Vampires were sexy and monstrously fine
but now that they sparkle, glitter and shine
their lustre is lost, and worse they're benign

Zombies are always disgustingly cool
but they're awfully damn dumb, and also they drool
if you get eaten by one then you're kind of a fool

Werewolves are angry, vicious and mean
but you need a full moon on Hallowe'en
for any of them to even be seen

The only monster that scares me the most
is any kind of spider, or maybe a ghost
if a spider ghost showed, I know I'd be toast

About a month ago I didn't even know what a bobber was. Now I'm going to build one. I agreed to buy this one off my dad and we'll chop it all up and hopefully make something pretty cool out of it.
A few minor obstacles that I'm sure I can overcome:
1. I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy ever.
2. I haven't ridden a motorbike since I was 14. Never rode a street bike.
3. Because we are on opposite shifts, I can see my dad only about 3 hours or so a week.
But I'm super excited. I'll post some pics and progress reports as we go. The goal is to have it running by the spring, which in Alberta usually comes in June. Late May if we're lucky.

I did indeed win my bid at work. No surprise there, since this is roughly equivalent to going back to the mail room in a normal job, the only concern was how long it was taking to be posted. And now my pump bid is posted and we have to see who wins it and whether they need training or not. I already trained up a couple of Padawans, either of which would make a fine Jedi pump master, but I doubt they have enough seniority to win the bid.
So I'm a truck driver again! Been almost 6 years since that was my actual job description. I'll be the third-most senior truck driver so I will get my pick of the fleet, my choice is between one of these, which are getting up there in miles but you only haul 5 or 6 loads a shift:



Or one of these (actually an 830 E AC but I don't have any photos), which are newer but you haul way more loads in high traffic areas:



Either way, I'll no longer have to keep the minesite running with just a toolbox half full of rusty wrenches and three bolts. Sweeeeet!

It turns out I forgot all about my bloggiversary, which I think was yesterday. Just been busy I guess. Pooing in the Woods is 8 years old. It'll be driving in no time.
So today was a full day and a little more diverse than usual. Started off with a science fiction convention. Pure Speculation was this weekend so I thought I would check it out, a friend of mine did a discussion but my schedule didn't allow me to see it. Anyways it's a bit of a small con, especially after San Diego, but I'm glad I went. Met some interesting people who do some amazing stuff. I'm glad Edmonton has a few things in the year like this.
After that I went to a funeral of a friend who I used to work with at the mine. Younger than me. That's three funerals I been to this year, and one more I was supposed to go to but was kept back at work for a special job. I think it's time for a moratorium on going to funerals for a while.
And after that was a birthday party for one of Pallas's little friends, at Gymboree. She had a blast and I did too just watching her play and jump around and stuff. When Michelle first told me about it I was like, why would I want to go to that? It's not like the little girl is MY friend. But I'm glad I went.
We had to race home to have supper before our book club friends came over. We were kind of dreading it a little since Michelle only skimmed the book and I didn't really bother with it. Hey, I been busy, remember! Luckily the one who picked the book had the flu and couldn't come so we just talked about other books and watched the Oilers lose.
Anyways, my Flickr page has a small number of photos of cosplayers from Pure Spec, and many photos of Pallas at the birthday party. Here's the birthday girl, Bloodrayne:

At Comic-Con we went to a panel that had all these great writers, some of whom we knew and some of whom were new. Scott Westerfeld, Justin Cronin and more! China Mievielle was the reason we went, but we were also impressed by Naomi Novik so Michelle bought her book, or actually three books in one hardcover volume called In His Majesty's Service. It's about dragons and the British Navy circa . . . uh, when Napoleon was conquerizing it up.
I just finished the second one tonight, Throne of Jade. The first one was great fun, His Majesty's Dragon. It introduced us to Temeraire the dragon and his Royal Navy captain. One of those books that pulls you in and makes you want to live in its world. The Jade one was also very good, lots of very authentic Chinese culture which I love. There was a seven month sea voyage in it, and it felt a little like it was recounted in real time, but otherwise it was pretty good. Though I think I will take a small break before diving into the third book.
I also just read The Child Thief, by Brom. Twas a birthday gift from a friend. Also very good. Not one of those books that makes you want to live in its world, since it's kind of violent and scary. It's a reimagining of Peter Pan. If you like dark fantasy you should check it out.
Now to choose from among many Star Wars and Green Lantern comic books.

