Woot-Off ***UPDATE***

Woot-Off. For the next few days woot will be selling items back to back. I have wasted days of my life sitting in front of the computer hitting F5, on these such days. Ill keep everybody posted if any purchases are made. Feel free to use the comments section to discuss products.

Here is the woot of checker that I will be using, its pretty simple so it should load quickly:

http://www.totalfta.com/woot/

Don't forget to be logged in and have your credit card security code handy...


*** I missed the Bag of Crap. It was a really short woot off and was not ready for a BOC tonight. I did however manage to secure a 99 cent laptop mouse, Sweet!!!****

Randon crap of the non-woot variety

So as someone pointed out in the comments, I cant spell. I debated trying to play it off as some clever play on words but why not just lay it on the table to avoid future confusion.

So on my way to work today I had an epiphany. Today was the first day of school for the Maryland Suburbs of DC. The road was flooded with obnoxiously colored yellowish, orangish school buses that made my normally hellish commute even worse. I saw a chubby little kid get out of his parents Mercedes that was at the end of his oversize driveway waiting for the school bus. The bus stopped in front of the car, picked up the chubby kid and then his parents drove the car away to work. Now this in itself is probably not that uncommon, but then the school bus drove like 500 feet down the road stopped again and all the kids got off at the school. The same kid that got on like 10 seconds ago, got off the bus with his backpack and what appeared to be a pack of pop tarts that he shoving in his face as fast as his chubby little hands would allow. The pop tarts where no doubt removed from his lunch as soon as he was out of view of his parents. This got me thinking about what the benefit would be making kids walk/ride bikes to school.

1. Childhood Obesity
2. Global Warming (carbon emissions)
3. Horrific Traffic

I'm sure this would not work everywhere like rural places where the bus takes kids great distances. But here in Maryland a couple of minutes of exercise would not only help the kids shed some pounds, rid the earth of some this CO2, and make me not have to stop and watch those obnoxious stop signs that petrude off of the side of the school bus every time it stops.

Oh ya and while I am on a rampage. On a recent flight to California I was staring out of the window shortly after takeoff. As we ascended to like 40,000 feet or whatever it was I noticed some large orangish blobs on the earth below. Thats right even from 40,000 feet school buses are still as obnoxious as they are when you are stuck behind them in traffic.

Just when you thought you had seen it all...

So I ended up at my least favorite place in the world yesterday, thats right, the mall. I guess that mall in Annapolis, MD is not as bad as some of the other ones around here but its still pretty bad. So it was around 100 degrees here and char needed some things so I suppose that a trip to the mall that has the AC blaring was not such a bad idea. So I entered the large glass doors ar Maceys and was immediately overcome with how nice and cool it was inside, but my joy was soon overcome when I saw it for the first time.

Now I have scene a ton of vending machines in my 25 years on this planet but this was different. In front of me, about the size of 3 pop machines (thats right pop, not soda) was a vending machine that sold ipods and accessories. You could actually put in your credit card and buy any ipod you wanted, any earphones, car chargers, new cases or any other ipod related item. Oh and don't worry, even though technology has changed over the years I suppose that some things are at the peak of technological advancement, when you bought an item, a oversize spring would turn and your ipod would be pushed from its display and fall several feet to the tray below.

Now i suppose that I cannot say much seeing as when their is a woot-off I sit in front of my computer for hours at a time waiting for the perfect item to present itself so I can buy it without having time to talk myself out of it. But the ipod vending machine was a bit much even for me.

I have also had an epiphany about myself. I think I need some kind of structure in my day to day life. I have had a few days off to relax and I am content sitting here in the AC not moving and wasting the day. It is over 100 outside with the heat index so my normal outdoor activities have been put on the back burner and their is a very good chance that after Sunday I will be working for a week then driving to SC to fish and booze for 3 days before driving home then working for 14 days in a row and then moving for a week with not a single day in between. That pretty much takes me to the end of Oct.

Anyhow now that I am moving I have a serious dilemma, one that has been troubeling men for ages, thats right do I get a charcoal or gas grill. I love charcoal don't get me wrong it just tastes better. But every time you use a charcoal grill it is an event. What If I want to make a piece of chicken after work on a Tuesday? I don't want an event, just a piece of chicken. The convenience of gas may get the better of me. Any Suggestions?

New URL

OK so I have officially crossed the line and become a dork because I registered my own domain for the blog. The new address is:

www.sontavas.com

Im pretty sure that the old blogger address will automatically redirect you but you should start using the new domain just because its easier. As many of you know the best hot sauce in the world is called "sontava" but that URL is already taken even though there is no page there, so sontavas is the next best thing I guess.

