Thursday
So, though the Iranian government denies it ever occured, a bomb of some sort, or a grenade (several different stories about what, exactly, it was) was thrown at or set off while that president's entourage was driving through. Obviously it missed. Too bad, really........
So, yesterday I decided to get on the phone. I hate calling these large corporations. It takes forever, it just sucks. The first phone call to Qwest communications which is supplying me internet service. Phillipines (I don't want to talk to you, please put me on with an American call-center)(also said that unless they were going to board a plane to Phoenix, AZ, they pretty much need to deal me back to America); to Utah, there I asked to speak to a manager and refused to give the operator any information, 15 more minute wait, a woman gets on the phone. I can hear kids screaming in the background. ???Daycare IN the office? She calls me back - the line was going from here to Philippines back to Salt Lake. Turns out she was at home and had received a call to deal with me since I had been waiting so long.
Great. Long story. My internet is not working as fast as the amount that I am paying for, fix it. She was nice, didn't give her a hard time, gave me her personal cell number - I have been debating quitting the service for a while now - they still haven't buried the temporary line that has been replaced several times by Qwest techs. The line has been promised to be buried at least half a dozen times now.
Done with that call, I get a call from McDonald's. The smug woman, so-called manager, who thought she was going to get away with treating me like s*** at the drive-thru window got a taste of her own medicine. That's because I both wrote and called corporate to complain about this woman's extremely rude behavior. She ATE it and had to apologize. The store's general manager offered a free meal. Well, I'm on a diet and I only go there for coffee, but what the hey, I'll take that free meal and give it to one of the boys.
I then called Dish Network, the satellite company that I am haphazardly thinking about switching to. I asked them specific questions about costs - the cost of a DVR, the recording fee price and the amount I will be charged per month for each box. No answer, instead, going into the plans they have. NO, thank you, I didn't ask you that. I was connected to someone else who also couldn't, apparently, understand clear, concise english and was eventually transferred to a manager. This guy was professional, polite and courteous. He explained everything and the cost in great detail. I said thank you for your time and the info and hung up, immediately calling Direct TV.
Another unwanted trip to the Philippine islands and having to "force" my way back to the U.S. and yes, I bypassed the operator that answered because I know they can and will do nothing for me. TOO much experience on the phone with this company.
Another professional and courteous manager got on the phone, so I frankly told him what I was thinking of doing - switching - and I was comparing costs. He broke down my costs as the stand right now - I have fully 5 different discounts going because of the numerous phone calls I have made asking for such, plus free movie channels. He replied that it was a "breath of fresh air" to get someone on the phone that wasn't trying to hide the obvious fact that you are considering switching to another company. I said what is there to hide? This is the free market.
My cost? $72 per month, right now. That is a smoking deal for 6 receivers, DVR plus package and movie channels. But, it is not going to stay that way forever, obviously, and I will either have to keep calling and demanding the same discounts be reapplied or - switch. I told him that I would consider signing another 2 year contract if my rate would be kept at that price AND I get new equipment. He replied that when these deals are gone, that is the time to write to corporate and tell them that I am going to switch unless they do something.
Okay, good advice, I haven't tried that before, I usually just make as many phone calls as it takes. Any way about it, I do want NEW equipment, all of it replaced. That stuff doesn't last forever and when it goes bad, their stuff isn't exactly free.
Well, I've burned up another pre-work morning's worth of time.
G'day.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wednesday
Well, somehow I totally forgot to do anything with entries yesterday.
Umm, take that back: after getting done with that ordeal yesterday morning and feeling sick for the rest of the day from heat exhaustion (I'm guessing, anyway), that's what messed me up.
It was a large return, it was very hot and humid outside, I worked nonstop sweating like a pig and - well it just took it's toll on me. I'm not a 20-something anymore. I was drinking a lot of water but I still ended up with a "heat headache" is what I call them and once I get one, it can take the rest of the day and a good night's sleep to get beyond it.
Today was slated for an even LARGER return. Fortunately, it has been put off until tomorrow as I am still not feeling quite right from yesterday's event in a pool of hellish heat.
My dad sent me another letter yesterday - he has been helping me out with a tidy sum of money every month to help me through this financial chaos and the money has been MUCH appreciated. He wants me to come down for another Thanksgiving visit. Last year, mother graciously made Thanksgiving plans around my plan to visit dad - I hadn't seen him in a long time and I hadn't visited him on a holiday in - I don't even remember how long ago - it was definitely time. The problem is his wife's families are going to be there again and frankly, it was very uncomfortable around those people last year. When you're around a man that is so full of himself that he wants to do all the talking and listen to nothing anyone else has to say, well, I really am not into that at all. In fact, people like that REALLY turn me off, having to sit there and listen to it for hours on end is ridiculous. If it goes on long enough, I start to get mad. I know, I can be juvenile at times, but I don't WANT to be subjected to another person's BS for THAT length of time.
I'm gonna have to think about that one, that's all I can say about it. I think I would rather spend a few days at Christmas instead.
Meanwhile, the vacation, unemployed, behind on rent tenant is still gone. I was going to write up a 5-day notice the other day here, but I forgot and got busy with work. I was going to write one up at home, but my printer is out of ink and I'm not sure that buying ink is of such great importance right now, especially considering I can print stuff at work for free.
If I am facing another $500 month for electicity - which I SINCERELY hope I am not - money will be tight yet again. Especially if this woman doesn't pay up, I have to get rid of her and lose that money I would otherwise have had with a paying tenant.
Pond work has come to a standstill and may not be taken up again until this weekend. Just don't have it in me to do all this stuff at work and then come home and start digging away as if I'm a 5 year old with limitless energy. I have plenty of energy, yes, but when the sun is helping zap it out of me, that makes things a bit different.
2 days in a row now my weight on the scale has shown 194! I've been coming in here - work that is - and seeing it all over the place. 198,195, 196, but NOT 194 - at all. I ate a foot long subway sandwich yesterday with all the veggies, mustard and vinegar - no cheese, no mayo, no creamy dressings. I got home and ate 2 hamburger patties. Patties only, nothing else on them. I then consumed - because I was still hungry and it was early - a 280 calorie diet dinner thing. Whatever it is, it's those frozen dinners that are supposed to be good for people on diets. They are low in fat but I forgot to look at sodium content. Usually it's higher in sodium content which is also a dieter's enemy. Still, just the fact that the weight is down a little more is very encouraging.
My goal is the low 180's, but I'd take 185 and be happy with it - I'm 6'2" which makes 185 a good weight range for my size.
Again, when dieting and especially when on one for so long, the temptations come from all sides. Donuts here, ice cream there - anything you want is right in your face. At other times, of course, that stuff is nowhere to be seen.
The news.
I always love the news in the morning.
Apparently ANOTHER kid is lost in the woods and has been since Monday night. What is with all these kids disappearing in the woods? Is there some sicko or sickos out there looking for young boys to take advantage of? I don't quite understand why I'm seeing so much of this in the news, I do hope they find the kid alive and in good condition.
Apparently the mud being pumped down the well on the BP disaster is working. Calling it in "static condition". Well, whatever they want to call it, get the damned thing plugged permanently and then they better not start disappearing JUST when the REAL cleanup efforts should be getting started - after the well is permanently closed.
Certainly, they must have a blueprint of sorts at this point to be able to deal with any future s*** like this that may occur without it having to take MONTHS to figure out how to stop it.
So, Missouri is setting it's own tone and voted - by 71% - to reject federally mandated health care. I'm on that boat, I've been on it since this government controlled healthcare crap came to the surface. It seems states are taking their own stances against things that this out-of-control Obama administration is trying to shove down all of our throats - Virginia being another. Fun to watch all of this, the democratic process might actually work in November!
A congressman is advocating to kill the person that leaked the information to Wikileaks if he is found guilty. There is substantial room here to create a stance that the man committed treason. It IS the law of our land. Dunno about that one, another watch as it plays out situation.
White House: Afghan war is not lost. Well, it isn't won, either, and I don't see it EVER getting won, meanwhile our boys and gals are getting killed over there on a daily basis.......forrrrrrrr.....what? I'm all for getting the bleep out of there, it's never going to change, there is no point in us trying to change people that have lived they they are for centuries.
They wanna kill each other, let them have at it, why should we interfere?
That's it, cause' time is up, I'm outta here.
For those that don't know, I'm writing my morning entries on a previous day's comments section because I can no longer access my account at work.
No biggies.
Later.
ben
Umm, take that back: after getting done with that ordeal yesterday morning and feeling sick for the rest of the day from heat exhaustion (I'm guessing, anyway), that's what messed me up.
It was a large return, it was very hot and humid outside, I worked nonstop sweating like a pig and - well it just took it's toll on me. I'm not a 20-something anymore. I was drinking a lot of water but I still ended up with a "heat headache" is what I call them and once I get one, it can take the rest of the day and a good night's sleep to get beyond it.
Today was slated for an even LARGER return. Fortunately, it has been put off until tomorrow as I am still not feeling quite right from yesterday's event in a pool of hellish heat.
My dad sent me another letter yesterday - he has been helping me out with a tidy sum of money every month to help me through this financial chaos and the money has been MUCH appreciated. He wants me to come down for another Thanksgiving visit. Last year, mother graciously made Thanksgiving plans around my plan to visit dad - I hadn't seen him in a long time and I hadn't visited him on a holiday in - I don't even remember how long ago - it was definitely time. The problem is his wife's families are going to be there again and frankly, it was very uncomfortable around those people last year. When you're around a man that is so full of himself that he wants to do all the talking and listen to nothing anyone else has to say, well, I really am not into that at all. In fact, people like that REALLY turn me off, having to sit there and listen to it for hours on end is ridiculous. If it goes on long enough, I start to get mad. I know, I can be juvenile at times, but I don't WANT to be subjected to another person's BS for THAT length of time.
I'm gonna have to think about that one, that's all I can say about it. I think I would rather spend a few days at Christmas instead.
Meanwhile, the vacation, unemployed, behind on rent tenant is still gone. I was going to write up a 5-day notice the other day here, but I forgot and got busy with work. I was going to write one up at home, but my printer is out of ink and I'm not sure that buying ink is of such great importance right now, especially considering I can print stuff at work for free.
If I am facing another $500 month for electicity - which I SINCERELY hope I am not - money will be tight yet again. Especially if this woman doesn't pay up, I have to get rid of her and lose that money I would otherwise have had with a paying tenant.
Pond work has come to a standstill and may not be taken up again until this weekend. Just don't have it in me to do all this stuff at work and then come home and start digging away as if I'm a 5 year old with limitless energy. I have plenty of energy, yes, but when the sun is helping zap it out of me, that makes things a bit different.
2 days in a row now my weight on the scale has shown 194! I've been coming in here - work that is - and seeing it all over the place. 198,195, 196, but NOT 194 - at all. I ate a foot long subway sandwich yesterday with all the veggies, mustard and vinegar - no cheese, no mayo, no creamy dressings. I got home and ate 2 hamburger patties. Patties only, nothing else on them. I then consumed - because I was still hungry and it was early - a 280 calorie diet dinner thing. Whatever it is, it's those frozen dinners that are supposed to be good for people on diets. They are low in fat but I forgot to look at sodium content. Usually it's higher in sodium content which is also a dieter's enemy. Still, just the fact that the weight is down a little more is very encouraging.
My goal is the low 180's, but I'd take 185 and be happy with it - I'm 6'2" which makes 185 a good weight range for my size.
Again, when dieting and especially when on one for so long, the temptations come from all sides. Donuts here, ice cream there - anything you want is right in your face. At other times, of course, that stuff is nowhere to be seen.
The news.
I always love the news in the morning.
Apparently ANOTHER kid is lost in the woods and has been since Monday night. What is with all these kids disappearing in the woods? Is there some sicko or sickos out there looking for young boys to take advantage of? I don't quite understand why I'm seeing so much of this in the news, I do hope they find the kid alive and in good condition.
Apparently the mud being pumped down the well on the BP disaster is working. Calling it in "static condition". Well, whatever they want to call it, get the damned thing plugged permanently and then they better not start disappearing JUST when the REAL cleanup efforts should be getting started - after the well is permanently closed.
Certainly, they must have a blueprint of sorts at this point to be able to deal with any future s*** like this that may occur without it having to take MONTHS to figure out how to stop it.
So, Missouri is setting it's own tone and voted - by 71% - to reject federally mandated health care. I'm on that boat, I've been on it since this government controlled healthcare crap came to the surface. It seems states are taking their own stances against things that this out-of-control Obama administration is trying to shove down all of our throats - Virginia being another. Fun to watch all of this, the democratic process might actually work in November!
A congressman is advocating to kill the person that leaked the information to Wikileaks if he is found guilty. There is substantial room here to create a stance that the man committed treason. It IS the law of our land. Dunno about that one, another watch as it plays out situation.
White House: Afghan war is not lost. Well, it isn't won, either, and I don't see it EVER getting won, meanwhile our boys and gals are getting killed over there on a daily basis.......forrrrrrrr.....what? I'm all for getting the bleep out of there, it's never going to change, there is no point in us trying to change people that have lived they they are for centuries.
They wanna kill each other, let them have at it, why should we interfere?
That's it, cause' time is up, I'm outta here.
For those that don't know, I'm writing my morning entries on a previous day's comments section because I can no longer access my account at work.
No biggies.
Later.
ben
Tuesday
So, I'm reading the news. A crock of S***, most of the stuff going on, especially these ethics charges against 2 democrats in "high profile" cases, they're calling it. Pelosi takes the stand that it doesn't matter, look what the Republicans did.
I see, so because the Republicans did similar type of things, that therefore excuses Democrats for doing the same types of thing? This is why I am not in love with either party - they take rsponsibility for nothing, shift blame, point fingers, do whatever to keep the limelight off of them - excepting when they have won some sort of victory, then their faces are plastered all over the place with their pathetic voices squeaking out their BS. They can ALL go bug off.
The tragedy, however, this morning with 3 teenaged brothers from one family and a sister and 2 teenaged brothers from another - drowning in a river.......leaves me scratching my head.
I'm just curious how you can go through life without even learning how to swim? Further, if you don't know how to swim, why would you be playing in a river? I first started reading the story thinking that river must have some swift, powerful undercurrents to be able to pull under and kill 6 teenagers, but getting further into the story, it was proclaimed that none of them knew how to swim. I can't imagine the grief those parents must be going through right now. Losing one child is too much, losing 3 in the same day?
There's some really strange stuff going on in this world - I am not going to comment on everything I have seen in the news this morning, there is too much of it.
Unfortunately, the only thing in our truck routing system today is a return - and from what I am hearing, it is a large return. Another return at another contractor tomorrow. Not a fan of returns, burning up in the sun is not my idea of fun while doing this stuff. I will, undoubtedly, be getting off early today since I went 2 hours over yesterday on that trip to that mine. Another trip to that mine tomorrow. We didn't have some of the materials and they want it delivered. I suppose the bigger bummer of the deal is that it will be in a pickup truck, not the semi.
Anyway, work day approaches and I have a few more things I wanna look at online before signing in.
g'day
ben
I see, so because the Republicans did similar type of things, that therefore excuses Democrats for doing the same types of thing? This is why I am not in love with either party - they take rsponsibility for nothing, shift blame, point fingers, do whatever to keep the limelight off of them - excepting when they have won some sort of victory, then their faces are plastered all over the place with their pathetic voices squeaking out their BS. They can ALL go bug off.
The tragedy, however, this morning with 3 teenaged brothers from one family and a sister and 2 teenaged brothers from another - drowning in a river.......leaves me scratching my head.
I'm just curious how you can go through life without even learning how to swim? Further, if you don't know how to swim, why would you be playing in a river? I first started reading the story thinking that river must have some swift, powerful undercurrents to be able to pull under and kill 6 teenagers, but getting further into the story, it was proclaimed that none of them knew how to swim. I can't imagine the grief those parents must be going through right now. Losing one child is too much, losing 3 in the same day?
There's some really strange stuff going on in this world - I am not going to comment on everything I have seen in the news this morning, there is too much of it.
Unfortunately, the only thing in our truck routing system today is a return - and from what I am hearing, it is a large return. Another return at another contractor tomorrow. Not a fan of returns, burning up in the sun is not my idea of fun while doing this stuff. I will, undoubtedly, be getting off early today since I went 2 hours over yesterday on that trip to that mine. Another trip to that mine tomorrow. We didn't have some of the materials and they want it delivered. I suppose the bigger bummer of the deal is that it will be in a pickup truck, not the semi.
Anyway, work day approaches and I have a few more things I wanna look at online before signing in.
g'day
ben
Monday, August 2, 2010
Trip To The Copper Mine
A fascinating day for me.
I had a load of pipe and fittings for a copper mine up in the mountains near Miami, AZ.
I have viewed the vast expanses of copper mines that they are from "scenic viewpoints", I have never been IN a copper mine.
Well, today, I definitely went in.
First was the guardhouse. Back your truck up and park over there. I hand the man the information to call the person who is supposed to come and guide me in there. He says he'll call the man "after you park over there", as if, for someone reason, I wouldn't do so.
I then just wait in the truck. I have had plenty of experience with guard shack guards - they want you to do things their way or they are simply going to make life miserable. I waited about 15 minutes - they fnally come out and wave me in.
I only go into all of this because of the rather massive amount of paperwork I had to read and sign before going in there. 1st document was a rather lengthy disclaimer - you are going in at your own risk, you assume all liability for any injuries or (whatever) that may occur. Yada, yada, yada. On and on. These people insisted I read the whole thing, so I did. And then I signed it.
Next, rules. LOTS of rules. I read all of that. Signed it.
Next, equipment. They have a huge list of things you must have and how much you will pay when you leave if you lose or break any of it. Well, I had a hardhat; steel-toed shoes; safety vest; safety glasses - all of it except a flag on a 10 foot pole that everyone that goes in there must have waving around for every one to see. $40 for that if you break or lose it. Wasn't very keen on signing paperwork for it, but I did anyway and kept my mouth shut.
Next - an ID card. I would like to say here that it is easier to get into the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant - of which I have been in many times - than it is to get into this mine. It was worth it, though. I sign the ID card, they tell me it's good for a full year. They hand me a flag and yes, they give me tie-wraps to attach it to the passenger side mirror on my truck.
