Call Me Ishmael... No, Just Crazy...

Okay... one of my main plans this past summer was to go camping. Unfortunately, that didn't happen but once. That occurred just a couple of weeks ago with co-workers. This past Friday I decided to go it alone. I found a book that looked interesting and away I went.

Well... I should have known with the way things went before leaving town that trouble may be lurking. I had to turn around and do the things I planned to in the first place 3 times thinking that I was ready to go. The plus about one of the turn arounds is that I saw my landlord at the Safeway and I gave her next month's rent. Hooray for me!! I'm housed for another month.

Upon getting to Roubaix Lake, in between Pactola Lake and Deadwood, I noticed that where I wanted to camp had a fucking closed sign at the entrance. Not to get discouraged I found a semi alright spot at the entrance of the campground that was opened farthest from the lake.

I'm going to kinda get off of the camping subject [kinda] to bitch about the way the forest service closes campground too early. What the hell do they do that for. If you agree to pack out what you pack in they shouldn't close that premo spots. And so the fuck what if the stupid campground host has left to go back to Arizona or Florida. We are adults and can police the campground for young punks and their all annoying little bitches. Just lower the age in which you can slap these little fuckers and they will stay in line. To my understanding, Isn't the campgrounds Forest Service property thus making them owned by the United States Government to which we own because of the anal raping that happens when they take taxes from me. So in essence, WE own them and should be able to use them anytime we goddamn well want to... I'm I correct on that diatribe? Let's write some rich white man who represents [sic] us and give him or her a railing!!!

Okay... I unload my stuff from the short bus and begin setting up my site. I set my tent and stuff. Now comes the hunt for firewood. I find a downed tree over a little hill, take my $3.60 hand saw, purchased from Menards, and cut 8 logs approx. a foot and a half long and ruck them back to my site. Using the hatchet borrowed from Rosie, [thanks Rosie, I need to buy my own hatchet] I decide to split the logs to make more kindling to burn. I give the first log a healthy whack and it splits down the middle. As it splits, there must have been at least a cup and a half of rain water in the middle of the fucker. Hence.. wet wood doesn't burn very good. So I whack the rest of my haul in two which produced a little under a gallon of rainwater. I thought to myself, "Only in the Black Hills..." I tried to get that wood to burn to no avail. I did smoke the fuck outta the campground. Good thing I brought a propane stove. Once the sun went down I retired to the tent to read a book. After 12 pages or so, I fell asleep reading with both headlamps on. I wake an hour later to dim lights. Again... lucky I brought extra batteries.

If you have never camped in the Black Hills in a designated campground, you will notice that the ground is covered with sharp little rocks and shale shards. I thought I found a relatively safe, even spot to pitch the tent only to be woken to a sharp pain in my hip and back. Little sharp rock!! No biggie, I just rolled the rock by pressing it to the side of the tent. Fine... no more rocks. I didn't see that my tent was at a slight incline and as I slept I kept sliding to one end on the tent. Finally, morning... My adventure ends. The guy across at another site stops on his ATV and asks me, "Did you sleep good last night?" I reply, "Yeah, it wasn't too bad." He procedes to tell me he could hear me snoring clear over at his camp site a good 75 feet away. How embarrasing.

Anyways... camping should be done with more than one person. It makes the experience a lot better. Here are some photos of the little campsite that could....








I'll start camping a little earlier next year...

The Gorilla Is Back...

My rubber Gorilla is back on top of my TV. Patty, Ross and her clan returned from a successful trip around Europe. Many pics to show. Thanks to Patty, Ross and her family for taking the time to start a new cool project. Since Patty was the first to take him on vacation, she got to name him..(and the rest of you lazy bastards didn't even try) His monicker is ...."Jack". Simple but sweet.

Check out his photo blog starting Friday the 26th. You can go there now but there is only introductions. Blogroll him dammit. You can see Jack in all his glory at Jack's Travels.
Happy travels....


**Update** Things are going slow with the photo upload. They should be up soon...

What The Fack??????????

Okay, I usually don't talk about the business I do when I go into a restroom. they are not a favorite place to be for anybody. that's why the are aesthetically white in color and do'n't have dilly dally stuff in them such as a expresso counter in them. Do what you have to do and go.

I usually have to go (take a leak) when I go to big retailers. Never fails everytime I enter one this invisible gravitational force takes hold of my bladder and shakes it to the point that I have to go. Most guys look down when they pee, what else is there to look at?

