Author: Moby

Chef Moby

I played hookie from work today. Just didn’t have it in me to go. My friend D is coming up from Houston for Folsom St Fair. As I spent most of yesterday helping a friend from work setup and design his entire site from scratch, I didn’t get shit done. I did get out and do it today albeit a tad late. Only part I didn’t do was my DMV registration. I forgot to schedule an appointment in advance and I did not want to spend 2 & 3 hours in line waiting.

So while I’m out and about shopping for misc. housewares, Bobby tracks me down at Ross (theres a surprise right?). Anyway, he had a hankering for some good ole southern fried okra so I ended up cooking dinner for a change. I have to admit, once I started cooking I really got into it. It’s been awhile since I had some good southern food and it was delicious. It’s amazing how certain foods can bring back memories.

Fried Okra

Dinner consisted of fish filets, some long grain rice, fried okra, and a tall glass of ice tea. HMM-mmmm!

Dinner as Prepared by Chef Moby!

See there blog readers, not only am I good in bed but I can cook too!

Theme Update

Well so for the “yeah’s” have it. I guess I can tell who uses IE vs Firefox. Not using IE anymore, I didn’t realize it wasn’t rendering correctly. It shifted the middle column all the way down. My reader Brian pointed it out and with some pic sizing adjustments it appears to be rendering correctly in both now.

I think I’ll stick w/this one for awhile. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Memories

I forgot to post this pic.

Beach Chalet

I don’t particularly like it as the lines on my shirt make me look like I have a belly. From the previous pic you know that is simply not true. This is 6 of the 8 remaining members from my academy class from work. The older lady on the right is the Client Service Mgr and sort of adopted us when we came in. Two of my coworkers are missing, one was sick and the other was unreachable in time. The short guy next to me is kristaki.

It’s been awhile since we could get together. I am just sad it took the death of one of those close to us to make it happen. I am determined to make sure we don’t let it go so long again.

WTF? Where is Moby?

I’m getting a bit bored w/the old theme. I’ve given up on converting my homepage into a theme. I just don’t get enough free time to devote to dissecting the code. Any PHP’ers out there willing to help I’m willing to part w/some cash.

I’m leaning toward this theme for awhile. The categories on the left will disappear and be replaced by a running list of photos. I think that would be kinda neat. Like a “Where is Moby” w/an ever rotating list of pics based on what I’m doing that day. Work, play, school, etc.

What say you readers? Keep it or dump it?f (the theme that is)

Moving On

As often occurs, life goes on. The mood today at work was much better and people were moving beyond their grief to fond memories. Myself included. I’m w/o a trainee today so work was blissfully quiet. I was on Fire side most of the day so very little work. Did some minor maintenance on the BCC site but then got annoyed w/the committee chair over his unilateral decision making. What is the point of having a committee if only one person gets input? I’m probably just agitated from such a draining week. Maybe I’ll see it better next week. Cause right now I’m PISSED!

Not much else to say today really. I have a potential date coming up soon. I’m excited about it, more details later.

A Fond Fairwell

Not much time today, work is busy. My class from work got together this morning for a small memorial to our friend and coworker F. It was great in that no one tried to make her into something she wasn’t. We talked openly and honestly about the person we all knew and loved. We laughed and had a great time. We also caught up w/each other on our lives etc. It was a good morning.

Otherwise, just busy. This is my last day w/my trainee and I am so happy. I love her to death and she is doing fine but I’m just tuckered out. I’m looking forward to a blissful weekend (my weekend starts Sunday) of doing absolutely nothing. Well I shouldn’t say nothing. I have a big test this Tuesday and I haven’t had any chance to study. I plan to spend all day Monday studying like a fiend!

*Sigh*

As expected, work is a mess today. Everyone is still very upset about the loss. We are doing our best to pick up the pieces and move on.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for the kind comments and emails. I appreciate your kindness and good thoughts. It is times like this that I am reminded of just how very stressful this job can be. I’ve always been lucky in that I don’t stress much. However, there are times when it even gets to me.

Tomorrow, my group is getting to have a Memorial for F. We are inviting everyone from work but it will mainly just be the core group of classmates.

