Quest For New Washer/Dryer Set

My washing machine is going to take a dive any day now. It's making a noise so loud I have to shut the door on that room to keep it down and the thing is shaking the entire house, literally.

I was at Home Depot yesterday getting yet another doggie door - this is the 4th one I believe - on warranty. I have an arrangement I have set with myself now - all receipts go into the trunk of my car. I will not lose them there, they will not get sun-bleached in there and I can FIND what I am looking for in there. I take the doggie door back in it's original box - yes I keep boxes until I figure that a product is good and I won't need to be taking it back - with receipt, get my money back and then go get another one.
Well, I'm in there and conversing with the lady at the counter where I was returning the door about the service at Home Depot. An older lady chimes in that it's because they are working there - it was all good - but I was being serious. Every time I go in there I get a hello, how ya doin', stuff like that -whereas before, I would get glares, stares and jeers. We had a pleasant conversation that went well beyond the time of the refund - there was no-one else there to return anything so I wasn't holding up any line.

I leave and go back, find the exact same doggie door at the exact same price. The older lady happens to be walking by me at the back of the store while I'm walking past the washers and dryers, lusting after the front load deals. Those washers use less water, less electricity and are just plain beautiful. What I was astounded by was the price tag: $400 - down from $800. They are on sale. She stopped and we started talking again. She was trying to talk me into buying one - I was considering it, but not seriously. After that, a guy walks up and pleasantly tries to talk me into buying another one that's on sale for $300. It's smaller, but he says the only difference between the other one is that the smaller one goes up to Queen sized comforters and not King sized. I don't have a king sized bed and I don't want one. However and generally, I usually opt for the larger sizes because of tenants dumping huge loads into the machines.

I said thanks, can't really afford it and left. I considered asking my dad for a loan to get the washer only - my dryer is working perfectly, it's the washer that is nose-diving - but I opted against that. I don't want to abuse the priviledge simply because he is a giving man. I really tried to think of any way I could come up with that kind of money. In actuality, I HAVE the money to pay for it, I don't want to spend it. I have a small emergency fund going that I would like to keep intact. If/when the washer I have now stops working, then it's an emergency - but that doesn't equate to a $400 machine when I can find something like what I have now for $100 to $200. I'm just thinking these machines are better built and the reduced use of electricity and water would be a great plus.

So, anyway, today I went to Craigslist and started my normal lowballing. Offers up to half off of what the advertiser is asking. I usually get some interesting replies to my offers - today is no exception and no, I haven't had any takers yet. I am not at the emergency/desperation level yet, I can offer less money and see if someone is desperate. I did that with the set I have now - just patiently waited and I ended up with those machines for $100 for the pair. I have no been particularly happy with the washer - it can eat clothes and pull out threading - but as long as it works, I am content to not spend money on something else.

I can safely say that I have gotten my money's worth and 10 times that out of these machines. I'm not complaining - the amount of laundry being done for 4 separate parties in one house can be substantial. I am going to go around Google for awhile and see if there are any payment places that might take some money down and payments thereafter. I briefly considered Aaron Rents - but they will want 24 payments at who knows what per month - probably around $100 or even more - and end up paying 3 times or more as much as the machine is worth. I would rather dig into $200 of emergency funds and get it over with than pay $2,400 for an $800 machine.

That's my latest quest. Get a machine at an obscene price - or - dump $400 out for that front loader plus another $99 for a 4 year extended warranty. It wouldn't be worth it in my situation to buy a brand new machine, knowing the amount of use it's going to get, and not get an extended warranty on it. I figure this is one extended warranty that would be worth getting.

That's it.

C'ya later.

ben

Today

Amazing.

I'm talking with my manager this morning and he's telling me that when they cut jobs down to 24 people, then we can get our hours back.

???? We're now at 32 people - down over 40 - and they want it to go down 8 more? WHO are they going to get rid of and WHAT is the criteria going to be? I have no clue, but I have firmly decided that I better get my @$$ to the annual Christmas function whether I want to go or not.

I do not want to go. It's a 40 mile drive one way and then 40 miles back. Booze is usually flowing heavily and though it's usually a great time, I have no inclinations for such right now. I'm not the socialite I once was - by choice. I love talking with people, I can do parties, but I don't want to. I am not shy or intimidated or whatever - it's just where I'm at in life right now. I have always been referred to as the life of the party - the dude that can get people talking when it's all cold and silent. I have done it hundreds of times over - I hate a lifeless party and I want to see life in it.

