Tuesday 11/16/2010

Tuesday

So, the foreclosure fiasco with banks speeding through documentation and not following their own procedures closely when foreclosing on a home - could cause even further, massive financial chaos or - it could cause nothing.

What else is new. Supposedly, somewhere around mid-next-year, more ARM's are going to "adjust" and that will send yet another wave of foreclosures and financial shock through the system. I have only heard about that one, though, I haven't read it anywhere - yet.

The real news, for me anyway, is this situation going on with TSA, the full body scanners at airports and the fact that more and more people are rejecting the idea of walking through what amounts to be an x-ray machine, exposing themselves to radiation for the sake of security.

I was watching a lot of video and reading a lot of material about this situation yesterday. There was one incident where a man in San Diego refused to go through the machine, otherwise known as "opt-out". When they took him to "grope" him, he said something like: "If you touch my junk I'm going to have you arrested".

It is UNBELIEVABLE that the TSA thinks it has the right to literally touch your genitals. I wouldn't want to subject myself to EITHER. Apparently, this stuff is all random, it doesn't happen to every passenger, many just go through without anything being done to them.

How would you like to take your teenaged son or daughter through one of those and stand there, watching some freak groping him or her all over? Or a little boy or girl?

I think this issue is eventually going to come to a head. It's obvious that more people are very much against either of these methods than are for it. The National Opt-Out day will stand to be interesting if enough people participate in it. I love to fly, but I am glad I am not flying anywhere, anytime soon, because I would probably be led out of that place in handcuffs. There is NO WAY I am going to let some pervert/freak grope my penis, balls and butt in the name of "security". Okay, they may not be perverts, "just doing their job", it's a job I would not want, at all.

In the case of the man in San Diego, you can actually hear one of the TSA agents state: "You give up a lot of rights when you buy an airplane ticket". Oh REALLY? I don't remember reading that in the constitution, can anyone identify exactly where that is found?

Changing the subject, I got a reply back from the ops manager yesterday. He stated in email that he thinks that foreman was just having an off day and that he, the ops manager, is going to give me some hats to give to him. I am hoping to talk him into some shirts, as well. That ALWAYS makes foremen happy - they love that stuff for whatever reason.

November 16, 2010 6:05 AM 

Anonymous said...

My ponds? It hasn't been a very cold winter yet, so everything is okay, for now. The lowest low has been in the upper 40's. The Phoenix area, however, can get down into the high 20's if Momma Nature feels like blasting us with it. Then, I will probably have to put a couple more heaters in the ponds and I will have to cover most of my plants as well. The fish are looking healthy. This is new territory for me: fish and winter.

The expert's consensus is if you have a deep enough pond, you don't have to worry about it. Minimum 3 feet deep. My ponds aren't anything near that depth, hence, the heaters.

Ummm, rent. Paid yesterday by the new guy. He thought he had paid up entirely, I said no, he still owes me $15, he said let me check. He checked and said he owes me another $10 and handed it to me. I bit my lip, no point in arguing over $5. It was one week that he skipped and has been paying up on ever since. I said good, we're good, and let it go.

The other tenant that was behind now is only $10 behind. Plus, she just found a new job at a major restaurant chain. The problem? That place is like 20 miles away from my house. I dunno what her future at my house is - she moved in because the job before that was only 2 miles away.

I don't ask tenants, usually, if they are thinking about moving out, I just wait until the news comes. For now, it's good to have 3, full-paying tenants. Especially considering all the car trouble I have had. Christmas is coming, Thanksgiving as well. Though, I have already bought the expensive stuff for Thanksgiving, I'm pretty much good to go there. I don't really have that much to buy for Christmas anyway. My son? I'm pretty much letting him know that the money I spent on that car covers Christmas, his next birthday and probably a few more beyond that! No, not really, I'll get him something, it just isn't going to be anything grand. The old car is running quite well, so far.

3-1/2 days until the beginning of my 8 days of no work : )

I'm trying to decide if there's something I might actually DO during that time besides staying home and doing projects. It feels like it's time to get out and meet new people. I have been looking at several clubs - singles come together to do some activity. Whether you hit it up with someone or not - well - that's up to you, I guess.

With that, I bid you a good day.

ben

Monday 11/15/2010 Trip To Sells, Arizona

A very interesting drive on a road that I don't ever remember travelling before today.
The cruise down I-10 to I-8 to Trekell road - same thing I've done too many times in  the past.  I know this drive well.
But, after that, I hadn't seen any of it before.
Heading south, passing 2 separate locations with Sheriffs pulling over vehicles, the road ended on the "American" side and started on the "Native American" side.  Indian 15.  That's what the 2 lane, 55 mph highway is called. It is a sign with an icon of a Tomahawk.  15 in the center of the tomahawk and Indian on top of it.

It was an amazing drive.  On several fronts.  First, I had never been on the road before, or if I had, possibly on one of the endless road trips my parents used to take, I certainly didn't remember it.  Second, the vastness of the desert.  You could see - if mountains weren't in the way - for miles and miles, just endless desert.  Third, the crosses.  This road had very little traffic on it. I am seriously saying that I saw more Border Patrol vehicles on that road than ALL other vehicles combined.  I did not encounter another tractor-trailer rig on that road either, which was quite amazing to me.

Let's visit the crosses.  This is what they do nowadays: someone dies, they put up a cross.  I came across one cross - very well kept.  Fresh paint, fresh flowers.  I came across another, another.  Then I came to one where about 12 of them were grouped together.  That was amazing.  Did that many people die in one accident, out here, in the middle of nowhere?  And if so, what happened?  I came across several crosses that had elaborate structures built over them.  NONE of them were unkempt.  The individuals that put each, respective cross or set of crosses out there were taking care of the "upkeep" of them.

The highway itself was - yes - out in the middle of nothing.  There would be a house here, a grouping of houses there, there was no rhyme or reason to it.  Why did someone choose to put a house THERE?, I asked myself several times over.  I attempted to recreate thought processes that would go into a person's mind in determining why, exactly, a person would set a house plump out 20 miles from the nearest village.  I had no answers to the question and the wildest of thoughts didn't come up with anything concrete, etiher.  But, it was fun to muse.

I also came across a rock quarry.  It was about 200 feet off to the side of the highway.  I was scrutinizing this quarry from the point that I could clearly see it until I passed it.  Machinery there, yes, but no machinery to move it from the ground to a truck.  That's how quarry's work, they have all kinds of huge equipment to process it, but to get it from the ground, where the machinery eventually dumps it via conveyor belt, to the bottom of a dump truck or a belly-dump trailer, a (front-end) Loader scoops it up and dumps it in there.  No loader out there. Not any equipment with a bucket there.  Yet, I wondered, in this almost primordial type of setup I had been seeing for a while now, was it that they just hauled a loader in there when they needed it?  I couldn't answer that question, either, there was no-one out there.

Yet, another 10 miles down the road, I saw a loader on top of a huge pile of sand.  This was also out in the middle of nowhere, literally.  When I got past it, I was travelling over a small bridge that gapped a wash.  There, up in the wash, was a HUGE hold where that loader had been digging out the sand and making a pile on the side, out of the wash.  Question answered there, at least for me.

On I went.  I couldn't help the feelings I used to have when I: was doing OTR trucking.  I used to go off the Interstates as much as possible and take the 2-lane highways because of the tremendous views that America has to offer - all over.  I started remembering winding, 2 lane highways going through rolling hills and seeing farms, pigs, cows, giant red barns.  Fall leaves on trees - those memories stand out predominately.  Next to streams or rivers.  I was flooded with memories of the past in trucking and when I used to love OTR - just because I was seeing America and saw more of it than most people will ever see.  I haven't just BEEN in 48 states, I have seen a LOT of many of those states, and not just from the Interstates.

I remember hating Interstate Highways. After driving and driving, it all eventually looked the same to me.  The only thing that made my heart leap was the highways that I could take.

On with today's trip.  A coyote leisurely trots across the highway.  When I get up to where he trotted, I couldn't see him even though there wasn't much brush there.  His colorings blended in perfectly with the desert floor.  I eventually came to a "town".  The road actually didn't go through it, you could see it off to the left.  I passed dozens and dozens of small, dirt roads that led seemingly to nowhere.  My mind wandered to what it would be like to turn down one of those roads and explore.

