The Don Whisperer

I'm a lazy git. Well, when I'm not working I am. I guess maybe just evenings and weekends when I sleep all the time. Am I working too hard? Am I expending everything I have to offer my new life here in LA at Revchem Plastics?

Truth is, I think I'm actually not lazy per se, as I am inactive. In my old job at Revchem in Tacoma, I was a lot more active. I was running around, pulling orders, carrying heavy things, unloading trucks. I was support for the operations there. Here, I'm the leader of the operations. I have two employees who do all the things I did in Tacoma. So I sit in my chair at work, I talk on the phone a lot, and work out logistical problems, I deal with personnel issues, and then wonder why my back hurts, my body is sore, and I'm sleepy all the time.

The blood, it does not flow... as much. Cindy to the rescue, or something like that. So my darling wife has found new zeal in life through that show "The Dog Whisperer" starring Cesar Milan. She checked out his book Cesar's Way, and over the course of about a week she read it cover to cover. Suddenly, the dogs HAVE to be walked every night, and I feel like a jerk because I'm too tired to go with her. One evening she really wanted me to go with her and I was really not in the mood, and needless to say the air was pensive for a while. All the sudden she wants to do all these new things, and it's starting to impose on me.

Well practicing what Cesar was teaching her, she stayed calm and assertive, and when I was done with my tantrum, I followed our new pack leader. Turns out not only do the dogs need daily exercise and discipline and affection, so does the husband. I began to read the damn book. You know what, the guy makes a lot of sense. His approach is easy, natural, and improves relationships not just with dogs, but with other people. Well, actually, it also improves your relationship with yourself. You begin to understand what kind of role you want in life, and that you are the one who gets to choose what that is, as pack leader. Now it is up to me to also be a pack leader for our dogs. I can't let Cindy be the only authority figure for those two little sausages.

Then, as you probably read on Cindy's blog, the two of us watched the entire disc of "The Dog Whisperer" she got from Netflix. Every single problem the people were having with their dogs was a direct result of not being in control and being dominant over their dogs. Many of examples Cesar used to help the people understand what kind of role they had to take up were examples from their work, or as a parent. If you are calm and in control and provide clear boundaries, you will get the results you want. Allow too much freedom, and there's chaos and you are no longer in control.

I too Seumas for a walk one night using the new leash technique I'd just learned. I took the chain leash, and latched it to itself so it became a choker leash. I put the leash high up on Seumas' neck, just under his jaw, and led him around. We didn't move until he was relaxed and submitted to me going first. Then, with slight corrections which involved a slight tug upward on the leash bringing Seumas' head up, instead of nose to the ground, he was no longer darting in front choking himself to death trying to drag me. In less than a minute he was trotting beside me relaxed and happy as I practiced good posture pulling my shoulders back and filling myself with confidence. It's amazing how much easier it is to breathe when you're not slouching like I am right now as I write this.

Ahem. Okay, corrected.

Suddenly several things clicked into place. I needed this exercise just as much as the dogs. I need to take better care of my body. Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm healthy. So did I go with Cindy tonight to walk the dogs? No, I was too tired and didn't feel like it. Am I going to challenge myself to walk the dogs when I don't feel like it. I'm going to try real hard.

Because like correcting bad behaviors in your dogs, you have to make those corrections before they escalate. If you can be observant enough to correct those tendencies at level 1, instead of trying to arduously try and bring it down from level 10, success will come quickly. This carries over to a lot of areas where there needs to be authority structures. At work it carries over for me as the new boss, where I have to demonstrate my authority, yes even dominance over my employees. I've been a bit soft in my authority there. Some of the personnel issues (preexisting mind you) were allowed to flourish even though I was taking corrective measures. Demonstrating and demanding the respect that is needed to be a good leader requires, REQUIRES not domination but assertiveness and being collected and in control. You're not always going to be calm, you're not always going to be in control, but if you can roll with it in the moment, even more respect will be gained. And then you give respect back when the behavior you observe is what you want. Now of course this only works at one level with humans. On top of that, you have language to deal with. That's a whole other topic. The words you choose to say your piece.

