Stopped at Fry's Food Stores on the way home from work today. I do that often. I almost always go to the meat department and see what manager's specials are going. That's meat that is going to expire in a couple of days and they need to unload it. I don't often see Porterhouse steak in that portion, in fact, today's finding was the first of such in a long time.
Porterhouse steak - especially one the size that I snagged up - does not cost $6.50.
No, it costs double or more that. Porterhouse is my most favorite steak out of all of them. It's EXTREMLY tender and tastes wonderful barely cooked. Like, bloody on the inside, lol. The rareness that I like to eat steak often grosses people out. Warm it up a little, I'm good to go.
Anyway, long day at work. Did not have a chance to stop and eat, so I went about 22 hours without eating. I blew my diet a bit on Sunday so I'm attempting to make up for it. Eating a single steak and some baked potatoes with fat free sour cream on it? NOT going to blow my diet. About 600 calories in that steak and baked potatoes have almost no fat calories. Yes, I ate around a 1,000 calorie meal, but it's the only meal today, so no biggies. I won't be hungry again after eating steak, that stuff fills me up and I won't even be thinking about food until tomorrow morning.
3 days to go to my 4-day weekend. I'm going to ask for 2 days off next month or in July as well. Memorial Day is coming up soon enough and that is a 3 day weekend. I just want some time off. Really, I'm thinking about asking for a full week off. Other drivers have taken much more time off this year than I have. I took 2 days off to get that thyroid scan which (fortunately) was a bust. Ummm, I was sick I think and took some days off for that as well. But neither of those were vacation days where you are - vacationing even IF staying at home.
Which reminds me, I need to get a copy of the schedule that shows the the locations of the houses that are going to show off their ponds at the pond expo. Take my camera, take a lot of pics. Get some ideas. I was sitting out there yesterday - I have a limited area of where to put the thing. I still can't believe SRP has a 25 FOOT easement in my back yard. Why do they need THAT much space? They DON'T is the answer. The J-box was already dug up once back there, was maybe a 4x4 hole. I am going to look into getting and amendment to that, there is absolutely no good reason for them to have that kind of an easement on my property. It means I can't build or do much of anything with it.
But, I didn't care and put up my shed back there anyway. I also planted all of those plants. But, that's ALL I have done with it. In reality, behind my house would be a great place to build a small casita/guesthouse. Not that I have the money to do any such thing right now, but it IS sitting on a shelf in my mind and I occasionally take it off the shelf to shake off the dust and give it a fresh look : )
I know where the utilities are located because they were marked when I had my house placed on this property - Their easement needs about 5 feet from the back fence, not 25 feet. It REALLY sucks to have that kind of restriction placed on YOUR own property. I didn't know anything about an easement here until after I bought the place. Considering the dilemna I was in at the time, I would have bought it anyway.
Well enough whining, I haven't even bothered to find out if you can ask them to change it so until I do that, I'm going to put a zip on it.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Cafe Word Tip 17: Zynga Allows Cheating On Cafe World
Look, I'm not a big fan of cheating in games simply so you can get ahead of everyone else. On an online game, though, the owners of the software should be able to patch any hacks that come along that allow such cheating to occur.
The cheating I am referring to is the Cheat Engine 5.5 which is used to hack into Cafe World and allows a person to set up their stoves to cook without the cook having to do anything at all. It's called a Cafe Clicker. I have reported 3 people to Zynga so far with no results whatsoever. Which is why I titled this "tip" with Zynga allowing the cheating to occur.
There is not an equal playing field for those that want to play the game legitimately and those that do not. I am getting sick of it, to the point I am considering simply quitting playing the game. I reported on some of the Cafe World messages about what's going on as well. You know what Zynga did? They suspended my "priviledge" to write messages on their board. Apparently they don't like the truth.
Well, I am going to write on MY blog and there isn't a DAMN thing they can do about that. I'm also going to spread this information out across the net. I am definitely NOT the only person that has watched another Cafe World Neighbor come from WAY behind and suddenly, in a few weeks time, not only catch up to you but blow you away and leaving gasping. HOW did they do that? I am not one to let things hang forever.
When I found out how these people are doing this, I then confronted my own ethical steadfastness: did I want to cheat as well? NO. Didn't take long to figure out what I wanted to do in this: nothing. It's a game, it has it's parameters. You're SUPPOSED to have to cook to get Cafe points and get ahead, but this hack is a glaring red thumb that sticks out to anyone that is playing the game and has seen neighbors shoot off into cyberspace in terms of their Cafe points.
It's a joke that you get on the game and a screen pops up saying check out the competition, get neighbors and all that junk. ZYNGA should be FIXING this problem and stripping those that cheated of all their points and make them start from scratch. Am I the only one that hates the cheating? Anecdotally, I can say definitely not. I have had conversations with several of my Cafe World neighbors now who also hate the cheating, don't want to use the hack and want to see Zynga stop this garbage. Oh come on, you say, it's just a little cheating.
I have found in my 46 years of living that when a person is inclined to cheat on anything, regardless of what it may be, even "just" an internet game, they probably incorporate such use across the board when it is convenient for them to do so. Cheating is an ethical issue, some would call it a moral issue.
For those Cafe World players that don't cheat, does it set well with you that this is going on and that more and more players are using this hack?
For those Cafe World players that are cheating? I have nothing to say to you. If you are cheating, it shows a part of your character. I could ask you if you feel small for engaging in such, but obviously you don't so there is context here for a discussion.
Enough of this, I'm going to eat my Porterhouse steak and baked potato with fat-free sour cream and enjoy!
G'day.
The cheating I am referring to is the Cheat Engine 5.5 which is used to hack into Cafe World and allows a person to set up their stoves to cook without the cook having to do anything at all. It's called a Cafe Clicker. I have reported 3 people to Zynga so far with no results whatsoever. Which is why I titled this "tip" with Zynga allowing the cheating to occur.
