I am working on tayloring this blog's personality. Some things may come and go as I work out the kinks.

Holy crapy schedule Batman! Plus, updates

Seven to three, three to eleven… eleven to seven. Sounds like a normal series of shifts for a 24 hour business. Up until this week, that is pretty much what we at the Circle K had grown too. Now, my schedule, in fact all our schedules are rather topsy terby. Instead of going in for my normal third shift tonight, I get to work 5 hours or the second shift; 4 pm to 9 pm. Then I have the privilege of going in tomorrow morning at 8 am and working all day until 4 pm. After that craziness, I go back to third shift for the rest of the week. Does this sound like a bit of a rant to you? Well it is. I am mean come on! Working the third shift is bad enough as it is. I work in the middle of the night, and then as a result, it becomes very difficult for me to a a sense of normality durning my off time. Sure, the work load is awesome compared to the stress of a gazillion customers during second shift, but not having what would be considered a normal day off really gets to me. So when you take that into account, and then through into the mix two days of an odd ball schedule, that makes for a very unhappy camper. I really hope that this is just a one week deal, because if my boss expects me to do this week in and week out, she might have to start looking for a new clerk.

Moving along, I have been working on my website a lot, and will be ready to launch www.DANIELVINING.com Version 8.0 soon. I am working with my hosting provider Lunarpages on a couple issues at the moment. I have a spiffy WordPress.org template from Skinpress that I want to use, and I am excited to start tinkering with it.

I am also working on my other side project, CoverCast. It will be a site dedicated to cover songs found on the video sharing website YouTube.com. I am a big fan of cover songs, and I look forward to sharing these videos with you through this project. If you have a song you would like to submit to this project, email the YouTube link to me. dcvining@gmail.com

One of the other big things in my life at the moment is L3 Vertex. I applied in the beginning of August, and was interviewed two weeks ago. I still haven’t heard back from them as of yet, so I will be contacting them at the beginning of the week to get a status update on where I stand. Cross your fingers for me guys.

Well that is about it for now. Thanks for reading, listening, and watching. Comments and discussion are always welcome.

CoverCast: Rascal Flatts “What hurts the most” by Drew Davis

CoverCast is a project I am working on in my spare time that blends my love of music with social networking, netcasting, and blogging.  Here is a taste of the type of videos you will find when CoverCast.com rolls out in the near future.  Comments and discussion are very welcome.  Enjoy!

“What hurts the most”

Rascal Flatts

Performed by Drew Davis

YouTube

Look, School is Back

School started back up here in Pensacola today.  I was on the roads when kids were being picked up by the busses.  I will keep this short and sweet.  Watch out!  Stop for ALL busses, and don’t speed!!! Let’s make sure all the kids get home safely today.

Schmownce

Do you remember Pownce?  It was a social networking micro blogging site similar to Twitter, but more like Twitter on steriods.  It was a start-up of Kevin Rose, creator of Digg, and in my opinion, was pretty cool.  Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.  After only about a year of existance, the site was bought by a company called SixApart, they are the people behind VOX, Movable Type and Type Pad.  Once bought by them, we lost the twitter that would let you post videos, music and more.

At I thought it was gone.  Turns out a group of people, fans of Pownce, created a replica site with all of the same features and named it Schmownce.  I just created an account, and am still feeling my way through things, but thought I would throw up this post to hopefully entice a few more people to sign up.  I will meander around the site for a while to see if it will catch on with me.

In the process of finding out about Schmownce, I also took the time to start up a VOX account to at least reserve my name for later use.  You can check out nothing at danielvining.vox.com

The Zoo Closed :0(

Today I was taking a look at the wiki site for Pensacola, FL, Pensapedia.com.  I was looking at events from Pensacola’s history on August 22.  Not much happened on this date, but after taking a glance at the site’s front page news section I noticed that something rather signifigant happened on August 16, 2009.  The Zoo Northwest Florida, also know as the Gulf Breeze Zoo, or just The Zoo, closed it’s gates, perhaps for good.  It is yet another sign of the times in a world where small business struggles and now a new flock on employees are jobless.

I feel very lucky to have been able to take my girlfriend and her kids to the zoo this past June before it closed.  It was a really fun day.  We saw all the animals, took pictures, went to the petting zoo, and took the train ride.  The only downside of the day was the Florida heat, but it didn’t stop us from having a great family day at the zoo.  That is something we may not be able to do in this area for a while.

Our zoo was small by the standards of most.  It was only 300 acres or so and had a various, if small, selection of animals to see.  It suffered from all kinds of problems in it’s recent history mostly after sustaining a lot of damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004.  A place that had been operating in the red since it opened in 1984, the zoo was only given $59,000 from insurance to cover the $600,000 in damage.