Death

Boy the shit is really rolling this week. I just discovered roblog‘s ex passed away this week as well. If you don’t read roblog, his ex has been battling advanced HIV infections for some time now. It looked like he was on the mend as of late. I guess things must have taken a turn for the worse. If you can, take a moment to pass on good thoughts to rob. Nothing can take away the anguish but I believe love and the human spirit can endure the pain of death.

Death, itself, has been everpresent in my own life. I lost my mother at 7, my first love at 18, my grandmother at 26, a dear friend at 30, and most recently my father at 34. These are by no means the only losses in my life but the most significant. Even as a kid I saw death differently. I wondered why people were so sad if they really believed the dead were in a better place. When my mom died, I kept asking everyone when we could go visit her. Oh don’t get me wrong, I know if I lost Bobby or Trevan I’d be a mess. I’d bawl like a baby for awhile, you betcha. But afterwoods, I’d know they were still out there. I wouldn’t see them anymore but I’d carry the knowledge of their continued existence w/me thru my own life along w/my memories of them.

And as cheesy as it sounds, this song by Celine Dion always seems to cheer me up. So, listen if you want and take a moment to reflect on all the people you’ve lost in your life. Be thankful for what they brought you in this life and that you are blessed enough to still be here.

Unbelievable

I write this today w/a great sadness in my heart.

I just found out one of my classmates from work committed suicide earlier this month. She recently moved away, to Texas of all places. Beyond being a classmate, she was my friend and a sister in arms (meaning she was a lesbian). kristaki (another classmate) called me to give me the sad news. I am so shocked I just can’t put it into words. This comes as a complete surprise to everyone. Life seemed to be really going her way as of late.

I guess I should try to put things in perspective here. I’ve been at my current job w/emergency communications for almost 5 years now. My class carries some distinction in that not only do we have the highest retention rate in the last 10 years, we were and still are very close as a group. We spent a lot of time supporting each other and working together to get thru the training program. We became incredibly close. We got to know a lot about each other and felt stronger for it. And we were as diverse a class as they come. Old, young, men, women, gay, straight, black, white, asian, latin, you name it we had it. Out of 18, 11 of us made it thru and 9 of us were still together up until very recently. We often brag about how good we were to all the newer classes. It has sort of been a badge of honor I guess.

How would I describe F? She was what you would call a strong-willed lesbian. Very opinionated and vocal (how could I not love her!). She liked to put on this butch bad lesbian appearance but underneath the thick skin, she was a kind considerate woman just trying to make her way in the world. She’d give you the shirt off her back if you really needed it. She often championed the underdogs of society and pleaded their case w/a fierce single-mindedness that would not be ignored. We sometimes butted heads as strong wills tend to do but we were always friends beyond it.

F recently bought a new house in Texas and up and moved w/her girlfriend. We were all sorry to see her go but she seemed happy and life was looking up. Obviously, there was some trouble in her life that none of us knew about. A trouble so deep that even her closest friends didn’t know it. I can’t even guess what it could have been. All I know is the shining light that was my friend F is no more.

F, wherever you are, your friends miss and love you still. Whatever tragedy befell you in this life we hope you’ve escaped in the next. You may be gone but you are not forgotten.

School House Rock II

So my classes are moving at an incredible speed. I’m learning stuff so quickly it’s hard to assimilate it all at times. Last week we started covering the human body and this week we covered “patient assessment”. I’m amazed how quickly you can assess someone’s entire state fo well being w/just a few quick checks. To say I’m enjoying my classes would be putting it mildy.

We lost a few more bodies again this week. I think we are almost down to a core group that is gonna stick it out. I don’t think some folks really understood how fast paced the class moves. I do have a bit of an edge as I work in the biz and have some familiarity w/the emergencies. Of course, talking to someone on the phone and seeing them in person are two different things. A lot of my classmates are more interested in being firefighters than medics but I’m going the medic route for sure.

How would you feel showing up at your door? “Hi my name is Moby, I’m here to help, what seems to be the problem?”…I like the sound of it already! lolol