This road was something I won't forget anytime soon.  I couldn't believe the lack of traffic.  After being on that road some 40 miles, I came upon a Border Patrol checkpoint.  They have them all over southern Arizona.  You are involuntarily stopped and asked if you are an American citizen.  I have very strong views about that subject, but today was not a day I wanted to go into that.  I slowed down - to about 15 mph.  Cruised through it.  Agents were sitting under a canopy on lawn chairs.  Didn't try to stop me and I didn't bother to ask.

The road eventually ended.  At highway 86.  I got on that highway.  Much narrower than Indian 15, yet it had a speed limit of 65 mph.  I was on that road for a 1/4 mile before passing an "outpost" they like to call them, just a convenience store, albeit out in the middle of, literally, nowhere.  There was a line of trucks I caught up with, I was cruising.  Let's get there and get this truck unloaded  - this highway was nothing like Indian 15.  The trucks were speeding up, slowing down, I hate that kind of driving.  Pick a speed and keep it.

I eventually got to Sells, AZ.  I was informed to turn onto the road just before a Shell station.  That road led to a building that houses - federal police, apparently.  It's border agents.  Not going to go into too much of the unload process, but the septic tank I was delivering was dropped.  It flung upside down and a barbed-wire fence post plunged right through one of the screw-on lids on it.  The foreman got mad, started cussing and blaming the water inside the tank.  There was some water in it, but not hundreds of gallons as this guy attempted to ascribe.

It took a while to get out of there, he was scrutinizing the blue prints and wondering why this that and the other thing hadn't been sent.  I looked at the blue prints and agreed - the salesman should have sent several Tee's, more Wye's and some other fittings.

I finally was able to leave, but not before watching a Border Patrol helipcopter land next to the building.  Also not before seeing individuals with t-shirts on that said federal police get out of an SUV, shotguns in hand and head into the building.  Don't know, exactly, WHAT they do in that building, but - this entire area was obviously a hot-spot for illegal alien crossing.

Back on the road.  Pass a propane truck - he's going 55 mph on a 65 mph road.  I sped up much more than I realized, I was cruising, enjoying the day.  I come around the corner and there is a police SUV parked on the other side of the road, facing me.  I look down at my speedometer:  74 mph in a 65 mph zone.  Uh-ohhh.  I slowed down, of course, but I was already caught.

I pass and see the turn signal of the SUV come on, I'm busted, I thought, darn.  No, she got on the highway and headed the other direction.  I didn't fool anyone, she let me go.  She could have pulled me over and issued me a citation and there would be nothing to say about it.  Thanking God that the day hadn't been ruined  by my stupidity - I moved on and got beyond that.  I stopped at the convenience store in the middle of nowhere.  I got a sandwich - with no condiments as I didn't want any - and a bottle of cranberry juice.  Hit the spot.  Got back on the road, hit Indian 15 and cruised back.  I had different views going the opposite direction than I had going through the first time.

I was also stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint. "Hello,sir, how's it going today", the agent said.  "Great, thank you, how're you doing?" "Good", he replied, "Have a nice day". "You do the same", I said in genuine honesty and glad that I, an American, wasn't asked on American soil IF I am an American.  I drove the rest of the way - followed the entire way by a beat-up, grey, Dodge Ram pickup with the same intrigue I had coming through that area.  I had no clue why the pickup wasn't passing me, there was ample opportunity.  I passed a couple of cars along the way, he passed them as well, but didn't pass me. No idea what that was about.

Got back on Interstate 8, then to Interstate 10.  Came to a rest area and decided that I would take my break there.  I got a 15 minute nap in when an RV pulled up right next to my truck.  I wish he would have opted for the NUMEROUS other parking spots that were empty - my nap was done and over with, but it did feel good.   I was going to take the entire 30-minute break napping. no biggies.  It was a great drive, I wish I could get more of them.

There's more to this day - it's benb's world, lol - but, who cares.  There are no great negatives today.  One tenant paid up, cash, and is current. That was nice as well.  Very nice, really.  Umm, and I'm going to go to bed early, again. Why?  Cause' I tend to get a good night's sleep that way, even if I wake up in the middle of the night, which usually happens.  Weather's beautiful.  I'm feeling at peace right now and I have no cosmic explanations of why.

G'nite.

ben

Saturday 11/13/2010

I got up this morning, looked at those dogs with a pathetic look on their face and decided to take them for a walk.  This time, however, instead of walking them to the mountains, I got them in the car and drove over there.  It is too much of  a pain to try and get 3 very large dogs to cross Baseline road with all of that traffic.  I just would rather not.   It was about a 25 minute hike up and down mountainsides.  There were a LOT of other hikers out there, but fortunately, no other dogs.

Getting done with that, I decided to go to Home Depot.  The shower faucet in the bathroom is leaking and it's leaking on the hot water side.  Wasted water, wasted electricity.  I have a clue about these things: not fixing them will cost you FAR more than forking out the money for a new setup or parts to repair the old.  I decided to replace the whole thing because it has a bent cold water handle - I have no idea how that happened, surely one of the tenants does - and I didn't want to fool with it.

Well, I had more to write but I want to go out while it's still afternoonish time and enjoy the beautiful weather.

ben

I also decided to stop at Fresh and Easy.  They have the cheapest turkeys on sale: 37 cents per pound, Jennie O frozen.  I don't care if a turkey is frozen or not, in the end it all tastes the same to me.  Fry's has the same exact thing - but their price is 55 cents per pound and they claimed to not have a price matching policy.  I don't know about that one, I thought they did, but the lady adamently stated they did not.  I will be checking into that here today sometime.  But it doesn't matter, I already got a 22 pounder and at a great price.  Farmer John hams also were good price at 77 cents per pound, I got one of those, too.

The trailer tenants are going to do all the work this year.   I buy, they fry.  Well, you know, they are doing the cooking.  I'm thinking of getting another turkey - much smaller so I can keep it in the freezer and then cooking it maybe in January or something.  I usually buy 2, 1 for now and then in 2 months or so when I'm not so burned out on eating endless amounts of turkey (lots of leftovers, usually) I will cook another one.

Absolutely beautiful weather out now.  It's almost 2 pm and it's like 75 degrees outside.  Gorgeous.  The fishies are doing well with it getting cold at night - but I have been running a heater in each pond for what, a week now?  It had no noticeable effect on electric usage so, they're just going to stay on, set at 75 degrees each.

Friday 11/12/2010

Friday

Work week almost over. Another week with car problems - over - hopefully for a long time. I won't be holding my breath, but one can dream.

The fact that I didn't have to shell out yet hundreds of more dollars to get it into running condition was a blessing and certainly not a disuised one. I would be facing my week off during Thanksgiving being pretty much broke if that had been the case. 

Of course, I don't really plan on doing anything during that time excepting buying all the fixings for a huge turkey dinner which the trailer tenants have already indicated that they would be extremely interested in cooking. Still, broke is never a good "condition" to be in.

Meanwhile, I'm reading about Obama's rant at the Summit and wondering if anyone is even bothering to listen. His renewed interest in jobs creation is humorous. The talk about jobs was almost completely gone when Obama, Reid and Pelosi were literally forcing the health care bill through, now all of a sudden here we go again. And anyone wonders why the elections turned out the way that they did?

I would also like to argue with this idea that Social Security benefits is an "entitlement" program. That's a LOAD of BS. If you REALLY want to call it that, then yes, I'm entitled to take the money I paid into it for my entire life with the promise that I would get X amount every month when I am near the end of life. That is the end of that story: we PAID into it for THAT purpose, it's a separate deduction on your paycheck, it's not part of the general fund. If it is gone when I get to retirement, well, obviously I and a lot of other people that PAID for it are not going to be happy (and probably be broke). 

There are 2 things I fear in growing old: being broke and being single. I let the 2% deduction out of my paycheck for 401k start back up again earlier this year - our company does that automatically, you can opt out if you like - and haven't either increased it or reduced it. It has an "amazing" $9,000.00 in it. I'm 46 years old and all I have saved for retirement is 9k? Ouch. If I could afford to up it to where it was pre-economic-disaster era, I would. I was trying to get to the point where I would be comfortable with having 10% being deducted from every paycheck.

Not anywhere near that now, obviously. Well, it's just something that I think about now and then and wonder, what, exactly, my retirement will "look" like and at what I can expect to actually be able to stop working. If the White House has it's way, the day I stop working is the day my body is being viewed in a casket......