There is not an equal playing field for those that want to play the game legitimately and those that do not. I am getting sick of it, to the point I am considering simply quitting playing the game. I reported on some of the Cafe World messages about what's going on as well. You know what Zynga did? They suspended my "priviledge" to write messages on their board. Apparently they don't like the truth.
Well, I am going to write on MY blog and there isn't a DAMN thing they can do about that. I'm also going to spread this information out across the net. I am definitely NOT the only person that has watched another Cafe World Neighbor come from WAY behind and suddenly, in a few weeks time, not only catch up to you but blow you away and leaving gasping. HOW did they do that? I am not one to let things hang forever.
When I found out how these people are doing this, I then confronted my own ethical steadfastness: did I want to cheat as well? NO. Didn't take long to figure out what I wanted to do in this: nothing. It's a game, it has it's parameters. You're SUPPOSED to have to cook to get Cafe points and get ahead, but this hack is a glaring red thumb that sticks out to anyone that is playing the game and has seen neighbors shoot off into cyberspace in terms of their Cafe points.
It's a joke that you get on the game and a screen pops up saying check out the competition, get neighbors and all that junk. ZYNGA should be FIXING this problem and stripping those that cheated of all their points and make them start from scratch. Am I the only one that hates the cheating? Anecdotally, I can say definitely not. I have had conversations with several of my Cafe World neighbors now who also hate the cheating, don't want to use the hack and want to see Zynga stop this garbage. Oh come on, you say, it's just a little cheating.
I have found in my 46 years of living that when a person is inclined to cheat on anything, regardless of what it may be, even "just" an internet game, they probably incorporate such use across the board when it is convenient for them to do so. Cheating is an ethical issue, some would call it a moral issue.
For those Cafe World players that don't cheat, does it set well with you that this is going on and that more and more players are using this hack?
For those Cafe World players that are cheating? I have nothing to say to you. If you are cheating, it shows a part of your character. I could ask you if you feel small for engaging in such, but obviously you don't so there is context here for a discussion.
Enough of this, I'm going to eat my Porterhouse steak and baked potato with fat-free sour cream and enjoy!
G'day.
Tuesday
17 orders on 9 stops.
This isn't a pizza delivery service I'm talking about, it's what's in our truck routing system for today. In my kind of work, that many stops is next to impossible to do in one day. Well, we'll see is all I can say about that. Certainly, I'll try : ) I smell OT in the air?!
Speaking of air, it has cooled down considerably this morning. Wow! Just when you thought the folds of earthy hell had arrived, here comes a cold front to whisk it away, if ever so temporarily.
Anyway, yesterday, I got home from work, TV on, junk, crap, yada yada, went outside, put a blanket on the ground next to the ponds and took a nice, long nap. Yes, I will be finding, sooner or later, some nice piece of outdoor furniture to put somewhere in the vicinity of those ponds as the intended effect has already be gained and I'm only half done with the setup!! Of course, a giant, black Great Dane decided to snooze next to me, and then a half Great Dane came around and laid down in the grass, followed by a third Great Dane that decided that the cement slap was for him.
Life's simple pleasures. How many of us actually engage ourselves in the simple things that life offers that don't involve having to go somewhere, put down large sums of cash and may not even be ethical to begin with? I know I have been guilty. No, I come to enjoy being more of a homebody than anything. I used to be very outgoing, parties and events and this that and the other thing. Nothing wrong with it, I guess, but it was to the exclusion of doing anything at home. I'm on the other side of that equation now and eventually? Probably find some middle ground as I am really not happy that I am not at least involved in a church somewhere.
Not blaming anyone, I just can't get past the situation that occured during the divorce almost 6 years ago now.
But I am not going into that here. NO time for it and no desire to ruin a perfectly beautiful morning thinking about such.
Instead, I'm offa here to get about the business of the day at hand.
G'day.
ben
This isn't a pizza delivery service I'm talking about, it's what's in our truck routing system for today. In my kind of work, that many stops is next to impossible to do in one day. Well, we'll see is all I can say about that. Certainly, I'll try : ) I smell OT in the air?!
Speaking of air, it has cooled down considerably this morning. Wow! Just when you thought the folds of earthy hell had arrived, here comes a cold front to whisk it away, if ever so temporarily.
Anyway, yesterday, I got home from work, TV on, junk, crap, yada yada, went outside, put a blanket on the ground next to the ponds and took a nice, long nap. Yes, I will be finding, sooner or later, some nice piece of outdoor furniture to put somewhere in the vicinity of those ponds as the intended effect has already be gained and I'm only half done with the setup!! Of course, a giant, black Great Dane decided to snooze next to me, and then a half Great Dane came around and laid down in the grass, followed by a third Great Dane that decided that the cement slap was for him.
Life's simple pleasures. How many of us actually engage ourselves in the simple things that life offers that don't involve having to go somewhere, put down large sums of cash and may not even be ethical to begin with? I know I have been guilty. No, I come to enjoy being more of a homebody than anything. I used to be very outgoing, parties and events and this that and the other thing. Nothing wrong with it, I guess, but it was to the exclusion of doing anything at home. I'm on the other side of that equation now and eventually? Probably find some middle ground as I am really not happy that I am not at least involved in a church somewhere.
Not blaming anyone, I just can't get past the situation that occured during the divorce almost 6 years ago now.
But I am not going into that here. NO time for it and no desire to ruin a perfectly beautiful morning thinking about such.
Instead, I'm offa here to get about the business of the day at hand.
G'day.
ben
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday
The Verdict?
A wire that wasn't installed correctly in the main pedestal.
THAT is why my internet wasn't working worth a crap.
It's back up to 7 mbps, I fully intend on calling Qwest and demanding at least 50% off on this month's payment considering this thing has been this way for 2 weeks now.
