Interview

Today I had an Interview at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. I applied for a part-time Unit Clerk position, but they interviewed me for a full-time EKG Monitoring Tech. Pretty cool! My plan is to try to move up and intern to be an Echo Tech. I really want to do Echo's. It won't happen overnight, but this suave piece of man can get it done.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad

Today is my parents' 31st wedding anniversary. Here is a picture of them at their wedding reception. Mais look how skinny dey wuz den! They will both be 51 years old this year. They can already participate in the Senior Olympics. They are pleased to know that.

I don't wanna!

I don't know how you feel, but I hate taking baths. Baths or showers...it doesn't matter. I just wish I never got dirty or stinky. At night, in the evenings, or in the mornings...it is never a convienent time for me to bathe. It just seems like to much of a hassle.

I usually shower because it is quicker. I'm on my feet all day, and the shower doesn't help my aching feet at all. It just makes it that much worse.

I know that I always feel better after a shower, and I like to be clean. Lately, I am just to lazy to get up and do it. I don't like it, and I don't wanna!

Moist

Attention: This post contains adult or sexually explicit material. Viewer's descretion is advised.

Mom and dad went to the casino tonight, so I had the house to myself. It was great. I love being alone. I went to WalMart, running, then came home and ate what I wanted to eat. It's like a breath of fresh air. Actually, it is almost like I have my own life. Imagine that!

Kevin got home kind of late, and we ended up talking about all kinds of stuff. The beginning of the conversation started with how I'm miserable with my job, and how I haven't heard anything from Baker-Hughes yet. By the way, I'm quite discouraged.

To make a long story short, Kevin tells me: "You don't know what I had to admit to the other day, huh?" Not knowing, I say, "no."

Kevin has a new girlfriend. Obviously, they did the big nasty. Well, this girl "squirts." In other words, she ejaculates. He proceeds to let me know that they were doing in the other night, and she really wet everything. Now, keep in mind, he is doing this in his momma's house and in his twin bed. She wet his duvet...it soaked through his duvet, through the comforter, through the sheets, all the way to the mattress! He slept on the edge of his bed all night, and the next morning it was STILL wet. That's a lot of juice!

When he woked up, he fixed his bed...thinking that if the bed was fixed, mom would not touch it. He also put pillows over the wet spot because it was still wet on top.

Well, mom did notice, and she called him during the day. She saw that he had some wine the night before, and she said, "Well, the wine relaxed you boy?" She assumed that he pissed in the bed while he was sleeping!

[I just had to take a small break from typing because I am laughing.]

He never said that he did pee, but he never said that he didn't either. He had to let her believe it was what she thought it was. He can't really tell his mom, "No mom, it's not pee. It's cum!"

Blue Light Boy

I spent most of my day at Cypress's. I am doing the job that she left me with, which is cleaning and fixing up her house. I like doing it because it gets me out of my parents' house. Anything to get me out of here is a treat. I cannot wait to see the look on her face when she gets back.

I watched "White Chicks" tonight. Funny movie! "Oh my God, I am about to have a 'B.F.'"

On my way back home, I was driving through Scott, Louisiana. I was doing a little over the speed limit, and apparently I "disregarded" a stop sign. I saw the headlights of what looked like a Crown Victoria behind me, so I let off the gas. It WAS a cop, and he ended up flashing his blue lights at me and pulling me over.

I was so upset. I wasn't going that much over the speed limit, and I just wanted to go home. I was nervous. I just got in an accident that was my fault, and I didn't want to have another ticket on my record. I gave him my license, and he went back to his car. I was beside myself. He came back to me, handed me my license, and said to slow it down and be more attentive. "Thank you very much, sir!" I have NEVER been let off in my LIFE! I have been stopped a few times, and I got a ticket every time. If I add up all the traffic tickets that I have received, not counting parking tickets, I have had 5 tickets. I am in disbelief. I thought that getting let off was some kind of urban legend.

Happy Birthday Scott!

Whoa dog, now you da big 23! Had fun in Houston for the weekend? Well, Crowley was a blast too! Now, on Monday you get to come back to reality...just a little bit. I know you're on cloud nine and all...for more than one reason. I am sure you had a great time, and there's a lot to follow with that. I just wanted to wish you a good one, and stay young while you can.

Doesn't he look like Topher Grace?

A Note From Cypress:

hey brian
today is june 23rd.
i'm about to head to Arcada, or Arcata, CA.
we are going to pass through the redwoods
things are friggin crazy, plans always changing.
i'm actually going to be working in southern cali in the san bernindinos mountains.
i'm about 20 miles from the oregon border right now
so i have a long drive ahead!!!
well, gotta send more e-mails, and people are in line for internet.
oh....i talked to my momma and she said she saw you at my house, and she said that i must have really good friends...i said yes i do. i miss you!!!!
i'll call as soon as i can.

cypress


I miss her so much!