I'm not grossed out at a lot of stuff. Working in the Medical field you see some of man's (and women's) worse stuff. And... it's coming out of them. So, nothing bothers me. I know people who used to clean motel room and freak at the sight of a wirery black pubic hair in the bottom of a shower. Lately while peeing I have noticed a large amount of shedded pubes lining the edge of urinals and around toilet seats. Maybe it's like a winter fur to people. As the season's change we molt off the summer pubes and grow thicker more durable warmer pubes for winter. Well whatever it is it's nasty. Ewww.

Love Lost....

It's peculiar when you are young and think that the boy or girl you think you love will be with you the better part of 50 years. Think about 50 years and that is a very long time. When Marnie and I started dating back in 1988, I was far from loving her just for the fact nobody that young knows the true meaning. Boyfriend/girlfriend dumb. Of course, what your feeling is infatuation then that later turns to affection then along comes love. Now mind you that is my thought and wasn't picked up in any book or advise from people.

We didn't look ahead to 2004 when our marriage started it's decent or 4 years later when we would both be dating other people. Marnie tells me that she was the most loyal person I could have known and I believe her. She was a great wife and best friend. If I could see then what I see now things would have turned out different for us. We did make a great couple and were good at what we did. The blame lies for our demise with me and me only. I got comfortable in the fact that the way things were suppose to go in a marriage was like my father and mothers marriage. As a kid you see things different and you miss the nuances of the mechanisms of marriage. My father was the bread winner and my mother stayed home. He ruled the house and my mother backed him no matter if he was wrong or ultimately right. My household didn't consist of that. I look back at my ways of the household and see many things I did wrong. Communication was the biggest one. I assumed that since I was home after work that's all that needed to be done for our little household to work. I was ultimately wrong.

I tell everybody who asks that I did enjoy being married to Marnie. She was good at it and that felt comforting. Things we did I will miss. The memories will fade over time but I keep a few fresh by thinking of them often. Just because we no longer love each other doesn't mean you can't look back with fondness at good times. We did have a lot of good times.

No man can honestly say that mistakes made that end a marriage will not be repeated. I hope in my future that I can try the best I can from the mistakes I made and hope that I don't have to go through this ever again. Marnie was the first true love of my life and have been told that you always think of your first for the rest of your life.

I have been truly blessed to have been part of her family and loved by them. That is the hardest part of my situation. I believe that Marnie has moved past me and is ready to begin her life anew. Thank you Marnie for loving me and caring for me. I am truly sorry for all the grief I have placed upon you.

Eric

I.Q. Really Means "Idiot Quotant"...

I've heard somebody say that "Everybody is intelligent in their own way." While pondering the said quote and basically thinking, "That's goddamned stupid..." The quote was obviously started by the mother or father of a dumb shit and to build the little bastards self esteem because others around the child kept saying, "Man, You're fucking stupid, arn't you?"

Years ago, I worked as a sawyers assistant at a truss manufacturer. Granted, to build shit repetitiously doesn't take a rocket science degree to do. Show em a couple of times and viola. Well, the job was easy and the money (at the time) not so bad. Plus, you were paid weekly. The group of guys who I worked along side were good time guys. Meaning they were experts at easting, drinking and smoking. Now, I'm not cutting the business of laborer work down. It is honest work and a lot of folk do it. I'm basically talking about the group of chukkerheads I worked with.

Working with wood you will end up cutting it and the byproduct of that is waste, wood that is too small to utilize and is thrown out. The "waste" were dumped into boxed from the saw conveyor, a long belt similar the the ones you place your groceries on before the check out lady rings it up. This conveyor ran continuously. The boxes the waste fell into was a 4 foot by 4 foot wood box with a height of around 3 feet. When the box became full, they were picked up with a fork lift and dumped into a large dump truck. When the Bucket of the dump truck was full... off to the city landfill. This was something that happened 2 to 3 times a work week.

When a volunteer asked if they could go to "the dump" to empty the truck, they drove the 4 miles to the Sturgis landfill. While there, the guys would scavenge. You know the saying, "Another man's junk is another man's treasure." You get it. These guys would bring back thrown out stuff like banged up bowling balls and pins, basketballs with a slight warp to them, alumunum softball bats and that sort of stuff. One time they brought back a black bowling ball. They played around with it in the work area which was a large open building with overhead doors. They would roll it the length of the building and try and hit you in the ankle with it. Well, it didn't take long for these guys to grow bored with it and it ended up outside in the lumber yard. The saw was situated at the west end of the building and during summer we would leave the overhead door open to keep from dying of heat stroke. I noticed the bowling ball halfway between the building and the racks of 2x4's. Arlon was the guy who ran the floor truss press. The press is a table about 20' long with two large rollers that would roll along the length of the table pressing the "clips" that sank into the wood securing the wood together. I noticed Arlon walk out to carry some boards back from the yard. He walked by the bowling ball and glaced down at it. On his return back to the shop, he stops about six feet behind the ball mimicking that he was going to kick it. I then yell for Dan who also worked on the saw with me.