Now that I've digressed, back to me being lazy. (correcting my posture again) Change is hard. Rest is still needed, but so is exercise.

Next, I might reflect on biodiesel and Volkswagons, versus a MiniCooper. In the meantime, here's a little Google search for you: Make your own biodiesel at home!

Saturday morning irritations

Why can't a husband and wife have the same sleeping patterns? Why can't the dogs stay unconscious as long as I do? Why does EVERYONE in my house except me need to wake up at 6am on a SATURDAY!

Okay, it's now 10:45am, and I'm awake and had enough sleep to catch up. In fact, I've even been up for a half an hour. But what a chore it was just to get caught up! Dogs barking, people outside honking (at 6:30am!), Cindy in and out of bed. At least we don't have a TV in our room, she used to watch TV at 6am on a Saturday in bed while I "slept".

Yep, I'm irritable this morning. Not because of all that (partly but not entirely), I'm actually pissed about a ticket I got in the mail yesterday. Ran a red light. They got pictures, one of which has my goofy face on it. Sneaky bastards! But the worst part is, it's for $381.00!!! For the love of Stan!

It's clear I did it. I don't remember doing it, but they sent me proof. Can't really argue with it. You know, everyone in this damn town runs red lights while attempting to turn left at an intersection. It's because there's no damn left turn arrows. So in a line of cars attempting to turn left in a busy intersection, only two or three get to go through because of the shear line of cars going straight on the opposite side of traffic. So when am I going to get a ticket in the mail for trying to turn left? Was I turning left in this instance... admittedly, no. Sure I deserve the ticket, and $381 is going to prevent me from doing it again. Welcome to California.

Okay, back to my Saturday morning rant. Also, Cindy has a cell phone. When she leaves the house, does she:
1. Take it with her?
2. Turn it on?
3. Answer it if it is on?

The answer: NO! So I don't know where the flip she is. Don't know when she's coming back. I was going to head to the store and pick up some groceries, like milk. I needs my milk. But I can't do that if that's one of her errands this morning. Sometimes it is. Maybe I should call her, OH WAIT, I ALREADY DID AND IT WENT TO VOICEMAIL!

This is a lesson to anyone who does this. Take your phone with you, OR, leave a note on the whiteboard by the door for your significant other to know where you are.

I sound like a parent. It's probably because I worked a hella long week (averaging 12 hours a day lately), as usual since I didn't arrange the kitchen I dont' know where anything is. I'm hungry, but I'm too busy making excuses and complaining to do anything about it.

And how do I add other peoples' blogs to that sidebar thingee? I tried to figure that out once, and I couldn't do it. It's as frustrating as trying to learn how to use MySpace, which I dislike incredibly. Not really sure why, maybe because it's not very intuitive, yet everyone at least 10 years younger than me understands how to make it order pizza! (not really but you get my point) I am techie savvy! Grumble. I feel old.

At least, we have plans to game today. That will make things better. Crap, I suppose I'd better prepare the session. But after I eat. If we can afford to after my $381 blunder!!

I am a boob.

More Than Meets The Eye

So we went and saw the big Michael Bay movie, Transformers. Most of you probably know how big Transformers were to my childhood, so this movie was a big deal for me. And several months before the buzz even started, I began to see disappointment.

First, Michael Bay was to direct it. This is the same guy who directed Armageddon. I rest my case. However, hope was rekindled when I recently watched The Island, which he also directed, and I liked very much.

Second, Bumblebee was going to be a Camaro, not the original VW bug that he was in the cartoon. Still yellow, but still... I was hoping for the new Beetle, or even a Mini Cooper, but nope, it's a Camaro.

Third, I finally got a look at the designs for the new movie robots, and they were definitely weird. Plus, Optimus Prime was not the same kind of Semi as he was in the series, and that kind of cheesed me.