I have not yet officially committed to going - and I will be going alone - but I feel if for nothing else that I best get there, make a good showing and have a good time. I will take a nice, fat cigar with me this time - the last Christmas parties had guys standing around smoking cigars and I had nothing. I was woefully deficient in such - I love to smoke a good cigar occasionally.

Oh, these are almost all great people, I have no problems with that. I think I'm in my version of a mid-life crisis. I don't want toys and huge houses and giant bankrolls (well Iwouldn't mind some things, I just am not in a mode 0f get them or die), I just want to hibernate in my cave. I have spent the last 32 years as a socialite - doing all kind of volunteerism and very outgoing - I'm not there right now. I believe it will come back to me, but a badly needed break - an extended one at that - is necessary right now. Burnt-out is actually a more accurate definer of my situation versus mid-life crisis, now that I think about it.

Life must take on a new direction - I have always done that. Do something until it is "conquerered" and move on. I have several ideas of such things - things I want to do and things I know I can succeed at. But - it's not time yet.

Work today. Okay, well, I go to a jobsite right next to the Superstition 60 freeway. I try to get into the site where they want product delivered - the turn from hell. I cannot possibly make a right turn into THAT situation, I would have had to take the semi into opposing lanes, cut off a lot of traffic and possibly create a "situation".

I determined the only way to get in there was to come from the other direction and make a left turn, giving me much more clearance on the turn and get into this very narrow drive that lead - from my view - nowhere. Yet, this is where the dude on the phone told me to go.

I go up the road, flip a Uey -come back and still have to tie up traffic making that turn as well. I get in there and see that it really DOES lead NOWHERE. A yard and then - a friggin' CANAL. I get out of the truck before I get myself so dug into this situation that it will take a half hour worth of backing up and pullups to get out of there, it was THAT bad - the worst place I have been in in a while, and that is saying something considering some of the stuff I have had to go into in recent times.

The man with the plan says yeah, go in there and then you can go out the back and onto a road that leads out of there. I am just not seeing it, but I haven't been in there. I'm always game for a challenge, though, so I just drive in there. It is such a small yard with vehicles everywhere, that I have to stop the truck and wait for all the equipment to move. Yes, they do see me coming and they do start hurrying to get their metal out of my way.

I'm in no hurry - and anyway - this particular contractor is HUGE business for us and right now, that means a lot. I get in there, get the pipe unloaded - and then do my usual walkaround.

I do an inspection of the truck and trailer every time I get out, I don't care if I'm only there 30 seconds, I will walk all the way around the truck to make sure the load is secure, the tires aren't flat - whatever. I've been in this business long enough to know things can happen without you knowing about it and you have to make visual inspections to identify any problems.

Well, this time, I did find something. I saw the mud flaps on my tractor on the ground. ???? I took a triple look at that until it registered that roger, Houston, we have a problem. Fortunately, I'm not in Apollo 13 headed for the moon, but still. The airbags were totally deflated and no, this tractor is not equipped with a dump valve. I'm a former truck mechanic, so I get on my back in my nice clothes, under the truck and start lookin' around.

Nothing visible. The levellor rod is intact. I tapped on the valve with a hammer to see if I could get it to release - I'm thinking right away a stuck valve. Nothing. I turn the truck off and evacuate the system - all of it - of pressurized air by opening the relief cocks on the air tanks - when that's done, turn the truck on and see if it will correct itself.

Nothing. Again and again. I finally give up on it - my ways aren't working. I contact the manufacturer to assess that my knowledge is still correct - driving a truck in that condition can damage the drive train. " We can't advise you on that". What a crock of BS. I just got off the phone with them after that. I call our fleet service contract - yes, you drive it, the drive axle is not on the plane it is intended and is at an angle going into the transmission that will TRASH the rear of that transmission, don't drive it.

Ironically, his service tech was at our main branch fixing a problem there, and yes, he would dispatch him to my location after he is done there.

So, resolving that and getting the truck out of the way and walking over to Starbuck's for a cup of joe - I wander back to the truck and look at this rear exit of theirs. Unbelievable. The chain link fenced yard ends and a canal starts with a narrow dirt "road" in between the 2 and I'm supposed to turn right out of that. Lol.

I decide to pull the truck out of that miserable thoroughfare - it is always quite amazing at what people that don't drive trucks think a truck can make it through. I already knew that to make it around that, the trailer axles would be going up over a giant heap of dirt - and I was not let down on that prospect.