I then wait. In fact, I fell asleep waiting so long. There is some 6th sense in me that wakes me up - every time - I did so 2 seconds before a pickup comes pulling up, waving me to follow him.
Now comes the fascinating part - driving down what I guessed was a 7% grade on a dirt roads, driving on the wrong side of the road because that's what they want, all lights on, extreme switch backs and all. Down and down and down. At the bottom, we cross over a small divide and head back up. We go on a major haul road - GIANT dump trucks - the tires on those things were about 8 FEET tall . We got stuck behind one that was trying to pull a hill with at least 100 tons (I'm guessing) of dirt and rock in it. There must have been 50 of those things in there.
It was at least 20 minutes of driving on these roads before we got to the destination. They are building a lake. Not any ole' lake, either, it's an ACID lake. A little shocking to hear them say that considering from the looks of this lake, it is going to be millions and millions of gallons of fluid, if not MUCH more than that. The lake? Will be used to leach the copper, I guess and however that works. I am very inquisitive about such things, the man was not really giving up any real amounts of information.
We get the load off the truck, spend 20 minutes going over the paperwork and justifying it against the quantities there, time to leave. I have seen safety being put to the nth degree at many places, this one takes the cake. And why not, there are thousands of tons of heavy equipment - very heavy equipment - running around all over the place. People can easily get killed without stringent safety measures in place, I am totally FOR all of that, trust me, I am.
No surprise, either, that most of the men working there were at least in their 30's, if not 40's and up. 20 somethings simply don't have the life experience of older individuals who have experienced dramatic situations at work places and have learned wisdom from it. I'm guessing these boys are getting paid very well.
Really, an experience of a lifetime, at least from my perspective. You do not just get to drive in to a copper mining operation. Good luck trying to. You can pull of the side of the road at the scenic view stops they have all you want, but driving down into one? Don't think so.
Well, that took more than a day's work - meaning I will get off early tomorrow - cause' - we aren't allowed any overtime at all unless it finally ends that way at the end of any given week. Tomorrow is going to not be so wonderful, either. A HUGE return, I am gathering, why is it the big returns are always in the middle of a very hot summer? You just die out there in the heat and now humidity, gag. I'm thinking of buying one of those huge convenience store chiller mugs, loading it with ice and taking a gallon of water with me,I am not into dehyration while working my @$$ off.
Not unexpectedly, I have done nothing at home. I got home, plopped down into this chair - remembered the fishies and fed them - those Koi are RAVENOUS eaters, they eat FAR more food than those goldfish do. No biggies, it's not like it's hundreds of dollars worth, I'm just saying. Probably 4 times the amount that any goldfish in there will eat.
Regardless, I am trashed and I'm outta here.
G'day/nite.
ben
I had a load of pipe and fittings for a copper mine up in the mountains near Miami, AZ.
I have viewed the vast expanses of copper mines that they are from "scenic viewpoints", I have never been IN a copper mine.
Well, today, I definitely went in.
First was the guardhouse. Back your truck up and park over there. I hand the man the information to call the person who is supposed to come and guide me in there. He says he'll call the man "after you park over there", as if, for someone reason, I wouldn't do so.
I then just wait in the truck. I have had plenty of experience with guard shack guards - they want you to do things their way or they are simply going to make life miserable. I waited about 15 minutes - they fnally come out and wave me in.
I only go into all of this because of the rather massive amount of paperwork I had to read and sign before going in there. 1st document was a rather lengthy disclaimer - you are going in at your own risk, you assume all liability for any injuries or (whatever) that may occur. Yada, yada, yada. On and on. These people insisted I read the whole thing, so I did. And then I signed it.
Next, rules. LOTS of rules. I read all of that. Signed it.
Next, equipment. They have a huge list of things you must have and how much you will pay when you leave if you lose or break any of it. Well, I had a hardhat; steel-toed shoes; safety vest; safety glasses - all of it except a flag on a 10 foot pole that everyone that goes in there must have waving around for every one to see. $40 for that if you break or lose it. Wasn't very keen on signing paperwork for it, but I did anyway and kept my mouth shut.
Next - an ID card. I would like to say here that it is easier to get into the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant - of which I have been in many times - than it is to get into this mine. It was worth it, though. I sign the ID card, they tell me it's good for a full year. They hand me a flag and yes, they give me tie-wraps to attach it to the passenger side mirror on my truck.
I then wait. In fact, I fell asleep waiting so long. There is some 6th sense in me that wakes me up - every time - I did so 2 seconds before a pickup comes pulling up, waving me to follow him.
Now comes the fascinating part - driving down what I guessed was a 7% grade on a dirt roads, driving on the wrong side of the road because that's what they want, all lights on, extreme switch backs and all. Down and down and down. At the bottom, we cross over a small divide and head back up. We go on a major haul road - GIANT dump trucks - the tires on those things were about 8 FEET tall . We got stuck behind one that was trying to pull a hill with at least 100 tons (I'm guessing) of dirt and rock in it. There must have been 50 of those things in there.
It was at least 20 minutes of driving on these roads before we got to the destination. They are building a lake. Not any ole' lake, either, it's an ACID lake. A little shocking to hear them say that considering from the looks of this lake, it is going to be millions and millions of gallons of fluid, if not MUCH more than that. The lake? Will be used to leach the copper, I guess and however that works. I am very inquisitive about such things, the man was not really giving up any real amounts of information.
We get the load off the truck, spend 20 minutes going over the paperwork and justifying it against the quantities there, time to leave. I have seen safety being put to the nth degree at many places, this one takes the cake. And why not, there are thousands of tons of heavy equipment - very heavy equipment - running around all over the place. People can easily get killed without stringent safety measures in place, I am totally FOR all of that, trust me, I am.
No surprise, either, that most of the men working there were at least in their 30's, if not 40's and up. 20 somethings simply don't have the life experience of older individuals who have experienced dramatic situations at work places and have learned wisdom from it. I'm guessing these boys are getting paid very well.
Really, an experience of a lifetime, at least from my perspective. You do not just get to drive in to a copper mining operation. Good luck trying to. You can pull of the side of the road at the scenic view stops they have all you want, but driving down into one? Don't think so.
Well, that took more than a day's work - meaning I will get off early tomorrow - cause' - we aren't allowed any overtime at all unless it finally ends that way at the end of any given week. Tomorrow is going to not be so wonderful, either. A HUGE return, I am gathering, why is it the big returns are always in the middle of a very hot summer? You just die out there in the heat and now humidity, gag. I'm thinking of buying one of those huge convenience store chiller mugs, loading it with ice and taking a gallon of water with me,I am not into dehyration while working my @$$ off.
Not unexpectedly, I have done nothing at home. I got home, plopped down into this chair - remembered the fishies and fed them - those Koi are RAVENOUS eaters, they eat FAR more food than those goldfish do. No biggies, it's not like it's hundreds of dollars worth, I'm just saying. Probably 4 times the amount that any goldfish in there will eat.
Regardless, I am trashed and I'm outta here.
G'day/nite.
ben
Monday
Monday
Come into work with trepidation: will the run to Miami still be in the system?
Things almost always change overnight/over the weekend. Yes, it's still there! Plus a trip to Coolidge thrown in there, good luck with that. Apparently the salesman forgot to put that in there on the run to Coolidge on Friday.......
Okay, I like going out of town on road trips, especially when the company is paying for it and even more so in the semi. Don't ask why, I just love it.
The high yesterday was in the 90's. The electric use reflected that: $10 day versus up to $20 less than a month ago. Still have to run the AC to get the humidity out of the air and yes, 90's is still a bit too warm to say goodbye to AC.
Today's high slated at 98. Then back up in the 100's for the rest of the week - BUT - less than 110. That will also help keep cooling costs down. These overcast skies for the last week or however long have been fabulous. Pond digging has gotten a lot further simply for the better weather.
Weekends are always roughest on the dieting situation: at 197.5 this morning. I have not been able to get below 195. I'm sure I COULD by - doing something different I guess, just not there yet. I would have like to break into the 180's range by now, oh well.
News. Always some interesting reads on Monday morning. Apparently, big news is Palin's changing their lifestyle to avoid the writer who moved in next door. Who cares?
Good big news is they are going to try and plug the well. Fingers crossed isn't enough, praying and believing are much better alternatives!
I can also say that I could care less what press corps sit on the front row of the briefing room in the white house - THIS is news?
Ahhh, here's an interesting one: drunken bulldozer operator kills 11. Well, at least it wasn't an American incident, that's a lot of people and destruction for one machine and operator.
Regardless, I see nothing of great interest in there this morning. Same old hype about November elections - I am not sure who I am going to vote FOR in November, I am positive about who I am NOT going to be voting for.........anyway, I want to write up a 5-day eviction notice before I have to start in on work today, so I must be offa here. For the tenant that is now 2 weeks behind on rent and went on a vacation to California instead of - looking for a new job. Apparently she thinks I am going to wait until she starts receiving unemployment benefits which can and usually does take weeks before you get your first check. I dun thin' so, in the words of the infamous Ricky Ricardo......
G'day.
ben
Come into work with trepidation: will the run to Miami still be in the system?
Things almost always change overnight/over the weekend. Yes, it's still there! Plus a trip to Coolidge thrown in there, good luck with that. Apparently the salesman forgot to put that in there on the run to Coolidge on Friday.......
Okay, I like going out of town on road trips, especially when the company is paying for it and even more so in the semi. Don't ask why, I just love it.
The high yesterday was in the 90's. The electric use reflected that: $10 day versus up to $20 less than a month ago. Still have to run the AC to get the humidity out of the air and yes, 90's is still a bit too warm to say goodbye to AC.
Today's high slated at 98. Then back up in the 100's for the rest of the week - BUT - less than 110. That will also help keep cooling costs down. These overcast skies for the last week or however long have been fabulous. Pond digging has gotten a lot further simply for the better weather.
Weekends are always roughest on the dieting situation: at 197.5 this morning. I have not been able to get below 195. I'm sure I COULD by - doing something different I guess, just not there yet. I would have like to break into the 180's range by now, oh well.
News. Always some interesting reads on Monday morning. Apparently, big news is Palin's changing their lifestyle to avoid the writer who moved in next door. Who cares?
Good big news is they are going to try and plug the well. Fingers crossed isn't enough, praying and believing are much better alternatives!
I can also say that I could care less what press corps sit on the front row of the briefing room in the white house - THIS is news?
Ahhh, here's an interesting one: drunken bulldozer operator kills 11. Well, at least it wasn't an American incident, that's a lot of people and destruction for one machine and operator.
Regardless, I see nothing of great interest in there this morning. Same old hype about November elections - I am not sure who I am going to vote FOR in November, I am positive about who I am NOT going to be voting for.........anyway, I want to write up a 5-day eviction notice before I have to start in on work today, so I must be offa here. For the tenant that is now 2 weeks behind on rent and went on a vacation to California instead of - looking for a new job. Apparently she thinks I am going to wait until she starts receiving unemployment benefits which can and usually does take weeks before you get your first check. I dun thin' so, in the words of the infamous Ricky Ricardo......
G'day.
ben
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Sunday
First day of August (and rent is due, lol). Electric use last month at an all time high of: $503.02. I could rent a dive 2-bedroom apartment with utilities included for that much money. No, I'm not moving into any apartment, not if I can help it. You can't have Great Danes, but, you can have a pond at some of those places if they allow you to have "stuff" on your front porch.
I only know this because one lady has such a setup - a preformed pond sitting out in front of her apartment, fish and plants and all.
Oh, well one tenant has paid, the Army reservist I am expecting to pay - there is no reason why she couldn't or wouldn't that I know of since she has a job - the tenant that just lost her job? Went on vacation. Someone brought up a good point yesterday: this woman is going on vacation when she should be looking for a job. Allegedly it's an all expenses paid excursion, that isn't the point. The point is that she is behind in rent. She is unemployed. Prudence would suggest hitting the streets and filling out applications all over the place, not taking off when she already is behind with her rent.
Doesn't matter, if I don't see enough money for her to get paid through the previous week, she's getting the 5-day, please get out and take your stuff with you - notice.
Regardless, the sky is overcast, the temps are still down, the new Koi seem to be doing well - which had me a bit worried but, so far, so good. I was worried because of all of those small Koi I bought for a 20 spot a while back that all died within 24 hours of acquiring them. But, I racked that up to this guy bringing them in from North Carolina, the shipper not putting enough ice in and the water getting hot, killing off hundreds of them in-transit. Live and learn, I should have told him I would come back after several days to make sure they are going to survive. They had ALREADY been in extreme shock, moving them from his place to mine only added to that load.
Trip to Walmart today. I hate that place- I hate the customer service at that place, but Istill go, just much more infrequently. I need a new kitchen trash can. It is falling apart. The cheapest place I have found for such is, yes, at Walmart and I am all about price right now. That's my big deal for outings today. And then, the normal house-cleaning rituals.
Okayyyyyy......large amount of time elapsed as I went up to Home Depot to get some materials to fix leaky plumbing underneath the kitchen sink. I couldn't find the same setup and standing in the store, looking at it, I didn't see anywhere where it would be leaking from. I bought some putty and decided perhaps the connection was just loose. Got a new kitchen wastebasket - a nice one too - there instead of hoofing it all the way over to Walmart. On the way home, I stop at McDonald's for a coffee.
Drive-thru. No-one in front of me, no-one behind me. Make my order, go up to the window to pay. Lady standing there takes my money. I am not sure a single person there speaks English as a first language. Their accents are so thick, it is obvious that that must be a pre-requisite to getting a job there, speaking Spanish over English. I wait. And wait. This lady disappears and a guy comes up to the window. I have just been sitting there, saying nothing, waiting for some sort of explanation. A shift change, apparently, they started doing that AFTER I came up through the drive-thru. They could have waited, especially seeing no-one else was in line there.
I wait another 2 minutes. Sorry, a cup of coffee isn't worth a 10 minute wait in a McDonald's drive thru JUST for the fact of them not being able to make change. Kid gets testy with me after I ask for my $5 back. I drove up to the second window - I heard a noise, sounded like that kid had spit on my car. I ask for a manager. Rosa, their apparent version of a manager, comes up to the window. Her speech is mostly spanish and none english. I always love this pandering to the Mexican society that lives here that refuses to learn English so businesses hire employees who can speak Spanish fluently, yes, but they leave out the little part about being able to speak ENGLISH fluently as well.
I ask her bluntly why it was taking SO long to change out a simple $5? I didn't even get to the point of waiting until current customers were taking care of, as she got an attitude with me. In speech that was VERY accented, she says: "What you can't wait 2 minutes for change?" NO, I said and didn't bother to add that I had been there longer than 2 minutes. Rude and in my face, I demanded the phone number for the owners of this McDonald's. She prints out a ticket that has THAT McDonald's phone number on it!
So, if I call that number, SHE is going to answer the phone!! ROFL!!! Her last comment to me was: "You can call that number and say annnnnnnything you want to". VERY rude. Of course I could say whatever about their service that day, SHE would be handling the call!
I have already called McDonald's and registered a complaint and no, it wasn't to that store, it was to their 800 number. They ask you all kinds of questions and the interview is recorded, allegedly the recording is sent to the owners of the store.
Putting that out of my mind - yes I will go to the trouble to complain, no I won't be dwelling on it all day long - I start examining the components of the plumbing on the kitchen sink. I'm shaking pipes to see if there is anything loose.
Unbelievably, BOTH drain connections at the bottom of the sinks are loose, one of them very loose. THere's my leak. I tightened it up as much as I could to see if that will do the job. If not, I will end up having to take the entire assembly apart, cleaning the connections, putting fresh putty on all of it and reassembling.
I would rather NOT have to do that, so I'm waiting to see if my container under the sink has any more water in it after running water through there. But, I realize, that isn't good enough, I am going to have to fill both sinks up with water and that will tell me if it is good or not.
So, that is sort of eating up my morning. That and checking on my Koi - beautiful fish indeed. Also very hungry. I haven't even gotten started on my cleaning stuff as this sink thing takes precedence, who wants a leaking plumbing array underneath their kitchen sink? Hello cockroaches, they love the dark, wet atmosphere that such an arrangement provides for them.
More time passed: I believe the connections are holding, no water anywhere, yoo-hoo!
Back to the regularly scheduled program: cleaning time.
G'day.
ben
I only know this because one lady has such a setup - a preformed pond sitting out in front of her apartment, fish and plants and all.
Oh, well one tenant has paid, the Army reservist I am expecting to pay - there is no reason why she couldn't or wouldn't that I know of since she has a job - the tenant that just lost her job? Went on vacation. Someone brought up a good point yesterday: this woman is going on vacation when she should be looking for a job. Allegedly it's an all expenses paid excursion, that isn't the point. The point is that she is behind in rent. She is unemployed. Prudence would suggest hitting the streets and filling out applications all over the place, not taking off when she already is behind with her rent.
Doesn't matter, if I don't see enough money for her to get paid through the previous week, she's getting the 5-day, please get out and take your stuff with you - notice.
Regardless, the sky is overcast, the temps are still down, the new Koi seem to be doing well - which had me a bit worried but, so far, so good. I was worried because of all of those small Koi I bought for a 20 spot a while back that all died within 24 hours of acquiring them. But, I racked that up to this guy bringing them in from North Carolina, the shipper not putting enough ice in and the water getting hot, killing off hundreds of them in-transit. Live and learn, I should have told him I would come back after several days to make sure they are going to survive. They had ALREADY been in extreme shock, moving them from his place to mine only added to that load.
Trip to Walmart today. I hate that place- I hate the customer service at that place, but Istill go, just much more infrequently. I need a new kitchen trash can. It is falling apart. The cheapest place I have found for such is, yes, at Walmart and I am all about price right now. That's my big deal for outings today. And then, the normal house-cleaning rituals.
Okayyyyyy......large amount of time elapsed as I went up to Home Depot to get some materials to fix leaky plumbing underneath the kitchen sink. I couldn't find the same setup and standing in the store, looking at it, I didn't see anywhere where it would be leaking from. I bought some putty and decided perhaps the connection was just loose. Got a new kitchen wastebasket - a nice one too - there instead of hoofing it all the way over to Walmart. On the way home, I stop at McDonald's for a coffee.
