Things happen. Things happen for a reason they all say. I believe this statement was crafted originally as a little white lie to make somebody feel better, all fuzzy and warm inside in spite of the world crashing down around them. Now society has taken that little white lie and propagated it as far as they possibly could. From my experience a majority of the population actually believes this dribble. Well I for one....am not sure what I believe anymore. Does everything happen for a reason? or just the occasional thing?

Recently there have been a few things around me that have happened, changed. Things that have gone back to the way I remember them as being good, and the way I've missed and sometimes wished they could be again. I feel things are changing for the better, which makes me happy. Although these changes also bring about the memories of times before, of the people before, that had a profound influence on my life, even if they weren't aware of it. I thank those people from the bottom of my heart and soul, and wish that I could tell them in person right now. I should, instead of missing them, attempt to live the life they showed me I can live. But for some reason I haven't been able to. What's holding me back, or down, I'm not entirely sure, but it's aggravating. The recent changes have reminded me and shown me that not all is lost, it's simply a matter of timing and applying pressure in the direction you wish to go. Patience is a virtue, and I find mine wearing thin quicker and quicker each day. Something will happen soon, for reason or for not, I'm sure of it, and then we shall see what becomes of mice, and men, and the objects that incessantly revolve around their so called lives.


posted by CityRat 0 comments

Now, let's all befriend a large group of people, invite them over for a huge celebration feast, kill them all, and take all their land and personal belongings for yourself. That about wraps up the meaning of American Thanksgiving, does it not?

posted by CityRat 5 comments

After exploring most of my building and regaling my friends with tales of my adventures, I vowed I should take a camera on my next trip...So I did. And now, the wenches! er, the premiere photo expedition!

The expedition started the same as the last, I got home from work, emptied my pockets of noisy items, and filled my pockets with the nights equipment. Equipment taken on this trip: small flashlight, multi-tool, metal thing that opens doors, and of course my camera. Everything fits in my pockets quite well, except the camera, which I had to carry, which was a pain in the ass, but I managed.

Out the door and into the stairwell. Twelve floors is a fairly long walk up. Luckily I was only headed to the fourth floor first. I hit the fourth floor, took a quick shot of the electrical closet for posterity as I passed by, took the corner and headed to the connecting doors between my building and the neighbouring building. Once in the second building I hit the stairwell and started the uneventful climb to the top floor. The stairwell door had just been painted and complained a bit when I opened it, but it let me through. Over to the elevators I quietly listened for any sign that somebody might join me in the hallway. After a moment of silence I turned towards the unmarked door. Either I've lost my touch in this door opening thing or the metal piece I've been using is getting more flexible and making the whole process more difficult. After trying to open this door for roughly five mins one of the floor residents decided to take a little trip someplace that involved the hallway as part of the main route, so I bailed back down the stairs.

Deciding to give up on that door I headed back down to the fourth floor and crossed back over to my building. Back into the stairwell for another hike up to the top floor mirror of where I had just come from. The hallway on this side was a little quieter. Still I took no chances and listened for a moment before going to work on the door. This door proved a little easier adversary than the previous door and granted me access fairly quickly. Into the hidden stairwell and closing the door quickly behind me I breathed a small sigh of relief, this trip would not be worthless.

Starting up the stairs I took a quick shot of the other side of the door I just come through. Not needing to watch for video cameras this time I took the stairs and corners a lot quicker. First corner, second set of stairs. Second corner, third set of stairs, and the first door. This door has no lock so it only required a quick listen before I opened it and headed on through. This small room contains some pipes, more pipes, and the next door. Since this door is not of the locking variety either I headed on through. The next room contains the door to the boiler room, and some stairs, which lead to more stairs, which lead to more stairs and a locked door. Behind this door, I believe, is the top of the elevators and all associated equipment and machinery. Unfortunately I have been unable as of yet to open this door. So back down to the boiler room door I go. The latch on the boiler room door is a little sticky so it took me a few minutes to get it to open for me. Luckily I didn't really have to worry about anybody just walking in and seeing me so I relaxed and took my time to open it.

