You Couldn't PAY Me...

...To Live In Houston, Texas


For those of you who have been living somewhere under a rock or otherwise not paying attention,  Houston holds the position of FOURTH largest city in the United States.

That statistic in and of itself was probably intriguing to me when I was stumbling around our lovely planet at the age of 21, but today at the age of 52 it just doesn't do a dang thing for me except make me want to run away screaming.

I didn't have to rent a car on this trip because I'm staying at a hotel ($150 per night) across the interstate from the Galleria Marriott ($300 per night) where my training class is being held, but on the shuttle ride from Bush International Airport Tuesday night and the subsequent Taxi rides since I'm determined that the impossible has happened since I was last in this City about ten years ago.

THESE FREAKING PEOPLE HAVE BECOME EVEN MORE ARROGANT AND RUDE IN THEIR DRIVING STYLE!

Walking on the sidewalk--even those adjacent to side streets and the Interstate Access Roads--is something akin to strolling along on the grass by the entrance to "Pit Road" at a NASCAR track.

That said, it's time to get ready to head over to the conference room for day two of the RISA training class, then drag my luggage on back to the airport in time to catch a flight back to Tulsa.

Feel free to meet me at the new house for a night cap about 10 PM if you're in the area.

Regards Y'all... 

Moving... Day Two

Most Of My "Stuff" Is On The Truck

Well, we had another long day yesterday with my "moving crew" forcing all of the stuff sitting around on the main level of the house out the door and into the tractor/trailer we had shoe-horned into the driveway.

Then about 3 PM they realized how much crap I had laying around in the basement and everyone shifted gears into "OVERDRIVE" and they managed to get it all into boxes and out the door so as of about 6 PM the truck was headed to the local transport yard and we were headed to dinner and back to the hotel.

For some insane reason I'm going back over there this morning and slapping some paint on the wall behind the bar and cleaning up a few other details before putting the last stuff in our new/used Audi Q7 Quattro (I forgot to mention we replaced the old Chrysler 300 with a newer used SUV on Sunday) and heading west on Interstate 40 toward Memphis.

My head is SPINNING...ladies and gentlemen, but all for good reasons as Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup and I head west toward Tulsa, Oklahoma...ending a wonderful four and one half year existence here on the banks of the mighty Tennessee River.

Life is full of surprises until you stop living I guess...We're completely amazed at the curve balls being thrown at us every day.

Wish us luck...if you will...and have at least half as much fun as we're having...Y'all...

New Home City

I'M LOSING MY MIND.............


It's almost 2 AM and I should be asleep...

I'm panicked because I have to get up at 4:30 AM in order to finish some details in anticipation for heading by FedEX, over to the bank, and on to the airport to catch a 9:10 AM flight to Memphis and then another one on to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

OK...I'm going to go back and lay down for a while and see if I can get a little more sleep.  I have a long day ahead of me, not to mention beginning the rest of my life with a new job in a new city.

Wish me luck...If you will...

It's Thursday

Three Days And Counting...


I could use about another week of time to really be ready to get on an airplane headed to Oklahoma, but I only have the time between now and 9:15 AM on Saturday to do everything I'm going to get done I guess.

The Wee Pub is still coming slowly along...it's really a pain in the posterior I don't want to have to deal with in the middle of a move but it is what it is and I have to mostly finish it if we're going to lease out the house.

The good news is that a guy stopped by last Monday afternoon and likes the place and will be able to tell us by Monday if he wants it, but the bad news is that he wants us out by November 1st and that will be a HUGE PAIN having to travel back here so soon to beat the movers into shape and make sure they pack things correctly.

So any way, I have to go now and put some more paint and stain on trim in the Wee Pub and box some more of my personal office crap up so I can FedEX it out to meet me there in Tulsa.

Y'all have a LOVELY day, and wish me luck pulling this move off successfully.

I Have An Announcement

Big Changes A Comin' To The Turbo Pup Compound...