Drive-thru. No-one in front of me, no-one behind me. Make my order, go up to the window to pay. Lady standing there takes my money. I am not sure a single person there speaks English as a first language. Their accents are so thick, it is obvious that that must be a pre-requisite to getting a job there, speaking Spanish over English. I wait. And wait. This lady disappears and a guy comes up to the window. I have just been sitting there, saying nothing, waiting for some sort of explanation. A shift change, apparently, they started doing that AFTER I came up through the drive-thru. They could have waited, especially seeing no-one else was in line there.
I wait another 2 minutes. Sorry, a cup of coffee isn't worth a 10 minute wait in a McDonald's drive thru JUST for the fact of them not being able to make change. Kid gets testy with me after I ask for my $5 back. I drove up to the second window - I heard a noise, sounded like that kid had spit on my car. I ask for a manager. Rosa, their apparent version of a manager, comes up to the window. Her speech is mostly spanish and none english. I always love this pandering to the Mexican society that lives here that refuses to learn English so businesses hire employees who can speak Spanish fluently, yes, but they leave out the little part about being able to speak ENGLISH fluently as well.
I ask her bluntly why it was taking SO long to change out a simple $5? I didn't even get to the point of waiting until current customers were taking care of, as she got an attitude with me. In speech that was VERY accented, she says: "What you can't wait 2 minutes for change?" NO, I said and didn't bother to add that I had been there longer than 2 minutes. Rude and in my face, I demanded the phone number for the owners of this McDonald's. She prints out a ticket that has THAT McDonald's phone number on it!
So, if I call that number, SHE is going to answer the phone!! ROFL!!! Her last comment to me was: "You can call that number and say annnnnnnything you want to". VERY rude. Of course I could say whatever about their service that day, SHE would be handling the call!
I have already called McDonald's and registered a complaint and no, it wasn't to that store, it was to their 800 number. They ask you all kinds of questions and the interview is recorded, allegedly the recording is sent to the owners of the store.
Putting that out of my mind - yes I will go to the trouble to complain, no I won't be dwelling on it all day long - I start examining the components of the plumbing on the kitchen sink. I'm shaking pipes to see if there is anything loose.
Unbelievably, BOTH drain connections at the bottom of the sinks are loose, one of them very loose. THere's my leak. I tightened it up as much as I could to see if that will do the job. If not, I will end up having to take the entire assembly apart, cleaning the connections, putting fresh putty on all of it and reassembling.
I would rather NOT have to do that, so I'm waiting to see if my container under the sink has any more water in it after running water through there. But, I realize, that isn't good enough, I am going to have to fill both sinks up with water and that will tell me if it is good or not.
So, that is sort of eating up my morning. That and checking on my Koi - beautiful fish indeed. Also very hungry. I haven't even gotten started on my cleaning stuff as this sink thing takes precedence, who wants a leaking plumbing array underneath their kitchen sink? Hello cockroaches, they love the dark, wet atmosphere that such an arrangement provides for them.
More time passed: I believe the connections are holding, no water anywhere, yoo-hoo!
Back to the regularly scheduled program: cleaning time.
G'day.
ben
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Saturday
A short entry.
I'm headed out soon for the Koi - foot longers - another pond being shut down. 2 of them. Fortunately, pond fish food is cheap. A huge can of it for $5 that lasts - well about 3 weeks now.
It rained again last night : ) I could do that every day and I wouldn't complain. It SHOULD do that everyday that the humidity is ridiculous out there. After getting the fish today, I intend on going out there and pulling grass and any weeds I might find. The expected high today is supposed to be in the low 90's.
I can't imagine what the humidity must be, but I'll take low 90's with humidity over 115 and no humidity ANY day of the week. My AC system loves it too. $13 used yesterday, compared to $20 on those days when it was 115.
I have been "barely" watering anything/everything for the last several weeks in hopes that the rains would come, drench the ground and I wouldn't have to spend hardly anything on watering plants this month. Mother Nature finally came through. So, not only does my electric usage go down, my water usage is already way down. If I get another high water bill then it can only mean one thing: there is a leak somewhere in my fresh water system - between the street and everyone on the property where the lines are running.
And I am thanking God that two of the 3 worst months of summer are done and gone. August - let's get through August!
Well, I'm going to leave early and get a coffee from somewhere - maybe McDonald's, it's the only thing at that restaurant that I can consume that doesn't have a kajillion fat calories in it : )
G'day.
ben
I'm headed out soon for the Koi - foot longers - another pond being shut down. 2 of them. Fortunately, pond fish food is cheap. A huge can of it for $5 that lasts - well about 3 weeks now.
It rained again last night : ) I could do that every day and I wouldn't complain. It SHOULD do that everyday that the humidity is ridiculous out there. After getting the fish today, I intend on going out there and pulling grass and any weeds I might find. The expected high today is supposed to be in the low 90's.
I can't imagine what the humidity must be, but I'll take low 90's with humidity over 115 and no humidity ANY day of the week. My AC system loves it too. $13 used yesterday, compared to $20 on those days when it was 115.
I have been "barely" watering anything/everything for the last several weeks in hopes that the rains would come, drench the ground and I wouldn't have to spend hardly anything on watering plants this month. Mother Nature finally came through. So, not only does my electric usage go down, my water usage is already way down. If I get another high water bill then it can only mean one thing: there is a leak somewhere in my fresh water system - between the street and everyone on the property where the lines are running.
And I am thanking God that two of the 3 worst months of summer are done and gone. August - let's get through August!
Well, I'm going to leave early and get a coffee from somewhere - maybe McDonald's, it's the only thing at that restaurant that I can consume that doesn't have a kajillion fat calories in it : )
G'day.
ben
Friday, July 30, 2010
So, My Electric Use This Month...........
.........it's the 30th, 1 full day left to go and my assumption was correct: a $500 month in electricity. I have never, personally, had an electric bill that high, ever. It's stunning to see such numbers posted on the reader. Right now at $486.00, but the end of tomorrow, definitely $500.
The humidity here right now is atrocious. If I'm going to live in a DESERT, with high heat, at least give me the occasion for being able to live in a "dry heat", as EVERYONE from around the country continually reminds us.
No, my friends, it is NOT a dry heat. This morning it was 80 degrees at 86% humidity. I don't know what that feels like to people that always live in high humidity, I can say that it felt cool this morning. Yes, it really felt quite nice out in that.
However, as the day wore one, the sun popped out of the cloud cover and the temperature increased, it became quite uncomfortable. Now? The humidity going down: 95 degrees at 36% humidity. Getting better. However, the AC at the temp I have it set at - isn't enough. It does not come on enough an then, you have humidity in the house. Well, I don't LIKE humidity and I'm not going to sit here feeling like I'm sitting in the middle of a swamp. Yup, turned it down a couple of degrees and it feels much better in here.
Monday, I am finally getting a trip to Miami again. Arizona,that is, not Florida. Why does this excite me? Because I can use my 30 minute break time to pick up more rocks. And now, I know that it's legal to do so up to a certain amount. Well, I am not trying to bring back 10 tons of the stuff, just more for my ponds. Plus I love the out of town trips up into the mountains, ESPECIALLY during the summer.
Weight still in the 195 to 196 area. I am not concerned about it. It is WELL down from what it was. People continue to tell me I don't need to lose more weight. Yes, I do, but at the same time, I also need to start working out again and start building a little muscle mass again. Pushups are the only thing I am going to do. I am not going to join a gym - I have no extra finances for that, and I am not going to use my weight set outside, I just don't have the motivation to do so in the sweltering heat. But, just to say I am still off the cheese; creamy dressings; watching fat content on most everything; denying the impulses. Today, I DEARLY wanted to stop at a Dairy Queen that was RIGHT there where I was at at a delivery. A large, German Chocolate Blizzard. Yummm. NOPE, it took everything within me, but I got in the truck and drove.
Interestingly, later on, a man that OWNS a DQ right down the road from our shop came INTO our shop looking for plumbing parts. Unbelievable. Not the man, the idea that whatever it is you are trying to avoid on a diet, it seems to come plant itself, uninvitedly, on your doorstep.
Donuts. Get back to the shop and there are a dozen Entenmann's donuts sitting in the break room. Are you serious? I'm looking at that stuff just shaking my head. Again, when you are dieting, this stuff comes at you from all sides. When you are not, you never see this kind of thing around. Crazy stuff. I ended up cutting less than a one inch sliver off a donut just because.
Home. The ex-Marine who is going to chef school starting next month has cooked a HUGE thing of lasagna. I LOVE lasagna. Cheese? Diets hate cheese.
However, I did not resist this time. I ate a chunk of that stuff and didn't feel bad about it. Not near as calorie laden as a German Chocolate Blizzard, yet full of calories anyway. OH well, after an entire day of resisting, I gave in. My breakfast and lunch were a Subway ham sub - no cheese, no fat filled dressings. Just vinegar and honey mustard - which may have some calories, but no fat calories.
It's a battle, that's all that I can say about it, it's a huge battle.
The trailer tenants got their SS check today. They are welcomed to stay as long as they need to, but it seems to me that spending money on all kinds of stuff is going to inhibit their ability to get out of that trailer and into an apartment. Okay, so the stuff they are spending it on are necessities, still. He came in and handed me $40 to help me out. Great, I'm not turning it down, above and beyond the normal rent of a grand total of $25 per week. I'm guessing I'm losing money on the deal, frankly. That Mastercool is running 24 hours a day and there is small refrigerator in there plus DirectTV box and TV, microwave, whatever else. I hoped I was breaking even but I'm not sure about that at this point and also probably what is pushing my electric bill over the top.
That and SRP getting a 5% increase approval earlier this year, obviously dumped onto it's customers, one of which happens to be me.
No biggies. July is almost over, the 3rd month of earthly, Arizona hell to come and then, it starts to slowly cool down. 100's. 90's. 80's and then - paradise.
I have other things I would love to write about, but I have yet to replace this keyboard and it is getting VERY annoying. The c and d tabs are not working properly and it just isn't a good keypad. It sucks, frankly and (I just punched that and that and that several times to get the d to work) I am at the point that I MUST replace it if I'm going to keep writing anything.
I'm done (2 tries on that d).
G'nite.
ben
The humidity here right now is atrocious. If I'm going to live in a DESERT, with high heat, at least give me the occasion for being able to live in a "dry heat", as EVERYONE from around the country continually reminds us.
No, my friends, it is NOT a dry heat. This morning it was 80 degrees at 86% humidity. I don't know what that feels like to people that always live in high humidity, I can say that it felt cool this morning. Yes, it really felt quite nice out in that.
However, as the day wore one, the sun popped out of the cloud cover and the temperature increased, it became quite uncomfortable. Now? The humidity going down: 95 degrees at 36% humidity. Getting better. However, the AC at the temp I have it set at - isn't enough. It does not come on enough an then, you have humidity in the house. Well, I don't LIKE humidity and I'm not going to sit here feeling like I'm sitting in the middle of a swamp. Yup, turned it down a couple of degrees and it feels much better in here.
Monday, I am finally getting a trip to Miami again. Arizona,that is, not Florida. Why does this excite me? Because I can use my 30 minute break time to pick up more rocks. And now, I know that it's legal to do so up to a certain amount. Well, I am not trying to bring back 10 tons of the stuff, just more for my ponds. Plus I love the out of town trips up into the mountains, ESPECIALLY during the summer.
Weight still in the 195 to 196 area. I am not concerned about it. It is WELL down from what it was. People continue to tell me I don't need to lose more weight. Yes, I do, but at the same time, I also need to start working out again and start building a little muscle mass again. Pushups are the only thing I am going to do. I am not going to join a gym - I have no extra finances for that, and I am not going to use my weight set outside, I just don't have the motivation to do so in the sweltering heat. But, just to say I am still off the cheese; creamy dressings; watching fat content on most everything; denying the impulses. Today, I DEARLY wanted to stop at a Dairy Queen that was RIGHT there where I was at at a delivery. A large, German Chocolate Blizzard. Yummm. NOPE, it took everything within me, but I got in the truck and drove.
Interestingly, later on, a man that OWNS a DQ right down the road from our shop came INTO our shop looking for plumbing parts. Unbelievable. Not the man, the idea that whatever it is you are trying to avoid on a diet, it seems to come plant itself, uninvitedly, on your doorstep.
Donuts. Get back to the shop and there are a dozen Entenmann's donuts sitting in the break room. Are you serious? I'm looking at that stuff just shaking my head. Again, when you are dieting, this stuff comes at you from all sides. When you are not, you never see this kind of thing around. Crazy stuff. I ended up cutting less than a one inch sliver off a donut just because.
Home. The ex-Marine who is going to chef school starting next month has cooked a HUGE thing of lasagna. I LOVE lasagna. Cheese? Diets hate cheese.
However, I did not resist this time. I ate a chunk of that stuff and didn't feel bad about it. Not near as calorie laden as a German Chocolate Blizzard, yet full of calories anyway. OH well, after an entire day of resisting, I gave in. My breakfast and lunch were a Subway ham sub - no cheese, no fat filled dressings. Just vinegar and honey mustard - which may have some calories, but no fat calories.
It's a battle, that's all that I can say about it, it's a huge battle.
The trailer tenants got their SS check today. They are welcomed to stay as long as they need to, but it seems to me that spending money on all kinds of stuff is going to inhibit their ability to get out of that trailer and into an apartment. Okay, so the stuff they are spending it on are necessities, still. He came in and handed me $40 to help me out. Great, I'm not turning it down, above and beyond the normal rent of a grand total of $25 per week. I'm guessing I'm losing money on the deal, frankly. That Mastercool is running 24 hours a day and there is small refrigerator in there plus DirectTV box and TV, microwave, whatever else. I hoped I was breaking even but I'm not sure about that at this point and also probably what is pushing my electric bill over the top.
That and SRP getting a 5% increase approval earlier this year, obviously dumped onto it's customers, one of which happens to be me.
No biggies. July is almost over, the 3rd month of earthly, Arizona hell to come and then, it starts to slowly cool down. 100's. 90's. 80's and then - paradise.
I have other things I would love to write about, but I have yet to replace this keyboard and it is getting VERY annoying. The c and d tabs are not working properly and it just isn't a good keypad. It sucks, frankly and (I just punched that and that and that several times to get the d to work) I am at the point that I MUST replace it if I'm going to keep writing anything.
I'm done (2 tries on that d).
G'nite.
ben
Friday
Friday.
Appears to have poured rain again last night, very nice. Yes, I checked the ponds this morning to ensure the circuit breaker wasn't popped, still in good shape.
I was also - pleasantly - surprised to come into work this morning and find a lot of stuff to do in the truck routing system. Mostly pickups and 1 delivery in Coolidge.
So, the big news? "Hundreds protest as Arizona's immigration law takes effect".
Hundreds? ROFL!!! That's all these mouthy people could muster, 500 or so protestors? If so many people, as they claim, are against this law, then how is it they couldn't even must a thousand people? When the government is taking some eggregious action that "most" people don't like, thousands of people show up to protests, not hundreds.
A bunch of those people were arrested yesterday, they were warned in advance that they would be arrested, good riddance to them. That law's teeth were taken out of it and they are STILL complaining about it.
The funny part about all of this is Sheriff Joe. Love him or hate him, he is STILL out there conducting his sweeps to find illegal "immigrants", basing his activities on 2 state laws. I neither love him or hate him. I love what he's doing with illegal immigration, I hate the fact that he has been sued so many times and lost millions of dollars in damages against him/the county, which, of course, the county has had to pay out. Still, anti-immigration law people hate him and apparently a drug cartel or smuggling cartel lord has placed a huge bounty on his head to kill him.
It's just beginning, there is no end to this nonsense. So, I sit back and find entertainment in it, somehow, though I certainly don't want to see our Sheriff killed by some crackpots - it would still be nice if Mexico, it's president and some of it's politicians would SHUT THE BLEEP UP and deal with THEIR issues instead of wasting time coming over here attempting to influence the inner workings of OUR country.
ENOUGH. Work day approaches. Weekend almost here. A full day's work (which is awesome, I HATE slow days) ahead, no clue what I'm doing this weekend, but I am sure pulling weeds and grass will be in that picture since the ground is saturated and makes for pulling that stuff out much easier.
Perhaps I'll force the boys out there to help me : )
Oh, and, of course, continue on with digging the pond.
G'day.
ben
Appears to have poured rain again last night, very nice. Yes, I checked the ponds this morning to ensure the circuit breaker wasn't popped, still in good shape.
I was also - pleasantly - surprised to come into work this morning and find a lot of stuff to do in the truck routing system. Mostly pickups and 1 delivery in Coolidge.
So, the big news? "Hundreds protest as Arizona's immigration law takes effect".
Hundreds? ROFL!!! That's all these mouthy people could muster, 500 or so protestors? If so many people, as they claim, are against this law, then how is it they couldn't even must a thousand people? When the government is taking some eggregious action that "most" people don't like, thousands of people show up to protests, not hundreds.
A bunch of those people were arrested yesterday, they were warned in advance that they would be arrested, good riddance to them. That law's teeth were taken out of it and they are STILL complaining about it.
The funny part about all of this is Sheriff Joe. Love him or hate him, he is STILL out there conducting his sweeps to find illegal "immigrants", basing his activities on 2 state laws. I neither love him or hate him. I love what he's doing with illegal immigration, I hate the fact that he has been sued so many times and lost millions of dollars in damages against him/the county, which, of course, the county has had to pay out. Still, anti-immigration law people hate him and apparently a drug cartel or smuggling cartel lord has placed a huge bounty on his head to kill him.
It's just beginning, there is no end to this nonsense. So, I sit back and find entertainment in it, somehow, though I certainly don't want to see our Sheriff killed by some crackpots - it would still be nice if Mexico, it's president and some of it's politicians would SHUT THE BLEEP UP and deal with THEIR issues instead of wasting time coming over here attempting to influence the inner workings of OUR country.
ENOUGH. Work day approaches. Weekend almost here. A full day's work (which is awesome, I HATE slow days) ahead, no clue what I'm doing this weekend, but I am sure pulling weeds and grass will be in that picture since the ground is saturated and makes for pulling that stuff out much easier.
Perhaps I'll force the boys out there to help me : )
Oh, and, of course, continue on with digging the pond.
G'day.
ben
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Pond Trouble
It rained last night. It dawned on me today that I had left the property without checking the ponds. I do that every morning to make sure the pumps are on and the water is being aerated.
I spaced it out because I was checking out the ground to see if it was saturated - would I need to water plants today or not? NO, was the definitive answer.
