Out of a box

Vallejo, CA

I finally have a landlord that has let me put holes in the wall.

Happy Birthday John!

Concord, CA

Happy Birthday John! John turned 42 today, so 19 of us went to a restaurant and sang a song to him.

teaching children to use power tools

Antioch, CA

I had a client try to saw off my hand today.

three fingered gloves

Oakley, CA
A friend of mine who rides bikes was getting ready for a ride tonight when I saw her gloves. I have never seen three fingered gloves before.

Just another sunset in Oakley

Oakley, CA

The sun was out all day and it felt wonderful to the face.

gushing

Oakley, CA

All of the drainage canals are flowing with run off now. Just a little while ago they looked like this - tranquil and habitable. But now they are torrents. It's great to see.

waiting

i sing the songs of my heart
as i think of yours

i look forward to having yours
encased in your little body
nestled in my arms

i think often of your smiling eyes
as they would glimmer up at mine
so please come quickly
that mine might glimmer back at you,
smiling and looking so precious below me.

leafing the gutters

Oakley, CA

The rain stopped briefly today - long enough for me to take this shot. Every day there are city and county employees out removing leaves from the gutters as the rain continues to puddle. I counted 10 "Flooded" signs in Oakley today.

power out

Vallejo, CA

I was taking a shower at 5 tonight when suddenly this was all I could see. A substation in American Canyon had a minor malfunction and AC and parts of Vallejo lost power. Thank fully the hot water didn't go out.

BORP versus BORP

Berkeley, CA

Amy and I volunteered today at BORP. Amy score kept and I was a referee. BORP currently has two division two teams that go head to head. I'm never sure who to cheer for on those games.

Of significance, today marks the second time in 2 1/2 years of refereeing that I got ran over.

a return to fast food

Antioch CA

After several weeks of not eating fast food, I made a triumphant return today.

Botany on the shelf

Benecia, CA

I went to the library tonight looking for a study place.

growing out of puddles

Oakley, CA

It rained again today. I was rather happy with this trick Josh taught me a few years ago about how to take this picture.

pitter patter of little raindrop feet

Oakley, CA

(-: it rained today.

I gots me a new scanner

Vallejo, CA

Now I just have to get a bigger hard drive, right?

sun shined palm tree

Near Vallejo, CA

It was cloudy all day, again, but for a brief moment. In that brief moment the sun shined forth and lit this palm tree.

Pier from beyond the panels

Berkeley, CA

Amy and I went to a service project in Oakland that ran too late to go to the zoo as planned. So instead we went to University Ave in Berkeley and went for a walk on the pedestrian bridge that connects you to the Marina. It was a nice long walk.

(BTC - From the walk)

See, Mormons aren't all bad

Vallejo, CA

This week I've been hearing a lot about how bad Mormons can be and how they push their marriage views onto people. Despite that - they do make good friends for when you are drunk.

unpacked appliances

Vallejo, CA

Look! Look! My Appliances! Out of their boxes for the first time in 18 months. Yippee!

Post #950

PSA Driving fast

On Monday I was on 780 heading East. Suddenly a car got on the freeway, cut over to my lane and flicked his lights at me. There was a car directly next to me. I sped up. The person next to me sped up. I slowed down (to get behind the guy next to me). The guy behind me turned on his high beams and left them on for the next two miles. His high beams encompassed all mirrors I had. I could not look into my two side mirrors, my two blind spot mirrors nor my rear view mirror without seeing his high beams. At that point I knew not where the car on the side of me was. Was it next to me or far behind me? I just didn't know. So I didn't know if I needed to go faster or slow down to get out of the lane I was in. Eventually it became clear that the car next to me had reduced its speed. The guy behind me turned off his high beams, got over and passed me. As he passed me, he rolled down his window and shoved his middle finger out at me. Then he promptly got off three miles after he had gotten on.

For this Public Service Announcement - I would like to help out this guy and future drivers. If you need to go three miles in a hurry on highway 780 might I suggest the following:

1. Leave Earlier
2. Grow wings and fly there
3. Buy a Helicopter
4. Rent a Dragon
5. Or you could just be patient

One thing I'd like to suggest you don't do is blind the person in front of you. This will only make you be late to whatever activity you were running late for.

Cubed Steak Special

Antioch, CA

This is the first time I wasn't 100% satisfied with a my Lumpy's Lunch. It was good. It was an 8 or 9 out of 10. But it just wasn't a ten. I think it was missing two things for me. It needed to come with bread and it needed to be more filling. (I had the soup below to help make up the lack of filling). The roasted tomatoes were delicious. The onions were good. I never have been one for green peppers - but I think the thing for me was it just wasn't filling like Lumpy's always is.

just hanging out

Oakley, CA

A friend of mine just hanging out in our "Spiderman swing" at work.

under the bridge

Solano County, CA

I'm considering doing a compare and contrast project for my project this semester. I'm thinking of doing a look at the underside of bridges and how they relate to the year they were created. Today I went out and scouted locations.

when should a deer be afraid? When the birds get bigger than you

American Canyon, CA

a snout to ride

Fairfield. CA

As Amy and I waited to see a movie tonight - we roamed around the mall. I'm a sucker for pictures of carousels.

