...........downtown, still thinking about buying some 4X4's for posts for the clothesline I want to put up, when it suddenly dawned on me that we have literally PILES of 4X4's used for dunnage from trucks bringing in product. Instead of throwing it away, it gets dumped into a pile. Well, the pile had grown considerably, a sign of the times perhaps, there was FAR more in that pile than anyone needed.
It didn't take long to find 3 - good - 4X4's long enough and straight enough to fulfill my need.
I was glad that was free, cause' the hardware and nails and such to put the thing together was over $30. I guesstimate less than 2 weeks after I get that setup - up - to pay for itself.
Today was a non-productive day. No deliveries and I didn't see a single counter sale from our branch. Maybe there was one - I wasn't there for it if it occured. I have braced myself for whatever is to come - and it is undoubtedly true that there will be more coming. Sure, we all took a 5 hour per week cut, I have serious doubts that's the end of it. I'm - unfortunately - fairly certain that there will be another round of layoffs sooner or later. What I'm more "fearing" is if our store would to be shut down - would they keep me and transfer me downtown, or just hand me a pink slip? I can't dwell on it - whatever happens, happens and it's almost totally out-of-my control. The only thing I can do is make myself as valuable to the company as I possibly can. Whatever happens beyond that? I put it in God's hands.
As for my home? Lol. I mean, I dealt with the loss of OT and hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with anything else. Now - how do I deal with this? I simply haven't got any answers yet. I could certainly take on a part time job - if one were available. You know this is what is consuming my thoughts right now - and probably will be until I get something definitive going. You can't sit back and give a sigh of relief when ---- relief hasn't shown up yet. I did have an interesting email exchange with the general manager, starting yesterday and carrying on into today. He wrote a pretty good message to everyone about the 5-hour reduction and then did his best to explain why it's happening. Included was a statement that he would wager that people would rather lose hours than lose their jobs altogether.
I wrote him back and totally concurred and thanked him. I would FAR rather have "only" 7 hours per day right now than...........NOTHING........and plainly stated so, including that there are no jobs out there, if there are, there are 1,000 people applying for one position and a few other things. I was a bit astounded when he wrote back and said I was the only one that had said anything to him about being appreciative for his efforts in helping us all keep our jobs, and was wondering if his point had been made that he is trying to HELP everyone, versus just laying off more people.
You have 2 options in most things in life: The glass is half full or the glass is half empty "theorem". Positive outlook or negative. It's up to each individual. I take an extremely negative view on some things - and most of it has to deal with customer service (bad) received from whatever business or corporation. But I almost always don't just bitch about it, I do something about it. I would say at least 85% of the time my efforts end up getting something back for the effort. Sometimes I get stuff totally unexpectedly. Regardless, when it comes to employment, I always try to take a positive approach. So, people can bitch, moan and complain about the loss of hours, or, they can be thankful they still have hours to be had, it's just that simple. I'll take the latter and have voiced that stance already numerous times within the company. The loss of hours is certainly not the greatest thing in the world, but it FAR exceeds what I would be getting in an umployment line.
So, I have decided to look for a part-time job. I know, it's an uphill battle, but I have to try. I have all weekends and hours available from 3:30 pm on into the night. The time is available, might as well give a shot. I'm thinking of looking into finding a cashiering job, since I have some experience in the past with that (albeit far in the past) and I am responsible for the cash drawer at work, reconciling both cash and credit transactions. I do believe I excel at customer service, anyway - I give my best face and effort and I can take people getting ugly and nasty with me - it happens frequently in the construction business. Customer service is certainly a factor in the making or breaking of a lot of companies right now, I would have to imagine. A person taking their business elsewhere means a LOT more nowadays than it might have just a few years ago.
Ummm, well enough. I am going to wait for the sun to dip in the sky a little and then go out there and look at where I want to place the clothesline setup and dig the holes for the beams.
Hope you all had a great day!
ben
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Random Thoughts
It occured to me that there is no absolute necessity for metal poles to build my own posts for a T setup for hanging laundry.
Wood will do just as nicely, I will be able to do the project myself and it will cost less than the pre-made setups found at any of the stores.
Everything I saw either on-line or at the stores were nothing but junk. The stuff would last - not very long especially with heavy usage - and then I would just be out that money. No, a couple of posts, 2 top pieces, cut them to size, drill holes, put in eyelets. Concreted into the ground. Good to go. Get it down in 2 days - 1 day to set the posts in the concrete and the next day to pull the lines tight.
Solace in the fact I am not the only one facing severe economic times. Not that I wish that on anyone, but at this point, I'm on the same boat as everyone else - that boat must be HUGE to accomodate that many people.
I've run a budget 10 times at least. Float? Maybe. Depends on monthly expenses that I have some control over - mostly electric and water. Time will tell - also really don't know how much my checks will be. I added an exemption to reduce my taxes, so - it will be 3 weeks before I find that out, I am getting paid tomorrow at the "full" rate.
Work - very slow right now, VERY slow.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Prayers are with those that need them.
ben
Wood will do just as nicely, I will be able to do the project myself and it will cost less than the pre-made setups found at any of the stores.
Everything I saw either on-line or at the stores were nothing but junk. The stuff would last - not very long especially with heavy usage - and then I would just be out that money. No, a couple of posts, 2 top pieces, cut them to size, drill holes, put in eyelets. Concreted into the ground. Good to go. Get it down in 2 days - 1 day to set the posts in the concrete and the next day to pull the lines tight.
Solace in the fact I am not the only one facing severe economic times. Not that I wish that on anyone, but at this point, I'm on the same boat as everyone else - that boat must be HUGE to accomodate that many people.
I've run a budget 10 times at least. Float? Maybe. Depends on monthly expenses that I have some control over - mostly electric and water. Time will tell - also really don't know how much my checks will be. I added an exemption to reduce my taxes, so - it will be 3 weeks before I find that out, I am getting paid tomorrow at the "full" rate.
Work - very slow right now, VERY slow.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Prayers are with those that need them.
ben
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tuesday
So, I go to the main branch today. I'm talking with a co-worker who got a double-whammy yesterday. Not only did he lose the same 5 hours a week I am losing, his wife was layed off from her job yesterday as well. I wonder how many thousands or even millions of times that scenario has been played out in this nation?
I still have no answers to my dilemna, but after handing out notices yesterday, I noticed that the power consumption has quelled dramatically. Shoulda done that before.
I spoke with both my mom and my dad about this - they have told me they want to know. Mother called back after I had discussed the situation with her and offered to take the 2 "smaller" dogs if it comes to that. In other words, she would take care of them, feed them, all that until - whenever something dramatically good happens that I could get on my feet. She would not take the Danes - citing the fact that she simply couldn't handle them. I don't disagree, those dogs have to have a very dominant person to keep them in check. They are good dogs, but they will push - see how far they can go with anything.
My dad has offered some money he's receiving for whatever it was. I guess I don't really feel good about taking so much of his money, and I don't want to become a burden to him, so I wrote back and thanked him for the offer - but - as I said, I don't want to become burdensome. He's experience numerous health issues - nothing major but enough to keep him busy with doctors and such.
I'm just working on cutting costs around here - and the main one is electricity. Number 2 behind it is water. The water situation could be reduced significantly if I could get enough bills put together to install a drip watering system for all of those plants. Okay, it isn't THAT bad on the water bill, but I know I could reduce it probably a good $30 per month. Drip systems are much more effective for the plants, anyway.
I have beem looking for T posts for laundry - can't find them. Take it back, found some on Target's website - something like $25 a piece. I don't wonder if I could find someone to just make them for me. Metal post, a cross section on the top. Weld it together - times 2 (need 2 posts, obviously), put some rungs on them to hold the line, done. I don't know if I could get that for the same price as what they want online - but it would definitely be a much more solid setup and would last a LOT longer.
There's more, but there are a lot of things I need to get done or started on around here today, the sun ain't gonna stay up any longer than it has to just for me, so I'm gonna get to it.
ben
I still have no answers to my dilemna, but after handing out notices yesterday, I noticed that the power consumption has quelled dramatically. Shoulda done that before.
I spoke with both my mom and my dad about this - they have told me they want to know. Mother called back after I had discussed the situation with her and offered to take the 2 "smaller" dogs if it comes to that. In other words, she would take care of them, feed them, all that until - whenever something dramatically good happens that I could get on my feet. She would not take the Danes - citing the fact that she simply couldn't handle them. I don't disagree, those dogs have to have a very dominant person to keep them in check. They are good dogs, but they will push - see how far they can go with anything.
My dad has offered some money he's receiving for whatever it was. I guess I don't really feel good about taking so much of his money, and I don't want to become a burden to him, so I wrote back and thanked him for the offer - but - as I said, I don't want to become burdensome. He's experience numerous health issues - nothing major but enough to keep him busy with doctors and such.
I'm just working on cutting costs around here - and the main one is electricity. Number 2 behind it is water. The water situation could be reduced significantly if I could get enough bills put together to install a drip watering system for all of those plants. Okay, it isn't THAT bad on the water bill, but I know I could reduce it probably a good $30 per month. Drip systems are much more effective for the plants, anyway.
I have beem looking for T posts for laundry - can't find them. Take it back, found some on Target's website - something like $25 a piece. I don't wonder if I could find someone to just make them for me. Metal post, a cross section on the top. Weld it together - times 2 (need 2 posts, obviously), put some rungs on them to hold the line, done. I don't know if I could get that for the same price as what they want online - but it would definitely be a much more solid setup and would last a LOT longer.
There's more, but there are a lot of things I need to get done or started on around here today, the sun ain't gonna stay up any longer than it has to just for me, so I'm gonna get to it.
ben
Monday, May 4, 2009
Contemplating/Thinking/Gears Turning
First off, Bobby's suggestion was excellent. I hadn't thought of it and I'm not sure I would have. Thank you, Bobby! I don't know how much more I will get on my paychecks for lessor taxes being taken out, but at this point, every penny is going to count.
Now then, the options.
A lot of this is ugly.
1. Move out of my master bedroom, rent it out at $500 per month. I would be living in Caleb's room - who would have to decide whether he would still want to come over or not.
2. Bankruptcy. Last case scenario. Only way I would do that is if creditors were garnishing my wages. I will fight and claw to keep away from doing that - it's a LONG time before that stuff goes away. In fact, April (last month) is the 10-year mark for the first and hopefully only bankruptcy I have gone through.
3. Lose the car. $223 per month payment. I don't think that's a great idea. They take the car, sell it at auction and then come after you for the difference.
4. Part time job. I tried for a while a few months ago to find something, never panned out. Might try again anyway.
5. New full-time job. Good luck. Obviously the market is over-saturated with millions of qualified workers (nation-wide of course) - all looking for work.
6. Begging. My mother wouldn't help me if it meant my life, my dad, however, is a very giving man. I can't really think about taking advantage of him, so I won't. He sends me a $100 per month check to help out - I'll take that and be very happy with it.
7. Cut expenses at the house. Yes, I can still do more of that around here. Computers shut off when not in use. Ceiling fans the same. Until 10 minutes ago, I was leaving the AC fan on 24 hours a day. It's just a fan, but - it's costing electricity. I already tried to find a T at Lowe's for drying laundry today, no-go there. The man suggested Ace Hardware, be giving them a call in a little bit. Finish the trellis project - it will save on cooling by keeping the sun off the house on the southern side. Amazingly, Mary actually suggested asking each tenant for an extra $20-$25 per month for summer month electicity - as long as it is across the board. I think the newest tenant might consent, I don't know about Ken. His finances are already screwed.
8. Ride a bike to work. I'm not sure I can deal with that, either. I don't have a bike, first off and then - it's 13 miles each way. Going to work would be okay, coming home in the hot sun - not very much fun. It would save, obviously, on fuel expenses.
9. Another 401k loan. I'm $138 away from being able to secure another 401k loan. I was hoping to stay away from it, though, and have the bi-weekly payment money available for use. It's a total of $54 a month that I'm paying on that loan. Obviously, I WILL do it if I have to. I could get around a 2k loan when this loan is paid off. The amount is actually going up as the stock market has been rebounding and my 401k account has rebounded right along with it.
10. Get rid of the dogs. In a pig's eye. When freakin' hell freezes over. Stuff like that. I don't CARE what anyone thinks, losing my dogs to me would be like losing a part of my family. Coco would end up in a pound and would end up dead - she was handed around to fully FOUR families before I got her. The Danes - might be able to find a place for them. The Rat Terrier - eats so little food that if he were the only dog here, I would just feed him table scraps and that would be enough. I'll be getting kicked out of my house in foreclosure before I get rid of my dogs, that's how much they mean to me. For the naysayers - keep it to yourself, I don't even want to hear about it - I really DON'T. There are some things in life that a person must and should take a stand for. Dogs - are not life and death material, of course, but I am facing a huge void of nothingness in my life. I already do very little in terms of entertainment that costs anything. My house is my life - so to speak - at this point in time, though I don't want to confuse that with the Lord - who really IS my life - always has been and always will be. I could go on about the dogs, but I feel no need to "defend myself" about my desire to keep them, so I won't.
11. Get rid of DirecTV and Internet. Tenants are my lifeline, certainly now. Make tenants unhappy, they go away. 2 tenants use the internet to the extreme. 2 tenants watch DirecTV to the extreme - 3 tenants, 2 mixes. Turning it off would mean their departure, I'm sure of it. In fact, I'm positive of it. I wouldn't be able to attract anyone here for the money I'm asking, it's just out of the question. For the sake of the argument, I watch very little TV so it would barely affect me to get rid of DirectTV - I do spend ample amounts of time on the internet, but I could get used to dial-up again for $10 per month and be done with it. That's my case for those that would think I want to keep it for myself. I am floating around the idea of decreasing DirecTV service, though, to fewer channels, I am going to ask everyone what channels they are watching and see if a decrease would affect each person or not.
I could come up with more, maybe. Maybe not. Attacking the electric consumption around here will definitely be worth the effort in savings.
I am concerned about my current financial status as has been handed to me today. Yes, I am.
To be quite honest, I would definitely rent out my bedroom to save my house. To lose this house would mean losing any opportunity to have my own home for a long, long time. Throw money away to rent every month. Living in apartments with people making noises and complaining and whining about everything. No dogs or a very limited list of dogs you can have. No diss on anyone that reads this journal - but apartment living is a total NUISANCE. I HATE it.
Umm, well that's enough for now.
I must do something at this point to take my mind off of all of this.
ben
Now then, the options.
A lot of this is ugly.
1. Move out of my master bedroom, rent it out at $500 per month. I would be living in Caleb's room - who would have to decide whether he would still want to come over or not.
2. Bankruptcy. Last case scenario. Only way I would do that is if creditors were garnishing my wages. I will fight and claw to keep away from doing that - it's a LONG time before that stuff goes away. In fact, April (last month) is the 10-year mark for the first and hopefully only bankruptcy I have gone through.
3. Lose the car. $223 per month payment. I don't think that's a great idea. They take the car, sell it at auction and then come after you for the difference.
4. Part time job. I tried for a while a few months ago to find something, never panned out. Might try again anyway.
5. New full-time job. Good luck. Obviously the market is over-saturated with millions of qualified workers (nation-wide of course) - all looking for work.
6. Begging. My mother wouldn't help me if it meant my life, my dad, however, is a very giving man. I can't really think about taking advantage of him, so I won't. He sends me a $100 per month check to help out - I'll take that and be very happy with it.
