Friends for hire

Sometimes you have to wonder

Prostitution isn't something people talk about every day, but sometimes the subjects comes up.  It turns out that an aquaintance frequents certain spots where ladies are providing smiles for a good price.

I asked how an operation like that works, given the slightly less-than-legal status, and it was explained to me that the owner of the house has a few spare rooms. These rooms are inhabited by the employees, who stay in the house for a week at a time.  Two girls only, no more.

The driveway is rigged with a sensor that rings a bell in the house - if anyone who isn't a customer (invitation only, mind you) comes by everyone in the house would just sit there and watch TV and have a coffee.

Now, there are five of these little houses in a few SouthWestern states, and they rotate employees between them, and mix up by hiring others into the mix as they rotate others out.

Charming.

These employees are making lots of money and then, as explained, head back South across the border, or to college, or whatever they head back to. I hope.

Then, my aquaintance explained that he's been going to the local House for long enough that he is allowed to invite someone he trusts.  He trusts me.

Here's the good part - he had no problem with me laughing it off and saying "no thanks".  While I am sure that every man has thought about a straight (pardon the pun) cash transaction in a safe environment.

However,  and maybe I am in the minority here, but I can't imagine how I would get even remotely vascularly congested by the thought of someone who has been with many men for money.

The question is, how is that really different from seeing someone who has dated a lot? Except the money, and the weekly STD tests of course.  Am I hypocritical for having a twinkle of judgement in my eye for those I know who are dating or have married former (hopefully!) 'frivolous friends'.

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Another trip

My job requires me to take two weeks off, my vacation, before the year is up. If not, I lose the vacation days.

A trip was in order. I hadn't been out of the country for almost a year and I was feeling the itch. Landing in the old stomping grounds in Northern Europe surprised me with a very warm day and no breeze.

The weather wasn't the only bright thing. My brother, Sebastian, Caroline and I enjoyed some banter, and the following days were a blur of visiting friends and family and various trips here and there.

Of note was getting T-boned in a bus in Germany, and arriving home to be told that my passport was invalid. A 30 minute session with ICE sorted out that little problem and a two week whirlwind of travel came to an end.

Maybe it's a sign of aging, but I've never had a problem with jetlag before, and this time I was sluggish for several days after I got home. I might've had a borderline cold, but still. The occasional grey hair, thinning on top. The marked requirement of sleep and decreased tolerance for kids - yep, I'm getting old.

Enjoy the pictures!



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4x4 Mudding

Chuck and I were just coming back to my house from a trip to Guitar Center (trust me, the new Yamaha electronic drums are amazing!) and Harbor Freight and saw Paul clean off his Montero. He had been playing in the mud, and I asked him if he wanted another go.
After a promise of hosing off the car for him, off we went.

Once in the mud, we ran into a couple of other guys doing the same thing, and after some chatting Jeremiah said "if you want some real fun, follow me".

We ended up at a small river not too far from the house, and spent about 30 minutes playing in the quicksand-like mud. Being about done, we head up on the road and wait for the blue Dodge to follow us up. He didn't.

Going back to check showed them very stuck in the soft mud.


Thinking we'd just pull them up, we navigated down into the river and parked behind the Dodge to hook up the tow strap. In the minute that took, the Montero sank and sat on its frame on the mud. Oops.

While we tried to stick drift wood and other debris under the tires, the rain increased and the river started rising fast. We worked faster to try to get the vehicles out before the river rose to the point we had to abandon them. Luckily the rain slowed.

Placing a few phone calls didn't help. Nobody was available, so Jeremiah was heading to the gas station to top off, but didn't make it more than a minute away before he ran out of gas.

At this point, Chuck and I lug a few railroad ties from the nearby railroad down to try to funnel water under the Montero to erode the sand from under the frame. That didn't help, though we probably burned a few days worth of calories doing it.

A Jeep Wrangler saw us from the road and pulled out to see if he could help. He got no traction so that didn't work.
Shortly after this, one neighbor called back and came out with his Ford F250. He got the Montero free, but the Dodge wouldn't budge.

At this point, more neighbors showed up to just see what we were doing. Some people stopped on the road and a few locals came out of their house to see what we were up to.

