TEXAS HOLD-EM POKER SCHOOL...

ron thomas

SUNDAY!!! 2:00 PM


Our extremely adept dealers will be conducting classes in playing and dealing Texas Hold-em. No money will be played for. Poker Chips will be used and play will be free. Come wile away the afternoon with a fun play day.

Link:
Mt. St. Helens and Local Weather Updates

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The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational...

Sent in by Laura Davis...


..... once again
asked readers to take any word from the dictionary,
alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing of one
letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this
year's {2005} winners:

> 1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house,
which renders the subject
financially impotent for an indefinite period.
> 2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an
asshole.
> 3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund,
which lasts until you
realize it was your money to start with.
> 4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a
hillbilly.
> 5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid
people that stops bright
ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer,
unfortunately, shows little sign
of breaking down in the near future.
> 6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself
for the purpose of
getting laid.
> 7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very
high.
> 8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of
sarcastic wit and the person
who doesn't get it.
> 9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you
are running late.
> 10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
> 11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one
got extra credit.)
> 12. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is
sending off all these really
bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes
and it's like, a
serious bummer.
> 13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting
through the day
consuming only things that are good for you.
> 14. Glibido: All talk and no action.
> 15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to
seem smarter when they
come at you rapidly.
> 16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance
performed just after you've
accidentally walked through a spider web.
> 17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito,
that gets into your
bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast
out.
> 18. Caterpallor (n): The color you turn after
finding half a worm in the
fruit you're eating.

The first home on the lower level.....

ron thomas


We were able to "sidewalk superintendant" this job today. It was fun seeing all the parts come together. It was really cool watching the remote controlled tractor push the two halves together.

Sent in from Boise ID from Dickytrick....

A police officer pulls over a speeding car. The officer says I clocked you at 80 miles per hour, sir."

The driver says, "Gee, officer I had it on cruise control at 60, perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating."


Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: "Now don't be silly dear, you know that this car doesn't have cruise control."

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at his wife and growls, "Can't you please keep your mouth shut for once?" The wife smiles demurely and says, "You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did."

As the officer makes out the second ticket for the illegal radar detector unit, the man glowers at his wife and says through clenched teeth, "Darn it, woman, can't you keep your mouth shut?"

The officer frowns and says, "And I notice that you're not wearing your seat belt, sir. That's an automatic $75 fine."

The driver says, "Yeah, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my license out of my back pocket."

The wife says, "Now, dear, you know very well that you didn't have your seat belt on. You never wear your seat belt when you're driving."

And as the police officer is writing out the third ticket the driver turns to his wife and barks, "WHY DON'T YOU PLEASE SHUT UP??"

The officer looks over at the woman and asks, "Does your husband always talk to you this way, Ma'am?"

(I love this part...)

"Only when he's been drinking"

BBC NEWS | Americas | Woodward tells Deep Throat story

BBC NEWS | Americas | Woodward tells Deep Throat story: "Woodward tells Deep Throat story"

Google News

Google News: "A new vaccine is being tested by Merck which has been found in clinical tests to reduce the pain of shingles in the majority of those taking the medication. The Phase III study found that the drug Zostavax ... "

The Newsletter is published on line now...

ron thomas

If you are away from home the Newsletter for June has been published on line.... Follow the link on the left side of the page.

There is no secret about it...

ron thomas


Jim Rose and I are totally up front with everybody about what it costs to put the numbers on your post lights. Somehow though I keep encountering people wanting to bargain the price of $5 downward. Here is the deal. You can drive your car to WalMart and pick up a package of numbers for about $2. Then come home and cut the numbers you need out from their square blocks. Don't forget to use an exacto knife on the interiors of numbers like 6,8,9 and zero or they won't show up at night very well. Better cut out two sets because when you go to put them on the globe it isn't as easy as you may think. At any rate after you finish stand back and admire your work... That's cool huh?