7. Cut expenses at the house. Yes, I can still do more of that around here. Computers shut off when not in use. Ceiling fans the same. Until 10 minutes ago, I was leaving the AC fan on 24 hours a day. It's just a fan, but - it's costing electricity. I already tried to find a T at Lowe's for drying laundry today, no-go there. The man suggested Ace Hardware, be giving them a call in a little bit. Finish the trellis project - it will save on cooling by keeping the sun off the house on the southern side. Amazingly, Mary actually suggested asking each tenant for an extra $20-$25 per month for summer month electicity - as long as it is across the board. I think the newest tenant might consent, I don't know about Ken. His finances are already screwed.
8. Ride a bike to work. I'm not sure I can deal with that, either. I don't have a bike, first off and then - it's 13 miles each way. Going to work would be okay, coming home in the hot sun - not very much fun. It would save, obviously, on fuel expenses.
9. Another 401k loan. I'm $138 away from being able to secure another 401k loan. I was hoping to stay away from it, though, and have the bi-weekly payment money available for use. It's a total of $54 a month that I'm paying on that loan. Obviously, I WILL do it if I have to. I could get around a 2k loan when this loan is paid off. The amount is actually going up as the stock market has been rebounding and my 401k account has rebounded right along with it.
10. Get rid of the dogs. In a pig's eye. When freakin' hell freezes over. Stuff like that. I don't CARE what anyone thinks, losing my dogs to me would be like losing a part of my family. Coco would end up in a pound and would end up dead - she was handed around to fully FOUR families before I got her. The Danes - might be able to find a place for them. The Rat Terrier - eats so little food that if he were the only dog here, I would just feed him table scraps and that would be enough. I'll be getting kicked out of my house in foreclosure before I get rid of my dogs, that's how much they mean to me. For the naysayers - keep it to yourself, I don't even want to hear about it - I really DON'T. There are some things in life that a person must and should take a stand for. Dogs - are not life and death material, of course, but I am facing a huge void of nothingness in my life. I already do very little in terms of entertainment that costs anything. My house is my life - so to speak - at this point in time, though I don't want to confuse that with the Lord - who really IS my life - always has been and always will be. I could go on about the dogs, but I feel no need to "defend myself" about my desire to keep them, so I won't.
11. Get rid of DirecTV and Internet. Tenants are my lifeline, certainly now. Make tenants unhappy, they go away. 2 tenants use the internet to the extreme. 2 tenants watch DirecTV to the extreme - 3 tenants, 2 mixes. Turning it off would mean their departure, I'm sure of it. In fact, I'm positive of it. I wouldn't be able to attract anyone here for the money I'm asking, it's just out of the question. For the sake of the argument, I watch very little TV so it would barely affect me to get rid of DirectTV - I do spend ample amounts of time on the internet, but I could get used to dial-up again for $10 per month and be done with it. That's my case for those that would think I want to keep it for myself. I am floating around the idea of decreasing DirecTV service, though, to fewer channels, I am going to ask everyone what channels they are watching and see if a decrease would affect each person or not.
I could come up with more, maybe. Maybe not. Attacking the electric consumption around here will definitely be worth the effort in savings.
I am concerned about my current financial status as has been handed to me today. Yes, I am.
To be quite honest, I would definitely rent out my bedroom to save my house. To lose this house would mean losing any opportunity to have my own home for a long, long time. Throw money away to rent every month. Living in apartments with people making noises and complaining and whining about everything. No dogs or a very limited list of dogs you can have. No diss on anyone that reads this journal - but apartment living is a total NUISANCE. I HATE it.
Umm, well that's enough for now.
I must do something at this point to take my mind off of all of this.
ben
Bad News
My company - at our AZ branches anyways - just made a major announcement that is going affect me severely: "Reduced Schedules". Starting today, I am facing another $460 per month loss in wages.
They are taking away 5 hours per week from all hourly associates.
I have no idea how I am going to jump over this hurdle and land on my feet.
My mind, after reading this email sent out to everyone, immediately went into survival mode.
I have no clue.
I have cut most things out of my life that can be cut.
Lose the car?
Go bankrupt?
I'll do anything to save my house. Everything else can go to the pot.
I even had this idea from a few months ago of renting out my master bedroom and moving in with my son in his rather small bedroom.
He would hate it. I wouldn't much care for it either, but - again - when it comes to survival, I am willing to do things that many people are not. My son - could stay at his mother's if he didn't like it. I suppose he could just sleep out on the couch in the living room as well - he likes doing that anyway.
I have very few options at this point. Having 3 tenants from this point forth is a given. Until this thing clears up, anyway.
I am not defeated, gloomy or depressed. Survival mode doesn't do that to me, it makes me much more sharper focused, actually. This kind of news DOES have it's effects on me, there is no doubt. Give me a few days or a week or so and I will adjust to it, today? I'm just going to be in automatic mode.
There are no jobs out there to be had - in thinking of getting a second, part-time job, a thing I already tried to acquire a while back and got nothing but a bite from the Phoenix Zoo for a $7.25 per hour job. I'm thinking I could do pizza delivery for awhile - if even that stuff is doing anything right now.
I have a lot to think about.
Hope you all have a great day - I'm not sure how mine's going to go after this.
ben
They are taking away 5 hours per week from all hourly associates.
I have no idea how I am going to jump over this hurdle and land on my feet.
My mind, after reading this email sent out to everyone, immediately went into survival mode.
I have no clue.
I have cut most things out of my life that can be cut.
Lose the car?
Go bankrupt?
I'll do anything to save my house. Everything else can go to the pot.
I even had this idea from a few months ago of renting out my master bedroom and moving in with my son in his rather small bedroom.
He would hate it. I wouldn't much care for it either, but - again - when it comes to survival, I am willing to do things that many people are not. My son - could stay at his mother's if he didn't like it. I suppose he could just sleep out on the couch in the living room as well - he likes doing that anyway.
I have very few options at this point. Having 3 tenants from this point forth is a given. Until this thing clears up, anyway.
I am not defeated, gloomy or depressed. Survival mode doesn't do that to me, it makes me much more sharper focused, actually. This kind of news DOES have it's effects on me, there is no doubt. Give me a few days or a week or so and I will adjust to it, today? I'm just going to be in automatic mode.
There are no jobs out there to be had - in thinking of getting a second, part-time job, a thing I already tried to acquire a while back and got nothing but a bite from the Phoenix Zoo for a $7.25 per hour job. I'm thinking I could do pizza delivery for awhile - if even that stuff is doing anything right now.
I have a lot to think about.
Hope you all have a great day - I'm not sure how mine's going to go after this.
ben
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Zoo
Edited:
The photos are not showing up right on my blog. If there is a photo of interest to you, simply click on the photo itself and the full photo will show. Not sure how to fix that problem - maybe try using a lessor setting on the camera.
I really haven't been around a 6 year old for quite a while - at least not in terms of spending any time with a kid that age, so - the trip to the zoo was actually a pleasant experience. Mostly because it's not my kid, lol. I don't have to deal with the issues, just be around for entertainment purposes and that's that.
Mimi - the newest tenant - has her 6 year old grandson over here on the weekends frequently. Pretty well-behaved boy so no issues there, I was invited to go with them to the zoo. Since I hadn't been in ages, I decided to go. I did, of course, take pics. The zoo has not changed remarkably for the decade plus since I've been there, but - it is fun to go see the pythons, exotic birds, lions/tiger/jaguars/cheetahs/elephants and everything else.
Oh, the pics. Well, I haven't posted any in a long time, so - here goes, sorry for the inconvenience, lol.
That's Damien doing the camel ride. He's the grandson of my newest tenant. The ride? $5 for about - 2 minutes.
Giraffes are our friends.
Yup, that's a sheep thing up there on top of that rock. I would have loved to see HOW it got up there.
Easily viewable is the lion laying in the shade. No so easily seen is the male lion behind the log, just on the other side of the female. He's visible, barely.
An otter lazing in the shade. I was amazed at the up-close view of the fur - looks very soft and elegant. 2 other otters were going crazy in the pool playing with each other.
I'm sorry, but that is one UGLY creature right there. Still interesting to watch all of them. Oh, it's a warthog for those that don't know.
Baboon. The dominant male? Next photo.........
This guy was clearly the dominate male of this "troop". Very fascinating to watch these creatures for some length of time in how they interacted with each other.
This was the best shot of these 2, of which you can only see one in the photo. Cheetas. We must have caught a bad part of the day - most of these animules were laying around. I had thoughts though, that they had the better idea, as I did the same thing these 2 were doing when I got home - took a nice nap : )
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, unfortunately for me, I found these birds to be about as ugly as vultures. Lol.
The bears had a huge exhibit, which took quite some time to get around. There were 2 of them and they were both hiding. We had been looking a good 20 minutes for these peoples before this one appeared. This was all the way around and at the end of their "cage". I have run into these bears numerous times in the wild - tend to give bears, even smaller ones - wide berth.
Damien again on top of an - obviously fake frog.
Okay, well it was cool and it was the right time to go - in a month that place is going to be hell. They have evaporative coolers set up in most of those exhibits for the animals to keep cool in, plus pools of cool water for those that need it such as the elephants. Hmmmmm, what happened to my elephant photos? OH, no photo, a video! Which I have not uploaded to YouTube yet, so I can't do that right now.
As for the rest of it? I took a video today of the trailer trash next door with all their weeds and grass that grows, uncurtailed and comes to my yard. Showed the garbage laying around along with extensive outdoor storage.
Prince sliced one of his paws on something, slice it good. We figured out what he probably sliced it on and took care of that situation. I have him on antibiotics because it is a pretty good gash. It isn't bleeding, but I am taking no chances with that.
Duke apparently antagonized Prince yet again, which mostly has died down in recent months, but his ear was bitten pretty good. I am not fan of my dogs fighting each other, but Prince finally got Duke back. I hope that Duke will somehow remember this in his rather empty skull and not start crap with him again. Anyway, the ear started smelling like rotten cheese - a clear sign of infection, so I started him on antibiotics as well today, and went ahead and ordered more of the stuff online because between the 2 of them, the bottle I have will be gone in about 8 days. They put Prince on the stuff for 2 weeks last time I had him on antibiotics when he got his tail caught in the fence and ripped it open, so I am going to keep them on the stuff for that length of time.
Ummmm, make that 7 days. The new bottle should be here in 3 days, so no problem there.
This weekend is history. I have to be at a jobsite by 6:30 am tomorrow. I won't have to get up any earlier than I usually do - I loaded the truck Friday and strapped it, it's ready to go. I get to work about 25 minutes early before I even sign in. I will get there at my normal time tomorrow and sign in upon arrival, get my paperwork ready, and be ready to leave by 6:00 am. Meaning the boss has to be there by 6:00 am for my departure. That's upon his desire to have the store opened at it's normal time, even though it's been quite a while since anyone has come in that early.
The jobsite is not even a 30 minute drive from the shop, so I will be good as long as the boss shows up on-time - which I have no doubts he will.
Anyway, it was a nice day and I spent it with quality people.
Hope yours was good as well.
ben
The photos are not showing up right on my blog. If there is a photo of interest to you, simply click on the photo itself and the full photo will show. Not sure how to fix that problem - maybe try using a lessor setting on the camera.
I really haven't been around a 6 year old for quite a while - at least not in terms of spending any time with a kid that age, so - the trip to the zoo was actually a pleasant experience. Mostly because it's not my kid, lol. I don't have to deal with the issues, just be around for entertainment purposes and that's that.
Mimi - the newest tenant - has her 6 year old grandson over here on the weekends frequently. Pretty well-behaved boy so no issues there, I was invited to go with them to the zoo. Since I hadn't been in ages, I decided to go. I did, of course, take pics. The zoo has not changed remarkably for the decade plus since I've been there, but - it is fun to go see the pythons, exotic birds, lions/tiger/jaguars/cheetahs/elephants and everything else.
Oh, the pics. Well, I haven't posted any in a long time, so - here goes, sorry for the inconvenience, lol.
That's Damien doing the camel ride. He's the grandson of my newest tenant. The ride? $5 for about - 2 minutes.
Giraffes are our friends.
Yup, that's a sheep thing up there on top of that rock. I would have loved to see HOW it got up there.
Easily viewable is the lion laying in the shade. No so easily seen is the male lion behind the log, just on the other side of the female. He's visible, barely.
An otter lazing in the shade. I was amazed at the up-close view of the fur - looks very soft and elegant. 2 other otters were going crazy in the pool playing with each other.
I'm sorry, but that is one UGLY creature right there. Still interesting to watch all of them. Oh, it's a warthog for those that don't know.
Baboon. The dominant male? Next photo.........
This guy was clearly the dominate male of this "troop". Very fascinating to watch these creatures for some length of time in how they interacted with each other.
This was the best shot of these 2, of which you can only see one in the photo. Cheetas. We must have caught a bad part of the day - most of these animules were laying around. I had thoughts though, that they had the better idea, as I did the same thing these 2 were doing when I got home - took a nice nap : )
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, unfortunately for me, I found these birds to be about as ugly as vultures. Lol.
The bears had a huge exhibit, which took quite some time to get around. There were 2 of them and they were both hiding. We had been looking a good 20 minutes for these peoples before this one appeared. This was all the way around and at the end of their "cage". I have run into these bears numerous times in the wild - tend to give bears, even smaller ones - wide berth.
Damien again on top of an - obviously fake frog.
Okay, well it was cool and it was the right time to go - in a month that place is going to be hell. They have evaporative coolers set up in most of those exhibits for the animals to keep cool in, plus pools of cool water for those that need it such as the elephants. Hmmmmm, what happened to my elephant photos? OH, no photo, a video! Which I have not uploaded to YouTube yet, so I can't do that right now.
As for the rest of it? I took a video today of the trailer trash next door with all their weeds and grass that grows, uncurtailed and comes to my yard. Showed the garbage laying around along with extensive outdoor storage.
Prince sliced one of his paws on something, slice it good. We figured out what he probably sliced it on and took care of that situation. I have him on antibiotics because it is a pretty good gash. It isn't bleeding, but I am taking no chances with that.
Duke apparently antagonized Prince yet again, which mostly has died down in recent months, but his ear was bitten pretty good. I am not fan of my dogs fighting each other, but Prince finally got Duke back. I hope that Duke will somehow remember this in his rather empty skull and not start crap with him again. Anyway, the ear started smelling like rotten cheese - a clear sign of infection, so I started him on antibiotics as well today, and went ahead and ordered more of the stuff online because between the 2 of them, the bottle I have will be gone in about 8 days. They put Prince on the stuff for 2 weeks last time I had him on antibiotics when he got his tail caught in the fence and ripped it open, so I am going to keep them on the stuff for that length of time.
Ummmm, make that 7 days. The new bottle should be here in 3 days, so no problem there.
This weekend is history. I have to be at a jobsite by 6:30 am tomorrow. I won't have to get up any earlier than I usually do - I loaded the truck Friday and strapped it, it's ready to go. I get to work about 25 minutes early before I even sign in. I will get there at my normal time tomorrow and sign in upon arrival, get my paperwork ready, and be ready to leave by 6:00 am. Meaning the boss has to be there by 6:00 am for my departure. That's upon his desire to have the store opened at it's normal time, even though it's been quite a while since anyone has come in that early.
The jobsite is not even a 30 minute drive from the shop, so I will be good as long as the boss shows up on-time - which I have no doubts he will.
Anyway, it was a nice day and I spent it with quality people.
