Yackity Schmakity

brockway78@gmail.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:28:14 GMT

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.

Weeeeeekend

brockway78@gmail.com — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:43:22 GMT

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.

brockway78@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:51:47 GMT

East Aurora Starbucks .... mmmmmmmmmmm.......

Our pet (Monster)

brockway78@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:57:34 GMT

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?

Vegas and beyond!!

brockway78@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:03:48 GMT

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!

brockway78@gmail.com — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:20:20 GMT

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.

mmmm mmmm Ely!

brockway78@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:12:05 GMT

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!

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:38:09 GMT

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!

brockway78@gmail.com — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:34:24 GMT

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!

Ely Nevada

brockway78@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:53:46 GMT

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...

Fargo and the Forrester

brockway78@gmail.com — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:13:22 GMT

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.

brockway78@gmail.com — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:52:29 GMT

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 :)

Trip

brockway78@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:45:44 GMT

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!

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:20:08 GMT

A termite walks into a bar and asks "Is the Bar Tender here?"

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 20:41:40 GMT

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!

Southern Pines

brockway78@gmail.com — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:28:39 GMT

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!

brockway78@gmail.com — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:07:06 GMT

I'm taking 3 weeks off!!!!!! F*&k yeah!

And now for something completely different

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:13:39 GMT

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*

Cape Vincent

brockway78@gmail.com — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 23:09:02 GMT

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...

Richmond

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 21:41:50 GMT

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

brockway78@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:14:21 GMT

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!

meanderings

brockway78@gmail.com — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:30:59 GMT

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...

Trips to Montreal!

brockway78@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:54:11 GMT

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.

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:43:16 GMT

So I just finished the worst job ever, only to find out that I have to redo it! Apparently the proposal changed, and now I have to re-dig the STP's (shovel test pits). It's not so bad because I'm still getting paid for all of the work. However, the reason that it irks me a bit is because the newly proposed pathway is so friggen nice, yet the one that I just finished was horrible!

For the past two days I have had to fight through an area that is totally overgrown with brush, literally having to hack my way through with a machete. Half of it was swampy, so there were mosquitoes galore! I have been bitten by just about every other bug imaginable, cut by prickers and stray branches (the first day I stupidly wore shorts!), all the while shoveling through what is basically pure gravel (the whole area was basically fill). I had to walk in zig zag lines because there was no possibility of finding a straight shot anywhere, so it was nearly impossible to estimate the correct distance to the next STP. So yeah, basically rotten.

When Andy showed me the new area that I'll be digging, my eyes feasted on the edge of a plowed field that is at least 30 feet away from any brush. I'll be able to walk in a straight line and estimate the proper distances. And I doubt that I'll have any problems with bugs out here. Glorious. Oh well, I'm over it now.

Anyways, life is really good right now, despite some setbacks as of late. I'm a happy camper. The other night I applied for a job in New Mexico, somewhat near Chaco Canyon. This would be about as exciting as working on the north rim of the Grand Canyon (a job I applied for previously), so hopefully I hear back from them! It's good for me that I don't believe in jinxing myself, so I'm able to mention the fact that I applied. Sometimes superstitious people really bother me. I'll say stuff like "oh," but I'm really thinking something like ... how stupid. That being said, I'll probably notice some weird superstitious thing that I do in the next couple of days; I say that not because of some weird superstitious belief mind you, but it just seems to be how my mind throws my judgments back in my face.

Rain, rain go away...

brockway78@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:03:48 GMT

So as one might guess from the title of this post, I was totally soaked today after work. It rained almost the whole day, and we finally cut off around 3:30. I think I actually started to go crazy towards the end of the day because I starting woooting and saying things like "Yeah!, Bring on the rain!! Woohoo!"

I heard somewhere that sarcasm is anger's ugly cousin :0)

I do have pictures from my excursion out to Whiteface. However, I can't post them from my room because I don't have an Inet connection. I also cannot post them from Panera Bread because of their web security thing. My only other option seems to be that I sit in the lobby of the hotel and do it, but then I have to deal the the overly gabby guy that runs the counter during nights. Perhaps I'll risk sometime during the next couple of days.

I also have pictures of my sister's wedding! It was a wonderful ceremony -- it was only delayed by about 45 min. by the rain that day. The nice thing about the rain was that it kept the temperature to a reasonable degree of balminess (?is this a word? hehe). I'm pretty damn happy for Carrie. She deserves all the happiness in the world. Anyway, the whole affair was real nice, and there should be pictures of the wedding soon as well.

Adios!