Live and learn - next time I have this problem check the internet speed FIRST. Here I was freakin' trying to do all this stuff to my computer thinking the kids had downloaded "something" - which has happened in the past on several occasions. I gave up on Cafe World - 10 minutes to access the game and 20 plus minutes just to get dishes cooking, that's how bad it was. Of course, finally getting back on the game again I found one neighbor had totally passed me by and waving a blithy goodbye.
I assume that person thought I wouldn't catch up to him considering he was almost 50,000 points ahead of me. Yes, well I know how to play catch up WITHOUT cheating. You simply buy the dishes to cook, prepare them and delete them. You spend a lot of money doing it - around 2,000,000 gold coins to catch up and pass that sucker - but I didn't care in this case because of circumstances that were out of my control. I have removed neighbors 3 times now that were using a cheat hack to get ahead, but, again, buying your way up isn't cheating. You can't do it forever, either, your gold coins will run out sooner or later. Good thing I still have around 4,000,000 gold coins!!
Newest, temporary tenant is a bit strange. Nothing psycho strange, just an unusual - temperament. He's only there til' Sunday, so I figure I can deal with it. He brought all of his landscaping equipment into the back last night, I forgot to warn him about the dogs. Nothing is sacred out there, especially anything "new". Yup, they started attempting to piss on his lawn mower. Good thing they aren't very good aim. They lift their leg and usually are FAR short of actually hitting what they are aiming for. I did, however, shoo them off of the stuff.
I now have 2 people attempting to talk me into buying their ponds. I had had an ad up and forgot to take it down. I was thinking about a very small pond for the front of the house - a plant only version, no fish. It would add a very cool look to that area. But, though the pond is cheap - $20 - it all adds up when you start talking about another filter and buying plants. Still, a small pond with a small waterfall would add a very cool looking effect to my jungle out front. Figure around $100 to build another filter with pump, buy the pond and put some plants in it, not including another pump for a waterfall.
Yeah, I think I will pass on that for now. I already have a waterfall to build - isn't going to cost me anything more then about 20 blocks for a retaining will and some concrete, but the work is enough in itself for now.
Well, 5 days, including today, until my 4-days off : )
G'day.
ben
A wire that wasn't installed correctly in the main pedestal.
THAT is why my internet wasn't working worth a crap.
It's back up to 7 mbps, I fully intend on calling Qwest and demanding at least 50% off on this month's payment considering this thing has been this way for 2 weeks now.
Live and learn - next time I have this problem check the internet speed FIRST. Here I was freakin' trying to do all this stuff to my computer thinking the kids had downloaded "something" - which has happened in the past on several occasions. I gave up on Cafe World - 10 minutes to access the game and 20 plus minutes just to get dishes cooking, that's how bad it was. Of course, finally getting back on the game again I found one neighbor had totally passed me by and waving a blithy goodbye.
I assume that person thought I wouldn't catch up to him considering he was almost 50,000 points ahead of me. Yes, well I know how to play catch up WITHOUT cheating. You simply buy the dishes to cook, prepare them and delete them. You spend a lot of money doing it - around 2,000,000 gold coins to catch up and pass that sucker - but I didn't care in this case because of circumstances that were out of my control. I have removed neighbors 3 times now that were using a cheat hack to get ahead, but, again, buying your way up isn't cheating. You can't do it forever, either, your gold coins will run out sooner or later. Good thing I still have around 4,000,000 gold coins!!
Newest, temporary tenant is a bit strange. Nothing psycho strange, just an unusual - temperament. He's only there til' Sunday, so I figure I can deal with it. He brought all of his landscaping equipment into the back last night, I forgot to warn him about the dogs. Nothing is sacred out there, especially anything "new". Yup, they started attempting to piss on his lawn mower. Good thing they aren't very good aim. They lift their leg and usually are FAR short of actually hitting what they are aiming for. I did, however, shoo them off of the stuff.
I now have 2 people attempting to talk me into buying their ponds. I had had an ad up and forgot to take it down. I was thinking about a very small pond for the front of the house - a plant only version, no fish. It would add a very cool look to that area. But, though the pond is cheap - $20 - it all adds up when you start talking about another filter and buying plants. Still, a small pond with a small waterfall would add a very cool looking effect to my jungle out front. Figure around $100 to build another filter with pump, buy the pond and put some plants in it, not including another pump for a waterfall.
Yeah, I think I will pass on that for now. I already have a waterfall to build - isn't going to cost me anything more then about 20 blocks for a retaining will and some concrete, but the work is enough in itself for now.
Well, 5 days, including today, until my 4-days off : )
G'day.
ben
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Room Is Rented...............
.........for a week. Well, it's nothing to snoot at, money is money. It's going straight into the power reader - tomorrow, lol as I have no inclination of going anywhere today. I have been working around the house this morning - pulling weeds, grass, adjusting things in the ponds, planting the rest of the tomato plants, cleaning up dog crap - stuff like that.
The guy that came over? Didn't want to talk about his situation, I didn't ask, he was staying in a hotel for 2 days and only needs my place for a week or possibly 2 weeks. He had a nice pickup filled with the tools of a lawn maintenance company - his own with his name on the side of the truck. That helped me to figure this guy isn't a looney bins nutcase. He paid his money and left - 3 jobs today to do.
If I could rent the room for at least another week this month, that would help tremendously. So, cross my fingers the guy ends up having to stay 2 weeks.
Also turned the neighbors in again to the City of Phoenix. I should have done it 2 weeks ago. They simply do not maintain their property, the grass and weeds grow rampant, they don't care. It grows into my property and it's a constant battle and I am quite sick of it. I am going to have to go ahead and lay that plastic liner on both sides of the plants that are adjacent to the fence on their side of the house. Pain? Absolutely. Will it totally solve the problem? No, but it will reduce it by 80% at least by simply covering up as much of the ground as I can without smothering the plants. IF I could get permission to simply spray their side with grass and weed killer, that would definitely put an end to this problem - for a while until the stuff starts growing again.