I said, "I think Arlon's going to kick that bowling ball."

Dan replies, "He fucking dumb but not that stupid."

I then say "You need to check this out."

Just as Dan walks up beside me, Arlen steps toward the bowling ball as if he was playing kick ball. With his teeth clenched he kicks the bowling ball thinking it was going to launch in to the air. Upon contact, his ankle buckles to the left and his toes bent down. Dan and I say, "Oooo" Arlen falls to the ground writhing in pain holding his right foot. Dan and I wander out toward Arlon to check his situation. We ask him why on God's green Earth would you boot the bowling ball. He mutters, "I thought it was a basketball bladder."

The Wrong Devil....

Okay... you have heard the monicker "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."? If you were to break that down to the purest form, neither people or guns kill people. It the bullets. Break it down farther and bullets don't kill people either... kinetics kill people. From bullets to drunk drivers. Bombs to baseball bats. Kinetics are the menace. Without kinetics, we would live in a virtual safe world. Things would slow down considerably but none the less no harm would come to people plants or animals.

Let join efforts to combat this menace in our society. Kill Kinetics!!!

Camp TipACupa..... That's How I Roll....

Camping is fun... at least to me it is. Add alcohol and fun folks... even better. Last weekend, friends from work had a fun time with a camping outing dubbed "Camp TipACupa". I'm guessing it's the last time many of us can go camping until next summer. With the weather patterns being all unpredictable, I was weary about camping in the Black Hills in the middle of September. Lately, It gets much cooler in the evenings but not last weekend. It was perfect. And a full moon to boot.

I decided not to name the folks that camped except myself. I'm not ashamed of nothing. I did drink beer and wine. And had fun. To those who signed up but didn't attend???? Pussies, the lot of you. You missed a very good time.

The Day Before....

Tomorrow marks the 7th anniversary of the New York, Pennsylvania, Pentagon terrorist attacks dubbed 9/11. Remember the days following this date and you saw American flags and a new sense of patriotism. But in recent years that has waned. Like most American, they leap before they look. What started out to be a noble effort to support America turned into a battle cry for a war that is very unpopular. This is basically George Bush's legacy. Nobody in the future is going to look or talk of George Bush in any other fashion.

As for the cry for a national holiday on September 11th is well.... basically stupid. Why does death in this country warrant a holiday for people to take off of work to grill at parks and play frisbee. With the exception of Christmas and the 4th of July, every federal holiday revolves around the death and destruction of people. Why should the casualties of a terrorist attack deserve a holiday? If the rest of the world thought that way nobody in second and third world would work. If we as a people in this country would see how stupid we really are and that the countries who hate us have a legitimate reason to do so we all would be embarrassed. I love my country and my way of life just as much as any person who blasts out a Toby Keith song but we need to realize that the world doesn't revolve around the United States. To force a way of life on a people is a assnine thing to do.

Has democracy worked for us in the 200 + years of our existance? For the powerful and rich it has. And for the lazy "I don't want to work" crowd that takes unearned money from the ones who all make it possible for them... Us, the middle class, who find it honorable to earn a dollar with actual work. Shit... I'm getting way off the subject at hand.

As for a National Holiday for 9/11??? Hell no. All of us could die at the hands off a nutjob why are they that much more special that the servicemen and women who sacrifice their lives everyday in a job that the majority of young people would run away from? The next time you see a military uniform on the proud folks doing a job for us shake their fucking hand because they deserve it. Where's my goddamn American owned nationally distributed beer Toby Keith???!!! That's right there isn't one. I'll take the Guiness instead thank you very much.

** Sidenote with totally nothing related to the shit spew above. I didn't explain the "Name the Gorilla" thing I got going here very well... You are suppose to reply to the post with an actual hand typed reply. Thinking it to yourself doesn't count. Help me out here man!!!

The Gorilla Traveller...

