Saturday 8/6/2011

Standard and Poor can go piss off. The government did not default on it's debt, downgrading the U.S. credit rating was a dumb move, IMO. Although I don't think too highly of the circus clowns we have running the Federal Government, I highly doubted the entire time this carnival atmosphere going on over there was ever going to actually end up with the US not paying it's bills, even IF the debt ceiling wasn't raised in time.

Tenant moving out today. He owes me money and I am going to get right in his face and demand it about the time he starts moving junk out. Though, I was informed a few minutes ago he was already moving stuff out half the night. His car is parked out front, so he is at least still here so that I CAN confront him on the unpaid rent issue. Meanwhile, I got busy this morning and posted a room rental ad on Craigslist. Going to get even busier once he's gone and go in there and clean the carpet - and whatever else needs cleaned or repaired.

Today was supposed to be the start of my 9 days off. I am really ready to get some time off of work, thank you. They are looking at letting me have next week off instead. It's kind of hard to plan anything when you hear at the last minute whether you actually are getting the time off or not.

Going to a store today to get new rugs for my bathroom. I don't really shop for such, it will take longer to drive there than it will take to go in, find something, pay for it and leave, lol.

Caleb is not going to California, apparently the event is overbooked as it is. I asked him about going back to work, he said he would be doing that - next week. Oh, I replied, but didn't give my real thoughts on it. My real thoughts are: go back to the store, get reinstated and get back to work. But that's just me. If I'm not working, it's because I am unemployed and am looking for a job. That's the only reason other than perhaps if a health issue stopped me, which I hope never happens.

Speaking of work, I got what I asked for - I guess. My manager got an email from the ops manager asking him why I was hauling a stick of pipe on my truck with only 2 straps on it. We're talking a 5 pound stick of pipe. The pipe was on the deck of the trailer, butted up against dunnage that was holding up 4 fire hydrants - about 2,500 pounds worth. In other words, that stick of pipe being held down by 2, 4-inch straps and kept from moving forward in case of a "deceleration event" occured - wasn't going anywhere.

Technically, DOT could write me a warning for it, but I doubt they would. Still, with the new regulations, I COULD get a warning or even a fine for it. In the case of a warning, they are as bad as a ticket in the eyes of any company nowadays because of these new regulations.

So I wrote the ops manager an email saying that DOT probably would not do anything about it because of the way I had it on there, but that from now on I would go ahead and strap it down according to the law, which in that case would have needed 4 straps.

I did, however, take it much further than that. I expressed my angst about seeing others of our drivers hauling 20,000 pounds of pipe with only 3 straps holding it down. The pipe is 20 feet, 4 and a half inches long, meaning it requires 4 straps. But, we get a "penalty" strap because we don't have headboards on the front of our trailers, so in reality, to keep with the letter of the law and in this case, safety, we should have 5 straps on all of those loads.

The man writes back, apparently excited about that new information, new to him anyway, and declared that ALL loads with ANY pipe on it would now require 5 straps for all drivers in our division. Lol. What's the problem with that? 2 things. I don't have enough winches on my trailer to cover that many straps if I get a load with a bunch of other stuff on it and the time it takes to put on additional straps. The first is easily fixed: simply go buy more winches and straps, the ops manager approved it without asking. The second I couldn't care less about, the extra time that is. I am paid by the hour, doesn't bother me at all. I already do it, anyway.

It's the other drivers who, undoubtedly, are mad at me for bringing up such a thing. Well, the problem with their lack of sufficient strapping is that it is getting the entire company into trouble under these new regulations. Get enough warnings against drivers in any single, given company, and the DOT will step in. DOT has given itself broad, far-reaching powers with these new regulations, including the ability to shut down an entire fleet of trucks. So let them get mad.

Enough. I am just waiting until stores are opened to go out and get some things done.

G'day.

ben

Friday 8/5/2011

Friday
It was just wonderful to come in here this morning - work that is -- and have the alarm go off. Why? Because the keypad to disarm it isn't working correctly. I tried to press the first number in the passcode - I don't know, maybe 50 times?....and it would register.

So, the monitoring company calls, is everything alright? Yes, excepting this blasted alarm! I was sitting here for 15 minutes listening to this shrill, high-pitched noise going off in my ears.

Gag. Here's a good one: all of a 2 day notice for moving out. Cool, huh? This was from Rey, last night, who walks in and gives me the news. "Thanks for the advance notice, Rey". I was obviously not happy about getting such a short, abrupt notice. He is moving back to Tucson. He cannot hold a job down, anyway. Too long a story to go into right now, don't feel like it.

I just love it, though, when people play games like this. Whatever. This is like the 4th or 5th time he has announced that he is moving out over the last several months, I'm figuring it's probably time for him to go.

I was offered yet another trailer, this time a rather large looking 5th wheel RV trailer. Oh, and yet another response, this from a guy who says he has an older one that he wants to sell and will come down in price because of what I am doing with it. Not in a big hurry for any of this, really, I'm waiting to see if the IRS gives me the money back in the second round of returns or not.

Well I'm done with this one. That alarm going off was completely an unecessary intrusion into my brain this morning going off for THAT long.

ben

Caleb's Rap / Handgun

My son made a rap video with some friends.  

So, I took the gun in today to a gunsmith. This gun looks brand new, like it hasn't been fired very many times, but I still don't trust it, it belonged to someone else and who knows. I'm not going to have the thing blowing up in my face and paying a dear price for my ignorance on guns and whether they really are in good enough shape to fire and not have any problems with it.

So, I took the whole thing in there - carrying case with gun, 2 clips - one of them loaded - and all. The guy opens the case, looks at it, starts messing with it, inserts the empty clip, looks at it again: This gun is in new condition, there is nothing wrong with it. If there IS something wrong, the worst it's going to do is jam/misfire, but it's not going to blow up in your face and you don't have to worry about it. Take it to the range, run some rounds through it and make sure it runs them okay. If not, you can send it to Smith & Wesson and they will fix it for free. Oh, and I freely admitted up front that I don't know much about guns.

I have heard the comments in these gun stores from customers making derogatory comments about people who own guns but don't know how to use them or talking about people that don't own guns and how stupid they are. And they knew - what - exactly - the first time THEY picked up a gun? When I picked the gun up at the pawn shop the other day, a man was standing there checking out a gun they had for sale and making extremely derogatory remarks about people who are uneducated about such.

Well, I won't ask his forgiveness, I think it's dumb to speak about people that way who are trying to learn, but are starting from scratch. I know enough not to point the thing at anyone even if I "know" it isn't loaded. I now know how to unload the thing and clear the chamber of the round that is in it in both the shotgun and the 40 caliber. I am still stuck at the clean and lubricate part, but that's because I haven't tried yet. I don't need to clean it until after I shoot it, I am reading. Unless it hasn't been cleaned in a while. It isn't rocket science, frankly, but since it is a thing that can and is designed to kill animals or people, one much exercise extreme caution, obviously.

I also do not leave either of them loaded. The shotgun has shells in that holding tube on the bottom, but there is not a shell sitting in the chamber. Okay, so it's sort of loaded. It doesn't take much to get a shell from that tube into the chamber, we have all heard the "chink - clink" sound a shotgun makes when you pull that thing back and then move it forward again. Pulling it back both ejects the shell in the chamber and gets a shell from the tube read to put into the chamber, pushing it forward loads the fresh shell into the chamber. This may seem like basic, elementary stuff to gun enthusiasts, again, I freely admit my lack-of-knowledge. I'm in no hurry, I just take my time, examine the things and then figure out how it works without accidentally shooting it.

As for the handgun, the loaded magazine is not in the gun. It is in the carrying case. It takes all of a second to push the thing in there and get a round in the chamber, ready to fire.

Whatever. I'm happy to learn and will be happy to take the courses to learn even more. On that note, I am going to look up Shooter's World and see when I can get in the next weekend classes.

Friday is almost here and the end of the work week. I am ready for this week to be over and would really be ready for the 9 days off in a row if - it would have worked out.  As it stands, it appears I may be the next week off instead.  I need some time off right now, that's all I can say about it.

ben

Thursday 8/4/2011

Church last night. Prophetic training. Totally out of that realm, I plan on getting my mind, soul and heart back into it. I haven't engaged in such in well over 7 years and it was like starting over. But it was cool.

Rained cats and dogs last night, but mostly dogs, thankfully, as I don't really like cats. More to the point, I won't have to water my plants for a while as the ground is saturated, a good thing.

I have had a couple of replies to my most recent ad for a travel trailer or RV in "decent" condition. Meaning everything works. If the carpet is trashed, no problem, but the propane lines and water lines should be in tact and the holding tanks should be without leaks, amongst other things. Oh, and definitely the electricity should work throughout the trailer. One lady had hers listed at $1,300 in fair condition (which, if it really IS in fair condition, it would work). She then contacted me and offered it for $1,000.00. I rejected that offer and offered $700 plus free delivery, of which she accepted.

But I haven't even seen the thing yet, so I am not committing to buying it until I do. If it IS in okay condition, I could sell the other one for $500 and only be out $200 on the deal.

The other offer was for an "older RV", of which I have not contacted the individual yet because.......I got that email this morning and it isn't even 6:00 am yet! Lol, I don't go calling people this early in the morning excepting contractors to whom I am making deliveries because, at this time of year, they are already on the job site, working away and trying to get as much done before the afternoon heat hits.

Oh, Caleb: he produced a rap and it's posted on his Facebook page. Crazy kid. This rap, however, isn't about killing people, taking and selling drugs and having sex with everyone you see, it's actually about God. I dunno, it was pretty cool, actually. He had a friend in the video with him who was - smiling too much. Sorry, you don't really smile much doing rap, even if it IS about God.

I figured out the S&W40VE - my new 40 caliber handgun. As I said before, I am new to the world of guns. I have fired some off before, but I didn't load or unload them, just fired them and gave them back to their owners. I sat there and played with the thing - unloaded of course - until I got the hang of it. Not that much to it, but now I have to figure out how to take it apart, clean it, lubricate it and put it back together again.

