Next week I have a cousin and her husband coming out from the midwest to visit my parents and I. In a family where (at least counting off the top of my head) I have about 15 cousins on my dads side alone, this cousin and her sister are like the only two cousins near my age that I get along with. So, it should be a fun time.

I talked to her yesterday to get an idea what she was interested in doing since even though they are staying with my parents in their spare room, my parents are both going to be working next week. One of the things she wants to do is visit the Chrysler Museum of Art here in Norfolk, Virginia. She mentioned that she had looked up a few of the musuems around this area and chose this one over a contemporary art musuem since she figured her husband would enjoy the Chrysler more. Sidenote, she is an art teacher for a school back in the midwest.

Which led to this exchange:

Me: Yeah, I don't know if I would like the contemporary musuem. Too much stuff in there that just makes no sense to me as art. At least at the Chrysler musuem you know what is art and not.
Her: Why's that?
Me: It's old.

The last week or so has been hell at work. Unexpected deadlines, submittal packages to be assembled, calculations computed. Since we were talking about a set date, that couldn't be changed, I would of thought more than a week's notice would of been given to me, but it wasn't. Anyways, as of yesterday things are slowing down a bit.

6/1/06 - It is passed on to me that the next morning I am to meet with the client and another consultant to assemble a package that needs to be turned in to the city planning department by 5:00 6/12/06. It is a companion package to a property use application for this project the client is submitting on the 12th as well. The approval of our package will be needed before the use application can be approved.

6/2/06 - Myself and a coworker meet with client, and this other consultant on the requirements for this submittal package in the afternoon, related to water front environmental regulations, around here known as the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (CBPA). The consultant specializes in waterfront landscaping concepts and planning. Looked up some of his work in the Pittsburgh area, looks good. Should be a nice addition to this particular project. Meeting lasts about 2 hours, we pass on to the consultant all the local regulations that will apply to what he is providing us.

6/5/06 - I wrap up my current project and start this new package. It looks to be fairly indepth involving about a 30 page report with regulatory calculations and 6 large size exhibit drawings, 2 supplied by my company, 4 supplied by the out of town consultant. Coworker starts on the calculations, I start on the exhibit and report.

6/7/06 - Meet with the city reviewer who will be reviewing this project and give him a heads up what we are doing, show him some preliminary exhibits, and get some feed back and direction from him regarding how we are meeting the CBPA regulations.

6/8/06 - Begin making revisions to plans based on previous meeting. Send new design files to consultant, as well as pdf files of our exhibits to the client and the consultant. Begin working on the text portion of the report. City reviewer calls me, suggests that I do not turn in my CBPA package on the 12th. He tells me that his department is not supposed to accept or begin reviewing submitted packages until the top department deems the use application complete in order to start the review process. I tell him that's nice, but my client is telling me to turn it in on the 12th, and he is the one paying my bills, but I will pass your suggestion to my client and see what he says.

6/9/06 - Get preliminary exhibits from consultant, review them, respond to the consultant with the issues I see, they agree and will revise and finish up their exhibits and get them to us monday. Client directs me to go ahead and plan on submitting on the 12th.

6/12/06 - Due day. About 9:00 we finish our internal review of our report and exhibits. Begin printing and plotting. Do a quick count and it looks like we will need 14 copies of this package. Have our large scale plotter and laser printer working nearly constantly up until about 1:00. Start to get concerned that we haven't heard from our consultant yet, call him. Wouldn't you know it. His emails of the exhibits are being bounced back to him. Don't know why, my mailbox is empty, and they are not large files. They finally start coming through after being sent one at a time. It is now almost 2:00, time is ticking away and I am now uncertain we have enough time to print out all the copies of the consultants exhibits in time to get the packages delivered before 5:00. Client calls me about the same time, he finally talked to the city reviewer, and with an onsite meeting scheduled for 6/14/06 to discuss other issues that could affect my submittal package, he tells me to hold the package, do not submit. The property use package is still going in, but someone else is providing that package. Slightly relieved, but also a bit frustrated at what we went through the previous week to get this thing done. But, it is nearly done, and may only need slight revision to get in for the next submittal date, 6/26/06.

