Gilman Benefit

We played an awesome show over the weekend for a good cause. This was a benefit for the wife of a member of Those Unknown, whose wife has cancer. Plead The Fifth, Sydney Ducks, Factory Minds, The Old Firm Casuals, Harrington Saints, Pressure Point and Those Unknown played. It was a good crowd and we were glad to be a part of it. Here's the flyer:
We're playing another show in Sacramento next Saturday with Pressure Point, Factory Minds, Sydney Ducks, and Crusades. Come on out if you're nearby.

Old Firm Casuals/Toughskins Weekend

Last weekend the Toughskins came up to the bay area to play two shows with us. Friday night we played at the Hemlock in SF with Hounds & Harlots. The Hemlock is a pretty small place with a bar and smoking room in the front and a performance space in the back. Mike from Pressure Point came down as well as some of my friends from Crockett. Hounds & Harlots were really good, you can tell that they practice a lot, really tight punk rock. They're looking for a second guitarist by the way. Toughskins played second, traditional American Oi with tough vocals. People got pretty rowdy during Toughskins set but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We played our set and had a pretty good response, things were getting pretty wild and I thought that a fight would break out at a couple points but it eventually calmed down. I left after we played and got home at about 2am and was back up at 4:30am to go to work. Worked a 12 hour shift then jumped in the car with my friends and headed to the Blank Club in San Jose.
Toughskins opened this time and were equally good as the previous night. The Forgotten played next and everyone was pretty into them. We went on at about midnight and at that point I was pretty delirious from lack of sleep but I feel like we pulled it off. I wasn't sure that people were liking it at first since they weren't moving around but we got a good response in between songs. It was kinda like a hometown crowd for Lars since he grew up in the area so lots of friends were there in the crowd. I met a lot of good people and the Blank Club was a good place to play. Here are some pictures:

From the Hemlock, photos by Jody Lyon:






From the Blank Club:

In Bloom

It rained for about three days last week. When the sun came back out I went into the backyard to check everything out and it is going nuts out there. Everything doubled in size and is growing like crazy. One cucumber plant didn't survive the transplant and is about dead and the tomatoes are getting way too big and are kinda crowding the nearby bell pepper plant. Definitely going to have to spread things out a bit more next season. Here are some pictures:

Serranos - very happy


Serrano fruit coming in

2 tomato plant with an overpowered bell pepper plant in front


Purple Onions and more Bell Peppers


Carrots, Radishes, Cucumbers


Romaine Lettuce, Green Onions and Jalapenos

Hazard Pay

It's been about two and a half weeks since I've written anything, it's been really busy. I've been working 12.5-13.5 hours per day, 7 days a week. The project is behind schedule, over budget and there have been some safety issues and now I expect to be here until the end of the month.
I was sick all last weekend, luckily we were given those days off at the last minute on Friday. I had the worst cold in years, I was on the couch from noon on Friday until Sunday night just sneezing and coughing like crazy. I watched about 15 movies and a couple UFC fights while I was down. I'm feeling a lot better now and I'm back at work.
I arrived at work on Monday to find out that there was an "explosion" at the refinery on Saturday, about 20 feet from where our crew's equipment is set up. There hasn't been a lot of talk about it and there's nothing in the news about it but the people that were here on Saturday definitely experienced it. Our employees that were working that day said that it was the loudest boom they had ever heard and they returned to find the viewing portholes in the furnace blown open with the interior insulation all over the ground and the concussion was felt all over the refinery.
Refinery workers are very sensitive to any loud noises in the plant due to a history of explosions and deaths in the industry in the 80's and 90's. The last major refinery disaster that changed the industry was the BP Texas City explosion in 2005 which killed 15 people. After that disaster, refineries began using Blast Resistant Modules or "BRMs" for offices that were placed in the "blast zone", or within a certain distance of an operating process unit. These are designed to protect occupants in the case of an incident like the Texas City explosion. Hopefully I never have to experience whether they work or not.
All of us working in the refinery know that it's a potentially dangerous job but the money is what keeps us coming back. Most refinery workers know someone who has been seriously injured or killed while working here. The petrochemical industry has made a lot of changes in the last 10 years but there is a long way to go before it can be considered a safe industry. Then again, will working with flammable liquids under pressure and large steel equipment that weighs thousands of pounds ever be truly safe?