I was thinking just follow the manual's instructions, which I might try, but I might also just take a course in it. Who knows. I bought some kind of ammo that is for use for target practice - I have no idea what the difference between that ammo and the "personal protection" version is, but I want to take thing to a shooting range and fire off a couple dozen rounds to get used to it, that and my 12 gauge shotgun while I'm at it.

I'm done. Time to get on the clock and get to work.

G'day.

ben

New Company Policy - CSA 2010

Today, something that I figured would happen, did.
I didn't know exactly WHAT they were going to implement, but I figured that they would make some kind of rule or policy concerning commercial drivers within our company relating to the CSA regulations that have come about that make a warning as bad as getting an actual ticket.

The company is having every driver read and sign a document. The document lists infractions and what is going to happen to you. Basically, if you get pulled over and are giving a ticket or a warning, you will be issued a written warning by the company and you take a day off without pay. If it happens a second time, you get another written warning and you are docked another day's pay. If it happens a third time within 12 consecutive months, bye bye, baby, you are history.

This is a side-effect of the new regulations that I knew was going to happen when I started examining these new regulations last year: companies will have no choice but to get rid of drivers that get too many warnings because, enough drivers getting too many warnings and the government can now come in and actually shut that company's commercial vehicle operations down.

I stated in this blog last year that a lot of drivers are going to lose their careers over this new regulatory BS and I am standing behind that statement. This isn't reckless drivers that have a lot of accidents or even tickets, either. I haven't been in an at-fault trucking accident since 1985. I haven't had any kind of ticket in about 12 years now. Many other commercial vehicle drivers are the same. But, the FMCSA has "determined" that these new rules will help identify "unsafe" drivers and target the companies that employ them.

It's a total load of BS. When America starts running out of truck drivers who have been forced out of the occupation because of this junk - give it a few years before a crisis starts rising up for truck driver shortages, you'll see it in the news - then and only then will this become a public issue with scrutiny to identify that the side-effects of these regulations are going to get "rid" of otherwise excellent drivers who post no threat to the motoring public on the highways and byways of America. (finishing this in the morning).

Here's the biggest problem: DOT (Department of Transportation) officers out on the roads. There are a large number of them in any given state that have as their main duty the directive to pull over commercial vehicles, all day long, do inspections and write fix-it tickets or hand out warnings.

The problem is the "god-like" attitude that many of these individuals exhibit and the fact that they will find something wrong with your truck, regardless of how good a condition it is in. Case in point was a driving who was driving a brand new truck that just came off the dealer's parking lot. Mr. Dot decided to PUT THE TRUCK OUT OF SERVICE, not just hand out warnings, after he pulled the truck over. The driver balked at this "official" and asked for that as supervisor be sent out, who, when presented with the facts, did an over-ride on the officer's "judgement" and let the truck and driver go without any warnings.

That was an extreme example, but it isn't that far off, at least where I live in Arizona, where these DOT officers are hanging out in their pickup trucks and randomly pulling over big rigs and - handing out warnings or tickets.

My take? If I get pulled over again and am handed a bogus warning, I am demanding a supervisor. I don't care if I have to wait 3 hours. The truck I drive is in excellent condition. We keep it that way on purpose: to ward off these officers that seem to take joy in giving grief to truck drivers.

The fact of the matter is, however and as already stated, there is going to be fallout with these new regulations that may or may not have been intended. I have no idea what the intentions of those people that crafted these regulations were: to get rid of drivers/shut down trucking companies or REALLY make the roadways safer to travel with trucks on them?

Let me tell you something, to make the roadways safer, it is far often more true than not that it's people driving cars and pickup trucks that are messing with trucks on the roadways. Cutting trucks off and slamming on their brakes in front of them; doing all kinds of idiotic, stupid moves that, in my case, sometimes makes me mad because the move that that person just did almost got THEM killed.

I could write incident after incident where someone - usually texting or talking on a cellphone and paying NO attention to the driving that should be their number one priority - just makes moves in traffic without even looking, apparently. I have almost run into several of them because they inserted their vehicle directly in front of mine without any forewarning or signals being used, totally out of the blue, you have a car that's going 15 mph slower than you are and you are both trying to not run into the car AND not jack knife the truck at the same time.

Whether my statements here actually come true remains to be seen in reality. But mark my words: it might take a couple of years, maybe less, but this situation is going to implode upon itself when drivers who have had successful, 10, 20, 30 plus years are suddenly finding themselves unemployed and unemployable in the field of commercial driving because of these new regulations.

ben

Wednesday 8/3/2011

Wednesday
If one is eye infected, why not go for 2 for the same money? My eyes are itching. REALLY itching, it's hard to keep my fingers off of them. I would have expected the antibiotics to have at least started to do the job of healing it by now, but my right eye is still blood red and the left eye isn't far behind it.

People are going to think I have been smoking pot!

I was standing at the M-Power machine yesterday, waiting for a character to finish. I was watching him shoving singles/dollar bills into the machine. He was covered with sweat. I think he put 4 bills in there, enough electricity to do what? Have a hot shower? Before he was finished, he looked up at me, eyes as bloodshot as mine, though I suspect for completely different reason. I felt it coming: can you spare some money?

He had that look and there was no other reason for the guy to be looking at me. He scratched his head and apparently decided it wasn't worth it, finished the $4 transaction and left.

I see that scenario over and over again at those machines, people putting barely enough on the card to last them the rest of the day. Nothing grandiose about any of it, I just watch with interest and wonder what kind of financial chaos those people are facing if they can't even afford to put on more than a day's worth of money for their power. I have had thoughts on numerous occasions to go back to getting a regular, monthly bill, but I think I am more happy to pay it in advance and not have to worry about a huge bill coming.

Caleb apparently is happy enough driving around that old car. Better than nothing and the AC works, plus it gets about 22 mpg in the city. Not bad for an old, full sized car.

Non-paying tenants. The Army reservist is going to have to go, I guess, unless she can come up with a full month's rent, because it's starting to get well beyond anything I want to tolerate. She only works at the reserve and that doesn't pay that much from what I know. She has no vehicle and I don't have any idea whether she's looking for a job or not.

Well I am getting off early, I have an email in my company account asking me to get to work as soon as I come in. I'm not really feeling all that great this morning, I decided to drink my coffee for a few minutes first before logging on to the clock and getting start, which is exactly what I did. Church tonight, hopefully I will have enough energy to go and get in on that prophetic training/activation.

G'day.

ben

Cash Only, Please

I walk into the pawn shop to get my gun that I won on the Auction Arms auction. This particular gun shop sells all of it's guns on Auction Arms and starts all bidding at 1 penny with no reserve. So, this guy at the counter asks me if I have cash to pay for the gun today? No, I have a credit card. Well, he replies, this gun is a cash-only deal because it came from another store. Made no sense to me, whatsoever, since the "other" store is one of THEIR stores. I grumbled a bit on that one because the answer was unsatisfactory, it did not explain why I could not pay with credit or debit.

Off to the bank I go. At least it was only 2 miles away. Back to the store - where it took forever. You have to fill out a form and then they have to do the background check. I don't know, but it didn't take NEAR that long when I bought the 12 gauge shotgun to get the background check done - like a few minutes and it was over with.

I promised myself that if I got a handgun, I would take the CCW permit course and learn a bit more about guns than what I know. The shotgun is a home use only thing, I ain't carrying that thing around anywhere except I will probably stow it in the trunk of my car if I ever go camping. Nothing wrong with having a bit of firepower available in case - bear/mountain lion/whatever. I have to say that when I used to go hiking into the thick forests, I really wished I would have had a handgun available. This gun is pretty light, lighter than I expected. Anyway, there is a shooting range not too terribly far away that gives all kinds of gun courses.

I didn't buy ammo for the handgun yet - hopefully Walmart has what I need. It came with 2 magazines and came in it's original carrying case, along with manuals and a gun lock.

Well, anyway. My eyes are itching like crazy - not just the infected one but both of them. It's rather miserable because it won't stop. My infected eye looks no better after 2 days of antibiotics than it did on Sunday afternoon. People do a double take, every time. I look at them, say at a vendor to pick up pipe or whatever, they look up at me, look down and then shoot their head/gaze right back and my right eye. I feel like a circus clown.

Interlude. My mom. She is such a wonderful person. We have had our disagreements, but nothing that ever kept us apart from communicating with each other for too long. She sent me a very nice card (just opened it a few minutes ago) for getting well. I unabashedly say to the whole world that I love my mom, she is a great person and has such a beautiful heart.

That's it for now.

ben

Tuesday 8/2/2011

Tuesday

So, I just got done reading a rather dramatic story about something that happened to Caleb while up at the camp in the moutains. Most people do not believe in such encounters with the Lord, so I don't even know if I will share it, but it was incredible to say the least. What I will say is that I expect to see him do things other than what he originally planned to do with his life, simply because the hand of the Lord is upon him. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if he ended being an evangelist or a pastor of some sort.

Anyway, this so-called debt deal? I like Putin's take on it:
"The country is living in debt. It is not living within its means, shifting the weight of responsibility on other countries and in a way acting as a parasite,"

I am not really dwelling on this situation at this point, it's gone on every day in the news for weeks now and it is growing really, really old.

My right eye is no better today than it was yesterday, even with the use of the antibiotic drops. If it isn't better by Friday, off to the doctor yet again.

I won the auction yesterday, I will be heading to that store on the way home today to get it: a Smith and Wesson 40VE.

Argument yesterday that erupted into anger and yelling. No, I wasn't involved with it until I was dragged into it which is when I asked both parties to settle down. The situation has been evolving. It's the Chihuahua. I asked them - the trailer tenants - to train the dog. I told them before I even gave them the dog that it would be prone to barking at everyone and that they would have to train it not to do so.