I'm on Myspace

Find me on MySpace and be my friend!

Where is it?

Last night, I started thinking about something that I haven't given much thought to before, grad school. I looked up information the GRE, and I visited the websites of UL, LSU, and MSU. I'm afraid. I have never considered grad school before, and now I'm almost excited when I think about it.

Today, I went to work at 08:00, like every other day. A few weeks ago, I was getting to work at 07:30 or 07:45, but I was told that I work "8 to 5." Also, I had been leaving at 6pm or later everynight. I decided that it had to stop. I could leave everynight at ten, and I still would not be caught up. So, I decided to destress a little, and I leave at 5pm...no matter what doesn't get done.

Red is the newest addtion at work, and she's cool. She reminds me a lot of Cypress. I think I tell her that almost everyday. Lately, we have been talking a lot in the lab, but we still manage to get our work done. It doesn't slow us down at all. We work while we talk. We are in fairly close quarters.

Today, Lady E, the 63 year old bag, got pissed at us talking. I saw it when she stormed through the lab and she slammed the door. She is messy. She will be sweet as pie to your face, and as soon as you turn around, she starts talking shit. Right before I left, I saw her bitching to the lab manager saying, "You need to tell them something about all the talking!" She thinks that we aren't going to get any work done. I know that I get the same amount of work done, and I have the heaviest load. What lady E didn't notice was that I was standing right behind her as she was ranting and raving. I kept my cool, eventhough it was very difficult. I am not sure what made me refrain from opening my mouth. However, I did walk out and close the door louder than normal. You know, just enough to show that I was there, and that I heard. Oh, and as I was walking out, I said, "I hate this fucking job."

I have been working at Company W for a month now. I have yet to have a "good day." They are all bad. Every minute of every horrible, sweaty hour...awful. A good day will never come. I will never catch up, and there will never be a light at the end of the tunnel. I have been leaving only 15-30 minutes late each day, and I am already drowning in work. They extra hours that I had been putting in was just keeping my head above water. Not anymore...I don't put in the overtime, and I'm drowning. However, I do not care. I work 8-5.

We are not allowed breaks, and I have heard that they try to slip their way out of giving raises. They took away the coffee and the water cooler. I am stuck, on my feet, in a 90 degree lab, dehydrating, working my tail off. There is no music, and apparently we cannot talk to help ourselves through the day. This job is no better than SPL. I hate it.

Lady

This morning I went to Cypress's house. When I arrived, I saw someone in the garden picking vegetables. I continued to enter the house. After opening the door, the lady approached the house. It was her mom. I went out and talked with her. She's such a great lady. This is the second time that I have met her, and she talks like she's known me all of my life.

If anyone has seen "Lady" please return her to Cypress's house. That's her pet hen, and we cannot find her. "Skittles" is still hanging around though.

Whoops...I got distracted by being on the phone with Christina all night. I'm tired now. Remind me tomorrow to write about my day with the family.

To be continued...

Getting Better

Today, I left work at 17:15. I'm getting a little better. I have decided that I am only going to do what has to be done. I'm not going to stress myself about doing everything like I have been doing. The manager makes a list, and I'm only going to complete what is on that list. Nothing extra. It's just a job, not a career. I'm not killing myself over it. They don't even care enough to let us take breaks or provide us with adequate air conditioning.

It's Seven O'clock

I get to work early everyday. I leave work late everday. This is becoming a serious bad habit. This evening, I left work at 19:00. I was the last person to leave, again. Everyone leaves on time, and does not offer to help me in any way. They all know that I have the heaviest workload, but that doesn't seem to affect them. Of course not because it does NOT affect them. If ANYONE ever asks me to help them, I will refuse. That'll be how karma will come back to bite them in the ass.

Happy Birthday Nick!

Today is Nick's 26th birthday. Lately I've been thinking about how old I feel, but it's always nice to look at your friends that are older than you and realize....they will ALWAYS be older than you. Congratulations on making another year. Relish in your twenties because you don't have much time left!

This picture was taken in December 2004. We went to watch Notre Dame play in the state championship, at the Super Dome, in New Orleans. It was fun. We got to stay in an awesome place, on Dauphine, one block from Bourbon. I want to go back!

She's OK!

