Friday, December 16, 2011

Friday 12/16/2011

Isn't it amazing?  You get more hours on a paycheck - a LOT more hours - you figure out how much more money it is before you get that paycheck and then..........you also figure the government is going to take a huge chunk of it.  Somewhat depressing to say the least.  I don't go to work so I can have all of my money automatically taken by the government, total BS.

Whatever.  It just pisses me off.  A bunch of damn politicians who could care less about the people.  They have THEIR agenda which usually doesn't come ANYWHERE in line with the demands that the people who voted them into office made and expect to be fulfilled when they do take the position.  I could care less if we voted the whole lot of them out of office, both sides, and start all over again.

My dad is saving the day for Caleb.  He wrote me back and said his college fund for Caleb has plenty in it, apparently, much more than he needs to get things rolling.  Which is good, because otherwise, I was going to have to come up with $400 by the 22cd of this month.  I am going to have a serious sit-down discussion with my son about this fiasco.  It's really inexcusable.  You don't wait until the last minute to sign up for college, you get it done as soon as they allow you to enroll.  You have no idea what kind of problems you might encounter and THAT is the reason you get it done as early as possible.

Really, I am kind of inundated right now with a lot of junk going on that I am not particularly caring for, at all. This is Christmas and I want to enjoy the season, not have all kinds of things going on that are totally avoidable.  I told a WalMart checkout lady yesterday Merry Christmas and she looked at me in shock.  Her whole demeanor changed and she said: "Thank you VERY much!".  Doesn't anyone say Merry Christmas anymore?  Happy Holidays apparently are the norm now, which I also consider bunk.  The Holiday that is being celebrated is CHRISTMAS, thank you very much.

Whatever.  I am almost out of time before I have to leave for work.

G'day.

ben

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Standing Rib Roast

Ahhh, the small joys you get here and there.
There is nothing like a chunk of Standing Rib Roast, otherwise known as Prime Rib.
You never see it excepting at Christmas.  Well, maybe they are selling it at Thanksgiving, too.
I mean, yes, you can go into a restaurant and get it - which is all well and good - but to serve it at home?  You are going to pay a LOT of money for that roast!

Considering the price of food and especially meat is going up and up/inflation, I was surprised to see this particular cut of beef on sale at near the same it was last year.  Everything else has gone WAY up.  Just check out the price of a pound of bacon (not to be confused with their gimmicks of giving you 12 ounces and charging the SAME price in some cases as 16 ounces for it!) now and compare what it was a year ago.

Yeah.  This inflation was predicted a while back - like over a year ago and for 2012, if those predictions come true, food is going to cost a lot of money.

The term "double-dip inflation" is coming around a lot more in recent times as well - the prediction that 2012 is not going to be pretty.  Trust in the Lord, that's all I can say.

Busy weekend en-queue.  Rain? Yes, it's supposed to rain this weekend, if so, my activities will be indoors and getting some things I have - simply - put off.

It's nice to know, on a completely different subject, that I can still lift up and carry hundreds of pounds of weight from point A to point B.  That would be at work.  That may sound like a chore to most people, but I don't see it that way at all.  I was lugging this - metal thing I'll call it since a vast majority of people won't know anything about the material that is involved with waterworks - that weighed 200 pounds this morning.

We landed 2 accounts with existing customers -it's all bids, folks, you either win it or you don't - and on both accounts the material is extremely heavy.  I guess I'm going to have to take pics of it.  One item is called a "megalug".  They range in size, but the larger sizes are extremely heavy.  My arms have been muscling up quite nicely in recent - weeks actually.

Whatever, it's bed time and...............................................................time to go to bed!

Thursday 12/15/2011

The kid tenant that moved out while I was at work, giving me no notice and leaving owing me money..........wrote back to my threat letter.
You see, it's a waste of time for me to go after the people that don't have jobs.  They don't have any money and I would be wasting over $200 for - much of nothing.  Well, it goes on their record for 7 years, but again, if they don't have any money, then that is pretty much irrelevant.  If an eviction is on a person's record, likely any "good" apartment complexes are not going to rent to that person.

The threat letter was basically that I know where he works and that I can easily sue and win since he owes me.  In the cases of tenants owing landlords money, it's open and shut case, the judge rules in favor of the landlord every time unless there is some sort of mitigating circumstance (think: slumlord or landlord doing something illegal such as shutting off the power or water because the tenant isn't paying).

