Friday

I'm not going to do 2 trips on a delivery if I don't have to.
For Monday, there is a large delivery with a lot of pipe. It isn't the weight of the load that was confounding me this afternoon - the total payload weight is only 36,000 pounds. My truck and trailer gross vehicle weight is 26,600 pounds, giving a total payload of 53,400 pounds (you could also call it net weight).

The point is that there are 2 different types of pipe that I had to load on the truck - that have different loading parameters and attempting to get that much pipe on a truck in that configuration? I loaded and unloaded pipe 3 times before I figured out how to get it all on there.

Further point is that I love a challenge, especially when loading trucks and attempting to figure out how to get all kinds of different product safely loaded onto one 48 foot long flatbed trailer and see a satisfactory result.

My problem is when it comes to loading a truck, I'm purely a perfectionist. The pipe has to be perfectely positioned and if it's off by an inch, I have to adjust it and get it facing the proportionate direction without any visible flaw. Many of my fellow drivers are far from that. But, this is a flatbed trailer, it is not a "dryvan" that has walls to hold everything in. Something falls over in a dryvan, it isn't going to end up all over the highway.

Something falls over on a flatbed, the highway becomes it's landfill. My mind always wanders about such things - what if there is a motorcyclist next to my truck and a 200 pound cast iron fitting falls off into his face? He's probably dead. Same thing with a car and that thing crashing through the windshield. I take my profession very seriously when it comes to safety. I have refused more loads than I care to admit for deference to safety.

I end up reloading the truck myself in a safe manner. It isn't an issue now, I load my own truck and I am very good at it. I am an expert in forklift operation, a thing that slipped my mind when I was looking for a part-time job some time ago. I haven't even pursued a job in a warehouse which entails mostly forklift operation. This would be an easy job and would bring in some much needed funds right now.

Back to perfectionist - I watch other people loading my truck because they are trying to help me and I can't stand it. There's only one other person in our company that I consider of the same level of expertise and trust. In fact, I was downtown and the subject came up. He stated that he loads trucks - whoever's truck - the same way he would load the truck for himself. I completely concur and do the same thing whenever the need arises. If it doesn't pass my muster, I don't care what other people think, it is not a good load. It MIGHT make it to it's intended destination, but it is NOT safe.

And, when other people are loading my truck - well, I nicely ask them to shift something to a different position or change this or that. I have definitely had a problem with that at my current company, I then politely state that I will go ahead and load the truck myself. This isn't LegoLand and you don't have the safety net of some sort of security that if your load falls off your truck, such as with a Tonka Toy being pushed over by a kid - that nothing will happen. People can die. People can lose limbs. People can be turned into vegetables. Generations of family can be altered. I have gone down the lines of thought concerning this stuff.

Switching gears, the weekend is here. I might say finally, but this week went by pretty fast. I was tickled to come home from work and find a hat - a fancy looking thing - sitting on my computer desk with the keys to the room of the older gentleman that - now-was - living here. He put an orange piece of paper on top of the hat with the following written in large, bold letters: Farmer Ben Hat.

LOL!! I hate to see him go. I hate to see any good tenants go. I understand why he had to go, but - it means attempting to find someone else to take his place. He graciously offered to leave the queen size bed with very nice wood frame and a lot of other stuff in there to make it another fully furnished room. I did NOT ask this man for anything, he just took me off to the side one day not long ago and said he would like to give me this furniture and that he is getting too old to move all of this stuff around.

I now have 2 empty rooms, sort of. The guy that flew back to Texas has his door locked - it's rented until Monday. His trailer is here, he is definitely coming back for that stuff. I GUARANTEE it. To abandon that stuff would mean abandoning 10k worth of off-road toys. I have several people in queue for either/or of the rooms. One is coming tomorrow - supposedly anyway.

Oh, well, that hat is pretty cool. I'll have to take a pic of it on my head - my skull is huge - I have a hard time finding hats that fit my head. This man was always calling me "Farmer Ben". Seriously!!

I'm tired. Long day. I had a couple of beers after work today after doing all that stuff on the semi with that pipe. So, I am going to end this entry. It is still cool here and I am looking forward to working outside in the dirt this weekend. I also hope to look forward to maybe having a deal with someone on a move-in.

G'nite.

ben

Friday

Otherwise known as make or break day for companies like mine. Get whatever product that can be delivered out and get the numbers on the books.
Only one delivery in our system, however - but there is allegedly about 50,000 pounds worth of pipe to pick up.

I have heard nothing back from the insurance company. Which isn't totally surprising, but I do want to get my car fixed - any day now would be good. I'm sure their final outcome is going to be a negative one towards me, and I'm just as sure that I will be spending a great deal of time "talking" with individuals from that company until I am, if nothing else, sure that I least made an attempt to correct the problem - which is having an at-fault accident on my record, as they have already stated they were going to publish it as.

The temporary tenant has found a very nice house on a lake in Glendale for $1,000 per month and is leaving. Actually, he's flying back home to be with one of his sons for his birthday and then they are going on a marathon to get everything and get over here. Good luck with that, is all I can say. His trailer is sitting in my yard - I am quite sure he won't be leaving it too terribly long considering the contents inside of it.

I have no other leads on tenants as of now. Not that I am giving up hope - well I do have the guy that came over, we shook hands, he wants to move in a week from now - I'll believe that when I see him with a vehicle full of personal belongings pulling up in my driveway and not a nano-second sooner. I am placing ads on CL separate from the month to month ads that simply state temporary housing at affordable rates - sort of a "come to my place and avoid paying high hotel bills" type of thing. I can even take credit cards through paypal - that's how this guy paid for his week's worth.

I'm looking forward to spending this weekend simply playing in the dirt installing that drip system. At least get the piping in and the emitters installed. Then I can cover all that trenching back up and get my dirt troughs built around each plant back into place. I have to buy a timer - I wish I would have done that a while back cause' I'm in a position now where I don't really want to spend money on anything. I must have 3 renters in the house before I feel comfortable, and since I am down to 1 at this point, certainly am not feeling very comfortable about it.

Tomorrow is the first so I am going to go post another ad in there right now - just in case of the "last minute shopper" - a person who needs a new place to live by the first and has procrastinated.

C'yall later.
ben

Michael

..........showed up some 45 minutes ago.
Haven't seen him in what, a month and a half?
I had all of these thoughts in that interim that he was gone forever, that I wouldn't have to deal with him coming back and so, I let my guard down, I guess.
He had a big, huge and very disarming smile on his face.

There is a passage of scripture in the Bible that says "love covers a multitude of sins". I just couldn't find it within me to do any of the things that I had thought of doing after he left - without notice - and just disappeared out of our lives. I guess that's what happens when someone lives with you for 5 years, especially if it's a kid - even if not related to you in any way, shape or form.

If Anthony ever showed up like that here, well, it would be a totally different story. Remember that I threw him out of here, he did not leave of his own accord. Not to mention the vandalism and the theft. I would call the police, actually.

Anyway, that's all I can really say about it. I did find out that Anthony spent 3 and a half days in Juvenile Detention and that he hated it. More information came out about JD's little brothers - the 3rd youngest brother in that family is headed towards Juvi as well, at least in Michael's opinion, because he is still smoking pot and they do monthly drug tests.

I can't offer a logical explanation for my lack of acting out what I had thought I would do if he ever returned, emotion sometimes supercedes logic - whether that's a good thing or not - well, I'm a human with a beating heart, not a robot with lubricated joints.

Well, anyway. A man showed up today wanting to rent the room. We talked for a long time - like a couple of hours actually. However, there was a catch to his deal. He gets paid 2 Fridays from now. Asked if I could hold the room. I spent 2 hours speaking to that kid not long ago who insisted he wanted the room and didn't show up on the intended date and no answer at phone number left.

This guy isn't a kid - somewhere in his 30's going through divorce. Actually, when he showed up I thought the police were here. He was in full-fledged security guard gear - but this gear of his makes him look very close to police officer status with the blue uniform and a badge that is pretty convincing and ALL of the gear police have on their belts. A pretty intimidating looking gun in his holster as well - a Glock 9 millimeter something or other. Not well versed in guns (me, that is). I'm not afraid of guns - unless in the wrong hands of course. I did not offer to hold it for him, but did say that the room currently occupied by the temp tenant "probably" would be out of here by the time he wants to move in, anyway. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy is out of here before his week's worth of paid rental is up. I have had thoughts of simply trying to make the room more like a hotel room for people coming and going, since I have had several of those in there now.

But that would mean a lot of people in and out of here and exposing myself to more risk, not sure I am really need that. It would simply be nice to get my hours back at work and not need 3 tenants. My search continues.

My 4th drug test today. The place wasn't so full so I didn't have to wait quite as long but I was there 45 minutes anyway. The nurse was especially talkative - probably me, I always get people talking. If I want to, anyway. In fact, the "test" was long over and this individual was yacking away. I found it amusing so I entertained it. I made a few simple comments that - are designed to get people talking once I find something that makes them tick - and that is usually all it takes. Kinda like the pilots over-shooting the airport by 150 miles, he realized he better get back to what he was supposed to be doing.