.........with that, I bid you good day.

ben

The Old Buick - Highland Auto Repair Shop, Chandler, AZ 85225

3 days that car has been at that shop.
I had no idea what to expect when I got there today.
I walked up and saw my old car sitting there, hood up, engine running.
I wondered how long it had been running.  I asked the owner that if they did get it running, just let it sit there and idle - for hours if need be.  That's what they do anyway with vehicles that have had running problems, they turn them on after fixing them and walk away from them.  I watched that the other day, a car sat there idling for over 2 hours.  
Well, Virgil was busy with another customer.  I had no small amount of trepidation.  How much is this going to cost this time?  The fourth time in in a little over a month, I knew the towing bill was at least $50, the mechanic the first day I was there with it had spent a couple of hours on it.

Well, Virgil gets up and goes and moves around some vehicles.  He comes back, gets out a notepad, writes down a phone number with the name of an electrical shop and hands it to me.  He says: "If it has problems again, take it here".  Virgil's a good guy.  He is a rare breed in any realm of customer service in terms of whatever kind of business it may be. Certainly, you don't get such honesty in many auto repair shops nowadays, most of them are going to rake you under the coals and take every last cent they think they can get from you.

While standing there, I listened to his son having a conversation with a person on the phone.  He was telling the person that his vehicle needed a new timing belt, but also needed new fan belts and other stuff.  He told him that now would be the time to replace them since they were cracked and not looking too good, because, he said "We are already going to have to take all of that stuff off anyway to get at the timing belt, there will be no extra labor charge to replace it".  

How many shops would get on the phone and say that you need a timing belt and you need this other stuff and yes, there is EXTRA labor charge for the  other stuff, even though they already have to take it off the engine to get at the timing belt? You can bet your sweet @$$  that there are a plethora of shops out there that will do that.

What I am saying in all of that is that I figured whatever I was going to be charged, I was not going to be raped.  I definitely also was thinking, my gosh, I have dumped no small change into this car and I have bills to pay.  I would NEVER say that to them, but I was sweating this one.

Well, it turns out, the owner's son - Jeremy - had given the car over to Bill - one of the shop's mechanics - to look at it.  I have also watched Bill - the man knows what he's doing.  He does just about ANYTHING a car needs.  I have a lot of respect for this shop, it's owners and it's employees.  I asked Virgil how long the thing had been running?  We walked over to where Bill was working on another vehicle, he said that this time, it has been sitting there running for about an hour.  Before that, he thought he had it sitting there running for about 3 hours.

You see, I don't CARE how much gasoline was going to be wasted, I definitely wanted to know if this thing was going to work or not, if not, what do we do next, Virgil had already given me the next thing to do if it needed anything else, we're good.

Well, instead of walking back to his desk to tally up the hours spent on the thing - turns out the mechanic - Bill - had cleaned some wires that go to the computer that was replaced last week and that (hopefully) was it all it needed - Virgil starts walking to my car.  I asked him how much it was going to cost.  He just shook his head, no, nothing.  I would have none of that, they had spent considerable time on it plus the towing fee.  Nope, he said, nothing.  I insisted that I at LEAST pay the towing bill.  He flatly refused my money.  I'm totally serious, I TRIED to give him SOMETHING for the time spent, I mean, the man's running a business and I don't want to turn into a sore spot with a person and a business that I fully intend on taking my vehicles to from here on out.  He just wouldn't take it.  I told him I didn't feel right about it, he couldn't help me.

WHERE, in this day and age, do you find ANYTHING like THAT?  GOOD LUCK.  This is old-school - the way business used to operate in a different day and age.  Nothing bad about it, I'm just saying, when you find something like that you treat it like gold.  Yup, I'm propping Highland Auto cause' - it's worth the prop.  Not that they need it, they have plenty of business, but if you are fed up with being ripped off and live anywhere in the Phoenix Metro area, this is the place to take your vehicles.  They have vehicles brought in from ALL over - Wittman; Scottsdale - everywhere. Even up north people come into town and bring their vehicles there.

As for me?  I got home and the relief was palpable. I didn't have to spend more money on that old thing, though I was fully prepared to.   Caleb's mom's car (we're divorced) - a new thing that is only like a year old - a tin can on wheels is what I call those little cars - isn't running.  They were coming to tow it as I went over there to get Caleb to take my newer Buick back with him to her house.  I am going to drive this old thing for at least a couple more weeks.   He has a car to drive and they have something to get around in while her car is at the dealer's - it's under warranty (must be nice!).

Thursday 11/11/2010

Thursday

Folks coming for Cafe World information, well, this is just an entry into my blog that has nothing to do with CW.

I'm not blaming Carnival cruise lines - yet - for whatever happened. Though now, a tidbit more of info came when the ship's captain said a diesel generator's casing "split" open which caused the fire. I'm guessing the fire must have taken out the computers and electronics that make the engines run, cause to burn up those engines in a fire? I figure the whole ship would have had to burn down. 

I can't wait to see the interviews, lol. You just KNOW there are going to be over-exaggerated people who thought it was the end of life.........I bet a whole world's worth of media is waiting for their arrival out there.

Meanwhile, Obama is spewing forth useless rhetoric towards North Korea in an apparent "warning" to them. That's nice. North Korea and the rest of the world also know it's a spineless statement that has no teeth to it. Nothing will be done while this president is in office. The latest report is that NK is "exporting banned nuclear and missile technology to Iran, Syria and Myanmar."

Great, let's get the whole world full of nuclear weapons and see who fires first. The destruction of mankind as we know it should serve as at least SOME kind of motivator to DO something about this nation that doesn't care what anyone else says or thinks, the only thing they are going to care about is action. NK has BEEN warned over and over, sanctions up the ying-yang and what has it done? Made a nation of starving people as it's government could care less. 

Well, anyway, there's plenty to do in today's, tomorrow's and even Monday's truck routing system. In fact, Monday, I am driving to a construction site near the U.S./Mexico border. In fact, it's some kind of installation being built for the Federal Government. What? Dunno yet, but it should make for some interesting photo ops if nothing else. Why do I finally get to make that kind of trip?

Because, the semi downtown has been "commandeered". There is a million dollar project that has to have pipe delivered on a daily basis. The pipe has to stay on the truck's trailers. It can't go on the ground until it's in the ground. Meaning that semi has to be used twice a day to move trailers full of pipe around and it can't be sent on trips anywhere where it won't be back in time to be able to move those trailers.

I'm guessing our company doesn't want to rent an extra semi - times are still very tough for our company, we are making money but they are counting pennies. Well, dollar bills, probably more likely, still, renting a semi is not cheap and will eat into profit margins on that job. Which, thankfully, opens up opportunities for me to take loads out that they normally would be taking out.

I don't know if they won't ever rent a semi, but apparently for right now, it is not in the workings, otherwise, I wouldn't be getting that run. 

My Thanksgiving week off looms closer and closer.........

G'day.

ben

Cafe World Tips 21: Cafe World Is ALWAYS Slow - Answer

This posting is for Cafe World players that are looking for an answer to the slow experience they are having with Zynga's Cafe World.

I played the game for 11 months on an old computer.  It had an Intel 4 Pentium processor; 165 gigabyte hard drive and 2 gigs of ram.  It was the mother of slow gaming - took up to 15 minutes to connect to the game and even long to actually do anything with it.

I have read thousands of complaints (yes,I HAVE read thousands of complaints) that blame Zynga - the producer/mother/owner of Cafe World on Facebook - is to blame for this.

Yes, there are times when it is slow.  But when you are talking slow all the time, I believe the answer lies within your computer.

I built a new computer.  It has 8 gigs of RAM (4 usable for the OS I am using which is Windows XP that does not support 64 bit application and will only support up to 4 gigs of RAM).  It has  a 1 TB hard drive.  Well, it has all kinds of stuff.  I built it to work for now and also to work for future applications as they come out.

I didn't know for sure that more ram and a faster and MUCH better processor (know that my old computer is at least 10 years old) would help play this game faster, I was just guessing.  I was SHOCKED by the game play on Cafe World after getting this new computer up and running.  AMAZING.  There is no comparison.  It is SO much faster that I won't even consider playing it on that old computer.

I have had several discussions with people talking about how slow it is, and almost every time it comes to the reality that yes, it's an old computer, old technology and simply can't compete.  The problem? Mostly this economy.  Many people can't afford their house payment much less buying or building their own, new computer.  Yet, it is probably the answer you need to find. It may not be the DESIRABLE answer - money to get into something better - but it is an answer that I think covers most of this.