Finally, one of their (the other mudders') friends show up with a big, lifted 4x4 with lockers and proceed to call us idiots in the least flattering of ways, while he pulls up to hook the straps up.

After a few hours stuck in the mud, this big truck finally managed to snap free the Dodge, which was down to the tow-hitch in mud. It took several valiant (and violent) attempts before it came free.

What a day!

Rain, mud, rising rivers, falling in the mud after stepping to your knees in it and a plethora of other comedic mistakes (or "tragic" rather) and we headed home. Time to make good on the promise and hose off Paul's Montero.

For your enjoyment, check out the Youtube link and the pictures.



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Summer storms

Storms are a fairly common sight in the afternoons and evenings here. Sometimes they are captured in all their glory.
Here's my house with a storm hovering in the background, almost making it look like my house exploded. (the light in the cloud is a lightning strike)



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Wacken Open Air festival!

In the small German town of Wacken in the state of Schleswig-Holstein things are usually pretty quiet and serene, but once a year, a little festival for small German bands make the town come alive. What started as a small gathering for fans has now become a Mecca for the long-haired, leather and studs wearing contingent of rock fans. This year is no different.
The W:O:A festival is coming up in just a month and though the tickets are long since sold out, there are plenty to be had here!

With an amazing line-up including one of my favorite bands, Avantasia, and Iron Maiden, Lordi, Opeth and others, this will not fail any fan of rock.

As a great aside, Edguy will release their new album in November! I can't wait!


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Server down-time

Root drive on the server is croaking so a rebuild and we'll be back up shortly!

I might, or might not, point the webpage to a 'notice', depending on how long the rebuild takes.



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Travel plans?

Well, both being paid well AND getting some good vacation time, I am pondering where to go. Germany is a place I've liked everytime I've been there and I have some friends I haven't seen for a while there.

Flights there are cheap at $600, so spending a couple of weeks there again is certainly doable. However, with doing some neat upgrades on my house (don't tell the HOA) and some more upgrades on the Volvo and the bike(s) I might be better off doing the Canadian motorcycle ride.

We'll see what happens. Good friends are rare, so perhaps a quick two week stint to brush up my German is in order...


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I'm not always a prick!

On my way over to Jeremy's house last night I see an old geezer leaned up on his car. Hazard lights on and it's off the beaten path. I whip the car around to ask if things are ok, which they aren't.

Nothing serious, he has a flat tire. The problem is that he's handicapped, and on oxygen, and it's 95 degrees outside.
I nudge my car up behind his, grab my gloves from the trunk and grab his jack and spare tire.

Five minutes later I'm done and put his shredded tire in the trunk of his car and wish him a good weekend. He did offer me money but I figured he'd put it to better use replacing the shredded tires, so I wish him a good weekend and off I go.

Five minutes out of my day, one old man in a far better mood, and some karma points in the karma bank for me.



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Albuquerque motorcycle appropriation trip

I got an email late Friday night offering up a couple of motorcycles for a screaming deal. A deal good enough to jump on.

Which I did.

Saturday morning I sourced a truck and hopped on the road down to Albuquerque where I started loading up the KLR 650 and the bonus plan, the ZXR 750. I enjoyed a great dinner with a good friend and then hit the sack. I hit the road back the next morning at 6am and landed at home shortly after noon. 14 hours on the road, a few thousand dollars lighter in the wallet, a friend caught up with and two more motorcycles in the garage.

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Tornado touch down

Well well, yesterday was exciting. We had a tornado remove three of our buildings, a truck and some miscellaneous things that weren't firmly bolted down. Well, even so, I presume the buildings were firmly bolted down. Emphasis on "were".

Meanwhile, I had to head to the dentist so I ran out in the hail and hopped in the car. Just mere minutes after getting going, the hail was getting real crazy, to the point where I thought that my windshield would shatter!

A few miles later, after dodging cars stopped on the road and an inch of water flowing across the lanes, I was out of the storm and headed South.
It amazes me that people are willing to circle around in the hail and look for shelter for their cars. It seems to me that just keeping on would get you out of the hail and the cloud pretty quick, but what do I know?

I always wanted to go tornado-chasing, but if this happens again, perhaps I don't have to chase it? heh

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