Well, they haven't even tried to train it. The dog barks at everyone that walks into the house if it's outside and yes, it's getting old. The kid tenant was talking to Lynnette about it last night, he was calling the dog a piece of s***, she was saying it was not and then eluded that the "dog is a good judge of character", intoning that Mario, the kid tenant, is a bad person.

I don't know how she thought he was going to respond to it. I mean, if you are going to say something like to a person, expect to get an earful right back, which is exactly what happened. When the yelling starting between the two - in my kitchen - that's when I put a stop to it.

Mario then asked me what I thought about that dog doing that stuff to everyone. So, I did address Lynnette - not in anger - but in a calm way. I started in on pack mentality - which she clearly wasn't receiving, shaking her head no as if the pack mentality doesn't exist. Well, I have done the research, I have read a LOT of material from a LOT of different dog experts and there is one constant with all of them: dogs operate in packs and humans in a household - all of them - should be considered as pack leaders.

I wasn't taking her denial of my statements lightly, either. After going through all of it, she gave me a funny look and asked me: what WHAT are we supposed to do? At the very least, immediately get up and grab the dog when it is showing that aggressive behavior and tell it NO! in a very loud voice and let it know that that behavior is unacceptable.

This didn't really go over too well with her and she got up and walked out. This isn't the end of this, however, now that it's started, I am going to follow through with it. The dog will be trained or I will find a new owner for it. Period.

Done, time's up gotta get to work.

G'day.

ben

Sickness and other junk

Finally "vindicated" with this prostate infection and the absolute pain that one endures. My mother told me my dad used to get that and it was EXTREMELY painful and that he would have to take a week off of work! It's like no-one believes me when I say I have (or had, now) this infection and how much hell it is.

Yet, I have an eye infection. It is glaringly obvious even from 50 feet away, I know this because a contractor asked me if I got into a fight. Ummm, no, why? Your eye!! One of our salesmen this morning said: "You probably already know this, but your right eye is blood red". Yeah, I know, it's infected, I am on antibiotic drops to deal with it, thanks. You seem to only get "sympathy" if anyone can see what your malady is. Well, I am not dropping my drawers for anyone except a doctor and even if I did, you wouldn't SEE anything unusual. Whatever. Just an observation. The prostate infection makes this eye infection look like like chocolate pie with whipped cream on top is all I am saying here.

My manager - forgot - about my vacation request. I had heard nothing back from him on it, but the main branch manager emailed him today asking him if I could post-pone my vacation. I heard my manager on the phone talking about it and he asked me while still on the phone: did you ask for a vacation? What vacation?

Remember when I submitted the request about 6 weeks ago? I'm pretty sure he didn't feel too great about completely forgetting a vacation request and I had already blown it off: it was not going to happen, don't ask me how I knew that I don't really know, but the main manager verified that thought. We are opening a new store in Yuma and our main branch is going to be sending truckloads of material down there - meaning they will be short-handed and a vacation isn't going to happen.

I am going to say that it's probably good that it has been post=poned. I was going to try at least 1 night of camping, but I don't have all the gear yet. I am working on it, but my pricing and other people's pricing don't always agree on Craigslist items. I make an offer and if they don't accept it, I move on unless they make a counter-offer that is reasonable, which they usually do not make. I do not get in a hurry when trying to acquire things via Craigslist or eBay - or a gun auction.

I am currently bidding on a Smith and Wesson 40VE (40 caliber). It's in "fine" condition, which is good enough for me, the real thing is the price of this baby: it's not gotten out of hand on the bidding but, there are still 3 hours left. I have wanted a shotgun and a handgun for some time now. I have the shotgun, I want the handgun. I have a bid on that is bidding in proxy for anyone that might try to step it up - but the high bid I have on that proxy is also as high as I will go. If I lose, I will just start over again.

The anti-gun crowd can say what you want, but the fact that law-abiding citizens are able to carry concealed gives criminals a reason to be apprehensive when thinking about robbing people. Who knows who has a gun hidden on them? Look, there are FAR more gun advocates in this nation than there are those that are against guns. Just because the anti-gun people have a loud voice doesn't mean that the over-whelming majority of Americans are NOT anti-gun, whether they own one or not.

The situation in Norway with that killer going on an hour and a half killing spree would not have happened that long if that country had laws allowing civilians to carry. If some crazed killer was coming at me shooting everyone in his way and just shooting everyone, I wouldn't think twice about pulling a pistol and firing at him. There isn't any valid argument that a person can make that would sway me from acquiring guns and learning how to use them. I don't have little kids running around my house, which is a decent argument, I guess, if you are a reckless gun owner and don't have the guns locked away from their reach. There is no compelling reason, in my view, to not own a gun unless you don't feel you could kill someone.

You see, if someone comes into my house with a gun drawn and I happen to have a pistol or a 12 gauge shotgun handy, rest assured that person is going to die if they don't shoot me first. Arizona DOES have it's version of the "Castle" doctrine. In your home, you do not have to "retreat" first. You have the legal right to shoot a person that is threatening yours or someone else's life. In fact, that doctrine does not just apply to inside your home. The key factor is that you must believe (validly) that your life is in danger. In Arizona, if you come upon a person that is raping another person, you can kill them. I have read this straight from the statutes, not from someone's opinion, btw. A person in the act of rape can be shot dead, period.

The Debt ceiling. Now that the information has come out that there CAN be revenue increase after Boehner said it wasn't possible on this latest bill, I am looking for Tea Party backed senators and House members to take a definitive stand against it and frankly, I hope they do and I hope it's enough to stop this bill from going through. The federal government takes in ENOUGH money, DEAL WITH IT!!

College and my son. My ex wife doesn't quite get it. She wants to do all the leg work for him in finding out how to get grants and filling out the forms. I'm all for Caleb going to college and all for whatever grants he might qualify for, if any, but at the age of 18, I am NOT all for trying to do EVERYTHING for him. I think the best thing to do is sit down WITH him and have him fill out the forms and help him along the way if necessary. I don't really believe we learn much in life if we have everyone doing everything for us. You can't really fend for yourself very well if you DON'T LEARN HOW TO FEND FOR YOURSELF. My son isn't stupid, but he will stand aside when either of his parents are attempting to "take control", a thing I pretty much abandoned with him a while back and definitely now since he's considered adult age. Adults should learn how to cope with life.

I'm done, and yes I am starting to feel better now that I am off those horrid antibiotics. Okay, they aren't "horrid", they just drain me of energy and make me feel like - jello, as I stated in an earlier post. Amazing I made it through last week feeling like that. I am at - 70% now. The eye infection has been giving me headaches and I can still feel the effects of those powerful antibiotics, so I am definitely no where near 100%. Not that I am complaining, I have been sleeping like a baby for the most part on those pills, something I don't normally get for that many days in a row.

ben

Sunday 7/31/2011

The call from the doctor yesterday indicated both blood and urine cultures are normal. I didn't check that until this morning.
However, my eye was blood red this morning and has been in some level of discomfort for about a week now. It was looking particularly bad today and more discomfort, obviously, it isn't getting better on it's own.

Yup, a trip back to the doc, 3rd trip in less than 2 weeks. The doc put some orange junk in my eye and checked it for tears. No tears, it's just plain infected. Antibiotic drops and I am out of there.

I am done with the Levaquin and hope that I never have to take that stuff again. My last dose was yesterday afternoon, the dosage is once every 24 hours, it is now 3 hours past the final 24 hours and I am feeling a bit better.

Caleb is back, of course, getting a bit settled back into things but I think this week or next he leaves for CA and there for a week and then back after that.

I never did get a confirmation about my intended vacation from my manager. He isn't very good about that, though. I have found that such things are sort of left up in the air until the week before the vacation. Well, if I had airplane tickets or some other thing planned that had money dumped on the table in advance, that wouldn't work out too well.

I'm not really into writing today, so, I think I'll call this one quits.

Later.

ben

Saturday 7/30/2011

Here's my take on this political bantering going on with the debt ceiling: Democrats don't want this thing to reappear during the election because they know it will kill Obama's chances of getting re-elected. That's it, that's all this all about. I sit here and listen to the Dems in the Senate complaining about Republican's refusal to compromise - that's nice, but BOTH sides are unwilling to compromise on the key issues.

I'm gonna tell you one thing for sure: if whatever comes out and they really do kill the deduction for mortgage interest, the whole lot of them can go jump in a lake. I'll vote for Ron Paul for president if it comes down to that and I will vote for anyone BUT an incumbent. I'm not a single issue person, really, but they have already done away with a lot of deductions, the mortgage interest deduction is the last of the Mohicans. What ALL of them should be focusing on is cutting spending, period. If they would all shut up and get off the national TV junk and get busy, maybe they could actually get something done. At this point? Let the "default" date set by the President come and go and see what happens.

I am half leaning towards going and looking at another travel trailer today. This one allegedly has everything working in it. Water, electricity, propane. I dunno yet, just going to go look at it. I am trying to talk the lady down in the price. I could get rid of the thing sitting out there and recoup 2/3rd's of the loss and eat the rest.

___________________________________________________

I got out of the writing mode and into other things. I'm out of it.
G'day.

ben

More

I was just about to call that camp up there in the mountains when my ex called me. After 16 years of marriage, some things are still weird. Timing and having the same thoughts about things that pertain to both of us at the same time and contacting each other at those same moments.

So, I told her I was just about to call up there. Got off the phone and got - whoever. That person explained they were having a dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Phoenix at 5:30 for their crew and then they would be done around 7:30pm. Well, 7:30 is in about 20 minutes. I asked if they had rides back home or if my son was going to need a ride. Probably going to need a ride.

So, I call the ex back and let her know. Then, not 5 minute later, my son calls. Lol.

Now? It's a quarter day later and my son called just now: they JUST got there to that restaurant. It's 7:20 pm. By the time they get out of there? I will be wanting to be in bed, not driving to downtown Phoenix! I'm on day 9 of these antibiotics and a definitive pattern is going: take the pill about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, feel like crap for the rest of the day. The next day, feel slightly better but still fatigued until - the afternoon when we start the cycle all over again.