If you have a killer machine and you are still experiencing slow run times on Cafe World, it may simply be the server that is being used to let you access the game.  Cafe World is served out on many servers and people experience problems at the same time that other people are not experiencing the same problem.

Anyway, let's not just always blame Zynga for the problems that you might encounter with this game.  If you have an inferior computer - that might and probably is the culprit right there.  If you can upgrade the RAM, that in itself will increase the capacity and speed of the game.

Wednesday 11/10/2010

Wednesday

I'm going to write another Cafe World entry today or soon - the final word on slow running cafe or low buzz rating. It's very simply this: If you have a slow cafe, can't get in, yada yada yada, look at your computer and stop blaming Zynga. Period. I don't have any isses getting into Cafe World anymore and zinging right through everything with my new computer - and that using only half the RAM I have in it.

But let's not go there now, as I said, that would be a DIFFERENT entry and here I go sounding off on THIS entry. I think I'm still a bit peeved at that car, at least I have mine back to get back and forth to work until something is figured out with that old thing.

The most entertaining news of the day (for me anyway): 4,500 people stranded on what amounts to a dead ship. Lol. I wonder what kind of putrid smells and air must be floating around in that thing without AC and certainly no hot water gotta be fun. The only thing they have said is that there was an engine room fire - well that must have been QUITE the fire to knock out the engines completely!! And not be able to get them up and running again?!!!

Wow, this story gets sweeter by the line of type. Refrigerators went out - can you imagine? I mean, feeding that many people? There must be a lot of rotten food in there!! No internet service, no cell phones - what an unbelievably MISERABLE ordeal that would be.

Well, I feel for those people, but they are being taken care of so not the end of the world. Maybe for THEM it is, especially spoiled people - you know the kind - want everything and want it now. Poor little babies. Maybe the rich people can have a helicopter fly in and take them out of there, lol.

I was actually attempting to talk myself into getting Windows 7 - until the car broke down. Everything on hold. No idea what is wrong with it. Funny that that mechanic couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, either. He brought out 3 different computers and was walking back and forth retrieving wire harnesses for those computers over and over. I know cause' I sat there for almost 4 hours. I won't be sitting there today - I have my car and whenever they do figure the thing out, I am NOT taking a freakin' taxi. What a total ripoff. I don't take taxi's often. We had gone all of a mile and the thing was sitting at almost $9. I HAD to ask the guy about THAT. I know there is a flag drop fee then the fee is $1.99 per mile.

They freaking have "traffic delay" on those things. Meaning, when you are sitting at stop light, you are paying MORE for it. You call that a traffic delay? That's part of NORMAL TRAFFIC, not a traffic jam!!! It's rated at $28 per HOUR, on TOP of the mileage fee. That's pure insanity.

Whatever. Just another thing to get my goat I guess.

Apparently the Dems have somewhat woken up. GOP wants ALL Bush tax cuts - including those earnin over $250,000 per year - to be extended, Obama said no. Now the Dems have a new idea - too long to go into - but it does include at least a temporary extension of the tax cuts for everyone.

I do hope the people voted in under the Tea Party guise stick to their guns and aren't talked or bullied down because of people in there with "tenure". Who CARES about tenure? It hasn't gotten us anywhere good anytime recently that I can see. Let them raise heck and heterdyne and let the whole process be sent into chaos, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm feeling fiesty this morning, I have a LOT of driving to do today. East Valley; West Valley; going down south, back up to the FAR east valley and then back here (here being work). Which is okay, it makes the day go by faster and today? I do NOT intend sitting for hours at a repair shop. I'm not even going to call them, they have my number, when it's done, they can call me. My son will just have to go without a car for a couple of days (hopefully that's all it is).

As for me, I'm outta here, time to geeeeeet to work.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday Late 11/9/2010

Take a guess what happens on my way to work this morning.

Yup, I'm two miles from work and that blasted car dies.  Again.

It's 49 degrees outside, I have no jacked with me and I am facing walking the rest of the way to work.  Exactly what I did, too, except I was walking at a very brisk pace mixed with running to get the internal heat pump going so I wouldn't freeze to death getting there.  Sure enough, after about 1/2  a mile I was feeling no cold.

Get to work - drive all day long in the semi - get off of work.   I am there from 1:35 until 5:35.  They didn't get started on it until after 3:00 - and that mechanic?  Could not figure out what was wrong with it.  I would not have spent the entire afternoon there if I had known I would have to go - get my other car.  But I did and I didn't complain about it.  I ended up calling a taxi.  I had no presumption that my son would have ever been able to find that place to come get me.  $21 later, I get my car, head to Fry's.

Why?  M-Power was almost out and I HAD to replenish it today.  A freakin' line to get to the machines.  That wasn't the worst part, though, there was one lady who didn't know how to use the first machine and a lady on the other one kept inserting her card, getting information, getting the card back and reinserting it.

Well, whatever.  Am I having second thoughts about that car? Oh YES.  This is the 4th time in a little over a month that car has been in the shop.  If I would have known the problems I was going to have with that machine in getting it running, I would have told my son it better to save his money to buy a good, used one.  Now? I've got too much into it.  To stop - at least at this point - would be a HUGE waste.  To continue without an end to this nonsense - also ridiculous but right now, I have no choice.  I do have a choice, it just isn't going to happen.  They need to find out what's wrong with that thing and put this issue to rest.

For what it's worth, internally I might have had  a few issues, externally I kept a good attitude.  This included complaining customers at work for one of the deliveries I made (they are making this particular company pay in advance for materials ordered versus C.O.D. as they have done for years now and this is not setting well with them) and other things that occured during work today.  It also included my pondering that I have had this vehicle in that shop - which is widely acclaimed as one of the best in the entire Phoenix area - 3 times before today - within 35 days of each visit and now the 4th time.  My questioning to myself was: are all these problems related?  Is there some deeper problem that was the source of all of this and the rest of what I had done a complete waste of money?

I answered the question to some degree that - no - not all of this is inter-related.  The car needed a major tune-up to pass emissions, that was the first visit.  The second visit, though, they said it was the crank sensor.  That's a toss-up.  That guy that put in the harmonic balancer might have damaged that sensor when he did it - or the computer was bad all along.  The 3rd visit was the computer.  The car was running swimmingly after that.  Now?  It just quits.

Here's the deal: I left at 5:05 am and got home at almost  6:30 pm.  Nice, long day.

Whatever the case, I have my newer car - sorry Caleb - had to take it from him.  I'm not paying the kind of price tag it would cost to get to work tomorrow in a friggin' taxi.

That's my day in a nutshell.

And now?  I'm tired.  What else is there to say.

Nothing.

Good evening.

ben

Monday 11/8/2010

20 Killed Over Weekend In Mexican Border City
That was the headline and the story I just got through reading. Juarez, Mexico, directly across the border from El Paso, Texas. Unbelievable. When is the Mexican government going to get off of it's ass and do something about this? I used to spend a LOT of time in Juarez: you couldn't PAY me to go over there or anywhere in Mexico right now. 

That president over there condemning Arizona for the immigration bill, while at the same time they have mass murders and drug cartels wreaking havoc all over the countryside, give me a freakin' break. 

"I am constantly reminded that we have been through worse times than these, and we've always come out on top," he said. That was Obama reflecting on the economy. The ONLY worse time I can think of is the Great Depression. There has BEEN nothing worse since then in terms of the economy. The guy literally has his head stuck in the sand. He continues to blame the economy for the political losses, yet clearly, at least if polls give you any clarity, it wasn't just that, it was also the health care bill. 

GOP has admitted that they cannot do anything about repealing that bill with the current president. Well duhhhhhh. All of these people need to get over themselves, thinking they know everything and the rest of us are know-nothings.

I kinda woke up cranky this morning, must be the reason for all this - crankiness. I actually went to bed at 7:00 something last night and then, of course, woke up at 1:00 am, fell back asleep for another hour and then woke up again. The second time waking up? I should have just gotten out of bed even if it was 3:00 am. I already had 7 hours of sleep at that point. If it happens again, I am definitely just going to get up. There is no point laying there for an hour and a half, half awake, half asleep. 

Well, at least there is something to do today. 2 fire hydrants going to the Indian reservation and a pickup at a manufacturer in west Phoenix. It isn't a lot, but it's better than nothing at all. 