After the hurricane, the zoo suffered from a series of animal deaths in 2007, animal escapes, loss of accredidation, and a high school fundraiser scam.

If with its pitfalls, the zoo was still a great place to spend the afternoon.  Cool animal exhibits, cheap prices, friendly staff, and a great family atmosphere are what I will remember from the zoo.

I hope that it will come back soon, and if not, I hope that a new zoo will open in our area.

Pensapedia.com — The Zoo Northwest Florida >> http://bit.ly/HO0XW

Penapedia Twitter >> @Pensapedia

Official Website >> The Zoo Northwest Florida

Photos from @_Just_Tori_

Vienna Sausage Anyone?

They are small, tasty, fattening little treats that are commonly seen as appetizers at parties or in the lunch boxes of construction workers.  I love the little burgers.  I know they are not healthy, and sometimes they do make me sick to my stomach.  They are cheap and easy to combine into thousands of recipes (The search terms “vienna sausage recipes” produces over 81,000 results.).  They are vienna sausages.  What are they?  What are they?  Why are they the red-headed step child of the luncheon meat category?

From Wikipedia.com query “vienna sausage”:

A vienna sausage is a kind of wiener. The word wiener means Viennese inGerman.

In many European countries any pre-cooked and sometimes smoked wieners bought fresh from supermarkets,delicatessens and butcher shops are calledvienna sausage. Wieners sold as vienna sausage in Europe have a taste and texture very much like North Americanhot dogs or frankfurters but are usually longer and somewhat thinner, with a very light, edible casing. European vienna sausage served hot in a long bun with condiments is often called a hot dog, harking not to the wiener itself, but to the long sandwich as a whole.

In North America the term vienna sausage has most often come to mean only smaller and much shorter smoked and canned wieners, rather thanhot dogs. North American vienna sausage is made from meat such aschicken, beef, turkey and pork (or blends thereof) finely ground to a paste consistency and mixed with salt and spices, notably mustard, then stuffed into a long casing, sometimes smoked and always thoroughly cooked, after which the casings are removed as with hot dogs. The sausages are then cut into short segments for canning and further cooked.

As with any sausage, the ingredients, preparation, size and taste can vary widely by both manufacturer and region of sale.

Anyone that knows me also knows that the classic American Hot Dog is my favorite food.  Behind that, comes another cheap, low class junk food… Top Ramen.  I have eaten ramen noodles in hundreds of ways, but my favorite combination is the addition of a can of vienna sausages and maybe a smidge of mustard completed with a glass of Mountain Dew or chocolate milk.  Mmmm good.

Why is it that this food is the the bastard of the other luncheon meats?  Probably because unlike some meats, like salami for example, vienna sausages are not meticulously blended with the best cuts of meat and seasoning before being aged to perfection. No, not vienna sausages.  They are a hodge podge of chicken, beef and pork.  Smashed together and pressed into a sausage shape.  Add the gelatin and the small fact that they perhaps one of the most unhealthy meats to choose from, and you get the outcast of the group.  Still, blue collar workers, the lower class, and phony socialites all embrace this little treat as a part of their lunches and appetizers for their parties.  I too, will continue to enjoy these tasty morsels; now at a more educated, select occasional pace.

Here are a couple more Vienna Sausage links for your enjoyment:

Throwback of the House: Uncool Vienna-Sausage Shortcake — http://bit.ly/11yO0W

wiseGEEK: What are Vienna Sausages? — http://bit.ly/YretL

My brand of choice, Armor Star — http://bit.ly/rUtVC

I Eat Out of Cans « Tangelos — http://bit.ly/oCSG9

Follow Friday for the Week of August 21, 2009

follow @danielvining

#FollowFriday – @ChrisTheFeral @thinkgeek @CocoDesign @JayMassey @ChrisKenny @thegizwiz @visitpensacola @NavalMuseum @keselowskiweb – Enjoy

Changing Servers

All three readers of my blog, and whatever visitors to my website will soon notice that I will be moving over from my self hosted website to WordPress.com.  I would love to keep my self hosted site, but my financial situation will not allow me to for now.  It is more important for me to keep my two primary domain names, danielvining.com and thespeedzine.com.  I also want to register a couple more here soon so utilizing the free hosting features of WordPress.com is my best option for now.

The WordPress.com route does have it’s draw backs.  I will not be able to use some of the widgets that I would like to due to unauthorized codes within the WordPress.com framework. I also do not have as many choices on my theme, at least not without added cost.  Thankfully, I really like the theme I have chosen.

The most important thing above any of the visual elements is my content.  I know I don’t have the best content, but I like to have a place where I can share my thoughts, ramblings, opinions, experiences and anything random that I want to.

