It’s not that I don’t care, I do.

It’s not that I’ve grown bored with the whole thing, I haven’t.

It’s not that I have nothing to say, as a matter of fact I do.

It’s simply that I’m fucking beat. Whooped. Too pooped to party. Wiped out. I haven’t had a day off in nearly two weeks and my on-call last weekend wasn’t an easy one. Nothing Friday night, but the calls started at 2:00am on Saturday… So lots of hours over the weekend. I’m feeling a little run down. But here’s what’s been happening and what is going to happen in the world that I live in.

Friday night I went to Tasha’s with the hope that I wouldn’t get called out on a no heat call, everything was going fine until 2am when a call came in. Then another at 4am. And then one at 7am. Okay, I get it, I’m up. Time to go to work. The 4am and 7am calls were the same guy, seems that by 7:15 he’d already found someone else to come out… ooooooookay, great. The 2am call had one of their three furnaces not working…. 3-furnaces?! Why are you calling me at 2am? Whatever, hours is hours. So I’m off and running calls all day.

Sunday I was running calls as well, the only thing of note is the crazy customer who thinks their new furnace is too loud, they can see light through their chimney liner, and they don’t like the filter that came with the furnace… I drove out to Fenton for this? Okay, one, you can’t see any light out the chimney liner because it’s got a 90-degree bend on it shoots up 35-feet and then has a cap on it and the whole thing is cemented into your chimney… the furnace is loud because you cheaped out and didn’t go with the one we told you was actually quiet and you sit all day in your chair right fucking above it, and yeah, the filter that comes with the furnace is a cheapie. Problem solved. Okay, I was a little more diplomatic than that, but you get the real thought process behind my pretty words.

Monday I started a new job installing a zone system into an existing duct system. It’ll probally take the better part of two weeks to finish. After work I went to Tasha’s, because, well because it was a long damn weekend and I needed some pleasant company. She made a nice dinner and then we bought a movie and a few things at the store. We never quite got around to watching the movie before I had to call it a night and head home

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on my zone system and after work I went to Tasha’s again to hang out. I watched parts of three movies. I started watching the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, missed the first 10-minutes and then watched about 20-minutes of it before I realized that The Da Vinci Code was about to start. So we watched that for a bit, an hour or hour-and-a-half before I was just done with that. Some channel surfing and I found The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a movie that we actually saw together when it came out, and I actually have seen in full). We watched that for a bit and then I called it a night and went home without ever seeing the end. I guess the message here is, I don’t do well with movies. I wouldn’t want to have to watch one with me and you’d do well to not try it. I’m just sayin’. You’ve been warned.

Today was more of the same and as it’s Thursday it’s my on-call. I don’t imagine that I’ll get anything, what with it being 45-degrees today and expecting more of the same tomorrow. Spring ain’t here yet, but it’s getting closer. So I thought I’d better put some of this excitement down on the intraweb.

Tomorrow I’m only working a half day. I’ve got to go to the Secretary of State and get a certified copy of my driving record and to the court house for a notarized copy of my criminal record (I don’t actually have one, but I need something saying that). All this so that a friend of mine Shawn/Broken-knee can get his driving privileges restored… seems he thinks that if I give him a personal reference and proof that I’m not a crazy-lawbreaking-fucker some judge in North Carolina will give him his license back so he can go to truck driving school and start a new career.

I’ll probably get one of those two things done before I have to pick up my boys from school… not sure why, but whatever, I’m a dad, that’s just how we roll… then I’ll have to do the other afterward. And then at some point this weekend I have to actually write that letter of recommendation and get it all to my man by Monday. Did I mention that Monday is St. Patricks Day? Well it is; and I’ve got a lady friend who says that she’s never been out on that particular holiday. Gotta remedy that.

I still haven’t gotten any kind of answer from my boss about a raise and in fact there hasn’t really even been the opportunity to talk to him about it. I may have to do this over the phone, and let me tell you, I don’t like that idea much at all. I may be a little traditional in that I think there are some things you just have to do face to face. And talking about money with the boss is one of those things. I also need to talk to him about hiring my buddy Dave when things start to pick up… we’re too slow right now to bring him in now. I think he’ll be a good tech once he gets rollin’.

I’m planning on spending the whole weekend with my ex-wife/girlfriend/one-hot-piece-of-ass, Tasha, so you’re probably not gonna hear from me until Sunday night. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.