Oh, and I have 2 heaters going in the ponds. 1 in each. I decided to see if the circuit could take all of that and apparently it can. I have it set at 75 degrees on each one. I am also checking the power usage for such. Plus, I have a person that wants to get some of the goldfish. I don't want that many fish in a pond that small, I think it's not real healthy for them. I DO have large filtering systems, but, still, I just think it would be better to think it out by about 10 fish.

I also finally saw the Koi that I bought from Petsmart. I had put one in the big pond and he flat out disappeared for over a week. Yesterday, something got him moving because he was darting all over that pond. In the smaller pond, though not that much smaller, I also found one of the new fish I had put in there hiding. Well, you never know if those things are a live, dead, what in those ponds, they hide so well. The smaller pond is full of plants, plenty of places for smaller fish to hide.

Anyway, enough of this, work day approaches and I have a few more news items I want to read through before starting.

G'day.

ben

Sunday

Umm, I think there must be a post for Sunday on my Blogger dashboard, as I definitely set out to write one and got quite a bit of it done.

However, I am in a totally different mind frame and don't care to publish it.  Not that it isn't accurate, true - whatever, just not where I am at right now.  Do we not, as humans, have things come at us on a daily basis that give us different moods, mindsets, perspectives, all of it?  Yes, I think it true. I know it's true for me.

It has been a full day.  One particular tenant and her kids were the morning part of it.  The little girl with the very loud mouth was the irritating portion.  I'm not sorry to say that I raised my son as well as helping others raise their's while my son was whatever age their's was - I am pretty much done with youngins.  Talking under - 7 or 8 anyway.  Kids that need constant attention and constant supervision.  I am not there, don't want to be there, went through that for years and years, done and done.

It could have been more bearable if the parent in "control" would actually HAVE control, ie: supervision.  No-one has to tell me what it takes to raise kids or keep them under control, I have been there, done that, bought the farm, grown the cotton, took it to the cotton gin, bought the manufacturing plant with under-paid workers to produce the t-shirts, got the t-shirts and sold them, thank you VERY much.  I have compassion, definitely, but not for a person that simply refuses to do what it takes to keep those kids - civilized.

Let's move on.  They left.  I cleaned up after all of it - oh yes, there is aftermath as well.  I won't go into it because I will become irritated if I do.  That was this morning and it's history.  If this was every weekend, well, I would put a stop to it. I installed a regular electrical outlet versus a GFCI outlet for my fish ponds.  I have had those things popping out - outside - too many times.  They destroy themselves when they do that and I am tired of paying $15 for an electrical outlet.  The replacement was $4 and that outlet has a plastic cover over it, even hard rain won't get into that thing.

BTW, I did not get out of bed until 8:00 am.  I do not get up that late on any given day.  I was shocked when I woke up and saw the clock showing the time.  The dogs?  Sitting there.  I mean, it's hours past their timeto get out and relieve themselves.  Fortunately, that did not include doing that in my bedroom.

Time has ended.  The weekend draws to a close.

G'nite.

ben

That Was A Lot Of Work To Find Out That..............

..............this version of XP Windows doesn't allow more than 4 gigs of ram anymore than the original version.
However, I have FAR more stuff on here.  All kinds of graphics software - well it's a huge list of things.

It is, however, unacceptable. I must have an operating system that works with as much RAM as I have installed on this computer.  So, I will have to consider when I will buy Windows 7.  It's not if, it's when.  For now?  Not. I can live without it. I wanted to be sure that the new RAM I put in works - and, amazingly, there is a tester with all of this stuff I got with this Last XP that makes sure it does work.

Still, rather of a letdown.  I was hoping this OS would use all 8 gigs of RAM.  I have 4 gigs of ram sitting in this machine, idle, useless and doing nothing.

Motivation

I'm jumping on Bobby's and Dorrie's bandwagon and adding my perspective of motivation. 

For me, it comes and goes.  I can be sitting around, being lazy and fully subscribed to that theorem and then bam, something clicks on inside of me and says: "You need to get started on that right NOW".

Oh yes, I usually get right up from whatever I am doing or not doing and get to work. 

For an example, this morning, I have been lulling around in my mind the idea of finishing the cleaning in my bedroom.  Just one of those things, it sort of floats around a while and then the next thing I know I'm doing it.  Right now I'm waiting for this new computer to reformat - another hour to go judging it. 

So, after this entry, I'm 90% sure that while I'm waiting, I'm going to get something done and that something would be my bedroom.

On a different scale, my motivation has totally ceased.  I want to go to church but I don't go.  I want to get involved in the community again as I have spent so much of my adult life doing, but, I just don't have it.  The ideas are sitting on shelves in my mind.  I occasionally take them off, dust them and put them back on - the shelf.

I think the problem with that, for me, is the stuff I went through to get to the point where I don't want to star something fresh up again.  Shunned by a pastor, leaving a church and losing 10 year's worth of freindships and relationships.  Going through being a president of a homeowner's associated and having my reputation ground through the meat grinder, being talked about by God only knows how many people in very negative ways. 

It's funny, those people certainly didn't mind when I found grant for them to fix up their homes.  Up to $7,500 FREE money.  A lot of them used it, I never heard one single word of thanks.  All I ever heard was constant, non-stop complaining and whining.  People would actually complain that they had received an eviction notice because - they hadn't paid their lot rent.  Well, sir or madam, what the bleep am I supposed to do about it?  If you don't pay the rent, you're history, that's just life's little facts and stark, blunt reality that are thrown at you, I can't help you.  The pettiness of some of the people's complaints were too much.

There WAS icing on that cake,though.  I took that MH park to court and I won.  I won again in appeals court.  I was ready for the next appeals court, but they bought me out, I saw my opportunity and I got the bleep out of there. 

I'm kinda tapped out on the motivation department to start up a new homeowner's association or, more likely, a neighborhood assocation where I am living now.  This place is full of trailer trash.  That's the jist of it  People living in slum-like homes with unkempt properties overgrown with weeds.  I ran into too much opposition in even starting a Neighborhood association - that kind of association has no legal authority over anyone, it's just volunteers trying to make a community better - it was unbelievable the "in-fighting" that went on.  Little cliques all over the place.  Reminded me of my experience as the president in that MH park, I really thought about it and decided that at least for now, I am not going to do anything. 

Again, it comes to motivation.  What am I going to do?  For now, nothing.  If I really ever get motivated, it's going to be to go out and find a woman and get a relationship going.  I do miss certain aspects of that and no, it isn't all about sex.  I hate the idea of going into old age single and alone.  That really isn't a very nice thought at all.  I have tried a few times in going out on dates, but nothing ever clicked. 

So, I AM motivated in cleaning and home projects,I am not motivated in the arenas of life that used to be the core of my existence.  I DO love my job - albeit I ain't loving only getting 35 hours per week - I have no problem on 99% of any given work day in jumping out of bed and getting to work, even if I didn't sleep well that night, I'm still all over it.  I do love driving trucks, I just don't like doing that stuff in the city, which is, unfortunately, about 90% of my driving.

For me, there is no rhyme or reason to what motivates me to do any given thing.  It's never the same source.  Sometimes I just want to get something going.  Other times I have been wanting to do something for quite a while and  one day, the key goes into the ignition and it fires up and there I am, doing whatever it is I intended to do. 

Whatever the case, just writing this has motivated me to get up and go to the bedroom - I have cleaning to do!

ben

Saturday

I had heard that a lot of people do not like Compass Bank for a variety of reasons.  I have been with them for - almost 4 years now. 
I'm not going to go into the entire story of what happened starting Thursday and ending yesterday, I am going to say that I am going to close my account with them and move on.  I was going to do that before when I had another "interaction" with a certain manager, but this situation is a cake-taker in customer service horror stories.  It's just that it would take far too long to write all of it out from beginning to end and right now?  I simply don't feel like it. 

I might do it later today or just save it for another day when I DO feel like it, especially after reading countless stories of horrible customer service coming from that place.  But, I have to say, that other banks I have dealt with, especially Bank of America, can dole out the same kind of junk from people that don't give a damn about their customers and let you know their feelings about it in no uncertain terms. 

The fact of the matter is, I already have a checking account with Chase Bank, debit card and all.  I don't have any checks, but I rarely use them anymore anyway.  In situations like this, this is one of several reasons I don't have automatic deposit from work.  If I decide I don't like a bank, I can just take my money out and be done with it.  The ONLY thing I have linked to that account is my ING savings, it will take all of a few minutes to stop all those automatic withdrawals and - yes - set it up with Chase bank.