Hope yours was good as well.
ben
Saturday, May 2, 2009
I Started To Travel.............
............all over the place today in terms of visiting people's blogs. Some of the stuff going on in people's lives make my problems look - quite small and insignificant. It was a wake-up call for me to continue praying for many people that are going through so many different - stressful - and sometimes gut-wrenching things.
I hate to see people getting sick, or hurt, or losing their jobs. You read it in their words: the tension is palpable, the loss of any kind of security is frightening. Some of those people come here. I want you to know that I am praying for you - I lift up prayers to the Lord frequently for people that are going through all kinds of things on Blogspot and other blogging venues.
And then there's all the crap going on in the world. I read about a town somewhere in New Mexico, I think it was, that is basically lawless and that some of the Mexican drug lords have actually moved in there. This was - an unbelievable thing to read. A town where they openly know that these kinds of people are living there and nothing is being done about it? The story goes on - you'll have to find it if you are interested and read it for yourself. I don't understand the "security" for a lawless group of thugs and murderers living on our side of the border.
The swine flu scare. Pirates in Somalia. North Korea a viable nuclear threat. On, and on, and on. I find peace through my Lord and I also find peace by tuning this stuff out at some point and discontinuing reading about it. I am not living in a cave or on an island - I do like to find out what's going on in this world, but I find that I can only take so much of it and then, turn it off. I have enough troubles of my own - and I am also actively helping other people who are going through tough times right now in giving out food here and there as I can. In other words, I do what small part I can and leave the rest up to each individual as each person chooses - to reach out or not to reach out.
As for today? I made the boys go out there and paint all 3 trellises - well, not paint them, apply the wood seal to them. They have been out there an hour and should be out there another hour at least. I made no promises of anything, either. Caleb is allegedly going to go find a job when he turns 16 - which is later this month. I hope he finds a job and I definitely expect him to get a dose of life. Life can be extremely difficult at times - have we not all experienced that - going to work is a part of it. Most days I love going to work, some days I drag my @$$ out of bed and force myself to go through the motions to get myself there. Once there, the mind always kicks into automatic - do this, that and the other thing - a daily routine.
He has definitely gotten some doses of reality through JR ROTC, though, and I have fully supported him in that endeavor. It's the kind of program that starts to prepare you for the reality of life. Daddy will be there as long as daddy is alive - that would be me - and he will always be welcomed in my home, but the time is coming when he will move out on his own. I am slowly preparing myself for this eventuality. I cannot envision myself without having kids in my life. I love kids, I love having them around. The most probable scenario when the day comes that he is gone is that I will try to adopt. I have been reading about it - to great extent actually - single parents are welcomed into that system. That's because of the total lack of sufficient families that are willing to adopt.
Anyway, Michael is a totally different story. He is in for a big surprise. Even high school is a wake-up call. He will undoubtedly flunk most of his classes this year. I don't even know that they call it flunking anymore - but I will ALWAYS call it that, especially when it's caused by a person failing to show up for school or doing homework with the parents saying - yeah, that's okay. It's okay to do what? Set up your kid to fail? Try that s*** in college and see how far it gets you. Or the military - or any venue in life.
Ummm, enough. Finally got motivated and am heading outside into this horrid humidity heat to get some things done.
ben
I hate to see people getting sick, or hurt, or losing their jobs. You read it in their words: the tension is palpable, the loss of any kind of security is frightening. Some of those people come here. I want you to know that I am praying for you - I lift up prayers to the Lord frequently for people that are going through all kinds of things on Blogspot and other blogging venues.
And then there's all the crap going on in the world. I read about a town somewhere in New Mexico, I think it was, that is basically lawless and that some of the Mexican drug lords have actually moved in there. This was - an unbelievable thing to read. A town where they openly know that these kinds of people are living there and nothing is being done about it? The story goes on - you'll have to find it if you are interested and read it for yourself. I don't understand the "security" for a lawless group of thugs and murderers living on our side of the border.
The swine flu scare. Pirates in Somalia. North Korea a viable nuclear threat. On, and on, and on. I find peace through my Lord and I also find peace by tuning this stuff out at some point and discontinuing reading about it. I am not living in a cave or on an island - I do like to find out what's going on in this world, but I find that I can only take so much of it and then, turn it off. I have enough troubles of my own - and I am also actively helping other people who are going through tough times right now in giving out food here and there as I can. In other words, I do what small part I can and leave the rest up to each individual as each person chooses - to reach out or not to reach out.
As for today? I made the boys go out there and paint all 3 trellises - well, not paint them, apply the wood seal to them. They have been out there an hour and should be out there another hour at least. I made no promises of anything, either. Caleb is allegedly going to go find a job when he turns 16 - which is later this month. I hope he finds a job and I definitely expect him to get a dose of life. Life can be extremely difficult at times - have we not all experienced that - going to work is a part of it. Most days I love going to work, some days I drag my @$$ out of bed and force myself to go through the motions to get myself there. Once there, the mind always kicks into automatic - do this, that and the other thing - a daily routine.
He has definitely gotten some doses of reality through JR ROTC, though, and I have fully supported him in that endeavor. It's the kind of program that starts to prepare you for the reality of life. Daddy will be there as long as daddy is alive - that would be me - and he will always be welcomed in my home, but the time is coming when he will move out on his own. I am slowly preparing myself for this eventuality. I cannot envision myself without having kids in my life. I love kids, I love having them around. The most probable scenario when the day comes that he is gone is that I will try to adopt. I have been reading about it - to great extent actually - single parents are welcomed into that system. That's because of the total lack of sufficient families that are willing to adopt.
Anyway, Michael is a totally different story. He is in for a big surprise. Even high school is a wake-up call. He will undoubtedly flunk most of his classes this year. I don't even know that they call it flunking anymore - but I will ALWAYS call it that, especially when it's caused by a person failing to show up for school or doing homework with the parents saying - yeah, that's okay. It's okay to do what? Set up your kid to fail? Try that s*** in college and see how far it gets you. Or the military - or any venue in life.
Ummm, enough. Finally got motivated and am heading outside into this horrid humidity heat to get some things done.
ben
Saturday
I came home from work yesterday just absolutely exhausted, after not getting near enough sleep the night before. I still went outside and watered just about everything. Unfortunately, the "wave" wasn't over yet, so I visited the casino for a couple of hours as well. I tend to ride out winning streaks until they're gone. Last night, my "take" was only $70 - but - it's $70 I didn't have before last night - so I'll take it. Is the wave over? Who knows. I enjoy the outings is all I can say about that.
Chad - the gentleman that left a message on one of my entries a couple of entries down - was true to his word. Of course, I could hardly ever imagine talking to a company official making promises like that and not carry through with them. I received the gift card yesterday in the mail. Thank you, Chad! I was going to spend the whole thing on my food storage supply, but I have altered the plan to use 80% for food storage and the other 20% for a nice, thick, juicy steak. Ohhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah. I was thinking of making homemade coleslaw again - a big hit in these parts of the world (well, at my house anyway :|) and get a picnic roast, slow cook it and make more BBQ - I guess I'll just make up my mind when I get over to Fry's later on today.
I am supposed to go over today or tomorrow and dig that tree out. I do want that tree, but I most certainly do not feel like digging that thing out. I envision a LOT of work to remove a tree, even if it isn't that big. I was thinking of getting one of those "day laborers" that hang out on the street corners and pay him $25 to dig the thing out - the tree would be worth far more than that - and not do anything but sit there and watch the person do the digging for me. I'm only half awake right now and it's still early - give that some thought.
Michael did not go to school yesterday. He does tend to come up with some interesting excuses. Apparently he spent the whole day at my house. For the excuse, he should have just come over here the night before and - he then would have no excuses. What was the reason he didn't go to school? Well, first off, he told me I wouldn't believe him. So I started making guesses. I was way off.
Turns out his dad got drunk, extremely drunk - well I cut him off there and started making more guesses. I was still way off. First, that guy never used to drink. The advent of Michael's mom getting a job and actually sticking with it plays out to the purchases of a lot of alcohol and a lot of marijuana. When it comes to money management, those people have absolutely no clue, and if it wasn't for the great State of Arizona and the Federal Government paying for their housing and giving them food stamps (and Lord knows what else), they would be out on the street and would be hungry.
Anyway, dad apparently cranked up the music and left the volume so high, people inside their homes 150 feet away could hear it. Me? I would have called the police after 10:00 pm for violation of noise ordinances. But that's just me. Michael claims the music was on that loud, all night long, until he finally passes out (the dad, that is) and then they shut it off. I can't even imagine that man being drunk. He's already a hot-head, I envision a man going crazy and threatening everyone and going off without reason. Certainly NOTHING I want to be around.
Ummmm - long break. All tenants converged on the kitchen at once. The newest made French Toast. Yummmm.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with this day.
If it keeps going like this, the question will answer itself.
Happy Saturday!
ben
Chad - the gentleman that left a message on one of my entries a couple of entries down - was true to his word. Of course, I could hardly ever imagine talking to a company official making promises like that and not carry through with them. I received the gift card yesterday in the mail. Thank you, Chad! I was going to spend the whole thing on my food storage supply, but I have altered the plan to use 80% for food storage and the other 20% for a nice, thick, juicy steak. Ohhhh yeaaaaaaaaaah. I was thinking of making homemade coleslaw again - a big hit in these parts of the world (well, at my house anyway :|) and get a picnic roast, slow cook it and make more BBQ - I guess I'll just make up my mind when I get over to Fry's later on today.
I am supposed to go over today or tomorrow and dig that tree out. I do want that tree, but I most certainly do not feel like digging that thing out. I envision a LOT of work to remove a tree, even if it isn't that big. I was thinking of getting one of those "day laborers" that hang out on the street corners and pay him $25 to dig the thing out - the tree would be worth far more than that - and not do anything but sit there and watch the person do the digging for me. I'm only half awake right now and it's still early - give that some thought.
Michael did not go to school yesterday. He does tend to come up with some interesting excuses. Apparently he spent the whole day at my house. For the excuse, he should have just come over here the night before and - he then would have no excuses. What was the reason he didn't go to school? Well, first off, he told me I wouldn't believe him. So I started making guesses. I was way off.
Turns out his dad got drunk, extremely drunk - well I cut him off there and started making more guesses. I was still way off. First, that guy never used to drink. The advent of Michael's mom getting a job and actually sticking with it plays out to the purchases of a lot of alcohol and a lot of marijuana. When it comes to money management, those people have absolutely no clue, and if it wasn't for the great State of Arizona and the Federal Government paying for their housing and giving them food stamps (and Lord knows what else), they would be out on the street and would be hungry.
Anyway, dad apparently cranked up the music and left the volume so high, people inside their homes 150 feet away could hear it. Me? I would have called the police after 10:00 pm for violation of noise ordinances. But that's just me. Michael claims the music was on that loud, all night long, until he finally passes out (the dad, that is) and then they shut it off. I can't even imagine that man being drunk. He's already a hot-head, I envision a man going crazy and threatening everyone and going off without reason. Certainly NOTHING I want to be around.
Ummmm - long break. All tenants converged on the kitchen at once. The newest made French Toast. Yummmm.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with this day.
If it keeps going like this, the question will answer itself.
Happy Saturday!
ben
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday
Is it really Thursday already? Yayyyy!
Tomorrow will be a long day - a GOOD long day I might add - in that I should be busy all day long at work until it's time to go home. West Phoenix; Downtown Phoenix; Williams Gateway Airport in the easy valley; Casa Grande for some pipe; back to the yard; possibly back downtown; and then finish putting together and order that "HAS" to be there, at the jobsite, at 6:30am on Monday morning, plus another order that "had" to be there - later than 6:30 am, obviously :-|
The grocery store circulars that were supposed to come yesterday came today. I'm quite amazed at the amount of competition that is going on between all of them. Even Safeway has some real bargains. The real deal - though - is the 47 cent per pound chicken. 10 pound bags. I want 3 of them. I am going to feed that stuff to the dogs. I have been trying to fatten all 3 of the big dogs up for some time now. Only Duke has succumbed to my otherwise futile attempts to get Coco and Prince to see some meat on their bodies instead of a bunch of bones sticking out. I don't want to make them obese, per se, but they definitely need to fatten up some. Duke is hardly overweight. I'm guessing he's about 135 pounds now, whereas Prince is probably around 120. Prince could use at least another 15 pounds, Coco could use at least another 5. Duke is good where he's at - he looks good, not too much and not too little.
Look, that cheap chicken? I've bought it before. If you're a starving human, sure, you'll eat it. Otherwise, forget it. The stuff smells - bad - cooking it and I don't even try eating it after smelling it. The dogs absolutely love the stuff - and they don't get sick or diarehea off of it, so it's all good. Usually I'll mix that chicken with some freshly cooked rice - but darn if the price of rice right now isn't a weeeeee bit high.
Well, I still have some scouring of the ads to go - but - Fry's is still right at the top. Only fresh & easy is doing a bit better because on top of their ad, they also sent me a $6 off on any combined purchase over $30.
Anyway, if I do receive that $50 gift card from Fry's - thanks to Chad - I will be spending the entire amount on canned goods for my food storage. That should beef that stockpile up quite a bit. I want to buy at least 30 cans of tuna fish and then whatever else. My food storage is going well - I'm approaching a 2 month supply of food stocked up - canned and boxed. If you count the refrigerator, it goes way over that - but I don't count it because if something REALLY bad happened, then one could also assume the power is off and then that food goes bad and is worthless. I'm also lacking on the cooking facilities if power did "go away". That would be a camp stove that uses the small cans of propane. I do have the BBQ grill, but it's hardly efficient. It uses quite a lot of propane to cook - being because there are 3 burners on that thing and even at low, I have gone through a 5-gallon thing of in about a month and a half. 5 gallons of that on a camp stove would last FAR longer than that.
I am not an alarmist, I don't necessarily think the world is ending (but if you read the Bible, it will definitely end someday) - but there's too much garbage going on right now to "trust the system". And anyway, it's definitely a good thing to have at least some kind of food stock saved up. If the s*** hits the fan, people literally flock to grocery stores and it's all gone in a very short period of time. Chaos ensues. Does that happen? DARN STRAIGHT it does. Just look at hurricane victims. Heck, just about any natural disaster. My mother also has quite a huge stock of food piled up 'just in case'. The plan would be to move to her property up in the mountains if some disaster struck. The plan is there whether we are able to communicate with each other or not.
So - the only thing I'm really hurting on is that I let my dog food supply dwindle. I did that on purpose, though, because the food I was buying them really wasn't very good. Too much garbage in it for preservatives and such that simply isn't good for them. I'll get that back up within a month's time with some other food I found that has better ingredients and is still reasonably priced. I want 500 pounds on hand to be happy with it.
It's funny, something that happened today that somewhat coincides with all of this. I went back to the place that is selling out all of their shade screen for windows and such - the deal is too good to pass up. The first time I went, the gate was locked and no-one was around. Today, the gate was opened and still no-one was around. I got the number from this guy after the first time, so I called him. Turns out he was in one of the shipping containers he has in his yard, working on something. He is selling everything he has and is "returning" to Asia. Apparently, when the Vietnam war was over, he didn't come home. He moved to Cambodia or some such thing and lived there for a long time - and decided to return because his parents are here.