Not checking the ponds this morning? BIG mistake. I'm guessing those pumps were off since early last night. Trailer tenants said it started raining shortly after I brought the dogs in for the last time last night, which was right before I went to bed - which - was at 8:30 pm.
The point is that the pumps are running on a GFCI circuit - the outlet has it's own circuit breaker which will shut off electricity to whatever right then and there if something is wrong, compared to having to have much more disruption and possibly, yes, even fire, if it has to wait for the main circuit breaker to shut it off.
Well, a little rain will in one of the outlets will shut off that GFCI breaker in a heartbeat. It's actually the recommended setup, yes, but...........then you have fish in water that isn't being aerated. Fish cannot live in stagnant water that has no means for the water to have air circulate in.
I was worried when I got home, went out and - yup, the pumps were off. I had the strip outlet covered, but, it wasn't good enough. The fish, however, were not dead. In fact, they were at the bottom of the pond. NOT moving around, but definitely not dead. Pretty easy to spot a giant, dead goldfish floating around a 165 gallon pond.
The bad sign would be them at the top of the pond, attempting to "gulp" air. That means the air levels are SO low in there, it isn't going to be much more time and they are dead. Ahh, yes, I checked on them, they are moving around as normal again - which for them, is VERY active. They are always moving all over that pond.
Well, that answers a nagging question I have had for a while now: if the pumps go off, how long will those fish survive in there? Should I think about finding a way to get a second breaker going on these ponds to have a failsafe?
Well, I'm guessing around 18 hours on the first question, I'm thinking I don't need anything more since the fish are doing quite fine - now, that is. So, breathing a little easier. However, these are goldfish, a very hearty creature, from what I have been reading and from what I have seen. They can with stand, from what I have read, MUCH more than any Koi will ever dream of being able to accept as livable.
Well, the point is that I want some Koi. I see them advertised for free - frequently. They do not, however, at least from what I have read, endure harsh conditions nearly as well as goldfish do.
Whatever the case, it has started pouring rain, and I do mean, pouring. I haven't seen it rain - well I haven't seen it rain in any amount for 4 or 5 months? 3 months at least. But yes, it IS pouring. The pond with the fish will be overflowing onto the ground. Not a problem, however, the water isn't tainted with chemicals and garbage, no big deal.
What IS good is that the ground is getting saturated. Totally. For free. Don't have to pay the City of Phoenix to do it, Mother Nature is doing it for me : )
Bad part about heavy rain? Satellite goes off, and though I don't watch a lot of television, I recently fell in love with "Kitchen Nightmares" with chef Gorden Ramsay, it's freaking hilarious. He goes into some pathetic, gross, vile places that are named as restaurants and gives the chefs, cooks, managers, owners - everyone - total hell.
So, I'm making frequent trips to the "back, side, door". The door is not used by anyone but me. It opens to the east side of the house - which - no-one else is interested in. That's my future little paradise. It's coming along. The bigger pond is right there, on the cement slab in front of that door. I can still walk in and out, yes. I wouldn't have done that if people were using it, but, again, I am the only soul that goes over there besides Great Danes and Catahoulas that are following me, or, people that are trying to find me. Yes, if I am not in the house and my car is out front, you'll probably find me over there.
I am checking my new setup to eliminate water from getting into electrical outlets, I am pretty sure it is a good setup and I won't have to worry about that again....but.....of course, you never know. Rain all but done. Pumps running. New setup to keep electrical outlets dry - working.
I have other things - especially the stuff that was going on in downtown Phoenix today - all the people being bused in from all over demonstrating against the new immigration law that has had most of it's teeth stripped from it anyway - highly amusing. I was listening to the radio while driving the semi and hearing all the screaming and chanting and - bs - while the reporter was giving his report. I dunno how many of them got arrested.
I was further amused that supposedly, 11 Greyhound buses full of opponents were going to be dropped off. Do you know how freaking unbelievably, miserably hot and humid it was out there? Unless those people have been here before, they were in for a wondeful surprise: Mother Nature handing out hell.
I have no current information to say whether that actually happened - those people all showing up - or not. I'm sure tomorrow, or perhaps even right now, I will find out the end results.
G'nite.
ben
I spaced it out because I was checking out the ground to see if it was saturated - would I need to water plants today or not? NO, was the definitive answer.
Not checking the ponds this morning? BIG mistake. I'm guessing those pumps were off since early last night. Trailer tenants said it started raining shortly after I brought the dogs in for the last time last night, which was right before I went to bed - which - was at 8:30 pm.
The point is that the pumps are running on a GFCI circuit - the outlet has it's own circuit breaker which will shut off electricity to whatever right then and there if something is wrong, compared to having to have much more disruption and possibly, yes, even fire, if it has to wait for the main circuit breaker to shut it off.
Well, a little rain will in one of the outlets will shut off that GFCI breaker in a heartbeat. It's actually the recommended setup, yes, but...........then you have fish in water that isn't being aerated. Fish cannot live in stagnant water that has no means for the water to have air circulate in.
I was worried when I got home, went out and - yup, the pumps were off. I had the strip outlet covered, but, it wasn't good enough. The fish, however, were not dead. In fact, they were at the bottom of the pond. NOT moving around, but definitely not dead. Pretty easy to spot a giant, dead goldfish floating around a 165 gallon pond.
The bad sign would be them at the top of the pond, attempting to "gulp" air. That means the air levels are SO low in there, it isn't going to be much more time and they are dead. Ahh, yes, I checked on them, they are moving around as normal again - which for them, is VERY active. They are always moving all over that pond.
Well, that answers a nagging question I have had for a while now: if the pumps go off, how long will those fish survive in there? Should I think about finding a way to get a second breaker going on these ponds to have a failsafe?
Well, I'm guessing around 18 hours on the first question, I'm thinking I don't need anything more since the fish are doing quite fine - now, that is. So, breathing a little easier. However, these are goldfish, a very hearty creature, from what I have been reading and from what I have seen. They can with stand, from what I have read, MUCH more than any Koi will ever dream of being able to accept as livable.
Well, the point is that I want some Koi. I see them advertised for free - frequently. They do not, however, at least from what I have read, endure harsh conditions nearly as well as goldfish do.
Whatever the case, it has started pouring rain, and I do mean, pouring. I haven't seen it rain - well I haven't seen it rain in any amount for 4 or 5 months? 3 months at least. But yes, it IS pouring. The pond with the fish will be overflowing onto the ground. Not a problem, however, the water isn't tainted with chemicals and garbage, no big deal.
What IS good is that the ground is getting saturated. Totally. For free. Don't have to pay the City of Phoenix to do it, Mother Nature is doing it for me : )
Bad part about heavy rain? Satellite goes off, and though I don't watch a lot of television, I recently fell in love with "Kitchen Nightmares" with chef Gorden Ramsay, it's freaking hilarious. He goes into some pathetic, gross, vile places that are named as restaurants and gives the chefs, cooks, managers, owners - everyone - total hell.
So, I'm making frequent trips to the "back, side, door". The door is not used by anyone but me. It opens to the east side of the house - which - no-one else is interested in. That's my future little paradise. It's coming along. The bigger pond is right there, on the cement slab in front of that door. I can still walk in and out, yes. I wouldn't have done that if people were using it, but, again, I am the only soul that goes over there besides Great Danes and Catahoulas that are following me, or, people that are trying to find me. Yes, if I am not in the house and my car is out front, you'll probably find me over there.
I am checking my new setup to eliminate water from getting into electrical outlets, I am pretty sure it is a good setup and I won't have to worry about that again....but.....of course, you never know. Rain all but done. Pumps running. New setup to keep electrical outlets dry - working.
I have other things - especially the stuff that was going on in downtown Phoenix today - all the people being bused in from all over demonstrating against the new immigration law that has had most of it's teeth stripped from it anyway - highly amusing. I was listening to the radio while driving the semi and hearing all the screaming and chanting and - bs - while the reporter was giving his report. I dunno how many of them got arrested.
I was further amused that supposedly, 11 Greyhound buses full of opponents were going to be dropped off. Do you know how freaking unbelievably, miserably hot and humid it was out there? Unless those people have been here before, they were in for a wondeful surprise: Mother Nature handing out hell.
I have no current information to say whether that actually happened - those people all showing up - or not. I'm sure tomorrow, or perhaps even right now, I will find out the end results.
G'nite.
ben
Thursday
If FINALLY rained over my house last night. I didn't hear it - I wear ear plugs and have a large fan near my head to help me sleep. The ground looked saturated. I put off water plants for another 2 days simply because I was hoping it would rain - the water is free, thank you very much. MORE rain would be welcomed.
Key portions of the Arizona Immigration Law were struck down, but, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is still all over one particular portion of it where it says it's illegal to pick up day laborers from the side of the street. Yes, portions of the law WERE let through, in fact, in reading one portion of it, I'm wondering if the judge actually created a loophole. I'll wait and see what the experts have to say about it before I comment further on it. The portions that were denied are, of course, going to the appeals court.
The judge claimed that the law places and undue burden on the federal government. In other words, the federal government's mandate to secure our borders is an undue burden, apparently, in dealing with the illegal aliens that are coming through those borders.
Huh? Health care bill can go to crap and that money can go to protect our borders. A trillion bucks would MORE than do that very nicely. Obama's money tree doesn't extend to dealing with this issue, that the feds ARE mandated with, instead dealing with all kinds of other issues, which the feds have NO business getting into, AT ALL.
No need to rehash all of that, I have doubts this judge's ruling is going to stand in an appeals court. Who knows, I just don't see how the federal government is overly burdened by dealing with a thing that is it SUPPOSED to be dealing with.
Yes, I did more digging out there yesterday. The high heat and 50% humidity combine to make some rather hellish conditions. Wherever this humidity came from, it can go back. You say you are at 99% humidity. Yes, but I doubt you are at 105 degrees or higher. I got a lot done on it is all I'm saying, there is plenty more to go, but the progress is encouraging.
The non-paying, paying tenant showed up yesterday. She is behind in rent, but not enough to make me evict her. She just started school and allegedly has been applying all over the place for a new job. I believe she had real opportunity at the place she was at. Mistakes are one thing, intentional acts are another. If 2 weeks comes and goes and she is behind that much, then she gets the eviction notice. I'm sorry, but - not that sorry. Just have to take care of myself. I have not seen my financial condition this low in a long time. Electricity - eating up everything. The lowered temps this week should help bring the usage down by $5 or more per day. Every little bit helps, is all I can say about that.
I am going to look into leasing a solar panel array. Allegedly - that's all I can say without first-hand knowledge - it will take care of your power needs and actually cause the meter to run backwards, giving you credit. Well, since it obviously doesn't work at night, I assume the credit goes to the hours in the day that it isn't working since the sun ain't out. I dunno, just going to look into it and see what the costs are. I'm sure there is an elongated contract, which means that I am going to have to find out beforehand whether it REALLY does everything they say or not. The only way to do that is to find people that are in the program and see how it is working out for them.
As for everything else? Michael is still around, allegedly has found a job starting today. I informed him that showing up to work late usually gets a person fired. He and his entire family have this idea that you can show up to appointments, school - whatever - whenever you want to. It might work for everything else, it won't work at your place of employment. I threw that little tidbit of advice out to him in case he was serious about KEEPING the job, not just getting one.
I have my doubts, honestly. He has no clue. If he sticks it out, it will be a great reality check for him. Caleb has already gotten a reality check - working out in the sun, pushing all those carts around, yes, nice life-wake-up-call.
Yesterday at work was very slow. One delivery and then nothing. Today, there is a pickup and then delivery. That should consume around 2 to 3 hours and then.......nothing in the system.
Oh well.
Have a great day!
ben
Key portions of the Arizona Immigration Law were struck down, but, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is still all over one particular portion of it where it says it's illegal to pick up day laborers from the side of the street. Yes, portions of the law WERE let through, in fact, in reading one portion of it, I'm wondering if the judge actually created a loophole. I'll wait and see what the experts have to say about it before I comment further on it. The portions that were denied are, of course, going to the appeals court.
The judge claimed that the law places and undue burden on the federal government. In other words, the federal government's mandate to secure our borders is an undue burden, apparently, in dealing with the illegal aliens that are coming through those borders.
Huh? Health care bill can go to crap and that money can go to protect our borders. A trillion bucks would MORE than do that very nicely. Obama's money tree doesn't extend to dealing with this issue, that the feds ARE mandated with, instead dealing with all kinds of other issues, which the feds have NO business getting into, AT ALL.
No need to rehash all of that, I have doubts this judge's ruling is going to stand in an appeals court. Who knows, I just don't see how the federal government is overly burdened by dealing with a thing that is it SUPPOSED to be dealing with.
Yes, I did more digging out there yesterday. The high heat and 50% humidity combine to make some rather hellish conditions. Wherever this humidity came from, it can go back. You say you are at 99% humidity. Yes, but I doubt you are at 105 degrees or higher. I got a lot done on it is all I'm saying, there is plenty more to go, but the progress is encouraging.
The non-paying, paying tenant showed up yesterday. She is behind in rent, but not enough to make me evict her. She just started school and allegedly has been applying all over the place for a new job. I believe she had real opportunity at the place she was at. Mistakes are one thing, intentional acts are another. If 2 weeks comes and goes and she is behind that much, then she gets the eviction notice. I'm sorry, but - not that sorry. Just have to take care of myself. I have not seen my financial condition this low in a long time. Electricity - eating up everything. The lowered temps this week should help bring the usage down by $5 or more per day. Every little bit helps, is all I can say about that.
I am going to look into leasing a solar panel array. Allegedly - that's all I can say without first-hand knowledge - it will take care of your power needs and actually cause the meter to run backwards, giving you credit. Well, since it obviously doesn't work at night, I assume the credit goes to the hours in the day that it isn't working since the sun ain't out. I dunno, just going to look into it and see what the costs are. I'm sure there is an elongated contract, which means that I am going to have to find out beforehand whether it REALLY does everything they say or not. The only way to do that is to find people that are in the program and see how it is working out for them.
As for everything else? Michael is still around, allegedly has found a job starting today. I informed him that showing up to work late usually gets a person fired. He and his entire family have this idea that you can show up to appointments, school - whatever - whenever you want to. It might work for everything else, it won't work at your place of employment. I threw that little tidbit of advice out to him in case he was serious about KEEPING the job, not just getting one.
I have my doubts, honestly. He has no clue. If he sticks it out, it will be a great reality check for him. Caleb has already gotten a reality check - working out in the sun, pushing all those carts around, yes, nice life-wake-up-call.
Yesterday at work was very slow. One delivery and then nothing. Today, there is a pickup and then delivery. That should consume around 2 to 3 hours and then.......nothing in the system.
Oh well.
Have a great day!
ben
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday
1 Day To Arizona Immigration Armageddon
Now, there is an anti-immigration group that is demanding that Obama ensure that illegal “immigrants” – we used to call them illegal aliens (love that term far better) – are allowed peaceful, safe, DEPARTURE from the U.S.
Elton John – slams musicians that are boycotting Arizona by not coming here to perform concerts.
Arizona Tourism is UP, not down, even IF there are boycotts coming from all over the place.
Desperate anti-immigration law people are threatening civil disobedience.
Keep your eyes/ears tuned to the news, cause’ it should get interesting tomorrow, very interesting indeed. These people have marched and marched and marched out in this Arizona heat. Can I say there aren’t that many of them? I laugh just because of the waste of time it is for them to be out there in sweltering heat and high humidity, a toxic combination that undoubtedly kept emergency personnel busy handing out water and inserting IV’s to rehydrate people.
The judge has not ruled yet whether there will be an injunction, though, she certainly could at any time.
Look, I find this stuff to be at least mildly amusing. The fact that so many people are for this bill is one reason why. The other is simply that these folks continue to speak about racial profiling, yet, this law isn’t even in effect yet. How can they possibly know if there will be rampant racial profiling until after it is in full force and arrests start being made by using this law? They can’t. The loudest voices, sometimes anyway, are from those that are not here legally. Well of course you are against the law, you are a criminal, you broke the law by coming in here – illegally!
Yes, tomorrow should be very interesting and I hope the judge does not issue a temporary injunction.
Changing the subject, I walked out of my house this morning to be greeted by a few, fine droplets of rain. So small and so insignificant, it’s as if there wasn’t anything happening at all. This isn’t my idea of a monsoon. Let it RAIN!!!!
My diet is stuck around 195 to 196. I worked my butt off yesterday outside after work – well during work too, but after work intentionally to try and give this thing a kick start in the @$$. Dunno if it did any good and probably won’t look on the scale today to find out. I think I’ll try to get some good old fashioned shoveling labor another try after work today to give it a 2 day punch. In fact, several days in a row and then check the scale.
Well, work day is here and I must get signed in and get started on the day.
G’day.
ben
Now, there is an anti-immigration group that is demanding that Obama ensure that illegal “immigrants” – we used to call them illegal aliens (love that term far better) – are allowed peaceful, safe, DEPARTURE from the U.S.
Elton John – slams musicians that are boycotting Arizona by not coming here to perform concerts.
Arizona Tourism is UP, not down, even IF there are boycotts coming from all over the place.
Desperate anti-immigration law people are threatening civil disobedience.
Keep your eyes/ears tuned to the news, cause’ it should get interesting tomorrow, very interesting indeed. These people have marched and marched and marched out in this Arizona heat. Can I say there aren’t that many of them? I laugh just because of the waste of time it is for them to be out there in sweltering heat and high humidity, a toxic combination that undoubtedly kept emergency personnel busy handing out water and inserting IV’s to rehydrate people.
The judge has not ruled yet whether there will be an injunction, though, she certainly could at any time.
Look, I find this stuff to be at least mildly amusing. The fact that so many people are for this bill is one reason why. The other is simply that these folks continue to speak about racial profiling, yet, this law isn’t even in effect yet. How can they possibly know if there will be rampant racial profiling until after it is in full force and arrests start being made by using this law? They can’t. The loudest voices, sometimes anyway, are from those that are not here legally. Well of course you are against the law, you are a criminal, you broke the law by coming in here – illegally!
Yes, tomorrow should be very interesting and I hope the judge does not issue a temporary injunction.
Changing the subject, I walked out of my house this morning to be greeted by a few, fine droplets of rain. So small and so insignificant, it’s as if there wasn’t anything happening at all. This isn’t my idea of a monsoon. Let it RAIN!!!!
