Friday More

I was miserably tired when I got home from work today, so I just went into my bedroom and crashed for more than an hour.  I didn't get off work near as early as I thought I would, either.  In fact, I will have something like 3 and a half hours of "overtime" (stated that way because even with that, it won't add up to 40 hours) - anything helps right now.  No, I stayed later because of a very small delivery that just had to go out to a contractor.  No big deal to me, I always tell management that I am over my hours - if they want to continue to send me out, it's on them, not me.

I found out the other day that an inside salesman is going to be moving to Pennsylvania. The inside salesman manager was working my store yesterday and today - my manager is out of it with marital problems and having to go find another place to live (they are separating again).  So, today, I asked if they were going to replace that position or not?  "We're thinking about it".  Well, his was a good ear to throw at telling him I would throw in my desire for such a position, regardless of the fact that I am totally unqualified for such, but then again, so were the other guys that are in there now when they took those positions.  Our company wants people that have taken a minimum of 4 years of college to occupy it.  He stated they were looking to possibly simply lose the position - and that much more of a salary with it. 

The day will come, sooner or later, where I will simply realize that I am going to go nowhere in life in any company, that I'm stuck being a truck driver and that since that is true, I might as well go after the money, ie: find a very good paying job somewhere and be resolved to being behind the wheel.  I have not arrived at that point yet, especially working in a company that promotes from within.  But, if you never get promoted, and you stay there year after year, that pretty much sends the signal: you are, for whatever reason, no promotable.  Again, I am not there in that thinking, but I am not content at all to be getting the very small paychecks - in comparison with the past - that I am receiving because of cut hours.  I love my job, don't get me wrong, but - in my industry, well, I should be taking home about twice what I am now every paycheck with my experience. 

Having to rely on tenants to make up for the losses is not something I am prepared to deal with for the rest of my life.  You lose a great deal of privacy and you better be an easy-going person that can tolerate a lot when considering having fully 3 unrelated and unknown individuals living in bedrooms in your house plus 2 more living in a trailer outside.

However, the trailer tenants were allowed onto the property for humanitarian purposes, not a money making proposition. They don't live in the house and they only come in my house to use the bathroom, otherwise they are in "their" trailer.  Which also brings up the next subject: they are here.  They just returned about an hour ago.  Mark, the man side of this couple, came in relating his tale of extreme pain until he was given some sort of box that you simply push a button and it gives you a dose of - whatever it is he is on - to take away the pain.  He also handed me $50, the amount owed from 2 weeks ago.  I do charge them $25 per week for the "priviledge" of living on the property, with some semblance of a normal life, security, working and running utilities, the use of the Magic Jack Phone, the use of the restroom, the use of my grill (which is primarily what they like to use to cook).  They aren't subjected to the conditions they were living in before: living in someone's backyard in a storage shed.  They also aren't subjected to the extreme elements: namely the heat that is here.  100 degrees today.  My neighbor behind me gave us a Mastercool evap cooler - pretty much the best on the market. 

He had acquired it from a job he was working.  Regardless that the unit was free, it needed several items to make it work and I spent about $100 on getting that thing up and operational on the roof of the trailer.  It is big enough to cool a small house, meaning they aren't going to be suffering too badly in there.  I say that because when it gets humid, those things work less efficiently.  They still cool, but not to the degree of when the air is dry.  I have made some personal, financial sacrifices to get them something to live in.  I'm not patting myself on the back, I'm simply saying that I do not feel bad in receiving $25 per week from them.  I made it clear from the git-go that once they moved in, I was not going to also be covering their utility usage.  $25 per week may be more than the utility usage actually is - evap coolers use electricity to run a water pump and a fan, not an AC compressor, they are relatively cheap to use.  Oh, and I also got them a Direct TV box.  I think for people that were homeless, it's a pretty good deal, really.  I have lived in trailers like that in the past, not great, but as I say, FAR better than living on the streets.

So, I did take the $50 and no, I won't be feeling bad about it.  Something in me started to give into it - NO - I said, I have done plenty for them, this is hardly abusive. 

Whether it is evident here or not, I am EXTREMELY cranky right now.  3 nights in a row without good sleep.  That long nap sort of helped.  Because of the loss of sleep, it put me in a groggy condition - writing on this computer is fine, having people interrupting me is NOT fine.  Usually, when this happens, my 4th night I'm crashing well. 

BTW, I have been making a bunch of typo errors  - it is this keyboard I bought at Fry's Electronics.  It is a piece of junk.  I am going to have to go buy another brand.  It doesn't like to produce the c letter and I frequently have to go back and put it in and it also frequently simply doesn't give me whatever other letter that I typed onto the keyboard.  It WAS a cheap one, but not the same kind as the others I have bought in the past.  Mistake, I will be correcting that problem this weekend.  It annoys me that I sometimes go back over and read what I have written and see the errors in the type. 

To the news:  it is intriguing, to me if no-one else, that several states are considering adopting the same legislation that Arizona has in it's AZ Immigration SB1070 bill.  It's actually amazing that any state would follow suit considering the negativity that this bill has generated - apparently the world over, not just the nation.  Bunk.  I hope they all adopt such bills.  The federal government is not doing it's job in more than just border security, let the states take it upon themselves to do it for themselves.  It was interesting that states in the northeast were considering the same legislation - this problem is nationwide, not just Arizona.  However, I do believe Arizona has FAR more of these people running around than anyone else, including Texas, New Mexico and California. 

When you get down to it, the Federal Government has very little that is should be imposing itself upon or even attempting to get involved with.  Ownership of private business is a glaring example of the federal government FAR over-reaching it's mandates.  It's ALL about the people WE elect to take the positions to run this country. 

Anyway, it's good to see that another poll has 71% of Arizonans still backing this bill and Governor Janet Brewer's popularity numbers gaining over 30% percentage points in the short time since she signed that bill into law.  Even better that she is not only standing her ground, but has gone on some of the media "circuits" to give the Obama administration some of the medicine it has been dishing out to both her and the state of Arizona.  There are bigots and racists everywhere, but an entire state?  Lucidity, rationale, reason goes out the window when a few loud mouths get national media attention. 

Well, the day is growing to a close - light of day will be gone soon enough and I want to get a good plant watering in.  I'm doing it every other day right now, when the full heat of summer hits, it will have to be every day.

Later.
ben