Somewhere along this maneuver, the tractor woke up and decided that it needed it's airbags fully charged. Great. I have already been on the phone with half a doznen people concerning this situation because it was going to hold up a "we-need-it-right-now" delivery. Now I'm on the phone all over - it's good to go, at least for now: cancel the emergency roadside appointment; call the inside salesman; call my manager. I'm on the road and - not feeling good at all. I am losing entirely too much sleep and am at the point where I am going to be forced to start taking Ambien again - I cannot function like this.

Long day today, really. Got home and took a nap. Dogs were not happy - I could tell that my leaving them outside was not their first choice. Get over it, is all I can say about that and told them so, though I have serious doubts they actually understood me ; )

The vet's projection that their balls would grow to the size of grapefruits temporarily has yet to surface. There is some slight expansion, but they are almost flat. I really don't want to see them going through that, I believed the vet, but - I don't see it yet. I have no regrets in getting this procedure done, either. I had thoughts that - for some reason - I would regret it - but - what is there to regret? I thought about it - the family "name". No more Princes and no more Dukes. I'm good with that, there are plenty of Dane breeders out there making sure the supply line never goes empty. I am totally NOT into puppies, anyway.

As for here - I did not dig anymore holes as I had hoped I would today, instead, I just watered everything and devised a few plans.

And, I am very tired and am done with this entry.

G'nite.

Ben

Blogs

FYI, I have at least 8 different blogs on numerous different sites. I have a couple of blogs that are for me only. No-one knows where they're at and I haven't seen them on any Google searches. I don't write on those very often - sorty of puking blogs - get it out of the system and move on.

The one I switched to recently is the same one I was using after JS crashed and really didn't know where to go on Wordpress. I consider that a sort of anonymous blog - some people know where it is, but it's all people that I know from JS or online anyway, so no big deal there.

I doubt I will ever totally abandon blogging, but there are definitely times where the "I don't feel like writing so I won't" atmosphere sets in and I'm done with it for awhile.

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas, that atmosphere has not set in, rather, somewhat of a disgust at what certain, other bloggers were doing got me to going to other places to write my entries.
As I said, just an FYI.

The newest tenant is - broke pretty much. He is a bartender - just out of the military as well - had a heckuva time finding work. When he finally did find a gig, it's pretty much minimum wage. He's a good guy and he's out putting in the applications all over the place, at least he's trying. This particular person is going to do the "work for reduced rent" scenario.

I have PLENTY of work I can keep him busy at around my house, that's a fact. There are odd jobs I don't want to do, really, which hopefully he has basic skills such as painting walls and pulling grass - junk like that. His rent will be $200 with the work, $375 without it. Judging from his sounds of desperation, I will be getting the work out of him - my ad stated a minimum of 25 hours per month. You break that down into an hourly wage, and it ain't much, but I made it clear on my ad what I was offering and ain't forcin' no-one to do it.

In fact, I made it VERY clear about how it's going to work. He's got this month paid up so he doesn't want to start until next month. All well and fine, if he's serious about it, I am going to have him keep a log of hours worked and what was done. This is the only way to keep track of it. The situation with Mary was intolerable, yes, but at the same time, she did probably 50 hours of work per month and she was still paying $400 per month for the room.

I've got myself half talked into letting her go on the lawsuit - the work she did on the front of the house remains and it was worth a lot more than the rent I took off every month. The only stickling point with her about letting her off the hook was her attempt to get police to arrest me by claiming that I had shoved her.

I don't shove ladies - or in her case a woman, ladies don't use meth in my book, women might, but not the ladies - I don't hit them, pull their hair, spit on them, whatever. That's kind of been a life-long thing for me, I doubt that will EVER change. It's pretty much a simple enough thing to walk away from a person or hang up the phone when someone is being abusive than to get angry and start thinking about a fight or violence.

The question must pose oneself when challenged to a fight is, which is harder? To walk away or stand there and fight? I'll tell you right now, it's much harder to walk away, oh yes it is. Especially if a person is taunting you, maybe throwing in the C-word: Coward, yellow-belly, lemonade-bleeding wimp - all that wonderful stuff. I have walked away from people saying that stuff to me. I have no doubt that if those people would have laid a finger on me, the outcome would have been different, but they didn't, it was all talk, and in the end, they have to live with their childishness and I am able to cope that I walked away from a cocky, mouthy, moron and not get into it.