Let's see now... $2 for parts.... gas for trip to WalMart....time for shopping.... cost of exacto knife $12.... time for cutting .... time for installing.... That sure is a good deal you have there... Go for it. It doesn't hurt Jim's or my feelings at all if you would rather do it yourself. The $2 or so profit we make all goes to the Social Club treasury. WE make $0. We are motivated to do this because we beleive we can help improve all of our safety and well being. What else could there be? It sure isn't the money.


So before you ask again let me tell you folks just get them on any way you want. Jim and I will volunteer to do it for you for $5 or you can do it yourself... both ways are good. And no $5 does not include painting your post.

Cleaning Poem

sent via email from Ruthanne Carson

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'puting,
And I had to answer "yes."

He told me to get off my butt
And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work...
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found
A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into...
I was into it all night. <>

Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney.

From "The Edge" Oregonian ....

Percentage of Americans who aren't really sure what Memorial Day is about:
28


Days it has been since Osama bin Laden's 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States:
1,360


Median price of an existing home in California in April:
$509,230

Length in years that scientists believe a termite queen can live:
100


Number of shots fired in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral:
34

Milt has a question for us.....

Perhaps some of the folks on the hill can give some advice about sewer gas in the home. Ours started about a year ago. A brother in Colorado had to put a rubber ball in his shower drain to overcome his problem. If you have caught the drift in your house, how did you cure the problem?

Milt Sadusky"

Hint, type handy, 1 each.....

ron thomas


Being a transplanted Southern Californian, I had no real idea of what rain was. There a heavy rain YEAR was 11 inches. Here we can get close to 80 inches a year. So the problems attendant to rain really were nada compared to Oregon.


Jacky and I have one thing that we really found aggravating. Windshield wipers. On the upsweep they often streak and are irratatingly noisy. The down sweep is nearly as bad. Without sufficent rain on the window you get that loud dull skipping sound. Road film causes streaking. I thought this can't be right after grinding our teeth all the way to Salem last week. So I went on a search of the web to find out if there isn't a better mouse trap out there. Turns out there is. It's no biggy but now we have almost silent wipers and very little streaking.


Thought we would pass it along to you if you already didn't know.. When you buy your wipers buy "Silicone" wipers not rubber. Buy the entire wiper assembly it has new springs that make the blade conform to your window... The secret though is SILICONE NOT RUBBER.


WalMart charges about the same for the Silicone as they do for rubber... our advice try them soon.

Happy Birthday Bob Spangler!! 01

The day we survived...

ron thomas



I am in a yarn telling mood. So here comes a story at you from my adventures on an oil platform off Ventura, Ca.

We worked for Chevron USA on Platform Gail about 13 miles out from Port Hueneme (Y-Nee-Me) and 5 miles north of Anacapa Island. The rig stands in water about a thousand feet deep. It is a modern self contained city. Their is a hierarchy of operating crew members that run the platform and make it turn out thousands of barrels of oil. The ultimate leader of the platform is the foreman of which their is one. Think of him as having all the authority of a ship's captain. Directly below him in the organizational chart is the daylight Head Operator or HO and the night Head Operator. Think of them as the folks that co-ordinate the difficult ballet of 4 or 5 operators per shift that keeps the miles of pipeline and machinery in an orchestrated balance that makes the platform run smoothly and in an emergency see that gas, explosive and deadly toxins are fought back and personel are shifted to the proper task as needed. These young men really have their heads on straight and are unflappable in all sorts of dire emergencies. As you will see later on.

Next in the organizational chart comes the Head Oilfield Instrumentation Electrician or HOE. This guy coordinates many of the maintenance and troubleshooting functions on the platform machinery, computers, instrumentation, power generation and physical plant. He does this with other team members consisting of two mechanics, an electrician, and an instrument tech.

So there you have your typical crew. Even though it is small it is particularly potent as a team. The crew swells and deflates according to needs but the Production crew is always there. At times there are 120 people on board and at others there are less than 20.