Oh, the insurance company. I'm going to have trouble with them, I am sure. If they want to put the blame for me on the accident, fine, I already figured that. I simply cannot prove what actually happened because I have absolutely no witnesses to it. I will not, however, tolerate a 20 something (my guess from the pitch of voice, the tone and other clues) talking down to me on the phone. She was god, I was a speck of dust, at least in her eyes. She continuously interrupted me on the phone and announced her superiority over me several times as being "The Adjuster" and I - nothing apparently. Someone forgot to tell her that I am THEIR CUSTOMER and I don't give a rat's @$$ about WHAT they think about their position and how they think they have an ace card over you.

They have NOTHING over you. If they are going to dump you as a customer, they were going to do it anyway, this does NOT give them the right to talk to you like you are a piece of trash. I eventually cut her off and demanded to speak to her manager. Several minutes later, the manager came on and I simply told it like it is. I asked this manager that if these phone conversations are recored, to please listen to that recording and hear how many times this person cuts me off in the middle of a sentence and proclaims her infallibility to me. The manager apologized as I wasn't letting this go. I was then transferred (voluntarily) to another person to take a taped recording of my version of the accident.

Interestingly, the woman who owns the vehicle that cut me off has not attempted to file a claim. I will end up getting the fault for this accident, 99% sure of it. There is nothing I can do about it. A rear-end collision is always your fault regardless of what happened unless you can PROVE what happened. I had thoughts earlier about all these cameras all over the freeway and wondered if maybe there is one there in that particular spot - but it may be too late for that. I doubt they keep tapes on any given spot forever and it has already been 5 days. I don't even know if there is a camera there, but I am going to find out tomorrow. Wish I had thought of it sooner.

That's it. Much more but I cannot write anymore today. I am writing too many entries, too long and I am trying to cut back a little to keep myself from burnout. I may not be successful at it and I may end up disappearing for whatever amount of time - I hope not cause' I really like keeping my journal updated for future reference.

Oh, and one of the main reasons I have not stopped posting here altogether and just post at the other place is simple: I have at least a reasonable assurance that this place is going to be around for a while. I have at least reasonable assurance that the entire site is backed up. I am not dissing the other blog's owners and their intentions, but I do not have the same assurances over there. There are other reasons, but - not worth going into.

G'nite.
ben

Blog Posting

There are times when I sort of phase out of blogging and end up taking several days off or even a few weeks of slowed entries. I am in the middle of one of those phases. It's not that I don't have anything to write about - there are ample subjects going on concurrently in my life at this particular moment in time that make for sufficient writing material.

I just start getting burned out on it and then I realize I better slow down for a little while or real burn-out will occur and I won't write ANYTHING for a long, long time. I am not going away, I have just slowed my entries on both blogs. No big deal. I have other things I am focusing my attention on as well.

Probably something to do with it are money worries - 1 tenant leaving in the next few days, the temporary tenant not staying long - he found a house and is discussing with the owners about renting it and bringing his entire family out here versus having 2 residences, one in Texas and one in Arizona. Judging from the vehicle he drives and the toys he brought with - probably 20 grand worth of dirt bikes in a large utility trailer - he is used to living a pretty decent lifestyle. 2 residences would definitely put a severe hamper on anyone's budget unless, of course, your budget is 6 or 7 figures. It was a stop gap letting the guy in - a weeks worth of rent is better than nothing. I have no idea whether he is only staying a week or maybe more?

I do - allegedly - have another guy coming today sometime this afternoon. He called on Sunday - I figured never to hear from him again even though he said he wanted to visit on Wednesday which is today - I just don't put a lot of faith in Craigslist people saying they are going to do things. Mostly, they don't do anything they say they will. Only when they actually, physically move-in after having had handed you however much money, then I believe it. Even a hand-shake and a verbal commitment is meaningless to these people.

Would it not be better to simply say I am going to keep looking around, I'll get back to you when I decide? That's non-committal. You are not committing to the place, you can just leave and I will know that you are not in the least bit interested in the place, continue searching for a renter, please. People that stand there and look you in the eye and say "Yes, I'll take the room, I'm moving in on such and such a day" and then never show up? Definitely get my goat.

It's cooled off considerably here. Allegedly the high today is somewhere in the 60's. I dunno about that, what I do know is I am going to be driving the truck all over the place today - Casa Grande/Coolidge/Florence/Queen Creek. Far east and south valley area. I was also correct last week about the alcohol test - a breathalyzer is NOT a complete drug test and corporate emailed the ops manager who emailed my manager to tell me that I have to go back in, spend another lovely hour with all those sick people in that cramped room, waiting to give a few ounces of my precious urine. Nice. So, technically, this will be my FOURTH drug test of the year. Nice. I continue to hear this story from people that believe that if they know you are clean, they will "use" you more often to get the test.

Dunno about that, but I do know the work day is almost here and I must get to getting to it.

See you around.
ben

Cellphones

I have always wondered, ever since these little devices came out, on the market and people started using them, if there aren't some potential harmful side effects to your brain from having them crammed up against your head for extended periods of time.

Now, I am reading an article about cellphones potentially causing brain tumors. I used to talk on the cellphone quite a lot when I was a Little League board member and was getting calls - dozens and dozens of them per day - about the league. Same was true with when I was the president of the homeowner's assocation. When I got out of those two extremely time-consuming commitments (don't regret my departure from either of them) I also got away from excessive cell-phone use.

This is a topic of interest to me - whether cellphones can harm you in some way - that has been riding around synpses in my brain for quite a long time now. I will be very interested to see what becomes of this research and what might be done about it - if anything. I mean, let's just say this research is black and white truth: the use of cellphones over an extended period of time - over 10 years I think it said - will cause brain tumors. How many people are using cellphones nowadays? Hundreds of millions? Over a billion? Dunno, but that's a LOT of health problems coming to surface if this eventually becomes a reality.

Another thing I have always wondered is the use of these radars to catch speeders. The east valley is littered with permanent versions of them now all over the place. We're being bombarded every day by all kinds of "things" that are invisible, we don't even know it, and yet - I definitely have some ill ease about what those little particles might be doing to our bodies and the functioning thereof. It would be nice if I could move to a log cabin up in the mountains, retire and get away from most of this stuff -but that simply isn't in the cards right now.

Well enough of the speculation. The day is wasting away - it's already 8 am and I have accomplished nothing - so I'm going to get off of this contraption called a computer that allows me to connect with people I have never met that live all over the world and get moving with it.

Have a great day!
ben

Hoover Steam Vac With Clean Surge

I'm going to give this carpent cleaning machine 2 big thumb's up/kudos/my endorsement. Oh, my endorsement isn't worth that much - but still.
THIS machine worked, the first one didn't. The brushes weren't turning and - a carpet cleaning machine is pretty much worthless without spinning/revolving brushes. I have no idea what was wrong with the first one.

Anyway, I did a very high traffic area of carpet where dogs and humans go through frequently. Pass after pass it was extracting dirt from the carpet. I just cleaned this carpet not that long ago, I was a bit amazed at how dirty it had gotten so quickly. As far as I'm concerned, this machine is as good or even better than the Rug Doctor and I will not be renting one of those machines again.

The guys are done with the trenching and I have started laying pipe. Not in a huge hurry, but wanted to get the pipe laid next to the trees because they exposed some roots in the dig - it's all done now, covered up and everything re-watered. I didn't install the emitters, it will be easy to expose the pipe and put a 1/4 pipe into the bigger pipe.

A woman came over a while ago with her kid. She said she was interested but wanted to check the school out that her son would have to go to in taking a bus from my house. I didn't really get from her that she was all that interested, so I have contacted everyone else that has contacted me about the rooms. Again, I don't hold rooms anymore unless a non-refundable deposit is given. There is a couple; a disabled vet and a lady with a small dog in queue - I have replied to all of them with the statement the room is available to be seen today - or this coming week - or whenever.

I never did take that nap I wanted to this morning. Things started happening and that lady called to come over to see the house. I wanted to get the place cleaned up a little and then I got busy burying the line outside plus putting that machine together and checking it out on some carpet. It is nothing like what I thought today was going to be. I only say all of this because I really want to take that nap now that the woman is gone, the machine is together, the workers have left and I don't have anything terribly pressing.

I've GOT to get some renters in here, that's all I know and I know that I don't have til' the second of never to get it done. I've got daily ads going in there is all I can say about it.

C'ya later.
ben

Saturday - Fry's Food Stores Piss Poor Customer Service

Well, sometimes I get to neglecting this blog and it's just the way it goes.
I figured to start labelling my blogs when I write about a company's bad service so people from all over the place can read about it : )

I wrote about this in the other blog, but I didn't title it this way and I want an entry that has it in the title.

So, I was at Fry's yesterday. That's Fry's Food Stores for the consumer. I didn't really buy that much stuff - wandering around the store, looking at all the police officers that were there because of a shoplifter who was tackled to the floor by three guys - BUSTED!!! The guy was already gone, the officers were taking statements from witnesses and from the people that were involved in detaining the dude, who was attempting to non-chalantly walk out of the store with a big bottle of Jim Beam (alcohol, whiskey I believe).

I get to the checkout and my purchases are rung up. One item comes up at $9.99 - when it should have run up at the sale price of $8.49. I noted this to the cashier, who said that was the correct price. Okay, I'll pay for it then, cause' if it IS the wrong price, then I'm going to invoke Fry's policy on scanning errors.