My diet is stuck around 195 to 196. I worked my butt off yesterday outside after work – well during work too, but after work intentionally to try and give this thing a kick start in the @$$. Dunno if it did any good and probably won’t look on the scale today to find out. I think I’ll try to get some good old fashioned shoveling labor another try after work today to give it a 2 day punch. In fact, several days in a row and then check the scale.
Well, work day is here and I must get signed in and get started on the day.
G’day.
ben
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday Is Coming.
Unless an injunction is set forth by the judge, the AZ Immigration law goes into effect Thursday. You cannot believe the hype and even declarations of civil disobedience that are coming from the - what amounts to in relativity - handful of opposers. That's because the supporters of this law - again - are in a LANDSLIDE majority.
More later. I lost an entire entry that I was writing, even the draft had nothing.
So, tomorrow, or more probably, Thursday.
I worked my @$$ off today. Besides all the driving and loading and unloading the truck, I had a finale of having to do a return. Doing returns in the direct sunlight in this heat and humidity? Yes, I can handle it, but, I ran out of water. Sweating like a running water faucet, that isn't good. I was starting to get a headache and not feeling well when I finally got it all done and drove out of there. First convenience store I saw? I stopped and got a bottle of water.
Drive home in a car with broken AC.
Get home. I promised myself that I would get that huge chunk of concrete out of there - TODAY - when I was hacking away at it yesterday.
Yes, I got it out, no, it wasn't a 10 minute thing, yes I am totally, absolutely trashed right now. Getting that thing out of there was MORE than enough.
I cannot write anymore because, I simply don't have it in me. I am going to bed today 2 hours earlier than normal, it's the only thing to do at this point.
G'nite.
ben
More later. I lost an entire entry that I was writing, even the draft had nothing.
So, tomorrow, or more probably, Thursday.
I worked my @$$ off today. Besides all the driving and loading and unloading the truck, I had a finale of having to do a return. Doing returns in the direct sunlight in this heat and humidity? Yes, I can handle it, but, I ran out of water. Sweating like a running water faucet, that isn't good. I was starting to get a headache and not feeling well when I finally got it all done and drove out of there. First convenience store I saw? I stopped and got a bottle of water.
Drive home in a car with broken AC.
Get home. I promised myself that I would get that huge chunk of concrete out of there - TODAY - when I was hacking away at it yesterday.
Yes, I got it out, no, it wasn't a 10 minute thing, yes I am totally, absolutely trashed right now. Getting that thing out of there was MORE than enough.
I cannot write anymore because, I simply don't have it in me. I am going to bed today 2 hours earlier than normal, it's the only thing to do at this point.
G'nite.
ben
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday
My entries - for now anyway, will no longer be in the morning with the occasional afternoon addition. I have no access to my blog at work anymore. That, after 3-1/2 years. I was only getting on before work, before signing in, but, it has been blocked by my company.
Well, no big deal. I'm eating frozen Talapia - okay, sounds bad but it's really good, actually and was my price range. Yes, delicious.
Onto other things. This morning, my first delivery, these people at a construction site I was delivering to had no equipment to unload the one stick of pipe I had on my truck plus a pallet full of fittings.
That one stick of pipe weighed 360 pounds. Those 2 plus me - equals 120 pounds a piece, I can do that. However, their idea was to take off one end of the pipe and set it on the ground and then get the other end off. Okay. We lift the pipe, turn it, set it on the ground.
Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the pipe to be able to do anything about what happened next: it started sliding down the rail of the trailer. I would have jumped over there to save the truck from being hit, but, I couldn't and those guys? No idea. Was it amusing to see the pipe crashing into the battery box cover and destroying it, along with one of the batteries under neath it? They made no move whatsoever to stop it.
99% of unloads are customer unloads. I always help, yes, unless they either don't want my help, or need it or - they are being reckless. Loader operators that have no clue take the top of that list. NOT that all loader operators are reckless, but when I see one that is, I just back off, however, if the equipment is going to be damaged by that recklessness, then I do intervene.
Well, the battery is probably $200 and the cover is more than that.
I have been out twice this afternoon hacking with a pick and digging with a shovel a VERY stubborn area where I am digging out the pond hole. I found the reason why, too: a huge chunk of cement. NO idea how it got there, none of my doings, but it's a pain to see the least. I am digging around it and will get that sucker out of there.
LONG interlude. I have been out there hacking with the pick, digging with the shovel and hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from point A to point B. Sweating profusely. Felt good - heat be damned.
G'day.
ben
Well, no big deal. I'm eating frozen Talapia - okay, sounds bad but it's really good, actually and was my price range. Yes, delicious.
Onto other things. This morning, my first delivery, these people at a construction site I was delivering to had no equipment to unload the one stick of pipe I had on my truck plus a pallet full of fittings.
That one stick of pipe weighed 360 pounds. Those 2 plus me - equals 120 pounds a piece, I can do that. However, their idea was to take off one end of the pipe and set it on the ground and then get the other end off. Okay. We lift the pipe, turn it, set it on the ground.
Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the pipe to be able to do anything about what happened next: it started sliding down the rail of the trailer. I would have jumped over there to save the truck from being hit, but, I couldn't and those guys? No idea. Was it amusing to see the pipe crashing into the battery box cover and destroying it, along with one of the batteries under neath it? They made no move whatsoever to stop it.
99% of unloads are customer unloads. I always help, yes, unless they either don't want my help, or need it or - they are being reckless. Loader operators that have no clue take the top of that list. NOT that all loader operators are reckless, but when I see one that is, I just back off, however, if the equipment is going to be damaged by that recklessness, then I do intervene.
Well, the battery is probably $200 and the cover is more than that.
I have been out twice this afternoon hacking with a pick and digging with a shovel a VERY stubborn area where I am digging out the pond hole. I found the reason why, too: a huge chunk of cement. NO idea how it got there, none of my doings, but it's a pain to see the least. I am digging around it and will get that sucker out of there.
LONG interlude. I have been out there hacking with the pick, digging with the shovel and hauling wheelbarrow loads of dirt from point A to point B. Sweating profusely. Felt good - heat be damned.
G'day.
ben
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Sunday/KCL
Look, folks, I am NOT the type of person to take delight in another man's disaster. I don't care if we had our differences, I feel very bad for Matt and Susan and all that they must be going through. I don't know if they lost their entire home or what, but I HAVE and I can tell you that going through that is right up there with going through divorce or a death in the family, it is THAT traumatic.
Someone left a comment on my blog yesterday saying something like "an act of God" took down KCL. I had no idea what they were referring to. The Bible plainly says "do not take joy in another man's calamity lest the same thing befall you". I believe that's the wording, anyway. I hope they didn't lose their entire home and I hope that they can get on with their lives in relatively short order.
Sunday mornings. I always love them - if - the boys are still sleeping and the tenants are either not here, or here and in their rooms. In other words, sitting out here in my kitchen/living room area with some degree of privacy/solitude. And such I presently have and hope to for at least an hour or so. It's amazing what sitting here in peace and silence can do for the heart and soul. Even IF the boys come out, I have a long-standing Sunday morning rule: NO TV's on and if they are going to play video games, sound will be turned all the way down. I normally push that rule until noon. The point is that there is more to life than TV, video games and constant "background noise" going on. In fact, there is much to be said to being in an environment where, at least at times, there are NO noises and the constant buzzing is eliminated.
I admit that I am going pathetically slow on getting that pond hole dug. I dig some out, water it to help dig out the soil, then leave it. Come back to it later and so on. At that rate, it will be weeks before that single hole is dug. I can honestly say that I am good with that. As long as I am getting something done on it, no big deal. I was tearing my bedroom apart in between digging episodes yesterday cleaning it. It is about 2/3rd's done. I wanted to vacuum and then use the carpet cleaner on the carpet.
Yesterday, I sat out with the fish for about an hour, just sitting there, listening to the sound of the water, watching these giant fish swimming around. I can envision myself putting an air mattress out there in the fall and sleeping out there a few nights. Way too hot to do that now. One very nice thing about my property at this point is that there are virtually no mosquitos and no flies. The flies were getting to me - oh yes, they were. We got even more vigilant in cleaning up an keeping clean any dog dung out there and that was the course of action that virtually eliminated them from the property.
The trailer tenants, well, they are wishing they had double checked the address that that SS check was sent to, because, of course, getting the government to reissue a check is like telling the moon to go bounce off of Mars. More like talking to brick walls, really. Yes, it can be done, yes, there is a very LENGTHY process to getting it done, not my fault is all I can say. They want to get into their own apartment - badly. I don't blame them, but that trailer is better than homelessness.
The female tenant that lost her job left yesterday evening saying that she was going to ask family for help with rent. I did not even bring up the subject, but I did make it clear when she moved in here that I am not very tolerant at this point with late payers. I have been burned too many times. If you can't pay your rent, please find someplace to live - I assume she would have to move back in with her parents - free up the room and let me get someone else in there. It may not sound very compassionate, but it's the difference of keeping this house or not. When MY back is against the wall, rest assured I am going to do whatever needs to be done to rectify any situation.
I'm still waiting for these monsoon rains that are hitting the valley every day, just not hitting HERE. I am watering the plants bare minimum. They show signs of drooping, they get 15 minutes of drip watering. A couple of plants are good for showing me if they are not doing so well. I am not going to experience another water bill like last month's if I can at all help it. RAIN would GREATLY help.
Well, that's it. I started my Sunday cleaning rituals early - a stack of laundry that needs done. Kitchen floor.....on and on.
Have a great day!
ben
Someone left a comment on my blog yesterday saying something like "an act of God" took down KCL. I had no idea what they were referring to. The Bible plainly says "do not take joy in another man's calamity lest the same thing befall you". I believe that's the wording, anyway. I hope they didn't lose their entire home and I hope that they can get on with their lives in relatively short order.
Sunday mornings. I always love them - if - the boys are still sleeping and the tenants are either not here, or here and in their rooms. In other words, sitting out here in my kitchen/living room area with some degree of privacy/solitude. And such I presently have and hope to for at least an hour or so. It's amazing what sitting here in peace and silence can do for the heart and soul. Even IF the boys come out, I have a long-standing Sunday morning rule: NO TV's on and if they are going to play video games, sound will be turned all the way down. I normally push that rule until noon. The point is that there is more to life than TV, video games and constant "background noise" going on. In fact, there is much to be said to being in an environment where, at least at times, there are NO noises and the constant buzzing is eliminated.
I admit that I am going pathetically slow on getting that pond hole dug. I dig some out, water it to help dig out the soil, then leave it. Come back to it later and so on. At that rate, it will be weeks before that single hole is dug. I can honestly say that I am good with that. As long as I am getting something done on it, no big deal. I was tearing my bedroom apart in between digging episodes yesterday cleaning it. It is about 2/3rd's done. I wanted to vacuum and then use the carpet cleaner on the carpet.
Yesterday, I sat out with the fish for about an hour, just sitting there, listening to the sound of the water, watching these giant fish swimming around. I can envision myself putting an air mattress out there in the fall and sleeping out there a few nights. Way too hot to do that now. One very nice thing about my property at this point is that there are virtually no mosquitos and no flies. The flies were getting to me - oh yes, they were. We got even more vigilant in cleaning up an keeping clean any dog dung out there and that was the course of action that virtually eliminated them from the property.
The trailer tenants, well, they are wishing they had double checked the address that that SS check was sent to, because, of course, getting the government to reissue a check is like telling the moon to go bounce off of Mars. More like talking to brick walls, really. Yes, it can be done, yes, there is a very LENGTHY process to getting it done, not my fault is all I can say. They want to get into their own apartment - badly. I don't blame them, but that trailer is better than homelessness.
The female tenant that lost her job left yesterday evening saying that she was going to ask family for help with rent. I did not even bring up the subject, but I did make it clear when she moved in here that I am not very tolerant at this point with late payers. I have been burned too many times. If you can't pay your rent, please find someplace to live - I assume she would have to move back in with her parents - free up the room and let me get someone else in there. It may not sound very compassionate, but it's the difference of keeping this house or not. When MY back is against the wall, rest assured I am going to do whatever needs to be done to rectify any situation.
I'm still waiting for these monsoon rains that are hitting the valley every day, just not hitting HERE. I am watering the plants bare minimum. They show signs of drooping, they get 15 minutes of drip watering. A couple of plants are good for showing me if they are not doing so well. I am not going to experience another water bill like last month's if I can at all help it. RAIN would GREATLY help.
Well, that's it. I started my Sunday cleaning rituals early - a stack of laundry that needs done. Kitchen floor.....on and on.
Have a great day!
ben
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Saturday
I haven't been to KCL in weeks, I just tried going there - several times actually - "Internet explorer cannot display the webpage".
Has it been shut down, is it a problem with my puter (though,I can access any other site I try), has my ip been blocked? Dunno.
I'm waiting for North Korea to shut up and back up their statements. Now, they are threatening nuclear war against the U.S. and South Korea if the military exercises occur in the South Sea. That's right, folks, they're going to drop nukes on - what - the ships out there? I'm sure they have at least a clue what would happen to them if they started using nukes on ANYONE.
Pretty much: annihilation. Certainly: all nuclear facilities being destroyed and possibly a takeover of the entire country (better idea than annihilation, since I personally doubt all those people living there in abstract poverty are in agreement with their government's stance, rhetoric and the fact that the sanctions ARE working, the government just doesn't want to admit it - yet).
The military exercises are going to occur whether NK likes it or not. Put up or shut up. This crap about SK being turned into a sea of flames?
Alright, enough of that. Meanwhile, "everyone" is still up in arms about the Immigrant Bill. No word yet on whether the judge will grant the temporary order to stop the law from being enforced starting Thursday. I haven't seen any polls yet that show anything different than a LANDSLIDE majority of Arizonans being FOR the bill. The liberal media showing people in tears because - they came here illegally, started a new life here, illegally, have had their entire families here, illegally, and now can't understand why we don't want them here - illegally. One lady, in thick accent, crying profusely about her repeated attempts since the 80's to become a legal citizen and her case has been closed.
Well, maybe go back to Mexico and try it the legal way. Or, wait until Obama gives all of you carte blanch citizenship. There is absolutely nothing in me that has one iota of sympathy for any of these people. If I wanted to move to another country, you can be rest assured that I would want to do the whole thing through whatever legal process I would have to go through, not just go there and hope I can somehow survive without being caught.
As bad as it is getting here with Obama and his idea that the bigger the government, the better, it still isn't near as bad as it is in MOST other nations around the world. Obama will not be in that office forever, hopefully whatever damages that have been done can be reversed. He wants to spend even MORE money. Apparently, he also wants to raise taxes. Well duhhh, you can't just spend trillions of dollars that don't exist and not have to somehow PAY for it.
Whatever the case, Saturday is here, I have done absolutely nothing and it's already 10:00AM. That will be changing shortly, I don't know what the expected high is today, hol'on, I"ll check: 104. Good. Not great, but FAR better than the 116 it got to last week. Yesterday, "only" $13 was used cooling this house - along with the rest of the electric usage - because the temps came way down. I can deal with $13 per day, I cannot deal with $20 per day.
Oh, well I'm going outside to work. I have grass to pull, more digging for the pond hole, all kinds of stuff going on out there. I also want to clean areas of the carpet that need it this weekend. Dogs need a bath, but I think I'll make one of the boys do that. Yes, I have an agenda and sitting here isn't getting it done, so, with that, adios!!!
ben
Has it been shut down, is it a problem with my puter (though,I can access any other site I try), has my ip been blocked? Dunno.
I'm waiting for North Korea to shut up and back up their statements. Now, they are threatening nuclear war against the U.S. and South Korea if the military exercises occur in the South Sea. That's right, folks, they're going to drop nukes on - what - the ships out there? I'm sure they have at least a clue what would happen to them if they started using nukes on ANYONE.
Pretty much: annihilation. Certainly: all nuclear facilities being destroyed and possibly a takeover of the entire country (better idea than annihilation, since I personally doubt all those people living there in abstract poverty are in agreement with their government's stance, rhetoric and the fact that the sanctions ARE working, the government just doesn't want to admit it - yet).
The military exercises are going to occur whether NK likes it or not. Put up or shut up. This crap about SK being turned into a sea of flames?
Alright, enough of that. Meanwhile, "everyone" is still up in arms about the Immigrant Bill. No word yet on whether the judge will grant the temporary order to stop the law from being enforced starting Thursday. I haven't seen any polls yet that show anything different than a LANDSLIDE majority of Arizonans being FOR the bill. The liberal media showing people in tears because - they came here illegally, started a new life here, illegally, have had their entire families here, illegally, and now can't understand why we don't want them here - illegally. One lady, in thick accent, crying profusely about her repeated attempts since the 80's to become a legal citizen and her case has been closed.
Well, maybe go back to Mexico and try it the legal way. Or, wait until Obama gives all of you carte blanch citizenship. There is absolutely nothing in me that has one iota of sympathy for any of these people. If I wanted to move to another country, you can be rest assured that I would want to do the whole thing through whatever legal process I would have to go through, not just go there and hope I can somehow survive without being caught.
As bad as it is getting here with Obama and his idea that the bigger the government, the better, it still isn't near as bad as it is in MOST other nations around the world. Obama will not be in that office forever, hopefully whatever damages that have been done can be reversed. He wants to spend even MORE money. Apparently, he also wants to raise taxes. Well duhhh, you can't just spend trillions of dollars that don't exist and not have to somehow PAY for it.
Whatever the case, Saturday is here, I have done absolutely nothing and it's already 10:00AM. That will be changing shortly, I don't know what the expected high is today, hol'on, I"ll check: 104. Good. Not great, but FAR better than the 116 it got to last week. Yesterday, "only" $13 was used cooling this house - along with the rest of the electric usage - because the temps came way down. I can deal with $13 per day, I cannot deal with $20 per day.
Oh, well I'm going outside to work. I have grass to pull, more digging for the pond hole, all kinds of stuff going on out there. I also want to clean areas of the carpet that need it this weekend. Dogs need a bath, but I think I'll make one of the boys do that. Yes, I have an agenda and sitting here isn't getting it done, so, with that, adios!!!
ben
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tenants/Truck Drivers
Pretty much an on-going thing, but I am learned to read the "BS" that is coming out of people.
The female tenant that has been paying me weekly just lost her job.
She has gone to work late, she has gone to work after being out all night long - tired, she is screwing up, bad.
