Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday

Just pondering things before I get started with the work day.
I heard an ad this morning on the radio that was pretty nice.
Frito Lay has announced (at least locally, no idea if it's nationwide) that they are going to start ADDING 20% more product to every bag of chips for however long - WITHOUT raising the price.
It's their offering for people getting hurt by the failing economy.
I find that especially refreshing because many companies have gone the other route - take product OUT and leave the price the same.
You HAVE noticed that a package of hot dogs no longer comes in a 10-pack, didn't you? The price stayed the same: 8 for the price of ten, such a great deal!
Cereal companies are notorious for making the packaging look as though there is all kinds of cereal in it - when in fact many of the have reduced the amount - by weight - of content.

I kinda hope that this is a nationwide thing and that it will raise the bar for other companies to follow suit. Frito Lay has a huge manufacturing plant down in Casa Grande - I've been there a dozen times at least delivering pipe and materials when they were doing some sort of expansion project. A company that makes that kind of offering is a company whose product I'll buy - the boys love that stuff anyway.

This weekend's plans are simple: start the installation project for the drip watering system. The beginning of the project is the hardest AND the most expensive. You can spend a LOT of money on the timer and other items necessary to install the system - I think I have found a balance of good product that isn't astronomical in the price. Certainly the plumbing projects will be much cheaper than most people can get stuff like that - I just happen to work for a company whose plumbing division is purportedly the largest in America. We get stuff at cost a 6% bump.

I have decided that all exposed parts must either be brass or copper, not PVC. The sun is brutal towards plastic pipe around these parts - stuff like that will not be long-lived if exposed to the summer sun and heat on a daily basis. Anyway, my boss is bringing his personal equipment for sweating the copper stuff together with him to work today - which is pretty cool. I used to have all of that stuff, but certain theives decided to get their hands on it and it = whoooof = disappeared into thin blue air.

So, with that I have to make a trip to the plumbing branch today for some items we don't have here. Easy enough. What I thought amusing yesterday was my trip to Sprinkler World and Home Depot. When I was talking with the guys about how I should go about installing this system, they both said to go home, sit down at a table, get out a piece of paper and pen, get a beer and start making the plans. I'm serious, they BOTH said it's FAR more fun to have beers with the project than to not. Now, I wasn't even thinking in the terms of adult recreational beverage, hearing it from both of them made me want to go look into a mirror to ensure that the word Budweiser wasn't stamped on my forehead!

Well, I have a couple of articles I want to read before signing in for work and I only have 5 minutes left.
Have a great day!
ben

2 comments:

becomingkate said...

Good luck with the system!
(BTW, I have never heard of Sprinkler World. Only in/near the desert!)

Anonymous said...

Yes, well sprinkler systems of all kinds are very popular here - nobody wants to do what I am doing on a daily basis in spending a lot of time out there watering plants that could be set on a system and they can be watered automatically.
We don't rely on rain to water plants or grass - if we did we wouldn't have either except the naturally growing cacti.
Thanks!
ben

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