His desire to leave, he states, is the chaos that is "coming". The dollar is basically going to become worthless against foreign currencies- and a lot of other stuff. Well, to each his own. His advice? "Guns; garden; food" and something else I can't remember. Now, admittedly this guy was a bit eccentric, but he isn't that far off. What is going to happen to the dollar when all this trillion plus dollar budget is passed?
I dunno. I'm just preparing myself for whatever may come. I'm short on things I want - but I'll get there eventually.
Anyway, I bought today another project for this weekend. Or not. Karen - the former tenant - called yesterday and said she has a pine tree sitting in the middle of her yard that she wants gone, do I want it? Umm, I'm thinking a giant thing that I have no way of getting out of the ground. Hey, I COULD get it here - just borrow the semi - it has a 48 foot flatbed trailer on it. I intoned such. NO, she says, it's about 7 feet tall, in great health. Still - I envision a lot of work, but to buy a 7 or 8 foot tall tree? Not cheap. I agreed to come get the thing this weekend with the caveat that she start watering it NOW. Water, water, water.
Oh, well the project I bought today is the shade screen. But I"m not done putting up trellises yet - heck I haven't even bought all of them. The shade screen will go on the backs of the trellises to screen out the southern sun from hitting the house. It will stay that way until the vines - of which I have yet to get since I haven't even got all the trellises in yet - grow and cover them. It's an on-going project - I have been doing a little here and there, but it's time to pick up the pace. Heat is coming my way, and soon. We're facing May starting tomorrow - and yes, May will heat up substantially around here - it always does. Then comes hell - June - which is a part of a 3 month onslaught of a nightmarish heat that is unreal. Then another month after that like May and then in October, if we're lucky, it will cool down.
Karen also wants to go to the casino this weekend. I have no "feeling" about that yet, so I neither agreed or disagreed. The cards played very well last weekend, but that most assuredly does NOT mean it will happen again. But - it could happen. I'm so very superstitious when it comes to casinos, blackjack and whether I'm going to play or not - I admit it freely. The feeling, the aura, everything has to be right. Even the place I park at the casino must be in the same, general area. I have mostly shyed away from it in recent times because I couldn't afford to lose. I still have $100 of casino money left from last week's adventure - I will consider it on Saturday - IF - I get that tree out of the ground! I spent $35 today on that shade screen. It was a smokin' deal. It's the heavy-duty stuff they use at nurseries to make shade covers for the plants. That stuff is normally 4 times that amount of money.
Oh, BTW, has anyone read about this thing where you can actually make your own solar panel? Allegedly you can buy the materials at Ace Hardware or similar place, put it together yourself, and it will generate enough power to power up an appliance. I've read a couple of sites with the plans - about $200 in materials. I'm undecided. It would be great to have and use for a refrigerator.
OH, that reminds me, the laundry tree! I totally forgot about that! Must get one this weekend after tenants pay me. I have $600 in tenant's money coming in - and with most bills paid up, it allows for the purchase, I hope anyway - of that tree. THAT thing will save a LOT of money in not using the dryer. 4 adults here using the dryer at various times throughout the week? THAT adds up.
I'm getting longwinded and I have some watering to do outside.
Take care, hope your day went well and that this writing finds you all in good health.
ben
Tomorrow will be a long day - a GOOD long day I might add - in that I should be busy all day long at work until it's time to go home. West Phoenix; Downtown Phoenix; Williams Gateway Airport in the easy valley; Casa Grande for some pipe; back to the yard; possibly back downtown; and then finish putting together and order that "HAS" to be there, at the jobsite, at 6:30am on Monday morning, plus another order that "had" to be there - later than 6:30 am, obviously :-|
The grocery store circulars that were supposed to come yesterday came today. I'm quite amazed at the amount of competition that is going on between all of them. Even Safeway has some real bargains. The real deal - though - is the 47 cent per pound chicken. 10 pound bags. I want 3 of them. I am going to feed that stuff to the dogs. I have been trying to fatten all 3 of the big dogs up for some time now. Only Duke has succumbed to my otherwise futile attempts to get Coco and Prince to see some meat on their bodies instead of a bunch of bones sticking out. I don't want to make them obese, per se, but they definitely need to fatten up some. Duke is hardly overweight. I'm guessing he's about 135 pounds now, whereas Prince is probably around 120. Prince could use at least another 15 pounds, Coco could use at least another 5. Duke is good where he's at - he looks good, not too much and not too little.
Look, that cheap chicken? I've bought it before. If you're a starving human, sure, you'll eat it. Otherwise, forget it. The stuff smells - bad - cooking it and I don't even try eating it after smelling it. The dogs absolutely love the stuff - and they don't get sick or diarehea off of it, so it's all good. Usually I'll mix that chicken with some freshly cooked rice - but darn if the price of rice right now isn't a weeeeee bit high.
Well, I still have some scouring of the ads to go - but - Fry's is still right at the top. Only fresh & easy is doing a bit better because on top of their ad, they also sent me a $6 off on any combined purchase over $30.
Anyway, if I do receive that $50 gift card from Fry's - thanks to Chad - I will be spending the entire amount on canned goods for my food storage. That should beef that stockpile up quite a bit. I want to buy at least 30 cans of tuna fish and then whatever else. My food storage is going well - I'm approaching a 2 month supply of food stocked up - canned and boxed. If you count the refrigerator, it goes way over that - but I don't count it because if something REALLY bad happened, then one could also assume the power is off and then that food goes bad and is worthless. I'm also lacking on the cooking facilities if power did "go away". That would be a camp stove that uses the small cans of propane. I do have the BBQ grill, but it's hardly efficient. It uses quite a lot of propane to cook - being because there are 3 burners on that thing and even at low, I have gone through a 5-gallon thing of in about a month and a half. 5 gallons of that on a camp stove would last FAR longer than that.
I am not an alarmist, I don't necessarily think the world is ending (but if you read the Bible, it will definitely end someday) - but there's too much garbage going on right now to "trust the system". And anyway, it's definitely a good thing to have at least some kind of food stock saved up. If the s*** hits the fan, people literally flock to grocery stores and it's all gone in a very short period of time. Chaos ensues. Does that happen? DARN STRAIGHT it does. Just look at hurricane victims. Heck, just about any natural disaster. My mother also has quite a huge stock of food piled up 'just in case'. The plan would be to move to her property up in the mountains if some disaster struck. The plan is there whether we are able to communicate with each other or not.
So - the only thing I'm really hurting on is that I let my dog food supply dwindle. I did that on purpose, though, because the food I was buying them really wasn't very good. Too much garbage in it for preservatives and such that simply isn't good for them. I'll get that back up within a month's time with some other food I found that has better ingredients and is still reasonably priced. I want 500 pounds on hand to be happy with it.
It's funny, something that happened today that somewhat coincides with all of this. I went back to the place that is selling out all of their shade screen for windows and such - the deal is too good to pass up. The first time I went, the gate was locked and no-one was around. Today, the gate was opened and still no-one was around. I got the number from this guy after the first time, so I called him. Turns out he was in one of the shipping containers he has in his yard, working on something. He is selling everything he has and is "returning" to Asia. Apparently, when the Vietnam war was over, he didn't come home. He moved to Cambodia or some such thing and lived there for a long time - and decided to return because his parents are here.
His desire to leave, he states, is the chaos that is "coming". The dollar is basically going to become worthless against foreign currencies- and a lot of other stuff. Well, to each his own. His advice? "Guns; garden; food" and something else I can't remember. Now, admittedly this guy was a bit eccentric, but he isn't that far off. What is going to happen to the dollar when all this trillion plus dollar budget is passed?
I dunno. I'm just preparing myself for whatever may come. I'm short on things I want - but I'll get there eventually.
Anyway, I bought today another project for this weekend. Or not. Karen - the former tenant - called yesterday and said she has a pine tree sitting in the middle of her yard that she wants gone, do I want it? Umm, I'm thinking a giant thing that I have no way of getting out of the ground. Hey, I COULD get it here - just borrow the semi - it has a 48 foot flatbed trailer on it. I intoned such. NO, she says, it's about 7 feet tall, in great health. Still - I envision a lot of work, but to buy a 7 or 8 foot tall tree? Not cheap. I agreed to come get the thing this weekend with the caveat that she start watering it NOW. Water, water, water.
Oh, well the project I bought today is the shade screen. But I"m not done putting up trellises yet - heck I haven't even bought all of them. The shade screen will go on the backs of the trellises to screen out the southern sun from hitting the house. It will stay that way until the vines - of which I have yet to get since I haven't even got all the trellises in yet - grow and cover them. It's an on-going project - I have been doing a little here and there, but it's time to pick up the pace. Heat is coming my way, and soon. We're facing May starting tomorrow - and yes, May will heat up substantially around here - it always does. Then comes hell - June - which is a part of a 3 month onslaught of a nightmarish heat that is unreal. Then another month after that like May and then in October, if we're lucky, it will cool down.
Karen also wants to go to the casino this weekend. I have no "feeling" about that yet, so I neither agreed or disagreed. The cards played very well last weekend, but that most assuredly does NOT mean it will happen again. But - it could happen. I'm so very superstitious when it comes to casinos, blackjack and whether I'm going to play or not - I admit it freely. The feeling, the aura, everything has to be right. Even the place I park at the casino must be in the same, general area. I have mostly shyed away from it in recent times because I couldn't afford to lose. I still have $100 of casino money left from last week's adventure - I will consider it on Saturday - IF - I get that tree out of the ground! I spent $35 today on that shade screen. It was a smokin' deal. It's the heavy-duty stuff they use at nurseries to make shade covers for the plants. That stuff is normally 4 times that amount of money.
Oh, BTW, has anyone read about this thing where you can actually make your own solar panel? Allegedly you can buy the materials at Ace Hardware or similar place, put it together yourself, and it will generate enough power to power up an appliance. I've read a couple of sites with the plans - about $200 in materials. I'm undecided. It would be great to have and use for a refrigerator.
OH, that reminds me, the laundry tree! I totally forgot about that! Must get one this weekend after tenants pay me. I have $600 in tenant's money coming in - and with most bills paid up, it allows for the purchase, I hope anyway - of that tree. THAT thing will save a LOT of money in not using the dryer. 4 adults here using the dryer at various times throughout the week? THAT adds up.
I'm getting longwinded and I have some watering to do outside.
Take care, hope your day went well and that this writing finds you all in good health.
ben
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Fry's Again?!!!
Soooo, I went to Fry's to get the $1.77 chuck roast that is on sale. I won't even bother to go into the ordeal I watched unfold before me with a lady/customer and the clerk behind the desk..........
I went to the meat department, and WHO did I find there? The Tude Dude!!! We saw each other at the same time, he immediately did an about face and walked into the back.
I'm looking for the sale meat: the price marker is there, but there's NO MEAT THERE!!!
At this point, I am finding this to be quite amusing. I'm thinking: NO WAY are they out of ANOTHER advertized special AGAIN!! I may have a strange sense of humor, that that's just me. I would rather laugh at a rather unlaughable situation than start getting angry and upset.
Well, I just figured to come back tomorrow or something and takalookit what they got and not say anything to anyone this time about the lack. I had thoughts of asking the meat department personnel about whether there was any in the back, but it was the Tude Dude, and I wanted nothing to do with him.
While all of these thoughts are cruising through my mind, Tude Dude comes cranking out of the back with a cart full of meat. I'm thinking maybe it's some of the sale meat. Well, while I'm thinking that, Tude Dude is coming straight at me with the cart. JUST before he was going to hit me with that damned thing, I moved out of the way and he bleeped out: "Excuse me".
Tude Dude begins to put the sale meat in it's allocated space. No, I didn't say anything to anyone about this guy, just let it go. If he does it to one person, he's going to do it to another sooner or later, and just as surely, someone else will complain and eventually - well you know the drill. I did find a couple of packages of good meat without too much fat in it. Yeah, limit of 2.
Umm, and there were packages of some great ham slices on manager's markdown as well. And Ravioli's - Michael loves those things - on sale. And whatever else.
I have a refrigerator full of food at this point. Which is a nice thing - full freezer, even fuller chilled side. I totally wish I had an upright freezer, a thing I have been contemplating buying.
Anyway, that was my excursion to Fry's, now I must excurse myself and go outside and - clean up dog dung.
Fun fun.
ben
I went to the meat department, and WHO did I find there? The Tude Dude!!! We saw each other at the same time, he immediately did an about face and walked into the back.
I'm looking for the sale meat: the price marker is there, but there's NO MEAT THERE!!!
At this point, I am finding this to be quite amusing. I'm thinking: NO WAY are they out of ANOTHER advertized special AGAIN!! I may have a strange sense of humor, that that's just me. I would rather laugh at a rather unlaughable situation than start getting angry and upset.
Well, I just figured to come back tomorrow or something and takalookit what they got and not say anything to anyone this time about the lack. I had thoughts of asking the meat department personnel about whether there was any in the back, but it was the Tude Dude, and I wanted nothing to do with him.
While all of these thoughts are cruising through my mind, Tude Dude comes cranking out of the back with a cart full of meat. I'm thinking maybe it's some of the sale meat. Well, while I'm thinking that, Tude Dude is coming straight at me with the cart. JUST before he was going to hit me with that damned thing, I moved out of the way and he bleeped out: "Excuse me".
Tude Dude begins to put the sale meat in it's allocated space. No, I didn't say anything to anyone about this guy, just let it go. If he does it to one person, he's going to do it to another sooner or later, and just as surely, someone else will complain and eventually - well you know the drill. I did find a couple of packages of good meat without too much fat in it. Yeah, limit of 2.
Umm, and there were packages of some great ham slices on manager's markdown as well. And Ravioli's - Michael loves those things - on sale. And whatever else.
I have a refrigerator full of food at this point. Which is a nice thing - full freezer, even fuller chilled side. I totally wish I had an upright freezer, a thing I have been contemplating buying.
Anyway, that was my excursion to Fry's, now I must excurse myself and go outside and - clean up dog dung.
Fun fun.
ben
Wednesday
An exhaustingly slow day at work today, meaning: no deliveries. Not even a transfer, I never drove a company vehicle today. Semi sat there, idle, boss's pickup sat out back, idle. I kept busy - yes - but it just is tough to go through 8 and a half hours trying to invent things to do. A thought jumped into my head when I was "inventing" things and remembered that the evaporative cooler units for the warehouse need to be serviced for the upcoming, hot, summer days. I spent a couple of hours on that.
Well, anyway, today marks the 3rd time in less than a week that the gate has become a situation. For newer readers - I have 4 dogs and I also have 3 tenants living in bedrooms in my house. I keep padlocks on my gates - there are 2 gates for walking through and 2 more huge gates for driving through on the driveway side of the house. Going through the gates is the ONLY way to get into the house, there are no front doors (by design, and I have no regrets and actually love the way my house was built in such a fashion that getting to an entry door to the house means having to go through gates - and dogs - to get there).
I keep them padlocked for 2 reasons, 1: obviously, theft prevention. 2: much more important, to force everyone to actually lock the gate, meaning they have to check it to make sure it's locked. Today? Michael dropped the padlock INTO the block fence! I came home and the gate was not locked. The point is to keep my dogs IN my backyard/house. Anyway, I have definitely decided that I am going to put a new lock on that gate and I will be the only one with a key to it. Everyone else will have to exit on the other side of the house - where the dogs have no access to because of the chain link fence that creates my "dog-free" zone on the east side of the house.
