Adventures on a Pale Blue Dot
Sunday 3 November 2024
The Spider and the Fly
Monday 29 July 2024
The Lies of a Junkie
The Lies of a Junkie
In the crumbling tenement, life’s a nightshade sonnet,
Eddie walks like a shadow under streetlights
with the jittery grace of a three-time loser,
eyes like overcooked eggs, pupils screaming disrepair,
he spins yarns like webs, silky and ensnaring.
“I was just out,” he says, two fingers twitching,
a gash of a smile slick with bad intentions.
Rent’s overdue, pockets clinking with pennies,
but he'd swear he sold poetry at the corner bodega,
Poe’s ghost on a whiskey bender, all smoky bullshit and baubles.
His eyes drip contemptuous trust,
as he says, “I got a job, lucky break, friend of a friend!”
His scabs blossom under streetlight scrutiny,
one hundred-dollar bill, dampened by sweat and anticipation,
like the promise of a turned needle before it bites.
He misses his shift, boss calls, voicemail, static.
“Got mugged, man. Some sonsabitch took my watch.”
That same watch ticking in his locked desk drawer,
beside a crucible of spoons blackened by borrowed dreams
and a pack of cigarettes, kissed by a curse to die young.
Morning crawls like a blind worm through the shutters,
Eddie’s lips painted with incomprehension,
as he pawns affection for another dim shot.
“But you said you quit,” they echo, voices cracked,
still believing in myths, toilet-paper gods.
At midnight's unholy hour, he shoots poetry in veins,
Street hustlers tapping on his ceiling,
Talking rats growling from the closet shadows,
whispering, “You’d lie to heaven's gatekeepers, kid,
just to feel a moment of that old, God-forsaken release.”
Friends turn to ghosts of ghosts, fading into indifference,
each lied to, hammered hearts and cracked skulls,
travelers on his winding road to nowhere.
Eddie walks on, lies sewn into his seams,
heroin’s bard, strumming discord in the junkie choir,
each hit a sad, stuttering sonnet.
Tuesday 16 July 2024
Hanging out with astronauts
Julie Payette getting prepped for a dive in a Newtsuit Phil Nuytten in the black dry suit |
It was easy to decide to skip out of work to go on this adventure, I mean really , what a collection of Canadian technical firepower, all in one spot.
The idea was to have the astronauts dive the Newtsuits down to the Chaudierre to get the feeling of working in space. The Newtsuits are hard-shell, one atmosphere, self contained dive machines. The one atmosphere part is critical because it keeps the stress of underwater pressures from affecting the diver. Instead of risking the "bends" or various embolisms and other nasty side-effects of deep water diving, the Newtsuit diver is only ever exposed to sea level pressures, even at depths of 1000 to 2000 ft and beyond.
Getting lifted by a deck crane into the water |
Prepping the Newtsuit as close to a Robo-Space suit as they come |
Steve MacLean was a tad more serious, but still talked openly and freely when he wasn't involved in getting the gear setup, it could be that he got the vibe that he just wasn't as cute and charming as Julie. He was more "engineer" like in his demeanor, totally immersed in the technical side of things. This must have worked well for him, as far as I know he is the president of the Canadian Space Agency these days....and Julie is the CSA Chief astronaut....good work if you can get it. I put my resume in, but haven't heard back yet.
One more time, a corner store disposable camera recorded this day, without which , this marvelous day would be lost to the dusty corners of memory. I was so lucky to be on deck with one of my underwater heroes, in Can-Dive's Phil Nuytten and two of Canada's most accomplished astronauts. ( are there any astronauts that aren't accomplished? no I don't think so....moving on now ).
Astronaut Steve McLean in light blue jacket with Can-Dive techs |
Steve McLean in light blue jacket and Julie Payette on the right at lunchtime Chaudierre dive sight |
Camera guy, Can-dive worker, Phil Nuytten in black dive suit and Julie Payette in the Newtsuit |
Don MacKenzie had done a ton of work with Phil in the past on the testing and deployment of some of his underwater inventions. This gig was a perfect blend of the man whose life was made on top of the ocean and the other who flourished under the waves, both very good at what they do.
The dives went well, with several scuba divers in the water to shadow the Newtsuit astronauts and to video the excursions. I'm not sure if the video part worked out that well, I saw several flooded camera cases returning to the surface at various times.
All in all, it was a great outing and one for my personal record books. A few years in the future involved shuttle flights for the two astronauts, Don would be salvaging the "Golden Cell" and making west coast maritime history....and me, well I went on to more unusual and unlikely adventures.