Cypress called me tonight, and she's doing OK. Right now, they are just training, and she is having a lot of fun. They are mostly sleeping in tents, but last night they were in a small town (population 255). She talked with one of the guys from there, and his graduating high school class had 4 people. I thought Crowley was small!

She is the oldest person on the crew, except for the crew leader, who is 30. She is eating very well. She was happy to say that she's eating better now than she was at home.

She said that she thought about me the first time that he had to take a poo, which was 2 days after she got there. She said that after she pooed, she ran around like a happy little dog. Oh, and she hasn't been able to take a bath yet. It's been a week. That's sexy.

She was excited to hear that I dropped some "things" off at her house. She told her crew members that she left her house completely in my hands. Don't worry Cypress, it's in good hands.



Here is a picture of a Steller's Jay. It is one of the birds that Cypress took notice of on the PCT.



Here is a picture of two Banana Slugs doing it. Looks how bright and yellow these slugs are! Also, they are really big, about the size of bananas as well. Wow...this shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

HPLC

Chromatography is the science which is studies the separation of molecules based on differences in their structure and/or composition. In general, chromatography involves moving a preparation of the materials to be separated - the "test preparation" - over a stationary support. The molecules in the test preparation will have different interactions with the stationary support leading to separation of similar molecules. Test molecules which display tighter interactions with the support will tend to move more slowly through the support than those molecules with weaker interactions. In this way, different types of molecules can be separated from each other as they move over the support material.

Chromatographic separations can be carried out using a variety of supports, including immobilized silica on glass plates (thin layer chromatography), volatile gases (gas chromatography), paper (paper chromatography), and liquids which may incorporate hydrophilic, insoluble molecules (liquid chromatography).

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a form of liquid chromatography to separate compounds that are dissolved in solution. HPLC instruments consist of a reservoir of mobile phase, a pump, an injector, a separation column, and a detector. Compounds are separated by injecting a plug of the sample mixture onto the column. The different components in the mixture pass through the column at different rates due to differences in their partitioning behavior between the mobile liquid phase and the stationary phase.

Acetonitrile

A colorless liquid with an aromatic odor. It is used in organic synthesis as a starting material for acetophenone, alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid, thiamine, acetamidine, amides, amines, higher molecular weight mono- and dinitriles, halogenated nitriles, ketones, isocyanates, and heterocycles. It is used in the manufacturing of acrylic fibers, pharmaceuticals, perfumes, nitrile rubber, and pesticides. It is used to remove tars, phenols, and coloring matter from petroleum hydrocarbons; to extract fatty acids from fish liver, animal, and vegetable oils; and to recrystallize steroids. It is used wherever a polar solvent having a high dielectric constant is required; as a solvent in non-aqueous titrations; and as a non-aqueous solvent for inorganic salts.

Acetonitrile burns with a luminous flame. It may cause explosions when in contact with strong oxidizers; nitrogen-fluorine compounds are potentially explosive in contact with it. It can react violently with sulfuric acid, oleum, chlorosulfonic acid, and perchlorates. It forms explosive mixtures with air. When heated to decomposition, it emits highly toxic fumes of cyanides. It is incompatible and reactive with strong oxidizers, nitrating agents, indium, dinitrogen tetraoxide, nitric acid, and ulfite. It will react with water, steam or acids to produce toxic and flammable vapors and nitrogen oxides.

Acetonitrile is poisonous. Massive doses of acetonitrile can produce sudden loss of consciousness, violent convulsions, paralysis, and death from respiratory arrest. With smaller but still lethal doses, the illness may be prolonged for one or more hours. In the early phases of poisoning, an increase in vasoconstrictor tone causes a rise in blood pressure and reflex slowing of the heart rate. Exposure to acetonitrile can cause hyperpnea, dyspnea, headaches, anorexia, asphyxia, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, weakness, stupor, convulsions, anxiety, vertigo, stiffness in the lower jaw, and pink coloring of the skin. Its vapor can irritate eyes, nose and throat; liquid can irritate skin and eyes.

Not the New Guy

Today, a girl that I worked with at SPL interviewed with us. They asked me about her, and I gave a thumbs up. She ended up getting the job.

It appears that 4 new people are starting on Monday, which means that I will no longer be the newest kid on the block. We have been severely short-handed. I heard the Assistant Lab Manager asking the Lab Manager about where everyone is going to be placed. I heard where they were placing a few people, then the Lab Manager looked around to see if I was in the room. From that, I get the feeling that I am going to be moving. I don't really know how to feel about that.

I hate my job anyway. Are they going to fire me? They don't have a reason because I haven't done anything wrong, but that never stopped them from firing people before. They already went through the Holocaust.