That apparently got his attention.  I saw his email in my box and steeled myself for the barrage of profanities and not-so-nice words that may be coming my way.  Instead of getting an earful through and eyeful, he stated that he had left for California, had to do something with his dad and that he would be back at the beginning of January and that he wants to try and work this out versus going to court.  I also had informed him I knew of the other court case he had already lost when an apartment complex sued him for unpaid rent and they - won.  Undoubtedly, they went for garnishment if they - he and his friends that were all living together - didn't pay up.

We'll see how that goes.  This weekend, I am shutting myself in.  I hope anyway.  I want to get the portions of the inside of the house that need some - changing - nailed down so I don't have to worry about it for Christmas.  I can then turn my attention to the multiple other things that need to be done.

Oh, and I will definitely be going to Bashas' (local grocery chain): they have the deal again on Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib) for $3.87 per pound.  You can't find that kind of deal - anymore basically.  I want 2 of them, 1 for Christmas and freeze another one.  I need a Christmas tree and I still have all that work on the East side of the house left to do - it's rained and rained and I haven't done anything out there since the rain began.  However, it's done - at least temporarily - and I hope it will stay that way on Saturday, which is when I intend on getting out there as well and getting half (my goal, at least half of it ) done before the weekend is over.

I was thinking of asking for yet another day off on the week before Christmas - which is almost here - but I am not sure yet.  Will definitely dig into my vacation hours and I want plenty of that for this coming summer.

Well, my time is already up for pre-work rituals, time to go to work.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Wednesday 12/14/2011

Hump day already.
Rained the last two days, supposedly going to clear up today.
I love the rain, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely put a hamper on the things I need to get done outside.
I did finally get the parts for my AC unit for the trailer yesterday - whether that gets done anytime soon or not considering everything else going on, I dunno.
Umm, sort of on cruise control here this morning, a bit tired and really can't wait until I get the 6 days off of work.  Much needed respite and time to do other things that I would like to do.
Regardless, work day almost here, gotta git outta here.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Tuesday 12/13/2011

Another rainy day.  Day 2 of the rain and I have to leave for work in about 20 minutes.
The question is: do I leave the dogs inside?
I dunno. If it's still raining when I leave, I will probably leave the doggy door open and hope for the best.
Caleb is finally home - ie: he left all of his keys with the pastor's family in case they needed them for getting
in to water and feed the dogs while they were in Florida.
Meaning he couldn't drive the car.
Well whatever.  I have an extra set of keys but prefer not to give them to him because it's the ONLY extra set
of keys and those are those things that cost $25 to make duplicates of.

Hard to do landscaping work in the rain, I got nothing done out there yesterday and if it continues as it is this morning, then nothing will get done out there today, either.

Trouble brewing with Caleb's education.  I knew this was going to happen, I tried to avert it but, when she wants to do everything, usually something is left amiss and it ends up a clusterfreak.  Have to go into it later, but I am now trying to fix what was broken and I am definitely NOT happy about it.

Well whatever.  I have to get a couple of things done before leaving for work, now that I think about it, outta here.
ben

Monday, December 12, 2011

Got Hit With A ..............

..................... curve ball this morning at work.  I was supposed to go to a Conway (LTL/less than truckload freight delivery service, nationwide) terminal in west Phoenix to pick up some materials to deliver to a contractor.  Well, I don't go on such runs until I contact the inside salesman on the account and have him verify that the material is actually THERE and ready to be picked up - both are equally important.

Well, the salesman said he would check in an instant message type of thing.  Okay, meanwhile, I realized that after I had entered the building and began getting on with the day's work that it had started raining outside. And raining, and raining - you get the picture.  Well, I got busy with stuff in the will call, there is still a lot to do and no lack of things to get done.

A while later, the salesman messages me back:  Conway, for whatever reason, had transferred the material from the Phoenix yard to the distributor that we buy this particular material from  - to Globe.  That it would be there, in Globe, by 9:00 am.  Yeah, baby and finally: a trip out of town that takes me to the mountains instead of the desert southwest.

It rained the entire trip there and the entire trip back. I got out the Verizon broadband device and saw the thing giving me 3G service all the way up to Superior.  Outside of Superior, on that particular road, you go up a 7% grade in steep canyons and yes, the service went out, but no biggies. At the top, service back again and there is nothing up there, no towns, nothing.  Into Globe - would hope an area like that might have 4G - no go.  Not even Casa Grande had 4G service. In fact, the only place I have found with 4G service is the Phoenix area.