I tried starting a photo blogging page awhile back with photos I took with a 5 inch rubber gorilla. The gorilla is black with a snarling look to him. I found him at a Spearfish Thrift Store. The lady working the place wanted him gone because the kids would play with it and it ended up on the floor. I guess she was sick and tired of picking him up everyday. I bought him for a dime. A killer bargain considering that you can't by shit with 10 cents anymore. Anyways.. my main plan was to take this gorilla on travels with me, take his picture and post it on it's own blog page. Well... the project lost steam and my interest so I shelved the idea. Then I decided that I would let people I know take him with them, have them shoot some photos of him and I would post them.

Well now I'm interested in doing again. I shot the idea around at work and a few people thought it was a great idea. I did take some pictures of him when I went to Vegas last November and have those photos ready to publish.

Right now, a co-worker is going vacationing in Europe. Germany and Italy to be exact. Guess who's traveling with them. The co-workers husband thought that was a great idea and I think he will be taking the pictures. Let's hope they take a shitload of them.

Another co-worker is going to Mexico in a month or two and he will be going with her. The one problem I am having is that he doesn't have a name. So... respond to this post with a suitable name for him. This is him below
So help me find a name for this good looking bastard. I will start posting pictures as soon as I get the ones from Europe. I will place a link to the right when I create his travel blog.

Indecision 08

Having trouble figuring out who is worthy of leading us for the next 4 years? Sick of the same fucking rhetoric coming from the two main candidates? Well... This is the man I plan on voting for...
Obama's inexperience... John McCain's advanced age... Joe Biden's.... well Joe Biden in general and Sarah Palin's inability to control her 17 year old daughter. Why take the chance with these four assholes?

Vote Hedgehog in 08' Who needs a Vice president when you have a big dick???

Holy Shit... Is That Jesus Christ????

From time to time, I do the "next blog button push" to see where it takes me. Tonight I realized that a whole lot of South American people have computers and they have blog pages to prove it. While interesting to them, it's just scribbles and gobbly gook to me. Some of the pictures are beautiful and different. To see anothers view of their world has it's coolness.

Every so often a family blog would pop up with pictures of the kiddies and shit.

The ones that turn the stomach are the " How Blessed Are We That We Had Sex And Viola..... Children". Now would you not think the miracle of the birth of a child from anybody is blessed or is it just Caucasian Middle Class Christian 30 Somethings? Now I know that your child is the cat's ass and you think that everybody enjoy the tike no matter how repulsed the try to hide. Before you want to hang me by my short and curly's but.. this excludes the people I personally know and have met their children. It's the religious overtones in these other people's blogs that makes one think that God was a Friday night eat over guest and that he did them a great favor in creating their children out of playdough like a mongolian grill chef.

Showing off your children is ok but just because you attend church and have the picture of the old man praying in your kitchen. God did nothing in creating that soon to be horrible 4 to 9 year old... it involved a penis, a couple of glands and a vagina along with some bad dance moves you were afraid to make at your wedding.

Getting Slow At Posting...

Well it's the end of the summer. Did you accomplish what you wanted to do this year?

I did... sort of. I wanted to see at least one festival this year and that was a big goal. I joked with my friend Krista that this is "The Summer Of Eric". To which she disagreed that it was "The Summer Of Krista".

We here in Rapid City had a new thing happen this year which turned out to be pretty cool. "Summer Nights On Seventh" Live music every Thursday night on 7th St. downtown. Instead of drinking the overpriced Belgian beer "Budweiser", we opted to get fucked in our keesters at a joint called the "Vino 100". The "Vino" as we called it sells wine and cigars. They had a little sidewalk area in which you could drink beer sold there in the confines of a 12 foot by 8 foot area in front on the place. I discovered a Russian beer there which I enjoy because of the alcohol content in it. Cheap drunk... kind of. For a pint of this stuff the Vino charged us $4.50 a bottle. The distributer told us where we could purchase it in town. My brother found it at Canyon Lake Liquor on the west side of town only to discover that the same bottle of beer there was half the price. Fucking capitalistic swine!! None the less, we still purchased the beer at the Vino for the higher price. How stupid are we?

I opted to not do anything with my ex-wife this summer. We usually take a trip or two somewhere but decided that she has her midget cowboy to entertain her and that I wasn't that much fun to her. Her loss I guess. I think she has moved on passed me.

Back to the festival. I attended the Mile High Music Festival this year as some of you had read in a post last month. It was the 1st one in what I hope are many, many more of them that are held down there. The line up was great. Tom Petty, Flogging Molly, Jason Mraz, Brett Dennen, Flobots, One Republic, Colby Callait, and the headliner The Dave Matthews Band. I just had to see them. It's on a list of things to do before you die somewhere. Now I can die I guess.

Well... I'll talk more later on how my summer went next time...