12:01pm: Governor?
Dear Morons (at Fox News),

Please stop calling Sarah Palin a governor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12BVswp06oM

If you don't remember, let me remind you: she quit. She is no longer Alaska's governor. Perhaps you all should call her a more current (and honest) title, such as former vice-presidential candidate, former governor of Alaska, or Fox News correspondent. Additionally, you might throw in some helpful, supportive factual information along with these distinguished (well not the correspondent bit) titles. For example:

Former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. Oh, you know-- the one that quit the governorship in order to get her and her family out of the public spotlight, but then became a news correspondent for a large cable news conglomerate!

Oh! That lady!

12:19am: Laid off
After coming back from a very, very long 10-day session in Tonopah, NV, during which I was subjected to harsh weather and a stay at the infamous Clown Motel, I returned to work at WCRM's office in Sparks. I was about to start typing up some site forms when my boss invited me into his office and, silly me, I thought that there was a chance that he wanted to give me good news.

For example, he might have said, "Rocky, you have been doing a good job for us, and since you have made it known that you would like to take part in the company health plan, we have (finally) decided to include you. Oh, and by the way, you can also start accruing vacation time from here on out!"

I most certainly would have said, "Oh thankee sir, 'n I really 'preciate this. Twill help me out, you bet. Now I c'n finally 'et that dental work dun," or some other disgustingly obsequious response.

Instead, said boss gave me the following message, "We're running out of work. I'm going to have to lay you off, and I have to do it right now. Today."

Well, I'm glad that I woke up this morning and came into work, even started a task, just to find out that I'm out of a job. I really would have hated sleeping in anyway. Oh wait! I've slept in the past three days, and I F'in love it.

F U WCRM.

4:21pm: There is a furry thing next to my shoulder and face. I think it wants attention-- or to eat my brains ... ahhhhhhh.

Anyway, life is good. I thought that I was going to get laid off recently. Instead, everyone but me and one other guy got laid off, however, he just quit and is going to install solar panels for a living now. Life sure has some funny twists and turns sometimes.

The upcoming project is sending me back to Hawthorne, NV to finish up some work that wasn't completed before. I'm still not quite sure as to the specifics, but I don't really care that much. I'm just happy that I'll be getting per diem again.

7:30pm: Weeeeeekend
Since I worked in Pahrump for almost 10 days, I get to take a 3 day weekend! One of the employees at Starbucks asked me what I am going to do on my long weeeeeeekend, and I told her that I am going to do whatever I want to. Ahhhhhhhh. Life is soooo good right now :)



I'm pretty excited about the trajectory that the executive orders and general decisions that President Obama has made since his ascent to the Whitehouse seem to indicate. I definitely trust his judgment. However, I still feel as though I'm holding my breath. I wonder why.

Current Mood: cheerful

2:51pm: East Aurora Starbucks .... mmmmmmmmmmm.......

8:45pm: Our pet (Monster)
There is a monster in my living room. He's snoring right now, and he's smelly. One cannot find a more foul beast in all of the world. Still, there is something very cute about a scared monster.

I think that he is dreaming. One of his eyes twitch every so often and so does his body. It's quite fascinating to watch a monster dream. What kind of dreams do monsters dream? Do they dream of other scary monsters or of nice things like sugar plum fairies? Maybe monsters dream of rainbows and clouds and these things make the monster's heart pound hard and race and cause his eye to twitch while he is sleeping, causing him to look so cute and funny. Wouldn't that be odd?

9:45pm: Vegas and beyond!!
So I am finally going to check out Las Vegas. I found out this morning that I have to go and help record a site there. My roommate, Mary, is going to go as well. Then we have to go to Manhattan. Manhattan, Nevada. Apparently it is nearly a ghost town, so that will be kind of exciting. Oh! There is a semi-developed hot spring near there too, another plus!

6:15pm: For my first Reno Halloween, I dressed up as *change* you can believe in.

Anyway, Reno is very cool so far; I have eaten out a lot and get to stop at starbucks' whenever I want. I like my roommate and my coworkers as well. We all went out to see a movie tonight. In short, everything is good in Rocky's world.

5:06pm: mmmm mmmm Ely!
One of the local, Ely restaurants, Big Apple, is giving away a free chicken dinner to the first 100 people who arrive after 6 pm tonight. I invited all of my coworkers to come along, and it looks like at least 5 of us will be showing up; a noteworthy accomplishment since I know of at least two vegetarians on the crew and two people who have not arrived in Ely yet. I think that going out to eat with other people is one of my favorite ways to spend time... perhaps I just like to eat ;) lol!