The 3G service is just slower is the only thing - I didn't know what to expect getting that service in terms of what has 4G service and what has 3G service.

Day not done early, I had to take that material to an extremely muddy and wet jobsite, I was surprised anyone was working out in this.

Well, got things to get done.

Later

Monday 12/12/2011

So, it's a challenge.
Get the things that need to be done - done - by the time Christmas Eve Day gets here.
This is, apparently, the day we are doing Christmas at my house - so far anyway.
But, that is completely dependent - usually anyway - on whatever day my middle brother
can get off of work.  That is, if he's even coming.  If he does show up, he best be keeping
off the subject of politics, cause' if he comes over here starting that kind of trouble,
Christmas at my house is going to blow up on itself.

Not that that has never happened before.

So, fun fun.  I haven't even gotten a Christmas tree yet, though all the lights are up outside. My Santas and various other Christmas things are sitting around my living room, though.

Time has run out.  I wasn't really in a writing mood this morning.

G'day.

ben

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sport Fishing

I was talking to Caleb on the phone. After his trip to Florida, he was all over going back out and going sea fishing again.  
I have finally figured out what the holdup is with him in things like this.  He is acutely aware, apparently, of both of his parent's financial concerns and problems and doesn't want to be a burden.  So, when I say something about going on another fishing trip and he gives me a blank look, at the time, I didn't get it.  I thought he had a good time, so what was up?

When we were talking yesterday about this, he said he really wanted to go again and this time he would save up for the entire trip.  Ummm, yeah, well I don't know if he realizes how much a trip like that costs.  Even on the cheap you are going to drop some Benjamins.  A number of them, actually.  I see now, it's all about money and that he wants to be able to help out.  But he already helps his mom with money - she is unemployed yet again as she was let go of her recent job find.  It's a bit of a story, but it didn't sound like such a great place to work at, anyway.

I replied we could go this summer sometime and if he could contribute towards it, that would be great.  I REALLY want to do the overnighter.  Actually, it's 2 nights now that I think about it.  You leave the dock at 8:00 pm.  The boat cruises to the fishing area while you sleep in a bunk.  Boat arrives the next morning and you get up and spend the day fishing.  Night comes, the boat leaves and comes back in the next morning.  $195 per person, plus food, tackle and permits.  Well, you can bring your own tackle, but I am not going out and buying all that stuff.  I would definitely buy some lures, though.  People using their own lures was what was really catching the fish last time.  

I suggested to Caleb that we might rent a small boat and go out on one of the nearby lakes and sorta get a better feel for fishing. I used to love fishing as a kid, but life and it's issues have mostly gotten in the way of much of anything.  Not that I care, it is what it is, nor that I'm complaining, but, that's the reason I set out to get the 5th wheel travel trailer and get it, eventually, up to mom's property.  There is more to life than living in the polluted, vile city.  I hate living here, I hate it.  I ESPECIALLY hate hate the neighborhood I am living in, but I have gone into that quite enough.

Now I have a better feel for what's going on with him.  He wouldn't eat much while we were on the boat last time and I only found out afterwards why: he thought it was too expensive and he didn't want me to have to spend a lot of money on him.  Well what are dads for?  I am glad, though, that he is on that end of things instead of the "Gee, you are dad, you must be an ATM machine, please gimme, gimme, gimme" attitude that I have seen in kids these days that makes me want to puke.  Hopefully he gets a nice paying job after school and will have learned about saving versus spending everything that you get in.  But, while I am on vacation, I expect to have to spend exorbitant amounts of money on food when you have no other choice.  If we do this again, I will let him know that: you hungry, get something, they put it on my tab, I don't really care.  Not like I do that everyday.  

Well, I am going to go back outside and try again.  I had absolutely no motivation when I went out there an hour ago trying to do the same thing: resume the landscaping project and grass cutting stuff.

Later.
ben

Sunday 12/11/11

Christmas draweth nigh.
........and I just found out last night that I am supposed to be hosting the family Christmas get-together this year.
Nice.  Lesseeeee, a 14 day notice. Hmmmm.  Okay, I didn't exactly tell her yes, yet.  I said I would give an answer by.......today, actually.

This all started when my sister-in-law called her yesterday asking if we were doing Christmas at my house, apparently it's my turn.