I finally scored a tent today. I had thought the one I was going for had "only been used twice", according to the ad, I must have gotten my ads mixed up and didn't realize what I was getting until I got to the Chandler Fashion Mall parking lot to meet the guy that was selling it. This thing is brand new. It was in an unopened box and clearly, once he pulled it out, it had never been out of it's carry-bag that comes with it before. This was a no-brainer.

Next? Lantern. Battery operated lantern, that is. A sleeping bag, a cooler, a 5 gallon water jug and a pad to put on the ground. Or, if I'm really going to spoil myself, a camp cot. The most expensive items are now out of the way.

Sent out the rest of the tax junk today. Not holding my breath: these circus clowns in Washington don't seem to be able to come together on this issue of raising the debt ceiling. They don't all look as equally bad, though, at least not to me. The House put something out, something the Senate or Obama has yet to do. They like to bad-mouth the GOP enough, but they haven't produced anything. Harry Reid needs to simply go away. Retire. Enjoy life, cause' buddy, your obnoxious attitude is repulsive at the very least. Oh, the point of this paragraph? IF the government shuts down/runs out of money, I don't necessarily see a tax return anytime in the near future.

My fishies are doing well. I am not acquiring anything else for those ponds. Haven't in a while, actually. Well, I take that back. Wasps or some related thing are eating up some of the particular varieties of plants I have in the ponds. Really annoying me. They sell a wasp thing at Home Depot - it lures them in there and they can't get out. Those things work GREAT for houseflies!!

Speaking of bugs, cockroaches. Since the "roach cleanout" that I paid $150 for, we have seen cockroaches. They have been back twice. They will be coming back a third time now. Though we have only seen a couple of them in a few weeks time, that's a couple too many. I will call them back - and back - and back until they get the problem eliminated, since that is their guarantee. Not like it was free, either. I despise cockroaches and I do not want them living in my home, period.

Well, guess I am getting offa here and waiting for a phone call.

Friday 7/29/2011

Friday

Sky overcast this morning. Nice. Not nice if it rains, this is month end and I believe fiscal year end as well. Bonuses depend on getting in as much as we can, job sites shut down because of rain would not be a good thing today.

Speaking of work, our company is having a "year-end" party. Fiscal year end, that is and this time? Dave & Buster's. Pretty much it's a free-for-all at these parties, but they haven't thrown one in 3 years like this. The last few years have been at parks or the GM's house because corporate wasn't allowing the expenditure to spend buccoo bucks for an open bar and unlimited entertainment options at this kind of place.

Well, anyway, Caleb comes home today. I'm guessing 2 months in that kind of environment and coming back to this environment is going to have an ajustment period. Up in the mountains, cool, clean air, not too much weighing on you and then back to the big city - yuck!

Oh, I forgot about his trip to CA. Well that's only going to be a week, allegedly and the back here.

Umm, I'm still out of it. 2 more days of this antibiotic and it's done. Dunno whether the infection is gone or not, just don't want to take any more of this junk. I haven't been wanting to take this stuff since 2 days after starting it.

I'm tired of the debt-ceiling talk. I wonder how serious these debt scoring companies REALLY are with their talk about down-grading America's credit rating. They would be screwing themselves along with everyone else in the American boat. Just curious if it isn't a bunch of hot air, steam included for free. Maybe throw in a few smoke and mirrors while you're at it.

I got my spiff for doing the selloff of the drip irrigation junk. Not very much money for all the time dumped into it. I would have been happy at minimum $500 for all of what I put up with in getting that stuff sold. Nothing I can do about it, there was no specified amount given when I started in on that venture and so, I only have myself to blame. At the same time, when I did start that venture, I had NO idea how long it was going to take or how many phone calls, emails and ads I was going to have to take and place.

Live and learn.

Ending this one.

G'day.

ben

Thursday 7/28/2011

Day 8. I just took the 8th antibiotic pill. It's only one pill a day. One pill can do that much to a person, gag.

Finally got into the accountant's office and got - quite a stack of paperwork. $425 for $3,000. I'll take it.

I"m out of it. Take a pill at around 3 or 4 pm and then conked out for the night. Saturday is the last pill.

Caleb comes home tomorrow! Yayyyyy!

My dad called me - wondering how I am doing.

When someone other than family asks you how you are doing, what do you say if you are not doing so well? I'm fine, to bypass it or I'm not really that great? Does that person asking that stuff really care, anyway? I told one person after they asked: "not so well, thank you". You see? If you aren't really feeling all that well and really have something going on, people don't REALLY want to have to deal with your answer.

My conclusion? Why ask if you don't want to hear it? You are acting like you care, but you don't really care that much. It's just a thing to say: "How's it going?" or similar greetings.

I'm out of it.

G'nite.

ben

Wednesday 7/27/2011

I did not write an entry this morning because as soon as I got into work - about 5:25 am - I had to get on the clock and get to work. No biggies. I am starting to feel a bit closer to normal again, not quite there but definitely feeling better. However, I have had a pain in my side that I cannot explain and I did go back to the doc's today.

The doc said it is probably kidney stones. Can I please catch a break here? What is going on, anyway? One thing after another? I was directed to continue taking those unbelievable antibiotics until they are gone. I caved in. They make me feel like crap, but they are doing the job. After Saturday I won't have to take them anymore - unless, of course, the infection isn't gone and I go into some sort of relapse.

So, the doc says, time to give blood, another urine sample and a cat scan. A cat scan!! You know, I know lots of people that are terrified of those machines because you get sent into that chamber and apparently the door is shut on you. I can understand the phobia there, but I am not afraid of confined, small places, never have been, doubt I ever will be. However, I do not like being exposed to x-rays - any of it. I don't want to go through airport scanners and I don't like having x-rays done on anything in my body. Call it whatever you want, but I don't think we should be exposing ourselves to such. Yet, the benefits of such a scan are unmistakable. If there is something wrong in there, that thing is going to find it.

Today also marks the first time that I had blood drawn that I did not get dizzy. The aide that was drawing the blood said that guys are always afraid. He went on to say about how they are also afraid of injections and whatever else. No sir, I am not afraid of the pain, there really IS no pain in drawing blood. A tiny pin-prick and that's it. It's AFTER it's drawn and the dude has left the room that I start feeling it in my system. I get nauseous and I always insist on laying down while they take it.

I felt nothing today. And no, I have no fear, whatsoever, of injections. Doesn't bother me in the least. I can see people bleeding out and that doesn't bother me, either. Well, it doesn't make me sick, obviously someone bleeding profusely is cause for concern. My blood pressure has come back down. Inexplicably, the last 3 times I have had it checked, it was WAY higher than normal. Today? 118/75. Not my normal range, but better than them telling me 139/85. I'm normally between 105 and 110/60 to 70. That is without medication, lol.

Changing the subject, I called the IRS today. They told me that carryover does carryover - but to 2005, not 2008. What is the reasoning behind that? He had no idea, only that Congress had passed legislation whenever long ago, apparently, that states the personal casualty carrover goes backward first and then, in my case, to 2006 and if there is any left over, THEN to 2008. Let me guess, Congress figures people might not get to it in time to get the carryover for PREVIOUS years, so do that. I cannot get anything for 2005 or 2006. If there is enough, I could get something for 2008.

Right now? I am getting the taxes turned in, get my 3 grand and then decide whether it's worth all of that trouble to continue on with all of this. I didn't go get my taxes today cause' - I went to the doc's instead. Taxes can wait another day, I will go tomorrow and get that stuff from the accountant and get it sent out.

Moving on, I sent Caleb a Facebook message this morning. He wasn't replying to my emails and he really doesn't have much access to using his cell phone up there. The date changed for him to come home - Friday instead of Saturday. My son doesn't necessarily get all the facts about things in the future down - analytically, I am going to have to work with him on that. Think through things, the potential consequences of whatever you are doing. Go through every possible ending that you can think of in your mind and then make decisions. Okay, that's me, that is definitely not everyone. Perhaps I should just leave it alone and he can figure it out for himself - or not.

So, when I read that I figured what was coming next: the dinner that the organization is going to have for the counselors is not up there, it's in Phoenix - I'm guessing a nice restaurant. Meaning he doesn't need a ride back. That was a letdown for me, I wanted to pick his brain for a couple of hours while driving back. I can do that at home, but not for that much time. It would have been no inconvenience, whatsoever, to drive up there and get him, but, he's his own man so let it go. He still has a LOT to learn about just living life, my intrusions won't help that much. I mean, we all had a lot to learn at that age, no-one is discharged from that scenario that I know of.

I think I still have a lot of learning left to go, in reality, but, not about the basic facts of living on your own and how to survive it. So, Friday night he is coming over here, that was his "request". He was asking me if it was okay to spend the night here! Lol. I have never told him he couldn't stay here, in fact, to the opposite, at the same time, I HAVE told him if he isn't working or going to school, he better plan on finding new digs, cause' baby, this ain't gonna be the place. His mother allegedly told him the same thing (I have doubts about that, but that is what she told me).

So, if he's going to go back to work at Albertson's, providing they give him a job (they told him they would when he gets back to set the record), and his grand parents have enough money set aside for him for his first year of community college, then the money he earns at work should be going to a savings account - at least a good portion of it if he's going to stay at home - to pay for next year.

In reality, I have my doubts he's going to stay at home. If he gets a good enough job to pay for a room somewhere, I am guessing he will be on his way out. It's just the natural way of things. But who knows. I am not over-bearing and I don't make a lot of demands on him at this point besides cleaning up after himself, so we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, today is Wednesday and tonight is church. I am not going. I cannot stay up that late with this drug having the effect it does on me. It fatigues me and I identified the feeling today: I feel like jello. I just feel like a jellied mess walking around in some amount of weakness and hoping for a better day to come. I will go on Sunday morning and that's the best I can do at this point. The pastors, at least, are fully understanding.

