Category: Commentary

Drive Me Snow Blind Crazy

Posted on by chappyshi

Pulling in to my apartment complex tonight I got blocked by a van in front of me.  The driver got the front wheels over the first speed bump but seemed to have a problem getting the back wheels over it.  Now take into consideration that we had a wintery mix going for about 30 minutes w/ an accumulation of perhaps 0.2  inches.  It was a moderately sized speed bump so of course I wasn’t surprised that the dumb ass had to stop before he tried to take his rear wheels over that Mont Blanc of an obstacle.

I figured he was going to get out and put on the snow chains but he was wise to that realizing that putting them on the rear tires of a front wheel drive van would have been pointless.  Accordingly, he put his vehicle in reverse probably figuring to return back over the speed bump, put the chains on his front tires, and then motor his way over the speed bump using his  chained front tires to pull both front and rear wheels over it like Hannibal crossing the Alps.

Dumb ass…I passed on the left and pulled into my parking  spot.  I was a bit breathless from the high altitude when I got out of my car and had to wade soul deep through the “wintery mix” to get to my lofty, snow graced apartment but after a strenuous 30 seconds was able to successfully make my way to warmth and safety.  Thankfully, I did not get stranded in a “wintery mix”  drift and have to chew my arm off and drink my urine to survive.

Wasn’t there a movie?

Dancing On the Ceiling

Posted on by chappyshi

I think Lionel Ritchie said it best.  Oh what a feeling!  I just got off what should have been my last regular mid-watch in my old position at Lockheed.  I start my new position tomorrow.  That’s going to be a bit rough…going back to mostly day working after nearly eight months of working 12 hour mid-watches.  Oh, the sacrifices we make…  Oh, the footprints on the ceiling!

The Transition Is Complete

Posted on by chappyshi

It is done.  I have officially, according to my body, moved over to the dark side.  Nearly seven months of working midwatches  1800 – 0600 have taken the toll.  I now officially sleep during the day, even on my days off, and have to wear suntan lotion when I go out into the light so I don’t waste away like an errant Dracudude.

Ironically, today my promotion takes affect.  The position is a day job M-F if you ignore the on call duty required occasionally.  Sadly, I am still on the schedule for midwatches until we get some new bodies trained to flesh out the watch schedule.  If all goes well, I will be off the watch and into my new position just in time to have to retrain my body to get used to working days instead of nights.

Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Warner Theater, Washington, DC

Posted on by chappyshi

My brother-in-law Ed and I saw the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC, a couple of weeks ago.  It was a good 2.75 hours of tunes.  Mike Madison and some guys with whom I gather he is trying to form a band opened up.  Thanks to Mike they were good, but w/o him they were squat.  Susan Tedeschi dominated the vocals when DT and they rest of the crew came out.  ST sounds like Bonnie Raitt now more than ever.  Mike Madison was relegated to the far right back of the stage behind the brass section, alto sax, trumpet, and trombone (dude also did a good voice solo not unlike Stevie Wonder), with another backup vocalist.

I am listing to Revelator, their newest album, right now and Susan is talking about not wanting to get out of bed.  I would hate to be DT and have my soul mate possibly lay down the “I will be your lead singer or else” rap on me.  But I surely would not sleep w/ Mike Madison.

It was a very interesting concert w/ two drummers, the brass, three singers, etc.  The playlist was mostly based on Susan’s songs including a number of Motown covers that I recognized and knew, but now don’t remember.  She did do a song that Joe Cocker does tho I am not sure it is an original Joe Cocker and I am sure I was one of very few people there that recognized it.

Speaking of Mike Madison, Ed and I ran into him on the back side of the Warner as we were going to the parking garage.  Nice garage, you could get to the Warner from the same street coming out of the garage but had to go all the way back around the building to get back to your vehicle.  So we are around the back side looking one of those tour bus things w/ a trailer on the back, probably band vehicles, when we come around the corner and I see this guy that had to have been Mike.

He was by himself walking toward the bus, no one else was out there, looking at his phone when I saw him and said, “Mike, are you Mike Madison?”  He kind of looked at me like I was a nut for a minute.  I pointed him out to Ed and by then he was walking away and I was looking for the words I couldn’t say like, “Dude you can sing.”  I would have liked to shake his hand or get a picture but it all happened so fast.

Thanks to Ed for driving…especially on the way home in the rain.