The boiler room is very dark, which is why I brought the flashlight. I stepped into the room, closed the door, and clicked on my light for a look around. This is the first time I've actually stepped into the boiler room and not just peeked in the door. I turned off my light and took some random pictures in front of me, to the right of me, and straight up. The light in these photos is pure camera flash, I had my flashlight turned off for all of them. Switching my light back on I headed towards the back of the boiler room to these metal stairs. These stairs are even steeper than they appear. At the top of the stairs, evidence that somebody, the super I imagine, sits and hangs out on the roof. The roof doors, with a small map of the building which I didn't really look at, appear to have no lock. I thought there might be an alarm on the doors, and maybe I just wasn't seeing the lock for some reason, so I turned the door knob and gave a little push. The door opened easily although I was ready to bolt at any sudden loud noise that may or may not be an alarm. Fortunately, there was no alarm and I was out on the roof.

After making sure that the door wasn't going to lock on me when I closed it and leave me stranded on the roof I closed the door, turned off the camera flash, and attempted to get some shots of the city. The dark shots didn't turn out so well but I'll include them anyway. This is a shot directly from in front of the roof doors. Facing to the right from in front of the doors. An attempted shot from the edge down to the street. And I don't recall which way this picture was from or facing. Here's some machinery to the left of the roof doors, not sure what it is. There was a steel ladder bolted to the wall right beside the roof doors. So what else could I do, but climb them. Up to the very top of the building, on top of the boiler room now. It was at this point that I came to the realization that people may be able to see me up here and my camera flash most likely wasn't helping my situation. In fact, I could see people just across the street exercising in their apartments.

At this point the wind was starting to pick up and it was starting to get a little bit chilly. So I headed back down the ladder and back through the roofs doors into the boiler room. Much warmer in the boiler room. I stood for a moment at the top of the metal stairs and warmed up. My eyes had adjusted to the dark so I didn't need the flashlight to get back down the stairs and back to the boiler room door. At the boiler room door I listened a brief moment before opening it and heading back down the stairs. The trip back down to the unmarked door was quick and uneventful. At the unmarked door I listened for a moment while a few people came out of the elevator, passed by, and went into their suites. After another 30 seconds or so I exited the unmarked door into the relative normality of the supposed top floor of the building. I hit the stairwell and took a relaxed stroll back down to the second floor and home. I had made it to the roof, new territory, I was happy, and my camera had a few decent shots for all of you. Enjoy. -:)


posted by CityRat 0 comments

Well, I meant well, but some things just don't get done when you want to get them done. The server maintenance is going to have to wait for another day, possibly this week, or this weekend, or next month, i'm not sure at the moment.

Ever get the feeling that everybody and everything is trying to prevent you from doing the things you really want to do?

posted by CityRat 0 comments

Just a quick note that my server (The Mayor) will be down for maintenance for a few hours this weekend. It's making a whining noise, that until recently was fairly tolerable, so I need to pop it open and vaccuum out all the dust bunnies and make sure everything is all connected proper like and happy. I also have to replace the fan in it since it stopped working some years ago and i've never gotten around to installing the replacement, which means I should go dig out the fan before I open The Mayor up for surgery as well. Please note that during this maintenance the following web sites will be unavailable:

CityRat's Nest (http://cityrat.sea-haven.net)
Jody Ruttan (http://www.jodyruttan.com)
Darryl Hutchinson (http://darryl.sea-have.net)
Keith Riddolls (http://keith.sea-haven.net)
TheInstigator.com (http://www.theinstigator.com)
Icecapade.com (http://www.icecapade.com)

The Mayor should only be down for a couple hours at the most, but you never know what i'm going to find once i'm in there.
posted by CityRat 0 comments

Americans have some serious hate issues. George Dubya Bush is a fucking wack job!
"Everybody that believes in abortion should be shot", sure thing Dubya. It's been about two days since the election and I'm totally surprised that nobody is bombing anybody else yet. What the fuck? Really? Who is pulling the strings down there to get these people in office to follow some agenda only known to elite group of warmongers and oil tycoons? I'm scared of what might happen over the next 4 years with that puppet in charge. The New York Times was right to put out a call for assassins, get rid of this guy! He acts like he's a little kid trying to follow in his fathers footsteps.
"What we are looking at here is good and evil, right and wrong." Pay attention people! Look at what the government is doing to you, your children, people and children around the world!
"We're not about to make the same mistake twice." Too late, you just did!
Those were quotes from George Bush's new world order speech if you didn't recognize them.
I guess there's only one thing left to do, train, stock up, and hunker down. This clown is bringing the world down around him attempting to realize his father's vision of new world order. Society as we know it is coming to an end if the American government has its way. Best be prepared for that unfortunate eventuality.

...end transmission

posted by CityRat 0 comments