So, anyway, we'll see how the work-for-reduced-rent scenario goes. If he finds a better paying job, I doubt he'll want anything to do with that. In fact, if he finds the money he's trying to get - by getting into a place where bartenders are walking home with anywhere between $200-$400 per night, he'll undoubtedly end up getting his own place. I actually hope I can get at least one month out of him, though, I have some things I have put off simply because I have a plate full of projects right now.

Changing the subject, today is the first official day that the dogs are banished to the great outdoors when I'm away at work. I was watching video surveillance yesterday and that sealed it. They were in my living room, rough-housing. The Dane mix was up on my couch - a thing she KNOWS I hate her doing, standing there with this defiant look on her face. The Danes walked around their living room, smelled one of my indoor plants - and yes - they lifted their legs.

THAT is IT. When I saw that, that sealed their fate. They will never be allowed in the house while I'm gone again - not unless I can figure out a way to get all the smell out of there and get them to stop the activity. For now, they are dogs, they can handle it. I put a nice strip of carpeting out on the cement for them to lay on, that's the best I'm going to do. I'm imagining the only way I will be able to get the behavior to change is to get rid of the carpeting in that living room and go ahead and install the ceramic tile I want to put in there.

Money, of course, is stopping me from doing that. We figured it out - about $800 for the materials to get it done. Totally out of the question right now. I have a savings account where I'm putting a little here and there into it - nothing grand but it's there to eventually fund a project or 2 that I want to get done around there. Frankly, the economy's going to have to come back up and my hours are going to have to be reinstated before any serious projects are going to occur. The drip system is almost totally paid for, I just have to get the work done.

Well, the work day approacheth and thankfully, there IS something to do in there that should eat up the day - or most of it anyway.
ben

Temporary Reprieve

I am taking a sabbatical from posting either here or on KCL.
I am posting on another site that I opened up earlier this year.
My friends from Australia and New York and others are welcomed to inquire where if so desired.
My reasons - will not be explained here and that's that end of that.
This is only temporary - but I cannot give anyone a date of my "return".
I am still reading journals and logging in and all of that, just not posting on these sites.

Wednesday

A very long day preceded by a rather sleepless night. I kept having some pretty nightmarish types of dreams and kept waking up. I mean, some bad stuff. I dunno what's going on in my life right now besides all the normal chaos, but it isn't exactly pleasant to have those types of dreams coming at you every time you go back to sleep.

The new tenant - is hardly ever here. I am wondering if he is just using this as a temp place to find something else. I have no clue. He works afternoons to late night doing pizza delivery runs. I have a few leads on the empty room - I'm not sure I want to wait for this guy who says he's coming Friday to leave a deposit to move in the next Friday. He has a LOT of issues in his life with his wife he is separating from and 3 kids. I don't want to continue to hear he is putting this off indefinitely.

I had mind to get some things done outside today, but I decided against doing anything but some light house-cleaning. Though, if I get a hankering, I might go out and dig some holes and plant some trees.

Really, I'm pretty out of it, I think I will keep this one short.

Take care.
ben

Tuesday

Busy day at work. Got out of town around 6:00 am for some early deliveries, back at 9 am for another delivery, then back again for another delivery and yet again for yet another delivery. Sorta went that way today. In recent times, seems like we get a lot more business near the beginning of the month than near the end.

Tomorrow doesn't have too much - but neither did today and it ended up cranking all day long.

I passed through an accident scene on a 2-lane highway this morning - problem is, I didn't see what was on fire. LOTS of fire trucks and related equipment and personnel, but it was too dark to see what had happened. When I came back through that way, they had completely shut the highway down, making traffic go through the outskirts of a residential area of Sacaton in the reservation. I don't know who thought up the idea to track that much traffic through dirt roads in an area with kids - the roads were narrow and I had to take up the oncoming side to make the turns.

People weren't being so giving, so I just pulled up there and waited for them to back up. That or NEVER move. So these people are throwing up their hands and reluctantly backing up - I would have NEVER made that turn with the amount of traffic that was coming through there if I had just waited until it was clear to go. Dunno what to say, folks, trucks are big, large pieces of heavy equipment. They bring you food, clothing, parts to fix your car, materials to build and repair your houses. Do they get in your way? Of course they do, but not intentionally. We can't just maneuver around corners like in a car or pickup truck.