I’m outta here. Be good. Be bad. But have yourself a merry little weekend. Later

Well, last night I left work a little early (4ish), just wasn’t anything to do there, it’s that time of year. I took a chance and went out to Shelby Twp. to have some pizza with Tasha and I made it through the evening without any calls coming in. Until 2:00am that is. And then again at 4:00am. I didn’t leave for either of those. I don’t know what people are thinking, wait, yes I do… they’re cold. Anyway, I dealt with both of those calls this morning. If you go without heat until 4am, you can wait until 8:00am for me to come and fix it.

The pager has gone off sporadically today and it’s been about a 50/50 split between those who just want to talk to someone and those that actually want me to come out. I’ve got one lined up for tomorrow, but that’s just addressing a complaint on an install so it’ll be easy. I’m hoping for an easy night, because for some reason I’m always beat after an evening with Tasha. Go figure.

Today I went and picked myself up a new 4-piece DeWALT kit (circular saw, hammer drill, reciprocating saw, flash light; all 18-volt cordless and in a hard case). It wasn’t cheap, but I needed a new drill and it was on sale, besides, who doesn’t like tools.

My study guides and Mechanical Code book were delivered to the house on Friday. It’s time to get back to the studying. First NATE and then a month or two later my Mechanical Contractors license. I’m feeling good about all this. Things are going according to plan and I’m staying motivated and positive.

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour tonight, Daylight Savings and all that jazz. We’ll be getting more sunlight, but where the hell is the spring weather? That’s what I’m waiting for. Give me a 70 degree day, an open road up to Petoskey, and the rumble of my Triumph….

I’m going to go back to minding the pager. Take it easy. Take it slow. I’m out. Later.

Yesterday work was weird, I had to finish an install for a crazy woman. I didn’t actually finish, but that’s mostly because she was crazy.

Dinner with Tasha went well and as always the company was great and as an added bonus I got to see my dog and cats. I wore some of my new clothes and I must say, I looked damn sexy.

Today I worked at another picky customer’s home. It certainly makes the day interesting. Also, I’m on-call through the weekend. Four-days of pager carrying fun.

I’m beat. I got nothing for you tonight. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I’m out. Later.

Today, I replaced a furnace and ran a chimney liner by myself, I hate running chimney liners by myself, there’s just too much up and down the ladder involved. Things have really slowed down around the office, it’s that time of year. I was off work before five again today. And as an added bonus, that just works against me getting a pay raise to what I should be making. Still no word on that damn raise. My suspicion is that there’ll be a small raise on my paycheck tomorrow that will do little but make me mad, but I’m still trying to get an answer from him and an opportunity to state my case.

So I forgot to mention that I’ve officially retired the orange UUNet hat that I’ve been wearing for the last year and a half. I told myself that I would wear it to school and work daily as a reminder of where I’d come from and why I didn’t want to go back. Now that I’m done with school and officially working full time in the field of my choosing the time has come to retire the hat. It has served it’s purpose dutifully and without complaint, though I will admit that the last year hasn’t been kind to it. It’s definitely showing the abuses that have been heaped upon it by crawlspaces, rain, snow, and furnace soot. So we say good bye to an era and the hat is gone.

I’m planning on going to Tasha’s for spaghetti dinner tomorrow (assuming the snow storm doesn’t screw that up). It’s weird, am I dating my ex-wife, obviously I am. But what does that mean? I know that I’m not sure at this point and I certainly couldn’t explain it to anyone who might ask, other than to say, it is what it is and I don’t know what it’ll become. I mean, hell, I dated my first ex-wife for 8-months or better and that just kinda petered out. This might do the same or it might not make it to 3-months. Right now I’m having fun and that’s all I’m looking for, someone to have fun with. Besides, it doesn’t pay to look too deeply into all those lingering feelings, we’ve only been divorced a little over a year. So until you hear otherwise, it is what it is, whatever that might be.

Hot damn, I’ve got a hankerin’ to play some Rock Band. But I’m on-call this weekend so there’ll be none of that. Bummer.

I’m out. Later.

My R-410A certification came in the mail today along with a fancy patch to sew on my jacket… probably not gonna happen. And last night after I posted I ordered my 2006 Michigan Mechanical Code book, NATE Preparatory Manual, and a HVAC book by DeWalt. I’m getting my ducks in a row.

Today was a short day at work, I was off by 4:00pm. Which was okay. We did a draw for the spring/summer holiday on-call and I pulled Memorial Day weekend. That sucks, I was hoping to do something that weekend, but at least I didn’t get the Independence Day weekend.

I also added the Arohen Hotline over there on the left, just in case you feel the need to reach out and whisper sweet nothings in my ear. *wink*

Be good, be bad, but be true to yourself. I’m out.