They never acknowledged that I basically saved their dog's life by putting him back in their yard when they left for over a week last month and had no-one stopping by - until 7 days had passed - to keep and eye on them. Yes, I sent them a friendly letter. No, I won't do anything for them ever again, except to repeatedly turn them into the City of Phoenix and report the blight on their property. I'm assuming those people are mooching off the government because neither of the parents work. They have a truckload of kids that they force to stay inside the house all the time, only coming out to go to school or take out the trash. It's a pretty weird situation over there, really.
Pic at top? Woman was in the HOV lane, babbling on the cellphone and attempting to do whatever she was in there because she kept flipping the phone around and looking into a purse or something. Driving was neither the first or second priority in her mind. Without signaling - of course - she started into the lane I was in. I didn't have the camera ready at the time or I would have gotten a doozy of a video of being EXTREMELY cut off by a person who isn't paying a damned bit of attention to what she is doing. Her rear bumper might have been 2 feet from mine, that's how close it was. I immediately started shutting the truck down and yes, I honked and for several seconds. That's her in the pic, she simply cut over 5 lanes of traffic, cutting off other vehicles as well. Another driver had to slam on their brakes to keep from rear-ending this lovely-piece-of-work driver who is, sooner or later, going to be involved in a very serious accident if she keps driving like that.
There isn't any reason to believe that a person who drives like that as normal, modus operandi is going to change until something happens that by default, forces her to change. If you do a close up on that shot, you will see her hand stuck to her head. Sorry lady, there ain't any brains in there to stop from bleeding out......oh wait a second, that's not what she's trying to do, is it? No, she's got a cellphone glued to her ear.
Umm, sometimes these postings of mine? I get distracted and get to doing other things. This one was the same.
G'day.
ben
Sunday/My Computer Is Not Back!
I ended this posting realizing that today is Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, do something nice for yourself today (like leave the kids home and friggin' go out and have a steak or something, lol.)
All this time I spent working on this computer - and yes I definitely got the entire machine to get things done faster - I end up finding out that it's on Qwest's end of the deal. I did half a dozen speed tests last night and came up with and average around 0.37 Mbps. I just did another one on another tester: 1107 Kpbs. That's about 1 megabyte per second. I'm paying for 7. Faster than dial - but not much. I told the Qwest rep on the phone last night that their company had promised a half dozen times to come out and bury the line - for 2 years now they have promised that.
Yeah, nothing. I didn't get upset or bitchy, in fact, I was laughing. Why not? I have absolutely no intention, whatsoever, of paying full price for the last two weeks that this machine has been running like this. I WILL be getting a discounted price this month.
I have not gone out and checked my plants in the pond yet this morning. Heck, it's only 6:30 am, I got up a bit earlier than normal for a Sunday. AC is running, whatta hoot. See all those dollars pumping through that machine in the hallway in the form of electrical use, I'm thrilled! Actually, I had forgotten the power usage has gone way up since the temps started climbing and also forgot, yesterday, to load the reader with more money. Yup, the power went out on me. One pretty sure-fire way to remember that you forgot? Just let the power go out. You'll be getting some interesting looks from people while you rush up to the store to load more money onto the prepaid card. Lol.
Well, just a short entry here. I have another person coming over to look at the room. He moved here for employment, is staying at a hotel waiting for his apartment to get ready, isn't particularly happy to pay the steep hotel bill. He said he needed a room for a week, maybe two. Great, come on over, the price is definitely right! You can get into an extended stay motel for about $200 per week. You can stay at a cheap place like Motel 6 - I think right now weekdays at the one on the way to work is $37.50, but weekends go up to $54.99. I'm charging $90 per week. I didn't want to ask too much cause' there ain't that much demand for this kind of deal going here. But it's a heck of a lot cheaper than any of that other stuff and it's much nicer to stay in a home - at least I think it is - than a hotel room. I can deal with hotel rooms for a couple of days, but weeks at a time? NOT.
Happy Sunday.
Oh - and to all moms: Happy Mother's Day!!!
All this time I spent working on this computer - and yes I definitely got the entire machine to get things done faster - I end up finding out that it's on Qwest's end of the deal. I did half a dozen speed tests last night and came up with and average around 0.37 Mbps. I just did another one on another tester: 1107 Kpbs. That's about 1 megabyte per second. I'm paying for 7. Faster than dial - but not much. I told the Qwest rep on the phone last night that their company had promised a half dozen times to come out and bury the line - for 2 years now they have promised that.
Yeah, nothing. I didn't get upset or bitchy, in fact, I was laughing. Why not? I have absolutely no intention, whatsoever, of paying full price for the last two weeks that this machine has been running like this. I WILL be getting a discounted price this month.
I have not gone out and checked my plants in the pond yet this morning. Heck, it's only 6:30 am, I got up a bit earlier than normal for a Sunday. AC is running, whatta hoot. See all those dollars pumping through that machine in the hallway in the form of electrical use, I'm thrilled! Actually, I had forgotten the power usage has gone way up since the temps started climbing and also forgot, yesterday, to load the reader with more money. Yup, the power went out on me. One pretty sure-fire way to remember that you forgot? Just let the power go out. You'll be getting some interesting looks from people while you rush up to the store to load more money onto the prepaid card. Lol.