I'm still working on getting camping equipment. I have nothing but the stove and stove pans I bought a few weeks ago. I have been looking for a tent at a good deal but still in great condition. I found one and am trying to get it. Schedules aren't working out, unfortunately.

Other stuff in the workings. Learn how to hunt being on that list. Why? Something I have always wanted to learn. The best time to learn such is with a family, growing up as a kid, going out on such treks. My parents were anti-gun and anti-hunting. Kinda struck that one out. Ponds. Still loving them, but have decided against any plan about a bigger one for now. It would be nice to have one, large pond instead of 3 small ones, but, that just isn't going to happen right now. Cost is the operative word here.

Fall. Would it please get here? Sooner than later, thank you. Get to August, get through August and at least the worst of it is over, though September is hardly cool here. Unless an extraordinary year, it is usually quite warm through September as well, with real cooling to be seen in October. Why do I live here? I ask myself that a lot. The answer is: my son, dad and mother. There is nothing else holding me here.

I'm done. 2 more work days left this week, I'm ready for the weekend and I can say that probably, it will be more laying around and doing nothing.

ben

Tuesday 7/26/2011

Tuesday

An unexpected side-effect from the antibiotics: the red patches on my face are beginning to disappear. At the same time, huge bags of puffiness appear below my right eye every morning when I wake up. Yuck.

Lots of running around to do today at work, but I am hopeful to have it all done somewhat early and get home - somewhat early.

Taxes. The accountant called and informed me that you cannot carryover loss on personal loss, only on business loss. That doesn't make any sense to me, but then again, the entire tax code doesn't mean a heckuva lot to me, either. I will call the IRS today to get their take on this. If they say no as well, then it's no and I will move on. I am still getting close to 3 grand back anyway, so it's not a total waste of time. Hmm, well reminding myself of that, I just found the IRS number online and input it into my phone. Sooner or later during the work day, I am going to have to sit and wait for someone at a construction site somewhere, might as well use the time to get the question answered, cause' I am going over to the accountant's office today to pick up the finshed paperwork and get it sent in. Well, I might be going over there, depends on how I feel after work.

My take on all this bantering in Washington: Obama wants this behind him because an election is coming up and if he can't get this dealt with before then, he knows he is facing and even greater uphill battle in getting re-elected. This is the ONLY thing this is about with Obama. He doesn't care on iota about you or I, irrelevant of his redundant speeches about the average Joe/Jane taxpayer. He tries to speak for the entire mass of the American public as if we are all on his side. Got news for ya, bud, YOU are the single-WORST president this country has EVER had, period. The day they boot your A$$ out the door will not come too soon. He wants us all to contact our congressmen and women and tell them that we want the "balanced" approach.

My view of a balanced approach and Obama's are WORLDS apart. A "balanced" approach to me would mean that literally: BALANCE THE FREAKING BUDGET. Does anyone really believe that China owning America is a good thing? The massive amount of money that the Federal Government takes in every year IS enough to run this country. We don't NEED to be running in a deficit.

This is where Obama doesn't get it, actually, he doesn't CARE. As Boehner succinctly pointed out yesterday, Obama wants a blank check to waste even MORE money. Where did the trillion dollars he threw away get us? DEEPER IN DEBT. It's not JUST Obama that thinks this way - look at that dinosaur named Reid - that guy and all of his cronies need to go home. I'm glad the GOP isn't backing down to this crap that Obama keeps dishing out saying it's the GOP's fault that there is no agreement.

Anyway, I better get off that subject. Actually, I better get off all subjects, I gotta go to work. The alarm clock was making all kinds of noise this morning trying to wake me up. I mean, the sound intensifies after X amount of seconds of not turning it off, and the intensifies more, and then a 3rd time. After the 3rd time, WWIII must be starting the way that thing is sounding off. It's doing what it's supposed to do, of course, and I slept through it for several minutes before finally waking up.

G'day.

ben

Monday 7/25/2011

Monday 7/25/2011

I have no idea how I feel this morning - I am half asleep still. My right eye was and is still extremely puffy this morning, yucky looking and no clue about that. One thing that has become obvious, I need to get a regular doctor and start seeing that person. This urgent care business is great for minor junk, but I don't really consider what I am going through right now to be minor.

Umm, so there is a lot of work to do today, unfortunately, it may drag well into the afternoon. I hope I can make it through all of that.

I finally received a not from the ops manager - just saw it in my company email box - I am getting $250 for the effort put forth in getting rid of that drip system junk. It's about half of what I expected, but it's better than nothing and I will just put a smile on my face and be happy I am getting anything. I don't know if that "spiff" is subjected to the higher tax rate or not, if it is, I will actually get about $140 of it. This wasn't easy work, putting it mildly, it just seems way off for the time put into it, including personal time.

But, maybe the effort will be reflected in whatever fiscal year bonus might be coming our way, if any at all, haven't heard anything about that yet. I got a pretty good raise so it probably all pans out in the end, anyway. Perhaps I am just being grumpy because I am not 100% and not sure when I will get back to that magic number.

One certainly thinks about one's mortality when going through such things - sickness, that is. You know, like, will I ever get BACK to 100%? Certainly hope so, have to trust God on that one.

Umm, anyway, they changed their mind on who to send over here this week - Thank GOD almighty. They were going to send over a certain inside salesman who really doesn't have a clue about running a store. The inside salesman they ARE sending over definitely has a clue, has been over here before and doesn't sit around, "allowing" me to do ALL of the work as others have done. I don't have the energy right now to do all of the work, frankly, and I will be letting that guy know it right off the bat when he comes in. So sorry, sir, no can do all da work. I do some work, but not all.

Spoken with thick Chinese accent, lol.
July 25, 2011 6:01 AM
Anonymous said...
Allegedly, according to a news blip this morning, the NFL/players have reached a deal. Whoopdy doo. The spoiled brats sound about the same as Boeing's machinist's union that went on strike a few years ago and effectively shut Boeing down and are now making heck for Boeing in opening that new plant in one of the Carolina's: spoiled brats acting like 2 year olds. They make all kinds of freaking money - both sets mentioned and yet they can't ever be happy with it. I have no sympathy for any of them or it. If the there is no NFL this year, it's going to sour the taste for it for many, many fans. Maybe they won't quit watching, but maybe the sales of all of that branded stuff - hats, shirts, jerseys, etc etc etc ad nauseum might slink off a bit or even a lot. They make a LOT of money off of that stuff.

Just stupid people. The bantering in Washington. Obama threatening to veto any short term deal to get the debt ceiling raised. This artificial date set up saying "we are going to default on our loans on this date". The bleep we are. Again, Obama thinks Americans are stupid. The U.S. government is NOT going to stop taking in money on August 2cd. If the debt ceiling isn't raised, it won't be taking in ENOUGH money to cover the expenses. You really think we are going to default on our loans, considering how important the financial gurus state that staying current on them is so important not to just our economy, but the world economy? OTHER things will have to be cut, but please spare me the political bantering, because that is all it is.

Obama is using scare tactics and attempting to make the GOP look like the culprits. Yet the GOP is the side that is coming out with answers, I don't see the Dems doing much of anything but disagreeing with everything. Allegedly Reid, a dinosaur that needs to go home and retire, is coming up with his own budget.

Whatever. The Tea Party is the 'hindrance' on the Republican side in certain members taking a stance that they aren't budging from. That's because the Tea Party got those guys/gals in there and to shirk off of the platform that they used to get there would anger a whole set of people that can use their new-found influence to get them right back out again. They must realize that and they must therefore be taking an unmovable stance because of it.

Regardless, the pre-work day is done, I am going to work, wish me luck!

ben

Sunday 7/24/2011

This has beena particularly unpleasant morning. I am still sick and it was oh so glaringly obvious. The antibiotics are messing with my guts - as it says online it can possibly do. I have been eating yogurt as some have suggested, but, that hasn't done much good. I am extremely irritable and cranky right now, people coming in and out of here just make it worse. I will be heading to my bedroom soon to keep my misery to myself.

Acute Prostatitus is what this infection is called and the more I read about it - well I stopped. This isn't some head cold that you live with for a few weeks and get over it. I have a better understanding of what it is and what's going on and - well - I hope that 10 days worth of that antibiotic actually gets rid of it. The other prognosis was Dysuria - a fancy word to say you have painful urination. Well, I didn't need anyone to tell me that.

I don't about work tomorrow. I was feeling well enough yesterday that I could have probably handled a day of work, but today?

I JUST got a recorded call while writing this, it's from the Urgent Care place, call this number back and enter your patient ID number. Okay. Hi, this is Erica, yada yada yada, the urine culture came back, the infection is systemic and is what we thought it was, keep taking your medication, yada yada yada.

Well I am done with this. It's time to go spend the afternoon in bed.

ben

Saturday 7/23/2011

Chase bank finally got my savings account set up so that I can simply move money from the checking account to that account. I have decided to take the money that the trailer tenants are paying me each week and use that as the basis for funding it. My pay raise starts in August, hence the decision that I can simply afford to live where I am at and not miss the money. Oh, I am not actually moving the money from one account to another, now that I think about it, it's going to move by itself. Until I change it, it's a "permanent" setup. So, give it 10 months and if I can keep from touching it, it would have $1,600.00 in it.

Yeah, seems like something always comes up, but, maybe I'll get a "blessed" streak and not have any major outlays of cash for some unknown emergency. At least the AC seems to be holding out - which is a thing I shouldn't even have to worry about considering it's only 3 years old - but I had to replace the compressor after only 1 year of operation.

I guess I did not turn in 2009 taxes. I have never been good about tax time - I don't owe them I just don't do it. I received the second letter today with a demand to turn on 2009 taxes. What is the hard-on with 2009? I paid out a considerable amount of the money I earned to Federal taxes, ridiculous. Doesn't matter, it will all be done on Monday and they can eat it. And send me a check while they're at it. Have you ever considered how much you are paying out in city, county, state and federal income taxes? Do you consider beyond that? Cell phone taxes, home phone taxes, hotel taxes, property taxes, freaking taxed to death.