No, no sense in ruining a perfectly pleasant, wonderful morning with the writing of that situation.  Instead, I am happy to have that car purring like a kitten. I'm serious, fires right up, drives down the freeway 80mph, not a hitch.  Just has an exhaust leak and valve cover oil leak left to deal with.  I'm going to see if I can find a Taller Mecanico - Spanish for auto repair shop - that will seal up that exhaust system.  I have a sneaking feeling that taking it into a muffler shop is going to have them telling me I need a new this, that and the other thing and that will be four hundred dollars, please. 

I'm stuck in it now, I've dumped too much money into it to stop.  It is going to be finished.  I was told about a couple of Mexican junk yards in phoenix that have a lot of those old cars sitting in them and have doors up the ying yang that they will sell for cheap.  The problem?  I have dumped as much money into it as I am willing to do for now.  Unless something else happens that HAS to be addressed, I am only looking to get the exhaust and oil leak fixed and it's going to have to be good until - well I'm thinking after Christmas.  I have a week long vacation coming up the week of Thanksgiving and I would prefer to not be broke for it. 

So, what is my goal for this weekend?  I am trying to motivate myself to get with installing that OP system on my new computer.  I know how much "work" it is, or more like, time consumed, I have done it 20 times anyway on this old computer and it needs it yet again.  One that makes it a little easier to deal with is that I will still have a running computer while doing that.  This old computer needs a new fan installed  -  cheap enough, yes - but just another pain.  Especially considering the amount of wires I have attached to this thing.  A bit ridiculous, really. 

My Walgreens gift card finally came in the mail.  A local radio station recently held and event where they were trying to raise 1 million for a kid's hospital here.  They weren't getting any calls so they offered a gift card to the first 40 callers.  Okay, I gave $20 and got a $25 card, lol.  I'm guessing Walgreens supplied them to the radio station for free to hand out, so no loss to the kid's hospital.  I rarely go to Walgreens, but something just popped into my mind that I really want: another cordless shaver.  I haven't had one in ages.  I really hate dragging a razor blade across my face every morning and I know Walgreens has a pretty good selection of them. 

Yes, that's it and I have made up my mind : )

Ummm, formatting the hard drive as I am typing this.  I should have done quick, this looks like it's going to take an hour.  Took me 30 minutes to figure out how to even GET to this part of it!  Totally different setup than regular Windows XP.  Yup, 5 minutes and it's only 5% done.  Oh well, live and learn. 

I just went out to visit the fish.  They are not moving.  I guess it's cold in there for them.  Dunno, around 60 degrees.  I was actually able to touch one of the Koi before he/she decided they didn't want any part of it and then, suddenly, the whole pond came alive.  Well, I figured it was a good time to throw in some food. 

I have that electrical project I need to do out there - and I'm going to have to get it done sooner than later.  I'm afraid to put any more load on the circuit that I am running pumps and aerators off of.  I figure a couple of 300 watt heaters might blow the circuit breaker and it simply won't work.  Next week the temps are supposed to come down - though I don't believe the low temps are low enough to require heaters yet. 

Hmmm.  Well I guess I should already be heating the pond.  2 ponds - not at unlivable temps but at the temp it is at now, they will simply sit there and do nothing.  Not the end of the world, but those ponds will heat up considerably during the day at this point in time. 

Well, I've got my work cut out this weekend, but I am now full fledged into - waiting.  Lol.  20% done - formatting the computer that is.  I really hope that this OS will allow for all 8 gigs of RAM to work, I simply am not going to go out and buy another OS right now, I have other priorities.  But, this OS takes the best parts of Windows XP; Windows Vista and Windows 7, combines them together to make some sort of super OS. 

I'll find out soon  enough. 

With that, I bid you a good day.

ben

Friday - Hoarding

Hoarding.  I watch the show - sometimes.  It's purely gross.  The show is called: Hoarding: Buried Alive.

The reason I am so fascinated with this show is because I have been in numerous homes that look JUST like any and all of those homes.

I have walked into more than one home whose floors are littered with cat feces.  I don't mean 1 or 2 piles, I mean it's EVERYWHERE.  That and the smell of cat piss.  I had gone into these homes as a leader of a church on a mission that was, actually, requested by the person: please help me clean up my house.

To walk into a house that is filled with animal droppings and urine - well, it's indescribable.  I simply can't describe the repulsiveness of it.  You want to turn around and run out of that house.  To walk into a house with all of that plus MOUNDS of trash and junk laying around everywhere to the point there are "paths" going through it?  No way to describe the horror.  You can see it on those shows, but those shows do NOT give the  
incredible sick feeling that comes to mind, soul and body.  The nostrils are reeling, even breathing can become labored.

I did not, however, have the sympathies that those experts/psychologists on that show have.  I mean, I didn't diss the person, but I didn't play games.  Like, gee, let's wait around for days and weeks for this person to go through every single thing.  No.  We went in and took out the garbage.  Get the cat crap out.  Throw the piles of  junk - out.  Carry out the furniture.

We didn't have a company showing up with giant trash containers.  We took the stuff away if we had to.  It's just nasty.  We would bring in donated furniture, even replace carpeting and that would be it.  I knew that these people had a problem that THEY would have to deal with and I figured if I came back at a later date, I would find the place in the same condition as when we first showed up.  I did that, too.  One place?  Piles of trash were "freshly placed".

I will not go into a place a second time to help someone out.  I consider it the same as addictive behavior: you are either really ready to get out of it or you are not.  If you are not, then putting a band aid on it doesn't work.

Really, not pleasant thoughts.  The effort it takes to keep a clean home is WELL worth it.  Well beyond hoarding, just doing daily cleaning makes it FEEL better in the house.

Ahh, whatever.  Just commenting about my experiences with such people.  I don't consider them BAD people per se, just people that need help - but usually - the help needed is in the mind. "Fix" that and you can go in, clean house and probably?  You will come back a month later and it will still be - relatively - clean.

Onto other things.  One tenant told me last month that on the 2cd of this month, I would receive an entire month's rent from that individual.  The 2cd, 3rd, 4th and almost 5th passed.  5th would be today.  I was just now handed that full month's rent, cash.

I figured I would be going out on a limb to build this new computer and I didn't let myself down.  However, the light at the end of the tunnel is almost here already.  It was do it or never do it, that was my feeling about it and I do NOT regret doing it. It's just that that old Buick kept having problems - that were costing money to fix.  More to go? Yes, but nothing I have to have done TODAY.  The point?  I spent all the money.  The money from insurance, the bonus money, tenant money, paycheck money.  I spent it down to as low as I have seen it in a while.  A bit scary, really.  You don't think about it until you lose that cushion.

I have lived without the cushion most of my adult life.  The loss of that cushion got me to thinking about my benefits at work - it's open enrollment right now until Monday.  I'm increasing a few things and starting a few others. If something happens?  I have as much as I can get through it.  60% of my salary short and long term.  It WAS at 50%, I'm guessing it might go up as you gain tenure.

Well, anyway, a paycheck today, a full month's rent and a week's worth of rent times 2 in the next coming days from the other tenants means bills paid and the stops are in place.  I have a week off during Thanksgiving week, I want to have a little money to spend for Black Friday - IF I feel like getting up that early and waiting in the cold - I haven't done it in years now.  That, also, being if there is anything that I need that is worth that kind of time and duress.

Umm, btw, cold hasn't arrived here yet.  In fact, it's still low-level summer heat.  High was 92 today.  It was hot in my car going home.  That old Buick? Just needs some freon pumped into it.  The AC will work.  I'm looking at the forecast and telling myself it isn't worth it.  The high next week, starting Tuesday, will be 79 degrees. That's what I'm looking for, any day that the high is lower than 80 degrees.

I digress.  The eternal summer is, hopefully, almost over.  My plans for the weekend are not clear yet.  I haven't made up my mind.  Projects, yes.  Around the house.  I need to get out.   I want to get out.  Out of here, work and do something different.  Dunno what.  Lack of a significant other makes it kinda - lame - but, I still want to go somewhere new, different and just do something - different.  I have revisited the thought of joining one of the clubs around here that put together activities for singles - you show up - you do whatever it is - maybe you connect with someone.  Hiking, camping, movies, all kinds of stuff they offer.  Free?  Absolutely not.  But, I think I'm the kind of person that needs to have in-person stuff versus totally internet interaction.  It works for some, I don't think it's going to work for me.