Well, just a short entry here. I have another person coming over to look at the room. He moved here for employment, is staying at a hotel waiting for his apartment to get ready, isn't particularly happy to pay the steep hotel bill. He said he needed a room for a week, maybe two. Great, come on over, the price is definitely right! You can get into an extended stay motel for about $200 per week. You can stay at a cheap place like Motel 6 - I think right now weekdays at the one on the way to work is $37.50, but weekends go up to $54.99. I'm charging $90 per week. I didn't want to ask too much cause' there ain't that much demand for this kind of deal going here. But it's a heck of a lot cheaper than any of that other stuff and it's much nicer to stay in a home - at least I think it is - than a hotel room. I can deal with hotel rooms for a couple of days, but weeks at a time? NOT.
Happy Sunday.
Oh - and to all moms: Happy Mother's Day!!!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
My Computer Is Back!
I've done everything I know to do with this computer. Well, I'm still uploading videos and probably will be into tomorrow. The point is that this machine today as going SO slow, it took several minutes just to bring up my email. Yet, I had done all the things that I have learned to do to get it running back to speed - and yes, I have spent CONSIDERABLE, COPIOUS amounts of time - hundreds of hours anyway - attempting to learn all this nonsense.
I figured to reboot the computer, if that didn't do, time to start fresh.
BAM. Click on a link and it's THERE. Not click on a link and 2 minutes later it's there. I'm quite serious, I WILL re-format this computer and reload ALL of that software back on here before I will tolerate a machine that is running at a snail's pace. It might take a couple of days before all the software is installed and the thing is back on par, but it's a FAR better deal than sitting here waiting eternally for something to happen.
Well, I was at it 4 hours this morning, I got sick of it and left. Went to the guy's house with the plants.
It is a recurring them to find people's homes that have ponds that not only have the ponds, but also immaculate, beautiful landscaping front, side and back yards. This man's house was no different and was QUITE amazing some of the stuff that he had done with plants.
He had 2 ponds. Well, he had 2 pond structures, I should say. The larger one had a beautiful waterfall and I was examining it closely. I was more interested in the construction of the waterfall than I was the plants - and trust me, I was VERY interested in the plants.
He had done, some 15 years ago, what my mind had been constructing for a waterfall the last week or more. I love the visual: let me see something that is already done and I can duplicate it. Well, not duplicate, really, just get an idea of how to construct it, I will come up with my own, original and final, finished product when I am done building it.
I couldn't figure how anyone could build a waterfall in one day if you were going to use cement, which I am thinking is the best thing to not only hold it together, but help make it leakproof. The answer? You CAN'T!! I was thinking that building it would be in many stages, my thinking was correct after asking the guy a lot of questions. I was eating up every word he was saying and it was apparent that he was happy to show off his expertise a little. Nothing arrogant, either, just a very intelligent person giving his views on things in a very humble and - cool - way, really.
Really, I closely inspected his entire setup. His ponds were also done in cement. He had water gushing out of the waterfall, into a large pond that was a cement liner with brick sides. I had seen another pond online like this, absolutely beautiful. The large pond poured out into a small, cement creek. This fed into another small pond, then another short creek and into yet another pond.
The other thing that I learned today was you CAN use a swimming pool pump and filtering system for a large pond. The caveat - at least according to this guy and you can pretty much bet a dude that has been engaged in it for 15 years is probably going to know what's going on - is that it has to be a sand filter, not a paper filtered system. He then went on to add that you have to use different sand for a pond in the filter than you do for a swimming pool - of which he has both.
I gleaned a lot of information from this guy today and I will be getting more in the future as I intend to go back and get 2 more lily plants. I can't wait for lillies to grow large, I will need 2 of them in each pond to help cover the water and help keep the water cool in the summer. I ended up with 2 lillies and - other plants that I don't remember the names of but will be writing them down when I go back. Or, I may be able to find them online through Google images.
LONG time lapse in writing this. A man called about the room. Was supposed to call me at 6:00 pm - it's now a quarter after. Not surprising or deflating. A Census taker came wanting info - I put that packet of papers into a pile of other stuff a while back and totally forgot about it. I was GOING to do it, I really was! He sat here for about half an hour telling me tales of the things that he has encountered while doing that job. I then decided dinner was in order, and my findings are that spaghetti is okay for a diet as long as done in moderation. Well, it didn't take much to full me up, anyway. I am in love with spaghetti sauce, which has no fat calories and few calories beyond that. I had small portions of the pasta - tasty yes, but didn't want to get carried away with the carbs.
Then I cleaned all that mess up - just in case this dude IS going to show up to see the room. The house? Very nice. Well, almost. I didn't get to cleaning the living room carpet. I DID spend a rather large amount of time cleaning the hallway carpet. I went over it 3 times - the final time I put laundry fabric softener in the water in the feed tank - it makes the carpet smell good, dry faster and feel good on the feet. Mary - the meth user that used to live here - has a lot of knowledge about cleaning things and I did manage to glean some of that knowledge from her and keep it, and yes, putting fabric softener in a carpet cleaning machine in a sort of "final rinse" was her idea.
The newest tenant cleaned the main bathroom - and did a very nice job of it I might add, I made the boys clean the kitchen floor and living room while I was standing on a chair, freeing the blades of one of the ceiling fans of dust via the use of my vacuum cleaner with an attachment. I got the new plants potted and in the water. I had no idea how that was supposed to work until the man with the plants explained it to me. Very simple, yes, but when you have nothing in your knowledge data banks to draw from, well, time to ask. The trick is to put sand on top of the soil so the dirt doesn't go flowing all over inside of your ponds. Good idea and done.
Also, the gal side of the trailer tenants finally called today. She was looking for money. Not from me. He - the guy side of that equation - had done a lot of work on some Mastercool coolers for the dude that lives behind me. The dude promised to give him a portion of the profit off of selling the units when sold. He lived up to his promise, came over here looking for them, handed me the cash and asked me to give it to them.