I am feeling much better - I'm far from done with this infection but I don't feel like I just got run over by a freight train. I was able to sit in my kitchen chair today instead of spending the entire day in bed - albeit I will undoubtedly end up going to bed early again tonight.

Ummm, and a lot of time passed.

G'day.

ben

The Problem With Self-Checkout At Grocery Stores

The issue of to use or not to use self check-outs.

I love the concept, I hate the real-life, rubber-meets-the-road reality of it.

The issue isn't whether the idea is a good one or not, I readily agree that it's great to be able to go and start doing the work yourself versus standing behind Aunt Martha who forgot something and asks the cashier to go get it for her. Really? Yes, really. You have never experienced that? I have on numerous occasions. Or another scenario where Mrs. Martha realizes she got the wrong kind and therefore, everyone needs to wait for 5 minutes while someone is called to bring it up front for her.

I guess cashiers are trained not to tell them no, you'll have to step out of line if you want to do that so that other - paying - customers can get their goods checked, rung up and get them out of the store. I have spoken up on such occasions when a particular, entire party of women wanted the store's personnel to bring them up a half dozen more cases of Power Aid. No, not a bottle or 2, cases.

Or you get stuck behind Mrs. Martha's sister - she sits there and watches everything being rung up and then, at the very end of all of it: everything is bagged, the sale is rung up, the goods are in the cart ready to go, she finally pulls out her purse and slowly starts getting out her wallet to get at whatever means she's going to pay for it. Really? I have my payment ready long before the sale is over, cognizant of others waiting behind me and very cognizant of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have do unto yourself.

Well, the lack of taking an action in this case goes against that rule. You don't care how long you hold other people up, it doesn't matter to you that your actions or inactions are causing other people grief, you are in your own little bubble.

Here's a very recent case-in-point: yesterday. I have prostate infection. I felt like I was dying yesterday. I was in CVS pharmacy, no, there was no self-checkout available at this store, waiting to get rung up and get OUT of there and get HOME and collapse in my bed. I'm waiting, very impatiently - one side effect of prostate infection is frequent urination and the demand your body signals send you to do it right NOW, even if you JUST went to the bathroom 20 minutes ago - and yes, I was there. I was holding it in, watching 2 people in front of me take their SWEET, LOVELY OLD TIME pulling out their payment and moving on.

So, advance to the new-age technology of self-checkout. I thought it a grand idea at first. I am not anti-social - so the news reports of this situation about people just wanting to get in and not have human interaction don't exactly apply to me. I want to get out, yes, but I like going through a human run checkout far more than self-serve.

But, the first time I went through one of those lines at Fry's Food Stores, there were problems. The second time I went through, less problems, all with technical issues trying to get the system dialed in and training personnel how to use the system.

After the techs were gone, the system fully up and running and the store personnel fully trained how to use the equipment, THAT is when the problems started. A list below explains my problem with self checkout.

1. The ever abiding screen that comes up and says an assistant has been called to help you. This happens almost every time I go into Fry's. I didn't call, ask or WANT an assistant to help me, but the issue is forced: I can't do anything until they clear the screen.

2. WHEN that screen comes up, the assistant is busy with someone else. Or reading something, or simply not paying attention. It can be some time before the assistant gets to my screen, clears it without asking me any questions at all. There is the big thing that annoys me, WHY did this screen come up in the first place?

3. The non-existent attendant. This is the person that isn't anywhere near the self-checkout station. They are off somewhere else, doing something else. I have seen them 50 feet away, doing something else besides manning their station. Apparently, paying customers that are helping that store by checking ourselves out aren't worthy of constant attention at the screen, even though there are up to 8 people doing that process at the same time. They certainly don't have 8 checkout lanes open with live, human cashiers doing the job for you. Once, the lady that was supposed to be doing the self-checkout was in the produce section at the Fry's Food Stores location I was at. The produce section is well over 100 feet away from the self-checkouts and more, you can't even SEE the produce section from there.

4. Employees that are rude. They don't do this with me anymore, they know who I am and they know I will simply go get the general manager of the store or I will contact Fry's Food Stores corporate as soon as I get home. If you unintentionally do something "wrong" at the self-check, these types of employees will get short and even nasty with you. I won't tolerate such attitude from any employee of any store, anywhere.

5. The social gathering. This is when 2, 3, 4, or 5 employees are gathered at the front of the store in complete oblivion to anything, and in this case, completely ignoring the customers that are stranded at the self-checkouts who are waiting for the inevitable "an assistant has been called to help you" sign that stops the entire process. I got sick of that - yes, at Fry's Food and Drug Stores - and started going to the general manager's office. I would bring him out and show him the screen and point at the employees. He would deal with my problem - and 2 or 3 others also waiting because of that screen.

6. Too many self checkouts, not enough attendants. The system was set up for 2 attendants if over 4 self checkouts are open. I heard this from the TECHNICIAN, not the Fry's employees who attempted to repudiate it. Sorry, Charlie, that doesn't work. The guy installs the equipment, he says it's so, it's so and for a good reason. When you have 8 self checkouts and only 1 attendant, there are going to be problems. IE: the damned screen that makes you wait. Or the customer that doesn't know how to use the self checkout and wants the attendant to do ALL of it for them. Or the problem a customer is having with whatever: been there, done that. Meanwhile, 1, 2, or 3 other customers are waiting to get that screen cleared or have issues of their own that need addressed. I don't even contest over pricing anymore, I just pay the entire bill and then I contest it. Why? Because I don't have to wait, first and foremost, and secondly, because Fry's Food and Drug Stores has a policy: it's free under $5 or a gift card over $5 when a scanning error occurs. I get done with the transaction - and then almost always get sent to customer service.

Need I go on? I would hope not. If working properly - these self checkouts are a great idea. On that note, I love the way Fresh and Easy works it. There is at least one "floating" attendant that is going between self-checkouts - they are ALL self checkouts at those stores but you can ask them to do it for you if you prefer. That person is working tirelessly - and quickly to make sure that everyone is taken care of speedily. If there are too many people at the checkouts, more employees appear out of the thin blue air. I have not had a problem at those stores.

But, more often than not, they are not working properly at many stores for the variety of reasons that I have given above.

Friday 7/23/2011

I haven't really been feeling that well this week, but I did nothing about it until....yesterday.
By the time I got off of work yesterday, I felt like death on feet. Without getting too graphic, it's usually described as a burning when urinating. But, my whole body felt like I had the flu from hades.

Anyway, I headed straight to urgent care. I am not fooling around with junk like this. They took a urine sample, came back 20 minutes later and told me that I had extremely elevated amounts of proteins and white and red blood cells in it. That all sounds wonderful, what, exactly, does that mean? What it means, the lady told me, is that you have an extremely severe infection. Men usually don't get urinary tract infections, I was further informed, it's likely your prostrate, which takes longer to heal.

Further, she explained, the symptoms you are feeling likely mean that the infection is going "systemic" - apparently meaning spreading throughout my entire body. Lovely day. I was given a prescription for Levaquin and was told they were going to give me an antibiotic injection. She left and came back in a while, informing me they couldn't do the injection because of my Penicillin allergy. You know, that doctor that told me I was allergic to Penicillin some 39 years ago really got my attention, even at the age of 8 years old. He wanted me to be extremly, absolutely clear on the fact that if I ever had another Penicillin shot or pills or whatever again, it would likely take my life.

You go around in life wearing that badge of junk and every time you go into a doctor's office, the first thing you tell them: I am allergic to Penicillin. I can tell you the first and only time I had a shot of it, I had huge hives all over my body, I was sick - really sick - for almost 2 weeks and life wasn't so great. Undoubtedly, it is a limiting factor of how doctors can treat me, but I'll take a sickness that feels like a hammer is being bounced on my head rather than death any day.

Of course, I read the potential side effects of this medicine - not until a few minutes ago. Yikes. I am not even going to go into any of it, it isn't worth it. I already took the stuff and that's that. What was I going to do, die? I had a fever that was just short of 103. It went up almost 3 degrees from the time I had left the doc's office til' a few hours after I got home. But I get really nervous taking medications - any of it. You continually read in the news about a drug that people have been taking and then find out it is killing them or causing birth defects to their babies or this, that and the other thing. Which is why I don't even like to take Tylenol. I never did much of that stuff anyway, and then, a study comes out about the side effects of taking too much of that stuff as well.

I had never known, though, besides the potential for an allergic reaction, obviously, that antibiotics could have such potential, serious side effects. Add the fact that they gave me the highest dosage of this stuff that is available. Add to that the pharmacist's reaction to the prescription: "Oh, wow, that is a high dosage!" I obviously had to ask what she was talking about. She said that this is a powerful antibiotic. It comes in 250, 500 and 750 milligrams. You are getting the highest dosage available.

Last night, my head was pounding. Hard to describe the feeling. My whole body was aching. I was not liking life, I can tell you that. I haven't felt that bad in years.

I found a description of prostrate infection symptoms: The symptoms of prostate infection can also differ according to its causes. For acute bacterial prostatitis the symptoms include increase in the frequency of urine; great urgency to urinate; pain while urinating; pain in the genital area; difficulty in producing a normal stream while urinating. There can also be some general signs for prostrate infection like fatigue, high chills and high fever.

Unbelievably, I have ALL of those symptoms. Last night, I had was going from feeling extremely hot to having cold chills.

Umm, the only thing I can say today? The pounding in my head is gone, I don't have extreme flu like symptoms anymore and I feel much better. I did not go to work today. I called my manager yesterday around 6:00 pm and toldhim I would definitely not be coming in. So, I am doing nothing today. I am still feeling really tired and I intend on sleeping much of today.