Always work to do, prepping complex gear |
Drill Bits and Dynamite Part Ten...Photos of the working Machines
Segment one...769 haul truck, hired helicopter for photography, 345 Cat hoe...in between Cut 6 and Cut 7 |
Concrete pour using a company truck instead of contractor units |
Davey-Kent drill installing anchors on a retaining wall |
Spreading finish gravels on a large MSE wall |
Rock crushing operation |
The lumbering 365 Cat hoe at Doodson's Corner |
Doodson's Corner ...365 hoe and Hoe-drill |
365 hoe |
Gravel stockpile beside the highway |
PKS concrete batch plant |
Breaking up old bridge beams, just South of Darrell Bay |
Rented long reach on Black Mountain Trail |
NO, I don't know how he got there |
Drilling a trim shot on top of Cut 14 |
Maintenance on the Grove between Cut 5 and Larsen Creek |
Service truck and rock crusher at Cut 11 |
Cut 10 |
South interchange Seg 1 concrete pump |
Beside the highway at Cut 11, rock hammer and excavator to feed the crusher |
Cut 10 and 11 |
Davey-Kent drill |
Doodson's corner |
Doodson's corner, two Ranger 800's |
Bridge entering Squamish from the south side |
Eagleridge parking lot...769 haul trucks and 1250 Komatsu being assembled |
Komatsu1250 |
Komatsu 1250 |
Seg 1 below the Upper Levels highway |
Above Cut 10 beside the old highway |
Placing blast mats |
In the middle of the ferry lanes, blasting for a traffic sign base |
ic
Day one of Ranger rock drill number one delivered to the Sea to Sky project....this is at Segment two, with Jim McBrides crew |
Drill No.1 paddling south on the Squamish highway to go and find some rock to test drill |
Setting up to drill holes for rock anchors at Segment one, below the Upper Levels Highway |
Segment two hoe-drill and crew came down to help us at the beginning of Cut4 |
Cut 4, Segment one |
Cut 4, right above the Eagleridge parking lot |
Eagleridge parking lot, drills working on Cut 4 |
Backside of Cut 4, setting up for drilling the pre-shear holes |
This guy is the eyeballs for the driller, who can't see whats going on when the mast is in this position. |
the team...blaster and hoe operator lifting the blast mats |
Drilling the pre-shear line....Cut 4 |
Drilling 4 inch blast holes for an 11,000 cubic meter blast in Cut 4 |
Drilling for rock anchors on top of Cut 10 |
Big machine/small machine. The guy with his back to the camera is Silas O'Brien...his story is important. He was killed by a hit and run driver with 60 driving convictions....Today ( July 5 2012 ) the driver Brent Parent is appealing his sentence and charges. Here is a short post about that. I would recommend that you Google Silas O'Brien to get the story of how he was killed...http://adventuresinmikeslife.blogspot.ca/2012/05/silas-obrian.html |
The blasters getting a shot ready on a rock outcropping in one of the large fill sites |
Hoe-drill at Cut 10 in the early days |
Two Ranger drills on Cut 5 above the ferry ticket booths |
Rock drill working up on the cut at Darrell Bay, Segment 3....across from the Woodfibre ferry terminal |
Darrell Bay cut |
Lonely little air-track drill plunking away at the pre-shear line....what that antique was doing there...I have no idea. |
Blocky, seamy and hard rock made for some spectacular fly-rock shots...I'm glad I wasn't there, to have to fight with that stuff |
Rock hammer attached to an excavator to reduce the boulders down to size |
Rock drill just off the highway at the north end of Brittania |
South end of the Darrell Bay cut |
A beautiful day at Cut 10, Segment one |
Drilling and blasting between lanes of traffic at the south interchange of Segment one |
This is Seg two or three...hanging an air-track drill from a crane to drill anchor bolts |
The guys on the ground are wondering who is in the helicopter, while they are doing this "unique" maneuver |
Old tank drill with a 123 hammer!! belonging to a contractor on the project |
Long view, the tank drill is up on the bench, other side of highway...hoe and rock-truck below the highway....railroad tracks below them |
Drill and powder truck on top of a pioneering trail |
Segment one blasters getting ready to fix up some ditch-line at Cut 5 |
Segment two, drilling , digging and hauling |
Seg two hoe-drill at bottom of a big cut |
Segment one, north end of the Cut 10 area...above the retaining wall and railroad tracks |
One of the big fills going in....a lift at a time....Segment one |
Same fill site, Robin MacGregor ( Goldwing Helicopters )taking off |
Cluster of machines beside a gravel fill/grading operation |
Seg one, north end of Cut 10...maybe technically Cut 11 |
Long view of same area Cut 10/11...below highway and above the tracks |
Cut 8...385 Cat hoe loading to a Cat 769 haul truck |
Cut 8 loading out |
Concrete pour Seg 2 or three...below the highway |
Rock drills at Seg two |
Secret test site for MSE wall construction....pretty much the construction equivalent of Area 51 |
Randy C...not afraid of heights...stripping overburden off of the top of Cut 8 |