Thank you Craigslist

Vallejo, CA

My new place is big enough that I have room for more than just a bed. I got a new bookcase on Tuesday from Craigslist and a new (to me) chair yesterday on Craigslist. It is so comfy too.

--
Melinda has been sharing music that has been in her head the past two days (one and two). I thought I'd do the same - though mine are vastly different than hers.

Unfilled Balloons

Vallejo, CA

I was cleaning the bathroom of my new place a few days ago when I ran across a whole bunch of these multi-color balloons still in their original packaging. According to one of the other roommates - the girl that left these used to throw parties all the time in her room and would use these balloons for one of the party games. I just threw them away. I'm not a party kind of guy I guess. Or maybe I just don't need these types of balloons to party.

Fiesta Burger

Antioch, CA

Today I had the Fiesta Burger at Lumpy's. It has lettuce, chips, salsa, cheese, guacamole, tomatoes and other stuff on it. It was probably the first burger in 2 years that I had that didn't require ketchup to eat.

**A side note - one of the blogs I follow is having a give away. You may want to join in on the list of followers so that you can maybe win an external hard drive.

** A side note - Nie has started a new project where she and a Lady from Germany post pictures together. Because I have no problems stealing people's ideas - if any one would like to do a similar project with me, just let me know.

Pictorial Baggage

Vallejo, CA

A selection of the framed art my mother gave me that has been in storage for the last 6 years and some of which will soon be on e-Bay.

Dealing with Character

In the recent weeks, Amy and I have been discussing character. She is a novelist and I am a short story writer. I don't get attached to my characters enough to deal much with their current character much less the character they might get in the future (i.e. Character Development).

This gap between us has left us to discuss characters as we see or interpret them.

For example, we saw a boat while we were in Crescent City. It was way out at sea and it was traveling North, toward Canada. As we discussed the ship, I decided that it was a drug running boat that transported cargo size shipments of Mexican marijuana to Canada. Aboard the Boat was Jack, a Canadian by birth, who found drug running to be a way to make good money for his mother who was suffering from various disabilities. Not only that but the money allowed him to use his boating skills to provide a natural substance opposed to being a whaler - a job that goes against his moral code because of the innocent slaughter of mating whales. However, on this particular trip, Jack was overly concerned about his chosen business. Jack's brother, Thomas, had recently died at the old ancient age of 16 - to a drug over dose. Jack was concerned about if he was doing the right thing....And that is as far as I have gotten. Amy and I occassionaly talk about Jack - but for the most part he is just on the boat because I don't know how to move his character along.

The same goes for another Jack. (Can you tell I like the name) I wrote about Jack the anti-hero a few months ago. Since then I have struggled to find ways to develop his character. I have more adventures in my head (Jack buys a rope to hang himself and instead lassoses a bank robber), but I am struggling to develop his character - why he is depressed? What will bring him out of his depression or dive him deeper? Why does he have such luck in not succeeding at such a simple task of ending his life? I don't know - mainly because I can't find it inmyself to develop Jack beyond that point.

Another Character I struggle with is the Amazing Drooling Boy. This is a name I have for one of my clients who constantly drools. On everything. I keep thinking I should develop an alter ego super hero for him but the more and more I try the more and more I'm stuck. So instead all I see is in my head - the amazing drooling boy.

Does anyone have any suggestions for developing characters?

Cookies missed out on

Walnut Creek, CA

Every other Monday for the past 2 months I've enjoyed "Cookie Night" with a friend. Unfortunately, tonight she was out of town so I was forced to eat cookies with my roommates. Not the same feel to it.

Tim, Thomas, Taylor, Theodore

Vallejo, CA

It would only make sense that after professing my love for dogs on my other blog, that I would move into a house with cats. This one is a leftover cat from a previous tenant. Because there is not a lot of love for said previous tenant in the house - the cat's name is rather loosely defined. It could be any of the top names or any others you want to give it that start with T.

Waterfall magic

Solano County, CA

Found near 80 and McGary Rd. Amy and I were on our way to go check out a bike path.

The Bumble Bee Ramp

Near Vallejo, CA
(please listen to Flight of the bumble bee as you enjoy today's picture)

As a favor to Amy's family, Amy and I built a ramp today. Her father painted the ramp a color that "would be noticed by people walking up to the house." After we were done applying the anti skid strips we stood back and decided that the ramp looked like a bumble bee. This came after a day of lamenting about not painting squares on it and posting a sign out front to "follow the yellow brick ramp."

(BTC - the Ramp in build)