i've been promissing myself that i'd put up a post about this or that for a while now - so i'll do it now - just before going to bed. btw - holly shizznit - its almost a quarter to 1 am!!!

i just farted a midget fart, and after i "cought wind" of it, i said something like "man, i need a filter". Phx didnt hear what i'd said, so i said louder "i dont think i'd pass aircare!" she giggled :)

and i just got an emergency page - some dude freaked out b/c their condo alarm was going off in the middle of the night, and he didnt know how to turn it off. they'd managed to chop the siren wires before i called them back, though. so i encouraged him to chop some more, since he sounded concerned that it might start going off again :)
a few nights ago the pager went off and i actually had to go downtown at 2 am because no card-readers were working at one of the highrises at this one project. people werent able to get into their building and up to their floor, unless the concierge was escorting them with his keys. of course, it turned out to be a loose wire - how cliche. but i'm supposed to get $300 for emergency service, so hopefully i actually get to see this money. if not, i'm throwing the fucken pager away - the boss can go look for it.

and in BIG NEWS - WE'RE GONNA HAVE A BABY BOY!!! :D
so thats gonna be cool - have one of each. so much for my aunt's prediction that i'll have two girls and my brother just one boy.

still havent fixed my car - but i'm working like crazy now, so i dont have the time. i dont think i've posted about the car, but my wheel basically fell off - good thing i was basically standing still. one of the ball joints tore apart. it turns out that crappy ball joints caused a recall in those cars. i believe the dealer said they checked out every recall and performed it on this car, but maybe i should check on that particular one - would they fix the car for free? i guess its worth checking. if i ever get any time from work. i've got 3 projects, and all of a sudden i find out that all 3 of them will need to be completed by the end of november. that's not looking very promising now, maybe mid-december - certainly before christmas, at least i hope so. i knew one of them was happening this year. i thought another son after it, but the 3rd one i was counting on not finishing until spring or summer. so i asked and asked for more guys, and the bosses kept brushing me off, until i told my boss that occupancy is in a month and we got fuck-all done for access control runs. that finally seems to have gotten through to him, because i started getting more and more guys. all of a sudden i had to switch from physically working to just running around, trying to plan and make sure that i know what needs to be done, what can be done, how many guys i'll need for that, find something else to do for the rest of them, make sure we have enough materials and tools - which we never do, and just do a lot of babysitting and hand-holding, because the morons i keep getting just hardly know how to do anything. but if i plans things well enough, at least something will get done. so thats a different kinda stress. now i'm there when they're all there, and i'm there after they've gone, to clean up, organise, and try to plan what can be done soon. keeping the other 2 sites in mind and trying to prioritise between all. i never got any training on managing anything, so its pretty hard. i guess i'm learning, but i hate this sink-or-swim shit. and since i'm on salary, all i can do is to hope that all this overtime will convert into time off for christmas - but i'm kinda skeptical that the projects will be done in time. i just want it to be over. and then every now and then the boss or the receptioninst, having some stupid little service or project for someone to do ask "Tom, how busy are you?" to which i answer "extremely". but there's still some things that no one else can really do very well, like service at a project that no one else has ever been to but me and 2 guys who no longer work for the company. i dont know who's gonna be servicing that when i quit. maybe they could sub it out to me - i'd get a bigger cut of the service monies, i'd say a bit over half would be good.

anywho - there's work to do and phx is having a tough time being 6 months pregnant, so i better quit fucking around on the comp and go help. i'll probably write again when the kids go to school :D

i've just seen 2 friends who have got chem related bachelor degrees, and one of them is working as a driving test guy, while the other is working at his dad's machine shop. BUT: the road test guy has a higher wage than me - he just started, i've been doing my thing for 7 years, and have the responsibility of carrying through the low-voltage installation on 3 construction sites, with 6 guys under me (though that number will dwindle to probably 2 or 3 once these projects come to a close). the other guy is basically his own boss since his dad doesnt seem to get involved too much with the shop, and buddy just pays himself, pretty much. he doesnt wanna go to work for somebody else anymore. i need to start working for myself. but i dont wanna work hard - let other people do that. i need to seriously startr pursuing my interests with the goal of probably eventually picking out one of them to pursue all the way - it will be one that will guarantee great income, one i will be good at, and one i will like a lot. for a while i've been thinking about translation - i've sorta gotten started on that already - just gotta keep it going. another one would be automation/robotics. then there was the t-shirt/clothing idea. i need to pursue these in parallel to hash out which one will be best. if i cant pursue them all at the same time, i'll have to time-share them - a week or 2 each, in constant rotation.
another friend of mine is working sorta part-time for a great company - he's getting an engineering degree, and when he's got the time, he lets them know and they throw some work his way if they go any. i'm pretty sure they're paying him $40/hr as a contractor or consultant, since he's not actually able to work for them full time at the moment. $40/hr is almost twice what i make. yet there's this girl i know who works for a cancer research institute for something like $8.50/hr - but she's a total humanitarian, so i guess her personal income at the moment is not her greatest priority right now - she's in it for the long run, wants to help, and hopes she'll start getting paid well eventually.