What I am waiting on is to take an inventory of what, exactly, I will need to do to get the place in order for that kind of thing.  Well that inventory is done.  The work? Has not begun, though Mark did spend quite a bit of time putting up all of my front yard Christmas decorations and it looked really good last night when I came home from that party.

However.  There is still to finish the landscaping project out there, though at least for now, if I just finish the part I started a week ago - I have not had time to do anything out there - it will look pretty good.  Then the side of the house, that is going to take some time.  I have issues in my main bathroom - which aren't a big deal to me, but if my family is going to be going in there using that bathroom then I am going to have to fix a few problems in there.  Mark will help with the house-cleaning portion and so, I think it is doable.  I don't have to have a perfect house for my family, but, it's got to look really good, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, of course, that doesn't include Christmas dinner.  Last time family was here, I served Standing Rib Roast that I had acquired while on sale at 50% off normal prices.  I dunno if such prices will be available.

First project done: clean out the refrigerator.  I got to looking at it while writing this entry and decided to get that P.I.T.A. job done.  Done : )
Off to the races!
G'day.

ben

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Saturday 12/10/2011

Well, church Christmas party was fun.
The food at that restaurant was good, too.
For whatever reason, the pastors were going out their way
to make sure I was feeling at home, but I am pretty capable of
doing that even in a crowd full of strangers.  I just haven't WANTED
to get involved in such for quite some time now.
After the restaurant, a large portion of the crowd went to
one of the older couple's home for dessert.  I had one treat and
that was it, though I did have a couple of cups of hot apple cider, yummmm.

Today is the company Christmas party. One thing that makes a party like
that a bit unbearable is when the attendees are getting to the highly inebriated
point.  Even if I were so inclined, I couldn't do it anyway.  Drinking and driving?
No thanks.  I would have to sleep it off in my car on their property, which I am
sure wouldn't go over too well, either.

There is a huge difference in carrying on a conversation with a straight, lucid person
and attempting to carry on one with a person that is stone drunk.  At least there
will be the Cornhole competition, that was fun last year and the year before.

Whatever the case, the food is always REALLY good, the main warehouse manager
is bringing his "pecan-smoked brisket' and his BBQ'ing is always awesome.  I think
I will plan on having a couple of beers, smoke a cigar, do the competition and then - go
home.  I haven't had a cigar in like 2 months now, I vowed to myself to slow down on
those things and sure enough, it wasn't too terribly hard to do so since I was not a daily
smoker and wasn't addicted to nicotine.

Umm, so whatever.  I have so much to do and so little time to do it, I love Christmas but I have to say this year is getting a bit out of hand.  Fortunately, this party starts at noon and that is the way I like it.
Much rather have a day time party than something that drags way into the night.

This, is sick:  "Hayes was convicted last year of raping and strangling Hawke-Petit and killing the girls. The girls died of smoke inhalation after they were tied to their beds and doused in gasoline before the house was set ablaze. Komisarjevsky was convicted Oct. 13 of the killings and of sexually assaulting Michaela."


I remember seeing the dad on TV news - wow.  He lost his entire family to these evil thugs.  He didn't just lose them, either, his family was basically tortured to death.  I wonder if this kind of crime would continue to go on if the people killing others in a manner such as these "men" did were to receive the same exact recompense as punishment?  Just kind of slowly boil them alive hanging above open flames.  I suppose it would do nothing to stop those kinds of crimes and would just make us all into barbarians and uncivilized, but still.  I just know how I am: if I lost my kids to 2 guys that came in and tortured them to death, including dowsing the girls with gasoline and setting the house on fire, I would just want to kill them myself.  Don't worry about the death chamber or electrocution chair or putting these guys up in a prison cell for 2 decades while they exhaust all the appeals, I'll just take care of this myself.  At least those "dudes" are both on death row is all I can say about that.


Well, whatever again.  I guess I better get out the salami, summer sausage and the cheese and start cutting.  It doesn't take long to get a cheese try ready and I didn't want to open the packages until maybe a few hours before I have to leave.  


Later.


ben

Friday, December 9, 2011

Christmas Party

It totally forgot this morning that tonight there is a Christmas party as well as tomorrow afternoon.  So, off to Riazzi's in Tempe in a bit.  This one is with the church folks, the one tomorrow is the company party.
Anyway, I processed my hours today for the pay period: 93.4 hours when there is normally 70.  Indeed and very nice.

