Hnloah G-Daddy Exploring The City

What up, Yo

Sorry haven't been posting much. hell it is Sept and I have had only two post this year better step it up. First can you believe it I had the nerve to complain about $3.75/gal gasoline... duh what a bargain that would be now?

No doubt you have seen the Labor Day dive pictures so I'll spare y'all those details. The superferry over to Maui would make a great post in itself. The highlight of the trip was in Lahaina when this guy thought Heavy P and I were a gay couple and tried to sell us sea salt expholiating skin cream and some other great skincare products. I think it went over HP's head. nuff bout Maui.

This post is about me celebrating Segundo's 21st BD. Since he is back home in Anch I celebrated it without him. I got a ticket off of HPR (Hawaiian Public Radio) to a jazz concert, the ticket was only 20 bucks!!!. man-o-man let me tell you about this show. First in was in dwntwn hono in Kakaako (I think) at the Atherton Studio. The place seats maybe 75 ppl max, last night there was only 35-45 ppl there. The groups is Bop Tribal www.myspace.com/boptribal Yo dudes and dudettes, they tore it up. Do you get the picture? An awesome jazz show, in a small venue, for only 20 bucks??? In Anchorage, you would have never got tickets, this place was smaller than Bernies upstairs.

So here is what I thought of the show. The thinker is the trumpet player, DeShannon Higa, the majority of the tunes where his composition. He let that fact speak for itself and didn't hog the playing time and showcased everyone else. Ho! don't get me wrong dude can blow and jam he just didn't Bogart it on his compositions.

Satomi Yarimizo played the piano. Wow, she also had a couple of compositions both I really dug. It was a pleasure to watch her play, like a willow tree, she swayed and flowed with the energy of each tune. There was nothing slight or demure here. At times sure her play was was gentle but, girly girl could kick it with the boyz no problem. She was on time.

Playing Tenor Sax, Reggie Padilla. Hell i don't know what i liked best either when he and DeShannon played together or when Reggie would hit a groove, then it was just plain intense.

The drummer Von Baron, well I though his performance was crisp, clean and professional. Dude appeared to be a serious percussion technician. These all are meant to be good adjectives. Von Baron got down to business and went to work! I'm no musician but I swear at times his playing would pull that little extra sumpin, sumpin out of Paddila. My only complaint was the sandpaper effect on a couple of pieces but, hey that is just me.

The bassist Jon Hawes had the only amplified instrument, they swore his big upright was on the way. Dude gots to be real good to hang with the rest of these cats but, I wasn't moved greatly by any of his solo's. I think I heard synergy with Satomi lots of times; again, I'm no music anything.

Overall the show was sizzling. Of the first set I particularly liked Tipsy Island, I don't know, it seemed to me to be the first tune where the jitters were gone and I was hearing a tight quintet. My second fav of the first set was, Flowers Smell Better in June, it swung! The second set was just fuckin tight. I LIKED EVERYTHING!. seriously it was all good. They hit the Thelonious Monk tune, Green Chimneys, red hot and smokin no wonder they took a break before that last number. All in all it was a great show!!!

Gasoline cost in AK vs HI

PISSED

So I don't get it? I'm back in Anchorage for a week, and the price of gasoline is $3.75/gal. The price in Hawaii is $3.65/gal. What the fuck? How can this be? Alaska has the North Slope, 3 refineries and gasoline cost more than in Hawaii? Then to add salt in the wound the "Dubya" and the entire Alaskan congressional congregation, wants to open ANWAR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) for oil development. The jerks say it will lower the cost of gasoline in America. Bullshit, if the gasoline price in Alaska is higher than Hawaii right now! How is opening ANWAR gonna do anything for the price of gasoline in the United States in the future.

Duh …Exxon and Conoco-Phillips will just make more money.

If anyone really believes opening ANWAR will lower the price of gasoline then I have some weapons of mass destruction located in Baghdad to sell you. ARRRGH

My Lil Corporate Chronicles

So the 1st post of 2008 should be a Chronicles post.

Hawaii vs Australia

Everybody ask, so G when r u goin back to work? Yo dude whaddup with that down under gig? Well the answers are; I’m back to work soon and the Aussie gig is dead. Most of you know that I left the RMI in August and was hangin in Anchorage waiting for my security clearance to go to Australia. I had the medical evaluation, polygraph test, psycho evaluation and field officer conducted interviews of friends and associates, in Sept. Hell I even got the visa in my passport. Well after 60 days… I got impatient (cute flowers).

So….my buddy Heavy P working in Oahu passed his employer my resume. His company flew me to Hono in Dec. I had a good interview and long story short they offered me a job. To which I said. “I need to give the Aussie gig 90 days to tie up the security stuff, if no word in 90 days, then I’ll take the Hawaii job.” To be cool told the Aussie folks that I need to know if I have a clearance or not in 90 days or else I’m gone.