Now onto some other interesting tidbits. A gentleman that works for Fry's left a comment in my last entry. I was quite amazed this person actually put his phone number and email address onto a blog that is viewable by the entire world!! Then again, that's a company email and phone number, so maybe no big threat or fear of - things happening from strange people. I was even more amazed that this man found this blog because of something I had written in the entry. I'm assuming googlebots or something similar does a crawl through these blogs - apparently every day? - so a search for a particular word - such as the word Fry's/Frys could be found if such a person were looking.
And looking he is - he has some sort of thing set up where he gets an alert if there is anything that has the word Fry's (or Frys) written into it - whether a blog or whatever else. So yes, I called the man up, why not? I've already talked to - at least half a dozen people from Fry's about this chicken issue, one more person added to the list isn't going to bother anything. I take that back, it's been more than half a dozen people. Just at the Fry's I normally go to I have talked to more than half a dozen people about the chicken. Add to that the phone calls I made on Sunday attempting to find ANY Fry's that has the chicken, and add to that the phone call I made to corporate plus the message I left for corporate yesterday. I will say here that the corporate official I spoke to on the phone said they would have someone call me back - they did not. There has been no reply to my message left on their site, either, excepting an automated reply.
But, I'll take the conversation with Chad - the man who replied in my blog yesterday - as more than good-enough reply and response from Fry's and leave it at that. Chad apologized for the series of events that took place, offered a gift card (which I most certainly will NOT turn down and did not turn down, thank you very much - but - I will also add that I did not ask or intone that I wanted a freebie) and was very amenable over the phone. I have found Fry's, overall, to be an excellent place to do my shopping over the years - albeit I have had some bad experiences, almost always, management has made up for it. The very few times that management did not make up for it (example: the incident at the Fry's at Mill and Southern in Tempe) - well - I just pretty much stay away from those particular stores. Though, I have to admit, I went to THAT store on Sunday to actually get the chicken that was on sale.
Ummmm, anyway. Well, speaking of Fry's, on Wednesdays, the circulars come in the mail for Fry's, Safeway and Bashas - none of them were in there! I ALWAYS look forward to scrutinizing all 3 ads to see what kinds of deals are to be had.
I have nothing else, and I'm tired. I have not slept well this week - last night I got 6 and a half hours of sleep, the 3 nights before that I might have gotten 5 at most. Meaning - I'm going to go take a nice nap.
Hope you all had a great day!
ben
Well, anyway, today marks the 3rd time in less than a week that the gate has become a situation. For newer readers - I have 4 dogs and I also have 3 tenants living in bedrooms in my house. I keep padlocks on my gates - there are 2 gates for walking through and 2 more huge gates for driving through on the driveway side of the house. Going through the gates is the ONLY way to get into the house, there are no front doors (by design, and I have no regrets and actually love the way my house was built in such a fashion that getting to an entry door to the house means having to go through gates - and dogs - to get there).
I keep them padlocked for 2 reasons, 1: obviously, theft prevention. 2: much more important, to force everyone to actually lock the gate, meaning they have to check it to make sure it's locked. Today? Michael dropped the padlock INTO the block fence! I came home and the gate was not locked. The point is to keep my dogs IN my backyard/house. Anyway, I have definitely decided that I am going to put a new lock on that gate and I will be the only one with a key to it. Everyone else will have to exit on the other side of the house - where the dogs have no access to because of the chain link fence that creates my "dog-free" zone on the east side of the house.
Now onto some other interesting tidbits. A gentleman that works for Fry's left a comment in my last entry. I was quite amazed this person actually put his phone number and email address onto a blog that is viewable by the entire world!! Then again, that's a company email and phone number, so maybe no big threat or fear of - things happening from strange people. I was even more amazed that this man found this blog because of something I had written in the entry. I'm assuming googlebots or something similar does a crawl through these blogs - apparently every day? - so a search for a particular word - such as the word Fry's/Frys could be found if such a person were looking.
And looking he is - he has some sort of thing set up where he gets an alert if there is anything that has the word Fry's (or Frys) written into it - whether a blog or whatever else. So yes, I called the man up, why not? I've already talked to - at least half a dozen people from Fry's about this chicken issue, one more person added to the list isn't going to bother anything. I take that back, it's been more than half a dozen people. Just at the Fry's I normally go to I have talked to more than half a dozen people about the chicken. Add to that the phone calls I made on Sunday attempting to find ANY Fry's that has the chicken, and add to that the phone call I made to corporate plus the message I left for corporate yesterday. I will say here that the corporate official I spoke to on the phone said they would have someone call me back - they did not. There has been no reply to my message left on their site, either, excepting an automated reply.
But, I'll take the conversation with Chad - the man who replied in my blog yesterday - as more than good-enough reply and response from Fry's and leave it at that. Chad apologized for the series of events that took place, offered a gift card (which I most certainly will NOT turn down and did not turn down, thank you very much - but - I will also add that I did not ask or intone that I wanted a freebie) and was very amenable over the phone. I have found Fry's, overall, to be an excellent place to do my shopping over the years - albeit I have had some bad experiences, almost always, management has made up for it. The very few times that management did not make up for it (example: the incident at the Fry's at Mill and Southern in Tempe) - well - I just pretty much stay away from those particular stores. Though, I have to admit, I went to THAT store on Sunday to actually get the chicken that was on sale.
Ummmm, anyway. Well, speaking of Fry's, on Wednesdays, the circulars come in the mail for Fry's, Safeway and Bashas - none of them were in there! I ALWAYS look forward to scrutinizing all 3 ads to see what kinds of deals are to be had.
I have nothing else, and I'm tired. I have not slept well this week - last night I got 6 and a half hours of sleep, the 3 nights before that I might have gotten 5 at most. Meaning - I'm going to go take a nice nap.
Hope you all had a great day!
ben
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday
I promise I'm not giving up on blogging, again, just going through some sort of phase. I know I missed Sunday and yesterday - which is totally out-of-character for me - dunno what to say about it, really.
Sunday was rather uneventful. I had a couple people over for BBQ chicken - but as far as getting anything done around here, not much. Just the normal cleaning and watering of plants. I have a couple of projects going that I would like to finish. The last couple of weekends have been total wastes for me - I usually work on some kind of project and at least get something done on them. I ain't promising anything for the coming weekend, either.
The rather large size of the casino winnings helped me get ahead on some bills and get some things I needed, such as several more bags of dog food; tic treatment for the dogs; new socks, stuff like that.
Today, I went into a McDonald's in Casa Grande. I had no time to stop anywhere but for a few seconds to run in and out. It really shouldn't have been that long of a day, but it turned into one with driving all over the place. I wanted a cup of coffee to wake myself up. I was driving the boss's pickup, so I went through the drive-thru window. Got the coffee, drove off from the window, took a sip - and about spit it all back out. COLD coffee.
Some of the things these fast-food places do nowadays are quite amazing. Amazingly BAD. I parked the truck, walked back in, set the cup down on the counter, asked for my money back. What's wrong? Cold coffee. I can get you another cup. Don't want another cup, just give me my money back. I don't take kindly to a place of business serving something that is just plain wrong. I didn't give them an attitude per se, I just decided that if that was the way they were going to treat their customers, I would rather have nothing to do with that particular store/location again. The manager comes up - I tell her again, please give me my money back, thanks.
She gave me my money back, I said thank you and started to walk off. She did the unexpected, as the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, honestly: she offered me a free cup of hot coffee. Before this lady walked up, 3 employees were arguing amongst themselves about whose fault it was: turns out someone had turned off the warmer on the coffee brewer and that's why the coffee was cold. It seems nowadays it takes management to do the right thing at most places when a blunder is made. Perhaps the employees don't have the power to be able to make something right, I don't really know. However, in this case, I didn't ask for a free cup of coffee, neither did I expect one. I just dismissed the whole thing and was going to leave. At least her end of the deal reaffirmed my faith that there are still people working in places - that count - out there that are doing the right thing.
Now, take my visit to Fry's. Take that back, take my FOUR visits to Fry's in 3 days, looking for a sale item the didn't have: 77 cents per pound chicken. I went in Friday - no 77 cent chicken out. When will the next shipment come in? It was meat department personnel who informed me: "Anytime, we are expecting a truck anytime now". Well, will there be some tomorrow morning? Ohhhhh yes, there will. So, no big deal, I go into Fry's frequently, I would just come back in the morning.
Saturday, I go back to Fry's. Look for the 77cents per pound chicken. No such baby exists. I ask meat department personnel again: how's come no chicken? Ohhh, we're sorry, we don't have any. Sir, that's what YOU told me yesterday and you adamently informed me that today there would be chicken. I let it go with that guy, instead, I saw Kim, the store's manager, and asked him (yes, it's a man named Kim, haven't ever figured that one out, and he's not oriental or anything) about it. He went back - came back to me, apologized and that was the end of it. Will you have any tomorrow? Oh yes, we will have a truck come in today.
Yes, I went in Sunday morning. No chicken, and yes, I asked.
I went again later - I had forgotten a few things that I wanted for a meal. This time, a different man was working out in the meat aisle. I asked this guy how's come no chicken? He gets and attitude with me - note: I did NOT get an attitude with him, I asked him politely about the sale chicken that they don't seem to ever have. Not worth going into, the attitude was very sour.
Now, this is the FOURTH time in THREE days I've been there to get the sale chicken. I have NEVER experienced anything this bad from Fry's. So, after this guy getting a tudinoidinal with me, I go to find Kim, the general manager. He's not in today, I am informed, but Tim is. Okay, I have seen Tim before - never knew he was even in management. I told him 2 things, 1: I have been here 4 times for chicken that you don't have and 2: the dude with the tude.
Tim says follow me, we'll do a substitute for you. Okay. We go back there - dude with tude is out there. Tim asks Tude Dude something, Tude Dude starts with his act. Tude Dude looks at me, makes a comment - I cut him off. YOU are a REAL piece of work. Tude Dude immediately goes into extreme tudinaoidinal flurry of - s***. In fact, he put the meat down he had been holding and pulled his hands and arms back as if he were going to hit me! Lol. Fortunately, I had no fear of the man, at all, and said it again: YOU are a REAL piece of work. Tim intervenes, tells the man to stop, picks up 4 packages of chicken drumsticks of a different brand at a MUCH higher price, tells me to just tell the cashier that he said it was a substitute.
I walk off. Tim starts in on the man. Again, as I have said countless times on this journal, if I were to treat a customer the way Tude Dude spoke to me, I am quite sure that I would either be fired or definitely reprimanded and threatened with termination if it happened again. I doubt Tude Dude got fired - and really, it takes a lot for me to want to see a person lose their position and though this is getting up there, I still wouldn't have wished it upon him. BUT - he definitely received and earful from Tim, the second-in-command of that particular store.
I did an experiment when I got home. I called a LOT of Fry's stores - NONE of them had the chicken until I got to the last one. I asked the guy to put 6 packages of it aside for me, I would be right in. Yup, I got in my car and drove over there - only 4 miles away, it was definitely worth the trip.
Okay, that's just a blurp for history's sake on my part for my blog. Note that I did not ask for any freebies in this situation, either. The chicken I received from Tim may have cost more - but to me - chicken is chicken. I mean, if you are getting chicken breast, THEN you are getting a freebie, but a chicken drumstick is a chicken drumstick, at least to me it is.
More? Oh - there's another thing that happened that got my ire on Sunday as well. I put $120 of that casino winnings on my power card for electricity. At least, I tried to. The machine ate my money, did NOT put the money on my card, and then pumped out a receipt saying that the money wasn't on the card, please call this number. LOOOOOOOOONG story short: they did not have ANY record of my having done what I said I did (so thank God Almighty the receipt actually stated it), I had to go in yesterday to an SRP office and have them put that money onto a new card.
So, on the good note side: I don't really have any. I mean, when I got home today, Mimi- the newest tenant -said when she went out there this morning to open the gate, the latch was not latched. The lock was in it's hold, but the latch was above the lock, not below it where the lock can keep it from opening. All the dogs would have need done was push against the gate and it would have opened for them. This is twice now in 3 days this has happened. Ken did it on Sunday - he apparently thought he had closed the get - he did not. I went out there to see the gate WIDE OPEN. Mary did it this morning - it was clearly obvious through looking at the video surveillance camera that I have trained on that particular gate. Yup - I'm going to eliminate the use of that gate for tenants. The gate on the other side of the house is in the dog-free zone. If they pull that s*** over there, at least I have some peace of mind that the dogs can't get out by virtue of the fence in the back of the house that keeps them from getting back there.
Okay - a bright spot. I was at Walmart on Sunday. I wanted to get flea/tic stuff for the dogs and several packages of new socks. As normal for me, I couldn't resist walking through the nursery department to see what they might have. My new trellises need some vines crawling up them and - whatever else. An employee was out watering the plants. He quipped: "There are trees that we are getting rid of behind those palms back there, they're greatly discounted". Well, I most certainly couldn't resist THAT invitation, so I thanked him for the info and walked back there. Sure enough, they had 8 foot tall trees for ELEVEN bucks!! R U Serious? Dang!!!! Okay, I only bought one. All I could get into my car. I have totally forgotten about those trees - of which they don't have many left back there - I would have gotten another one today or yesterday on the way home from work.
Oh, there's even more stuff, but this entry has gotten lengthy.
Hope you all had a great (and swine-flu-free) day!
ben
Sunday was rather uneventful. I had a couple people over for BBQ chicken - but as far as getting anything done around here, not much. Just the normal cleaning and watering of plants. I have a couple of projects going that I would like to finish. The last couple of weekends have been total wastes for me - I usually work on some kind of project and at least get something done on them. I ain't promising anything for the coming weekend, either.
The rather large size of the casino winnings helped me get ahead on some bills and get some things I needed, such as several more bags of dog food; tic treatment for the dogs; new socks, stuff like that.
Today, I went into a McDonald's in Casa Grande. I had no time to stop anywhere but for a few seconds to run in and out. It really shouldn't have been that long of a day, but it turned into one with driving all over the place. I wanted a cup of coffee to wake myself up. I was driving the boss's pickup, so I went through the drive-thru window. Got the coffee, drove off from the window, took a sip - and about spit it all back out. COLD coffee.
Some of the things these fast-food places do nowadays are quite amazing. Amazingly BAD. I parked the truck, walked back in, set the cup down on the counter, asked for my money back. What's wrong? Cold coffee. I can get you another cup. Don't want another cup, just give me my money back. I don't take kindly to a place of business serving something that is just plain wrong. I didn't give them an attitude per se, I just decided that if that was the way they were going to treat their customers, I would rather have nothing to do with that particular store/location again. The manager comes up - I tell her again, please give me my money back, thanks.
She gave me my money back, I said thank you and started to walk off. She did the unexpected, as the thought hadn't even crossed my mind, honestly: she offered me a free cup of hot coffee. Before this lady walked up, 3 employees were arguing amongst themselves about whose fault it was: turns out someone had turned off the warmer on the coffee brewer and that's why the coffee was cold. It seems nowadays it takes management to do the right thing at most places when a blunder is made. Perhaps the employees don't have the power to be able to make something right, I don't really know. However, in this case, I didn't ask for a free cup of coffee, neither did I expect one. I just dismissed the whole thing and was going to leave. At least her end of the deal reaffirmed my faith that there are still people working in places - that count - out there that are doing the right thing.
Now, take my visit to Fry's. Take that back, take my FOUR visits to Fry's in 3 days, looking for a sale item the didn't have: 77 cents per pound chicken. I went in Friday - no 77 cent chicken out. When will the next shipment come in? It was meat department personnel who informed me: "Anytime, we are expecting a truck anytime now". Well, will there be some tomorrow morning? Ohhhhh yes, there will. So, no big deal, I go into Fry's frequently, I would just come back in the morning.