I go back to check the price and sure enough, there's a sale-price tag that gives the sale price below the normal price. I head for the customer service desk. The woman goes back there and looks at the tag, yup, you were right.

Back to the customer service desk, she gives me 50 cents back. ???? Scuse' me ma'am, I want the free item policy of Fry's - the product mis-scans I either get the item for free or I get $5 back/gift card if the price of the item is over $5. No, sir, this time doesn't count for the scanning error. Ohhh? Why not? No good answer, management please. Always, always, always have to get managment. Very rarely does it end up that I don't need management to get involved.

At Fry's, I have found that many of their associates do not know their own store's policies, especially concerning the scanning error policy. I have had associates arguing with me that I am incorrect and they are right - they in saying that there IS no such policy. Of course I am always proven right - I mean - it IS their policy!!

She calls for a manager and then I bring up to her that even without that freebie, you have given me back incorrect change. If the product normally sells for $9.99 and it is on sale for $8.49, that's $1.50 difference, not 50 cents. She as attempting to do the math in her head instead of letting the computer software do it for her - why I have no idea. I will say that it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the difference between $9.99 and $8.49. It's a buck fifty. So, she is going to make up the difference by giving me another buck back. Nope, ma'am, wrong again. There is more tax on $9.99 than there is on $8.49, I want the extra tax back, too.

I know, I can be cheap. Just me. If she would have done this through the register, it would have instantly given her the correct amount without all the nonsense in writing numbers down on paper and attempting to do math that she apparently is incapable of doing. She ends up giving me a total of a buck seventy-five, which was too much.

The manager finally shows up after all of this. She tells him about the scanning error and that "the policy only applies to items under $5". The man looks at me and tells me store policy - free if the item is under 5 bucks, a $5 gift card if it's over. Yup, I replied, I know that. He took a step back and then realized she hadn't given me anything. "You mean you didn't get a gift card yet?" No sir, I did not. It was that simple. He just told the woman to give me a $5 gift card and he left, and none too happy from the look on his face. He had to walk all the way from the back from whatever he was doing to deal with this - if this woman had known their store's own policy, management would never had to have been involved with this. He was also limping badly, I imagine this is the reason he was none-too-happy to walk all the way up there for - something very simple, really.

The woman didn't apologize for her snappy tudenoidal with me, but I got my freebies so I didn't care. She was a know-it-all out to prove that I was wrong, the only problem is that in the end, SHE was proven wrong and that's that. This is an endless situation with Fry's and their associates not knowing their own store's policies. I occasionally get an item scanned wrong, and yes when that happens, I do get my freebie and I don't feel bad about it - AT ALL. If they don't want to give that kind of freebie, then don't have the policy! Yet when you go to "invoke" it, they trudge through the process as if you're some kind of bad person because you want something that they are allegedly giving away freely whenever THEY make the error! lol

Probably one problem is that most people probably don't know about that policy and if you don't say something, it's just about GUARANTEED that they won't say anything. So, when some dude like me comes along and I insist on getting it, well, it doesn't always go over too well. In fact, most times it doesn't go over too well. That's the state of customer service to be found in many types of stores nowadays - people who want to give you attitude. People who don't give a damn about the customers. People who know everything and, of course - you the customer don't know ANYTHING.

Changing the subject (so if you came here from a Google search looking for the Fry's input, that is the end of it, the rest of this is just my personal junk - you are welcomed to read it but it has nothing to do with Fry's), I've been thinking about Christmas this year. I'm guessing it's going to be slim pickings. I'm thinking about buying Christmas presents now so that I have them and won't have to worry about it when Christmas actually gets here. My mother only wants a hummingbird feeder - I think she realizes the financial situation going on with lost hours and dealing with tenants coming and going - so that will not set me back too much even if I get a really nice one. Plus, I bought her a very nice present last year in the form of a digital camera and she LOVES that thing!

I figure to find one online here in the next couple of days and order one. I have no idea what Caleb wants - he usually doesn't ask for much. I would offer to pay for insurance for him to learn how to drive - but it's too expensive. I was quoted between $100 and $125 extra PER MONTH for him. I guessed before I called them yesterday that it would be at least $100 per month. That's out of my budget right now and anyway, I'm not exactly excited about him learning how to drive on Phoenix roads at his age. Drivers in these parts are just plain stupid with all the texting and talking on cellphones and reading magazines and all kinds of stuff while they are supposed to be driving their vehicles. I'm not exactly thrilled about the propsect of being in the passenger's seat while he is at the controls of the car.

I'll have to ask him what he has in mind for Christmas. I also want to buy my dad something - nothing fancy just something. Actually, maybe something for him and his wife - have to think about that one for a while. The rest of my family? You know, my 2 older brothers I never see? Lol. Not going to sweat that, get them something if we are all going to come together this year, if not, then I won't bother. My budget for gifts is basically going to be very low and I'm not looking to spend huge amounts of money on anything.

Well, I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'm tired. I'm going to go lay down for a while and laze around for a bit - these guys working out back should be done in an hour or so, they are cranking right along. I put up a Craigslist ad for someone to come over and dig a trench so I can get this drip watering system moving right along, 2 people showed up this morning, a guy and his dad. I simply informed him that the ad says ONE person and then I had to say it to him twice: ONE person is going to get paid for the hourly wage, NOT two. Only if they get it done faster than one person would have - which may or may not happen - will I give them the equivalent of whatever it would have taken for one person to do it.

Have a great day!
ben

Direct TV's ICU Ward

So, I'm sitting here - like 30 minutes ago - writing up a post for my other blog when the Magic Jack rings (my phone service, I always refer to it as Magic Jack). With Magic Jack, a screen appears on top of everything on your computer - you see the number that is calling.

An 800 number. I figure some sort of sales call, so I was going to let the call drop. But I decided to take the call in case it was my mortgage company. It was a representative from Direct TV's "ICU" is how she referred to it as. She asked me about my last encounter with Direct TV and was my problem satisfactorily resolved. I had to think about it - was I satisfied with the result? Yes and no. I told her the whole story, about how their company called me offering me 2 for 1 pay-per-view movies - buy one today and they would send me something in the mail to fill out and return.

The movie was supposed to start at 7:30 am on a Saturday - it never did, and of course, that started my phone calling to DirectTV. LONG story and I already wrote about it on this blog. If you are REALLY that interested, I suppose you could do a search on here and find it.

So, I'm being very nice to this lady - as always - I am nice unless a person starts getting rude and crass with me, then I dish it RIGHT back out to them - or I just hang up. She looks into all of this - and tells me she doesn't even see where I was called with such an offer. Now - this was not said in a tone that she didn't believe me, such as the woman I was speaking to at my former Title company about getting some paperwork sent from them, she was just sayin' it ain't on there.

I listened. I figured something might happen with this call that I didn't even initiate - and neither did I have ANY desire to call DirectTV. I NEVER - WANT - to call them. It takes forever to get through to anyone and then you almost always have to get to another level of customer service rep - I mean it's like hours if you really want to get anything done. Ohh, but I DO call them when trouble starts.

We're talking back and forth and she comes up with this: "I want to do something for you today to make up for what you had to go through". I now have 3 free months of Starz and Showtime, plus $5 off for 3 months as well. I was totally amazed. And yes, I checked my TV - all of those channels are on right now. I didn't know that Direct TV had such a department to call people and ask about their recent experience. My history with them usually shows they don't give a bleep, or at least certain of their customer service reps certainly don't give a rats @$$ whether you're happy with their service or not. I even had one tell me one time that I should just go ahead and cancel the service and go with a competitor! Lol.

Ummm, onto other issues. I don't even know what got me started on this, but I was writing this entry and something else happened, I got the vacuum cleaner out, vacuumed a high-traffic area of carpet and was going to put my new steam vac carpet cleaner to the test. Got the solution in the tank - already put it together - turned it on - made the noise you'd associate with a vacuum cleaner/steam cleaner running.........but...........

...........the spinning brushes? Weren't spinning. There is a switch on the thing to turn it from low to high or even off. I moved that switch back and forth several times - nothing. I turned it on and off, on and off - nothing. No suction, either, the noise it was making is warm air it aims at the already treated carpet apparently to help it dry. It's probably nice machine - if it works. I looked at the instructions again - turn the machine on, the brushes start spinning.

I dreaded this, but I called Walmart yet again - in the middle of writing this entry no less. This time, neither of the head honchos were there and I was put on hold for 8 minutes before I hung up, called back. Waited 2 and a half minutes and hung up , called back. Waited 30 seconds, hung up, called back. Waited 15 seconds (the wait was the time after the person said they were going to get a manager for me). Hung up, again. I figure this will irritate them to actually GET me a manager instead of leaving me endlessly on hold.

Yup, ole' LeeAnne got on the phone. Nice enough lady, have had one other encouter with her. Asked her if nearly 15 minutes on the phone was acceptible to get a manager, of which she responded in the negative. I then told her the story from last week about this machine and how I acquired it through the store's general manager, Anthony. She knew all about it, fortunately.