Regardless, I am typed out and soon, I am going to bed for early rise.

G'day/nite.

ben

The Car - Part (How many parts have there been to this car story, now?)

So, I took the car in yet again today.  Yesterday, they simply didn't have time to get to it.  Today?  I just said I would wait after getting there at 2:30 and they still hadn't had a chance to look at it.  To their credit, they were down 2 technicians to illness. 

I think I was there about 3-1/2 hours.  Well, I wasn't going to try to drive that thing home again the way it was acting up.  In fact, it was doing some really strange things.  The worst of which, however, is dying out at lights, dying while driving on the freeway, lights coming on  and off, fuel gauge jumping around all over the place.

So, we get into all kinds of discussions - just like the last 2 times, we sort of think alike and look at things pretty much the same way.  I waited quite a while before they even got to my car, but, this shop has one of the best reputations around the valley, in fact, their reputation spreads to all parts of Arizona and beyond.  In other words, no sense in getting cranky about it, I had resolved to spend the rest of the afternoon when I got there and saw they hadn't done anything to it, anyway. 

This story goes on with us bantering back and forth, but, the deciding moment came.  I knew what that tech was checking and I started feeling sick.  He was banging on the computer.  I have come to learn that - as primordial as it may sound - this is how they figure out of the computer is bad.  Have the car running, diagnostic computer hooked up and start banging on the thing.  He banged, the car started coughing and choking.  Back and forth, on and on. 

The owner - the guy I was chatting with - came to the verdict before the tech - his son - could say it: bad computer.  I knew what that meant: a LOT of money.  At least, I thought so.  I had a car 10 or more years ago whose computer went out - it was priced out at $500.  I told him my thoughts, he shook his head, no.  I thought, even MORE than that?  No, he said, they don't cost that much. 

He made a phone call, got off, told me his price was $179 and that he normally would have charged $300, but he would give it to me at cost plus labor.  Labor at $80, which included the diagnostics AND the installation.  He gave me the cost - easily less than half of what any other shop would have charged me.  I don't know why he was being so generous, maybe cause I had the car in there twice already in the past month, maybe because we get along so well, dunno, but I jumped all over it: yes, get that thing and put it in there.

Here's the embarassing and bad part, for me anyway.  I deposited a check in the bank this afternoon.  They always give me $100 credit instantly on a check, they have never not done that.  I have never deposited a bad check or money order, either.  With that credit plus what I had in there already that would cover it.  If not, I had cash on me as well.  I told him to put $220 on the card and the rest I would pay in cash.  He goes to do that and it comes back - declined. 

Under the "old" bank rules, the card would have gone through and then, if I didn't have the money in the account before bank closure that day, that night I would be assessed an overdraft fee and owe the money left.  New rules?  Well, this is the first time I have been subjected to it.  No go, Joe.

Well, I said, put less on it, I should have that covered.  Otherwise, I guess I'll leave the car and will be taking a taxi home.  I hated to say that, but I felt pretty - lame - having a card declined.  He looked at me and said: "well why don't you do that".  I thought he meant take a taxi - I wouldn't expect any repair shop to just let me take the car home without paying for it and I didn't expect it here, either.  I said, okay, I'll take a taxi and tomorrow afternoon I'll pay for the car.

No, no, he said, just take the car, I know where you live.  You want to talk about genuine shock, I was there.  Here's the owner of a shop telling me I can take my car without paying for it.  He didn't just start in this business yesterday, I'm sure he's had more than his share of deadbeats,  and that's exactly what I felt like: a deadbeat.  Yet, he smiled, we shook hands and yes, I left with my car.  And yes, I will be over there first thing in the morning, cause that check will definitely clear by then and I can pay that bill. 

I haven't heard of anything like that in a long, long, long, long time, much less be on the receiving end of it. 

I must say here that I did not expect this car to get into the price range it has in getting it operational.  New tires (2); harmonic balancer; crank sensor; new battery; new computer; major tune-up; emissions testing; registration.  My son definitely got the ball rolling with the initial $435 he gave me to get it fixed, I figured it would go a little over, I will admit here it went well over that.  There is still a leaking valve cover gasket that needs to be replaced and it sounds like it has an exhaust leak. 

If I am lucky, that will be the end of it. 

Whatever the case, this is the end of this one.

ben

Thursday 11/4/2010

Thursday


Didn't sleep well last night. Another one of those wake up at midnight and get back to sleep - whenever it was - hours later - deals. Plus, my car wasn't fixed yesterday, they didn't have time to get to it so, driving to work was a barrel of fun. I think I might be just a wee bit cranky this morning.

I have a huge delivery to make first thing, fortunately it isn't far away and I hope they get it unloaded quickly because I want my car in that shop first thing this morning.

Pretty much throws off the day when I haven't slept well enough to feel good in the morning. Get the work day over with, go home and take a nap. Or, more likely, get the work day over with, go to the mechanics shop and wait. Actually, if I don't get out of here until around 7:00 am this morning, the gates will be opened to that shop and I can just leave it there.

Whatever. Just that once that delivery is over, I am supposed to go pick up some clay pipe and then return the stuff. That's in west Phoenix. I have a pretty good driving day now that I think about it.

I was listening to Obama's speech yesterday, pretty pukish stuff. Now, suddenly, he's willing to talk to the "other side". His campaign promise included that CNN would be allowed to see the open door meetings that would transpire with the health care bill, we all know NONE of that EVER happened. It was a partisan thing all the way down the line. There was no "reaching out to the other side of the aisle" as Obama said he would do - over and over he continued to say that - now what? The Senate minorty leader - whatever his name is Mitchell I think - is saying they should vote to repeal the bill and do it over and over and over if necessary.

Obama's free ride is over, that's what I can say about it. He also refused to admit yesterday that the voting was just about the economy, it was also specifically about the health care bill. There was some exit poll that asked that question and a large percentage of Americans had shown up to vote against the Dems and that bill, not for Republicans. The GOP has it's opportunity. They can act on behalf of the majority of American voters or they can blow it again. If they blow it again, the next election will undoubtedly have even more dramatic and vast changes being doled out.

My staycation looms nearer and nearer. No, I don't plan on going anywhere unless I go to my dad's for Thanksgiving. I would rather, for once, just stay home and cook a big turkey. The trailer tenants can help cook it and we can have a big feast. They're pretty good cooks, those people, both of them actually. I suppose I could call it disconcerting, but neither of them go out hunting for jobs at this point.

Perhaps it just seems futile to even look, I don't know. The guy is 62 and has some health issues, but the lady is 49 I think she said and probably could start thinking about getting a job somewhere. I am not saying I don't want them there, but are they seriously considering living in that old thing for - ever? I guess that's up to them. They were asking me about finishing the project we started before they moved in there - cutting out the rest of the wall panelling and installing it.

I'm attempting to motivate myself to do such as I really don't want to. It's a lot of work. But, I did buy the materials and it's just sitting out there in my shed, a nice project to get over with. They did install the carpet that I secured - for free- in it and it made a huge difference in there. Really, a simple thing such as carpet on the floor - instead of bare, playwood floors - really makes it far more livable.

Well, anyway, work day approaches and today? Plenty to do. I think I've read enough political "news" this morning, the political forecast, at least from my viewpoint, for the next 2 years: gridlock. Nothing will get done. At least, nothing of any major importance. I don't know how they are going to repeal the health care bill unless they get some folks on the Dem side of things in the house to vote against it. But, since the President would block it, it would need a majority of both houses and I don't see that happening, certainly not in the Senate. Still, it's the best route for GOP if they want to look good 2 years from now. They will be able to say: "See, we tried to get rid of this thing, "they" said no". If the same majority of Americans are still opposed to it 2 years from now as they are now, voting could be very interesting, especially in the Presidential race.

Well, have a great day.

ben

Wednesday 11/3/2010

Wednesday


Lost an entire entry : (

Ummm, anyway, I'll just put it this way: I'm VERY glad to see that Pelosi is going by the wayside, I wish Reid were going with her.

IF the GOP does what it says it will do, then if nothing else, the bloodlet of outrageous spending in Washington should be stemmed. I don't see how the GOP is going to be able to DO anything without a president to back them and the Senate controlled by Dems.