I am done saying the famous blogger’s failing quote that I am going to try my best to post everyday, or every week, and keep up with my blog more regularly.  That is just setting myself up to look like a dummy.  I have been around this technology to know that I will have phases where I will be blog crazy, and times where I will all but forget that it exists.  Life doesn’t always afford me the time to work on this site, and sometimes I am just not into it.  As addicted as I am to social media, blogging is not that high on my list.

This is however, the place where I can come and go as I choose, write almost anything I want, when I want… and I am happy with that.

Psst….. Store Inspection Tomorrow

“Psst…. Store inspection tomorrow.” That was a status response from my friend and co-worker Heather on Myspace from last night. I didn’t give it much thought, since I really haven’t had to deal with inspections working in the middle of the night. This time, however, would be a different case.

When I got to work, I was greeted with a sizable stack of boxes, cases and totes left untouched from the morning shipment from our grocery vender. Mind you, I helped receive that shipment some 15 hours earlier. A good deal of the order was taken care of, but there was still a lot left. I guess day shift got busy and couldn’t finish, and I wouldn’t expect swing shift to have time to do anything. Ok, no big deal. I go into the office to clock in, and there is a new note from the boss to 3rd shift.

Our boss, for that matter our store, likes to leave notes to us on a semi-regular basis giving us tasks to do. This note was basically a carbon copy of the checklists we already work by, but it had a few extras as well. Most notably, finishing the grocery order, scrubbing all the cabinetry inside and out, and that our boss’ boss’ boss would be inspecting the store in the morning. It said that if the store wasn’t perfect, then we would receive disciplinary action. Kinda annoying to be honest. I feel like if I just do my job, and do it right, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It is rather irritating to have people down your back, worrying about things to the point of making you nervous to. I don’t care about the inspection because I know that if we just work like we should we will be just fine. At any rate, we had what had become a rather long list of tasks to accomplish during the night.

Erick, my partner in crime for the better part of the last three months showed up, and we started to rock and roll. By the time he showed up for his shift, I already had a large chunk of my tasks either done or started. About 1 am, a man showed came into the store and headed toward the bathroom. I said hello and turned my head down. I then realized that it was my boss, in street clothes and he was headed straight for my register. Of course. At the time he choose to count down mine, I hadn’t dropped any money in a while. Opps. I got a write-up for having way too much money in my drawer, mostly due to the 70 bucks in ones I didn’t realize I had.

So we spent the majority of the night working our tails off with the boss there too. Every so often our paths would cross and something would be added to the list of things to do, making for a long night. Our night got even longer when three customers decided that they wanted to smell our selection of fragrances and put a scent cloud in the store. Erick and I both have allergies. The smell burned my eyes a little, but I had taken Clariton before work so I was okay. Erick, other the other hand, was a mess. Blood shot red eyes, trouble breathing, dizziness. He ended up being out of it for about 2 and half hours. That back logged the whole night, and put a rush on us getting our tasks done in time. We pulled it together and by the time I left, I felt like the store was in awesome shape. I think the inspection will go just fine, at least on our end.

Wow, what a night. They aren’t usually that busy. We got a lot done, and did a good job at what we did, distractions and all. I felt good about what we had accomplished. Life is Good.

Puked, Locked Out, Rebooted, and Rained On.

Yesterday I went to run a couple quick errands. Nothing big. Get a flashlight for my Mom at Office Depot, and pick up some medicine at Walmart. Earlier in the day I ate some egg rolls. By some, I mean like six. Six big egg rolls, that really filled my belly. Stuffed, I went into Office Depot and started to look around at all the stuff I can’t afford… then WHAM! Too much in my belly, some of it had to get out. Ran to the bathroom, took care of some business. Feeling woozy, I got Mom’s flashlight and went to Walmart.

Still feeling woozy and getting tired on top of that, I got out of my truck, closed the door and started to walk away. I heard my engine running, turned, grabbed the door handle and… FUCK! I locked my keys in the truck, with the engine running! This isn’t the first time I have done this. Way back in 2003 I did the same thing when I was working at Albertson’s. I had to get a co-worker to take me home to get a spare key. This time, however, I was lucky enough to get the Walmart security guard to use a jimmy stick to pop open my door. I didn’t think he could since it is a power lock, but I guess I am stupid in that regard. Thanks security dude!

Once that was done, I spent what felt like an eternity in line at the pharmacy for my medicine, and once I got my turn, the lady that was taking my info had to restart her computer because the program for her POS (Point of Sale) froze. I finally got my medicine and walked out of the store, into a rain storm.

Even though I had a crappy day, I am still happy to have had it. Now I know that I cannot eat six gigantic egg rolls, and I bet I will remember to take my keys out of the truck with me when I get out. Life is Good.

See more at www.danielvining.com