As for the heat wave, I saw New York with some statement that it had hit 112 degrees. I can only imagine what kind of swampish hell feeling that must be with the humidity there. Today's high there is 100 - but the "real feel is 111. Yowsa. Hope you have central AC over there, I know in the ghetto area of Pittsburgh I grew up in, those hold houses didn't have central AC and didn't even have the duct work for it. You can't really sit in a house in a situation that feels like 111 degrees. If it were me, I would at the very least buy a window AC unit and keep at least one room of the house cool - but that's me. Not everyone has the money to go out and buy window AC units or pay for the increased electric bill. Fin, if you are over there right now (versus down south), I just read that today, the real feel in that city is 107.

The high here today is only going to be 105. Humidity levels have been up around these parts, though. I think the other day it was 36%. That doesn't sound like much to you folks that live in 90% plus humidity, but couple that with an afternoon high of 109 and then we have a situation.

I'm done, for now.

ben

Thursday

Not much today.
Church last night - well I was tired when I went in there and it was difficult to focus. By the time it was over, it was past my bedtime and I will have to reconsider whether I can attend Wednesday night services.

I'm kind of tired this morning as well. Part of the reason is people making noise at night, and more specifically, closing the back door loudly enough to wake me up.

I have issued notices about this in the past - to the same people who are still living here. I don't really want to issue any more notices because they obviously aren't working. So what is left? Issue 30 day eviction notices to all 3 tenants and start over. This is what I am contemplating. If these people don't give a rat's @$$ about whether their landlord is sleeping or not, I figure it's about time for them to go find a new place to live.

Anyway, I'm done with this one.

ben

Fat

Wake up call today. I had the calipers on my body, I figured I was around 15%, I was actually at 18%. The salesman's computer program generated that I was still within acceptable range for my age, height, weight and fat index. He even congratulated me and said I was in pretty good shape. That compared to my co-workers - most of which are NOT in good shape. I was surprised to find out my manager is at 32% fat. You definitely could not tell that by looking at him.

Anyway, I am hardly satisfied. I would be happy around 12% body fat, maybe 10%. That would take a lot of work and a lot of workouts with weights to get back down to that, but I think I am up for the challenge. Goodbye to red meat, well I don't eat that much of it anyway. I'm at approximately 1,000 calories for the day and I don't expect to eat again. It's only a 4-month contest and so, a person that really wants to win is going to have to go all out.

Or is he? People are still seen dining on donuts and pizza at the main branch. I eat neither. I go to the main branch quite frequently and will not touch those donuts, as tantalizing as they look. For a contest, you would think they might think about doing something else besides donuts and having pizza. The point isn't REALLY about who wins and lose, it's about trying to motivate people to get healthy. People that are in the 30% body fat range are not particularly healthy and there are plenty of those at work.

I don't drink soda; I have an occasional glass of tea. I drink milk, but only the zero-fat/skim stuff. I drink a LOT of water. I gave up Powerade/Gatorage a long time ago - exception is if I have drank so much water, it isn't doing anything for me because electrolyte levels are too low. I drink coffee, but I do not use sugar and I mostly only use low or no fat creamer.

Even with all of that, the food you eat can still pack on the pounds. Red meat is going to be hacked off the list of edibles. In fact, my plan is to pretty much eat only the Weight Watchers frozen dinners. That in and of itself will cause some fat loss, perhaps, but the real ticket, at least for me, is to build muscle. Free-weights galore.

Enough. This all got ramped up today after finally getting my BMI checked. Ohhhhh!! I forgot: I MUST get an MP3 player!! I now have enough music selected that I can do a 10 hour work out, lol, if I wanted to and not hear the same song twice!! I won't be doing 10 hour workouts, bank on that! lol

I am guessing my taxes are ready to be done. I did not go to the DMV today because - I started early at work; busted @$$ all day long without a break and the combination of heat and humidity are just killers. I wanted to do nothing but come home and sit in the AC - currently exercising that right and fully enjoying it.

In fact, besides a LOT of physical exertion in high heat and semi-high humidity, I got nothing else done today.

I don't care, either.

Currently attempting to motivate myself to go to Wednesday night service.

ben

Wednesday 7/20/2011

Wednesday

Short one here.
I got into work here and started looking at the truck routing system - full, to say the least and an email telling me I could start early if I wanted to.

I'm not the biggest fan of having surprises thrown on me at 5:30am - ie: skipping my pre-work rituals. I think I'll drink a cup of coffee first, at the least, and then I'll sign in.

Meanwhile, dinner with the pastors last night was good. We talked about the entire world of subjects and as I thought would happen, my past as a missionary and involvement in the church came up. Oh well. Not the end of the world and they were more interested in my well being than attempting to push me into something I am not ready for, so for that, they earn even more of my respect.

I was interested in how they decided to do a church plant here - there are no lack of churches in this area. They have some different ideas than most churches around here, I'll give them that, and pretty good ideas at that.

Church tonight and I do intend on going.

I have also adjusted my "thoughts" on going up north to get Caleb. If I get my camping equipment in time, I may just leave after work on Friday, go up to the rim, camp somewhere or just go to my mother's property, pitch the tent and away we go. Maybe take one of the dogs with me.

Anyway, I gotta git offa here. My first cup is half empty and now I am feeling the need to get going on all of this - there is a LOT of driving to be done not to mention orders to be pulled and picking up materials all over the place plus the deliveries. Oh, but I can't forget the notice I need to write up.

Have to get into that later.

g'day

More Taxes/Dinner Out

So, I took all the tax junk into the tax dude. He has a small office and apparently works alone in it. We went through all of it, particularly the 2007 return. He said he would do the numbers and see if it was going to be worth it to modify it to get more carryover and he would let me know. Well, I replied, if the carryover net worth is more than your fee to do it, then we're going to do it! His response? "I'm just going to warn you that filing this particular form (whatever it was x31a or something like that) puts you at risk of being audited". Oh well. I thought I was going to get audited with this whole deal to begin with, if it happens, it happens, no sense in getting into fear about it. If it's rightfully my money, I want it!

I had no idea that you could write off the cost of your auto tags from year to year! He brought up the deductions, I knew about the rest of them, but not auto tags! I started giving to the church I am going to, and though I don't give to get a write-off, the write-off is available and since it's not unethical, I will be taking that write-off next year. I don't think I'm getting quite as much money as I thought I might, but whatever it is, it's better than nothing! The cost for having it done is about $500 - but that's going through fully 4 years of taxes and this guy, in listening to him, certainly appears to know what he's talking about.

1-1/2 hours and I am meeting the pastors for dinner. They wanted to get together, I offered dinner out at a decent restaurant. They accepted and away we go. I have no idea where this is leading, hopefully just more of a session to get to know one another a bit. I have not spent much time, admittedly and at all, talking with anyone at church. I show up for the services just before they start and I leave as soon as it's over. I smile at people, say hi, shake hands if it's offered, but I waste no time getting out the door. I can hardly say I am over the junk that happened in the divorce and that church era and I suspect it's going to take some time to fully get over it. But, I figure as long as I'm trying - which means at least showing up for church on Sundays and probably most Wednesdays - that's a good start.

Anyway, I had thoughts of waiting to see what I will end up getting in the rest of these taxes before getting anymore camping gear. But, I think I will just finish getting what I intended to get in the first place, which is the basic stuff you really must have in order to have a good camping experience and then, the other stuff that is nice to have but not absolutely necessary can come later. I'm figuring - in buying mostly used stuff - to get out of it much cheaper than I had initially anticipated. People are dumping camping equipment and one of the few things I would not do is buy someone else's sleeping bag. I don't care how clean it looks, someone else slept in it and I have no idea what that someone else might be "carrying". I wouldn't be comfortable in it and that's enough for me to go out and yes, buy a brand new one. I am sure Walmart undoubtedly has a good deal on them.

Umm, well getting wordy here.

Later.

ben

Tuesday

Tuesday
I saw in my email box this morning a reply from my new pastors: they would like to meet this evening. Well, I hoped it wasn't too late to answer the reply - it was sent yesterday evening so dunno if today will work in their schedule now or not - pastors tend to get their agendas filled up.

I love this story of 2 robbers attempting to rob a store and the store owner's Chihuahua apparently scares the robbers to the point that they go running out the door with the little dog chasing them down the street! Apparently there is a video of it as well - will have to wait until I get home from work to see that one.

Umm, whatever. That great story is overshadowed by the teenager that killed his parents with a hammer, shoved their bodies into a close and then..........had a party? Freaking monster. That's just pure evil.

Well anyway, my quest for camping gear may have paid off - I found 2 tents, used, good price. One of them they claimed they only used it once for $50, a 4-man tent. The other, same size tent, $30. The recurring theme on a lot of those ads: need to pay bills, this stuff's gotta go.

I have an appointment with an accountant this afternoon at 2 - though I am not sure if I will be off of work in time or not. I want all this junk turned into the IRS, filed, and get it processed and get the check in the mail.

Life moves on. Someone from my past - what was a kid at the time in the missionary organization I was involved with - somehow found me on Facebook and the next thing I know, I have dozens of "Friend Suggestions" coming from this guy to people I didn't know HAD FB accounts. People I haven't seen or even talked to in at least 2 decades. A couple of the suggestions, however, are cancelled. There is one individual that I will have nothing to do with and certainly, I won't be having him as a friend on any venue including FB. In other words, he can go piss off. But, I have already gone into that dude, what he did and the ensuing aftermath, I don't feel like going into all of that again here. I don't have that much time anyway, lol.

It will be interesting to see if any of these people want to get into any kind of conversation and maybe find out what they are up to. I think a few of them are still out on the mission field after all of these years.

Well, whatever. This entry is done, work day is here, plenty to keep me busy all day long - thankfully - later.

ben

Monday 7/18/2011

Monday
I had forgotten that today, my manager is going to be off. It always leaves up in the air who, exactly, is going to take his place. I can't run the shop AND make deliveries, hence the need for another body to fill the manager's position. Even if there were no deliveries in the system, you still have to have 2 people here in case something comes up.