On the same kind of note, this morning on the same highway where I assume there was a death - they rarely shut down a highway like that unless someone died and they have to do an investigation. Oh, well anyway, a pickup truck comes barreling down a side road that stops at the highway I'm on. State Route 87 to be precise. I'm going 65 mph in a ....65mph zone. This guy drives right through the stop sing - probably going 25 mph through that thing, right out in front of me. I'm flashing my headlamps trying to get him to get out of the way, I just went into the oncoming lane since there was nothing coming to pass him.

This person decides to speed up and play games as I'm ahead of him and getting close to being able to pull back over. This is one of those deals where the person neither wants to let you pass NOR let you slow down to get back behind the person, the person who just cut you off BADLY in their vehicle. Now a vehicle IS coming from the opposite direction, I have my signal on, I just started coming over. I will not get into a head-on collision. I would far rather shove this guy's vehicle right off the road (assuming it's a guy) then kill an innocent person.

These are not games worth playing - I wasn't playing the game here, this guy was. I will never be able to figure out why people drive like that. Do they not realize they are risking their own lives? Maybe they just don't think it will happen - they can do anything they want to and that's the end of it. The accident where the dead person is - guessing anyway, haven't heard anything on the news yet - was the same kind of thing. Right at a side road that stops at the main highway. Undoubtedly, someone pulled out in front of an on-coming vehicle. There was thick, black smoke everywhere. It was eerie looking.

So, much further down the road- this driver stuck behind me and we pass through the accident zone - I have to slow down for a truck that is turning in front of me. After he turns, it takes my truck forever to get back up to speed, this guy comes zooming around me, flipping me off. The epitome and heighth of arrogance and aggressive driving.

Whatever. Just another day driving a truck in the Phoenix metro area. I fully expect this crap and I try to prepare for it before it happens. When my truck is heavily loaded, I go below the speed limit - like 5 to 10 miles per hour slower - I stay out of the way of faster traffic and try to keep a HUGE distance between my truck and whatever's in front of me. If something happens in my lane ahead of me and that truck is anything even close to 40 tons, there is hell to pay if I don't have enough distance to slow down, and trust me, a truck needs a LOT of distance to get stopped or slowed down enough.

Enough. I called the guy that committed to the room today - he said he still wanted to move in, but.....always a but in things with Craigslist ad respondants - he can't move in until next Friday instead of this Friday - but again - he'll come over this Friday and hand over $400. Okay, I said, thinking it's only 3 days away, might as well see if he's on the up and up. If not - well it's just such a game with people trying to get them to even show up when they say they are, and then if they do, getting them to actually just move in. I hate it, but I have no choice in the matter. Another whatever. It wears me out sometimes trying to get and keep people in here. You never know when a person is going to move out. It just happens - bam and they're gone.

I don't quite understand why money has to be SUCH an issue in life, but one thing I know: I'm totally not alone in that department. The ex-Marine is supposed to pay me Thursday and this new guy - no clue how long he's staying - but if is staying, handing over another $100 Friday or Saturday. It's float money, sort on the tilting towards sinking side. I'm getting a few extra hours at work on each paycheck, every little bit helps. Spending money on anything but food, electricity, bills or gasoline is pretty much cancelled at this point. It's the only way I can survive right now with only 2 tenants.

Anyway, enough. I am going to go to bed early again tonight - not sleeping terribly well at night but I tend to feel better in the morning when I go to sleep earlier, I still wake up but I get more sleep in.

G'nite.
ben

Sunday

The car-selling neighbor got a new dog. He's infatuated with German Shepherds. Shepherds like to bark. THis morning at 6:00am, that dog was on the hill in the back of my neighbor's house looking over both my fence and the neighbor behind me. It was barking incessantly. I went out there and told it to shut up - which it did until I went back inside and then it started all over again. Put my shoes on, went back out but by then, my neighbor had finally call the dog in. I was going to blast it with that noise making thing and if that didn't do it, spray it with cold water.

Meanwhile, I'm battling a losing war with my dogs peeing all over the living room when I'm gone. That's what Mimi's legacy will be her - her dog peeing everywhere and now my dogs peeing all over it. The dogs are now banished to the great outdoors when I leave for work - or anywhere else for that matter. I just spent another hour with my new carpet cleaning machine getting that stuff up and out of the carpet. None-too-happy about it, I brought each of the Danes over, stuck their nose in where one of them had freshly pissed while I went to the store this morning, snapped them both while their snouts were in the piss and now? They can spend this beautiful day outside. All of that is cleaned up and I bought some stuff from Walmart to allegedly get the smell out permanently so they won't continue to pee in those areas.

