Driving down to Dave's on the Fourth, I saw my first ex, Elena. It was totally like seeing a ghost. I would have pulled over asap to say hi ... but right there where I would have was a motorcycle cop, so it didn't seem like a very bright idea.


   Anyway, on the Fourth of July, AKA Fuck the British Day, I made it to Dave's after the thoroughly distracting Elena incident. He was grilling up some hot dogs and burgers and tri tip, so that was excellent. Had some of the beer we'd brewed in January, it was pretty good.

   From there I went to my coworker Jeremy's (And coworker Bobby's, since Bob lives next door to him). There they were also bbqing and for some reason hellorz young people live on their street, so there were a lot of people there. Jeremy had had to keep his own partying under-control all day since he was 2nd in line of being on call -- since we work 24/7 365/yr.


   This morning at work we called some people Dave knows who are in the bee research business to see if we can drum up a research project for ourselves. Then we sat around tryiing to decide what to do since no calls were coming in. But by midday it picked up and I roamed around with Jeremy killing shit.

   Then this afternoon me and Bob spent our time conducting espoinage. We called all the other pest control companies in the phone book that looked like they might deal with bees and pretended to be customers, to see how their prices were and how on the ball they were. Nearly all were more expensive than us. One said it was $110 to kill normal bees and $180 for africanized bees ... which is funny because they're all a hybrid around here, and it takes a scientist with a microscope several hours to really figure it out. I figure they get people thinking its gonna be $110 and then raise it to 180 when they get there. Someone else said a swarm of bees could be "from the size of a baseball to the size of a car" (WHAT?!?!!). And finally I thought it was funny that Bob was describing his imagined bee problem to a technician and they guy was all asking about the fireplace, but when he got off the phone I was like "you were thinking bees in the canned lightinig weren't you" "yeah." Silly technician.


Picture of the Day

Texas

   Last Week Monday I was at G Street Pub, and I ran into my former roommate Adrian.
   Later on I'd walked halfway back to my car (which was parked a few blocks away in front of the Foyerhouse) When Allan called me to report that he'd found Adrian looking none too lively on a parkbench. I hastily returned to G Street to retrieve him. As I walked back with him to the Foyerhouse again and we were passing Aggie Liquor, we saw Taylor & Matty (who had been lollygagging in front of G St when we left there) pull up and run in for more alcohol. Silly. Anyway, I reinstalled Adrian on the couch he always used to pass out on in our apartment.


   Last Wednesday I dropped my car off at the mechanic and then stopped by the police station to see what the status of the case was. The bad news is that they couldn't tell me anything because the DA is still deciding what to do with it, but the good news is the DA apparently is thinking about doing something about it. Also, the officer at the front desk came out from behind the bullet-proof glass to talk to me, which I thought was a nice touch.


   Last Thursday evening my internet was down and my car was at the mechanics, and my internet was down so I walked from campus to this party at I & 5th.
   As I was walking past Bistro 33 with a 40 of Steel Reserve (high gravity lager!) in a brown paper bag, I noticed that on of the two well-dressed gentlemen waiting in front of Bistro had handcuffs on his belt. Then I noticed the other had a police badge on his. Then that guy asked me how I was doing. wtf, DPD detectives?
   Anyway, since I had to be back in that quadrant in the morning to pick up my car anyway, and it would otherwise involve walking across town to get home, and then back again in the morning, the residents of the Foyerhouse were kind enough to let me slumber there (Thanks again guys, Team S unite! =D )


   Friday morning I drove down to So Cal without incident. Except I hit LA around rush hour so a normally 7-8 hour trip took 10 hours. Stopped by the hotel in Anaheim where the conference would be and then continued to Mission Viejo. Kristy had come up from San Diego right after work and was already chillaxing with my family when I got there. We went to local / most awesome ever Italian restaurant Salvatore's.

   Saturday I had to scamper asap back to Anaheim since the conference began at 8am. I chaired the International Law Commission again, this time discussing Reservations to Multinational Treaties. About 31 delegates in the committee, and they were suprisingly good especially considering it was the first time for most of them. I really wish the UC Davis team would return to CalMUN Anaheim, its a great way to start the year.
   My friend Nidia came by to help out on staff but we ended up not needing her. That evening more staff than usual had scampered off whence they came so the usual festivities were rather lacking. In particular, Saturday night activities just can't be the same without technical services director Vern.
   On the subject of Vern in particular, I thought it was pretty funny that when we were reading the conference evaluations afterwords, generally negative feedback was only met with laughter. "DPI [Dept of Public Information - Vern] wasn't very courtious" "everything was good but DPI could me more accomodating" "DPI was a jerk!" etc, we all look for the best ones to read aloud for our amusement.
   So the usual antics being somewhat lacking, I scampered off to Nidia's, which it turns out was within walking distance. There an impromptu party was quickly developing. Among others who showed up, I was particularly suprised to see some of Aaron's friends (since Aaron knows Nidia through me, a chain of acquantances is developing here).
   Anyway, it was irking me that Kristy was only about an hour away, and I missed her, so eventually I scampered off down to San Diego.