So, busy busy. We are getting all kinds of OT because the company isn't sending us any help and the work has to get done.  About the time management sees the hours we are putting in - they may or may not help to alleviate the problem, who knows.  I don't really care, either, I will work these hours for a long time before I get tired of it, it would get me WAY ahead on everything.  But, somehow, I doubt this is going to be long-lived.  I will guess they will send someone over from the main branch to help out with stuff and not have to hire anyone new.  The only bummer about getting off late from work is that the sun is going down much earlier and I can't really get anything done on the landscaping project much less the trailer project.

My manager said he was only going to show up for 3 hours on Sunday and just let it go as far as the rest of it, he is getting a bit upset about the fact that we aren't getting any help.   Since he is going to do that, I probably will not be showing up on Sunday, or if I do, I will leave in time to go to church.  So, get there at 6:30am and leave at 9:30 am.  Or not, I would rather not.

Well, I was just waiting for my clothes to dry in the dryer, should be about done.

Outta here.

Friday 12/9/2011

Friday. But, a busy weekend en-queue.  If I recall correctly, Caleb and his mother should be coming home from Florida today.  Christmas party tomorrow and allegedly working on Sunday.  Mark is going to put up Christmas lights for me.  I didn't tell anyone they had to, I was just lamenting on the lack of time to get anything done around here.  I still haven't been to the parts place to get that stuff for the AC unit.

One thing I do have to look forward to is 6 days off at Christmas time.  But, at least 2 of it is going to be travelling.  I'm guessing by the time it gets here?  I'm not going to want to go anywhere.  But, dad wants to see me and Caleb too if possible.

Christmas gifts will be on the lighter side this year. Caleb wants a computer desk and chair for his room - which I haven't even begun looking for yet but it won't take long to find what I am looking for so no biggies there.  Umm, I will probably get him a very nice and comfortable computer chair with the caveat that it is going to be used.  It's really no fun sitting in an uncomfortable chair while doing internet stuff.

Mother is going to get the home made quilt and probably something else small thrown in for yucks sake.  My oldest brother and his wife will get the annual Omaha steak thing - I think this will be the 4th year that I have sent it to them, they always say they love it so I just keep doing that since they have everything they need  in life and their want list is FAR too expensive for anything I am willing to shell out for.  I dunno about my other brother, haven't spoken to him in well over a year now.

There is just plain too much going on both at home and at work and I am in need of some down time here.  Especially the work situation which has been extremely stressful with a manager who is going out of his mind attempting to deal with all of this stuff going on with the move and dealing with unbelievably rude and mouthy salesmen who are making accusations that are getting into upper management's ears and so on and so forth.  It doesn't take much to "trickle-down" in a 2-man operation.  We are getting truckload after truckload after truckload of material sent to our yard which isn't ready to receive all of it - they haven't paved the main portion of the yard yet and it is completely unusable until they do.  Instead, the conditions on the external part of the building are getting very cramped and not much more room available for anything else.

I'm not really sure I even want to go to a company Christmas party with some of these yodels that will be there that have been making life extremely difficult.  They think all of the movement that goes into getting an order pulled, palletized and on the truck and ready to go is all magic, just snap your fingers or wiggle your nose like on Bewitched and it's done.  Ohhh, that it would be so easy.  All day today?  Will be overtime the second I clock in this morning.  Speaking of which - time to leave for work.

ben

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Finished

I have been looking for a Christmas ornament that I can send out to this group that started this year.  An ornament club.  Well,  it sounded like a good idea and you would be surprised at some of the quality ornaments I have received.  In fact, some very nice home made ornaments.  Umm, well I wasn't going to do that, but I did finally find some great Indian-made stuff that I figured to fit the bill perfectly.

Since I had to buy so many of them, I was able to get them down on the price by a buck each.  I got the bubble envelopes from Walmart, it is done and ready to take to the post office and send out.  A bit late, perhaps, but should be a most people's homes by midweek next week, no biggies.

I witnessed an accident today.  Well, it wasn't really an accident.  In fact, it was pure aggression and road rage as far as I'm concerned.  Now that I think about it, I should have pulled over and told the police what I saw, but I was on the freeway and no way I could stop, in fact, I had to swerve to avoid this nonsense and do some hard braking as well.

I was Westbound on the Superstition Freeway.  The on ramp from Country Club drive is  2 lanes, not 1.  At the "end", you have to merge into the 1 lane if there are cars close to each other.  Merging is exactly what didn't happen today.  To the contrary, in fact, very much to  the contrary.