SC or bust

So Im not leaving for Sacramento early next week which means that it is likely that I will not be going next week at all. So it appears that my trip to South Carolina is on, sweet!!! I have to practice my beer drinking. Hopefully their will be new pics of obnoxiously large fish to post when I return.

I have yet to watch an entire football game all year, I have just been to busy. I am off tomorrow and I am watching the game tonight and it reminds me how much I hate pre-season.

Random thoughts:


1. I just read an article that claimed that the bridge collapse over the Mississippi could have been the result of Pigeon crap degrading I-beams. Thats just wierd.

2. My prediction of everyone having a cell phone/pda/mp3 player/electronic gizmo with acsess to the web is right around the corner.

3. Im stil pissed at the publication "Weekly Reader" that is, or at least was given out to school students every week when I was in the 3rd grade. It was like 4 pages that resembled phone book paper and had large font articles for kids. Anyhow in one particular issue In the 3rd grade they assured me that flying cars would be common place in five years and yet, Ive never scene one. I hope they are out of buisness.

4. I really like Cheese, Deer, Sushi, Sontava Hot Sauce, Woot, Fishing, Beer, Artichokes, Onyx and taking naps.

more to come.

Fish Story

This has absolutely nothing to do with anything going on in my life but I found it on my computer and I thought that I would throw it on here. Thats a catfish that I caught in the Allegheny river when I was in Americorps.

Its Monday morning and I am about to go to work. Back to the real world..

Home Sweet Home

So I'm finally back in Maryland. I got back at around 11:30PM and somehow our bags did not get their until 45 minutes later, don't ask me how that happened. Today is a 100% waste of a day and it feels awesome. I slept in, drank coffee until around 3pm and then switched immediately to beer. My plan for the rest of the evening is to sit around watch movies and continue consuming beer until I inevitably end up going to sleep around 8pm.

So its back to the real world tomorrow, bills to be paid, work to be done, plans to be made etc. I have to somehow figure out how to go on vacation, plan a move and a thorough cleaning of my apartment and go back to Cali and continue working on these Levees. I guess thats really not all that many things to do and I am just making mountains out of mole hills as I always do. But me even talking about this is violating the whole principal of me doing nothing today so i have to move one.

So as I posted yesterday I somehow managed to get hammered at the airport in Sacramento. It was great the whole thing came about when Joe ( a co-worker) and I arrived at the airport super early and planned to have some drinks. We had different flights and had to check into separate gates but planned to meat after we went through security and kill some time at the bar. Well I got in first and sat down at the bar for a while until we realized that our separate gates where not connected. So I just sat their for like 3 hours drinking Bloody Mary's until I could drink no more and stumbled over to the gate. It took everything I had in me to keep my cool and not appear all boozed up but It must have been a success because they let me on and next thing you know I'm in Chicago hung over at like 5:00pm. This was not before I sat next to some annoying 17 year old who must have been trying especially hard to keep poking me in the face with his elbow when he was writing whatever it was he was writing. Southwest is not the most spacious of airlines.

Anyhow I'm going to continue my laying around and worry about life tomorrow.

Wasted at the Airport

So I ended up getting to the airport super early, and I decided to pony up to the bar area. I had a couple of Bloody Mary's to many and now I am sitting at the terminal, hammered. Ive never been wasted at an airport before but it is pretty interesting. Everybody at the airport bars are ultra friendly because they are either traveling, going home or are also hammered. I bull shat with a guy who sold textbooks for nursing students, a woman from PA and the bartender who was from Sacramento. I am debating on trying to get bumped so that I can go back to the bar and get a free ticket. Well see. I know that being drunk at noon sounds bad, but its 3pm on the east coast and Ill be their soon and that sounds much better.

The end is near.

Tomorrow I am finally coming home. Things where up in the air for a while but now its a done deal. I am probably going to come back here very soon but for now all I can think about is sleeping in my own bed. My original plan was to try to get bumped on the way back and get a free ticket but now all I want to do is go home so we will see if that is still a viable plan.

Today I added yet another exotic fast food establishment to my list; In and Out Burger. It was pretty good, I got talked into getting some huge combo by the clerk called a quad death meal or something equally demonic sounding. I'm paying for it now and have a hunch that I will be dealing with it for the next several days.

My plan for Sunday; Nothing all day long. When I say nothing I literally plan on sitting on my Recliner and doing nothing but drinking a few beers, watching TV and BSing with Char.