She informed me I could come down to the store and customer service would take care of it. Well, miss, I'm calling to make sure you actually have another machine available before driving there for nothing (notwithstanding the fact that I have absolutely no intention of driving there today, if they have one, they can put it aside for me and I will get it on the way home from work tomorrow).

I give her the UPC label number - she then asked me if I were the one that had complained about the seafood counter last week? Yes, ma'am, I most certainly am. Well, have you been back since the last time this happened? NO, I replied, I don't customarily subject myself to that kind of abuse repeatedly, twice was enough. That got a chuckle out of her - and then she informed me that they had actually taken my complaint and even my advice and done something about it! I had suggested that at the very least, they install a doorbell type setup - if someone needs seafood and no-one's out there, push the doorbell and kalamazoo, someone arrives out of thin air. That would be totally acceptable to me, I had explained, lots of stores do that cause' their butchers and personnel in the back are busy and they don't necessarily expect enough people to show up at that particular counter to have a full-time person servicing it.

Yes, they installed the button with the bell and she claims they have someone working that counter. I'll be in there tomorrow, presumably anyway, and I WILL test her statements. Not that I think that she's lying about the buzzer, but I seriously wonder about devoting an employee to that counter alone. It's not a huge counter and it only has seafood in it - though I have observed people approaching the counter and simply walking away when they realize there is no-one there. I imagine they are losing a lot of potential sales simply because of the fact there is usually nobody there.

So, I'm waiting for her to call back. Considering the amount of time that has passed, I assume they do not have a machine available - that or she's calling Anthony to ask him what to do since - I definitely made an issue out of the entire situation.

Of course, I will be asking for further compensation. I have now not only gone through that rather large ordeal in just GETTING this machine, but now not only did I make 4 visits to get it, wasted time, but I have now brought it home, assembled it, found it doesn't work and also wasted some of the carpet cleaning formula in finding this out. Another gift card will take care of my needs, thank you.

So, I have also thought about my visit to the nursery going out of business. Not only am I going to get more Sissoo trees, I am also going to get several more of the $1 per plant ficus trees. Well, I assume now that if I take enough of them off of their hands, they will give me an even better deal.

Actually, they had some very nice cacti there in pots that I would love to get my hands on - if the price is right. Their asking price before was ridiculously low - but I didn't want to spend that much money on that kind of thing. I would love to have a Saguaro cactus growing somewhere on the property. You grow one up to be nice and big - they are worth huge money. Well they used to be, anyway, this economy - I like to hope anyway - won't stay this rotten forever. A large Saguaro in the past could fetch as much as $8,000.00. Yup. You can't just go out into the desert and dig one up, it's against the law and I believe it's a federal law - like a HUGE fine and possible imprisonment.

Well, I'm just sorta excited about the prospect. I'll get them - and probably leave them in the pots throughout the winter until the growing season starts again. I can put them all together in one area and cover them up with the nursery grade shade screen to help protect them against frost. We DO get frost a few times a year, you know. I learned from last year that the only time I really need to cover up plants is if a deep frost is going to happen - not highly likely here, but I do remember one year where there was one particular night that the frost killed off a lot of people's plants because they didn't heed the warnings.

Lee-Anne with Walmart called back. They actually do have one machine available. I informed her I would be by tomorrow to get it, "old" one in tow.

That's probably enough for one entry.

G'evening.
ben

Tired

I'm again tired. I simply haven't been sleeping well. 3 to 5 hours of solid sleep and then I wake up at night and it usually takes a long time to get back to sleep -some night I never do.

As always, there never seems to be a lapse in the constant whirl of things going on around here and in my life. If there is a lapse, it is so temporal in terms of length of time it is as if it is non-existent.

I have asked the title company 3 times now to send me the information I need - interest payments on the mortgage. The lady has said she has twice sent it. I have not received it, I have no idea WHERE she is sending it, but I fear the IRS is going to do my taxes for me, so, I guess I will just have to GO there this week and get the information in-person. Unless they will fax it to me, then I can have it in minutes.

I still have not heard back from the lady and I wonder if she is bugging out at this point. I sent her 2 emails of which she has not replied to. I suppose I should write another CL ad and get on with it, but - I am going to wait until Friday and if I haven't heard from her then, pretty much rest assured that there isn't anything "there" to be found. Not the end of the earth, doesn't even hurt my feelings, really, just would nice to be able to know whether to pursue this further or move on.

I was reviewing my son's grades yet again today - looking for any teacher inputs for homework or classwork. Apparently that dies down during the quarter change as there are no recent entries on any of his classes, and yes, they enter the info even if NOTHING was submitted for a grade. Caleb has altered his school day to go to Homework Lab several times a week, JROTC on other days for Rifle Team practice. He complains he doesn't get enough of that kind of practice, so his marksmanship isn't what it could be, but - keeping his grades up takes precedence. Twice a week is enough for shooting pellet rifles.

The dogs apparently understood today when I shoved dead grass into Duke's mouth - the grass he had clawed out of the ground - as they are all staying away from me. It's actually a nice reprieve from constant dogs in my face. ]

Well that's it for today. I have a semi-full plate of deliveries tomorrow - perhaps more will be dumped onto the day's worth of stuff to do and I will be busy all day long. Not that I wasn't busy today - but - it has slowed down some in the last several work days worth.

Hope you are all doing well.
ben

Tuesday

So, the lady that's here for a week - will be gone by the time I get home. She was pretty fun to talk to it was nice having the female side of things around. Meanwhile, another person showed up yesterday to discuss moving in. This conversation went on for almost 2 hours as this guy apparently wanted to talk - and talk - and talk.

Which is a good thing at the initial "interview" process - the more a person talks, the better glimpse of who that person really is - is displayed. The talking wenting into OT when the last-remaining tenant came out and these 2 apparently hit it off. I guess it's always a good thing to have tenants liking each other versus the hate factor I have seen in my house a few times now.

Well, I have a potential - and yet another - tenant. He has a friend where the 2 have been wanting to move in together for some time - allegedly - the eggs haven't hatched yet, there aren't any green chickens running around, I'll just wait and see - and continue to run my Craigslist room offering ads as well.

Meanwhile, the experts are suggesting the swine flu vaccine will arrive too late for most Americans and that 60% of the population will get infected with this pig. It does further state that "only" about 25% of the population will actually get sick. ONLY 25%? Lol. I wasn't going to get the vaccine, anyway, as I am allergic to these flu shots for some reason. They're predicting the end of this month to be the peak of the infections, I am holding out hope that I don't get this nasty bug.

And now, the pirates are in the news again. This time threatening to kill 25 Chinese crew members of a ship they have hijacked. Without going into all of it - good luck there, pirates. You kill the whole ship's compliment of sailors and you should fully expect that your lives will end with it, if you think the Chinese are going to just sit there, watch that happen and then let you go scott-free.

I love reading the news on the internet in the morning. Well, at least if there's something interesting to read.

A few deliveries this morning in the system - nothing grand, small stuff. Still have to use the semi, though, cause' there's pipe involved.

Have a great day!
ben

Abuses From Aaron Rents

Folks, it is unfathomable to me why anyone - a customer of Aaron Rents in this case - to put up with any kind of abusive speech from it's employees either calling you on the phone, or visiting you at your doorstep. Being late on a payment does not give a company the right to demoralize you, insult you on the phone, or worse, threaten you in person.

I was once customer of Aaron Rents. I rented-to-own a large-screen TV that - ended up burning up into a small, dense piece of plastic when my house burned down. Ummm, I had just gotten done paying that TV off when that happened, not a pleasant experience, but then again, a house fire is probably not most people's first choice of a great time.

Anyway, I was late several times on payments. I unabashedly admit this. Paychecks didn't always coincide with payment dates. I always made the payment - within 5 days of due date - but certainly not all of my payments were on time.

One day I was working on my yard in front of my house. An Aaron Rents truck pulled up. A young guy - very large man though - walked up to me, I knew this guy and he knew me. He actually got in my face and demanded the payment right then and there or he was going to take the TV, right then and there.

I don't mean in a civil way, either, he was posturing as if he were going to hurt me if I didn't succumb to his agreement.

I stood up, I'm no small man myself, got right back in his face and informed him if he didn't back down, get OFF of my property, I was going to defend myself and the outcome would not be pretty, and THEN I would be calling the police. I further informed him about the FACT that he's ON - MY - PROPERTY - THREATENING me, ON MY PROPERTY.

I don't take such things lightly. I don't care how big a man is, I am not going to have a person talking to me like that - on my property. He's lucky I didn't thrust my right foot into his crotch, as I had determined to do if he had further forced himself upon me.

Let me tell you something straight, right here and now: They CANNOT just walk into your house and take whatever you're renting from you!! If you give them permission, of course, but if you don't, they are engaging in an act of burglarly and criminal trespassing!! Now, if you WANT them to take the thing away, fine, let them go in there and get it. If you are going to pay the bill, tell those dudes to take a hike!!

If they don't leave, CALL THE POLICE!!! You are NOT a criminal!! It is not a crime to owe money. It is a CIVIL problem, if it comes to that, it MUST be taken up in the courts. PERIOD. There is no state in the Union that has a provision that says some thuggish looking dudes from a rental company can come and harass you, threaten you and force themselves into your house to get their rental unit. Police can't force that upon you, either.