6/13/06 - New fire to put out. Apparently around 4:00 PM on 6/12/06, an hour before the property use package was due, that consultant (different than landscape guy) emailed my boss and basically said "oh crap, we need this particular exhibit and we don't have it but we talked the city into letting us turn the exhibit in late tomorrow morning (6/13/06), but we need it ASAP". Unknown to them, my boss was out at a job site for a 24 hour well monitoring job. This particular "oh crap" email gets forwarded to me at 8:00 PM so it is the first thing I see when I walk in this morning. As it turns out, my boss emailed this particular consultant on 5/21/06 asking if they needed anything for this package, they never responded. So I get the requirements needed for this exhibit and instantly get a little pissed off. From how in depth this is, I probably should of been working on this all last week then the other package that got put on hold. I call the client, then this particular consultant and inform them I think can get something half-assed by the end of the day. As it turns out, everything required for this particular document I basically already have, but some information is in a report over here, other parts is from this report over there, basically spread out in all these different documents we have been putting together for the last few months, but I need it all in one place, on one exhibit. The client doesn't like what I have to say, but he understands I have been put in a box again and tells me just to get on it and produce another miracle so this application doesn't get rejected and we get behind schedule another month. I talk to the consultant and he tells me they have bought more time, this exhibit has to be in by thursday before the review person they are dealing with leaves on vacation. I tell him I think I can make that happen, get off the phone and start working. End of the day I email a copy of the exhibit to both client and the consultant for review.

6/14/06 - I get comments back from the consultant, quite a bit fewer than I was expecting, make my changes, start plotting, have someone deliver the exhibits by the end of the day, crisis averted.

6/15/06 - Begin getting information back regarding the site visit on the 14th, start looking at what changes need to be made on the delayed package and planning for that. Conference call planned for the morning of the 6/19/06 to discuss these changes, decide I can put this project off until then, start working on another project so I can get my mind off of this one for a while.

Anyone out there in yonder space that may have been involved with the MUD Glass Dragon around 95 to 98 or there abouts? Just curious since I came across some old stuff when I was on there and thinking this is a tech geek site, maybe some of the old rumblers may be out there.

The 2006 World Cup tournament has begun. Time to get the ass groove reworked into my couch.

Coming across old pictures will usually do one of two things to someone. Make them think about the enjoyable moment the picture captured and the associated memories with that time. Or, make them grab a rifle and head for the nearest clock tower.

Well, I came across one last night that was of the first type. It was from the summer of 1998 and I was in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire on a summer project with about 40 or 50 other students from across the country. We all lived in one house a few blocks from the beach. A big house. Three stories tall, and when not housing students like us rented out rooms to vacationers. At the end of the summer we were helping the owner get it ready for the fall and winter seasons so we were moving all these beds around and putting them in storage when my friend Tony and I got an idea. At the end of the main hall (quite long) there were a bunch of mattresses stacked up waiting to be moved. Grabbing a skateboard and a helmet out of the toy box (yes, the house had a toy box) resulted in this , running all the way down the hall way into the mattresses.

Why you may ask?

I don't know. Probably because we could.

Some advertisments on the link may not be safe for some people, but the video is of:

UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN PLAYING NIRVANA'S "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT"

And by cheated, I mean he has an oversized mental capacity that is full of more useless and random trivia then the rest of us. :)

Last night Sielfwolf joined Bodak and I for our typical wednesday night out to deprogram from the rigors of work at the midweek point. Hang out for a few hours, have a few drinks, dinner, watch some sports and play NTN trivia games...which does include a bit of trash talking and celebratory gestures when you beat the rest of the table. It, much like Trivial Pursuit at times, reveals quite often how little you seem to know on certain subjects. Yes, sometimes it makes you feel down right dumb. Anyway, this is something Bodak and I have been doing with his parents and other friends for a good few years now...I really don't remember when we started, but we have been going there on wednesday nights longer than the current manager and all of the waitstaff have been there.

So in the end, it was good to finally meet someone off the dot, the evening was enjoyable, Sielwolf won too many games, and we shall see when paths may cross again with him or any other dotters that find their way to Hampton Roads.

Health departments across the country regulate water and sewage consumption and usage, including treatment systems in order to provide for the health of the general public.

Wouldn't it be a bit amusing then if I left a flaming bag of poop on a health department office door step?

*sigh* The run around begins again. Who the hell in their right mind waits until May on a project they have been working on since December to tell you "oh, you really need these 4 things before we will approve you" even though they didn't have a problem with anything you gave them on the first two submittal packages.

Due to an article on cnnsi.com about weird hairdos in sports, they mentioned the Rainbow Man, who was seen through the 70's and 80's at all kinds of events in a rainbow wig and holding a "John 3:16" sign. With a little side note in the picture caption about something odd happening to him and he was arrested, I looked for more information and wikipedia spit this back out at me:

Rollen Stewart (born 1955), also known as Rockin' Rollen and Rainbow Man, was a fixture in American sports culture best known for wearing a rainbow-colored wig and holding up signs reading "John 3:16" at sporting events around the United States in the 1980s.

In the late 1980s, he began a string of bombings, mostly with stink bombs, in churches and Christian bookstores. He was then arrested in 1992 after a standoff in a California hotel during which he entered a vacant room with two men he was attempting to kidnap and surprised a chambermaid who then locked herself in the bathroom. He is currently serving out a life sentence in jail on kidnapping charges.