9:31pm: So I did go out with my kayak today. I ended up going to Comins lake, which is basically a couple of mud puddles connected by a small shaft of water. Despite my poor opinion of the "lake" itself, it was really nice to be near water. There were a lot of birds there and it is about the greenest area you'll find around here, outside of Cave lake.

Tomorrow we start on another 10 day session. I hope that there is some excavation involved this time. It would be nice to dig a feature or two!

9:16pm: I've been fishing twice in the past two days. That's more fishing than I've done in the past 10 years...

Yesterday I caught 3 fish and 2 crawdads. I almost want to go back just to fish for crawdads and then make a good "chowdah."

Anyway, Ely is treating me pretty good. I forgot to mention something about Ely in my last entry though: there are whore houses here! haha. One of them is called the VIP lounge or something and they have a huge sign outside of town that offers a full body shampoo to interested parties. I can only imagine what that means exactly. lol. Anyway, I thought that my coworkers might be messing with me at first, about the place being a haven for prostitutes; however, even the local folks agree that it is indeed a house of ill repute. I have this weird desire to drive by some day just so I can get a look at the type of women that work there. I guess I'm a horrible person because I think about questions more like "what kind of person (in terms of looks) would do that?" rather than "oh how horrible for them; isn't it terrible that they have been made to feel that what they do is ok?"

Oh well. I guess I am a fan of personal responsibility. Unless they have no idea whatsoever that a different lifestyle exists, they are in fact choosing their way of life. Besides, it is supposed to be the oldest profession.

I'll probably see Dubya in hell...

Anyway, I'm going out to a really nice, little lake tomorrow with my kayak in tow. That should be fun!

8:47pm: Ely Nevada
Right now I'm living in a mining town located on the central part of eastern Nevada. Ely is a small-ish town, and there isn't a whole lot going on around here. However, I'm working for a good company and mostly enjoying my time. Plus, I have a four-day break coming up, and I intend to go explore a bit during my time off.

A bunch of us went out for dinner at a local Chinese place tonight. The conversation was mostly trench talk, and I very much appreciated the company :) We all ordered something different and then shared each others' food, which was nice as well. I really like having choices.

Anyways, tomorrow we have to take our last mine safety training course (apparently all of us are not only archaeologists, but miners as well) so I have to get up early...

3:03pm: Fargo and the Forrester
Currently I'm in Roanoke, Virginia, working on a phase III project. Apparently, we're doing data recovery in order for the Army Corp of Engineers to put a meander back into the Roanoke River. It's a bit boring because there is almost nothing to be found thus far. Perhaps we'll find more artifacts soon.

So I decided to buy a new vehicle. I say decided but what I really mean is that my old car died, and I was forced to finally go down to the dealership and ask them to finance me. So I did. I love the car a lot; it's a 2008 Subaru Forrester. I decided to get the '08 instead of the '09 because the newer body style is to SUV-ish for me, and I like the boxy style of the old Forrester.

I'm going to break-in the new car by driving all the way to Fargo, North Dakota next week. I am attending the NPS archaeological prospection workshop-- the same one that Jarrod helps at as an instructor. Should be a lot of fun.

4:38pm: I went to a sushi place for the first time yesterday. A good time was had by all of the crew that attended, and the food was great. Though, I'm not quite certain if there is a difference between a "respectable" order at a place like this and an order that the regular visitors to a sushi joint would scoff at (you know who you are) :-P

Actually, I almost called Karen for advice.

Anyway, I ordered a calamari roll which was very yummy and tuna tataki. The tuna was absolutely wonderful. I think I shall go back. I can't believe that I've been missing this ... to bad I never went when I was in Geneseo.

In other news, I am almost finished up here in Alabama, and I'll be moving up to Roanoke, VA for another phase III soon.

Also, I was talking to one of my workmates earlier and she started describing a guy from upstate New York that she had worked with on a project during the winter. As she kept talking, I started to realize that he sounded familiar. I said, almost to myself, I wonder if that's big Dave from Geneseo. Turns out that it was. What a small world :)

3:15pm: Trip
So in the past two days, I have been in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. That's kinda cool.

Boss: Rocky, I have a job just for you!

Allen (coworker): I'd run if I were you...

Me: Nah. What do you need, Bill?

Boss: I need you to dig about 10 holes in Louisiana and then come back. I'll pay you for 10 hrs each day, and you'll get overtime this week.


Me: ... heck yeah!

10:15am: A termite walks into a bar and asks "Is the Bar Tender here?"