Now you probably think that I hated the movie now having seen it. You couldn't be more wrong. You have to remember, this is Michael Bay. That means, hi speed chases, big explosions, and shrapnel heading towards the camera. So do you think VW Bug if you're going to have a hi speed chase. Not so much. I actually got over that one real quick.

Also, the original voice of Optimus Prime, from the original TV cartoon, was brought on to voice Optimus Prime in the movie. That made ALL the difference for me.

Still not crazy about the new designs of the robots. To many pieces, to many sharp angles and well, overall it's hard to know what you're looking at. But it definitely looks alien.

The movie has some really hilarious moments, some really intense action, and some really touching moments.

This long time Transformer fan was going to be a big opponent of the film, but it's a huge blast. You should go see it, it's worth every penny the spent, which was a lot. I'm looking forward to the sequel. Now if Hasbro would just make some decent quality toys out of this, it'd be even cooler. But they'll sell a ton just the same. Oh well.

This movie was more than meets the eye. Go see it, because I wants to see a sequel or three, and you best damned be sure I wants to see some Constructicons. Sorry for the spoiler, but no constructicons in this movie. They had a LOT to cover, and they did a great job with it.

LA Moments

Recently, we decided to file Seumas under "S".

Okay, had to get that bit of cuteness out of the way. So I just finished my first four weeks at Revchem and I thought I'd share what I've been up to. Besides trying to stay afloat, some really cool things have happened.

About a week ago, I got to visit the set at Universal Studios of the new movie National Treasure 2. I haven't even seen the first one, but now I'm going to have to rent it. It's one thing to see cool looking sets on your "behind the scenes" features on your DVDs; it's quite another to actually see it in person. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I didn't want to press it. I had the ability with the camera on my phone, but as I said... didn't want to be rude. So you'll have to do with my recounting of the experience.

The first set piece I visited was around 50ft high, built on top of a steel pool. The set was meant to be flooded with water. It looked like the inside of an underground cavern with Mayan ruins built into it. All of the stonework was literally styrofoam with a fiberglass facing. It was incredible. To actually see fiberglass work as a MAJOR part of the set. Everywhere you looked, it was fiberglass.
To back up a bit, you might be asking WHY I was on the set in the first place. One of Revchem Plastics' salesmen asked me to come along with him to meet some of our big customers in the movie industry. Revchem is one of only two companies in the LA that supply fiberglass products to the movie business. We apparently have about a 60% hold on the market as well. So I road along with Jeff the seller. As you can imagine, security's pretty tight around the studios, so I had to surrender my drivers license (newly acquired CA drivers license I might add) so they could check me out. Eventually a series of calls were made, and they gave me a permit to get in. From there, the world was ours.
After driving through old western towns, a small lake village with a giant fiberglass shark hanging over the water upside down from it's teeth, and survived helicopter explosions and various fire eruptions, we arrived at the fiberglass shop we were going to so we could drop some resin off and meet some folks.

What was surprising to me was that it pretty much looked like any other glass shop I've been in. They could have been building boats or hardtops for all I knew, so it was encouraging that the scene was familiar to me and I understood what they were doing. From there I was introduced to a very nice Korean gentleman who was the man we were there to see. He was very kind to show us around and let me see the various things they were working on, and then took time out of his day to show us around the sets for about an hour.

Okay, back to the outdoor set. It was rigged like a stage. Scaffolding on the side. Lights around the top. They had just finished shooting the day before, so they were striking the set. (Apparently after the Art Director/Production Designer takes what he/she wants, they pretty much chop everything up and throw it away.) They shot most of that scene at night, and apparently there were a lot of explosions and whatnot. That must have been really neat to watch. Just behind this set, was a big concrete pit in which they were going to fill with water and submerge a set into it with a crane. The set was sitting next to the pit, and looked like a big odd shaped wooden box. But if you went around to one end of it, you saw inside looked like underground caves and temple stonework like that you'd see in a Mayan Temple or something. All fiberglass inside of course.