Saturday, I go back to Fry's. Look for the 77cents per pound chicken. No such baby exists. I ask meat department personnel again: how's come no chicken? Ohhh, we're sorry, we don't have any. Sir, that's what YOU told me yesterday and you adamently informed me that today there would be chicken. I let it go with that guy, instead, I saw Kim, the store's manager, and asked him (yes, it's a man named Kim, haven't ever figured that one out, and he's not oriental or anything) about it. He went back - came back to me, apologized and that was the end of it. Will you have any tomorrow? Oh yes, we will have a truck come in today.
Yes, I went in Sunday morning. No chicken, and yes, I asked.
I went again later - I had forgotten a few things that I wanted for a meal. This time, a different man was working out in the meat aisle. I asked this guy how's come no chicken? He gets and attitude with me - note: I did NOT get an attitude with him, I asked him politely about the sale chicken that they don't seem to ever have. Not worth going into, the attitude was very sour.
Now, this is the FOURTH time in THREE days I've been there to get the sale chicken. I have NEVER experienced anything this bad from Fry's. So, after this guy getting a tudinoidinal with me, I go to find Kim, the general manager. He's not in today, I am informed, but Tim is. Okay, I have seen Tim before - never knew he was even in management. I told him 2 things, 1: I have been here 4 times for chicken that you don't have and 2: the dude with the tude.
Tim says follow me, we'll do a substitute for you. Okay. We go back there - dude with tude is out there. Tim asks Tude Dude something, Tude Dude starts with his act. Tude Dude looks at me, makes a comment - I cut him off. YOU are a REAL piece of work. Tude Dude immediately goes into extreme tudinaoidinal flurry of - s***. In fact, he put the meat down he had been holding and pulled his hands and arms back as if he were going to hit me! Lol. Fortunately, I had no fear of the man, at all, and said it again: YOU are a REAL piece of work. Tim intervenes, tells the man to stop, picks up 4 packages of chicken drumsticks of a different brand at a MUCH higher price, tells me to just tell the cashier that he said it was a substitute.
I walk off. Tim starts in on the man. Again, as I have said countless times on this journal, if I were to treat a customer the way Tude Dude spoke to me, I am quite sure that I would either be fired or definitely reprimanded and threatened with termination if it happened again. I doubt Tude Dude got fired - and really, it takes a lot for me to want to see a person lose their position and though this is getting up there, I still wouldn't have wished it upon him. BUT - he definitely received and earful from Tim, the second-in-command of that particular store.
I did an experiment when I got home. I called a LOT of Fry's stores - NONE of them had the chicken until I got to the last one. I asked the guy to put 6 packages of it aside for me, I would be right in. Yup, I got in my car and drove over there - only 4 miles away, it was definitely worth the trip.
Okay, that's just a blurp for history's sake on my part for my blog. Note that I did not ask for any freebies in this situation, either. The chicken I received from Tim may have cost more - but to me - chicken is chicken. I mean, if you are getting chicken breast, THEN you are getting a freebie, but a chicken drumstick is a chicken drumstick, at least to me it is.
More? Oh - there's another thing that happened that got my ire on Sunday as well. I put $120 of that casino winnings on my power card for electricity. At least, I tried to. The machine ate my money, did NOT put the money on my card, and then pumped out a receipt saying that the money wasn't on the card, please call this number. LOOOOOOOOONG story short: they did not have ANY record of my having done what I said I did (so thank God Almighty the receipt actually stated it), I had to go in yesterday to an SRP office and have them put that money onto a new card.
So, on the good note side: I don't really have any. I mean, when I got home today, Mimi- the newest tenant -said when she went out there this morning to open the gate, the latch was not latched. The lock was in it's hold, but the latch was above the lock, not below it where the lock can keep it from opening. All the dogs would have need done was push against the gate and it would have opened for them. This is twice now in 3 days this has happened. Ken did it on Sunday - he apparently thought he had closed the get - he did not. I went out there to see the gate WIDE OPEN. Mary did it this morning - it was clearly obvious through looking at the video surveillance camera that I have trained on that particular gate. Yup - I'm going to eliminate the use of that gate for tenants. The gate on the other side of the house is in the dog-free zone. If they pull that s*** over there, at least I have some peace of mind that the dogs can't get out by virtue of the fence in the back of the house that keeps them from getting back there.
Okay - a bright spot. I was at Walmart on Sunday. I wanted to get flea/tic stuff for the dogs and several packages of new socks. As normal for me, I couldn't resist walking through the nursery department to see what they might have. My new trellises need some vines crawling up them and - whatever else. An employee was out watering the plants. He quipped: "There are trees that we are getting rid of behind those palms back there, they're greatly discounted". Well, I most certainly couldn't resist THAT invitation, so I thanked him for the info and walked back there. Sure enough, they had 8 foot tall trees for ELEVEN bucks!! R U Serious? Dang!!!! Okay, I only bought one. All I could get into my car. I have totally forgotten about those trees - of which they don't have many left back there - I would have gotten another one today or yesterday on the way home from work.
Oh, there's even more stuff, but this entry has gotten lengthy.
Hope you all had a great (and swine-flu-free) day!
ben
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday - More
So, true to my word, I went out and bought almost everything on the list that the lady that contacted me wanted. It was QUITE a long list of stuff - I set a monetary limit on the amount I was going to buy - but I went over anyway. What the hey, it's free money, I didn't really earn it. They are coming over in a couple of hours. I am going to do some BBQ'ing as they are bringing their whole family - 2 adults and 3 kids. Basically, their situation is having their own company. The lady used to work for the company and draw a good salary - the husband ran the business and drew and awesome salary.
Now, like millions of others like them, they are facing some very hard times. Their business is still in operation, but she is no longer on the payroll and they are barely eeking out enough to make the house payment and pay necessary bills. Well heck, I'm going to copy and paste the letter without revealing the names or phone number. It's a typical story that's going on all over the place.
Hello, My name is (deleted) and I am married for 13 years and have 3 children. I just happened to run across your ad during my search for work. I’m currently a stay at home mom with my 2 ½ year old daughter and my other 2 children are in school. They are 13 ½ and 9. I’m not writing to give you a sob story, but definitely could use some food right now. We are a family of 5 that was at one point at a high point in life and the money was coming in quite vigorously. My husband owns his own business cutting architectural shapes out of Styrofoam and works heavily with the stucco industry. The problem is the economy….our business is really suffering. We had a general manager that was running things and we had to let him go and we have one laborer and recently had to just cut his hours down significantly to an as needed basis. I was working with my husband, however he can’t afford to pay me any longer, so I’m basically working for free and just do20the bare minimum like invoicing for the time being. We can’t afford to put our daughter in care any longer now that I’m not getting paid. I’ve been working very hard at trying to find employment in the administrative industry because that is my background, but no good bites. So just recently I’ve been searching on CL for little gigs like house cleaning or laundry or anything domestic that I can do as a service with no money out of my pocket and be able to take my daughter with me. I’ve been successful with that this past week, but just had to buy new glasses for 2 of my kids and myself and so that shot down that extra money and now I have to find more work to save for my vehicle tags which are just over $400 due in June. Anyways, as I mentioned I didn’t want to write a sob story, but just giving you a little bit of information to go on…..we could really use good food because I’ve just been doing a whole lot of mac n’ cheese, hot dogs, PBJ’s and cereal. The family is getting burnt out on that quickly! I use coupons, but can’t afford to even use those, so I put a lot of time and effort in to find what I can for cents or free. Again, this has been a tremendous adjustment for us and we would sincerely appreciate a return favor from our community as we offer so much and have offered so much to our community both in volunteer work and just as good citizens20and normal everyday people trying to make a living and do some good in this world.
I look forward to hearing from you and take care,
That's their story. Now, to me, that's pure, red-blooded Americana. They have worked hard all their lives - and here we are. These are the kinds of people I want to help - which of course isn't that much or very often, but since I won a load of money (well it's a load to me, anyway), and I like to give back (I see doing things like this as my version of tithing to the Lord) - here we are.
As for the rest of that free money, I have paid numerous bills with it today and have a few more to go. Satellite; car; internet; credit-cards; still trying to access the car insurance site. It's down for whatever reason. Oh, and going to transfer $100 to my savings account and dump $100 on the power reader. That'll pretty much consume that money and then-some - but I just got paid and this paycheck is the one I use for paying household bills.
Today's fare for the BBQ? (changing the subject yet again)?
BBQ'ed chicken; salad; pork chops; mashed potatoes with gravy; coleslaw; potato salad - and probably not much else since it's unnecessary. Just that I'm also feeding 3 hungry boys as well (you know Caleb, Michael and JD?). They're going to be here before I know it, so I'm going to start cutting stuff for the salad. The rest of the stuff is a piece of cake - nothing to it - besides cooking chicken and chops on the BBQ - which I love doing anyway.
You? Take care, now!
ben
Now, like millions of others like them, they are facing some very hard times. Their business is still in operation, but she is no longer on the payroll and they are barely eeking out enough to make the house payment and pay necessary bills. Well heck, I'm going to copy and paste the letter without revealing the names or phone number. It's a typical story that's going on all over the place.
Hello, My name is (deleted) and I am married for 13 years and have 3 children. I just happened to run across your ad during my search for work. I’m currently a stay at home mom with my 2 ½ year old daughter and my other 2 children are in school. They are 13 ½ and 9. I’m not writing to give you a sob story, but definitely could use some food right now. We are a family of 5 that was at one point at a high point in life and the money was coming in quite vigorously. My husband owns his own business cutting architectural shapes out of Styrofoam and works heavily with the stucco industry. The problem is the economy….our business is really suffering. We had a general manager that was running things and we had to let him go and we have one laborer and recently had to just cut his hours down significantly to an as needed basis. I was working with my husband, however he can’t afford to pay me any longer, so I’m basically working for free and just do20the bare minimum like invoicing for the time being. We can’t afford to put our daughter in care any longer now that I’m not getting paid. I’ve been working very hard at trying to find employment in the administrative industry because that is my background, but no good bites. So just recently I’ve been searching on CL for little gigs like house cleaning or laundry or anything domestic that I can do as a service with no money out of my pocket and be able to take my daughter with me. I’ve been successful with that this past week, but just had to buy new glasses for 2 of my kids and myself and so that shot down that extra money and now I have to find more work to save for my vehicle tags which are just over $400 due in June. Anyways, as I mentioned I didn’t want to write a sob story, but just giving you a little bit of information to go on…..we could really use good food because I’ve just been doing a whole lot of mac n’ cheese, hot dogs, PBJ’s and cereal. The family is getting burnt out on that quickly! I use coupons, but can’t afford to even use those, so I put a lot of time and effort in to find what I can for cents or free. Again, this has been a tremendous adjustment for us and we would sincerely appreciate a return favor from our community as we offer so much and have offered so much to our community both in volunteer work and just as good citizens20and normal everyday people trying to make a living and do some good in this world.
I look forward to hearing from you and take care,
That's their story. Now, to me, that's pure, red-blooded Americana. They have worked hard all their lives - and here we are. These are the kinds of people I want to help - which of course isn't that much or very often, but since I won a load of money (well it's a load to me, anyway), and I like to give back (I see doing things like this as my version of tithing to the Lord) - here we are.
As for the rest of that free money, I have paid numerous bills with it today and have a few more to go. Satellite; car; internet; credit-cards; still trying to access the car insurance site. It's down for whatever reason. Oh, and going to transfer $100 to my savings account and dump $100 on the power reader. That'll pretty much consume that money and then-some - but I just got paid and this paycheck is the one I use for paying household bills.
Today's fare for the BBQ? (changing the subject yet again)?
BBQ'ed chicken; salad; pork chops; mashed potatoes with gravy; coleslaw; potato salad - and probably not much else since it's unnecessary. Just that I'm also feeding 3 hungry boys as well (you know Caleb, Michael and JD?). They're going to be here before I know it, so I'm going to start cutting stuff for the salad. The rest of the stuff is a piece of cake - nothing to it - besides cooking chicken and chops on the BBQ - which I love doing anyway.
You? Take care, now!
ben
Saturday
The ONLY reason I am awake right now is because of the dogs - sticking their snouts in my face while I was sleeping.
I got that wild hair last night and acted upon it. Yes sir, I went to the casino and raked up a tidy little sum of $700.00.
For 4 and a half hours, I was playing with house money, and boy was I playing! $50 bet here, $100 there. Double-down $100 for a $200 total bet here, etc etc etc. I undoubtedly could have won even more, but it got late and I started getting bored with it, actually.
Okay, I never get bored at the blackjack tables, but I was tired and that makes me feel bored, which is really my body telling me it's WAY past bed-time, pullllllleeeeeease go home and go to sleep. It felt REALLY good to walk out of there with that much of the house's money.
The funny thing is - management was standing there, glaring at me all night long. Everytime I looked up, they were standing there, a whole group of them at times, just staring at me. Now, admittedly I didn't start the affair out too well for their tastes. I hadn't been there 5 minutes and I objected to the dealer who bypassed me when I made a CLEAR signal to hit. I played strictly by the rules (blackjack rules for attempting to win, that is, not some house rules junk) last night, doubling down when I should have; doing everything that came to me that I should do when I should do it. The house actually paid everyone at the table back for that round. Then, someone else had a problem - a valid problem - with the dealer not paying him out for a winning hand.
The manager came up to the table and said: NOW what's the problem? looking at me as if I had just turned into the Bubonic plague - fortunately that problem was not initiated by me. I made no more fusses for the rest of the night, and the dealers were certainly doing some ridiculous blunders. I don't know how a person can be a dealer and simply ignore the player's wishes. Several of them continued to try and bypass me - thinking I wasn't going to hit on certain hands without bothering to ask my opinion of it.
Still, the thing kind of gave me a sour taste in my mouth just because of the pit boss and his cronies. I'm telling you, that pit boss was watching my every move. I started to wonder if they might have thought I was counting cards, a thing I have never learned how to do and undoubtedly would win FAR more money if I knew how to do it. I normally get along well with management, but last night - I just kept my mouth shut.
Okay, well, anyway, here it is, today. I decided to pay some of my winnings out to a needy family - a family of 5 that is, 2 adults and 3 boys - in giving them food. Yes, I am still doing Craigslist stuff here and there in giving out food when I can. Certainly, a winning like this will have me wanting to do something for someone. In this case, the lady of the house sent me a pretty extensive list of things she would like based on Fry's advertised sales. That will be $60 worth of food, maybe a tad more and then the rest is going to bills. Ummm, well maybe not ALL of it. I just remembered that material I was going to go buy today. The money spent on shade screen will be the money saved in cooling costs.
I am also thinking of buying 2 more new tires for my car - I STILL have that vibration problem that I just gave up on because I figured 2 more new tires would fix the problem, and at almost $200, I simply haven't really had the extra funds to go get them. Yes, in fact, I can think of a lot of ways to spend those winnings - on stuff I need - so, back off a little and give some time to think this out. I mean, clearly I should dump at least $100 in my online savings account.
Well, I will drive myself batty going on like that, so I'll just stop.
You know what? I'm still tired and I'm going to go back to bed!
Happy Day!
ben
I got that wild hair last night and acted upon it. Yes sir, I went to the casino and raked up a tidy little sum of $700.00.