4:40pm:

Your home is a Coder's Villa Your kitchen is actually a GNC franchise, though all you really need are your Power Bars and Red Bulls. There's a pantry stocked with beef jerky. Oh, and deer jerky. Your master bedroom has an on-call masseuse and sports therapist. Your study has every language reference book ever written, including now-useless titles like Learn Javascript 2.0! and C++ Programming for Windows 95. (Why are you keeping those?) One of your garages houses your Hummer, and others contain your H2, and H3... with room for an H4, if they ever invent one. Your home also includes a robot repair bay, where your mechanized servants are routinely fitted with new restraining bolts. (It's just a precaution.) Your guests enjoy your home theater with 37 different sports channels. Outside is your radio telescope, listening constantly for alien transmissions. Especially invaders. They'll come eventually, even if nobody believes you. (Nobody does.) And, you have a pet -- a taun-taun named "Padme". Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

9:19am: Southern Pines
So I'm back in North Carolina! I am pretty happy that I'll be missing the New York winter this year. However, it is to my disappointment that I am missing the tail end of autumn and the changing leaves. I guess the mid-eighty degree temperatures lately make up for it though. Yes- I'm boasting :)

I have realized lately that I actually enjoy working at ft. bragg; there is something to be said about having no undergrowth to speak of and sifting sand for eight hours.

Anyway, I'm off to make breakfast!

1:06pm: I'm taking 3 weeks off!!!!!! F*&k yeah!

6:53pm: And now for something completely different
How not to be seen...

*** BANG ***


Cape Vincent is still pretty cool, although, a bit rainy today. I seem to be getting along with my fellow workers well enough, so that definitely helps the day go by more quickly. There are 5 field techs in all: Mark, Marc, Matt, Matt, and myself. Needless to say, the first few days I was calling them all "mmmmmmaaarrrttt..er..whoever-you-are." haha. The crew chief, Sterling, is a pretty cool guy. He has been doing this forever and is really laid back about things.

Currently I'm reading a book titled "Oracle Bones," a kind of history of China as well as a man's experience in the country. It's quite good so far. I think I'd like to go there -- soon. I probably will not be able to go until later. Oh well. Life is still pretty good!

I'm in a coffee shop that charges $1.50/hr for wireless Inet. I bet they make a lot of money; everyone in here has a laptop that they're using. I wonder how often they actually change the code *eg*

7:00pm: Cape Vincent
I'm currently working in Cape Vincent, NY. We're working on a project that needs to be done due to a smattering of wind turbines that will be placed in the northwestern corner of upstate New York. The official record states that the new turbines should provide enough power annually to provide electricity for around 45,000 households in the state. It's kind of cool to be working on a project that is stepping in the direction of alternative, renewable energy sources, rather than a project that is done for a new dump, pipeline, or subdivision. In any case, there is a lot of overtime available, so that's a nice bonus; we get per diem for all 7 days as well! So far TRC is a pretty good employer.


Still, Ohio is calling my name...

5:14pm: Richmond
Well, all I can say about Richmond, VA is that it's F'in hot right now!!

4:53pm: I've got an entire week off! Today I spent a few hours on a four-wheeler behind my dad's house, very fun! Later this week, I'm going to spend a few days in Adirondack Park.

My birthday is August 3rd, and I have a dentist appointment. Leave it to me to do something as bright as that :0)

I'll be working in Richmond, VA for a month after this week. So if anyone is in the area, get in touch with me!

12:11pm: meanderings
First off, here are a couple of other videos. The first is video footage from the Montreal International Jazz Festival, along with one of Room Eleven's songs. The second video is just cool, and you should watch it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT2aMKfC5y4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdlNS1IPQOc



Ok, beyond my obsession with this band! I'm going to North Carolina! The job only lasts a couple of weeks, but it should be real nice to check out another state that I have never visited. Unfortunately I don't think that I'll make it to Kentucky because it is still quite a ways from where I'll be, and I'll have already driven from Plattsburgh to home (7hrs) and then to Fort Bragg (another 11 hours at least!). I think that is probably enough traveling for one week.

After that I have a job lined up in Orange County that should last into November, should I choose to stay that long. I'd prefer to get into a job in the southwest-- we'll see. I did get a job offer in South Dakota, and I'm still considering it.

Anyway, today is my day to get all of my things packed up and ready to go...

10:36am: Trips to Montreal!
So I've been to Montreal twice now to go to the jazz festival. All I can say is "Room Eleven" wow! If anyone cares to check them out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g73gSl49EQc

Anyway, while I was there, I got to attend the Caribbean Festival as well. That was a lot of fun and very colorful. I really love visiting Montreal; it's wonderful!

I have today off on account of the rain (that is no longer coming down), so perhaps I'll explore a bit.