Life Is a Fist Up the Ass

Posted on by chappyshi

My new apartment management company (at least the 3d since I have been here for six years) decided they needed to issue new parking passes.  This was  because, in this advanced computerized day and age, the new company couldn’t import the previous company’s records into their database.  And in this advanced age they only issue the permits that you have to hang from your mirror.  This is an impediment to my site picture as far as I am concerned.  It is even worse on my motorcycle because I really have no secure place to hang it and riding with it hanging from my rear view mirror is just not an option.

Anyhow, to get the permit, I had to provide a copy of my  vehicle registration.  Well  I re-register as required every two years but I don’t know what the hell I do with the registration cards.  Oddly, I found the one for my car in my glove compartment but the one for my motorcycle was  nowhere to be found.  So I thought, “Cool, I have one of the registration cards.”

Well, I left that one in my car and down the line cleaned out my car and added whatever paper products to my recycling and took that to the recycling center.  Next thing you know I couldn’t find my car registration.  Crunch time…I had to get the stickers by 9/1.   So, on the last day of the month, bad time to be at the DMV, I drop in at 1400 or so.  Thankfully the line was moving well.  I got a bit freaked out when the woman who was setting us up w/ paperwork and such gave me some forms that asked for information I did not have with me.  All I wanted to get was reprints of my vehicle registration cards….  So I filled out as much of the paperwork as I could and  waited for my number.

When my number came up, I went up to the counter and was pleasantly surprised to find that my request, after I explained what it was, was easily and quickly fulfilled.  I paid 2$ each for the reprints and marched right out of that place.

It was not much later that  afternoon when I got myself ensconced in a chair in the rental office to get my vehicle parking permits.  I handed my paperwork over to the clerk who was inputting my vehicle information when she stopped to ask me if I could have the same license plate for both my car  and motorcycle.  I said, “No, of course not” and looked at the printouts of the registration only to find that the DMV clerk printed out two copies of my car registration and none of my motorcycle registration.  The rental management company, thankfully, and aware of the folly of trying to hang vehicle parking permits from motorcycles, has  said that they will not be towing motorcycles.

So where is the fist up the ass?  I don’t know but I hope it isn’t near me.  I just want to say that the whole process felt like getting one.  And then this evening when emptying my grocery bag, the environmentally considerate one, I found my car registration car.  Fistulator, eh?

Three Days in Tidewater

Posted on by chappyshi

I went down to see my sister and my brother-in-law in Suffolk, VA, on my three day break this week.  What with my work schedule recently, I haven’t done much on my days off but try to catch up on my sleep so the trip was a nice change.  I drove down on Sunday after a few hours of sleep in the morning.  That afternoon and evening was just hanging out, lazing in the pool, and chatting.  I was good to see Kim and Don who I hadn’t seen since late February or early March.  Kim’s friends the Kent’s came over for dinner which was based on some awesome ribs that Kim did in the oven.  We even got to break in Don’s new Cornhole boards.

On Monday, my intent was to go down to Virginia Beach (VB) in the morning, have some lunch, and head back to Suffolk to kayak.  I hoped to stop in at the Beach Brewing Company to check out their establishment and taste their beer but since they were only open on the weekends that did not pan out.  I did get out on the beach for a couple of hours where I read the paper and enjoyed the scenery.  Since I haven’t had good experiences lounging and swimming at the beach with much of a drive in front of me I didn’t make it into the water.  They don’t have much in the way of changing facilities at VB and I didn’t relish the thought of making the drive back to Suffolk with a bathing suit full of sand.

I did have a tasty Starr Hill Brewery Northern Lights IPA and chicken Caesar salad for lunch at the 11th Street Taphouse Bar and Grill.  They had quite the beer selection that made me want to grab a nearby hotel room and just hang out for the rest of the day and night.  As it was, I head back west only to encounter traffic slow downs and blockages due to bridge openings and car fires.  I was able to get off the highway onto a road I recognized and planned to get on eventually so that worked out okay.

By the time I got back to back to Suffolk, I decided not to kayak and headed toward a local place called Cogan’s Pizza where they have a pretty good beer selection.  I missed my turn and ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings which wasn’t a bad thing.  There I tasted the Beach Brewery Pale Ale but was not impressed.  I did enjoy immensely the O’Connor Brewing Company Great Dismal Black IPA.  Black IPA’s are quite the rage in the craft brew community this year.  I have had at least four different ones this year and enjoyed them all.

Monday night was relaxing.  We did leftover ribs and such and watched a movie that I didn’t make it all the way through.  I was still running on a sleep deficit and despite that fact that I should  be awake nights because that is the shift I work, I still had to crash.  As it was, I woke up early and tossed and turned before finally giving up and getting up.