For 4 and a half hours, I was playing with house money, and boy was I playing! $50 bet here, $100 there. Double-down $100 for a $200 total bet here, etc etc etc. I undoubtedly could have won even more, but it got late and I started getting bored with it, actually.
Okay, I never get bored at the blackjack tables, but I was tired and that makes me feel bored, which is really my body telling me it's WAY past bed-time, pullllllleeeeeease go home and go to sleep. It felt REALLY good to walk out of there with that much of the house's money.
The funny thing is - management was standing there, glaring at me all night long. Everytime I looked up, they were standing there, a whole group of them at times, just staring at me. Now, admittedly I didn't start the affair out too well for their tastes. I hadn't been there 5 minutes and I objected to the dealer who bypassed me when I made a CLEAR signal to hit. I played strictly by the rules (blackjack rules for attempting to win, that is, not some house rules junk) last night, doubling down when I should have; doing everything that came to me that I should do when I should do it. The house actually paid everyone at the table back for that round. Then, someone else had a problem - a valid problem - with the dealer not paying him out for a winning hand.
The manager came up to the table and said: NOW what's the problem? looking at me as if I had just turned into the Bubonic plague - fortunately that problem was not initiated by me. I made no more fusses for the rest of the night, and the dealers were certainly doing some ridiculous blunders. I don't know how a person can be a dealer and simply ignore the player's wishes. Several of them continued to try and bypass me - thinking I wasn't going to hit on certain hands without bothering to ask my opinion of it.
Still, the thing kind of gave me a sour taste in my mouth just because of the pit boss and his cronies. I'm telling you, that pit boss was watching my every move. I started to wonder if they might have thought I was counting cards, a thing I have never learned how to do and undoubtedly would win FAR more money if I knew how to do it. I normally get along well with management, but last night - I just kept my mouth shut.
Okay, well, anyway, here it is, today. I decided to pay some of my winnings out to a needy family - a family of 5 that is, 2 adults and 3 boys - in giving them food. Yes, I am still doing Craigslist stuff here and there in giving out food when I can. Certainly, a winning like this will have me wanting to do something for someone. In this case, the lady of the house sent me a pretty extensive list of things she would like based on Fry's advertised sales. That will be $60 worth of food, maybe a tad more and then the rest is going to bills. Ummm, well maybe not ALL of it. I just remembered that material I was going to go buy today. The money spent on shade screen will be the money saved in cooling costs.
I am also thinking of buying 2 more new tires for my car - I STILL have that vibration problem that I just gave up on because I figured 2 more new tires would fix the problem, and at almost $200, I simply haven't really had the extra funds to go get them. Yes, in fact, I can think of a lot of ways to spend those winnings - on stuff I need - so, back off a little and give some time to think this out. I mean, clearly I should dump at least $100 in my online savings account.
Well, I will drive myself batty going on like that, so I'll just stop.
You know what? I'm still tired and I'm going to go back to bed!
Happy Day!
ben
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday - Morning
Got to work this morning - first day in weeks that I haven't had a full plate of things to do. Which isn't really all that great - I do my best when there is plenty to do. Still, it's a beautiful morning, the air is cool and "fresh" - Phoenix version of fresh lol - and at least there's an order to pull for delivery on Monday morning.
Plus, I get off almost 2 hours early today because of OT incurred this week.
When thinking about approaching summer - I'm always looking at the temps and the 10-day forecast. Today will be mid-90's, this weekend back down in the 80's but then next week back up into the 90's. At this time of the year, this is expected, unfortunately, and it probably will continue to rise from here on out. So - bidding adioses and ado's to winter and spring.
Anyway, I found the ad on Craigslist again that has shade treatments for windows - the guy is going out of business and is selling the stuff dirt cheap. I am hoping to get over there today or tomorrow and get some of it before it's all gone.
With that, I am going to go outside, get on the forklift and start pulling this order.
Have a great day!
ben
Plus, I get off almost 2 hours early today because of OT incurred this week.
When thinking about approaching summer - I'm always looking at the temps and the 10-day forecast. Today will be mid-90's, this weekend back down in the 80's but then next week back up into the 90's. At this time of the year, this is expected, unfortunately, and it probably will continue to rise from here on out. So - bidding adioses and ado's to winter and spring.
Anyway, I found the ad on Craigslist again that has shade treatments for windows - the guy is going out of business and is selling the stuff dirt cheap. I am hoping to get over there today or tomorrow and get some of it before it's all gone.
With that, I am going to go outside, get on the forklift and start pulling this order.
Have a great day!
ben
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday
Today was totally ridiculous.
I got up early and was at work early.
I had the truck loaded from the day before, I only had to go in the store, print out my truck reports, print out the ticket for the delivery, walaah, good to go.
Instead, I find in the truck routing system that another order had been dumped in there for this particular delivery - a delivery they wanted me AT the jobsite at 6:00am. Kick it in high gear, pull the order, unstrap the trailer, put the material on, restrap the trailer - etc etc etc. I also had to go to the plumbing branch to get parts that we didn't have. So, arriving at this elementary school at the appointed time amazed me.
So, they have this little area between buildings where they're putting in sewer and water lines. Replete with a gate that was JUST barely big enough to fit a truck into, final touches that I had to drive against traffic and back at an extreme angle because of space limitations on the street. I even amazed myself on this backing maneuver: I got that trailer nailed into that gate without even one single pull-up. Yowsa!!! The foreman called me a "driving wonder", gave me accolades for the feat I just pulled off. Then comes the bad part.
The pipe is the wrong size. NOT because I had the wrong size pipe on the truck according to the paperwork, but - it was ordered wrong. Great. This guy gets sour in a fast hurry. I put an end to that in an even faster hurry: I'll have the correct size pipe out here for you in an hour's time. That put a smile on his face, and yes, I delivered my promise.
The whole day was like that. I made 4 runs on however many deliveries. Every place I went they were waiting on the material. One place I went to they unloaded the pipe and immediately started putting it in the ground.
I am TOTALLY wiped out. Long break. I was also quite hungry and went about the task of forming hamburger patties and cooking them on the grill. The effort was TOTALLY worth it!
But now? The food, of course, is making me sleepy. Dunno about recent days in my life - just don't know what's going on. I'll figure it out.
Have a great evening!
ben
I got up early and was at work early.
I had the truck loaded from the day before, I only had to go in the store, print out my truck reports, print out the ticket for the delivery, walaah, good to go.
Instead, I find in the truck routing system that another order had been dumped in there for this particular delivery - a delivery they wanted me AT the jobsite at 6:00am. Kick it in high gear, pull the order, unstrap the trailer, put the material on, restrap the trailer - etc etc etc. I also had to go to the plumbing branch to get parts that we didn't have. So, arriving at this elementary school at the appointed time amazed me.
So, they have this little area between buildings where they're putting in sewer and water lines. Replete with a gate that was JUST barely big enough to fit a truck into, final touches that I had to drive against traffic and back at an extreme angle because of space limitations on the street. I even amazed myself on this backing maneuver: I got that trailer nailed into that gate without even one single pull-up. Yowsa!!! The foreman called me a "driving wonder", gave me accolades for the feat I just pulled off. Then comes the bad part.
The pipe is the wrong size. NOT because I had the wrong size pipe on the truck according to the paperwork, but - it was ordered wrong. Great. This guy gets sour in a fast hurry. I put an end to that in an even faster hurry: I'll have the correct size pipe out here for you in an hour's time. That put a smile on his face, and yes, I delivered my promise.
The whole day was like that. I made 4 runs on however many deliveries. Every place I went they were waiting on the material. One place I went to they unloaded the pipe and immediately started putting it in the ground.
I am TOTALLY wiped out. Long break. I was also quite hungry and went about the task of forming hamburger patties and cooking them on the grill. The effort was TOTALLY worth it!
But now? The food, of course, is making me sleepy. Dunno about recent days in my life - just don't know what's going on. I'll figure it out.
Have a great evening!
ben
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A Different Tone
Admittedly, when I am tired, I don't tend to be the rosiest person on the face of the planet.
I might even misread something that someone says in passing and take it wrongly - but usually I keep my mouth shut about such things because I know what frame of mind I am in at the moment.
Today I had such an encounter with a certain person at my employer's - I had to think about that person's statement for a long, long time and came to absolutely NO clear conclusion.
I go to work, and when the work's there, I work my @$$ off. Period. I have no other work ethic. I don't know any other way of doing things at work, I must strive to do the best possible job in the least amount of time while maintaining accuracy and efficiency. I have always driven myself to such, I cannot see a day when I will change that way of doing things.
It's simply a part of who I am. There are always, of course, areas that can be improved. Whatever my work failings may be, no one will ever be able to say that "that guy is a lazy ASS looking for NOTHING to do". To the contrary, I HATE a slow day. I FAR prefer being busy, and quite busy at that. Since my boss has been gone, I have - dipped my feet - into things I hadn't done before. Nothing bad about what I did, it's stuff the boss usually does to keep his store ratings up. I had never done it because he always does it, every single day.
None of what I do at work guarantees that I will have a job tomorrow. I can only do my best and strive to go beyond my best and hope that tomorrow, when I arrive at work, and tomorrow afternoon, when I leave, I won't have to confront any bad news.
My home? I love my home! It's not just a place to hang a hat, it's a place to live. Here is MY place, the place that I don't have to succumb to anyone for any reason about anything. At least, not in relative terms. Always there is something, but - I deal with it. I ALWAYS deal with it, and usually almost immediately unless prudence dictates something else. I love what's happening to my home - it's transforming from a bland, same-o same-o place to the place of my dreams. Really. It will get there.
And then? I will sell it - when the economy comes back and housing prices go back up - and I find a point where I can make a profit off of it - and go buy another diamond in the rough. Or - if I can somehow swing it - rent the place out AND go get another diamond in the rough.
This is not a guess. I am not making statements that won't happen. If I die, it won't happen. Otherwise, I will see it happen. There is so much more to be done to this house and property before it is sold - but it isn't a negative outview. I LOVE the challenge of getting things to where I want them, especially something as large a project as an entire house and it's property.
Life isn't all about a bad economy - or even a good one. You meet people where they are at. It isn't about a whole lot of anything, really, except the people that are involved in your personal life. And the Lord, of course.
Now for my negative rant. I check my checking account balance every day - every single day, online. I check it because I used to be so TERRIBLY bad about a checking account. Checking accounts and credit are the reason I went for some 3 years without a checking account or credit cards. On purpose. I had to pay for everything by cash. I forced that upon myself and I never want to forget the lessons I learned during that period of time.
Anyway, today, I was surprised to see my checking account $25 in the NEGATIVE. It is NEVER in the negative. What did I do? Forgot about a check I had written that the person it was issued to hadn't deposited. Now, this morning, I was in the black. It was about 4:00pm when I checked it yet again and found that in there. I immediately went out to my car and drove on down to the nearest Compass bank.
Guess what? Compass bank closes at 4:00pm! R U Serious? What happened to banker's hours: 9 to 5? The bank was closed, not even the drive-thru was opened. The only thing I could do was make a deposit in the ATM. So I did - almost. The screen popped up and told me that deposits made before 3:00 pm would be posted that day, deposits made after 3:00 pm would be posted the next business day.
I'm getting panicked - I HATE giving banks money for over-draft fees. It's just money down the drain. Poof, it's gone and didn't do you a DAMNED bit of good. You didn't buy anything with it, it didn't help your credit, it's just plain GONE. I thought that maybe because it was south-central Phoenix - not a nice area - they close earlier. So, I'm heading back towards the east valley and attempting to call Compass on the 800 line.
I push the buttons on the phone for the options presented. I get to the point of talking to a person and a recording comes on that says something about being open until 7:00 pm, thanks for calling and it hangs up! 7:00 pm MOUNTAIN time. I'm IN Mountain time, and it's 4:30 pm! I got that recording fully 7 times before I FINALLY got through to someone, who said I was not in the right "department" and HUNG UP on me!
I called back yet again, this time, I had just pulled into a Circle K. I was going to see if the bank I normally use is open by looking up their phone number, getting one of the tellers on the phone that I normally deal with, and at least get an opportunity to plead my cause. Well, I got through to an agent on the 800 line in the RIGHT department this time. I tell this guy the story - went there, trying to advert an overdraft fee, can I pay the difference with a credit card over the phone? No, you can't. Well is there a Compass bank around somewhere that is opened until 5:00? No, sir, there isn't.
I didn't know what to think. I've had that account opened for - a year and a half. I that time, I have had one overdraft. That was another mistake, not dissimilar to today, only today, I thought I had caught the error in-time to rectify it. So, after my options were exhausted, I simply stated the following: So, what you're saying is there is nothing I can do about this and tomorrow, I'm going to see a huge overdraft fee on my account.
I wasn't angry, cynical or inflecting any tones. I had simply come to the point of accepting that I wasn't going to win this one, oh well. "No sir, I'm not saying that at all. As a one-time only courtesy, we are going to defer the over-draft fee. Just come in tomorrow morning with the money and you will not incur the fee." I was rather astounded, to be quite honest, to hear this coming from this guy and his company. Banks are notorious for NOT giving up the fees. You get one, you pay it.
So, in the end, it isn't a negative thing anyway. I thanked the man for his understanding and - well really, they didn't have to do any such thing and I didn't even ask them for it, nor did I expect it, AT ALL - for giving me the opportunity, wished him a good afternoon and hung up. Note that I would have wished him a good afternoon if I had NOT received such. A company's policies are not going to be able to be deferred by the dude or dudette that answers the phone in an incoming 800 call center. You ALWAYS have to go beyond that person. I wasn't even going to do that, to be honest. I usually have thoughts of going hog-wild and doing whatever, but in reality, I caused this problem myself, oversight or not - so, give it good effort, but don't go too far with it. My only real reason to call the bank was to find out if I could just pay in advance with a credit card.
To end this, again, I know I'm not being "myself" lately and I have no good answer for it. I don't know what's going on inside of me, only to say that I will come out of whatever it is and - whatever "it" did to me, that's what will reflect in my demeanor. Aging is an interesting phenomenon and I don't wonder if whatever "it" is is a part of it. I think not on a mid-life crisis. I didn't say I'm going through a BAD thing, just - different.
Hope you all have a great evening.
ben
I might even misread something that someone says in passing and take it wrongly - but usually I keep my mouth shut about such things because I know what frame of mind I am in at the moment.
Today I had such an encounter with a certain person at my employer's - I had to think about that person's statement for a long, long time and came to absolutely NO clear conclusion.
I go to work, and when the work's there, I work my @$$ off. Period. I have no other work ethic. I don't know any other way of doing things at work, I must strive to do the best possible job in the least amount of time while maintaining accuracy and efficiency. I have always driven myself to such, I cannot see a day when I will change that way of doing things.
It's simply a part of who I am. There are always, of course, areas that can be improved. Whatever my work failings may be, no one will ever be able to say that "that guy is a lazy ASS looking for NOTHING to do". To the contrary, I HATE a slow day. I FAR prefer being busy, and quite busy at that. Since my boss has been gone, I have - dipped my feet - into things I hadn't done before. Nothing bad about what I did, it's stuff the boss usually does to keep his store ratings up. I had never done it because he always does it, every single day.
None of what I do at work guarantees that I will have a job tomorrow. I can only do my best and strive to go beyond my best and hope that tomorrow, when I arrive at work, and tomorrow afternoon, when I leave, I won't have to confront any bad news.