Look, this debt ceiling and Obama's posturing aren't fooling me, I doubt it's fooling too many others, either. He is attempting to make it look like the GOP is holding any kind of a deal up, when, in reality, he didn't even want to make ANY kind of adjustments to government spending at all.

He would have rather just gone ahead, pushed for another 2-1/2 trillion debt ceiling increase and not done ANY kind of cutting. Dems weren't even talking about this until conservatives made a stand and forced the issue. Remember, at the same time, the Obama that was an Illinois Senator (of which very few people knew ANYTHING about, let's vote him into office because he's black and if you don't vote for him, you're a racist - I will never forget that garbage) said it was irresponsible to increase the debt ceiling.

Also never forget his statement the he knows what's best for America and Americans - alienating those of us that have our own minds and use them to think with on a daily basis. In other words, we're all too dumb to know what's going on, trust Obama.

Obama wants bigger government, that's the end of this story. If he could get away with upping ALL of our taxes, regardless of how much (or little) money you make, he would definitely do it. The entitlement programs thrive under such a presidency, unless, of course, you have a grouping of "Tea Party" backed conservatives who aren't going to budge an inch. And because of their stance, Dems come along and start calling them names - you must have seen all that stuff they were calling Eric Cantor last week because he refuses to give in?
July 18, 2011 6:02 AM
Anonymous said...
The dems have also apparently forgotten the rebuking they received in the last elections. Do they truly believe that we just "forget" about all of this stuff? They lost a super-majority because they were not listening to the vast majority of the American people who are sick of Washington politics as usual. Now you have McDonnell and Boehner talking about compromise. With what? A president that can't seem to get it into his thick head that we don't WANT bigger government and that many of us happen to think it's already too big?

Are any of these people on either side of the fence talking about fixing Social Security? Of course not. I've been paying into it all my adult life, I say get rid of it. Keep it for those that are already retired and receiving the benefits, you can't just screw them and blwo them off, but get rid of it for preceding generations.

I would FAR rather take that money and invest it myself. Instead, I am being forced to take even more of what little money I have left after taxes and attempt to save it because I know,in the end, if they don't change that system there isn't going to be anything left for me when I get to that age. I'm not going to go into my 60's broke and desperate if I have anything to do with it, and yes, I have something to do with it.

I have decided, after much internal deliberation on the subject, to up the amount of savings to 10% versus the 5% it's at now. BUT, the 5% is going into a savings account, initially, until I have enough to by CD's or some other investment venue. I may up the 401k from 5% to 7% and do a 3% savings plan instead. Any way about it, I am going to attempt to save a lot more money than I am doing right now.

The point? I cannot base my retirement on a system that may not exist by that time, or have so little left in it that what I receive is next to nothing. I cannot also depend on inheritances. I may very well get some, but you can't really forecast your financial future on such. No, I am facing the fact that I am going to have to supply my own retirment and to do that means upping substantially my savings portfolio and also, yes, I really want to get into the rental type of business in owning properties and renting them out.

That's a goal. I am starting to work forward to getting to the point where I am realizing that goal in my life, not just in my head.

Regardless, time is up.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 7/17/2011

I started an entry a couple of hours ago, didn't have too much written and then the phone rings. It's my ex. A van full of people had come back from the Salvation Army camp where my son is working and she said he had sent some pics, she was going to bring them over to me. Send pics? Personally? I had some weird thoughts about it - who does THAT? You can just email them and if you want them printed, make a disc and take it to Walgreens - or your store of choice that does such.

Instead, something told me to take a shower - so, I jumped in the shower, got on some clean clothes and then waited for her to bring me the pics.

15 minutes later, she calls and says she's outside my house with the pics. Okay. I walk out there, go through the gate, start walking out to the car and, walaaaah!! CALEB jumps out of the car!!! Now, for once, I was SHOCKED!! I didn't believe my eyes. My mind goes into - how is he home? How is he here? I'm that kind of person: instant analyzation in the mind, but showing great joy on the outside (well it WAS on the inside, too, just a lot of mind junk that sometimes gets in the way of things) to see my son!!

Yes, I got my pictures: LIVE pictures, lol. Mom had him for an hour and she brought him to me for an hour as well. We sat here in my kitchen and talked and talked until it was time for him to leave. I had to take him to the mall down the road to meet up with the rest of the people to head back to the camp. Today was a day off and he decided to hitch a ride down and visit us. Way cool. We had a good conversation, I mostly listened to him telling the stories of his great adventure/journey. Isn't that what parents of adult children are supposed to do? I dunno, folks, I am in a learning curve here, my boy went from childhood to adulthood in one fell swoop and it is definitely an adjustment period.

And mind you, he isn't just an adult by fact of age, he has matured GREATLY in the last 6 to 8 months. I dunno, I was ecstatic to see my boy, it was QUITE the surprise and a good one at that. We got to the mall and he started walking. A very noticeable difference in his gait: he used to walk slow, now, by fact of having to walk all over the place at that large expanse of a camp, he is walking as fast as I do at a normal clip. I brought it up to him: you are walking a bit faster, I see. The light went on: I hadn't noticed until now!!

We traipsed around that mall - large place - until we found the exit where everyone was supposed to meet. I know that it isn't going to be long and I won't be seeing much of my son at all - life takes over, you grow up, you get busy. I'm good with that, but I hope he does what I do with my still-living parents: email them and call them regularly.

It was a great visit. When your kids are with you, perhaps it's easy to take it all for granted. When they leave, then you may begin to see the gift of God that they are to you. My boy has turned out well, that is the greatest gift of all.

ben

Saturday/Payday

Yesterday morning, I check my checking account to see if my paycheck had been deposited. "Pending". Someone flubbed up. That check should have been deposited and IN my account, not pending. I didn't want to sign up for direct deposit in the first place but management "recommended" doing it since I was one of only 2 holdouts in the entire group that didn't use it at the time.

And this is the reason I don't like direct deposit. I have very little experience in using it and the little experience that I do have? THIS is what happens! I didn't say anything, I wanted to see if corporate would acknowledge something had happened at the very least. I get back later from all the runs that took all day long to do and find that corporate had air mailed my pay stub.

Whatever. If this is a routine occurrence, I will stopping direct deposit unless my company says I have no choice in it.

I was asked to write up an article for the company's new newsletter about selling off stuff that is NQ - no value. I have been selling stuff for quite a while now on Craigslist, that versus throwing it away and the company taking a total loss/hit on it. I wrote up an article yesterday but didn't sent it in.

I didn't send it in because I am pissed. The Ops manager said I would get a spiff for the months and months of work I dumped into selling that drip irrigation stuff - spent a considerable amount of my own, personal/off-the-clock time doing it believing I was going to get some kind of recompense for it. I didn't even get a thank you, much less some sort of monetary compensation for it. I won't be selling anything else for them until this situation is rectified and I can say that I am not going to sit around stewing on it forever. It's time to voice my displeasure about this situation - but not in a crass or otherwise obnoxious way.

A simple, "I haven't seen the spiff I was promised for doing all that work to sell that drip irrigation system supplies" will get the ball rolling. If the ops manager somehow tries to deny it, I will take it up with the general manager, who has much different views of things about making promises and then not following through with it. I don't want to make enemies out of the ops manager, but for crying out loud, how do you make such a promise and then just totally blow it off? Still, prudence and calm are what's called for, not anger and stupidity.

My camping equipment quest is on. A gas, 2 burner camp stove is on it's way over here. Rebuilt for $45. I have been wanting to get another camp stove for some time now. Not just for camping. I don't have gas in my house, if for some reason the power to go out, I have no way of cooking. It isn't a fear thing, I just like to have certain items in my repertoire of things I own for the "just-in-case" department. I need a tent, a sleeping bag, a large cooler a 5 gallon water jug and a battery operated lamp at the very least besides the stove. I actually think I can do the rest of that stuff for $200 or so. I'm not interested in a used tent - people don't always take care of them and zippers get broken and such.

My camp stove is here and so is a teflon coated, Coleman cookset. Basically, I am pretty much set on doing some kind of camping during the week off I have coming up next month. Probably only an overnighter or maybe 2 nights - I haven't been camping in a while and I have to get back into the mode. If you want to have an enjoyable experience, there is a lot you have to lug out there - wherever you go - with you. I also sent back with the guy a gas fired lantern that needs repaired. He said $20 to fix it - great, let's do it.

Ummm, I got busy with junk and never finished this entry, posting it anyway.

ben

Friday 7/15/2011

Friday

Now to find an accountant or one of these tax places that actually knows what they are talking about. I've been fixing and replacing things, so I have also been dipping into the money I got from the first tax return a bit. The fixing and replacing scenario ain't over yet, either. Oh, and throw in a 12 gauge shotgun, lol - but that was only $200.

The weekend. As always, no clue. Just going to go to church and the rest is up in the air.

Just a bit over 2 weeks before Caleb comes home. I miss my boy, I can say that before the world, not having him around at all is a bit different. Better get used to it, that's what I know.

I have been looking at camping equipment. Just the basic stuff - Walmart has a camp stove that runs on either camp fuel or unleaded gas. A 4 man tent. Sleeping bag and roll up cushion (no, I am not going to lay directly on the hard ground, doesn't work that way for me). Gotta have a decent sized cooler and a 5 gallon water jug. You can't go out there without water. Oh, and a battery-operated camp lamp.

That's all I need, lol. ROFL. In case you haven't figured it out, that adds up to a chunk of change. I will be looking on Craigslist to see if I can score some of that stuff cheaper, or even Ebay.

I'm still trying to find "The Deal" on getting that old Buick painted. It has 2 dents in it that have to be fixed and then a cheap paint job. It's the dents that are proving to be the thorn in the side as they want a lot of money to fix them and that car is not worth dumping that much money into.

Time's up.

G'day.

ben