I have to finally confess something here this morning, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Turbo Pup is moving cross country.

To Tulsa, Oklahoma...actually.

OK, really the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to be exact.

You see, her dad (that would be me) has been wined and dined and courted by a company out there to relocate so I can do Injuneering for them working in Oil Refineries all over this Hemisphere of the planet if not the entire WORLD.

It's a pretty big step for me and my family, but they offered to cover all of our costs to relocate from Tennessee to Oklahoma and give me the opportunity to spend the next ten or fifteen years of my professional career doing what I really do best--industrial stacks and other steel structural elements like ductwork and the like, and when everything was put on paper it was an opportunity I just couldn't turn down.

So over the next few weeks, like the past few days, my blogging will be hit or miss as I continue to plan our move and wind down my business dealings with my own little group of Corporate customers here at Plastics Engineering Technologies.

I'm negotiating/managing THREE leases--this house here in Knoxtown, a temporary furnished Condo in Tulsa, and a long term lease on a house beginning sometime in November/December when I finally move Pat and Missy out there, so I'm sure you will understand why I'm up to my eyeballs with stuff and don't have time to Blog.

(Of course I reserve the right to blast off a good rant if something catches my eye in the news, but until then...Regards Y'all...)  

I'm I'll Be Living On Tulsa Time

Imagine That???


Let's take a look at a relatively young guitarist/singer Eric Clapton singing a song, the title of which has some significance to my professional life this morning:




Anyone care to guess what's going on?

Headin' Home Shortly

...And Am I Ever Ready To Get There...


Well, the good news is I managed to get this festering business trip back on track yesterday.

In fact, if I hadn't changed my travel plans from last night till tonight I'd already be home, but I couldn't take the chance that things would go as good as they did.

So now I'm stuck pretty much just wandering around Maryland today as I head back toward the airport and eventually Knoxtown arriving just before midnight tonight.

Wish me luck and safe travels...if you will...  

Here...Look At This Crap

My Technical Writings...


1. All weld preparation, weld techniques, weld operator qualification, weld procedure specification, and weld workmanship shall be conducted in accordance with the ANSI/AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code and ASME BPVC Section IX, as applicable.

2. All vertical and horizontal welds in the stack shell plates shall be completed with the fully automated submerged arc welding (SMAW) process.

3. All welds shall be full penetration. Partial penetration welding is not allowed.


Yes, I actually wrote that stuff, along with a couple of more pages of similar mind-numbing ramblings this morning.

My head was going to explode if I didn't reach down inside and drag it out onto paper, and apparently right now there is a paying market for such gibberish, so I thought... what the heck, I used to do that kind of stuff anyway and had some left over that might be trying to leak out of mouth when the occasion presented itself.

I didn't want to scare anybody, but I made an exception for you today.

Now I ask that you find something else to do while I go a take a nap.

Recapturing Lost Brain Cells

Am I Suffering From Dementia, Or Just A Substance Dependency?


I've spent the past couple of days wrestling with myself in a series of attempts at trying to recapture a skill that I openly claimed to have possessed since somewhere about 1982.

You see, there was a time in my life when I thought that I was a proficient AutoCAD operator. If you wanted drawings, I could give you drawings, in ink and in vivid color on your computer monitor, for somewhere between $20 and $50 per hour.

Not any more...

Apparently, now I'm just a guy with a couple of fumbling fingers and thumbs, willing to peck away at a computer keyboard when the aforementioned fingers and thumbs aren't spending time stuck in some body orifice (you know...places like the openings to my nose or...er...um...that other place...)

Never mind...

Back to my point...I've just had the grim realization that somewhere between the late 1990's and last Thursday I managed to lose or significantly auction off my hard earned ability to draw a straight line on a computer screen.

I hope that plumb and square can be replaced with big and tall or other specifications else otherwise I'm in BIG trouble.