We'll see about that. I'm still going to just keep them outside during the day when at work. The doggy door is closable, it has a solid piece of plastic you can slide down into it that keeps them from coming or going out, whichever you're trying to accomplish.

My trip to Walmart was spurred by the need for a pair of steel-toed boots. I just dont have $120 right now to buy a good pair from Red Wing or Iron Age. Both of those companies have excellent, comfortable boots that last at least a year. I figure this Walmart stuff will last 3 months if I'm lucky, but I have no choice right now. I have to have steel-toed boots for work. I had no sour incidences today at Walmart and neither was I looking for any.

Now that I have all of that finished, I'm headed to the great outdoors myself to continue one with laying the drip system piping and getting the dirt back over top of it so I can do something else. I'm kinda wanting to get the jist of this project over with and leave me with only having to put the emitters on the small tubing and finish the manifolds. Fortunately, the water usage has decreased dramatically to the point I don't have to water everything every day. There are some things I am watering every day, yes, just to keep the amazing growth of them going - mainly the Sissoo trees - but much of everything else is getting less water.

The new tenant is - here - but is in his room and haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon. His friends came over while he wasn't here - I agreed to it only because he had to be out of the place they were at by sometime yesterday - and finished moving his stuff in. I talked at length with them since they wanted to visit with the Danes - I'm getting the feeling these guys - all of them - are gay. I'm neither a gay hater or basher, at the same time, I really don't think I want that kind of "activity" going on in my house. I'm not SURE they're gay, I'm just getting the feeling from the way they are talking - the guesstures, how they stand - a lot of tell-tale signs that alone mean nothing but when combined together with enough other signs - probably my guess is right. Another interesting story of renting rooms, if this is true, you'll probably be seeing some rather interesting reading material from me on here.

The temp tenant called today - from Texas - saying his house wasn't ready to move in yet, could he stay another night when he gets back today? He's flying back. He offered another $25 for the extra night, of which I immediately agreed to. I don't have the room rented - yet - any money I can get from it, even one night's worth, I'll take. I responded to everyone that called or emailed yesterday and the day before, this guy that moved in is the only one that actually showed up. I take it back, there is a guy that wants to come over today or tomorrow. Have to be tomorrow if they're looking to move right away, I can't rent out a room that has someone else's stuff in there. I had thought the temp tenant had taken all of his things out of the room and had only left his trailer, I was wrong. I went into his room - he has a room full of stuff in there. An amazing amount, really, I had no idea he had brought so much stuff into the house. Very organized individual, makes very good money, too. Those are the kinds of people you will never be able to keep as tenants - they are only using a place like mine to stay at until they find their own place.

So, the search continues and I am going to be writing another CL ad here in a few minutes. The stuff I bought from Walmart to eliminate urine smell from carpet has a very pleasant odor to it - it's filling the entire living room and kithcen. The dogs will not be coming in here until that is all dried up, as the directions say. Then, smell the area and see if you can detect any odor. Unfortunately, my nose isn't near as good as a dog's and I'm simply considering treating all areas twice.

Nothing else, really. I did almost all of my weekend cleaning yesterday since I was having potential renters over and - I don't really know if a clean house had any effect on this new renter or not - but I like to have a clean house regardless so it's time well spent.

Oh, I've found the culprit - one of the smoke detectors in my house goes off frequently - at night especially - when there's nothing smoking - nothing being cooked. It just goes off. I assume a defective detector and have bought a new one to replace it. There isn't anything that currently goes on around here that is more annoying than having a very loud, high-pitched/shrill noise going off in your bedroom.

Anyway, I better get to getting, I have plenty I want to get done today and the clock hasn't stopped ticking for me.
C'yall later.
ben

Friday

I'm not going to do 2 trips on a delivery if I don't have to.
For Monday, there is a large delivery with a lot of pipe. It isn't the weight of the load that was confounding me this afternoon - the total payload weight is only 36,000 pounds. My truck and trailer gross vehicle weight is 26,600 pounds, giving a total payload of 53,400 pounds (you could also call it net weight).

The point is that there are 2 different types of pipe that I had to load on the truck - that have different loading parameters and attempting to get that much pipe on a truck in that configuration? I loaded and unloaded pipe 3 times before I figured out how to get it all on there.

Further point is that I love a challenge, especially when loading trucks and attempting to figure out how to get all kinds of different product safely loaded onto one 48 foot long flatbed trailer and see a satisfactory result.