Hopefully I find out tomorrow but next week at the latest if I got my truck bid or not. I'm pretty confident since my seniority is getting fairly uh, mature. But I'm gonna miss days like today!
All I had to do today was weld pipe. An extra pumpman came in on overtime (Sunday is double time for overtime guys so even though we didn't need an extra pumpman the extra pumpman decided he would come in anyways) so we let him do the rounds while me and Mike welded the pipe. Nightshift pumpman set it up for us, sort of. So the first thing we went and set it up more right, moving the lightplant which was our generator, and moving the welder into place. Looks like we'll need a chain to pull the pipe. Let's go get one! Hmm, no chains in my pumpshack. I know where there's one- only five kms away or so. Alright now we have our chain. Hey what if we move the welder over there? That would work better. We'll just need an extension cord. So we go get one. Of course there aren't any in the warehouse but we find one eventually. But now that we're looking at it, maybe the hot plate should be over here, too. Now we need another extension cord! Off we go!
Now we're set! So we grab some pipe and get it all in place. The ends are a little jagged so I grab my chainsaw to cut it better, but guess what? Chainsaw is frozen solid. It will need to sit in the service bay for a few hours to thaw out. Okay well, let's find some pipes with nicer ends and weld those while we wait. Cause we might as well do something before coffee right?
Suitable pipe is found and emplacened, only now the hydraulic control for the welder is frozen solid too. Anyways more rigmaroles ensue to get that working. And now we have welded our first join of the day, woohoo!
Hey, why is the generator kicking out? Reset the breaker there. Try it again. Again. One more time. Now it's smoking so we better not do it any more. Call the electrician!
Well, here's your problem, says the electrician. This generator only has a 20 amp fuse and your welder and hotplate are 30. Oh right. Amps. I know they make guitars loud but what they have to do with electricity has always been a bit of a mystery to me.
Anyways, what we wind up doing after exhausting a bunch of other ideas that all involve driving around the minesite is, we grab another lightplant. So now we have two lightplants to power our little pipe-welding operation, when normally a tiny little Honda generator is more than ample for the job. But whatever cause now we're good to go. Wait, god . . . dammit! I left my wrenches up at the dump where we found the lightplant! I never lost a wrench yet and I'm not gonna start now.
Anyways I think that was our final little wrinkle for the day and after that things went quite smoothly. Luckily our foreman left us alone all day because I didn't want to have to answer the question at 4:00 in the afternoon, "Nathan how's the pipe coming along?" Well, we're about ready to get started. Soonishly. We hope.

Since Facebook stati go away forever after a while but blog archives are forever, I am retweeting, uh, reFacing my status since it's about my daughter and she's just so darn cute!
Pallas helped me put up the Halloween skulls and stuff*. Then she gave them all kisses and milk after!
Then she helped me make pancakes, I had to explain that the recipe actually didn't call for napkins, Pink Guy, egg shells or paperclips which is why it was important to fish all that stuff out. And she can crack an egg like nobody's business! her aim is not so good though.
* all this stuff basically. I need to get some new stuff since decay is making them a worse for the wear.

So much for the perfect season right? I was so sure they were going to pull it off this year, 82-0. They say it can't be done. And they're right!
Okay enough with the terrible comedy. Leave that to the professionals. Michelle and I went to a taping of CBC's Irrelevant Show tonight. It was good! You can hear it on the radio in December and see it on TV at a later date. Reminded me of back in the day when me and Jonny used to go to Rapid Fire Improv. More than just a little since Neil Grahn was a big part of both. Speaking of my old friend Jon, if you're in New York you should go see the show he's in called Balm of Gilead, written by Lanford Wilson. He didn't say he was the star or anything but I see he's in the center of the maelstrom.
Oh yeah and speaking of the CBC did you hear Steve Martin on Q? Who knew he could play banjo so good? And write songs? He won a Grammy even. Check out this YouTubeo.
Oilers, Dead Trolls, Broadishway and Banjos. You know what this post needs more of? Motorbikes. Here are three of my Dad's bikes, Yamaha XS 650's. They're so cool I think I will get one too! Why don't you?
Here is a café racer style, modified for speed and handling:


Here is an unfinished bobber, the kind I want to try and build, which are like choppers but more different (usually more stripped down and with a "bobbed" rear fender, among other things):



And here is a stock machine, modified into the less popular "wreck" style:



Anyways all of these bikes were bought as is, to be worked on or not as needed or possible.

So on Wednesdays I take Pallas to the library for this Fun for Ones program, it's singing and picture books and stuff. Pretty cute because all the little children just pretty much do their own thing. Since she's 20 months Pallas is one of the oldest, I think maybe even the oldest. Three weeks ago the librarian brought out the bubbles, and Pallas was the only one who insisted on blowing her own bubbles. Anyways the next week all she wanted to do was "bubbub" and she'd walk up to the librarian in the middle of a song or a book and say "Bubbub!" so the librarian felt bad that she didn't bring them. So this week there were bubbles.
What else. I accidentally bought grapefruits instead of oranges today. They're in the exact same mesh bag! How was I to know? Michelle: Well, was there a sign? Me: Signs? Who reads signs? Anyways at first this was traumatic for Pallas but she adjusted quickly. Which is good because I can't stand pamplemousses. I also accidentally bought a motorcycle magazine which I thought covered all the motorbikes but is only about Harley Davidsons. Pretty interesting anyways. My dad biased me against Harleys from a young age but really are they so bad? Not as bad as grapefruits that's fer sure.
What else. Sure glad those Chilean miners all got out. Sure glad I don't work in an underground mine. Speaking of which, I put in a bid to go back on trucks at work, so hopefully I'll get it and my pumpman days will be behind me. Winter is coming. Winter and pumps means ice and frostbite. No thanks.
What else. Did you see the sweet Lego Spaceman shirt a Flickr friend made me?

My Grandpa passed away last week. His funeral was Sunday and we laid his remains to rest today.

I know I have been hardly ever blogging much lately any at all. It's cause I like to mangle english so much! Why not?
But really, I dunno why not. Not much to say in this phase of my life I guess. Here are some pictures of work from lately abouts: