Good times man, good times.

I have had one of the most fucked up 7 days I have had in a long time. First the gas gets shut off, (see the rants below), I miss all that work, an old friend came down for the weekend to help me move, my schedule finally changes to what I wanted all along but without notice and after I had already made plans to finish moving all my shit out of that other house. I am on the verge of being fired at this point with 9.5 points and I have turned in a temporary 2 week notice so If they try to fire me I can say I had already gave notice. Now I just have to find a job even if its only a temp job.

I have re-enrolled in college, applied for financial aid, and might get my old job back. I don't miss some parts of that job but I think It will be much easier to deal with the hours and stress now that I don't have someone bitching about how much I work. I truely believe that Tori played a big part in my anger and short temper while I was out there because when ever it got bad at work I couldn't go home and vent because her situation was worse. It was like a pissing contest and she never failed to win cause she would start to lose and decide to piss all over me. (Sorry for that nasty analogy)

I am almost totally moved out of the house I shared with Tori and Corny. I have a few clothes that need to come over here and I have to clean the house from top to bottom. I am off tomorrow and Friday so that should not be a problem. About one truckload of shit and about 4 hours of cleaning and I will be done with that part of my life. In a way I'm sad to see it go but more over I think I'm just glad to me getting on with the getting on.

While Tater was here, I was the happiest I have been in along time. It was a mere 48 hours of company but It was like we never were apart. We got back to talking about everything and anything, without stepping on each other to get a point across, and I don't think we fought once all weekend. I look forward to talking to her and hopefully we can figure a way out to make our friendship last without fucking up the good thing we have going now.

Now its finally back on.

Well them good ole boys from centerpoint finally came by eariler this evening and lit the pilot lights. I was in the last 10% of Blackwell to get service back. They drove by 4 times in 20 min and I think my hollering at them trying to get them to stop and turn it on so I could go to work may of dropped me down the line.

When I hollered they stepped on the brakes, waved and then turned around, and drove right on by waving again as they turned just south of my house. I swear to god you give some people a little power and they pull shit like that. I would of been happy if they had stopped and said we are sorry but we have to get a few others on real quick and well come back. Just to know that they weren't just driving in circles for no reason would of been nice.

I do have problems with the hot water heater at the other house. Apparently it has a major leak so looks like I might not make it to work tommorrow either. Fuck it, I got my bills paid for next month already so I could really care less. More time to try and find a real job.

untill something else pisses me off.....
jared wayne

Please Turn The Gas Back On (part deux)

ChannelOklahoma.com - News - Gas Restored To 2,000 Customers

Still no heat, no hot water, and I have now lost 12 hours of pay and will probably of lost 28 hrs before I actually get my gas turned back on. This is complete and utter bullshit. How can you make an annoucment to the local media that if you want you gas back on, you must be home, when you know that there is no way that you will be able to restore service to 4000 customers in the time frame that you said it would be. When I took off work yesterday Im am greeted by my local access station saying that all service could be restored by midnight (22 Mar). I said to myself, "one day in the cold house isn't too bad." I wake up to an angry phone call from my mother at 8 am saying that the service will not be restored to the remaining customers for about 18 hours. That means that I wasted a day off yesterday and there is a pretty good chance that I will not have service returned until after midnight tonight.

When we called, as we were told to do by the local access station, we were told that they are working as fast as they can and you calling and bitching isn't helping. Of course that is not a direct quote but it is damn close. My mother, who has taken off as much time as I have and makes $3 more an hour than me, asked are you planning on reimbursing us for the time that we had to miss work since you told us to be home if we wanted service or we would have to wait until sometime next week to set up an appointment? Centerpoint Energy's response...."We are losing large amounts of money with this outage and the overtime we are paying out, and you expect us to reimburse you for your missed work?"

Worst customer service ever. Someone went and bought a truck load of electric heaters and was selling them for 20-50 bucks a pop. Centerpoint, if it had a brain in its head should of bought that guy out and made an annoucment that you can come get them if you bring a copy of your gas bill. A shelter has been set up but if you go and they come by to turn your gas on and your not at home you get moved to the bottom of the list.

Had they simply divided the town into sections (don't we already have dividing lines?....oh yeah FUCKING VOTING PRECINCTS; and went from section to section during a certain time then I would not be nearly as pissed. Its the simple fact that I have taken off this much time from work for nothing but cold hands and wasted electricity.