I called the manager of that store after I told that FREAK to get OFF of my property before I HURT him and informed him of his employee's actions and my intended reaction if they EVER come back to my house and act like THAT again. He took me seriously - I was QUITE serious - those guys never showed up again.

Now, did it end there? No. In a subsequent month, I was a few days late - 2 days I think I remember, and some person from that store called and started verbally abusing me on the phone. I hung up on that person and went down to the store. I would like to SEE these people talking to me like that TO MY FACE. No-one there took credit for the call, of course, the manager - of whom I was on a first-name basis at this point - Brian - didn't specifically condone that kind of call, either, but who knows if he was saying something different when I left. The end of the story? I paid every payment, owned the TV - and lost it to flames.

Well, that wasn't Aaron's fault and certainly I didn't blame them for that.

I write this stuff for the Googlers in the world that are looking for such information. I was reading a story about RAC - Rent A Center and then found more about all of the rental centers. I would NEVER put up with the abuse I read about in the RAC story, which was far worse than what I reported about my experience with Aaron Rents.

Obnoxiously Slow

I have decided to alter my plans a bit on the east side of the property. I originally wanted it lined with evergreens - but as in their name, they take forever to actually grow!!! I've had a small one in the ground for a year now and that thing has barely grown at all - that with frequent waterings and Miraclo Gro applications.

The nursery that is going out of business where I bought the Sissoo's has an ad still up on Craigslist saying that they are doing the last few weeks of the sale and then - bye bye. They are practically giving these trees away now. I can plant 7 or more of those trees over there and eventually this place will look like a Sissoo tree farm. Excepting I'll be loving it, of course, provided I'm still living here.

My battles to keep tenants in this place are seemingly never-ending. The economy is dictating people moving around for various reasons - jobs/family/whatever the case may be. I have to be able to deal with this factor, yes, but - it gets old. A woman just called and wanted me to hold the room for 2 months by giving me a deposit. Yeah, right - give me a deposit equal to the 2 months - non-refundable, lol. No, I was outside at the BBQ doing the chicken wings and this person left a message. I will not be holding a room for 2 months for anyone. I need the money NOW.

The Taco Bell kid - well he's 24 years old but still - is allegedly going to call me back tomorrow about the room that is currently occupied by the saleslady who is leaving on Tuesday. I tell them all now that I do not hold rooms for anyone unless a non-refundable deposit is given. Not applicable to the 2-month people. I sometimes have to learn the hard way, but usually I DO end up learning.

It's warm outside - again - and I am not doing anything else out there until the sun starts going down later today. The dogs have already been laying in the grass - so far so good. The hummingbirds are relentlessly feeding at the feeder - it's fun to watch them coming and going like giant bees they move so fast!

Sunday

I would really like to do another neighborhood type of BBQ/party. The last one drew a large number of people from around the community and it was a good time. Some people just wanted to complain about everything under the sun - granted. There are always people like that, they must be bored, lonely - whatever in life because there are a lot of better things I can think of to do than sit around whining all day long. It serves no purpose. To MAKE it serve a purpose, go out and DO something about that of which you are complaining about.

It is still too hot, IMO, to do any kind of party like that. It is still getting very warm during the afternoons in the direct sunlight and I think something like that is better off waiting. I will say that I have a freezer full of chicken and beef - and brats now that I think about it - Fry's was getting rid of a bunch of packages of it for cheap a while back cause the due date was 2 days off - I bought all of them and dumped them into my freezer.

Brats are VERY popular at BBQ's, I have learned. They aren't cheap. Up to $6 for a 5-brat package. Other than that great sale I found, the lowest I ever see them on sale is $2.50 per package. Not bad, but - still pretty pricey considering the amount of meat you are getting. Which, in turn, is why I suppose they're so popular - they have a wonderful flavor.

I just got done doing a Miracle Gro nutrient spray on all of the plants on my property. That stuff seems to really make plants grow like crazy. I also took down the temp fencing I had around the patch of grass. See what happens. The grass is tall and already needs cutting, actually. I know the dogs are going to go out there and lay down on it, again, see how that grass handles it. I MAY go out there and continue on with the rock shovelling ceremonies today - but - I am going to start cleaning house here in a few minutes which is going to take precedence for a couple of hours worth anyway.

Plus I want to watch NFL - whatever is showing - today as well. I'm going to try the new carpet cleaning machine also, see if it stands up to the rave reviews it has received by SO many people. HUNDREDS of them.

Anna's Linens has some sort of drapes on sale and I would like to try that instead of the vertical blinds I have up there. They pretty much got destroyed - almost half the slats are gone. The reason is that the doggy door used to be in the sliding glass door where this setup is at. The dogs going in and out - well it's just plastic stuff, it can't really take a lot of abuse like that. I could replace the vertical blinds with a new set, but I sort of like the idea of trying out some drapes there and see how it looks. There IS no doggy door there now, so that problem is eliminated.

Well now that I think about it, I have a rather ambiitous list of things I would like to get done today - I best git to gitting to it!

ben

The Prison Report

Anthony is in jail. Juvenile jail, but incarcerated none-the-less, and from what I am hearing, he's going to be there awhile.
I have no doubts that when he comes out, he will be WORSE than he went in. I don't wish that, of course, but I know this kid. Now, they are supposed to be trying to rehabilitate kids in those circumstances.

He will be forced to go to their version of school. If he start fights, he will get into worse trouble and will stay in there even longer. It COULD be a good thing, yes, but in his case, I have my doubts.

A review? Okay.
First, of course, Anthony already had a record. It started before he threw rocks at me and threw rocks at my windows, breaking them. He already had a warrant out for his arrest the day he did that. So, he went to jail, but only overnight.

Now, he goes to court for the vandalism and the assault done on me. Now he's got number 2 against him. He's on probation for that.

A while back, I get a letter in the mail that he's got a warrant out for his arrest. Okay, well I have no contact with him and don't want any. I figure - and stated at the time - it's only a matter of time before he's caught.

So how did he get caught? He broke into a house. Police come. He's running down an alley. Caught, jail, done, bye. I have no information after that, but it's obvious - he's a 3 time vandal, a judge probably isn't going to show leniency. So, he's caught burglarizing a house, he already has a warrant out for his arrest and he has a record.

This kind of math isn't very difficult to figure out.

Now, I find out, JD's younger brothers were also arrested a while back - in June to be precise. This didn't surprise me at all, but it did take a while for this information to get to me. I kicked all 3 of those boys - his younger brothers - out of here quite a long time ago for stealing from me and also didn't want them doing the pot and drug junk around here. I did ask JD - who is the straightest kid you will ever meet, trust me, I know this kid, he is NOTHING like his younger brothers - why he simply didn't kick all of his brother's @$$es and get them in line.

Well, he's not like that. He's not only straight as an arrow, he is totally non-violent. I have watched his brothers throwing rocks at him - HARD - and he did nothing to them. He is FAR and MUCH bigger than any of his brothers - but I commend the kid, I hope he goes far in life. He's over here all the time, and I do mean, quite frequently.

Okay, once a neighborhood kid that thought he was a bad-@$$ threatened one of his brothers and actually walked into their house to do the damage, and THAT was the only time I have ever known JD to get angry. He's one of those types of quiet people you don't WANT to get angry. You know what I mean? But it was a righteous anger in that case and he was ready to defend his brother and his home against this bully. I am very confident that this bully would have gotten his butt beaten to a pulp if he attempted to continue one with his crap that day. As it was, he stood down, I doubt he had ever seen JD like that, either.

Umm, well what did his brothers do? They were caught attempting to steal video games at Fry's Electronics only a mile down the road from here. Yes, well, that's smart. They have security, video-surveillance, all that fun stuff. See some kids walking in there acting suspicious? All over it, guaranteed. They were busted and put on house arrest for 2 weeks - that's the ankle electronic device and everything. They have stopped the drugs/pot because they are on probation and if they are caught with pot in their system, 2 months in Juvi. Nice.

I don't wonder that Michael's departure coincides with his older brother's arrest. His older brother was a pill to be around. However, Michael has TOTALLY disappeared, he didn't even bother to say goodbye, I'm moving home, I won't be seeing you anymore. He just left - and I'm at the point that he's burned his bridges with me.

Honestly? I don't miss him, either. In fact, my mind is totally consumed by this lady I met today. If I get to liking this lady and really get into this, you will find me devoting a LOT of thought and time to that particular endeavor and that endeavor alone. My son? Yes. My parents? Okay. Everyone else? Well I would never turn my back on my internet friends : ) But I might be absent and also absent-minded for a while : ) lol.

In fact, if love is in the air - which I hope it is, either now with this woman or eventually with someone else - it will require a totally new and different blog to "deal" with it. Knowing me, I will probably write in that blog FAR more than anything else, and it will be a revolving monotone of the same thing over and over and probably, people will "get it" and not read it very much, lol again.....and I won't care, lol thrice.

Ahhh, the prospect of a woman. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, just the thought of it and the idea that it MIGHT go somewhere is all-consuming. We were not meant, I have never believed, to live alone without the opposite sex. I have been doing that for 5 years, yes, and some people never hook up with anyone - yes, and sometimes it's a pain in the rear - yes for both genders - and you get your little spats going and things you don't agree on - yes - but - still.