My home? I love my home! It's not just a place to hang a hat, it's a place to live. Here is MY place, the place that I don't have to succumb to anyone for any reason about anything. At least, not in relative terms. Always there is something, but - I deal with it. I ALWAYS deal with it, and usually almost immediately unless prudence dictates something else. I love what's happening to my home - it's transforming from a bland, same-o same-o place to the place of my dreams. Really. It will get there.
And then? I will sell it - when the economy comes back and housing prices go back up - and I find a point where I can make a profit off of it - and go buy another diamond in the rough. Or - if I can somehow swing it - rent the place out AND go get another diamond in the rough.
This is not a guess. I am not making statements that won't happen. If I die, it won't happen. Otherwise, I will see it happen. There is so much more to be done to this house and property before it is sold - but it isn't a negative outview. I LOVE the challenge of getting things to where I want them, especially something as large a project as an entire house and it's property.
Life isn't all about a bad economy - or even a good one. You meet people where they are at. It isn't about a whole lot of anything, really, except the people that are involved in your personal life. And the Lord, of course.
Now for my negative rant. I check my checking account balance every day - every single day, online. I check it because I used to be so TERRIBLY bad about a checking account. Checking accounts and credit are the reason I went for some 3 years without a checking account or credit cards. On purpose. I had to pay for everything by cash. I forced that upon myself and I never want to forget the lessons I learned during that period of time.
Anyway, today, I was surprised to see my checking account $25 in the NEGATIVE. It is NEVER in the negative. What did I do? Forgot about a check I had written that the person it was issued to hadn't deposited. Now, this morning, I was in the black. It was about 4:00pm when I checked it yet again and found that in there. I immediately went out to my car and drove on down to the nearest Compass bank.
Guess what? Compass bank closes at 4:00pm! R U Serious? What happened to banker's hours: 9 to 5? The bank was closed, not even the drive-thru was opened. The only thing I could do was make a deposit in the ATM. So I did - almost. The screen popped up and told me that deposits made before 3:00 pm would be posted that day, deposits made after 3:00 pm would be posted the next business day.
I'm getting panicked - I HATE giving banks money for over-draft fees. It's just money down the drain. Poof, it's gone and didn't do you a DAMNED bit of good. You didn't buy anything with it, it didn't help your credit, it's just plain GONE. I thought that maybe because it was south-central Phoenix - not a nice area - they close earlier. So, I'm heading back towards the east valley and attempting to call Compass on the 800 line.
I push the buttons on the phone for the options presented. I get to the point of talking to a person and a recording comes on that says something about being open until 7:00 pm, thanks for calling and it hangs up! 7:00 pm MOUNTAIN time. I'm IN Mountain time, and it's 4:30 pm! I got that recording fully 7 times before I FINALLY got through to someone, who said I was not in the right "department" and HUNG UP on me!
I called back yet again, this time, I had just pulled into a Circle K. I was going to see if the bank I normally use is open by looking up their phone number, getting one of the tellers on the phone that I normally deal with, and at least get an opportunity to plead my cause. Well, I got through to an agent on the 800 line in the RIGHT department this time. I tell this guy the story - went there, trying to advert an overdraft fee, can I pay the difference with a credit card over the phone? No, you can't. Well is there a Compass bank around somewhere that is opened until 5:00? No, sir, there isn't.
I didn't know what to think. I've had that account opened for - a year and a half. I that time, I have had one overdraft. That was another mistake, not dissimilar to today, only today, I thought I had caught the error in-time to rectify it. So, after my options were exhausted, I simply stated the following: So, what you're saying is there is nothing I can do about this and tomorrow, I'm going to see a huge overdraft fee on my account.
I wasn't angry, cynical or inflecting any tones. I had simply come to the point of accepting that I wasn't going to win this one, oh well. "No sir, I'm not saying that at all. As a one-time only courtesy, we are going to defer the over-draft fee. Just come in tomorrow morning with the money and you will not incur the fee." I was rather astounded, to be quite honest, to hear this coming from this guy and his company. Banks are notorious for NOT giving up the fees. You get one, you pay it.
So, in the end, it isn't a negative thing anyway. I thanked the man for his understanding and - well really, they didn't have to do any such thing and I didn't even ask them for it, nor did I expect it, AT ALL - for giving me the opportunity, wished him a good afternoon and hung up. Note that I would have wished him a good afternoon if I had NOT received such. A company's policies are not going to be able to be deferred by the dude or dudette that answers the phone in an incoming 800 call center. You ALWAYS have to go beyond that person. I wasn't even going to do that, to be honest. I usually have thoughts of going hog-wild and doing whatever, but in reality, I caused this problem myself, oversight or not - so, give it good effort, but don't go too far with it. My only real reason to call the bank was to find out if I could just pay in advance with a credit card.
To end this, again, I know I'm not being "myself" lately and I have no good answer for it. I don't know what's going on inside of me, only to say that I will come out of whatever it is and - whatever "it" did to me, that's what will reflect in my demeanor. Aging is an interesting phenomenon and I don't wonder if whatever "it" is is a part of it. I think not on a mid-life crisis. I didn't say I'm going through a BAD thing, just - different.
Hope you all have a great evening.
ben
Wednesday
Well at least the work-week is halfway over. Today marks the last day that the counter-sales guy from downtown helps run our store. My boss is in-town today, coming back to work tomorrow. We did quite well keeping the store running without any outside help - once you learn how to run a store, it isn't terribly difficult.
Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up early for an early delivery. It's at an elementary school and we have to have the truck there and unloaded before 7:00 pm. If we don't - I have to sit there an hour while all the kids come to school, get into class and are out of harm's way before getting unloaded. Most definitely, there is a LOT of harm that can come to anyone on a construction site. I've seen it first-hand a hundred times over and certainly would not want to see some kid getting run over by a front-end loader or getting into something that is potentially - well even deadly.
I actually feel pretty good right now - though a bit tired. I zonked out at 8:30 last night only to wake up again at midnite-thirty.
I've also been having some pretty incredibly crazy, wild and even disturbing dreams lately, of which I have no explanation for and wonder why I'm having them. I don't think I'm all that stressed out right now - though there are things that are bugging at me, nothing too terribly grandiose. Just for a small example, I was in a dream where I was driving a pickup truck (I think) that was pulling some sort of small trailer. I had pulled up from a side-street to try and make a left turn onto a very busy highway. Before traffic was clear, I pulled out and realized my mistake. I stopped - the lanes I was attempting to enter were too full of cars, but there were also cars coming at me at high speeds in the opposite bound lanes. All the cars slowed down and stopped except one particular vehicle in the slow lane - which never even hit it's brakes and plowed right through the trailer.
That one woke me up. I would NEVER pull out in front of traffic like that. The trailer was destroyed, the vehicle that plowed through it had minimal damage and the person driving the car was okay. Still, it was an incredible scene to watch play out, even if unreal. I thought maybe it was a warning of something to come, and it was right at the top of my mind - that was last week, and sure enough, a situation arose in traffic - though not caused by me - that I was able to avoid only because I was looking for such a thing because of that dream.
Crazy stuff. Anyway, the high temps are coming back down - and the low temps at night are quite bearable without AC on. I found an ad on Craigslist with a person that is going out of business who is selling out all their sunscreen material - for windows and doors and such - at unbelievably low prices. I have priced that stuff at Home Depot, they are selling it for pennies on the dollar. I did not have time to go over there today, I'm afraid it's going to be gone before I get a chance to do so, but - maybe I will have opportunity tomorrow. It's perfect for the trellises in the rear of the house. I want to line the back of the trellises with something to blot out the sun's direct rays until vines grow all over the trellises. Since that little process could take even years, certainly I need a quick-fix for right now.
My dad wrote me and asked about Caleb and I coming down for a visit. I replied that I would like to visit after Caleb gets out of school, which is at the beginning of June. That's only - a month and a half away. I am thinking of asking for a week off of work since I have plenty of hours saved up and take 2 or 3 days visiting my dad and the rest - doing nothing. : )
Nothing else around here - really. Michael's gone for the week - apparently anyway - he hasn't been here meaning his mother is making him go home after school everyday. Mary - still working outside. The other tenants - nothing new there, either.
And with that, I'm done, as I haven't had anything to eat today except a couple handfuls of popcorn at work - it's now almost 4:00 pm - and yes, I'm quite hungry.
C'ya later.
ben
Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up early for an early delivery. It's at an elementary school and we have to have the truck there and unloaded before 7:00 pm. If we don't - I have to sit there an hour while all the kids come to school, get into class and are out of harm's way before getting unloaded. Most definitely, there is a LOT of harm that can come to anyone on a construction site. I've seen it first-hand a hundred times over and certainly would not want to see some kid getting run over by a front-end loader or getting into something that is potentially - well even deadly.
I actually feel pretty good right now - though a bit tired. I zonked out at 8:30 last night only to wake up again at midnite-thirty.
I've also been having some pretty incredibly crazy, wild and even disturbing dreams lately, of which I have no explanation for and wonder why I'm having them. I don't think I'm all that stressed out right now - though there are things that are bugging at me, nothing too terribly grandiose. Just for a small example, I was in a dream where I was driving a pickup truck (I think) that was pulling some sort of small trailer. I had pulled up from a side-street to try and make a left turn onto a very busy highway. Before traffic was clear, I pulled out and realized my mistake. I stopped - the lanes I was attempting to enter were too full of cars, but there were also cars coming at me at high speeds in the opposite bound lanes. All the cars slowed down and stopped except one particular vehicle in the slow lane - which never even hit it's brakes and plowed right through the trailer.
That one woke me up. I would NEVER pull out in front of traffic like that. The trailer was destroyed, the vehicle that plowed through it had minimal damage and the person driving the car was okay. Still, it was an incredible scene to watch play out, even if unreal. I thought maybe it was a warning of something to come, and it was right at the top of my mind - that was last week, and sure enough, a situation arose in traffic - though not caused by me - that I was able to avoid only because I was looking for such a thing because of that dream.
Crazy stuff. Anyway, the high temps are coming back down - and the low temps at night are quite bearable without AC on. I found an ad on Craigslist with a person that is going out of business who is selling out all their sunscreen material - for windows and doors and such - at unbelievably low prices. I have priced that stuff at Home Depot, they are selling it for pennies on the dollar. I did not have time to go over there today, I'm afraid it's going to be gone before I get a chance to do so, but - maybe I will have opportunity tomorrow. It's perfect for the trellises in the rear of the house. I want to line the back of the trellises with something to blot out the sun's direct rays until vines grow all over the trellises. Since that little process could take even years, certainly I need a quick-fix for right now.
My dad wrote me and asked about Caleb and I coming down for a visit. I replied that I would like to visit after Caleb gets out of school, which is at the beginning of June. That's only - a month and a half away. I am thinking of asking for a week off of work since I have plenty of hours saved up and take 2 or 3 days visiting my dad and the rest - doing nothing. : )
Nothing else around here - really. Michael's gone for the week - apparently anyway - he hasn't been here meaning his mother is making him go home after school everyday. Mary - still working outside. The other tenants - nothing new there, either.
And with that, I'm done, as I haven't had anything to eat today except a couple handfuls of popcorn at work - it's now almost 4:00 pm - and yes, I'm quite hungry.
C'ya later.
ben
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday
........or what's left of it, anyway. I came home from work today, got online for a short time and then went to my bedroom.
I just woke up.
Totally out of it.
Someone was using the exterior door by my bedroom last night - like 4 times throughout the night. At 2:30 am, I finally got up, totally disgusted with the continual, unwanted wake-up calls - and locked the double-bolt door. I am the only one with a key to that door's deadbolt.
So here I am, feeling like a zombie, I just woke up out of a dead sleep and wish I had forced myself to stay awake at least until somewhere near bedtime. I have been sleeping for hours.
I was all over the place, at work, again today. Casa Grande seems to be a daily trip at this point. The fuel I am using in the semi is the indicator for me of the amazing amount of miles I am racking up in that thing. In recent times, that truck would go for weeks on end without having to refuel. Last week, I think I refueled on Wednesday and now the truck is almost empty again. By semi standards, it doesn't hold much fuel - 180 gallons - but - it's enough considering it's a local-use only type of truck.
Because the boss has been gone on vacation, I have had to use the truck for every single delivery. We just got rid of the 10-wheeler, so the only trucks available now are the semi and the boss's work truck. He left his work-truck at home, leaving only the semi for every delivery, even if only a pallet's worth of goods.
More talk of potential changes coming are in the air - but so much is speculation versus anything that has concrete backing, I am just waiting until something actually happens before saying anything about it.
I again find myself being so out of it that regardless of what is going on in my mind, I have no energy to actually write it all out. So, without further ado:
G'nite!
ben
I just woke up.
Totally out of it.
Someone was using the exterior door by my bedroom last night - like 4 times throughout the night. At 2:30 am, I finally got up, totally disgusted with the continual, unwanted wake-up calls - and locked the double-bolt door. I am the only one with a key to that door's deadbolt.
So here I am, feeling like a zombie, I just woke up out of a dead sleep and wish I had forced myself to stay awake at least until somewhere near bedtime. I have been sleeping for hours.
I was all over the place, at work, again today. Casa Grande seems to be a daily trip at this point. The fuel I am using in the semi is the indicator for me of the amazing amount of miles I am racking up in that thing. In recent times, that truck would go for weeks on end without having to refuel. Last week, I think I refueled on Wednesday and now the truck is almost empty again. By semi standards, it doesn't hold much fuel - 180 gallons - but - it's enough considering it's a local-use only type of truck.
Because the boss has been gone on vacation, I have had to use the truck for every single delivery. We just got rid of the 10-wheeler, so the only trucks available now are the semi and the boss's work truck. He left his work-truck at home, leaving only the semi for every delivery, even if only a pallet's worth of goods.
More talk of potential changes coming are in the air - but so much is speculation versus anything that has concrete backing, I am just waiting until something actually happens before saying anything about it.
I again find myself being so out of it that regardless of what is going on in my mind, I have no energy to actually write it all out. So, without further ado:
G'nite!
ben
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday
???? I wrote an entry - and kablaam - it's gone into cyberspace somewhere.
Ummm, so there really isn't going to be going into all of that again.
Well, excepting the s*** I came home to after work. Both exterior doors were unlocked and no-one was here - besides my dogs, of course.
I started the dishwasher last night - no-one bothered to empty it today.
The sink was full of dirty dishes.
That's my recap and of course, I have left a sincere notice to all 3 tenants: Ben's Maid Service - Will Cost You Dearly.
I put up the second trellis today - I started and finished the foam project yesterday.
It got warm today.
It's going to get warmer tomorrow.
I have so much I put in that entry that was lost - siiiiiiigh.
I don't feel like doing it again.
24 starts in an hour and a half and then bedtime.
ben
Ummm, so there really isn't going to be going into all of that again.
Well, excepting the s*** I came home to after work. Both exterior doors were unlocked and no-one was here - besides my dogs, of course.
I started the dishwasher last night - no-one bothered to empty it today.
The sink was full of dirty dishes.
That's my recap and of course, I have left a sincere notice to all 3 tenants: Ben's Maid Service - Will Cost You Dearly.
I put up the second trellis today - I started and finished the foam project yesterday.
It got warm today.
It's going to get warmer tomorrow.
I have so much I put in that entry that was lost - siiiiiiigh.
I don't feel like doing it again.
24 starts in an hour and a half and then bedtime.
ben
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