This is the one that is coming off of meth.
I will be observing her for signs of fresh meth use.
She was written up no too long ago for forgetting to put in an order. The customers had waited 45 minutes and then started complaining. She was written up after that for the tired stuff.
How do you expect to perform well at work if you've been out all night long?
There are more things, but the plain, simple, fact of the matter is that I am probably going to have to evict her and now? I am now waiting for weeks to "find out" if they are going to get a job anymore. I have bills to pay - very high electric use and water bills are always higher in the summer.
I cannot, in other words, afford to have sympathy. I MUST have the money
coming in from that room. As time goes on, I have far less patience with people who are screwing up their own lives and then, by their own admission of doing something that cost them - in this case their job - expect me to wait around, have the room occupied, costing me money and KNOWING I won't see ANY of what is owed to me.
She asked when you can apply for unemployment. I said right away. In fact, you could do it today. No, she wants to go look for a new job. Well, that's nice, but provides for me a further glimpse of what her MO is. If I lost my job, the FIRST thing I would do is to head to the unemployment office. It takes 2 weeks (at least) to get the first check, an in this economy, finding a new job? Good luck. She went in her room to mope, I am guessing since she was crying out here.
Look, if she had been laid off from work, that would be one thing, but she was FIRED for - screwing up. I mean, the stuff she has done isn't something that was out of her control: ALL of it was IN her control.
She is just a bit over a week late in her rent. She gave me $33 today before she left. I was glad to get that, she would have given me nothing, undoubtedly, if she had been fired before giving me that money.
No, I don't see any hope here. This is a person with serious, personal issues and it isn't going to work out.
Look, pretty much expect this stuff. I find good tenants here and there, but there is always the bad apple. Deal with it and move on.
Welcome to the weekend, aye?
Here's some good news, for me anyway: the temps have cooled WAY off and the electric use has gone down proportionately. I'm looking at a $13 to $14 day in electricity instead of $18 to $20. Bad time for tenant issues, is all I can say about that. But then again, when is a good time? Well, the dead of winter when neither ac nor heat is running........
Numerous times in the past, completely changing the subject, I have tried to alert other truck drivers to problems with their truck or load that they are unaware of. EVERY single time, I get these drivers giving me attitude.
Case in point: a driver has left the cap off of his fuel tank. The tank is sloshing out diesel fuel all over the place. I wave at him and motion towards his fuel tank. He gives me "the look", throws his hands up basically asking me WHAT my problem is. After the tude', I continue to motion towards his fuel tank.
He finally stops the vehicle, gets out and sees the problem. Not hard to see with gallons of diesel fuel all over the ground and the fuel tank covered with diesel fuel. He settled down quite a bit after he realizes I am trying to HELP him, not start a freakin' fight with him. Do you know what they can do to him for having diesel fuel spilling out onto the ground? It's hazardous material, the fine, if a cop chose to give him a ticket, would be QUITE steep. With the new rules coming into place sometime this year, he would probably LOSE HIS CDL.
Another case in point: A truck is approaching me. It's in a private driveway, but still. He has a box door open. It is sticking out some 3 feet to the side of his vehicle. I am frantically waving at the dude - first he's about to hit my vehicle and second, whatever he hits, that door is going to be ruined and 3rd, he might also damage someone else's property or who knows what. Sign of a bad driver? Yes, all he had to do was look in his mirrors and he would have seen the door without my ever having to motion to him.
As it was, I ended up swerving out of the way, which finally clued him in that SOMETHING must be wrong. He FINALLY looks in his mirror - after giving me the look, throwing up his hands, acting like he wants to get into a fistfight, all of this stupid stuff - slams on the brakes, now has the gall to wave at me, gets out and closes the door.
So, today, I am a a stop light. Waiting to go under the freeway overpass, I was not getting on the freeway. A truck waiting for the left hand turn light to go green is facing me in the opposing lanes. He gets the green arrow, as soon as he starts moving, I see fuel gushing out the side of his 200 gallon tank (at least 200 gallons). You know how fast the mind can work - thinking through things in a fraction of a moment when something happens and you need to act, fast.
However, my mind went straight to the experiences in the past, why bother?
But, I couldn't do that. He was losing gallons of fuel, turning onto the freeway, this particular freeway and this particular part of the freeway he is getting on is a favorite haunt for Highway Patrol pickup trucks - whose almost sole mission is to pull over commercial vehicles and do inspections. IF one of THOSE guys/gals see that stuff, he is in BIG trouble.
I had to open up the door of my truck, hang out the side of it and wave my ararms to get his attention. When he saw me, I starting pointing down and towards the side of his truck. He was looking in mirrors, looking at me - but not with the attitude crap. He must have finally looked in his spot mirror and saw the problem, because a look of shock came over his face, he looked at me, waved, got out of the intersection and yes, stopped in the middle of the lane he was in on the on-ramp, temporarily blocking traffic to get out and put the cap on.
The caps have small chains on them, if you forget to put them back on, they still hang there, waiting for you to - yes, screw it back on.
I was reading about these new rules coming into place today. When the new rules come into play, they are RETROACTIVE. If this guy had been caught NOW with this situation, ina few months or whenever they put this into play, that little act of forgetfulness to put that cap on would instantly put POINTS on his record, the SAME as if you get a speeding ticket.
He was an older gentleman and I thought he might be old school, which is why I decided to go ahead and try yet again.
I am a very observant driver, you have to be in a truck, watching out for everyone else, because most of the other drivers are NOT watching out for you.
Weekend is here. A few work days this week were very slow. Umm, Monday and Tuesday, the last 3 days were nice and busy, just the way I like it (and would prefer it stay that way).
I let my plants go for 2 and a half days hoping some of these monsoons would hit around HERE and water the plants for me, but to no avail. So, I watered them today, but only for a short time, there is still the possibility of rain. A good soaking rain right now would be awesome!
Umm, this entry is getting long.
Have a great evening!
ben
The female tenant that has been paying me weekly just lost her job.
She has gone to work late, she has gone to work after being out all night long - tired, she is screwing up, bad.
This is the one that is coming off of meth.
I will be observing her for signs of fresh meth use.
She was written up no too long ago for forgetting to put in an order. The customers had waited 45 minutes and then started complaining. She was written up after that for the tired stuff.
How do you expect to perform well at work if you've been out all night long?
There are more things, but the plain, simple, fact of the matter is that I am probably going to have to evict her and now? I am now waiting for weeks to "find out" if they are going to get a job anymore. I have bills to pay - very high electric use and water bills are always higher in the summer.
I cannot, in other words, afford to have sympathy. I MUST have the money
coming in from that room. As time goes on, I have far less patience with people who are screwing up their own lives and then, by their own admission of doing something that cost them - in this case their job - expect me to wait around, have the room occupied, costing me money and KNOWING I won't see ANY of what is owed to me.
She asked when you can apply for unemployment. I said right away. In fact, you could do it today. No, she wants to go look for a new job. Well, that's nice, but provides for me a further glimpse of what her MO is. If I lost my job, the FIRST thing I would do is to head to the unemployment office. It takes 2 weeks (at least) to get the first check, an in this economy, finding a new job? Good luck. She went in her room to mope, I am guessing since she was crying out here.
Look, if she had been laid off from work, that would be one thing, but she was FIRED for - screwing up. I mean, the stuff she has done isn't something that was out of her control: ALL of it was IN her control.
She is just a bit over a week late in her rent. She gave me $33 today before she left. I was glad to get that, she would have given me nothing, undoubtedly, if she had been fired before giving me that money.
No, I don't see any hope here. This is a person with serious, personal issues and it isn't going to work out.
Look, pretty much expect this stuff. I find good tenants here and there, but there is always the bad apple. Deal with it and move on.
Welcome to the weekend, aye?
Here's some good news, for me anyway: the temps have cooled WAY off and the electric use has gone down proportionately. I'm looking at a $13 to $14 day in electricity instead of $18 to $20. Bad time for tenant issues, is all I can say about that. But then again, when is a good time? Well, the dead of winter when neither ac nor heat is running........
Numerous times in the past, completely changing the subject, I have tried to alert other truck drivers to problems with their truck or load that they are unaware of. EVERY single time, I get these drivers giving me attitude.
Case in point: a driver has left the cap off of his fuel tank. The tank is sloshing out diesel fuel all over the place. I wave at him and motion towards his fuel tank. He gives me "the look", throws his hands up basically asking me WHAT my problem is. After the tude', I continue to motion towards his fuel tank.
He finally stops the vehicle, gets out and sees the problem. Not hard to see with gallons of diesel fuel all over the ground and the fuel tank covered with diesel fuel. He settled down quite a bit after he realizes I am trying to HELP him, not start a freakin' fight with him. Do you know what they can do to him for having diesel fuel spilling out onto the ground? It's hazardous material, the fine, if a cop chose to give him a ticket, would be QUITE steep. With the new rules coming into place sometime this year, he would probably LOSE HIS CDL.
Another case in point: A truck is approaching me. It's in a private driveway, but still. He has a box door open. It is sticking out some 3 feet to the side of his vehicle. I am frantically waving at the dude - first he's about to hit my vehicle and second, whatever he hits, that door is going to be ruined and 3rd, he might also damage someone else's property or who knows what. Sign of a bad driver? Yes, all he had to do was look in his mirrors and he would have seen the door without my ever having to motion to him.
As it was, I ended up swerving out of the way, which finally clued him in that SOMETHING must be wrong. He FINALLY looks in his mirror - after giving me the look, throwing up his hands, acting like he wants to get into a fistfight, all of this stupid stuff - slams on the brakes, now has the gall to wave at me, gets out and closes the door.
So, today, I am a a stop light. Waiting to go under the freeway overpass, I was not getting on the freeway. A truck waiting for the left hand turn light to go green is facing me in the opposing lanes. He gets the green arrow, as soon as he starts moving, I see fuel gushing out the side of his 200 gallon tank (at least 200 gallons). You know how fast the mind can work - thinking through things in a fraction of a moment when something happens and you need to act, fast.
However, my mind went straight to the experiences in the past, why bother?
But, I couldn't do that. He was losing gallons of fuel, turning onto the freeway, this particular freeway and this particular part of the freeway he is getting on is a favorite haunt for Highway Patrol pickup trucks - whose almost sole mission is to pull over commercial vehicles and do inspections. IF one of THOSE guys/gals see that stuff, he is in BIG trouble.
I had to open up the door of my truck, hang out the side of it and wave my ararms to get his attention. When he saw me, I starting pointing down and towards the side of his truck. He was looking in mirrors, looking at me - but not with the attitude crap. He must have finally looked in his spot mirror and saw the problem, because a look of shock came over his face, he looked at me, waved, got out of the intersection and yes, stopped in the middle of the lane he was in on the on-ramp, temporarily blocking traffic to get out and put the cap on.
The caps have small chains on them, if you forget to put them back on, they still hang there, waiting for you to - yes, screw it back on.
I was reading about these new rules coming into place today. When the new rules come into play, they are RETROACTIVE. If this guy had been caught NOW with this situation, ina few months or whenever they put this into play, that little act of forgetfulness to put that cap on would instantly put POINTS on his record, the SAME as if you get a speeding ticket.
He was an older gentleman and I thought he might be old school, which is why I decided to go ahead and try yet again.
I am a very observant driver, you have to be in a truck, watching out for everyone else, because most of the other drivers are NOT watching out for you.
Weekend is here. A few work days this week were very slow. Umm, Monday and Tuesday, the last 3 days were nice and busy, just the way I like it (and would prefer it stay that way).
I let my plants go for 2 and a half days hoping some of these monsoons would hit around HERE and water the plants for me, but to no avail. So, I watered them today, but only for a short time, there is still the possibility of rain. A good soaking rain right now would be awesome!
Umm, this entry is getting long.
Have a great evening!
ben
Friday
Friday, at last.
I’m still just shaking my head about all this preparation for court and then, getting there and finding out the rep from the State of Arizona isn’t there, isn’t going to be there, therefore case dismissed. One person came out of the courtroom with an attorney. I’ll bet she’s reeling a bit about having to pay that lawyer for …….. nothing. Lol.
Well, anyway, it’s dark and overcast this morning. On the drive to work, they were talking about how it’s raining all over the place. They have BEEN saying that for days. Yes, well, in no place that I have been in the valley, including my home, have I seen a single drop of rain. I WISH it would rain at my house!! I think today’s high because of this weather is going to be low 100’s or high 90’s.
Neighborhood news:
Juice, the nickname for one of the black brothers that comes over to my house, had to go to court yesterday. He was riding another kid’s mini bike on the street a while back and crashed into a UPS truck. It WASTED his leg, he spent 2 days in the hospital and it was a month before he was walking right again. He was in extreme pain and his leg looked pathetic. He never came back. He is in juvenile detention. He was already on probation for shoplifting at Fry’s Electronics sometime last year. Going to juvi last year got his attention: neither he nor his brother go around trying to steal stuff from stores anymore. But, because he was on probation, buh-bye.
Next door neighbor, the one with the giant, 40-foot trailer that I called the city about. That trailer is gone, he is in Michigan, but it’s obvious they are not happy with me. I couldn’t care less. That thing had been parked there for months, blocking the entire view of the street going west. His ex-girlfriend started ragging on one of the boys about one of my tenant’s cars being parked in his driveway. Yes, well, he told her she could park it there, I wasn’t even a part of that equation. If I ever get out of that neighborhood, it won’t be soon enough.
Matthew: Another of the black brothers. He locked the gate open some time ago and I banned him from my property. I tend to get upset when the gate is left open and the potential for my dogs getting out. Well, it’s been months and he just last night finally came back and profusely apologized for the act, as well as getting an attitude at the time (which is what really triggered me to tell him to take a hike), tears in his eyes, the whole 9 yards. I’m not heartless, he’s a good kid otherwise, he has no parents (present) – one is in prison the other left those kids long ago, moved to Philadelphia and that was the end of that, their grandmother, 84 years old I believe, is taking care of them along with help from extended family (so kudos to the grandmother for doing that for those kids, otherwise they would all be separated and sent to wherever).
Ponds:
I haven’t done any digging for 2 days now. I intend on getting out there this weekend and digging away. Perfect weather for doing that is right NOW, it’s actually “nice” out there, certainly in context to the weather we have been seeing. My electric usage at home should go down, at least for today, because of the cooler temps. My 8, large goldfish are doing very well. I’m telling you, if 2 of them aren’t carrying eggs, then they are very fat fish.
News: As usual, North Korea is threatening both the U.S. and South Korea, saying they will intervene militarily if the intended war games/practice/whatever occurs this weekend. Does anyone really believe these mouthy, arrogant, SOB’s are going to strike the U.S. military? An act of war? Would we just sit there and let them destroy our ships and our servicemen and women on those ships? No, I didn’t think so, and I am sure they are well aware of that. But, I love watching the news about this stuff. You know, I am not a Clinton fan, but she does take a pretty firm and strong stance against this kind of crap and doesn’t back down. I don’t want her for a president, but I don’t know that she’s doing a bad job in her present position.
Oil: Well, I just hope the cap holds, what else is there to say? You can’t tell Mother Nature not to send storms over the ocean. I mean, I certainly don’t expect those BP crews to stay out there while the seas go crazy and pose potential life-threatening hazards.
Immigration: 7 people went to jail yesterday after protesting in downtown Phoenix against the Immigration Bill. The court is hearing arguments – well now the arguments are over – and opponents are hoping for a temporary injunction. I support the bill, I hope there is no injunction and that the law goes into effect next Thursday. We’ll see – but if the signs of trouble are in the air as they appear to be, violence may be the next thing these opponents resort to.
Well, the work day approaches. There is a lot to do in our truck routing system – but – if it rains, that will shut down jobsites. I dunno, but it’s only 7 and a half hours til’ the end of this work week : )
G’day.
ben
I’m still just shaking my head about all this preparation for court and then, getting there and finding out the rep from the State of Arizona isn’t there, isn’t going to be there, therefore case dismissed. One person came out of the courtroom with an attorney. I’ll bet she’s reeling a bit about having to pay that lawyer for …….. nothing. Lol.
Well, anyway, it’s dark and overcast this morning. On the drive to work, they were talking about how it’s raining all over the place. They have BEEN saying that for days. Yes, well, in no place that I have been in the valley, including my home, have I seen a single drop of rain. I WISH it would rain at my house!! I think today’s high because of this weather is going to be low 100’s or high 90’s.
Neighborhood news:
Juice, the nickname for one of the black brothers that comes over to my house, had to go to court yesterday. He was riding another kid’s mini bike on the street a while back and crashed into a UPS truck. It WASTED his leg, he spent 2 days in the hospital and it was a month before he was walking right again. He was in extreme pain and his leg looked pathetic. He never came back. He is in juvenile detention. He was already on probation for shoplifting at Fry’s Electronics sometime last year. Going to juvi last year got his attention: neither he nor his brother go around trying to steal stuff from stores anymore. But, because he was on probation, buh-bye.
Next door neighbor, the one with the giant, 40-foot trailer that I called the city about. That trailer is gone, he is in Michigan, but it’s obvious they are not happy with me. I couldn’t care less. That thing had been parked there for months, blocking the entire view of the street going west. His ex-girlfriend started ragging on one of the boys about one of my tenant’s cars being parked in his driveway. Yes, well, he told her she could park it there, I wasn’t even a part of that equation. If I ever get out of that neighborhood, it won’t be soon enough.
Matthew: Another of the black brothers. He locked the gate open some time ago and I banned him from my property. I tend to get upset when the gate is left open and the potential for my dogs getting out. Well, it’s been months and he just last night finally came back and profusely apologized for the act, as well as getting an attitude at the time (which is what really triggered me to tell him to take a hike), tears in his eyes, the whole 9 yards. I’m not heartless, he’s a good kid otherwise, he has no parents (present) – one is in prison the other left those kids long ago, moved to Philadelphia and that was the end of that, their grandmother, 84 years old I believe, is taking care of them along with help from extended family (so kudos to the grandmother for doing that for those kids, otherwise they would all be separated and sent to wherever).
Ponds:
I haven’t done any digging for 2 days now. I intend on getting out there this weekend and digging away. Perfect weather for doing that is right NOW, it’s actually “nice” out there, certainly in context to the weather we have been seeing. My electric usage at home should go down, at least for today, because of the cooler temps. My 8, large goldfish are doing very well. I’m telling you, if 2 of them aren’t carrying eggs, then they are very fat fish.