My problem is when it comes to loading a truck, I'm purely a perfectionist. The pipe has to be perfectely positioned and if it's off by an inch, I have to adjust it and get it facing the proportionate direction without any visible flaw. Many of my fellow drivers are far from that. But, this is a flatbed trailer, it is not a "dryvan" that has walls to hold everything in. Something falls over in a dryvan, it isn't going to end up all over the highway.

Something falls over on a flatbed, the highway becomes it's landfill. My mind always wanders about such things - what if there is a motorcyclist next to my truck and a 200 pound cast iron fitting falls off into his face? He's probably dead. Same thing with a car and that thing crashing through the windshield. I take my profession very seriously when it comes to safety. I have refused more loads than I care to admit for deference to safety.

I end up reloading the truck myself in a safe manner. It isn't an issue now, I load my own truck and I am very good at it. I am an expert in forklift operation, a thing that slipped my mind when I was looking for a part-time job some time ago. I haven't even pursued a job in a warehouse which entails mostly forklift operation. This would be an easy job and would bring in some much needed funds right now.

Back to perfectionist - I watch other people loading my truck because they are trying to help me and I can't stand it. There's only one other person in our company that I consider of the same level of expertise and trust. In fact, I was downtown and the subject came up. He stated that he loads trucks - whoever's truck - the same way he would load the truck for himself. I completely concur and do the same thing whenever the need arises. If it doesn't pass my muster, I don't care what other people think, it is not a good load. It MIGHT make it to it's intended destination, but it is NOT safe.

And, when other people are loading my truck - well, I nicely ask them to shift something to a different position or change this or that. I have definitely had a problem with that at my current company, I then politely state that I will go ahead and load the truck myself. This isn't LegoLand and you don't have the safety net of some sort of security that if your load falls off your truck, such as with a Tonka Toy being pushed over by a kid - that nothing will happen. People can die. People can lose limbs. People can be turned into vegetables. Generations of family can be altered. I have gone down the lines of thought concerning this stuff.

Switching gears, the weekend is here. I might say finally, but this week went by pretty fast. I was tickled to come home from work and find a hat - a fancy looking thing - sitting on my computer desk with the keys to the room of the older gentleman that - now-was - living here. He put an orange piece of paper on top of the hat with the following written in large, bold letters: Farmer Ben Hat.

LOL!! I hate to see him go. I hate to see any good tenants go. I understand why he had to go, but - it means attempting to find someone else to take his place. He graciously offered to leave the queen size bed with very nice wood frame and a lot of other stuff in there to make it another fully furnished room. I did NOT ask this man for anything, he just took me off to the side one day not long ago and said he would like to give me this furniture and that he is getting too old to move all of this stuff around.

I now have 2 empty rooms, sort of. The guy that flew back to Texas has his door locked - it's rented until Monday. His trailer is here, he is definitely coming back for that stuff. I GUARANTEE it. To abandon that stuff would mean abandoning 10k worth of off-road toys. I have several people in queue for either/or of the rooms. One is coming tomorrow - supposedly anyway.

Oh, well, that hat is pretty cool. I'll have to take a pic of it on my head - my skull is huge - I have a hard time finding hats that fit my head. This man was always calling me "Farmer Ben". Seriously!!

I'm tired. Long day. I had a couple of beers after work today after doing all that stuff on the semi with that pipe. So, I am going to end this entry. It is still cool here and I am looking forward to working outside in the dirt this weekend. I also hope to look forward to maybe having a deal with someone on a move-in.

G'nite.

ben

Friday

Otherwise known as make or break day for companies like mine. Get whatever product that can be delivered out and get the numbers on the books.
Only one delivery in our system, however - but there is allegedly about 50,000 pounds worth of pipe to pick up.

I have heard nothing back from the insurance company. Which isn't totally surprising, but I do want to get my car fixed - any day now would be good. I'm sure their final outcome is going to be a negative one towards me, and I'm just as sure that I will be spending a great deal of time "talking" with individuals from that company until I am, if nothing else, sure that I least made an attempt to correct the problem - which is having an at-fault accident on my record, as they have already stated they were going to publish it as.

The temporary tenant has found a very nice house on a lake in Glendale for $1,000 per month and is leaving. Actually, he's flying back home to be with one of his sons for his birthday and then they are going on a marathon to get everything and get over here. Good luck with that, is all I can say. His trailer is sitting in my yard - I am quite sure he won't be leaving it too terribly long considering the contents inside of it.

