3:30 A.M.

That is the current time, or rather will be when I finish typing. On my lunch break now. . .what I consider a lunch break. I never eat lunch or any food on my midnight shift job. Merely, lots of water and energy drinks.

And now, a description: Running shoes, dark-green khaki pants, grey tee-shirt, light-blue lab coat (polyester), purple nitrile gloves, and sometimes safety glasses.

You won't find this motif in GQ or Cosmopolitan. You might find it in a biological supply magazine or National Geographic where they interview refugees from Yugoslavia. But it's midnight, in a chemistry lab, and few people know me. (I like the anonymity)

Life is not crazy, but will soon be. I feel it in my bones. The insanity started this morning when I felt the beginning of birth pangs of busyness. For now, I'm spending precisely every 7'35" inserting small nickel-cadmium crucibles into a 950 degree celsius furnace. Funness. I'll say that again. Fun-ness. Like Loch Ness, but without the monster.

Now

I have not slept in nearly 30 hours. I have a headache. I am starting to see things others don't. I hunger for food and sleep. I am starting to talk alot. . .a whole lot. It's what happens when I go for long stretches of time without sleep. I become talkative. I shall sleep now and read what I have written later. Who knows? It might be coherent.

Goodnight.

3

Number of samples I analyzed at work this morning: 3
Number of kidneys a co-worker has: 3
Number of miniature cinnamon rolls I ate today: 3
Number of bonuses I have received the past 3 years: 3
My age in years: 33

Cleaning some old boxes yesterday put me in a fit of melancholy. True, I have a melancholic personality, but this was an amplified melancholy. The goal was to throw away alot of stuff I really do not need. Things with a possible sentimental value, or rather, things that have the potential to jolt my memory banks when I am an old man living in Orlando sitting on a swing people-watching and alligator avoiding. (I should note that as I type these words, Austin Powers is playing on the TV and I have this annoying habit of looking at the screen which is quite distracting, especially when you're trying to type something for the masses.) So,so,so...perhaps I will write more later.

The 21st day of July, 2007 A.D.

While bathing today, it dawned on me that the lyrics to 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe fit quite nicely with the song 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door.'

Earlier this morning, President Bush gave presidential powers to Dick Cheney for 2 1/2 hours, which might possibly explain that cold spell I felt this morning at work.

I have a headache now from a combination of formaldehyde, turpentine, house paint, lack of sleep, burning sulfur fumes, and no caffeine. I must be in pretty good shape since the pain is only mild. A puppy in my state would have died hours ago.

I am buying a truck.

Seriously.

I have not shaved in 3 days.
I am wearing earth colored clothing.
I just ate fried potatoes and instant gravy.

And, I have been hacking and coughing alot.

And this is because?

It puts me in the truck buying spirit. Unlike, say, dog-fighting, as the Vick family down the road should know.

Soon, I will have narrowed my choices to 3 or 4 models.

And then. . .?

Then, I will lift some weights, cough and grunt, possibly put a toothpick in my mouth (if I can find one, and decide.

In running news: Nothing new under the sun. Jason is still trudging 4-6 miles every few days in his pre-marathon training. Allen Webb broke the American record for the mile two hours ago. Unofficially, he ran 3'46.9"

Once I took a speed-reading course. . .

. . .and read War and Peace in twenty minutes. It's about Russia.

--Woody Allen






My current read, which can be purchased here

Or read free-of-charge here.

Or rather, one of them as I'm always reading about 3 books simultaneously.

Some Links

My sister's MySpace space








Don't know who this fellow is but he's cooler than the frozen guacamole in my freezer. The top link is my sister's MySpace space. I should note we have very little in common except last name, although our middle names are somewhat similar.

Bastille Eve Day

So, here I am and there you are on this sunny hot Saturday and you're reading these words looking for something inspiring, profound, humorous, or. . .I think I spelt humerous wrong. . .and believe me o Gentile Reader, unless you're Jewish, I am thinking, not very hard, but nevertheless thinking, about something to write about that will change the course of History and make Life more enjoyable for all literate persons.

Late Night

It is, right now, a little bit after 3 AM on the East Coast of America and the company next door, an Alcoa plant that makes parts for Volvo, has erected a circus tent. And now, some of the employees are throwing balls at a short fat man who is sitting on a chair suspended over a tub of water. The short fat man is yelling insults at the jeering mob as they attempt to drown him.

This is happening right outside my window.

I had planned on a quiet night of paperwork, perhaps even a little writing, but no, the neighbors are restless.

07-07-07

Don't get me wrong.

I try very hard to get along with a certain un-named co-worker. But I can't help but feel that God is preparing me to oversee an orphanage of little boys who spent their formative years being raised by wolves.

I have a cough. I didn't purchase it at Sears, I did not inherit it, I do not even claim it as my own. Still, I have a cough.

It is now 96 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and Jason has a cough.