On to the next set. Got in the car and drove to a big building. Inside was an enormous underground cavern with temples of gold carved into the side, and one golden temple right in the middle. Apparently the thing just gets flooded with water. The set was about as big as a football field. Probably also 50ft high. We walked around and saw a few smaller mini sets, tunnels that the actors had to crawl through. They made those sets out of latex. Smelled like a room full of halloween masks. But making it out of latex allowed the actors to crawl through and not scrape themselves up. Looked EXACTLY like the fiberglass sets. Got to pick up a 2 foot latex rock and throw it at Jeff. Again, styrofoam covered with latex. Pretty amazing.

Off to another building, where they had big rock spires with a rope swing across it. Behind the physical set the actors had to work across was of course the blue screen for special effects, digitally putting in the background.

Quite a bit bigger scale than I'm used to. It was truly an amazing experience to see that this is what people can do for a living, and the incredible things they can make out of fiberglass.

Also, Danny Roebuck walked into my store about two weeks ago and bought some stuff. He's been working on a few museum displays of old movie monsters and props and such. If you're not sure who he is, you might have seen him on Lost, or Boston Legal. A while back there was also an HBO movie called "The Late Shift" which was about Jay Leno and David Letterman's struggle to get Johnny Carson's place on the Tonight Show. Danny played Jay Leno.
He was a really nice guy and we got to talking about Dead Gentlemen and The Gamers. He was really interested in The Gamers and thought the concept was really unique. That he hadn't seen anything like it. We exchanged email and phone numbers. So yeah, the schmoozing has begun.

In Dead Gentlemen news, we got our new trailer up for the movie The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. You can view it by going to: www.deadgentlemen.com or www.the-gamers.com. The front page of the Dead Gentlemen site also shows you where you can download the trailer instead of just watching it from the website.

We're also plugging away at the new Demon Hunters RPG. Jimmy McMichael's been writing some really great stuff.

Speaking of RPG, Matt, Camille and Cindy and I are starting our first D&D campaign together. It's Camille's first time gaming, so hopefully we'll get her hooked. She's already on the whole Warcraft thing. Even I'm not up on that. But that's my own lameness. Tried City of Heroes, and I'm sort of getting into it. Right now it's more fun to create the character than it is to actually play the game. Not sure if that's supposed to happen.

OH. I almost forgot. We got an amazing deal off craig's list on a 42" HD TV for $600!!! We bought a new stand and everything for it, and we've been pretty much lazing around watching movies and playing the playstation on our new huge TV. Here's a picture:

Oh, and Cordy says Hi!

It's Wednesday

And I'm a tired meatsack. I'll write something meaningful later.

Wee!

It has begun

I was putting this off until we finally had technology in our house that we paid for. While stealing WiFi from the neighbors makes do, you have to deal with the hassel of instability. Well, with the WiFi I mean. Unstable neighbors are an entirely different matter. Luckily, I'm not aware of any yet.

The weather has been fabulous. Not too hot during the day, maybe 80 degrees at the high. Drops down to the low 50s at night. Perfect.

The new job at Revchem is going to be great. I feel really good about it. I've started cleaning up and simplifying some of the operational procedures, and established a rapport with my staff right away. Is it going to be an easy job? Not even close. There are many incredible challenges I'm going to have to take on, and that's exciting to me. Because I do feel challenged professionally. It's a great feeling.

At home we started putting up our framed art, and sorting through the remaining boxes. All that's left is the back part of the house: the office, the den, and the spare bedroom. We have one pallet left at Revchem that I think I'm going to need to have it delivered to my home. It's got some heavy stuff that I'd need help lowering out of the back of my truck if I were to just load it all in my truck. I may still do that, and see who I could recruit. At any rate, I'll take some more pictures soon and put them up on Flickr. By the way, if you haven't seen them yet, you can view my photos on Flickr at:

www.flickr.com/photos/56262315@N00/


W00t.