News: As usual, North Korea is threatening both the U.S. and South Korea, saying they will intervene militarily if the intended war games/practice/whatever occurs this weekend. Does anyone really believe these mouthy, arrogant, SOB’s are going to strike the U.S. military? An act of war? Would we just sit there and let them destroy our ships and our servicemen and women on those ships? No, I didn’t think so, and I am sure they are well aware of that. But, I love watching the news about this stuff. You know, I am not a Clinton fan, but she does take a pretty firm and strong stance against this kind of crap and doesn’t back down. I don’t want her for a president, but I don’t know that she’s doing a bad job in her present position.
Oil: Well, I just hope the cap holds, what else is there to say? You can’t tell Mother Nature not to send storms over the ocean. I mean, I certainly don’t expect those BP crews to stay out there while the seas go crazy and pose potential life-threatening hazards.
Immigration: 7 people went to jail yesterday after protesting in downtown Phoenix against the Immigration Bill. The court is hearing arguments – well now the arguments are over – and opponents are hoping for a temporary injunction. I support the bill, I hope there is no injunction and that the law goes into effect next Thursday. We’ll see – but if the signs of trouble are in the air as they appear to be, violence may be the next thing these opponents resort to.
Well, the work day approaches. There is a lot to do in our truck routing system – but – if it rains, that will shut down jobsites. I dunno, but it’s only 7 and a half hours til’ the end of this work week : )
G’day.
ben
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Court
Well, that was interesting.
I got to court, checked in, another lady there for the same thing: defend a photo radar ticket.
She didn't have a clue.
I gave her some help - her citation had been "signed" by the computer.
We were out waiting and were called in.
The judge - actually not a judge, it was a hearing officer, was pleasant enough.
The redflex employee was sitting there as well.
However, this court was totally different than everything I have read about going to court to defend this type of ticket: the Justice of the Peace set it up so that a DPS officer MUST be in the court room giving the presentation. The Redflex employee is there as additional testimony.
Well, that would have blown my defense about the contract that Redflex has with the State being ended and the Redflex employee having no business representating the State because of it - right out of the water. I had plenty more, however, I wasn't worried.
Well, the DPS officer wasn't there. Apparently, they hadn't been there all day long. The hearing officer, the bailiff and the Redflex employee - required to be there since there were scheduled appearances, were doing nothing.
The lady was up first. The HO stated to her that it was required to wait 15 minutes after the hearing was supposed to start. If the DOT officer didn't show up, walaah, case dismissed. We sat there and talked about all kinds of things. 15 minutes passed, she was declared not responsible for the ticket. She was, however, required to pay the $40 process server fee.
I was appalled. How can they charge you a process server fee when your case is dismissed? The STATE should have to pay that fee since THEY lost and by their OWN doings: their representative didn't show up!!
My 15 minutes comes and goes. I spent the entire time going over my notes: if this person shows up at the last minute, I am going to be ready.
Didn't happen. My case is dismissed, but, I still have to pay the process server fee. I asked the hearing officer about it: WHY? He didn't know. I wasn't going to go all nuttied about it: I just got out of a $201.50 fine (and would have had to pay the process server fee on top of that) and more importantly, points do not go on my record.
So, I'll let that one go. AS probably everyone does. I have more at stak than most people: points on my commercial driver's license. NOT a good thing.
So, it's over. I won't be getting any more photo tickets from the freeway since they shut the cameras down. For the record, when I'm driving the semi, I might push the speed limit, but by only a couple miles per hour, 5 at the most. I got the ticket while driving my car.
I won on a technicality that I didn't even think of.
I would go on, but my keyboard is giving me serious problems. I need to replace it - again.
G'day.
ben
I got to court, checked in, another lady there for the same thing: defend a photo radar ticket.
She didn't have a clue.
I gave her some help - her citation had been "signed" by the computer.
We were out waiting and were called in.
The judge - actually not a judge, it was a hearing officer, was pleasant enough.
The redflex employee was sitting there as well.
However, this court was totally different than everything I have read about going to court to defend this type of ticket: the Justice of the Peace set it up so that a DPS officer MUST be in the court room giving the presentation. The Redflex employee is there as additional testimony.
Well, that would have blown my defense about the contract that Redflex has with the State being ended and the Redflex employee having no business representating the State because of it - right out of the water. I had plenty more, however, I wasn't worried.
Well, the DPS officer wasn't there. Apparently, they hadn't been there all day long. The hearing officer, the bailiff and the Redflex employee - required to be there since there were scheduled appearances, were doing nothing.
The lady was up first. The HO stated to her that it was required to wait 15 minutes after the hearing was supposed to start. If the DOT officer didn't show up, walaah, case dismissed. We sat there and talked about all kinds of things. 15 minutes passed, she was declared not responsible for the ticket. She was, however, required to pay the $40 process server fee.
I was appalled. How can they charge you a process server fee when your case is dismissed? The STATE should have to pay that fee since THEY lost and by their OWN doings: their representative didn't show up!!
My 15 minutes comes and goes. I spent the entire time going over my notes: if this person shows up at the last minute, I am going to be ready.
Didn't happen. My case is dismissed, but, I still have to pay the process server fee. I asked the hearing officer about it: WHY? He didn't know. I wasn't going to go all nuttied about it: I just got out of a $201.50 fine (and would have had to pay the process server fee on top of that) and more importantly, points do not go on my record.
So, I'll let that one go. AS probably everyone does. I have more at stak than most people: points on my commercial driver's license. NOT a good thing.
So, it's over. I won't be getting any more photo tickets from the freeway since they shut the cameras down. For the record, when I'm driving the semi, I might push the speed limit, but by only a couple miles per hour, 5 at the most. I got the ticket while driving my car.
I won on a technicality that I didn't even think of.
I would go on, but my keyboard is giving me serious problems. I need to replace it - again.
G'day.
ben
Thursday
Writing this one from home (morning). Our company sent out an email saying they were doing some sort of changes to internet access and that only IE 7 or less will work after those changes are implemented. I had my work computer using IE 8. Dunno where to get a copy of IE 7, probably could burn a CD I guess and take it into work.
Today is court day. I'm actually looking forward to it. The challenge gets the blood pumping. I have a good idea, now, what the rep from Redflex is going to say, they say the same thing at every hearing and if you know in advance what they are going to do, makes it much easier to prepare a defense. Defense - you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent in photo radar cases.
An aberration of the law, yes, but, it's there and unless someone challenges the constitutionality of it in the U.S. Supreme court, likely these cameras are never going away.
Anyway, just a short entry. I intentionally got up later and gave myself less time - just going to work in time to sign in and start working instead of going in early.
G'day.
ben
Today is court day. I'm actually looking forward to it. The challenge gets the blood pumping. I have a good idea, now, what the rep from Redflex is going to say, they say the same thing at every hearing and if you know in advance what they are going to do, makes it much easier to prepare a defense. Defense - you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent in photo radar cases.
An aberration of the law, yes, but, it's there and unless someone challenges the constitutionality of it in the U.S. Supreme court, likely these cameras are never going away.
Anyway, just a short entry. I intentionally got up later and gave myself less time - just going to work in time to sign in and start working instead of going in early.
G'day.
ben
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday
Long day.
I was at work at 4:30 am - signed in - working - got out of there, downtown, switched trailers, strapped load, back to east valley, unload at jobsite, back to downtown, switch trailers again, strap down new load, aroun to several vendors, day cashed.
Reading numerous sites about photo radar. Much of it is different authors saying the same thing. I am not going to fret it. I have my defense, it is enough to pass legal muster, even if it has to go to a higher court. My court date is 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get off an hour early - get home, get nicely dressed, get my head into it - and get to court.
Well, I stopped writing this in favor of reading, reading, reading photo radar junk. In the midst of that, I also looked at news about BP and the feds at an alleged disagreement about whether to leave the cap as it is or install piping on it - going to a ship - to reduce the pressure.
Who knows? Then there's "lindsay lohan" - who cares, I most assuredly do NOT. This garbage about seeing TV and movie star personalities in the news all the time is repulsive at best. I don't CARE about the problems they are having in their personal lives and the media attempting to make hysteria out of it - EVERYONE has problems, some more so than others.
I'm tired, getting up early does that to me. Not only that, but this keyboard is irritating me. The c (I had to press c 3 times to get it to work) button has to be pressed hard or have to hit it several times to make it work, now the d button is doing the same thing! I was going to replace it a while back - but - money is tight and I have to be careful.
However, I have had enough of this garbage and I am going to replace it.
It's 17 minutes after 8 pm and yes, folks, I am going to bed.
G'nite.
ben
I was at work at 4:30 am - signed in - working - got out of there, downtown, switched trailers, strapped load, back to east valley, unload at jobsite, back to downtown, switch trailers again, strap down new load, aroun to several vendors, day cashed.
Reading numerous sites about photo radar. Much of it is different authors saying the same thing. I am not going to fret it. I have my defense, it is enough to pass legal muster, even if it has to go to a higher court. My court date is 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. I hope to get off an hour early - get home, get nicely dressed, get my head into it - and get to court.
Well, I stopped writing this in favor of reading, reading, reading photo radar junk. In the midst of that, I also looked at news about BP and the feds at an alleged disagreement about whether to leave the cap as it is or install piping on it - going to a ship - to reduce the pressure.
Who knows? Then there's "lindsay lohan" - who cares, I most assuredly do NOT. This garbage about seeing TV and movie star personalities in the news all the time is repulsive at best. I don't CARE about the problems they are having in their personal lives and the media attempting to make hysteria out of it - EVERYONE has problems, some more so than others.
I'm tired, getting up early does that to me. Not only that, but this keyboard is irritating me. The c (I had to press c 3 times to get it to work) button has to be pressed hard or have to hit it several times to make it work, now the d button is doing the same thing! I was going to replace it a while back - but - money is tight and I have to be careful.
However, I have had enough of this garbage and I am going to replace it.
It's 17 minutes after 8 pm and yes, folks, I am going to bed.
G'nite.
ben
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday - Serious Trucking Information
"- The following is the latest scoop on the changing world of logistics. The trucking shortage is still there although more trucks have successfully made it back onto the roadways. Now we have something new to worry about. By the end of this year our government (the DOT) is expected to roll out the "Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010" which is a safe trucking directive. A driver's bad safety record will become a liability to a motor carrier's safety rating. A driver's history of tickets, crashes, and other violations will effect their employer's safety rating. Trucking company's will be expected to keep ratings above a certain level to stay in business. Motor carriers will be forced to employ the safest drivers available. This will probably raise freight rates. Furthermore, the government will require on board electronic recorders that monitor driver activity. The hours of service laws will be enforced. Motor carriers who do not abide by the hours of service laws will have their licence revoked. All this adds cost. The government expects 10% of the current driver pool will be disqualified as soon as the new laws are announced. If drivers get wrote up for a load securement violation such as an improperly hooked chain, it will carry the same penalty as a driver getting a DUI. The new laws will also place some liability on the shipper. If a service center uses the cheapest carriers and disregards their low "rating" they could be held liable if an accident occurs. All of the above points to higher cost shipping and a new facet to sourcing transportation based on a safety record. Maybe our freight quotes next year will look like rental agreements. Would you like to waive the logistics liability insurance mister customer? Initial here and sign here ...... "
WHAT is wrong with this crap?
I heard even MORE from other sources today. Body fat index will be used. At whatever level they determine, if you are above that, the doc will not pass you, you don't get a renewed med card, you're driving career is toast. There are plenty of "fat" people out there that are quite healthy. This is nothing short of an outrage. I am not fat, well, I'm 10 pounds overweight, not enough, I would hope, to have me disqualified.
The entire thing is outrageous. 10% of drivers will be disqualified when this new system is put into place? Folks, that is a LOT of drivers - I just looked it up: there are an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers in the U.S. Take out 350,000 of them and then what? Take out even more for minor infractions as this thing evolves, inspections are one and drivers are faulted.
This is scary stuff - to say the least. My career - and really ANY trucker's career - is in jeopardy. We apparently are supposed to be perfect, make no mistakes and one mistake is going to cost you - DEARLY.
But, that isn't really the worst of it. A huge portion of America's goods are transported on trucks. For the material transported on rail, a good portion of that has to be transported from a rail station to - wherever - via a truck. Alleged statistics declare that 70% of America's freight is delivered via truck. Estimated 255.5 BILLION total revenues generated. That's a quarter of a TRILLION dollars. Let's NEVER get too comfortable with the word trillion and the government being put together in the same sentence. BILLIONS - when first coming into the horizon years and years ago, was appalling to me. But TRILLIONS? NO-ONE should EVER be comfortable with a government that is willing to get into THAT kind of indebtedness to the likes of nations such as China.
Of the material that is directly delivered via rail to a corporation with the use of a truck, it is almost always true that a TRUCK has to take that material from that place to wherever it is sold.
The point is clear and obvious. First off, 350,000 truck drivers instantaneously out of work. Second, as truck drivers are disqualified after that initial fact, less and less goods will make it to the stores on time. Meaning empty shelves in your grocery stores. Kmart's and Sears and WalMarts will be short of qualified drivers. The remaining pool? What, you think we're going to sit here and be forced to live under all these EXTREME baggage of regulation and not want more in terms of pay rates to compensate?
There is no perfect driver, we all make mistakes. It becomes obvious that making a mistake can cost a driver - and dearly. What am I going to do if I get caught in a mistake - a simple one - it puts points onto my record and I lose my job?
This is going to escalate out of control. Public outcry will occur when all of this starts hitting the stores and shops and outlets that you go to which rely on trucks to bring your goods there. News stories will start cropping up and people are going to see WHY the store's shelves are empty.
The economy is already trashed, this is going to make it MUCH worse. I haven't read that ANYWHERE, but I am making a logical assumption.
So, I get a ticket from a camera that tells Redflex that I am speeding and I am issued a ticket. I was NOT driving a commercial vehicle. It goes against my commercial driver's license, anyway, if I lose in court. I can't go to driving school because the feds revoked that opportunity years ago now: commercial license = no school, period.
Now, I have to be nervous about this situation again. I MUST win, however that entails within moral limits. I have done my homework, I am doing more. BUT, if I lose in the lower court, is it not now prudent for me to get a lawyer for an appeals court? Too bad I can't possibly afford a lawyer right now.
However, I have identified yet another "loophole", if you will, in the signage. I took pics while driving down the freeway today - no warning signs that you are about to enter a photo radar enforcement zone. MUST have by state law. Let them prove that they were there at the time of the offense, they can't, there are no pictures of it on that day.
My head is full of this stuff. I would have made a good lawyer, I do believe. I love the challenge, I love reading endless documents, state law, articles, opinions about a court challenge when I am personally involved with it. I stopped writing this entry to read even more. Another hour's worth.
Well, onto other things. I will be prepared for court in 2 days, yes I will. No guarantee of a win, but I WILL be prepared.
Ummm, well, I got a raise today. I will not speak here what the amount is because - I have no idea if, out of some remote possibility, co-workers from other branches might possibly know about my blog here and perhaps, happen to read this blog at any given time. I have no idea what other drivers might have received, therefore, I am only going to say that it was a decent raise considering the economy and I was happy to get it. You don't expect a raise when the economy is sour - even toxic. Kudos to my company, I have always liked working for this corporation. Even greater kudos to our region's general manager - he's down to earth, has an open-door policy and makes it easy enough for a man in his position to talk to and even make requests.
Though, I am not making requests right now. I am happy to be employed. Whatever problems - small problems I would add considering employment I have had in the past - I have are moot. I care but I don't care. I swirl things around in my mind and then dismiss them - it's bad times we're going through, deal with it, benb, deal with it.
It just sucks that on the homefront, I have such severe financial problems. It isn't all bad, just FAR from optimal.
I did go out there and dig today - but only for a short while. It is very humid out there coupled with high heat, I don't want anything to do with it.
I have to be AT work at 4:45 am in the morning. That means getting up at or even a little before 4:00 am. I'm tired thinking about it. I'm going to bed in 1 hour - 8:00 pm. I have been sleeping better for several days in a row now.
There is more, but I have enough to do in the next hour before bed that I must be about it.
G'nite.
ben
WHAT is wrong with this crap?
I heard even MORE from other sources today. Body fat index will be used. At whatever level they determine, if you are above that, the doc will not pass you, you don't get a renewed med card, you're driving career is toast. There are plenty of "fat" people out there that are quite healthy. This is nothing short of an outrage. I am not fat, well, I'm 10 pounds overweight, not enough, I would hope, to have me disqualified.
The entire thing is outrageous. 10% of drivers will be disqualified when this new system is put into place? Folks, that is a LOT of drivers - I just looked it up: there are an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers in the U.S. Take out 350,000 of them and then what? Take out even more for minor infractions as this thing evolves, inspections are one and drivers are faulted.
This is scary stuff - to say the least. My career - and really ANY trucker's career - is in jeopardy. We apparently are supposed to be perfect, make no mistakes and one mistake is going to cost you - DEARLY.
But, that isn't really the worst of it. A huge portion of America's goods are transported on trucks. For the material transported on rail, a good portion of that has to be transported from a rail station to - wherever - via a truck. Alleged statistics declare that 70% of America's freight is delivered via truck. Estimated 255.5 BILLION total revenues generated. That's a quarter of a TRILLION dollars. Let's NEVER get too comfortable with the word trillion and the government being put together in the same sentence. BILLIONS - when first coming into the horizon years and years ago, was appalling to me. But TRILLIONS? NO-ONE should EVER be comfortable with a government that is willing to get into THAT kind of indebtedness to the likes of nations such as China.
Of the material that is directly delivered via rail to a corporation with the use of a truck, it is almost always true that a TRUCK has to take that material from that place to wherever it is sold.
The point is clear and obvious. First off, 350,000 truck drivers instantaneously out of work. Second, as truck drivers are disqualified after that initial fact, less and less goods will make it to the stores on time. Meaning empty shelves in your grocery stores. Kmart's and Sears and WalMarts will be short of qualified drivers. The remaining pool? What, you think we're going to sit here and be forced to live under all these EXTREME baggage of regulation and not want more in terms of pay rates to compensate?
There is no perfect driver, we all make mistakes. It becomes obvious that making a mistake can cost a driver - and dearly. What am I going to do if I get caught in a mistake - a simple one - it puts points onto my record and I lose my job?
