Small Update.

I really don't have much to post from the past couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy with work. It seems as if the less there is to do, the more things go wrong with the projects that are currently being installed. We've had trouble with the past three jobs, two of them have been fixed and are all good. The third is still in the works. I just had a huge meeting with the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction... or the Fire Department, that's probably easier), my bosses, and the GC (General Contractor) and we still don't have 100% of the answers that we need. We'll have our answers by Thursday hopefully. Well, things will happen one way or another. My job has also moved into estimating a lot more lately. Since we have very little in the way of new design coming in (until the banks start lending, then I'll be hurting for time) I've been going out and surveying potential bids for a while. Kohl's department stores have taken full advantage of Mervin's going out of business. I've surveyed 6 ex-Mervin's in northern California that are all going to become Kohl's stores. It would be pretty stellar if we got all of these. These would be cake walk TI's (Tenant Improvements) to design and tons of work for our field guys. Each of these TI's have almost 800 sprinkler heads. It would be really good work.

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, I took my NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies) exams. I took 34 elements and if I pass 30 of them, I'll be NICET Level II Certified in Fire Sprinkler and Suppression Systems. I know, I know, it's a very specialized field, but hey, it'll be $1 an hour for each level while working here. And even if I get a job elsewhere, it wont look bad on my Resume... if anything, it'll show them that I'm willing to get it for their field too. Most of the test went really smoothly. There were one or two sections that I had problems with, and one section that I had absolutely no idea to any of the questions. That was material specifications and I didn't think it would be all that inclusive, but all of the questions were about the thickness of copper pipe and tubing. We don't ever use copper pipe or tubing. Copper is all but obsolete now because of the advances of CPVC pipe, but oh well... I'll just not take that one next time. I doubt I passed enough elements to get the Level II, but at least I'm now prepared for the next time I take it.

Outside of work related stuff, Rebecca and I have finally decided on where our wedding is going to take place. We looked at several different places, but the best place we thing will be the Lake Natoma Inn just on the outskirts of old Folsom. They've got some very reasonable rates. All we have to do now is get enough money to pay for it. Yay for brown baggin' it. We already have our photographer, and we got him for a very reasonable rate. However, the way we got him for so cheap is because all he is going to do is take the photos. He'll be giving us all the digital negatives, and Rilla has been gracious enough to agree to do our wedding album for us. She is so very talented at that kind of thing. So all that's left to us, so long as we figure out how to pay for the wedding site is the Cake, Flowers, and the person to do the actual wedding ceremony. It's a very exciting time for Rebecca and me. I think either this weekend, or possibly next, I'm going to buy all the materials for my cape, and take them down to a Tailor that can actually make it. I'm pretty friggin' stoked about that.

Well, I don't really have any other stories other than those. Except I saw the Pink Panther 2 last week. That was a pretty stellar movie. Not quite as funny as the first, but there was a scene that had me laughing without break for about 6 minutes. Heh, Steve Martin is my comic actor, even possibly my favorite actor out right. Good times.

Anyway, Thanks for reading. I'll be posting another sometime this month.

Movie Quote Time:

1) "I'm going to come back from the dead."
"And what makes you think you can do that?"
"Because I'm rich."

2) "I have to go now, as someone is staring at me through binoculars."

3) "Hello, this is Harris. I'm in right now, so you can talk to me personally. Please start talking at the sound of the beep."

4) "I've got culture coming out of my ass."

5) "You son of a motherless goat!"

6) "Who presents this woman? This woman? But she's not a woman. She's just a kid. And she's leaving us."

7) "Ladies and gentlemen, I can envision a day when the brains of brilliant men can be kept alive in the bodies of dumb people"

8) "I find a little giggle-gas before I begin increases my pleasure enormously."

9) "A twelve-gauge, double-barreled, grenade-launcher of LOVE!"

10) "Women have choices, and men have responsibilities"