I, in turn, took the cash to the casino, played several rounds of Blackjack and lost all of it. I will let them know what happened to the money when they return. If you don't know me, then I must advise you that the last 2 sentences are total hook-pookey - I would NEVER take someone else's money and spend it. She is coming back here today - wherever she has been staying while her best bud/boyfriend is in the hospital apparently have not been very kind living accoutrements. She DID inform me that $25 of that $80 is mine for last week - they missed the payment. HE worked his @$$ off, in apparent bid to make them stay in good graces with me. He informed me before THAT that he would be late on that week's payment. The problem? I never said a word about it to them. The money that is. I have made it well known that they will NOT be living here for free, but at the same time, I try to be very gracious about it, and also, knowing human nature and the way things go, there will be times when they don't have the money and I am not going to sweat it.
I have not, however, told them THAT. You tell a person that you aren't going to sweat money that they should be paying you and you will find that many people will take HUGE advantage of you. No, I will give them grace when it's needed, but I will not let my "walls" down in such area. There is no good reason I can think of for letting them live here absolutely free, therefore, I won't. They are only paying me $25 per week - enough to cover their usage of electricity. He also does alot of work outside, it really does add up in the end excepting the amount of money I spent on that trailer. Well, I did it as an act of humanitarianism, not a profit-making deal, there is nothing about making money in this venture with these people in the equation, as intended from the beginning. There is also NOTHING beyond buying the trailer itself that is a money-LOSING proposition at this point. I am not spending any more money on it for now and that's it. There is still ample work to be done to the thing, but I am not doing it right now. If I find some carpet for free, I will get it and install it. No, there is no carpet on the floor but, I am not spending money on such right now.
Anyway, the day is drawing short and I need to go out and water my tomato plants and probably sit down, look at the pond, and think. You see, it is very peaceful out there and no-one bothers me. There are no TV's sounding in my ears and it is a restive spot that invokes reflection and thought.
You wanna know WHY I put those ponds in there and have done all the other work over there? I just told you.
G'day.
ben
I figured to reboot the computer, if that didn't do, time to start fresh.
BAM. Click on a link and it's THERE. Not click on a link and 2 minutes later it's there. I'm quite serious, I WILL re-format this computer and reload ALL of that software back on here before I will tolerate a machine that is running at a snail's pace. It might take a couple of days before all the software is installed and the thing is back on par, but it's a FAR better deal than sitting here waiting eternally for something to happen.
Well, I was at it 4 hours this morning, I got sick of it and left. Went to the guy's house with the plants.
It is a recurring them to find people's homes that have ponds that not only have the ponds, but also immaculate, beautiful landscaping front, side and back yards. This man's house was no different and was QUITE amazing some of the stuff that he had done with plants.
He had 2 ponds. Well, he had 2 pond structures, I should say. The larger one had a beautiful waterfall and I was examining it closely. I was more interested in the construction of the waterfall than I was the plants - and trust me, I was VERY interested in the plants.
He had done, some 15 years ago, what my mind had been constructing for a waterfall the last week or more. I love the visual: let me see something that is already done and I can duplicate it. Well, not duplicate, really, just get an idea of how to construct it, I will come up with my own, original and final, finished product when I am done building it.
I couldn't figure how anyone could build a waterfall in one day if you were going to use cement, which I am thinking is the best thing to not only hold it together, but help make it leakproof. The answer? You CAN'T!! I was thinking that building it would be in many stages, my thinking was correct after asking the guy a lot of questions. I was eating up every word he was saying and it was apparent that he was happy to show off his expertise a little. Nothing arrogant, either, just a very intelligent person giving his views on things in a very humble and - cool - way, really.
Really, I closely inspected his entire setup. His ponds were also done in cement. He had water gushing out of the waterfall, into a large pond that was a cement liner with brick sides. I had seen another pond online like this, absolutely beautiful. The large pond poured out into a small, cement creek. This fed into another small pond, then another short creek and into yet another pond.
The other thing that I learned today was you CAN use a swimming pool pump and filtering system for a large pond. The caveat - at least according to this guy and you can pretty much bet a dude that has been engaged in it for 15 years is probably going to know what's going on - is that it has to be a sand filter, not a paper filtered system. He then went on to add that you have to use different sand for a pond in the filter than you do for a swimming pool - of which he has both.
I gleaned a lot of information from this guy today and I will be getting more in the future as I intend to go back and get 2 more lily plants. I can't wait for lillies to grow large, I will need 2 of them in each pond to help cover the water and help keep the water cool in the summer. I ended up with 2 lillies and - other plants that I don't remember the names of but will be writing them down when I go back. Or, I may be able to find them online through Google images.
LONG time lapse in writing this. A man called about the room. Was supposed to call me at 6:00 pm - it's now a quarter after. Not surprising or deflating. A Census taker came wanting info - I put that packet of papers into a pile of other stuff a while back and totally forgot about it. I was GOING to do it, I really was! He sat here for about half an hour telling me tales of the things that he has encountered while doing that job. I then decided dinner was in order, and my findings are that spaghetti is okay for a diet as long as done in moderation. Well, it didn't take much to full me up, anyway. I am in love with spaghetti sauce, which has no fat calories and few calories beyond that. I had small portions of the pasta - tasty yes, but didn't want to get carried away with the carbs.
Then I cleaned all that mess up - just in case this dude IS going to show up to see the room. The house? Very nice. Well, almost. I didn't get to cleaning the living room carpet. I DID spend a rather large amount of time cleaning the hallway carpet. I went over it 3 times - the final time I put laundry fabric softener in the water in the feed tank - it makes the carpet smell good, dry faster and feel good on the feet. Mary - the meth user that used to live here - has a lot of knowledge about cleaning things and I did manage to glean some of that knowledge from her and keep it, and yes, putting fabric softener in a carpet cleaning machine in a sort of "final rinse" was her idea.