This is going to escalate out of control. Public outcry will occur when all of this starts hitting the stores and shops and outlets that you go to which rely on trucks to bring your goods there. News stories will start cropping up and people are going to see WHY the store's shelves are empty.
The economy is already trashed, this is going to make it MUCH worse. I haven't read that ANYWHERE, but I am making a logical assumption.
So, I get a ticket from a camera that tells Redflex that I am speeding and I am issued a ticket. I was NOT driving a commercial vehicle. It goes against my commercial driver's license, anyway, if I lose in court. I can't go to driving school because the feds revoked that opportunity years ago now: commercial license = no school, period.
Now, I have to be nervous about this situation again. I MUST win, however that entails within moral limits. I have done my homework, I am doing more. BUT, if I lose in the lower court, is it not now prudent for me to get a lawyer for an appeals court? Too bad I can't possibly afford a lawyer right now.
However, I have identified yet another "loophole", if you will, in the signage. I took pics while driving down the freeway today - no warning signs that you are about to enter a photo radar enforcement zone. MUST have by state law. Let them prove that they were there at the time of the offense, they can't, there are no pictures of it on that day.
My head is full of this stuff. I would have made a good lawyer, I do believe. I love the challenge, I love reading endless documents, state law, articles, opinions about a court challenge when I am personally involved with it. I stopped writing this entry to read even more. Another hour's worth.
Well, onto other things. I will be prepared for court in 2 days, yes I will. No guarantee of a win, but I WILL be prepared.
Ummm, well, I got a raise today. I will not speak here what the amount is because - I have no idea if, out of some remote possibility, co-workers from other branches might possibly know about my blog here and perhaps, happen to read this blog at any given time. I have no idea what other drivers might have received, therefore, I am only going to say that it was a decent raise considering the economy and I was happy to get it. You don't expect a raise when the economy is sour - even toxic. Kudos to my company, I have always liked working for this corporation. Even greater kudos to our region's general manager - he's down to earth, has an open-door policy and makes it easy enough for a man in his position to talk to and even make requests.
Though, I am not making requests right now. I am happy to be employed. Whatever problems - small problems I would add considering employment I have had in the past - I have are moot. I care but I don't care. I swirl things around in my mind and then dismiss them - it's bad times we're going through, deal with it, benb, deal with it.
It just sucks that on the homefront, I have such severe financial problems. It isn't all bad, just FAR from optimal.
I did go out there and dig today - but only for a short while. It is very humid out there coupled with high heat, I don't want anything to do with it.
I have to be AT work at 4:45 am in the morning. That means getting up at or even a little before 4:00 am. I'm tired thinking about it. I'm going to bed in 1 hour - 8:00 pm. I have been sleeping better for several days in a row now.
There is more, but I have enough to do in the next hour before bed that I must be about it.
G'nite.
ben
Monday, July 19, 2010
Learning How To Beat Photo Radar Ticket In Arizona
I have dived fully into the real of this business since my court date is only 3 days away. The more I read, the more I am convinced that I can win. However, I am also convinced that to be able to win, I will have to appeal it to the next higher court, as the lower courts apparently ignore law, procedural error and rules concerning such.
There are several fronts I will attack this on.
1. The contract that Redflex had with the State of Arizona has ended, as of July 15th. Redflex sends EMPLOYEES to court, not lawyers. The state made a provision to allow those employees to present evidence -- but it is becoming clear that that is ONLY while a contract it in full force.
There IS no contract with the State of Arizona now, they have no legal standing to represent Arizona in the courts.
2. The signature on the complaint. I looked at the complaint today as I read that by Arizona law, the complaint MUST be signed by a police officer - hand signed. The lawyers win -- in appeals court because lower courts ignore it -- these cases because the complaints are COMPUTER GENERATED. Yes, my complaint was signed by a computer, not by a living, human being. The signature is placed there BEFORE the facts are reviewed, was I the driver of the car and so forth.
3. Because the contract ended, the signs indicating that you are about to enter a Photo Enforcement Zone have been taken down. 2 signs are REQUIRED by state law to be posted before you get to the cameras. Were those signs present when I entered the Photo Enforcement Zone? Don't know, don't care. I ignore the signs, I have seen the signs over and over - whatever they say, it's irrelevant, you KNOW you are coming into a photo enforcement zone.
Those are 3, irrefutable ways for me to win my case. I fully expect that I will have to file an appeal in Superior Court to win. There are more grounds, however, to bring up.
Was my speed "reasonable and prudent"? A police officer uses his/her judgement in such cases. Are there pedestrians? Is it near a school? In a residential area? Is there a broken down car? Is there an accident? on and on. I was on a freeway with none of that going on. The cameras ONLY see the car, nothing else that is going on. A computer generated system cannot determine what is reasonable and prudent. Further, the zone where these cameras are located had the speed limit raised from 55mph to 65mph. Apparently the engineers who determined the speed were - what - wrong about the first assumption?
The picture itself. I look at the picture and there is glare on the windshield. I was leaning back - alleging that it is me driving - the rear view mirror is partially blocking my face. The glare is so bad, I cannot tell that it's me driving the car.
If I lose in the lower court, I WILL be appealing. 3 points on my record if I lose, I have a commercial license, I MUST fight it.
Onto other things (so if you came here looking for info on photo radar and how to beat it, well, it ends here. I suggest you get the book written by Susan Kaylor: SMILE for the speed camera! I got my copy on Amazon. Also, do a lot of reading on the internet, search Arizona statute photo radar. The book, btw, is not Arizona specific but does have a lot of references to Arizona, good luck!)
Fish. Well, they were having sex again today when I came home and went out there. Lol. Busy beavers. A crow keeps coming around - I don't know if he's looking for a meal, but those fish are much bigger than that crow. I suppose it's just interested in the water and bathing itself. Heron cannot access that pond, that I know of anyway, they have to be able to step into the pond and since it isn't in the ground, they cannot do that.
The humidity - along with high heat - is still up. You will sweat just standing there, as I was for over an hour dealing with a pump that decided to quit and cleaning out the bio-filter. The pumps get clogged with junk and you have to take them apart and clean them out. No biggies, but both pumps were clogged. One of them wasn't pumping water. Yes, they are now both working again. This is why I got the air pumps. Their only job is to pump air through plastic tubing to long aeration blocks. This is a backup - if the pumps quit, the water is still being aerated.
Will I get out there and dig today? Not sure yet, I am spending time reading all kinds of stuff about photo radar, though, at this point, I think I have enough to win the case, even if it has to be appealed. Still, I like to be ready for court. I mean THOROUGHLY ready, as much as a non-lawyer can be. I am not just reading the book and going through websites with all kinds of people chiming in, I am also going through ARS – TITLE 28 TRANSPORTATION of State statutes - and not finding anything but one blurp about photo radar. Either more is found elsewhere or there IS not more, I'm not sure yet, will continue searching.
I have come up with my own arguments now that this program is ended, the contract is severed and I do not believe that Redflex has any statutatorial right to even BE in the courtroom unless they are spectators.
Oh, my water Hyacinth. They are coming back to life. I believe the reason they were dying is that the goldfish were eating their roots. They float with their roots drifting down below them. The roots are the beneficial thing for your pond - they absorb nasty stuff. Basically, water Hyacinth and that pond are not going to work. I will bring them back to life - fully - and simply have a large container full of them as a plant feature in itself. I have the other ponds, a smaller pond with smaller fish - maybe it would work.
Of course, digging out the holes for such is a totally different story......
I received the new pump today. I'm new to this, I am learning as I go. The pump is WAY too big. I should have gone with a 500 or 600 gph pump, not an almost 900 gph pump. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to even use it in the new setup - but one can be assured that I will try, cause' now? I own it. I'm thinking it might work very well for the waterfall that I almost completed building and have not finished yet. A lot of water, a lot of aeration and cooling. Who knows? Cross that bridge when I get the pond installed.
Onto something that has been bugging me for a long time. But only briefly here, this entry is getting long and to dive into all the facts of this issue - would take 20, long entries. A "man" that I was under on the mission field - who founded the ministry I was serving in - well, he moved to Arizona. I didn't know this until someone brought it to my attention. As I said, it would take FAR too long to go into all of this, but there wa a lot of wrong done. I contacted him - he had his cellphone number posted on his website, based out of Tucson.
When I called, he was in a big church with a pastor in a back room, apparently getting ready to "minister" in church. I began confronting him on these issues. Now that he is only 100 or so miles away, I have no problem driving down there and confronting him, face to face, on these things. He - handed the phone to the pastor. The pastor was totally full of himself. Apparently, his fame is far and wide - I have never heard of him. I don't give respect to men because of their fame, respect is EARNED, not GIVEN AWAY. So you have your face and name plastered all over the place, what does THAT mean? When I told him I had no clue who he was - being totally honest - he got offended! Lol.
But, that pastor isn't the issue. There are lots of pastors around in big churches that are just full of themselves, this is nothing new. The fact that this man I am dealing with handed me over to this pastor was the issue. As in the past, he cannot deal with situations on his own. He has to drag other people that have NOTHING to do with the situation into it to defend him. This pastor? Had NO clue what was going on. He said he was going into church in a few minutes, but could he call me back? Sure, I asked him to write down my number since it was the "minister's" phone I had called. Dunno if he did or not, he said he would call back .......... and never did.
Not surprising. "Big" men in ministry overextend themselves and make promises that they - from my view of it - never intend on keeping. Oh, I could go on, and on, and on from my personal experience with some of these people when I was on the mission field and actively involved in the church - the fact of the matter is - it's a complete waste of time.
Well, I contact this man through his website - the founder, not the pastor. I bring up the past. It is very dark, trust me, it is. I want to get this situation resolved. What does he do? Instead of responding to me, he forwards my email to another leader that was his 2cd in command during the time I was in that ministry. This guy writes him back but puts my email as a cc.
So, I write HIM, since he contacted me. He was and is also - totally full of it. Another long story, I don't have the time or the desire to go into it. He writes back, full of himself, of course, denies everything I stated and tells me to "deal with it". The world loves to tell everyone to deal with it. Well, in this case, to deal with it, I must have open, honest dialogue with the people involved. Since they won't admit blatant, obvious past, there is no connection.
I wrote him again. I have no idea where this is leading, though this number 2 guy used to get physically aggressive in the past and in reading his tones, he has the same views now. I suppose he will threaten me - this is his standard, modus operandi, at least from the 80's and early 90's - if he does then I will have to decide what to do about it.
I have had years to deal with this in my own soul and heart. I am not nearly as affected by this as they obviously are. I would LIKE to have a resolution to it, yes, but if it isn't possible, then so beit. Still, I am going to ride this one out until/if/when it becomes obvious that I am wasting my time, if such a time indeed presents itself.
ben
There are several fronts I will attack this on.
1. The contract that Redflex had with the State of Arizona has ended, as of July 15th. Redflex sends EMPLOYEES to court, not lawyers. The state made a provision to allow those employees to present evidence -- but it is becoming clear that that is ONLY while a contract it in full force.
There IS no contract with the State of Arizona now, they have no legal standing to represent Arizona in the courts.
2. The signature on the complaint. I looked at the complaint today as I read that by Arizona law, the complaint MUST be signed by a police officer - hand signed. The lawyers win -- in appeals court because lower courts ignore it -- these cases because the complaints are COMPUTER GENERATED. Yes, my complaint was signed by a computer, not by a living, human being. The signature is placed there BEFORE the facts are reviewed, was I the driver of the car and so forth.
3. Because the contract ended, the signs indicating that you are about to enter a Photo Enforcement Zone have been taken down. 2 signs are REQUIRED by state law to be posted before you get to the cameras. Were those signs present when I entered the Photo Enforcement Zone? Don't know, don't care. I ignore the signs, I have seen the signs over and over - whatever they say, it's irrelevant, you KNOW you are coming into a photo enforcement zone.
Those are 3, irrefutable ways for me to win my case. I fully expect that I will have to file an appeal in Superior Court to win. There are more grounds, however, to bring up.
Was my speed "reasonable and prudent"? A police officer uses his/her judgement in such cases. Are there pedestrians? Is it near a school? In a residential area? Is there a broken down car? Is there an accident? on and on. I was on a freeway with none of that going on. The cameras ONLY see the car, nothing else that is going on. A computer generated system cannot determine what is reasonable and prudent. Further, the zone where these cameras are located had the speed limit raised from 55mph to 65mph. Apparently the engineers who determined the speed were - what - wrong about the first assumption?
The picture itself. I look at the picture and there is glare on the windshield. I was leaning back - alleging that it is me driving - the rear view mirror is partially blocking my face. The glare is so bad, I cannot tell that it's me driving the car.
If I lose in the lower court, I WILL be appealing. 3 points on my record if I lose, I have a commercial license, I MUST fight it.
Onto other things (so if you came here looking for info on photo radar and how to beat it, well, it ends here. I suggest you get the book written by Susan Kaylor: SMILE for the speed camera! I got my copy on Amazon. Also, do a lot of reading on the internet, search Arizona statute photo radar. The book, btw, is not Arizona specific but does have a lot of references to Arizona, good luck!)
Fish. Well, they were having sex again today when I came home and went out there. Lol. Busy beavers. A crow keeps coming around - I don't know if he's looking for a meal, but those fish are much bigger than that crow. I suppose it's just interested in the water and bathing itself. Heron cannot access that pond, that I know of anyway, they have to be able to step into the pond and since it isn't in the ground, they cannot do that.
The humidity - along with high heat - is still up. You will sweat just standing there, as I was for over an hour dealing with a pump that decided to quit and cleaning out the bio-filter. The pumps get clogged with junk and you have to take them apart and clean them out. No biggies, but both pumps were clogged. One of them wasn't pumping water. Yes, they are now both working again. This is why I got the air pumps. Their only job is to pump air through plastic tubing to long aeration blocks. This is a backup - if the pumps quit, the water is still being aerated.
Will I get out there and dig today? Not sure yet, I am spending time reading all kinds of stuff about photo radar, though, at this point, I think I have enough to win the case, even if it has to be appealed. Still, I like to be ready for court. I mean THOROUGHLY ready, as much as a non-lawyer can be. I am not just reading the book and going through websites with all kinds of people chiming in, I am also going through ARS – TITLE 28 TRANSPORTATION of State statutes - and not finding anything but one blurp about photo radar. Either more is found elsewhere or there IS not more, I'm not sure yet, will continue searching.
I have come up with my own arguments now that this program is ended, the contract is severed and I do not believe that Redflex has any statutatorial right to even BE in the courtroom unless they are spectators.
Oh, my water Hyacinth. They are coming back to life. I believe the reason they were dying is that the goldfish were eating their roots. They float with their roots drifting down below them. The roots are the beneficial thing for your pond - they absorb nasty stuff. Basically, water Hyacinth and that pond are not going to work. I will bring them back to life - fully - and simply have a large container full of them as a plant feature in itself. I have the other ponds, a smaller pond with smaller fish - maybe it would work.
Of course, digging out the holes for such is a totally different story......
I received the new pump today. I'm new to this, I am learning as I go. The pump is WAY too big. I should have gone with a 500 or 600 gph pump, not an almost 900 gph pump. I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to even use it in the new setup - but one can be assured that I will try, cause' now? I own it. I'm thinking it might work very well for the waterfall that I almost completed building and have not finished yet. A lot of water, a lot of aeration and cooling. Who knows? Cross that bridge when I get the pond installed.
Onto something that has been bugging me for a long time. But only briefly here, this entry is getting long and to dive into all the facts of this issue - would take 20, long entries. A "man" that I was under on the mission field - who founded the ministry I was serving in - well, he moved to Arizona. I didn't know this until someone brought it to my attention. As I said, it would take FAR too long to go into all of this, but there wa a lot of wrong done. I contacted him - he had his cellphone number posted on his website, based out of Tucson.
When I called, he was in a big church with a pastor in a back room, apparently getting ready to "minister" in church. I began confronting him on these issues. Now that he is only 100 or so miles away, I have no problem driving down there and confronting him, face to face, on these things. He - handed the phone to the pastor. The pastor was totally full of himself. Apparently, his fame is far and wide - I have never heard of him. I don't give respect to men because of their fame, respect is EARNED, not GIVEN AWAY. So you have your face and name plastered all over the place, what does THAT mean? When I told him I had no clue who he was - being totally honest - he got offended! Lol.
But, that pastor isn't the issue. There are lots of pastors around in big churches that are just full of themselves, this is nothing new. The fact that this man I am dealing with handed me over to this pastor was the issue. As in the past, he cannot deal with situations on his own. He has to drag other people that have NOTHING to do with the situation into it to defend him. This pastor? Had NO clue what was going on. He said he was going into church in a few minutes, but could he call me back? Sure, I asked him to write down my number since it was the "minister's" phone I had called. Dunno if he did or not, he said he would call back .......... and never did.
Not surprising. "Big" men in ministry overextend themselves and make promises that they - from my view of it - never intend on keeping. Oh, I could go on, and on, and on from my personal experience with some of these people when I was on the mission field and actively involved in the church - the fact of the matter is - it's a complete waste of time.
Well, I contact this man through his website - the founder, not the pastor. I bring up the past. It is very dark, trust me, it is. I want to get this situation resolved. What does he do? Instead of responding to me, he forwards my email to another leader that was his 2cd in command during the time I was in that ministry. This guy writes him back but puts my email as a cc.
So, I write HIM, since he contacted me. He was and is also - totally full of it. Another long story, I don't have the time or the desire to go into it. He writes back, full of himself, of course, denies everything I stated and tells me to "deal with it". The world loves to tell everyone to deal with it. Well, in this case, to deal with it, I must have open, honest dialogue with the people involved. Since they won't admit blatant, obvious past, there is no connection.
I wrote him again. I have no idea where this is leading, though this number 2 guy used to get physically aggressive in the past and in reading his tones, he has the same views now. I suppose he will threaten me - this is his standard, modus operandi, at least from the 80's and early 90's - if he does then I will have to decide what to do about it.
I have had years to deal with this in my own soul and heart. I am not nearly as affected by this as they obviously are. I would LIKE to have a resolution to it, yes, but if it isn't possible, then so beit. Still, I am going to ride this one out until/if/when it becomes obvious that I am wasting my time, if such a time indeed presents itself.
ben
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