You see, I was going to get off there - that lane to get on the freeway also goes to get off the freeway.  I noticed out of the corner of my eye some strange movements of the cars and I looked over.  2 cars, side by side, neither of them budging to move out of the other's way in that 2 lane to 1 lane scenario.  The dude closer to me looks at the other dude and out of anger, I guess, SLAMS his car into the other car!  I have never personally witnessed anything like this!!

4 cars behind them pulled over as I was looking at this through my rear view mirror - those cars were sliding all over the place and I was in the next lane over slightly behind them, I was avoiding this garbage at all costs to the point that either stopping or getting past them was the objective: in this case, I got past them.  I was satisfied that they saw the same thing I did and moved on.  IF I had been in a position to pull over behind this crap, I definitely would have.

Well whatever.  Who knows how much of this intentional stuff goes on out here every day.

Whatever the case, I had to vent that.  Get it out of my system.  Unbelievable, really.

Time for bed.

ben

Thursday 12/8/2011

So, I am reading this story about a woman who could no longer afford her apartment somewhere in New York and has had to put her stuff into storage and move in with a friend.  She makes 50k per year.  She has lots of bills - don't we all.  I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but if you are making 50k per year and can't make it, it probably means you are living above your means and you need to - for one - find a cheaper place/area to live.  I know, that's the cold harsh reality of it, but a person making 50k per year is doing a lot better than the 14 million Americans who are unemployed and not making anything per year besides perhaps unemployment insurance if they are covered by it.

What does she need 2 bedrooms for if she's living alone?  Why does it seem that we all pressured, somehow, to live so far beyond our means that eventually, people seem to lose everything, including their hope.  I guess I'm just happy to have a place to live and be able to cover my bills, at least presently, and even though living in a rotten neighborhood, just sort of shut that all out and mind my own business.

I was informed yesterday that, because of all the work presently going on, my hours would be re-instated to 40 per week.  Not that I have not been getting that, anyway, at least recently.  Today? After 4 hours I will be into "real" overtime hours and carry that into Friday. If I show up on Sunday, all the more - though I am resisting this Sunday thing, I have a lot of stuff I need to get done and working on Sunday is not going to help that situation, at all.

I have to sit back and at least attempt to understand where some of these "higher" level managers at work are coming from.  More junk being thrown at both of us.  We did half a million in sales last month, which is a GREAT month, especially for a 2 man operation.  The claim was that I screwed up on an order.  This pertaining to some new type of material that I had never seen before coming into our yard.  Well, we already went through all of this last week: this particular part gets these particular bolts.  They are supposed to go together, but no-one told either of us at the branch about that little aspect of it and apparently we were supposed to intrinsically know that X goes with Y.

You have to understand that we just moved, the place is still half in chaos and while the move was being made, literally hundreds of pallets of material for 2 jobs came in.  When I finally got a chance to get over there and see what was going on, that stuff was all shoved into a huge sea of pallets and crates that were not organized at all.  Anyway, I was supposed to pull an 18 adapter and get an 18 box of bolts to go with it the other day.  I triple-checked my work.  I KNOW I pulled the right material.  But, a big to-do was made about it and my manager ended up doing an inventory count.  Our inventory is RIGHT on.  This apparently doesn't phase these managers, however, and apparently gave a tongue-lashing to my manager.

I have no idea what these people expect of us at this point.  I do have an idea that 2 of them dislike me and my work and - again - it's probably time for a plan B here.  These 2 individuals are - well I won't go into it here.  I won't go into Plan B here, either, for obvious reasons.  At the end of this road, I will go into all of it, but not now.  There is no point in it, because I am only reading into what I have been hearing - the actual reality of what I think is going on and what is really going on could be 2 completely different things.  This is a play-it-out situation and that's exactly what I'm going to do.  Play it out.  In fact, ........... no, inadvisable to go into any of it on a journal that anyone in the world can read.

My time is almost up for today's pre-work rituals.  I have Christmas lights to put up; yardwork; landscaping and other things such as the trailer though admittedly, the trailer doesn't have to be done anytime soon.  They received my parts for the AC but I haven't had the time to get over there and get them.  Once I do get them, however, I want to install them to make sure it's going to work.  The point? I have been getting off of work later and later, it's hard to get anything done in the afternoons while any daylight is left when you are getting home at 4:30 or 5:00 pm.  I am not necessarily complaining, my next paycheck should be wonderful.