I have had no training. On my first day, I was working alone. Today was day #8, and finally, my questions have almost disappeared. Actually, I am surprised that I caught on so quickly. I guess it doesn't take much. If you have worked in one lab; you have worked in them all. If you can follow a recipe, you can work in a lab. If I get the job at Baker-Hughes, I won't feel bad about quitting since they haven't spent any time or money in training me. They have been backed up, and I think we're up to speed now.

I don't know if they are going to move me, but I don't know why they were being quiet about it. They may not have even been talking about me, but I always expect the worse. Is it a promotion/demotion? Who knows? Who cares? I don't like what I do now, and I don't think that I could like anything else that I do at this company. They could surprise me.

Can't Make the Cut

First, I would like to make a disclaimer. I have many friends in the business, and I do not intend to offend anyone.

Now, I am sick and tired of people trying to give me advice about a job. They now know that I have a job. Even when I was in school, people told me, "What are you going to do with a Biology degree, teach?" Obviously, these folks are clueless.

I will stick with my motto: Those who can't....teach. It's simple.

Almost every person I know who could not handle their own curriculum, in college, switched to education. It was the easy way out. I hear an echo.

Also, teachers are always whining about how they want more pay. Let us see...They work mid-August through May. They are off for a week for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas, and a week for Easter. That's another month off! Also, they are off for countless other holidays during the school year. Their schedule is 08:00-15:00. Hmm...that's less than normal people work during a day. Oh, then there is the excuse, "We have duty!" OK...so you have to sit on your ass for 45 minutes to an hour doing absolutely nothing but gossiping with students or other teachers. That doesn't sound so bad. Then the teachers that only teach a class for an hour have an "off-hour," so they have an hour break during the day.

So, then there is the next excuse: "We spend all night making lesson plans, tests, and grading papers." Well, that is true for teachers in their first year of teaching a class. After that first year, you use old test from the previous year, with some minor revisions. Lesson plans do not change that much from year to year either. As for grading papers, I have never been in a class that teachers didn't have their pet grade the tests. Also, there is the infamous passing back of the tests. Teachers are slackers.

Some have a superiority complex. I am sure we have all come in contact with some. Since they couldn't make the cut in their own life, they like to give others, that they think are beneath them, a hard time.

If I was a teacher, I would be dragged out in handcuffs the first time one of those little bastards mouthed off to me. Teachers say they deserve more money for putting up with the kids. I think that is the side affect of taking the easy way out. The main complainers of those in education are the teachers who never had a real job before. They are used to crying to mommy and daddy.

Happy Birthday Erica!

ERICA! Welcome to the half-way-to-fifty club! Erica and I have been friends since we had the same 7th grade homeroom, Ms. Cormier. I think that was back in 1992. DAMN...we'z getting old. Sorry that we picked at that dress that you were wearing. I hope you're over it now.

This picture was taken on a night that we were at Bennigan's. I had a few 2 for 1's and you ended up having to drive my Mazda back to your condo. That was ONE of MANY nights that you had to take care of me. "I'm doing good, huh?" Lord-day...I must have been crazy. Thanks for all of the good times.

Now look at you...all grown up, married with a family in the making. That's exciting!

I need to get invited to see your new house one day. I'll talk to you again soon. Hope you had fun at your mom's today, and I hope that you're not starting to feel too OLD.

OH, and I almost forgot, thanks Beth. Erica is on the left, and her sister-in-law, Amber, is the girl on the right. I wasn't even thinking of that because I know who Erica is, and everyone else should as well, right??

Goodbye for Now

I have known for a while that this day would come, but I was hoping that it would not. Today, Cypress got on a airplane with a destination of California. She is starting an internship through school. She will be working on the Pacific Crest Trail.

At UL-Lafayette, she is studying Environmental and Sustainable Resources, and this is right up her alley. She is excited and nervous all at the same time. She doesn't really know what to expect, so it's: "expect the worst, hope for the best."

Amber and I rode to the airport together to see our good friend off. Also, we had to keep her company until her flight left.



This is me, Amber, and Cypress sitting outside Lafayette Regional Aiport looking real cool. Especially when you're holding your own camera. A sure shot to capture the double chin.



No trip for Cypress is complete without her kermit.



Before she left for her flight, Cypress's family arrived at the airport to wish her well. Here is Cypress with her mom. They are so alike. This is the first time that I have met her mom. I like her.



The whole family, Jake, Cypress, Mom, and Jeremy.

Well Cypress, I am sad that you're gone. By now, you are in Cali. I hope that everything will go well. I miss you. I'll do my best to keep everything together at your house while you're gone. I'll see you in August.