The newest tenant cleaned the main bathroom - and did a very nice job of it I might add, I made the boys clean the kitchen floor and living room while I was standing on a chair, freeing the blades of one of the ceiling fans of dust via the use of my vacuum cleaner with an attachment. I got the new plants potted and in the water. I had no idea how that was supposed to work until the man with the plants explained it to me. Very simple, yes, but when you have nothing in your knowledge data banks to draw from, well, time to ask. The trick is to put sand on top of the soil so the dirt doesn't go flowing all over inside of your ponds. Good idea and done.
Also, the gal side of the trailer tenants finally called today. She was looking for money. Not from me. He - the guy side of that equation - had done a lot of work on some Mastercool coolers for the dude that lives behind me. The dude promised to give him a portion of the profit off of selling the units when sold. He lived up to his promise, came over here looking for them, handed me the cash and asked me to give it to them.
I, in turn, took the cash to the casino, played several rounds of Blackjack and lost all of it. I will let them know what happened to the money when they return. If you don't know me, then I must advise you that the last 2 sentences are total hook-pookey - I would NEVER take someone else's money and spend it. She is coming back here today - wherever she has been staying while her best bud/boyfriend is in the hospital apparently have not been very kind living accoutrements. She DID inform me that $25 of that $80 is mine for last week - they missed the payment. HE worked his @$$ off, in apparent bid to make them stay in good graces with me. He informed me before THAT that he would be late on that week's payment. The problem? I never said a word about it to them. The money that is. I have made it well known that they will NOT be living here for free, but at the same time, I try to be very gracious about it, and also, knowing human nature and the way things go, there will be times when they don't have the money and I am not going to sweat it.
I have not, however, told them THAT. You tell a person that you aren't going to sweat money that they should be paying you and you will find that many people will take HUGE advantage of you. No, I will give them grace when it's needed, but I will not let my "walls" down in such area. There is no good reason I can think of for letting them live here absolutely free, therefore, I won't. They are only paying me $25 per week - enough to cover their usage of electricity. He also does alot of work outside, it really does add up in the end excepting the amount of money I spent on that trailer. Well, I did it as an act of humanitarianism, not a profit-making deal, there is nothing about making money in this venture with these people in the equation, as intended from the beginning. There is also NOTHING beyond buying the trailer itself that is a money-LOSING proposition at this point. I am not spending any more money on it for now and that's it. There is still ample work to be done to the thing, but I am not doing it right now. If I find some carpet for free, I will get it and install it. No, there is no carpet on the floor but, I am not spending money on such right now.
Anyway, the day is drawing short and I need to go out and water my tomato plants and probably sit down, look at the pond, and think. You see, it is very peaceful out there and no-one bothers me. There are no TV's sounding in my ears and it is a restive spot that invokes reflection and thought.
You wanna know WHY I put those ponds in there and have done all the other work over there? I just told you.
G'day.
ben
Saturday
So, I decided to go ahead an upload all the pics I wanna save off of my computer to both Photobucket and Youtube repspectively. Saving it to a flash drive would also work, but, my intentions when I took the pics or videos was to put them on the internet. I have never heard of Photobucket crashing, and unlike JS, I would like to hope that they have everything backed up. Youtube videos probably wouldn't really bother me much if they all disappeared, it's mostly just driving junk and a few videos of the boys doing little skits. Nothing grand there.
But, if you wanna see a computer that is REALLY dragging now, just come takealookit this one, cause' all that uploading is draining this thing's resources. Shutting off video surveillance helped it a little. I'm also wondering if the excessive amount of videos I have stored on this computer isn't a portion of the problem in itself in attempting to find out what, exactly, is slowing this thing down. Once those videos/pics are uploaded, I am going to delete them off the computer and see if it speeds up any - I probably have 30 plus videos at least stored on here.
Unfortunately, it takes next to forever to upload a video and I have 11 in-queue after the current one is done. Lol.
Meanwhile, I am going to go out and takealookit my ponds and see if the water levels are still good. Actually, and thankfully, when one of these ponds has a leak, it becomes quite obvious as the ground next to the leak gets muddy. I had thought you wouldn't really be able to see the water on the surface, surely it would just leech down into the ground, but that isn't the case.
Yesterday was a bit difficult day in dieting as was the day before. I ate a Subway salad - all the veggies with Tuna Fish. I have no idea what the caloric content of the fish is, but I have been eating it all along so whatever the deal, it isn't hurting the diet any. I don't put cheese on it and the only thing added for dressing is some red vinegar looking stuff (NO oil). I had to stop using Ranch dressing - delicious, yes, full of fat calories, definitely and they LOAD that stuff on there when they make a salad or a sandwich. When I came home, I didn't feel like cooking so I ate a spoon of crunchy peanut butter. A few hours later I had another spoon and that was the extent of my eating yesterday. No, I don't believe that's a lot of food or calories. In fact, I am very hungry right now and I don't want to wait too long to eat or I will just get hungrier and hungrier which, in turn, threatens today's caloric intake reduction attempt.
The best thing is to simply stay busy and it keeps my mind off of food. However, my stomach can make some pretty serious noises down there when it starts demanding food be given it.
Anyway, I'm off to the great outdoors to see if the ponds appear to still be good. If they are, I am hoping to get some plants for them today.
C'yall later.
ben
But, if you wanna see a computer that is REALLY dragging now, just come takealookit this one, cause' all that uploading is draining this thing's resources. Shutting off video surveillance helped it a little. I'm also wondering if the excessive amount of videos I have stored on this computer isn't a portion of the problem in itself in attempting to find out what, exactly, is slowing this thing down. Once those videos/pics are uploaded, I am going to delete them off the computer and see if it speeds up any - I probably have 30 plus videos at least stored on here.
Unfortunately, it takes next to forever to upload a video and I have 11 in-queue after the current one is done. Lol.
