Wednesday, May 24, 2023

 So the day is basically done.  Breakfast at Waffle House with Taylor, property to mow a couple lawns, hook up the trailer, load the ATV, take it home, back to the property, drop the trailer, over to the school, watch a graduation, over to Lowe's, Chili's, property.  Property, put the cap on the hot water line for the sink, played some hide and go seek with the boy - he insisted on playing so we did 4 rounds of it.  

Home, clothes, pack, check my itinerary and on hold.  I hope I didn't ruin my trip. My first and middle name are listed as one name and the middle name doesn't have anything.  I'm on the phone with American, on hold and have been on hold for a long time.  Apparently a lot of people are calling them, I haven't gotten past the computer yet.  I will stay on hold until I find out if/how it can be changed, for it isn't allowing me to edit it online.  I don't know the rules about this, but I do believe they are pretty stringent about the name matching the name on the license.  I'm not going through all of that tomorrow, if they can't or won't change it, then I guess I'm screwed.   

OK, 20 minutes on hold but I looked all of this up on several forums.  Apparently it's normal for them to combine your first and middle name together.  I printed out the tickets and it's formatted to have last name first and first and second name combined.  Literally everyone on these forums said it's nothing to worry about.  I hope so.  I'm just going to show up with my CDL and hope for the best outcome.  

The older boy started crying. Why are you crying? I don't want you to leave!  Lol.  

Oh, btw, I apparently couldn't have picked a worse time to travel lmao.  There are a LOT of people flying this holiday weekend.  I mean, so far the flights are showing on-time but that could easily change. I really would have picked another time to travel if I would have known it was going to be Memorial Day weekend. I would rather be home, there are going to be some get togethers I am going to miss. OTOH, I haven't seen fam in what, 4 years now?  I was going to go late 2019 and then COVID hit and that was the end of that, I wasn't even going to get shots and no way I was wearing a damn mask on an airplane for hours on end.  I rarely wore a mask that entire time and the professionals at the time and definitely now, the ones telling the truth anyway, said and say that masks were and are worthless to stop the spread of Covid.  

Emergency powers with presidents, governors and mayors should be extremely limited, they went way overboard with government authority crap, as we all know.  Even now, some state's governor is declaring a state of emergency because the republican legislature in that state are going to pass bills that allow school choice. This governor says this is an emergency because they are "shutting down public schools". No, they are giving parents who are fed up with the public school system indoctrinating them with trans, communist, social justice and just about everything but what they should be learning. Normal parents are sick of woke garbage.  

Whatever.  I'm spending the last few hours with fam and then going to bed early.  Yes, I know I can sleep on the plane, but planes are so uncomfortable.  The first leg will be great. The 2cd and 3rd? I dunno.  DFW to LAX has over 20 seats empty and LAX to PHX has almost 30 empty.  Weird.  They said this was going to be the busiest flying weekend in a long, long time, why are there empty seats on these planes? Well, maybe because who really wants to go to LA right now, or anywhere in California? Glad I'm just passing through.  It's over 2 hour delay, I'm not leaving the airport, rest assured.  

My son turned 30 today.  Amazing.  He's almost as old as my friends I live with, lol.  We're going to spend some portion of Friday together.  I really want to catch up with him, there is plenty to talk about.  He is still living with his mother, but it's more to support her. It's not the other way around, he has a full time job that pays pretty well, he could live on his own if he wanted to.  I don't know what the appeal is living with her, but to each his own.  I don't hold it against him, she still has me blocked on Facebook lol.  

Ok. Several hours later, kids in bed and I'm fixing to turn in myself. I decided I will get up at 3:00 am to ensure ample time to take a shower, have some coffee and get out of here, get over there and be there an hour and a half early.  That should be plenty of time to get through that small airport's security.  They will only be screening the small jet's worth of people, I've been through there several times in the past.  I've got one piece of luggage and I already prepaid that thing. It was $30.  Not too bad, actually and the only thing I need carry on the plane is my laptop in it's carrying case.  I don't go on vacations without my laptop.  I may buy a new one while in Phoenix.  Some huge electronics stores there I will be going to to see what their prices and selection are.  

Well, I haven't been there in 4 or so years, but I doubt that much has changed.  

I dunno what else. I've been looking for trailers after this dude reneged on his deal, had an offer for a higher price and blew me off.  He said "first come, first served". I replied I was the first one that replied and we agreed that I'd come pay for it tomorrow as you had asked.  Screw him, frankly.  I wasn't going to play a bidding war with someone else and I was pissed that he had just blown off a deal that he gave his word on.  But, people's word nowadays doesn't mean what it used to.  

So then I started thinking about glamping again.  A 16X10 bell yurt tent around $700, made out of thick canvas.  I was looking at pics where they had just built a basic platform on the ground, not elevated and just big enough for the tent to sit on. That would certainly reduce the price.  If I put one of those things up near the amenities shed, then they have access to toilet and shower.  Stick a king sized bed in it, some super duper little furniture pieces in it, some far out pics (hotel style stuff, in other words), some carpet, a microwave, coffee pot, bottled water, mini fridge and AC/Heat. Lights and whatever else they put in those things. I only have to run electric to it and I already have the underground wiring to do so.  

$700 yurt, around $800 for the platform, I have no idea about a bed, $600 I'll call it,  another grand for interior decorating.  I've seen those mini splits going for $500.  I don't know how hard they are to install, but that would be the way to go for cooling and heating it.  The end? Round it up to 4 grand and call it done.  The problem? Who knows if it would actually get any business.  I would advertise the Hercules out of it both locally on all the venues and on Google and other free sites where I can advertise glamping.  Charge $50 per night and hope and pray it gets at least 10 nights worth of stays per month.  

Oh, well who knows. Just kicking things around in my mind. However, it's 9:00 pm and tho not my normal bedtime? Yup, I'm going to sleep. 


 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...