I have to tell you I'm a little high off of today's meeting with her and subsequent emails. Hard to explain, I guess. I don't want to set myself up for a fall, but - I have let go sooner or later and let myself be exposed to the potential hurt and pain - it's a gamble, a roll of the dice. Not that I am going into any date with a lady with a non-committal attitude - it's just that there is always the potential for a let-down. I have been preparing myself for this for quite a while now. I hope I am ready, come-what-may.

ben

This Is What I Miss

I get a woman in the house - even if only for a few days, and here we are spending extreme amounts of time talking about anything and everything under the sun. I will never have a "relationship" with this person, but my gosh, is it not true that the quality of conversation escalates with a woman around versus another guy?

Yeah, well you arguably - could argue that - but it's my current take on it and I'm sticking with it.

You could say it's only because of your lack of such in your life - and arguably again - you could be right.

But I'm not arguing, I'm just sayin'.

And yes, my english and composition on many of my posts is reprehensible. I am well aware of the grammatical "errors" but - as with this kind of thing I do here - it's totally on purpose and it expresses the way I am wanting to "talk" while writing.

So there.

I do know, just from this limited experience going on here with this lady - that my life is ....... weakened even .......... with the lack of the presence of the female side of things. You can try to argue with that, but I will simply not agree with your argument, whatever it is. I have seen both sides of this equation, they both present their challenges.

Just one more thing: The bug has bitten. I have "The Feeling". It has been growing for weeks now. It should not be a surprise to anyone if I post here my trip to the casino - which has not taken place yet and - may not take place - but the feeling is there. And I'ma gonna tell you what, this particular feeling hasn't led me astray yet. Doesn't mean I'm gonna get rich, but it has always had me coming out richer when I leave than when I walked in there, even if by only a hundred bucks. My record is $1,500 started out with $100 worth of chips. And no, I didn't start out betting $100.

Oh, and one final thing: my son is going to Sierra Vista tomorrow morning (Saturday) leaving at 6:00 am. So I have to get up early - like I always do but not normally that early on weekends - to take him to the high school. I will visit a fashion desing center on my way home, namely: Walmart - for some new jeans and a shirt to wear to this meeting at Starbucks.

Yes, folks, I'm going to town with a $15 pair of jeans and probably something close to that in a shirt. Lol. I would go somewhere else but probaby no where else is open at 6:00 am and I want to get it done early so I don't have to worry about it.

Umm, yes, another trip to Walmart. Providing my recent experiences, it may prove interesting.

G'nite.
ben

Friday

So, I was looking at Duke - one of my Great Danes - a little while ago thinking he is taller than 31 inches at the nape of the neck. I measured him a while back but he wasn't standing fully erect. So, I got a hold of his head and got him standing erect - he's 33 inches! And he is ever gaining weight! I picked him up today, I'm guessing a minimum of 140 pounds. The dog is huge, is all I can say about that. Prince - my other Great Dane - is smaller than him and I think he is at 31 inches and probably 15 pounds lighter as well.

Umm, well whatever. I am going on a date in the morning and I hope it turns out at least something memorable if nothing else. As in, we find some kind of common ground to work with and not end up just leaving and saying goodbye and nothing else. I already have a head full of questions and such to talk about, talking is not a problem for me, I have the gift when I need it.

I don't think I posted here that Jeff - the non-paying tenant, left yesterday morning while I was at work. I had no clue. I came home, did my normal things around the house and walked to that end of the house where the tenants are - to check the bathroom - and saw his bedroom door open. Room had been emptied and the keys laying on the bed. I already have the room rented for a week - cash in advance of course - which is good. I used that money today to buy dog food. I have also had a guy that I have talked to 3 times today on the phone.

He wants to get out of the house he's in - renting a garage in a family's house - and into his own bedroom. We had a long discussion on both calls. He sounds interested - but don't they all. I don't normally get that many calls from someone who isn't really serious about it, though. He was telling me he was only paying $250 for the garage. I could tell that he was subtly attempting to get me to come down on my rent price, which is fixed at $375 for that particular room.

I won't budge. The only way I'm going $250 is for work around the house, and most people don't want to do that. But, right now, I can't afford a work for reduced rent situation anyway, and I haven't been offering it. I DID offer bi-monthly payments which make it easier for people to deal with if they are not making much money, and I doubt a co-manager at a Taco Bell is making that much money, but - who knows. I have learned that all of these wonderful phone calls from people are totally meaningless until they're here, sitting at my kitchen table, signing a rental agreement and forking over money. It is at least intriguing that I have had a couple of calls, though, in such a short period of time after posting that ad, and even more odd that it's the middle of the month.

Most people are moving at the end/first of the month. Out of one contract and into another. It would be nice, definitely, to get that room rented out. This guy has a Jack Russell Terrier, purely obnoxious dogs if you ask me, but I like most any dog, just that those things seem to me to be very temperamental. Good thing they are so small. I think big dogs get the stupid spell because if they weren't, they would definitely - have problems in life. Duke is the dumbest, I mean absolutely dumbest dog I have ever owned, and I've owned a lot of dogs. There is one dog I had that came close, but Duke is the Crown Jewel in the Dumb Dog category. But he's totally lovable : )

This is the lure of my ad - that I accept dogs. I have to put that in there because I already HAVE my own dogs and probably a good contingent of people out there that want nothing to do with giant babies also known as Great Danes.

Well, that's really it. It's Friday, I'm home and it's good to be alive.

ben

Things Of Various Nature

I got my carpet cleaning machine - but not free. No big deal, I got it for almost half off. Not a bad deal considering I still have some Christmas money from my mother to deal with. She has a set amount of money for each of her 3 boys to spend on Christmas - and I'm guessing they buy their own present as well, but don't quote me on that. I have no clue, really, what or how she deals with my brothers.

I finally have a date set for Saturday morning at a Starbucks in the west valley with a 'gorgeous' blonde, she quotes herself being as. Actually, I have seen her pic, she's not bad looking for a girl just a little less than my age. I'm amazed she is still making babies, though. But - if what she says is true - she's going for a doctorate's in an education degree and also works. Very admirable - again - if true. I have given up on formal education, the cost is prohibitive and the gains are not that much. Perhaps the gains would be significant if I went for something that takes - 8 years probably - to get a degree in, such as being a lawyer - I don't have the energy.

Going to work, coming home and doing that for years on end is out of the question for me. I would like to take some courses - in something - I think it good to continue to learn things throughout the course of your life, but at 45, I simply am not going to learn "how to be a lawyer". I could do the paralegal thing in 2 years. Again, at 45k, I don't see the benefits of it. The cost of education is through the roof and won't be landing on me anytime soon. I have enough financial problems in life to also be dealing with a school loan. They come after you, too, trust me when I say that, I know many people who have had wages garnished for however long it takes to pay them back.

That is a pressure I don't need or want this late in life. I have other ambitions to make money - but - as always - it takes money to make money.

Ummm - so - it was "suggested" to me in a PM on the other blog host by a person I have come to like that there is another person on that site that is looking and what do I think about that, basically. Uhhh, that's a kinda difficult question, really. I had already thought about that option, if it is indeed even an option. Dunno. I'm going on this date Saturday and see if and where this goes, then I will think about that potential.

I took a 45 minute nap this afternoon after getting home from work - I am not sleeping well at all. I wake up at midnight now and lucky if I'm back to sleep after 2 hours. I am going to take reading material into my room at this point. When I wake up, I'm going to start reading until I get sleepy again and fall asleep. Try, anyway.

I have spent no small amount of time working on the east side of my house today - it is a little closer, but still have lots to go to get it ready for planting grass seed.

Enough.
ben

Tenant Issues

What else is new.

The older gent informed me today he needs to move out at the end of the month because of a situation with his daughter. She is renting an apartment, the lease isn't completed for a while and her roommate lost his job, meaning he has to move out and - no-one to pay the other half of the rent bill.

So he's moving in with her to help her out. Well what am I going to say, well gee dude, that's really rank of you? No, no big deal, thanks for letting me know far enough in advance to hopefully get someone else in here. Not really looking forward to having to have yet another person move out and potentially another move in, but that's life right now.

Though, it may very real be searching for 2 more tenants. I left the "non-paying-tenant-who-has-partially-paid" another 5-day notice. Today, he came in and walked by me without speaking a word. Indeed.

I got my bonus today - almost $450 after taxes - it will help me keep up with all of the mess I am going through now. Yup - a bonus that is going to help shore up the eaves, not for doing whatever I want with it. Sucks in one sense, in another, wonderful that I have got a bonus to begin with.

Non-paying tenant is in "his" room - did not address me about the notice and therefore - I assume that eviction process will have to go into full swing.

So - today I was feeling very good - dunno why, but I'll take it. I mean, REALLY good. Non-paying tenants aside and tenants moving out - this is a factor I will be dealing with as long as I have tenants - it was a good and very busy day.

I was at a jobsite today - in the middle of a street, lol. Literally, they shut down the street to unload my truck. This was interesting - people aren't particularly happy about having to wait - yet, there are signs warning them of such well in advance. Still, you don't have to figure to wait THAT long. The City of Mesa is bent on getting this project done and behind them - this particular situation made all the local news media when it first began and I'm sure they'd like to get the attention off of that situation.