However, they CAN make proposals, send them through to the Senate and if the Senate rejects it, make themselves look good if it's something the American people want. We, the voters, tend to remember, not forget as many of these arrogant, obnoxious politicians seem to think we do.

I did vote for one Democrat in this election: South Phoenix Justice of the Peace Cody Williams. I have been in his court room several times with tenant issues, he's always there, always doing his thing, always following the law. He hasn't always been so "nice" to me, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't know if he won or not.

Brewer won - pretty much figured that, McCain won, pretty much figured that too. Brewer's opponent - Terry Goddard, well, I remember when he was the Mayor of Phoenix. A blithering.......let's say that my view of him and how he acted in public was that of a circus clown. I'm totally serious. It was a long time ago, I can't remember the issue he took a stand against as Mayor which made him look very, VERY bad, but whatever it was, it's still sitting there in my fading memory banks, telling me this guy was a nutcase.

I actually would have rather seen the Independent candidate go into McCain's position, but I voted for McCain because I'll take him over the Dem opponent that was running against him ANY day. Regardless of what anyone thinks of McCain, he did serve our nation in war, he was a prisoner of war, he has paid for it with skin cancers for the exposure of being left outside and I have great respect for the man for that if nothing else.

Oh, and they wanted to pass the Medical Marijuana law. Gimme a break. I've seen what happens in other states - docs give a prescription for it if you claim to have a freaking headache. I smoked massive quantities of marijuana when I was a teenager - the stuff isn't any worse than drinking. That's my take on it, not that it's a GOOD thing, just that if you are going to allow people to get drunk/high legally, you might as well allow them to get pot/high and get the tax revenues while you're at it. Too many people of all ages think pot smoking is just aye okay. I hate the stuff, personally.

Anyway, work day approaches. Car is dying again. I mean, how many times am I going to have to take it into that shop before they get this right? One more time. If they don't get it right this time, I'm going to have to find somewhere else to take it. There isn't much to do in the truck routing system, just a pickup for a delivery tomorrow. The delivery tomorrow is a pretty good sized order, so I will have a couple hours of work to get that pulled, palletized, shrink wrapped and ready to go.

Whatever the case, c'ya later and have a great day!

ben

Monday 11/1/2010

Monday


Well, I couldn't resist this morning to take another test drive on the new machine - so - I sorta ended up getting here, work that is, late. Not late is in clocking in late, just later than normal for my pre-work rituals, which are, btw, quite important to me.

I also can't seem to wake up. I slept a straight 6 hours, woke up at 3:00am in shock that I had even slept that long without waking up, then fell right back asleep. I'm just plain out of it right now, like I'm half awake and half asleep.

I hadn't driven the old car all weekend long so it was a nice development to find that the car's battery wasn't dead and it fired right up. Plus, with the new tires I can cruise on the freeway at the same speed everyone else is going.

The computer was the project of the weekend and it is - not done but it's up and running. I have to open it up and install the video graphics card today - no big deal. In fact, now that I have tried building a computer once, I can say that it is a pretty easy thing to do. The hardest part of building a computer is decided what to put into it - which is usually dictated by how much money you have to spend on it. Mine has 4 gigs of ram but this weekend I will be upping that to 8. I don't have any speakers for it yet, either. It also needs a computer table. Point? I have a few things left to go with it. I have a table that will work for it for now.

A new face of political - more junk undoubtedly - will be upon the horizon after tomorrow. This Reid v Angle thing is quite entertaining if nothing else. If Angle doesn't win it, you can't say it's because she didn't put forth one helluva effort.

Ummm, well I'm just sort of moving all over the place here. There is a giant fusion machine with accompanying generator that has to be delivered to a site way out east today. That will consume most of the morning if not all of it. The machine is downtown, takes an hour to load it and chain it down, it's at last an hour's drive out there, plus another 45 minutes to get it off the truck and an hour back - at least.

It's better than having nothing to do, let me tell ya. They are installing some HUGE pipe that will feed into the CAP - Central Arizona Project - canal. That's the giant canal that goes from the Colorado River all the way into the metro Phoenix area to supply this area with water. It doesn't supply all the water here, but it's quite a chunk of it, supposedly anyway. I haven't quite gotten the story as to WHY they are installing this pipe and where the water is either going to or coming from, but I'll try to get that information again today.

As for now? Read some more of the democrats and their finger-pointing back and forth as to who is to blame for what appears to be their power to do anything - anything that is except turn the economy around.

Lol.

G'day.

ben

New Computer

This entry is being written on my new computer.

I did not have extra funds to buy Windows 7, so, I am still using Windows XP. 
The thing is moving around the internet so much faster than my other computer, it is unbelievable. 

Using an "unbranded" machine is a whole new world for me.  I couldn't figure out why I couldn't access the internet - Qwest gave me a clue: ethernet driver isn't working, isn't installed, isn't.
They couldn't help me, but the did suggest it is the ethernet driver.

Great, please tell me where to find this driver and I'll be quite happy.

My thoughts turned to the motherboard.  If it's already in there, then the motherboard has to be responsible for it, could it be that the disc that came with the motherboard would help me along?

Ahhh, but yes, it could. Plugged that sucker into the DVD drive and there is was - the entire computer lit up with internet this, that and the other thing.  It took quite a while.  I will be playing with this computer for a while before I call it "done".  In fact, I am going to reformat this thing and try installing "The Last XP" version 17 tomorrow.  

BTW, I now SEE why I have such troubles whenever I have to buy a new keyboard.  This one is giving me heck.  My keyboard on the old computer is perfect for me, this new one is ridiculous.  There is an extra key on the ASDF line making the Enter key further  to the left.  A completely different design and I am having trouble with it because it's setup is so much different than the other keyboard.  I had no idea these companies were doing this stuff and I wouldn't have unless I were able to have 2 live keyboards sitting next to each other.

Well, anyway, I am running on "late" and frankly, the kids can have this keyboard and I will switch the other one over to this computer - when I have this thing dialed in, that is. 

G'nite.

ben

$60 To Fix A Computer That Shouldn't Be Broken

I put that machine together and it wouldn't bring up anything.  I mean, I followed the instructions plus watched some videos on YouTube on how to put these things together.  It's not that hard. I toyed with it last night and then played with it again this morning. Nothing.

Loaded that sucker up into the car, took it to Fry's Electronics. The guy hooked it up, tried to turn it on, nothing.  He took the panels off the casing, checked my work, said it looks like it's set up properly.  Great, I said, I bought all of this stuff here, please fix it.

Of course it isn't going to be free.  The guy tells me I need to have them do a System Build.  It's already built.  Yes, but we take it apart and install on component at a time until we find the problem.  Right.  $59.95 plus tax.  What am I going to do?  Say no?  Have a bunch of parts that don't work?  The manager I was dealing with yesterday who told me to bring it in isn't in today and won't be back in until Tuesday.  I agreed to it very reluctantly, no choice in the matter.  I'll take a guess: defective motherboard.  They do get damaged sometimes in transit or otherwise simply refuse to work.  Who knows, who cares, I have a 3 year warranty on the thing, that's all I need to know. 

So, I go pay the fee and then come back with the receipt.  It's pay in advance, apparently.  The guy that was dealing with me had to go on a delivery call, so another dude took over.  He wants me to sign a paper and explains that if they have to do diagnostics, it would be another $69.99.  NOW I had something to say.  WHAT did I JUST pay for?  "You are paying for a system build".  NO, sir, that's NOT what that other guy said.  Why on earth would I pay you to build the thing?  It's already built!  I want to find out what's wrong with the blooming thing!!  I flatly refused.  The guy went to the copier and got another paper, apparently he didn't want to deal with it.  The first person told me they would check each component as they put it back together to find out what's wrong with it, there was no mention of even MORE money.  Ridiculous.  He removed the "potential" fee from the paper.

Thank you and left.

Good grief.  One thing's for sure, I am definitely glad I didn't buy all this stuff on line.   It has certainly been a learning experience and I haven't even got the thing running yet.  They wanted to charge even more money to install the OP system.  No thanks, I have ample experience in that - find out what's wrong with it, get it booted and get the bios info on the screen, I will deal with it from there.  I have Windows XP and The Last XP version 17 on discs, I don't need to pay them to do that stuff. 

That's it.  2 days was their quoted time.  Whatever.  All I know is I better not get hosed for replacing some defective part. 

And that's that for right now.  I have pond stuff to tend to and I want to get it done while it's still early.

ben