivers FUCK YOU.
I woke up so carefree and full of zest, the world was mine, and I could do anything or nothing. Then I got a fucking sliver under my little toe.

I just walked out into the beautiful sunshine, it seemed as though exactly when the sun touched my skin. I felt the weight of an entire forest of pain pressing down on my little toe.

Slivers are a common thing, especially when laying new bark in the spring/summer time. I can understand that hazard comes along with doing these types of jobs, I'm willing to take that risk, during working hours. This was an epic tragedy of poor timing.

Quickly I switched into survival mode, grabbed a razor, tweezer, and a tissue cause sliver removal tends to get me a tad teary eyed. Just pureness of wood pitted against metal. The ultimate battle of wits. I digress.

I sat down and started to dig the sliver out. I could see the little spike sticking out under the pad of my second toe. No problem. Well I pulled it out with no problem, stood up and instantly I felt that little prick of pain. The one you feel EVERY-time you take a step.

I sat back down and started to dig a little deeper to find the cause of the problem. 20 minutes later, lots of blood pain and cursing, I'm left with a little stab of pain in my foot, in addition to what I did with the razor, and a bloody hole in my toe. Still no sliver out.

I'm gonna go cry in my room for a minute. Then I'm going to make some bomb ass oatmeal. I love oatmeal, I make it like they have at jamba juice. Wicked good stuff.

I could probably just do my crying while I'm eating my oatmeal. That would save time.

Lip service from and insect.

2010-06-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

I went to campmeeting with the girls today around 4 oclock so I could go meet up with Jamie, and Tom and we could get started talking about getting a group together.

We had so much fun, I got there a little later than I had originally planned, so Tom had to go eat dinner.

In the mean time the puppies and I went to the little worship spot behind BV. It's so beautiful out there amongst the freshly cut grass and the trees.

The funnies thing happened again though. You must be aware of the red ants or 'fire ants' that are spread out over most of the forests of this state right? Well when they get scared, an individual ant, they spray this sort of stinging chemical, which stings a bit, but then when the skin is punctured by the mandibles it starts to burn.

Last time we were out in the woods Ava went sniffing around some of those ants and ended up with a few latched onto her face, like she was the holy-mother of all intruders. I thought it was a bit hilarious.

This time however, the ant somehow managed to get under all the fur, and grab right onto Ava's lip right in the area where you'd get a piercing, give or take.

She went yelping away, and at first I didn't know what was going on. Then when I saw her pawing at her face, I knew. I ran over and grabbed her face, and searched for the ant(s) I found one little bugger dug in pretty deep clinging onto her lip and biting like a mad biter.

I squeezed the ants head and body as I twisted it away from her poor mouth, she kept licking it and then realizing that she was licking the little bit of spray the ant had left behind. I got some water and washed her off, it was one of the highlights of my day.

Another really interesting thing happened to me today. I finally asked God to help me. I mean, I finally prayed for what I needed, and without thinking I had to do something to deserve it I just asked.
I asked for community, strong, God fearing community that I could relate to. I realized that this thing I need, this thing I need in order to help connect to God and become closer to him might not exist.

That's one of the things I've been really trying to wrap my mind around, just like with foundations. There is no more, we are what's left, and we have to create what we want, and what we need. Under Gods 'Supervision' I supppose might be the word I was looking for. His blessing sounds better.

the zit (preview)

2010-06-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

I just threw this together really quickly to let you guys know what was going on. I'm editing down some 20min of video I took earlier this morning trying to cut open a hole so I could get the rest of the puss pocket out.

This is just to give you a little taste. The next video you actually get to see me using that tool I made, it's pretty awesome. I just wish it had been not on my back, so I could have shot better video. As it is I had to use 4 mirrors, 2 cameras, and lots of sharp things and cussing. Ha.

2010-06-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm so pissed right now.

I won't get into why. But let's just say if you had ANY idea how cool this thing I had made was just now. You would have been like. (imagine kim saying this, for some reason) "Oh my God Garrett! Dance on my roof as soon as you get finished with that super awesome coolest blog post in the world there would ya? Garrett you are so creative, brave, and disgusting... I love it!"

That's not half bad for a start.

Let me just say before you look at these that I am a clean person. I eat healthy and I don't do drugs... in excess any longer.

I work with my shirt off until the sun sets, this usually means a fair amount of mosquito bites in the early evening. One in particular was getting on my nerves. I scratched at it, and started to think that it might be a ZIT.

Turns out it was, but wasn't ready, so I left it be for a couple days. When I got up this morning and started scrubbing my back in the shower. I yelped! There was a HUGE volcano looking thing just to the left of my right shoulder blade. Thankfully it's reachable by hand, though I do like using my home-made tools.

ooh, I need to take a picture of my tool also!

It's rather like an optical illusion. Ha, when you FEEL it, you can certainly feel the big lump just under the skin. I know there's gunk in there. Sometimes though, I'll look back at it in the mirror do a double take, because it appears to have gone away. If only I were that lucky.

I'm not sure how it looks to you guys. When I woke up this morning though, there was a good 1/8 inch dome of puss coming out of that volcano looking thing. I can feel another HUGE pocket beneath, however I cannot make a good clean cut on my own back, with the tools I have available. and I have 4 mirrors and a razor! Just can't see well enough where to cut. It's going to need to be a deep cut too.

Inspirational Words from the brain to the fingers of Garrett

2010-06-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

little test

2010-06-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

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