Here is the kicker 90 days was the 12/15, I tell the Hawaii job I need till the 12/20 (95days). So 12/21 rolls along and I say Hawaii woo hoo. I get an e-mail from the Aussie folks on Jan 2…” I had a message from security this morning and your approval to brief was received 12/19/07.”…(that pissed me off since I asked specifically for any news about clearances on the 20th) basically the rub is two fold. First, I don’t care what the fuck, it shouldn’t take 90 days to let anyone know if they have a job. I was given four different report to Aussie dates: 11/3/07, 12/14/07, 1/11/08, and the last straw 2/8/08. Dudes in the future don’t give a report date until the security issues are complete. Changing dates just pisses ppl off. Hello?... ppl make plans based on the information given. Second, if someone knows about a long lead important items like the security clearances, DON”T SIT ON IT OVER THE HOLIDAYS….jerks

It is simple really. Company A (facilities) will have taken over six months to get me on the job site (Australia) after accepting the position. Company H (construction) will have me in Hawaii in less than 45 days after the job interview. Duh? Doing great in 2008 Oahu here I come.

PS The real bummer is I really wanted to go down under

G-Daddy 2007 summary/update

It has been a good year. I spent the first 8 months of this year in the RMI working on Kwajalein. It was way cool, learning to dive, a trip to Majuro, then to Micronesia and visited Kosrae and Pohnepe. Hangin with The Adventurer made kwaj the greatest. We got black pearls in Majuro, visited the copra plant. We had dinner with the US Ambassador and his wife. Majuro was boss. Then MI Hott came out for a visit, she tagged along with me and The Adventurer on our Micronesian sojourn. So kudos on the first 8 months of 2007. So, yeah I got the adventure thing down so so.

Then I came home, hmmmm home has not been that happy. For Thanksgiving I went down to Mom & Dads (in Soldotna 150 Miles south of Anchorage). Dad with PTSD + depression, Mom dealing with Dad, and Mom after her knee replacement. That was a new first for me, old parents are worse than children. I coached coed geriatric physical therapy for Mom and Dad. I got all of the lingo down cold. Up, down, 1,2,3,4,5...hold release, again, last 5,4,3,2, done…switch legs, next exercise.

Royalties you ask? How is that going? Slow. Did some water colors in kwaj but none while at home. Honestly, I think it will take 10 years+ to get to a point where I’ll be able to sell prints or anything. Just keep trying. But hey the popularity of this blog is growing like some asian economies. The Gigantic Coconut Crab Movie isn’t in the can either plus I missed the Anchorage Film Festival this year. Not happy bout that. I guess I can post the second clip. I have about 5 scenes that I need to edit and three I still need to film. Movie making is equally as hard as water colors…yo

I’ll close with a lack of job rant. I’m pissed at the Aussie job, the report date first was Nov, then Dec, then Jan, now they’re telling me Feb. Fuck that crap. I guess the security clearance background check thing is the hold-up. Hell I don’t even wanna a clearance, don’t wanna know any secrets either. I had no God damn intention to be in Alaska for December duh it is 5 F. outside right now. I ain’t waiting for the Aussie gig. Let’s be real… what incompetent sits around for over 90 days waiting for a job. In addition, it is just plain fucking rude (not no mention unprofessional) to expect someone to do that. The process stinks, they should 6 sigma this shit ….hissss. lol that would make it take longer. So… I had a job interview in Hono last week with two other résumé’s pending in Hawaii also. No word from any of them yet.

Yup, if you were reading between the lines I was in Hawaii for my birthday. My old buddy Heavy P is working a construction project there. Ole HP got me the interview. He has a place near Haleiwa on Oahu. That was fun cept for that head cold but who cares, I was in Hawaii and it was cold back home.

G-Daddy at home in the north

Fuck, it snowed today.

Honestly, I thought I would be outta here b4 it snowed.

This Australia job is taking way to long to close. I guess I still have to clear the security background check bullshit. Christ, if they said it would take over 6 months to get “cleared” for the job I would have said no and stayed in kwaj. In addition to that crap, I just found out that the place in Australia is a dry town (ha ha no pun intended) as of 8/1/07. You heard right a dry town in Australia, yikes that totally busted my aussie stereotypes. Yes, yours truly has accepted a job in a location where they don’t sell and alcohol. How stupid is that. Hmmm not passing the security clearance may be a blessing.

So the current plan is to be on site “the first week of December”. Meaning I have another 1 month to kill. Therefore when the passport returns from the visa process I’m headin back to kwaj. Pretty easy math, hang in anchor town for the beginning of winter or chill in the tropics and go diving. May hang in Hawaii for a day or two to see my buddy Heavy P. then go on to kwaj, see The Adventurer, and get some more diving in. I can still be back in anchor town for some snow boarding till December rolls in.

Here some pictures of the spot where we scatted some of Uncle Bubba’s ashes this is the mouth of the Kasilof River where we used to dipnet red’s. It was freezer fishing. We would catch both tides a day. Fish, clean fish, sleep, then fish again. It was a lot mellower than the Kenai River circus.