But I'm tired now. I have spent considerable time dealing with the Walmart situation after work concluded today and it isn't over yet. In fact, I may just escalate this situation to an entirely new level if it continues.

I have other things to report, the Walmart scenario - all of it for today's adventure - is on the other blog. Perhaps I'll just copy and paste that into an entry over here.

Anyways, Ava' g'nite and c'ya later!
ben

Monday

I was so tired today coming home from work that I bypassed stopping at the grocery store.
My total bad.
And no, I am not going up there now, even IF it's only a mile away.
I have absolutely no fresh vegetables in the house. No lettuce; tomatoes; onions; mushrooms - on and on. I consumed the rest of what I had this weekend. I did have a salad for lunch this afternoon, so I don't feel totally bad about not having anything here - but still.

My fatigue is caused by waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. This is not an infrequent occurence for me - but - I usually end up getting enough sleep anyway so I'm good for the next day.

Not last night. I figure at most I got 5 hours of sleep and I was busting butt at work today.

Ummm, that is it for now. Short entry - yes - just don't have it in me to write a long detail of things going on.
ben

Sunday - My Trip To Walmart

I think this time I'mg going to put the location of this WalMart on here: It's located in Tempe, Arizona, at Elliot and Priest.

I don't seem to be able to make a trip to Walmart without some kind of bs - usually lousy customer service - involved. I go there anyway, always with a mission. Today's mission was to get a Hoover Steam Vac With Surge F5914-900. Yes, they had a display model, no they had none in the box - and they didn't even have a location for a place for them, just the model location.

Thinking that odd, I got a person over there to check it out. None in stock in the back, either, but 4 on backorder with no intended date of arrival. Can you please tell me if there is one at another store? His little handheld device actually had all of that information in there, including the "fact" that there is one at the store right down the road from where I work.

Okay, not the end of the world - I can pick one up after work this coming week, right?

Okay, well, I always go to the deli counter if I'm going to Walmart because they have good prices on turkey and ham - sliced to order of course. Note that my visits to Walmart are at most once a month average where it used to be I would be going in there at least once a week. The deli counter is always a wonderful place - there are usually 3 or 4 gals working in the back. And usually, they ignore customers for a while before whatever it is they're doing - they get done with, and then, and ONLY then, they will come up and help customers waiting.

Typical Walmart BS. Today, there was a man already being helped and I know from experience at this store that probably, a second customer service associate will NOT come up and start helping people, you have to wait. I decided against waiting 10 or more minutes for a pound of honey breast turkey. I went over to the seafood counter as I thought it would be nice to have some cooked and already de-veined, fresh shrimp this afternoon. There was NO-ONE in sight over there. I stood there for a minute weighing my options. I seriously considered going back there and helping myself. There are no signs saying I couldn't go behind the display case and no signs saying I can't just get my own bag and load it up with shrimp.

Of course, I wouldn't have a clue as to how to work the scale thingy that prints out a sticker with the price on it, but - if I really wanted to make my case, I could do it, go to check out - and then see what happens. I didn't do that. I gave up and walked away. Did some other stuff - and then, as is my want, called the store - from within the store. It was a new manager lady - she hasn't been working there very long and she was totally disinterested. I spoke my peace short and sweet. Went up to the garden center counter - I was going to buy some perennials from there if their prices were better than Home Depot - not at all.

Half flats at Home Depot are $5 and change, they weren't even selling half flats, just the 6 packs. The lady ringing me up there said that many customers have complained about the deli counter. Ohhhh?

I called this manager again, this time informing her that apparently, your own customer service reps know about this problem, why is it never addressed? She had no answers for me, I didn't expect any. I called the district manager's office and left a message. Now they really are interested in customer's opinions. They will call back tomorrow, just about guaranteed and ask what happened. I will tell them - I have never called them on the deli counter stuff but I figure it's time - it's been going on for YEARS at that particular location, and see if they can do anything about it.

But I have my own methodology in mind. Next time - which won't be anytime soon, really - I go in there, I am going to demand that another associate come up to help customers if only one is helping customers. When they ignore me, then I'll drag a manager over there and see what might happen. The only real way to get these people to change their ways is to force the issue. Note that the same personnel have been working at that deli for literally years now. A short little Asian woman is the one that normally services customers - and that after you have waited there (if no one else is there getting served) for a couple to several minutes while she does her thing, totally ignoring you. Or, she might say it'll be a second - usually at least 120 seconds and even more than that.

It's really quite unbelievable. I will invite the store manager to "spy" on their own workers - they can do that easily through the extensive video surveillance they have in every single store - and watch what happens when any given customer comes up to the counter to get some meats or cheeses cut and packaged for them.

The only thing today's visit did for me was to further entrench into my mind that Walmart has some of the worst customer service in the world, really, and that I really do NOT want to go in there very often and be subjected to it.

I'm not angry or even unhappy right now, I have come to expect this kind of thing from that particular store. My take is that they simply don't pay for quality help. Walmart would go out of business if they actually paid their associates anything. They couldn't possibly keep their brand title with the happy faces and constantly lowering prices and all that riggormoroo if they paid their associates, say, $12 per hours instead of minimum or close to that wage. Even $12 is rather pathetic, but it's a far cry better than taking home $7.25 per hour.

I do no support Walmart. I do go there here and there, yes, I won't lie. But the main brunt of my expenditures for everyday items is NOT at Walmart and not likely ever to be so again. I have done my Walmart rant many times on my blogs before, yes, long-time readers will see me doing this yet again and probably shake your head. No matter - I like to put this stuff out in the open because - these things are "crawled" and the crawls end up in internet search engines. People find this site because of it and see what I have to say.

Just like there's nothing better than customers giving kudos and praise to a store in terms of advertisement, there is also nothing worse for a store than for customers to rant about something bad that has happened - or in this case occurs on a regular, consistent basis - in any given store.

So there it is. Another Walmart rant, likely not the last one, either. Probably, the next time I go in there, I am going to follow through with my deli counter idea and probably, I will have a very interesting story to tell about that experience, if/when it occurs.

As for the rest of today? Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I just fixed the shelf in the refrigerator - Super Glue does wonders for stuff like that - and then started cleaning the fridge out, one shelf at a time. However, I threw the dogs out earlier and they have been out there for hours now, so I decided while I have them out there it would be a good time to sweep and mop the kitchen and utility room floor. That is done, the dogs can come back in - though they don't know that yet. They made me mad this morning and I had had enough - animals were made for the outdoors, some quality time spent out there certainly isn't going to hurt my feelings - it's beautiful outside anyway.

I have stuff to do outside, but my main focus today, really, is getting the inside of the house spic and span clean.

Have a great one!
ben

Saturday

Yeah, I know it's been a few days since I posted here - I have been busy and just posting on one blog was more than enough.

I'm still mulling the situation with Michael. I haven't seen him in going on 3 weeks now - and no, I didn't kick him out - but the info that came my way yesterday, though not surprising was still disturbing to me. He's basically fallen into the ways of the rest of his family. He's not going to school at all now and he's smoking weed all day long - just like the rest of them. It will not surprise me to eventually hear of him getting into trouble for stealing of some sort.

It's disturbing in that he's been living with me for 5 years now - a few stints here and there where he left to be at home for a short period of time - but this time, not even a goodbye. Just leave and act is if none of us ever existed. It's not just me, either, it's his friends in the neighborhood as well. I will not, however, have him showing up here out of the blue some day - which likely will happen - and have him thinking he can stay here without going to school OR while smoking pot. He can just stay at his family's house to do that, they are all birds of a feather in that regard.

Well, enough of that. The food consumption around here has dropped dramatically without him being here, which is a good thing in one respect, but - if it meant keeping him off of drugs AND going to school, then really not a good tradeoff from my perspective. Again, I would be pretty reasonably sure in saying that the reason he isn't coming around at all now is because he knows my stance on school and drugs/pot. I don't really want that kind of influence around my son or JD - my son's friend who lives down the street. They are both totally straight kids, have made it into the Junior years at high school without doing all the junk and I would like to see that "trend" continue on throughout high school.

I ended up getting 2 and a half "extra" hours at work this week. Not a lot, but if I could swing that next week as well, that's 5 extra hours on my paycheck and yes, I could use that money just about now. The "non-paying-but paying-tenant" informed me of some check that he is expecting in the mail today and would I please slide it under the door. Apparently his way of telling me that he is going to give me money after he gets that check. Well, I hope so, really I do, because I will simply issue another 5-day notice on Monday if he doesn't hand over at least $100 by this weekend. I think he figured that out after I did that on Monday of this week. Yup, after receiving a partial payment, I have to issue a 5-day notice all over again.

Today? Well it's beautiful outside and I'm headed out there shortly to continue raking up rocks. I am making piles of them on the east side of the house and then sitting down and sorting through them. The rocks have both river rock (ugly) and the natural rock that is underground here. The natural rock I put into now-empty planters and haul out front to continue on with trying to get all the ground out there covered, the river rock goes into the trash can.