3107

Today while lost in Sacramento I saw a sign. It read:

West Sacramento 3
South Lake Tahoe 106
Ocean City MD 3107

I guess it kinda puts things in perspective. Today it almost had the chance to go to San Fransisco but I got sidetracked and spent the whole afternoon in the Sacramento office of the company that I work for, kind of a bummer but I guess thats the nature of the beast. My flight is home is on Friday but that could easily go until whenever and that is looking likely, although I think I will be home this weekend sometime, maybe.

My current apartment is MD is screwing me for $450. Apparently I did not give a 60 day notice to move out and gave a 51 day notice, so they are charging me for 9 days at the month to month lease rate. I called today and tried to reason with them but they where rather firm in their ways. Dont ever move to Fieldstone Farms In Odenton, MD.

Anyhow it will be nice to be home after this trip. Ill be home for about a week and a half and then char and I are going to go to South Carolina to visit Eric and Mike. Then starting September 15 we can start moving our stuff into our new place that I am very excited about. This job is Sacramento is shaping up to be HUGE and they are going to need people out here in Cali so I most likely will be coming back at some point in the relatively near future.

Today is the first time that I got back to my hotel at a decent time, around 8:30. It kind of sucks that by that time everybody on the east coast is already asleep and I need to catch up on talking to some people. To be honest with 3 hours of free time I have no idea what to do with myself. Surfing the web and the Discovery channel will have to keep me busy.

Until Tomorrow.

BBQ

Today after work instead of going out to dinner (which believe it or not is getting old, I can’t wait to have a home cooked meal) we had a cookout. We got some steaks and potatoes and so forth and utilized the grills at our hotel and had a feast. Their where also a variety of liquid refreshments which are surely going make tomorrow a long day.

I have been trying to get feel for when I might be coming home but it appears that things are still up in the air. The higher ups are apparently very pleased with our Geophysical result on this project which is good because it makes all of the hard work that we have done seem worth it, it also opens the door for a large scale project here in California which would be...interesting.

I fixed the comments so that it is no longer necessary to have a blogger account. No more excuse for people not to leave comments.

Wheat Grass

Well after reading Casey Serins blog for around eight months how could I come to Sacramento and not get a wheat grass shot from Jamba Juice. Its pretty crazy, they literally take some grass and squeeze the shit out of it and out comes this dark green juice which is then put in a shot glass and served. It tastes exactly like grass smells which is kind of wierd.

Its late so Im just going to post some pics:

Some of our electrical resistivity gear

The Levee still to be surveyed (no end is sight)

Some Bees

Is that a topless woman sitting indian style in a field by a porta john?

The title refers to a conversation a co-worker and I had on the way back from the levees today. We both swear that we saw it but we where teatering on the brink of exaustion so we may have been delusional.

Things Ive learned in California:

1. All fast food tastes the same.

2. Showtime sucks, I miss my HBO.

3. Fruit tasted better when you steal it off of a tree.

4. Prunes are a regular fruit, they are dried after the fact.

5. Southwest airlines has really small seats.

6. Mangos are cheap on the west coast.

7. Extended stay hotels are a fancy way of saying they clean your room once a week.

*the picture above is the black widow that I saw the other day.

Are you Serious?

Another long day in Northern Cali. I managed to "borrow" a peach and a pear from an orchard that is right by where we are working. I think prunes and walnuts are in the next field that we will be working past so that might be another "loan" from an unsuspecting farmer.Funny Story. Their is this thing called a coan penetrometer, Its like a big rig truck but it has a pole that comes out of the ground underneath is and sends electricity into the earth to measure subsurface density. They are being subcontracted by my company to take some readings out here right next to where we are working. Anyhow these trucks are VERY expensive and I guess the guys that operate the equipment do not work on weekends. So instead of driving the truck somewhere they leave them out in the field and pay a security guard to watch them from friday after work until Monday morning. This security guard literally sits their all weekend and watches this truck day and night. So anyhow as part of our study we have to pound electrodes into the ground along a line to set up our resistivity study. Their are 112 electrodes per line so it takes some time to get them all into the ground. So anyhow the security guard who may I remind you has been sitting out in an open field for over a day in the middle of no where gets up from the shade of the truck and comes over and says, "man that must be the most monotonous job in the world".

Exotic Foods???

I dont understand why it is so exciting to eat fast food why you are away that you cannot eat at home. Here in Sacramento they have Carl Jr, In and out Burger and more. When I first arrived I was excited to try them all. I have traveled an hour to find a White Castle when I was visiting New Jerey, gone an hour out of my way to go to Sonic while driving from South Carolina to Maryland and was set to do the same here in California. Last night though, I had an epiphany. Its all crap. Fast food is fast food is fast food. I say this now but just wait until I find a new exotic fast food joint and I instictivly go straight to it. Jambe Juice is a different story, they have those here and after reading Iamfacingforeclosure.com for so I long I will have a wheat grass shot before I leave.