   On Sunday then, my drive back to Davis was even longer because I was coming from San Diego.

   Things slowed down a little bit last week, I think all the bees were fried from the heat. One morning (Thursday?) five of us (all technicians except Bobby) turned up to do a relatively simple removal in Mission Viejo. It was kind of funny to see all four trucks on one job.
   There are different levels of state liscense for pest controllers, from lowest to highest: Applicator, Field Representative, & Operator. I'm told normally the field representative runs the company and the operator almost never leaves HQ. On this job we had two Operators and two Field Representatives.
   Then we all went to the restaurant Coco's & office Amy met us there, and Dave treated us all to breakfast. It was excellent.

   The next day (Friday?) the first job on the schedule for Dave & Ryan the Elder was a fishing trip on Dave's 16ft boat in the ocean.

   Office Megan, soon to be on "Real Desperate Housewives of OC" as a daughter (shooting starts tomorrow) got a second speeding ticket in so many days in Coto de Caza. This time the officer wrote her up for her windows being too tinted and not having her liscense plate on (and thus being able to use the tollway for free) .. I think he was pissed once he ran her through the computer and realized she'd gotten a speeding ticket the day before.


   On Saturday evening my friend Nidia, her friends, & myself convoyed down to this party way down in Vista, CA, in three cars. Aaron met us there, as he'd been in San Diego that day.


Picture of the Day

I uploaded a bunch more pictures of bee busting on to flickr the other day.

   Continuing the Emosnail Prehistory series...

   I had been in the United States for about a month when we got a Swedish exchange student in the summer of 1997 (Tony). I'd be in the United States for 13 months before I'd leave again to spend a year in Sweden. But first, I'd have freshman year (9th grade) at Mission Viejo HS.
   Back then the world was new and Alberto still dressed and acted preppy (fig. 1). Because of this lamesauce requirement that you be in a physical education class both semesters freshman year, I did cross-country & track, along with Tony and the Australian exchange student, Chris Kemp. I ran the 100 and the 200 in track (and high jump). Once after I'd finished my events and drank a liter of pepsi, the coach came up to me and said they needed another runner for the 4x400 relay. I groaned but did it. They ran frosh/soph, JV and Varsity all at the same time and I passed the varsity runner I ran against. I think coach said I ran the fastest 400 of the relay and "I think you're gonna be running 400s now!" 400s are the most painful track distance there is (along with 800), since you're running flat out for an entire lap. Fortunately I managed to avoid this fate and never again ran a 400 during a meet.
   The ladies all swooned over Tony with his Tony looks and his Swedish accent. A similar level of swooning went on over Chris Kemp. Back then I could still put on the Irish accent if I wanted to (whereas now I have no control over it), so just for kicks I kept this one cheerleader, Cheyenne (sp?), convinced I was an Irish exchange student. She ended up asking me to homecoming (well her friend did while she stood next to her and smiled politely). Unfortunately I was already going with a Brazilian exchange student.
   At my first Model UN conference I represented the United Kingdom. The first note I got passed, after my first speech, read "nice accent, wakes things up," followed later by "I hope thats not your real accent, then I'd feel embarressed." Yeah about that.
   Later on in the year a met a girl in committee named Nidia Gonzalez, who sent me a note after I spoke saying I sounded like a used car salesman. She called me like an hour after I got home from that conference and I was like "uhh... so whats new?" But then the next day she joined a cult-like group of "reborn christians" that kept her brainwashed for the next four or five years. Eventually she'd recover and become a bitter atheist, and we're still pretty good friends.

   That summer I started working as a lifeguard at Wild Rivers even though I hate swimming. Despite being one of the first few people to finish the lifeguarding class (accomplishing all the CPR and other skills trainings on the first try) I was given the lowest of the five ranks that existed at the time, "Island Guard," because the instructor didn't like me. On the first day of work I got promoted to "Shallow Guard." Promotions would later prove to be completely arbitrary, depending on who was in front of them at the time the needed to fill a higher position, essentially. I think thats still how they promote people to supervisor.

   And then I left for Sweden.


Picture of the Day

   More relevant to previous posts than this one, I got this image from google.earth (special thanks to rote for bringing it to my attention). In this picture you see the abandoned wild animal park I'm always talking about, as well as Wild Rivers, and the Verizon Wireless Amphatheatre (formerly Irvine Meadows) I mentioned the other day. One can hear concerts at the amphatheatre very well from the top of the Wild Rivers towers.
   Note also the hills behind the amphatheatre in which Mike got lost the other day. The road in the upper right hand corner is the Laguna Canyon Rd (the 133), and I've never seen that resevoir before.
   See also: the map of the area, and a rough picture of Kilkenny. Basically the latter will just give you an idea of the greenness. Nearly all those green squares are cow paddies. I lived in the lower right hand corner. The river is the River Nore.

   In Other News: citizene updated recently and when that happens one should take notice. Absinthe.

Previously on Emosnail
   Year Ago Today: All Your Vampire Slaying Needs - fun with warehouses
   Previously in the Prehistory Series: Ireland - Kilkenny, 1997