JamesSavik

I was pleased to land the contract: 30 stores from July to mid-August. As far as contracts go it was modest but for a solo operator like me it was just right. I got the package in the last week of June that covered the stores and the scope of work. I was expected to come up with a schedule. The contract was administered by a nation-wide systems integrator that I had worked with from time to time. They would be skimpy on the hours but as long as I was good about documenting the expenses, things would work out just fine. I wanted to do a couple of the closest stores first to get an idea of what was involved so I scheduled Jackson for Monday, Pearl Tuesday and Yazoo City for Wednesday. After doing three, I would know what to expect. I scheduled Biloxi and Gulfport for Thursday and Friday so I would have an excuse to spend a night on the coast. Monday morning I showed up at Graybar Electric and purchased the supplies that I needed and headed off to do the Jackson store. It turned out to be a wiring nightmare. Whoever had set up the network had either been on acid or just planned on making a mess. I spent three hours fixing the mess and finally got down to installing the new equipment and upgrades. Total time on sit: a little over 8 hours. It was hard, physical hot work. A lot of the cabling is done in the attic or crawl spaces. I got everything working and discovered that the sites could be a real mess. The Pearl store was easy. It was under good management and wasn't nearly the mess that the Jackson store had been. I got 5 1/2 hours. Yazoo City was difficult because of the building. Pulling wire through that monster solo was like trying to use dental floss on a Saber toothed tiger. I got 8 hours and felt like the building had fallen on me by the time I was done. I was looking forward to Thursday. I hadn't spent any real time on the coast since Katrina and I wanted to see how things were. I left my home in Byram at 6am, had breakfast in Magee and arrived in Biloxi a little before 10:00. The Biloxi store turned out to be a piece of cake. It was newly rebuilt since the hurricane and I was able to get the wiring and equipment in four hours. After I finished up, I grabbed a late lunch at Lil Ray's Po-Boys in Gulfport and checked into a hotel north of I-10 to avoid the beach front premium. When I arrived I stowed my gear in the room, cleaned up and drove around Biloxi and Gulfport to explore. Keesler Air Force Base sits right in between Biloxi and Gulfport and Thursday they were putting on quite a show. I saw F-15 Eagles, F-16 Falcons and A-10 Warthogs flying over all day. Both towns took a horrible beating during Katrina. There are still a lot of empty spaces on the beach where hotels, resterants and amusements used to be and have not returned. Many of the places that I remember are just gone. What is there is brand new and the areas off the beach are growing wild. Pass road which runs parallel and a quarter mile off the beach is wall to wall business. I ate supper at Claw Daddies in Gulfport and had Cajun styled crawfish for supper. It was great. After supper I went back to the hotel room and did paperwork for a while. I put on my swimsuit and decided to cool off in the pool and sit in the hot tub for a while. When I arrived at the pool it was obvious that the Air Force had landed. They were all over the place hanging out. I turned out that they were performing manuvers that day. I got out of the pool and sat in the hot tub for a while. The Air Force guys were talking about the days work. They were working on SAM suppression and everything was electronic. By 10 most of the Air Force had vanished. I went to the room and went to sleep. The next morning I packed my gear and got to work on the Gulfport store. It was new too and I was done by 2. After I was done, I packed the truck and headed home. I stopped for a sandwich in Hattiesburg and was home by six.

Yeah- I kinda figured that Bruno would be craptacular.

Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.. -Jim Morrison Hurray i awake from yesterday Alive but the war is here to stay So my love catherina and me Decide to take our last walk thru the noise to the sea Not to die but to be reborn Away from the lands so battred and torn Forever forever -Jimi Hendrix Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. Buddha Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity. Robert Morgan Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being. Albert Camus

I don't understand: America is the most sophisticated entertainment market in the world but if you look at the programming, you would think that most Americans are jr high aged. They watch Seinfeld (a little show about nothing) but won't watch a drama unless it is over in an hour. They do watch Lost but that is more like a reality show where people get shot/stabbed or eaten by the island. Don't even get me started on reality shows. There should be assassinations! Lots of assassinations to apologize and atone for those damned reality shows. ________________________________________________________________ Disclaimer: this post does not actually call for violence against TV executives: just beating, wedgies and swirlies

Something about Merlin makes me worry that it is the sort of show that networks cancel without warning or completion: a good show that they won't give enough time to gather traction like Surface or Jericho.

How did I miss this? Happy birthdat Jessie!

Yep. That's annoying alright. I promise never to do it.

You are samurai.

But you already are my friend. Your magic lives in your words and it is powerful stuff. Someday I will smile and say that I knew that he was a star before he had paparazzi.

*sigh* I'll have to get a bigger couch.

At first I thought the title of the thread said what would you do for $90M and thought to myself: ugh, they really don't want to know.Come to think of it, you probably don't want to know what I'd do for 5$. Me love you longtime sailor! What to do with it AFTER getting it? I'd do several things. First I would buy some land in New Mexico or Colorado- or maybe in Australia the Southern sky is very cool. I would want the land at a nice elevation and a desert climate to build myself a nice observatory. Then I would buy a couple of supercomputers and sell time on them to pay for the upkeep. Once I was up and running with a staff, I'd spend a lot of time writing.

Hummm.. there are so many to chose from. I think I would like to be Tommy from Kit's Tappings. I might be disturbed enough to pull it off. :wacko:

Same here SB! Have a great birth day.

This eruption is taking place in an area of frantic seismic activity that is called the Ring of Fire. It is a formation that runs in a circular pattern around the Pacific basin and along the boundaries of where a number of plates collide and either thrust or subduct against each other. It is huge and runs along the coast of North and South America, the Aleutian Islands, the Kuriles, Japan, Marianias Islands, the Philipines, New Guimea and New Zealand. Along its length are volcanos both active and dormant and innumerable earthquake faults including the infamous San Adraes fault. The Pacific Ring of Fire at Wikipedia Ring of Fire- USGS

Special for the 4th of July Twilight Chapters 10 & 11 America- what a country! What other country is crazy enough that inhabitants celebrate their Independence with binge drinking and playing with high explosives?

Notice the Rebel Alliance symbol on his head: I think that explains his violent tendencies.

This is my new kitten Havoc. He plays all the time: we are his human cat toys. He runs, he jumps, he bites, he claws and climbs me causing many lacerations. In trying to figure out how this spoiled kitty is so rough, I noticed these strange markings on his head. Coincidence? I think not. ____________________________ PS- I'm back after a cooling off period but II'm not going anywhere NEAR the soapbox.

Rebel Kitty This is my new kitten Havoc. He plays all the time: we are his human cat toys. He runs, he jumps, he bites, he claws, climbs me he causes many lacerations. In trying to figure out how this spoiled kitty is so rough, I noticed these strange markings on his head. Coincidence? I think not.

the lions tremble in their dens at the roar of a young and powerful challenger.

My friends- I used to be a moderator here for over a year and a half. I know that when the moderators have decided to ban someone, they get real petty like they are looking for a reason. In this case I got a warning because I called the Huffington Post the Huffington Pest and the DailyCos the DailyCommie. Hell- these are lefty blog sites and not even real news. Technically this is a violation of the rules (demeaning names) but it caught me by surprise. I thought that applied to people not to wanna-be news sites that have been caught lying about the facts and committing plagerism. It's just a matter of time before I slip up and get banned. I'm a hot-head and don't suffer fools gladly. Rather than leave on my knees I'd rather walk out standing up. This way I at least get to clean out my blog. The conflict with DK is just part of the problem. Like he said in his diatribe in my blog I am abrasive and more trouble than I'm worth. I think this is the consensus of opinion with the moderators because it sure looks that way. Don't worry: I'm not going far. I'm a fixture at Awesomedude. James

I'm tired of the bias. I'm tired of getting penalized for disagreeing with DK. OK he owns the place. Fine. It's all his.

Chase- I love reading your blog but often don't know what to say. You write beautifully. We appear to come from very different worlds and it is like observing a completely alien culture. I feel like I should transmit prime numbers or something so you'll know that there is an intelligence out here attempting to communicate. James

that's a big glass for... apple juice. I haven't drank any apple juice in years. I'm afraid that if I did, I'd wake up, find a dear john letter and discover that my liver had left me for another man.

You guys have lots of fun!

What a cutie!