I DO have cough drops. Tis true. A bag of lemon-honey cough-suppressing little gems to make me feel better and assuage the itching of my throat. I don't like coughs. I don't like hearing others cough and hack and try to expel phlegm from their esophagus. Their esophagus'. . .esophagii. . .what a strange word.

Congratulations to Alan Webb, native Virginia, who yesterday ran a 3'30" 1500m (a 3'47" equivalent to the mile) in Paris. This is the fastest time run by anyone this year, so far. The Tour de France begins today. An American has won this for the past eight years. Our best option cette annee is George Hincapie, another Texan.

Things I did today: make banana bread, cough, nap, work 4 hours, cough, eat pancakes and coffee, cough, eat cough drops, ponder the meaning of Life, cook spaghetti squash and make spaghetti sauce, deposit money into checking account, mindlessly check alot of web sites on my browser to see what all the other blogging perfect strangers are doing and cough while doing so, read, write. . .and perhaps this is not the most interesting post du jour in a while.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I needed to do that.

(Stress you know)

Today I. . .

did very little, so far. I ate, slept, drank, bathed, read, drove, breathed air, lifted some weights, surfed, and experienced a most strange dream in which Dr. James Dobson came to my parents house and called me crazy.

But hey, I updated this blog.

My Application

Qualifications


• BS or MS in biosciences or related field

--I have a bachelor's degree in biology.

• A minimum of 1-3 years experience in a research setting

--got it

• Significant experience working with small animals

--I have spent many a time working with small vermin.

• Experience in cell cultures and cell- based assays highly desirable

--I have never been in a jail cell, so have little direct experience here. Assays? Yes, I think I do have some skill at writing assays.

• Experience with gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting a plus

I read my old college biology textbook. Does that count?

• Ability to work in a dynamic team environment

--My 1st job as a cook in a Mexican restaurant has prepared me quite well for employment in a dynamic team environment. As a matter of fact, it was so dynamic, half the time I didn't even know the people I was working with.

• Ability to work independently in a fast paced environment

--I am a stranger in a strange land. As a grade A introvert in a city, I fit this description to a tee.

• Strong communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills

--I communicate very well except when I have to talk, then my voice gets mysteriously scratchy. I have an amazing ability to organize anything. Finding where I put it is another thing altogether.

• Must demonstrate good computer skills

--I have a blog and spent way too much time reading letsrun.com and cnn.com.

Absentia

I should really post something profound later today. Last week was crazy. I like craziness, since Life is an adventure. But once you're in the midst of an adventure, sometimes it doesn't seem that way. It seems like adventures always happen at inopportune moments. Would it be an adventure if it was planned? Of course. You can plan adventures. I do it all the time. Spontaneity is good, as long as it is planned. . .and you've a syllabus. . .and lots of readily available cash.

I am looking to purchase a new vehicle to drive across the continent. Something that will be able to carry alot of stuff and isn't a mini-van. I dislike mini-vans. Mini-vans are like those big-boned girls with lots of inner beauty and gland problems that seem to be attracted to nerdy skinny guys with acne. Any suggestions?

I am fighting a headache now. Monday, you know. And there is a thousand things to do. But the sun is out and the weather is cool. And I just ate a hamburger for breakfast on a large pre-sliced bagel, which is cooler. And drinking iced tea, and typing nonsense as the trash man just drove by because I just feel like typing. . .not fast. . .just sort of slow-like. Slow like a cowboy loping slowly across the plains of West Texas looking for a li'l dogie to rope. Why cowboys rope li'l dogies is beyond me, but that's they're business. It's their job. Like mine is to blow up coal and coke samples to determine caking characteristics and trace mineral content. Part of me always wanted to be a cowboy, I just hated cowboy boots. Can one be a cowboy with hiking boots? I have a really nice pair of Asolo's I wore when hiking on volcanoes in Hawai'i. And yes, this is how you spell Hawai'i. Native Hawai'i people speak with no diphthongs. Every vowel is pronounced. So when somebody tells you to go to Waimanaeia street, take a left at aioeu blvd, and go 3 blocks downs ohia-lehuia-oamanipaoli ave. It takes a while. I just remembered there's a spaghetti squash in my refrigerator that needs cooked soon. And for that I need meat, as I already have the pasta sauce and spices, which means I will be going to Wal-Mart later. Always going to Wal-mart. It's a weekly ritual. And it is 5 minutes away. And open 24 hours. 7 days a week. This Saturday will be 07-07-07, and according to the black guy I worked with last night who looks like a Kenyan tribal chief but is really from Chicago and has a degree in chemistry, it will be a most popular day for weddings. Prolly a good luck thing. My dead grand-mother never believed in luck and always told me so. She also never called deviled eggs. . .deviled eggs. I asked her if I could call them bedeviled eggs and she made me cut a switch from one of the bushes in the backyard. She beat me with that switch. And it stung like I don't know what. My headache is a little bit less now. The tea is starting to perform it's magic but I'm still typing slow. I need coffee creamer.