I did my two crossword puzzles for the day and read a bit of the paper before heading out to kayak on Bennett’s Creek which is just a short drive from Kim’s, and if you read anything I write, you will recall is one of my favorite places to paddle.  I put in at the local park and either paddle upstream until  I run out of creek or paddle down to the James River and back.  The journey was a good as ever with numerous sitings of wildlife including Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Green Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Red-winged Blackbirds, Ospreys, and one Muskrat.

Since it was Don’s day off, we got together with Kim for lunch where I finally did make it to Cogan’s Pizza and we enjoyed a tasty Supreme pizza and I had a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, always a favorite.  We had a bad experience there earlier in the year when the service was iffy and the pizza cook seemed to be having a bad day but they were back in good form on  Tuesday.  Later in the day we caught up with friend’s of Kim and Don, one of whom is a preacher, at the movies to catch “Horrible Bosses.”  That  was an incredibly raunchy, but very funny, movie, albeit interesting to watch sitting next to a preacher.

We had a quick dinner when we got home which was about 1830.  I was tired and called it a night early.  I wanted to get up early in the morning to get on the road home w/ a stop en route to paddle.

I stopped at one of my new favorite spots on the James River, Deep Bottom Park, in Henrico County off Route 5.  Unfortunately the tide was out and I couldn’t get all the way into this large pond off of the river that I wanted to go into.  I have seen hundreds of herons and egrets in there and wanted to see if I could get some pictures.

The birds there are very skittish so I hoped to just float around and minimize the disturbance.  That was pretty much a no go since there were huge mud flats exposed due to the low tide.  I ended up paddling back past the launch and up a creek I had seen previously but not yet explored.  It wasn’t a bad paddle overall but it was hot and my boat was leaking so I wrapped it up sooner than I intended.

Thankfully, I had an easy trip home and got a few things done before I had to go to work.  I had a productive and relaxing three days and it was great to see Kim and Don.

Local Craft Brew News

Posted on by chappyshi

While having a beer at Vintage 51, found that they are now pouring CAT 50  IPA which is brewed at their sister restaurant, Vintage 50.  Apparently they had to jump through some hoops with Virginia ABC laws and distributors.  It is just ridiculous how hard the ABC makes it for a company to actually sell the beer they brew.  They are selling growlers of the CAT 50 for $10 which is very reasonable and a far cry from the $24  or more they have to charge for growlers of their other beers.

Also, while reading the mid-Atlantic Beer News, I saw that Lost Rhino Brewing Company is up and brewing and they are brewing “New River Pale Ale” which was an old favorite from Old Dominion Brewing Company.  I was told by the bartender at Vintage 51 that they had a keg they were waiting to tap.  I’ll have to pop back out their to check it out!  Anyhow, Lost Rhino is purported to be selling kegs and growlers at their location in Ashburn and plans are in the works for a brew pup similar to that of Dominion.

Sunday Morning Coffee…In the Afternoon

Posted on by chappyshi

The mid-watches are starting to catch up with me.  I work 0600 – 1800, two on, two off, two on, two off, three on, and three off which isn’t really a bad schedule but it does take its toll.  Life starts to revolve around just sleep and work.  I force myself to get up as early as I can on my off days to have some semblance of a life but it is not easy.

For example, I got home about 0625 this morning, did the Sunday LA Times crossword puzzle and read for a while to wind down.  I went to bed at about 0830 and tossed and turned for quite a bit before getting a mostly fitful sleep.  I intended to get up at 1300 but no later than 1400.  I got a “Restricted” call on my cell phone at 1303 that was a hang up so I decided to get up.

So here I am at 1345 on a Sunday afternoon with bacon in the pan, coffee in hand, George Thorogood on the stereo, and three days off in front of me.  Bonus!  On a side note, I am supposed to be promoted soon but it is not official.  Once that happens, I will return to a more normal Mon – Fri schedule but will be on call.  It is hard to decide if it is better to on the watch schedule where my off time is purely my own or on a normal schedule with on call duties….

Water Ya Thinking?

Posted on by chappyshi

To say that we have had plenty of rain this spring in Northern Virginia would be an understatement.  It is green, green here.  We are eco-green and green friendly.  Those of you in the desert Southwest are green with envy, eh.  But I digress…

Driving through the neighborhood this evening en route the grocery store, I noticed that someone had a rotary sprinkler out watering their lawn.  WTF you say?  Moi aussi!  To make matters worse, the sprinkler was placed right next to the driveway so half the water was landing on that and draining right into the sewer system.  Really, what are people thinking?