The crews live aboard for 7 days and then are off for 7 days. My job? I was the Head Oilfield Instrumentation/Electrician, HOE. We got to the platform by 120 ft work boat or by Bell Helicopter. There is a three story hotel structure on the platform that housed the crews and had 2 recreation rooms and downstairs galley with a full time paramedic on board also.

You have enough to kind of have a visual now. The day shift starts at 6:00am and is over at 6:00PM the platform is ten stories high above the ocean surface and stands on a structure driven into the ocean floor a thousand feet down.

We had had our morning safety meeting and discussed what we were all going to be doing on that day. A daily ritual that lets every member of the team know where everybody is during the day.. A real necessity when dealing with volatile and poisonous petro chemicals. We left the control room and headed upstairs, coffee in hand, to the power generation module where the 4160 volt generators were. Here we usually made our morning checks and discussed the days problems. Steve, the electrician working with me and I were involved in our switch gear checks and adjustments. We both noticed the strong odor of methane and hydrogen sulfide gas. A deadly combination. We rushed to get our SCBA air paks and masks.... The alarm sounded from the automatic gas sensors. We were to go to the Control room in this emergency as soon as we masked up. We rounded the corner where our masks were stored only to see a huge gas cloud spewing from one of the main gas compressors. Right where our masks were stored. Maskless.. deadly gas... eminent fire and explosion...

Let me introduce you to Greg Vaughn our young and personable head operator on day shift this week. Greg is built like a GreenBay Packer Center. A mountain of a man containing a boitrous personality that is a natural leader.
Greg is just coming up the stairs from the controlroom... No mask either. The control room doesn't know the full nature of the disaster we three are looking at now. It could only be seconds away. Loss of life is assured...... I stand aghast at what is happening Steve has run toward the leak... Don't know why. In the blink of an eye Greg hoists his handheld radio and says, "Control Room do not ask why just do this NOW! ... Turn on the deluge system on the compressor deck."

A deluge system is water that pours from the ceiling in such a heavy volume that it is hard to breathe the water takes up so much space that there is very little left for air.

Greg had done something I think is amazing to this day.. He had correctly recognized that there could be no fire or explosion without air to support it. We all owe our existence today to this quick thinking young man.

test

How Many Flags...

Flew over LVH today?

ans: Look on the LVH Electronic Calendar (link on the left of this page) For the date of May 30th....

Newport News-Times: Water line flushing does not require home visits

Newport News-Times: Water line flushing does not require home visits: "Water line flushing does not require home visits


As Newport begins its project to flush water lines throughout the city, it was noted this work will not require public works employees to enter the homes of any city residents.

When a similar water line flushing project was done recently in Clackamas County, some residents of that area were visited by people posing as public works employees. But instead of coming to help, these people were there to help themselves - to the homeowner's possessions.

According to an article appearing in the Oregonian newspaper last week, two men claiming to be water inspectors were knocking on the doors of homes in the area where the flushing project was being done. These people were telling homeowners they needed to come inside the residence to check the water pressure because they were investigating flow problems in the neighborhood.

Other areas have also reported scams involving people posing as water inspectors in an effort to gain access to people's homes.

Newport Public Works Director Lee Ritzman advises Newport residents that 'there's no reason that any of our people should go into any homes as part of the flushing. All of the work that we're going to be doing should be done from the fire hydrants and the valves out in the streets.'

Ritzman did say, however, if a homeowner contacts the public works department to report problems with discolored water, 'We will respond to that call, and then we may go in if they invite us in, (but) the only way we'd be going into somebody's home is if we're responding to a call from them.'

He also said people can ask to see proper identification from city workers."

Car-sharing service suits budget, life of 22-year-old

Car-sharing service suits budget, life of 22-year-old: "Car-sharing service suits budget, life of 22-year-old
Sunday, May 29, 2005

Name: Lauren Mauk

Vehicle: None

How she gets around: Rents a Flexcar by paying $80 a month for 10 hours of driving time."