Wow. Who would of guessed the ending to this story.

Finally.....after the announcement early last month that Animaniacs is finally coming out to dvd there is the news today that The Tick animated series is coming to dvd. WOOHOO!!

As I do many mornings, I stopped into a local WaWa to grab a few bottles of soda and a sandwhich for lunch when a man approached me while I was at the check out line.

Man: "Is that your Carrerra out there?"
Me: "uhm...yes"
Man: "What year is it?"
Me: "Its a 79"
Man: "Are you interested in selling it?"
Me: (confuzzled) "Uhm....no."
Man: (looking a little dissappointed) "Oh. Tell me....is it fun?"
Me: "OH YEAH!!!"

Bodak and I had this conversation a while back but I was reminded of it last night. Well...actually, I was probably talking and he was looking at me like "what the hell is he talking about?" I am sure he may put his two cents in here.

Anyways, in watching some of the last NHL games on the Center Ice pay per view package for InDemand, they started running advertisements for their Major League Baseball package, one of which lists these excuses to tell the wife (I am guessing) on why someone should stay home and watch all of these baseball games.

One of them was "maybe I could take up extreme taxidermy". Which led to the question, what the hell is extreme taxidermy?

Well....I think its like stuffing a beaver. While in the alps.

For those up a yonder in the Boston area....what else is still going on with the Big Hole, er....Dig....project? I caught this from one of my civil engineering newsletters today:

Six employees from the Big Dig's largest concrete supplier were arrested earlier this month on federal charges of falsifying records to hide the fact that poor-quality (commingled, left-over) concrete allegedly was being delivered and used on the project.

According to the FBI, the six current or former employees of Aggregate Industries (a subsidiary of Holcim Ltd.) face a variety of charges, including making false statements, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit highway fraud. The allegations against the employees stem from a whistleblower suit filed last year.

Aggregate Industries defends the quality of its concrete, saying that it never delivered any concrete that did not meet contract requirements. Further, authorities say that if any poor concrete was used on the Big Dig, they would have found the problems by now because the concrete was delivered six years ago.

I recall hearing about problems with the project shortly after it opened but those were related to bad seals or tiling on some of the tunnel ceilings causing water to drip into the roadways, but I was a bit surprised to see this. Typically when installing concrete on a job you take samples of the concrete the day it is installed on a job site then test it at 3 days, 7 days, then 28 days and at that point the concrete should be cured to its final strength and any problems with the mix or install you would of found by then, like the concrete company said.

So what other problems are they having up there? Management? Political? Over running budgets?

Well after pushing through a busy period of projects, we finally sat down here at the office and got a nice preview of some of our upcoming work for the summer. It should be interesting as there is a wide variety of work coming up.

Some highlights include:

• a redesign of a project we did last summer since our client has changed home builders and we will be revising the subdivision to accomodate the new home products
• a design of a public 4 lane divided roadway and adjacent office and commercial facilities
• a handful of miscellaneous church expansions
• new waterfront facilities and dredging for an industrial client
• water and sewer utility design for a multi-use commercial center (restaurants, hotel, movie theater, retail shops)
• new residential subdivisions in areas ranging from North Carolina to the eastern shore of Virginia
• expansion of rail yard facilities including new office and new engine/car mainetnance shop
• sanitary pump station service area study for municipal utility upgrades
• mult-building, high rise water front condo complex including commercial facilities and a marina

I really do like the fact that we do enough varied land development work that I don't get too bored staring at one style of work. Now to just sit down and knock out some quality projects under budget and make some money doing them.

A few items from Musician's Friend newsletter:

• 1955, on the second night of a back-to-back at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, Elvis Presley sparks the first riot of his burgeoning career with the phrase, "Girls, I'll see you backstage" ... the female portion of the 14,000 strong audience goes into a frenzy and the future King's clothes and shoes are torn from his body as he tries to escape ... after witnessing the event Colonel Tom Parker is convinced of Elvis' marketability...
• 1956, Buddy Holly gets fitted for his first pair of contact lenses ... as fate would have it, the creator of the Elvis Costello look can't stand the eye irritation and sticks with his trademark spectacles...
• 1963, Bob Dylan blows off his Ed Sullivan Show TV gig when he is told he can't perform "Talking John Birch Society Blues," Dylan's skewering of the far-right political group...
• 1983, having blown all the money his 1979 million-selling Bat Out of Hell album had garnered, Marvin Lee Aday, better known to fans as Meatloaf, files for bankruptcy...
• 1995, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray reunite to play a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the late guitar slinger's home town of Austin, Texas ... all five had appeared with SRV at his last show on August 26, 1990, just before he took that fateful helicopter ride...