Fuck you you fucking fucks.
jared

Please Turn The Gas Back On

CenterPoint Energy :: Newsroom :: Operations News

CenterPoint Energy responds to natural gas outage

Houston March 21, 2006 CenterPoint Energy is responding to a natural gas outage affecting approximately 4,000 customers in Blackwell and Tonkawa, Oklahoma.

Just a few days ago was the start of spring. Here in Blackhell, OK, that means a cold front comes through; tornados to the south of me and snow to the north of me. It got down in the upper 20's last night and all this happens while the fine folks at Centerpoint Energy, the local natural gas distributor, drops service to 4,000+ customers here in Kay County. I had to take off work yesterday when the outage first took place so that I could drip the faucets so the pipes didn't burst. Now I am off again today as I wait for someone from the company to come out and restore our service and check for leaks. They expect to have everyone in Blackwell and Tonkawa restored within 2 days. In the mean time I have no heat, no hot water, and Tori took all the electric heaters when she moved back home to Iowa.

If I didn't know better, I would swear someone is sabotaging my life. I mean Tori and I just borke up after almost 3 years. We had grown apart ever since working together at Sykes and seemed like when ever we weren't at work we were fighting about work or someother just as trivial thing. I wish her nothing but the best and hope that she finds happiness, but because of the amount to debt I have acquireded in the past few years, I have no credit ('cept for bad credit), so I had to move back home for a while till I can get some debt paid off. I moved over there around March 6th and moved back over here this past weekend so I can work on the things that need to be done so I can get my deposit back when I get every thing out. Last night I had to pack up the shit and moved into the Holiday Inn for what were expecting at the time to be 2-3 days. I then hear on the news this morning that they will turn on the gas but only if an adult is present so that they can light the pilot lights. So off I move again. Thank god I was raised by truckers and spent the time that I did in the military cause if there is one thing that I do well, it is move on a moments notice and can pack all I need for a 2 week span in the cab of a truck.

So here I sit my hands are freezing as I try to type out this little rant, listening to....get this....Two Cow Garage's Please Turn The Gas Back On. I hope the centerpoint man can find the humor in that because all I can do at this point is laugh to keep from crying like a kid who lost his bike and all his tattoos were spelled wrong.

(thanks to Fred Friction & the Highway Matrons for that last line)

jared wayne
(now where the fuck did I put those gloves?)

Frederick's will be the death of me someday.

Well here it is, just under a month since the doors were closed and the last "Get the Fuck Out" was muttered, I begin my contemplation on how much I miss that little out of the way hole in the wall and how many true friends I made in that place.

From Paul who become my surrogate dad, to Fred that crazy uncle that I missed so much when I moved up there. To all the girls behind the bar; some of the strongest, most intelegent women I have ever known. Then we get to the regulars, "regulars" would be a misrepresntation. No one who came to Freds more than twice a week could be called "regular". For instance Tony and Chris. What a pair of crazy mofos. Met in that bar long ago and now work together and have for almost 4 years now. Mike Milano, crazy welder man that actually made me realize that I know more than I let myself take credit for. Dan the doorman, one of my favorite people that I met in that place early on. A counsler when I need one, even if I didnt ask for help from him. I could of and should of. The monday movie crowd. I started going down there because it was nice to just sit and watch a good movie with the ability to drink and smoke. Of all the people that I didnt expect to recognize me when I went back they were the first ones to say OMG what are you doing back? They were the ones that I missed the most and had no idea I did.

I saw and met many a great band over the years at freds. If Freds was nothing else it was a family. One of the most functionaly-disfunctional families I have ever seen, but if you drank there from time to time or you played on that little wooden stage you were part of the family. Many a time in my travels to see a band play I will walk up to them and say "Hey what did you think of Fred's." That line more than any other has gotten a band to say more than they really wanted to all in a matter of a few minutes.

Nothing compares to the impact of that little bar with a house attached on a busy street in south st louis on my desire make something of my life. I can honestly say that even if Fred's never gets replaced It will always be open. Open in the hearts, minds and attitudes of all who walked through that door and stayed just long enough to realize that places like this with people like that don't exist anymore.