G'day.
ben

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wednesday 12/7/2011

Ummmm, still having trouble digesting the thought that those 2 and the entire family are not only back in the neighborhood, but one street over from me.  It isn't exactly surprising that the family is back in the neighborhood, however.  They have come and gone out of here many times over. They find a place to move into - under whatever circumstances - and then normally are forced out after a month, 2 months, several months, whatever and however long.  The story of their lives is moving from one place to another to another, leaving the properties they occupied totally and completely trashed.

When I say trashed, I mean trashed.  Whatever the mind can conceive in the destruction of a property both internally and externally, that is the definition of trashed in their case.

Whatever.  I am not going to go into all of it that leads up to where we are at in this situation again - takes too long and is already written out in this journal in previous entries, albeit long ago.  Caleb will most certainly become extremely agitated to find out they are living anywhere near us.  After they left, Michael admitted to stealing several of Caleb's things which infuriated Caleb.  Maybe I better just not tell him, I don't need him going and looking for trouble.

Well, this weekend looks to be extremely busy and I am not sure I am up to all of it.  I like my weekends the way I already do them, not filled completely up with stuff.  Friday night, I am allegedly invited to some sort of adult party thing at church.  Saturday is the company Christmas party and Sunday I have been asked twice now if I would work.  This means nothing but a blur of a weekend, basically, it isn't a weekend at all.

If I'm going to miss church on Sunday, I am going to have to consider going to the Wednesday service tonight.  I don't really like missing church at this point, even if I don't feel like going I force myself anyway.

It equips an intersection with a device that can tell if a car is going too fast to stop at a coming red light.  It would recognize that speeding car as a risk, and hold cross traffic a few seconds to let it pass. 


Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/chandler/New-red-light-camera-system-aims-to-make-intersections-safer#ixzz1fqvKm3tO


This is the new system Chandler wants to put in.  This system tells if a car is not going to stop at a light, therefore running a red light and holds up cross traffic. So what, do you think, people are going to do when they find this out?  I am guessing it will only coax a person inclined to run red lights to run even more red lights.

Who knows, I think it's a stupid idea considering the implications if you really think it through, but I have to get off to work.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Michael and Anthony

No, they aren't back in my house.  Never will be.  I will not tolerate the kind of - shit - that I need not go into here since it's completely written out in this blog - that I received from them. 

What is the point then, of writing about them?

I came home from work today and saw their sister and one of their little brothers on the vacant lot that is owned by 350 man - actually his mother - directly across the street from my house.  My instant thought was: "no good thing can come from this, why are they there and where did the come from? Are they back in the neighborhood?". 

The kid that has been walking my dogs answered that question later when he came over and I asked if he knew anything.  Yup, they moved into a house the NEXT street over.

So, this entire family is living less than 100 yards away from me.  This isn't anything that I can say is a pleasant thought, at all.  The first things that came to mind when I heard this was theft and destruction.  There are no morals in that family.  There are no boundaries,  these people actually believe that since they are extremely poor, that therefore entitles them to do whatever they want or need to,  including burglary; theft; criminal trespassing and a list of other things. 

I can only say that getting Mark and Lynnette back on the property the same day I found out that the tenant had left while I was at work was not just chance.  There was a great unease in me when they left.  I attributed it to the characteristics of this neighborhood.  And so beit. 

But, with all the other BS going on in this neighborhood, not the least of which is being surrounded by Hoarders, I am going to start looking for a new place to live.  I don't know that this is the straw that broke the camel's back, probably not since I am questioning whether it is or isn't - but it's close enough. It's time to come up with a contingency plan.  Or even, just find a place to move and live on the cheap.  Let this place go. I have not fully convinced myself, yet, that this is the best answer, but the pendulum is definitely swinging in that direction.  I will start looking around and seeing what's available out there with the income I have. 

I am not saying that I have decided to move out of this neighborhood, I AM saying it's time to start taking a look at seeing what's available.  If you know me from my writings on this blog, then you might understand that when I say that, that means I am going to spend a great deal of time searching out locations and attempting to find something decent or that will fit the bill.  If I find the right place, I will walk from this house, hand over the keys to the mortgage company and that's that.

I told Mark straightaway: that family is back in the neighborhood, be wary.  Keep an eye and an ear open at all times. 

No, this prospect I see nothing but as evil, these people don't care about anything or anyone but themselves.

Sunday Work?