I had my standard internal struggle this morning, to woot or not to woot. I decided against it but man I could use some comfterable headphones. For those who have no Idea what Im talking about check out www.woot.com and get with the picture but be careful Its addictive..

rants and raves

OK lets face it, the miners in Utah are dead. I know it sucks but lets all be realistic. The worst part of the whole ordeal (other than the dead miners) is that guy who owns the mine and is always on TV, I dont know he just kinda rubs me the wrong way for some reason.

More to come tomorrow, I worked for like 16 hours today and I cant think or write.

Oh ya, thats why I dont drink whiskey.

Well today was interesting. I awoke at six and got up and proceeded with my normal routine. But something was different today, when I looked over and saw the empty whiskey bottle I had a hunch what the problem might be. I was hung over, bad. What started as a simple meeting between several of my co-workers to write some command files for the resistivity gear was complicated when Joe showed up with a bottleof whiskey. Now I dont drink whiskey, but for some reason yesterday it was a great idea. So I was in a bit of a funk this morning while working in basically a dessert with the hot sun beating on me for 12 hours or so. On the upside, I spotted a grove of peach trees which where overflowing with peaches. Mark My words, before I leave I will eat one of those peaches.

I e-mailed Casey Serin today. I had to do it. I liken it to climbing a mountain and 20 feet from the top you turn around and head back down, but you never saw the view from the top. IM right here and he has provided so much entertainment over the months that I would be idiot not to try.

This project has the potential to turn into a HUGE project. I told a senior co-worker that if we won this huge contract that I would live in Sacramento for a year doing Geophysics, kinda joking, kinda not. His responce "be careful what you wish for". That would be interesting but it would be a difficult process to relocate char and I and we have a lease, but Im getting ahead of myself.

Their are so many things that I want to do here but I dont know if I am going to have the time. If I get some time off We are going to got to San Fransisco and Napa or perhaps lake Tahoe. Southwest tickets to San Diago are like 90$ round trip, hmmmmmm.

Oh ya, and I saw a Black Widow today. It was neat we played with it for a while and then let it go on its way. Dont tell char or she will inspect all of my bags when I get home.

Unitl Tomorrow....

Spam

Today I ate spam. I was at the grocery store yesterday looking for something to eat for lunch today. I was not having much luck because without char to tell me what ingredients to buy for specific meals, I’m kinda, er um bad at making decisions with food. Anyhow I had and epiphany. I’m working on a scientific study in the middle of nowhere, this is a perfect opportunity to eat some spam. Now you have to understand a couple of things. Since a young age I have wanted to consume spam. I would grab a can at the grocery store and take it to the female half that was in charge of the trip (either char or my mother, i rarely am in charge of a trip to the grocery store, I cant be trusted). Anyhow I would go the the aforementioned woman with my can of spam like a loyal lab with a recently retrieved tennis ball and show them what I was sure to be a huge dinner hit. The reaction was similar, "no, we are not buying that". So I am on my own working in the middle of nowhere and this was the perfect opportunity. My first thought when I opened the can was that it bore a striking resemblance to the smell of cat food, but I can get past that. I then consumed 125% of my daily fat allowance in about 5 mins. To make a long story short, it was ok at first but a whole can is probably a bit much. Tomorrow I think Ill stick to a deli sandwich.

Mountains

So Ive come to the realization that I dont really have that much to talk about. Today was a good day. I was working in the middle of nowhere and the only thing around was the Levees that we were studying and a farm. Their where Laborers walking through the fields all day inspecting each plant and cutting off dead limbs. They all wore Turbins and were middle eastern but Im not sure from where. When they found a dead plant they all got mad and started yelling in a language I did not understand. Apparently the farm raised fruit trees, wlanuts and almounds. This must be a labor intensive job beacuse they where in the fields literally all day. They also must use alot of pesticides becasue I saw the pesticide truck several times and all of the stalks of the plants where white as if they had just been sprayed. I will have more pictures in the days to come but this will have to hold you over. I dont know how much time I will have to do fun stuff whileI am here but I guess well see. Until tomorrow..


-C

Travel

So here is the deal. Its about 11pm pacific time. I have been traveling for around 21 hours and I am beat. I will be blogging about my trip to Sacramento to keep everybody informed. Ya I know Im a dork. Sacramento is nice so far but I have onlybeen around the general airport and surrounding area thusfar. I have to work all day tomorrow but I will catch up and write a more detailed post and hopefuly have some pics. I have yet to e-mail casey but it is deffinetly on my list of things to do while I am here. Ond down, twelve to go.


-C