Salad Days

My first real job was full time at a medium sized east Texas university in my hometown as a tech for the energy management department. I was there from '80 - '87. Seven great years. I was a young squirt full of energy and mischief out on my own for the first time.My job was to maintain building temperatures within energy management and comfort levels. It was mostly pneumatic controls and chilled water/hot water systems. I loved so much of it. From wall thermostats to mixing boxes, variable air boxes, hot/cold water valves and air compressors. Hot and cold deck controllers. Calibration and installation and replacement/repair therewith.Handling temperature complaints from occupants could be a drag but I liked the rest of it. I had most of the campus to deal with. The west side was the older more historical side and had electric controls and steam heat. It was hard to maintain comfort levels in these delapidated brick buildings with steam but I loved the smell of fresh steam in the maintainance rooms at 6 in the morning on cold wintery days. The pipes would knock when the steam first came into the building.The east side was more modern, with buildings that popped up in the '60s. These were chilled/hot water and not steam. One notable memorable event was the total decimation of the Old Main building, which was destroyed by fire under surreptitious circumstances in I think 1981. That was a great historical building, with features that simply cannot be replicated this day. There was talk of rebuilding it but there's just nobody out there that could replicate the woodwork, windows, etc. I used to climb into the attic of that building and see soda cans dating back to the '30s that had never been cleaned out.It was the age of new wave music and punk rock and many students had the hair and clothing styles of the day. I played the role of mainainance man to the max, with my green uniform and cap and scraggly beard.I liked the variety of the buildings and the equipment I had to work on. I quit because of seedy politics. Competance didn't matter, just getting close to the boss and sucking up, which I never did. We had the worst supervisor at the west plant, he was just out for his own ass.I got sick of it.What compelled me to write this bit was the deaths of 3 old workmates in the past couple years, two within two months. They were from a town of mostly Polish descent and did a lot of hunting and fishing. What they ate came from the woods or stream, or from the ground. They only went to the store for salt and pepper and ketchup I think. And beer. Plenty of beer.Those were my beer days too.I have forgotten the bad stuff that led to my demise there. Now I just remember the good times at the plant with the fellers. The roaring boilers in the winter, the screaming chillers in the summer, the whine of the pumps in the penthouses.
That was 22 years ago.
But I will cherish those 7 years forever.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion

I am a fan of Bach all around, but lately I've become downright hooked on his St. Matthew Passion.
This is a 3 hour gig, by the way. I just listen to bit excerps on the stereo when driving in my car.
Below are a few of many chorals in the piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s6JfNREAgo&feature=related about 10 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4JYwbWwNSs&feature=fvw about 7 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSVFQTT9Lww&feature=related about 2 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScyrmYez6h0&feature=related about 9 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnZt5iXvGg8&feature=related 6 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEsjbpnUh1U&feature=related about 4 minutes



And the stultifying last two movements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXPpiXdpIq4

Handel, go fly a kite, you're outta here.

Mary, please come home

You're 500 miles away. We feel it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwB2A9HHaCU&feature=related

Thank you Mary Travers

http://www.youtube.com/user/slims86

Favorite YouTube videos--Baby Boomers Only

Here's my favorite baby boomer classics on youtube:
first but not best, The Guess Who just a few years ago. Original members, fat but still got it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZVzH5yBFQA

The Association

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3K2AKPmvV8&feature=PlayList&p=57221D0026BEFE51&index=0&playnext=1

The Seekers. What a beautiful girl Judith was

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ga9Bs4fzSY

And my favorite: Spanky and The Gang. I love Elaine "Spanky" McFarlaine what a beautiful girl with the big voice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OsfzU_XRas&NR=1

Go, Spanky!

Obama the Dictator

So now Obama-rama wants me and you to snitch on our friends and family if we hear them criticizing his health care plan, or if they blog or email about it.

<---Well that was a tactic this dude used when he took over. What next, peoples start disappearing in the night?

Well I don't want to give King Hussein of D.C. credit for being as swift as Stalin. Only as communistic and maybe more audacious.

I hear he's sending out union thugs to tea parties and town hall meetings to intimidate participants. And he's wanting to change FTC regulations to put conservative radio talk show hosts out of business.

In short, he wants to oppress any opposition in the media. Where else? The downtown coffee shops? In church? In your home?

Well I'm putting this out on my blog and inviting anyone who wants to to snitch on me. Just give them this URL to my blog www.dmac-dmacsblog.blogspot.com.

Well I WANT them to see it.

Tell you what. You do it too. Criticize King Hussein of D.C.'s health plan on your blogspot. Give them something to do. Lets saturate the whole system with it. Get your friends and family, even your enemies, to do the same thing.

Gratitude on the Fourth

Yesterday was the 4th of July, Independence Day. I spent 5 hours volunteering in the kitchen of our local homeless shelter. As a result of me popping off at the mouth in Sunday school when Lynn requested kitchen help on Saturdays (note to self--check mouth).
I went in from 10:00am - 1:00pm and sliced watermelon, potatos for potato salad, pickles and onions. Lynn pretty much runs the kitchen from top to bottom even though it's someone else's job. She's in there 14 hours a day on weekends and that's too much. If she's not in there I won't know what to do next.
There's a large fellow Stan who is a resident, works the kitchen and he's friendly enough but he's not going to tell me what to do next. He just carries on like I'm not there. A black dude, Charles, resides there and does kitchen work but he won't speak to me at all. Another black dude, Terry, is really nice and compliments me but he doesn't stick around.
I dished out food for, I dunno, 50 men for lunch and there was a lot of gratitude there. I've been wanting to do that for a couple years and yesterday I did it.
Came home for awhile and went back in at 5. This time we had about 70 - 80 for dinner and they got chicken, corn on cob, beans, potato salad and bread. We were 20 minutes late but there was no hootinanny from the residents. They get some piddly portions and no complaints. They are allowed seconds though and maybe thirds. And dessert.
A couple of residents volunteer to wash dishes and seem content to do it.
I didn't see any sourpuss attitudes from any of these guys.
The sleeping quarters is adjacent to the kitchen and it's cramped. My church just built a larger wing to the building and 50 more bunks will be added later.
It was an experience. I learned a lot about gratefulness for what little I've got.