I must confess that ever since I started a job where I do not work on weekends - almost never - I don't miss it and definitely don't want to engage in it.  I worked 7 day a week jobs for years.  I worked 6 day a week jobs forever, seemingly.

Well, our store is FAR from being done with the move.  We have been abandoned with the extra help - which is no great loss, actually, they didn't get much done while they were there - but we don't have extra time to run a store and get it in order at the same time. All two of us? Hardly.

Well, a company is coming in on Sunday to tint the windows on the front of the store.  I dunno, dude, it faces East.  East doesn't get all day sun and more importantly: during the hot summer months, that isn't the side of the building that needs tinted, but if that's what they want, then that's what they get.  Manager wants me to come in and do some work to get the place done or at least close to done.  I dunno. I like my Sundays.  Get up early, drink some coffee; surf the net; do some laundry then go to church. Get home from church and do whatever I want to, really.

I'll probably end up doing it.  Half a day- though 6 hours is more than half a day.  It definitely needs to get done and it doesn't appear at the pace things are going that it's going to get done unless we use time that isn't devoted towards deliveries to do so.

Very tired.  Long day.  Lots of OT already this week. Going to bed soon enough and want off the computer.

ben

Tuesday 12/6/2011

"Opponents call it murder and a crime against nature."
ROFL!!
This is the thoughts of the people who are opposed to the state sanctioned and initiated bear hunt in New Jersey.  
Murder?!!!  As if you are taking a human life that has an eternal soul.


I am frequently quite amused by certain news stories in the morning, this one almost had me snorting coffee out my nose when I started to read the story, lol.  


So, they said it might get down into the 20's in certain parts of the valley last night, but the forecast said 35 degrees.  Right now, at 5:45 am, it's 36 degrees.  I found out too late last night that there might be a freeze factor and to cover your plants.  Everything I had read? None of it said anything about frost protection.  Lovely.  Hope everything's okay out there, but at 36 degrees it shouldn't be a problem.  I ended up putting heaters in my ponds, though.  I have to look it up again, but I think I am also supposed to stop feeding the fish when the water gets that cold, the food allegedly just sits in their stomachs and rots, or something like that.  


Their growing season is definitely over for the year.  Some of them are looking to get too large for the small ponds and I will have to consider selling them next year.


Well, Lynnette apparently has landed the job she said was offered to her.  We'll see how that goes.  Her problem is if they ask to do a background check, her sister steals all of her family member's identity and uses it for criminal purposes.  Her sister is, allegedly, in prison right now.  I wish her luck in the job, if she actually does get it - she is supposed to start training today.


Meanwhile, the inspector was supposed to come today and sign off on the trailer.  Either she didn't show up or she did and just looked through the fence, who knows.  She was also supposed to stop at my next door neighbor's and do something about all the junk and the fact that he is also living in an RV on the property.  I didn't file that complaint, I was just asking about it.  I didn't ask about the situation behind me, I will, instead, wait a couple of days and then do an email request through the system. Should be able to find out what the results of that court date were, which allegedly occurred yesterday.  


Well, time to be off to work.


G'day.
ben

Monday, December 5, 2011

Arizona City

I am sitting in Arizona City writing this on the 3g network.  Truck was just unloaded, waiting for them to load pipe back on that they want to return.  Took the computer a while to switch from 4g to 3g for some reason, even though it showed and "excellent" signal.  I'm not really a big fan of the 3g network, but I'll take whatever I can get and i figure if I am sitting out in the boonies in the middle of the desert and able to get any kind of connection, count myself lucky.

Just throwing this on here to see a post from the middle of nowhere!

Monday 12/25/2011

I have very few, precious little minutes left here.  Got a late start this morning.
I'm guessing the hoarder neighbors are going to contact the city, if they haven't already, about the trailer being brought back.
The lady is going to have to call me, I guess, that's the way she dealt with this last time.
We'll see.
While in church yesterday, the store called to tell me that the fan motor is in for the trailer AC unit.
Since I can no longer use the other RV to have people living in it, I have to decide whether I want to keep the thing around or not.  Not sure yet.  Not in a big hurry to decide, but selling it could fund a casita/guest house type of thing.
Again, no big hurry, since doing that  would mean a lot of work and getting permits and approvals from the city and all that sort of junk.
Well, that's it.  Plenty to do at work today, keep me busy into the afternoon (at least).

G'day.

ben

 Thursday morning It’s almost 9:00 am and they are just starting on finding parts after calling them to see where they’re at with this. They...