Meanwhile, I am going to go out and takealookit my ponds and see if the water levels are still good. Actually, and thankfully, when one of these ponds has a leak, it becomes quite obvious as the ground next to the leak gets muddy. I had thought you wouldn't really be able to see the water on the surface, surely it would just leech down into the ground, but that isn't the case.
Yesterday was a bit difficult day in dieting as was the day before. I ate a Subway salad - all the veggies with Tuna Fish. I have no idea what the caloric content of the fish is, but I have been eating it all along so whatever the deal, it isn't hurting the diet any. I don't put cheese on it and the only thing added for dressing is some red vinegar looking stuff (NO oil). I had to stop using Ranch dressing - delicious, yes, full of fat calories, definitely and they LOAD that stuff on there when they make a salad or a sandwich. When I came home, I didn't feel like cooking so I ate a spoon of crunchy peanut butter. A few hours later I had another spoon and that was the extent of my eating yesterday. No, I don't believe that's a lot of food or calories. In fact, I am very hungry right now and I don't want to wait too long to eat or I will just get hungrier and hungrier which, in turn, threatens today's caloric intake reduction attempt.
The best thing is to simply stay busy and it keeps my mind off of food. However, my stomach can make some pretty serious noises down there when it starts demanding food be given it.
Anyway, I'm off to the great outdoors to see if the ponds appear to still be good. If they are, I am hoping to get some plants for them today.
C'yall later.
ben
Friday, May 7, 2010
667th Post
I will be getting post the 666th post very quickly, like right NOW. I now, it's rather obsessive - don't really care what anyone thinks, I am not going to have my blog dwelling on that number for any length of time, period.
The trailer tenants are still gone. I'm still guessing after several conversations with the guy part of this deal and seeing his extreme, obvious pain, that he is in a hospital somewhere. The lady portion of this deal? NO idea where she's at. She has made it obvious in the past, however, that she is uncomfortable being here alone.
Not to be rude or obnoxious, but she is no hotty. Just to clear anyone's mind that I have hit on her since that seems to be the theme of the day - nowadays. I am not good at guessing people's ages, I am pretty good at guessing a person's weight - she's around 350-375 pounds. Again, just to state that I have not been hitting up, I am not into such. She's a nice girl and all, but I would never look at that with any form of desire or lust.
My dad wrote me, completely changing the subject and hoping the guy comes through his ordeal okay- stating he has to get rid of his sailboat. He had wanted us to come and go sailing with him this summer. Well, summer hasn't arrived and I had given it some but not much thought. A trip down there has to be planned in advance.
He cites the HOA's regulation about having such out of sight, which it is, but he doesn't feel he can do it anymore. My dad's getting old, that's what this is all about. He's 78. Not that we didn't want to go, either, I think his age is dictating to him what he can and cannot do, understandably. I have actually had nightmares of going out on a lake with him and my son somewhere, the boat capsizing and watching him drowning.
Yes, radical dreams. I'm sure a dream interpretist could tell me what's going on, I figure it's a fear of losing someone you love dearly. I have had the same with my son. In the case of my son, however, and with such dreams, I have fought bloody battles and even died in such scenarios. I tend to have vivid dreams - and also - ban the idea that if you die in a dream, you die in real life at the same time. I would be dead 50 times over if such were true, including being eaten alive by lions when I was in my teen years.
You say, that's weird. I agree. I have no control over my dream life. Sometimes my dreams really bother me, mostly I just "write it off" to a state of mind that I am not under control of and all bets are off.
Anyway, the day is drawing to a close and I am going outside to enjoy what appears to be 2, leakless ponds.
G'day and G'nite.
ben
The trailer tenants are still gone. I'm still guessing after several conversations with the guy part of this deal and seeing his extreme, obvious pain, that he is in a hospital somewhere. The lady portion of this deal? NO idea where she's at. She has made it obvious in the past, however, that she is uncomfortable being here alone.
Not to be rude or obnoxious, but she is no hotty. Just to clear anyone's mind that I have hit on her since that seems to be the theme of the day - nowadays. I am not good at guessing people's ages, I am pretty good at guessing a person's weight - she's around 350-375 pounds. Again, just to state that I have not been hitting up, I am not into such. She's a nice girl and all, but I would never look at that with any form of desire or lust.
My dad wrote me, completely changing the subject and hoping the guy comes through his ordeal okay- stating he has to get rid of his sailboat. He had wanted us to come and go sailing with him this summer. Well, summer hasn't arrived and I had given it some but not much thought. A trip down there has to be planned in advance.
He cites the HOA's regulation about having such out of sight, which it is, but he doesn't feel he can do it anymore. My dad's getting old, that's what this is all about. He's 78. Not that we didn't want to go, either, I think his age is dictating to him what he can and cannot do, understandably. I have actually had nightmares of going out on a lake with him and my son somewhere, the boat capsizing and watching him drowning.
Yes, radical dreams. I'm sure a dream interpretist could tell me what's going on, I figure it's a fear of losing someone you love dearly. I have had the same with my son. In the case of my son, however, and with such dreams, I have fought bloody battles and even died in such scenarios. I tend to have vivid dreams - and also - ban the idea that if you die in a dream, you die in real life at the same time. I would be dead 50 times over if such were true, including being eaten alive by lions when I was in my teen years.
You say, that's weird. I agree. I have no control over my dream life. Sometimes my dreams really bother me, mostly I just "write it off" to a state of mind that I am not under control of and all bets are off.
Anyway, the day is drawing to a close and I am going outside to enjoy what appears to be 2, leakless ponds.
G'day and G'nite.
ben
666th Post
I have some sort of mind deal going with the number 666 after reading the book of Revelations countless times.
This is the 666th post on this blog and this is the end of my entry.
Thank you and goodbye.
This is the 666th post on this blog and this is the end of my entry.
Thank you and goodbye.
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