It's a very tedious task but it's one that must be done. I mean, I could just trash all of it, but I have some barren spots out front that need covering. It's good exercise and since the weather is perfect - at least in the mornings, it's still getting warm in the afternoons - I want to take advantage of it. I'm also going to head up to Home Depot and buy a couple large bags of mulch and start that grass project all over again. I assume the grass I put down is not going to grow because I didn't cover it. I just couldn't remember how I did that last time I did it - which was many years ago. The point is that the mulch keeps the moisture in so that the seed stays wet at all times.

Since I'm going there, I will probably buy a few more Petunias and Stock to finish the effect out front. The flowers transplanted nicely - one flower out of all of that drooped over and died, the rest are doing perfectly well and putting out such a wondeful fragrance.

I just checked Caleb's Geometry grade after getting that 24 out of 25 earlier this week his overall average is a C- !!!! Yayyyyyy! A FAR cry better than an F!!! He's also done much better in his German class - I sorta gave him a hard time about that because he had F's in classwork and homework - now I am seeing 100% on both those current categories and he just got a B+ on a test this week. Anyway, he now has 4 B's and 2 C's in his classes.

I know it doesn't set well with some folk, but I am going to reward him for the obvious effort he is putting into getting his grades up. I'm not sure what yet, but I will think of something - probably a few bucks or a trip to the movies or something like that.

Ummm, anyway, I best be getting out and about.

Have a great Saturday!
ben

Wednesday

So - I spent an hour or more this morning loading up the truck and then a trip up into the mountains. Woo-hooooooo!

Got my camera freshly charged for just such occasion as might pop up to warrant taking some pic - and more to the point - hopefully pics of Autumn in full swing.

I'm also here - here at work that is - even earlier than I normally come in so I can spend a few quality minutes reading the trashy world news, drinking free coffee and basically waking up. No, I am not on the company clock when I'm doing this, which is pretty much a daily event. I intend on signing in early, though, cause' a truck is showing up early and then I have a pretty good drive ahead of me and want to get a good jump on the day.

Ummmm - now I'm reading an email to me from the boss saying something different - well not different. We are delivering to a project for ADOT - Arizona Department of Transportation - and though it probably doesn't say it on the ticket, they are specifying we use American made fittings. Yes, we have such fittings, mixed in with a pile of fittings also made in China.

Yup, they say China right on them just as the American made versions - actually don't say made in America, it's just a particular brand that is only made (allegedly but really it's not true anyway) in America.

The other blog is apparently down - I always wait in wonder on the smaller blog hosts to see if I will actually have a blog after the day is over or if everything is lost. One would hope a hosting site would back up their material - but - we have found out that hard way - that certainly isn't always true, now is it?

So that's it, really. Just excited about a nice road trip. I don't usually get to do the mountain trips, I really don't know why our branch is doing this one - perhaps a mistake. But, the main branch is very busy today from what I heard so even if it was a mistake, they wouldn't have been able to do it anyway.

C'yall later - ava' great day!
ben

Tuesday

I'm going to have to figure out how to post pics on this site that show the entire pic, instead of half of it. That is rather annoying. Perhaps changing the size when I snap the shots - but then they don't look as good. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have already posted in my other blog the same thing I am going to post here, there is no need to re-write it twice so I'm copying and pasting that stuff.


First, my son just called me. He took a 25 question test in Geometry today. He went to Homework Lab yesterday and this morning he went in to get help from his Geometry teacher before school. I was puzzled about him going to see his teacher before school because we butted heads about that situation on Sunday. He didn’t want to have to do that because he’s already going to Homework Lab after school, I wanted him to do BOTH until his grade in that class comes up to at least a C average.

I’m guessing he’s trying to make me happy with him by doing everything that I am asking - well demanding in some things as I find much of it unacceptable - and today was the best news yet. He got 24 out of 25 correct! Yes, folks, that’s an A - he hasn’t come anywhere close to that at all this year. His teacher gave him his score early - a thing that teacher never does, because Caleb told him this morning that he HAS to get at least a C- minus in that test today or much heavier study time is going to be ‘induced’.

I’ll call my jubilation over his grade today “Temporal Elation”. Elated, yes, but only for right NOW. There are lots of tests to go and he is going to have to continue to work hard to keep his grade up in that class. He will be rewarded for doing - almost miraculous - job on that test today. Dunno what, yet, didn’t tell him that either. Probaby send him off to the movies or something.

The other bit of good news is that I am actually getting a bonus this year! Like next week!! Freakin’ too me TOTALLY by surprise. A company that’s laying off people; shutting down stores; getting rid of equipment; cutting back hours; this that and the other thing and the come along and surprise us with a bonus? I’ll take it!! Yayyyy!

Another nice thing that is going to happen is that tomorrow I get to take a trip up to Globe. The whole area up there is basically mining based economy. There is an old mine right next to the main highway going through there and this time I am going to take a minute to stop and get a pic of it. It’s basically a man-made canyon, really. It’s huge and breathtaking. I love taking the scenic routes up into the mountains, and I’ll bet there will be some autumn colors along the way once I start getting up in elevation!! I hope to be able to get some pics of that, too. Take my break time to stop a couple of times and hopefully get some good pics.

I get a day of reprieve from all the negativity. The tenant handing me some money last night was - at least helpful. Better than nothing at all.

So, that's the copied from the other journal but not stale news going on.

I'm very psyched about the prospect of driving up to Globe tomorrow. I will be driving through several areas where Autumn colors should be showing very beautiful, paintable, picturesque scenes. I'm going to recharge my camera tonight to make sure I don't miss the opportunity to capture some of that on - well it isn't film, so whaddya callit? Caputure it into electronic circuits that keep those pics in there somehow - probably they invented how to stuff a person into a container that is the size of maybe a large jewelry box - well you never know - and he or she does all of that in there.

Hey, I'm just open to a wide range of things. 30 years ago would you have thought that the technology we have today was even possible, much less in the hands of virtually everyone on the planet? Talking on telephones through the air? The list is long, not even worth going into.

I would probably not just drive up there on my own to see Autumn. What fun is that? It would be fun, yes, I can make it fun on my own, but I sooo need someone to share my life with.

Ummm, so that's it. A beautiful day here - temps up in the high 80's I think is what it got to. Though, you go into the direct sunlight and it is definitely much hotter than that.

I'm hungry and it's right at my no-eat time - I'll cheat a little, only at once today.

G'nite.
ben

Monday/Hot On The Trail

A lady that I "met" online through Craigslist - I placed an ad and she was one that responded - well we have been writing each other for some time now. Months and months anyway.
The problem is that she lives in Flagstaff and I, of course, live in Phoenix. We talked about everything in mostly PM's for quite a while and though I thought we could definitely make a good fit with each other - I finally had to come to the conclusion that attempting to date someone that doesn't live in the same metro area probably isn't going to work for me.
We talked yesterday - she said I am too busy for her, but really, I can't just drop what I'm doing and drive up to Flagstaff, plus I don't really LIKE driving much anymore - and that's really my problem with it. We parted ways amiably.

I gave some thought to this before this conversation yesterday. There are millions of people in the Phoenix area, surely there is somewhere here that I could meet up with and hopefully we are compatible with each other. I hope the best for her, I truly do, she is a great lady/person and it shows through the time we've spent "together" chatting in IM's.

But, once it was mutually agreed upon to part ways, had another ad up on Craigslist. This one a bit different than most of what I see on there - and yes it got a lot of attention. So I am attempting to figure out if any of those respondents are something that would work out mutually - only way to do that is by a lot of correspondence back and forth.

Oops, one wants to speak on the phone later. I'm far more preferential to a lot of writing back and forth first, but that's just me. I would rather just go meet a person, in-person, than doing endless chatting on the phone. Might as well speak together - I don't really care the place - a Starbucks or something similar would work for me.

I'm thinking I'm ready to start dating again - I say that and then something with the ex comes up and then I remember why I am divorced and not with a woman. BUT - there is a built-in need for companionship with the opposite sex, I won't deny that and I won't even try.

Huge time lapse = got busy doing other things = I'm tired and ready to go to bed.

Ava' good evening!
ben

BBQ - PICS

Ahhh, yes, I found the energy after a full day's work and yes, I fired up that BBQ.\\

It did not, however, want to cooperate. I turned the valves on and - nothing.

Got me a little stick and hit the regulator - yes hard enough to free it up - and yes, gas started flowing.

Pork chops and chicken.

I'm only writing because I'm ecstatic that the weather has changed so dramatically and it's actually NICE to be outside again.

I have only been in the house today to write a couple of posts - though I posted a bunch of pics on my other journal and that took QUITE some time.

If I remember correctly, posting pics here is MUCH easier, simply copy and paste.

Okay, so I did it. I posted the pics. I did not give the explanations here as I did on the other blog - if you have questions about any one or more pics, simply ask or - go to the other blog and explanations are given under each photo.

I will say that this my property - a lot of it but not all of it. Especially cool were the plantings of the flowers today into the pots - shown in some of the pics, of course!

Dang, I forgot, this blog cuts the pics in half. I'm serious, you look at those pics, there is half the view on there. To see the whole version of any pic, just click on the pic. To see a bigger version, click on the pic that shows up after you clicked on the pic the first time.