Guess what ya’ll both Primo and Segundo are living at my house. So far so good. At 20 and 21 not much interaction with the ole man but still it is kewl to have them around. Yeah yeah I know , but what about the hse when ur gone??? Solved I got better locks lol. Hell I don’t know? When the oz gig is finalized I’ll worry bout that.

Final note: I have been out of work long enough and I’m ready to paint. This is very good. Very very good, wooo hooo.

All in all, life is still good.
peace out mo fo's

Yes, I’m back in Alaska

Problem with Anchorage is I know too many ppl and places plus kids, parents and the ex-wife. It is way to easy to fall back into the same old grind. Well I have a lot of thoughts, and it has been along time since I have posted so here goes. Let me first; apologize for the random stream of consciousness but it all qualifies as Life.

Little Bro's ashes, I really don't want to put him in some fancy urn on my mantle. I don't even have a fire place. So, here's the plan …scatter him in three places. One is downtown Anchorage across from the old hospital, by the Park Strip, at the house we lived in when he was born. Second is at the mouth of the Kasilof River where we used to dip net red salmon. Third is at Beach lake in Birchwood where he used to party. I was thinking of making some Uncle Bubba geocache sites also but, Alaska has so many geocaches it isn't that unique. Maybe I will start an Uncle Bubba travel bug.

Mom and Dad, arrrgh Well I have sent about ½ of my three weeks home at mom and dad's house down in Soldotna. Dad is totally gone. Retirement and the complete lack of any activity as allowed the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to take over. Pops is a Korea and 2x Vietnam combat vet. He is constantly paranoid and paces around the house. He is not eating and I had to tell mom to call the doctor and take him to the hospital because he has lost so much weight, he was in for a week to get his weight and fluids up. Mom is in complete denial on how bad the situation is….mom historically isn't as incompetent as she seems in this situation but perhaps Bubba and Aunt Rose dying within 3 month of each other has had an effect? Last Sunday the boyz drove down for dinner and after dinner Dad announced that the food was poisoned….he is paranoid on the verge of psychotic. We had to explain the food was good, we all cooked it and it was safe to eat. Talking to my sister later it became clear that he is just scared shitless of everything. I guess it, the PTSD, has always been in the background but retirement left nothing to screen the weird behavior like working did. Sigh… we all saw it, there were lots of signs, but we didn't recognize the gravity until it was too late. Long story short, I told mom he needs to go to a psychiatric institute or hospital he is too much for her to take care of at home.

Yow, I remember going thru the times when everyone was getting married then having kids. This new phase of growing old and dying isn't too exciting. Speaking of kids I learned a valuable lesson. DON'T LET UR 21YO SON LIVE IN UR HOUSE WHILE YOU'RE GONE. Duh…apparently there was a party or two. Being the resourceful father I am, I hit the kid's roommate's blog to get any 411 on the said affair(s). Read http://wanghunglo.livejournal.com the Jan 4th entry. Young dude Wanghunglo owes me a mirror. I have also deduced that the broken tap explains the dark stains on the walls and ceiling of the bathroom. At least it appears to have been a decent dark/amber keg. Good thing is both boyz are enrolled in college, and currently have jobs. Primo is planning Segondo's 20th BD party. I have obtained written affidavits that the party will not be at the house.

Hmmm lots of details above but few thoughts, I'll summarize. I am torn about being back in Anchorage, some good feelings and lot of bad feeling. It is like I never left same old crap to deal with. I need to be gone before it snows, winter here will be depressing. I really miss my brother Bubba. http://www.myspace.com/welovebubba I don't want to be responsible for my parents, hell I'm not done with raising my own kids yet. However, I'm close to being done with kids, and the boyz are turning out pretty kewl so far.

Yup, nothing was said about relationships and future work. You could say I saved the hard topics for later. Next post will be free entrepreneurial ideas for young adventuresome capitalist eager to earn millions.

Work still sucks

Hmmm... didn't I say a wanted to quit engineering entirely after the last job I left? yeah... and if I had to go back it better be an easy job in a really cool location. Well, Kwaj has been a classic example of getting what u ask for. This is facilities engineering circa 1987. I'm sooo ready to blow this popsicle stand.

In fact I have posted/replied to 35 jobs online since Feb mostly in the Pacific and west coast Only have gotten 4 or 5 nibbles with one firm offer, a project located in LAX, double yuck. Point being, there is alot of online frog kissing going on with very few job offers. I'm expecting an offer for a job in Australia it would be adventurous but, it is getting pretty far away from the folks. So I may tell them no. not sure yet? I have a position in CA in the making also, new power plant with CO2 capture (really cool project wrt the enviroment and all). See, I have added an additional professional focus...to help ppl. Don't worry, easy and cool location is still in! No more engineering for the military or big oil.

Sounds good don't it?? Till I look at my bank account, sigh some times I really hate capitalism. so ho'ing (engineering for the money, just with a different part of the body) still may happen despite all of my social ranting. Sigh...I'm really starting to think work will always suck, cause I'll probadly always need money.