I have no other leads on tenants as of now. Not that I am giving up hope - well I do have the guy that came over, we shook hands, he wants to move in a week from now - I'll believe that when I see him with a vehicle full of personal belongings pulling up in my driveway and not a nano-second sooner. I am placing ads on CL separate from the month to month ads that simply state temporary housing at affordable rates - sort of a "come to my place and avoid paying high hotel bills" type of thing. I can even take credit cards through paypal - that's how this guy paid for his week's worth.

I'm looking forward to spending this weekend simply playing in the dirt installing that drip system. At least get the piping in and the emitters installed. Then I can cover all that trenching back up and get my dirt troughs built around each plant back into place. I have to buy a timer - I wish I would have done that a while back cause' I'm in a position now where I don't really want to spend money on anything. I must have 3 renters in the house before I feel comfortable, and since I am down to 1 at this point, certainly am not feeling very comfortable about it.

Tomorrow is the first so I am going to go post another ad in there right now - just in case of the "last minute shopper" - a person who needs a new place to live by the first and has procrastinated.

C'yall later.
ben

Michael

..........showed up some 45 minutes ago.
Haven't seen him in what, a month and a half?
I had all of these thoughts in that interim that he was gone forever, that I wouldn't have to deal with him coming back and so, I let my guard down, I guess.
He had a big, huge and very disarming smile on his face.

There is a passage of scripture in the Bible that says "love covers a multitude of sins". I just couldn't find it within me to do any of the things that I had thought of doing after he left - without notice - and just disappeared out of our lives. I guess that's what happens when someone lives with you for 5 years, especially if it's a kid - even if not related to you in any way, shape or form.

If Anthony ever showed up like that here, well, it would be a totally different story. Remember that I threw him out of here, he did not leave of his own accord. Not to mention the vandalism and the theft. I would call the police, actually.

Anyway, that's all I can really say about it. I did find out that Anthony spent 3 and a half days in Juvenile Detention and that he hated it. More information came out about JD's little brothers - the 3rd youngest brother in that family is headed towards Juvi as well, at least in Michael's opinion, because he is still smoking pot and they do monthly drug tests.

I can't offer a logical explanation for my lack of acting out what I had thought I would do if he ever returned, emotion sometimes supercedes logic - whether that's a good thing or not - well, I'm a human with a beating heart, not a robot with lubricated joints.

Well, anyway. A man showed up today wanting to rent the room. We talked for a long time - like a couple of hours actually. However, there was a catch to his deal. He gets paid 2 Fridays from now. Asked if I could hold the room. I spent 2 hours speaking to that kid not long ago who insisted he wanted the room and didn't show up on the intended date and no answer at phone number left.

This guy isn't a kid - somewhere in his 30's going through divorce. Actually, when he showed up I thought the police were here. He was in full-fledged security guard gear - but this gear of his makes him look very close to police officer status with the blue uniform and a badge that is pretty convincing and ALL of the gear police have on their belts. A pretty intimidating looking gun in his holster as well - a Glock 9 millimeter something or other. Not well versed in guns (me, that is). I'm not afraid of guns - unless in the wrong hands of course. I did not offer to hold it for him, but did say that the room currently occupied by the temp tenant "probably" would be out of here by the time he wants to move in, anyway. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the guy is out of here before his week's worth of paid rental is up. I have had thoughts of simply trying to make the room more like a hotel room for people coming and going, since I have had several of those in there now.

But that would mean a lot of people in and out of here and exposing myself to more risk, not sure I am really need that. It would simply be nice to get my hours back at work and not need 3 tenants. My search continues.

My 4th drug test today. The place wasn't so full so I didn't have to wait quite as long but I was there 45 minutes anyway. The nurse was especially talkative - probably me, I always get people talking. If I want to, anyway. In fact, the "test" was long over and this individual was yacking away. I found it amusing so I entertained it. I made a few simple comments that - are designed to get people talking once I find something that makes them tick - and that is usually all it takes. Kinda like the pilots over-shooting the airport by 150 miles, he realized he better get back to what he was supposed to be doing.

Oh, the insurance company. I'm going to have trouble with them, I am sure. If they want to put the blame for me on the accident, fine, I already figured that. I simply cannot prove what actually happened because I have absolutely no witnesses to it. I will not, however, tolerate a 20 something (my guess from the pitch of voice, the tone and other clues) talking down to me on the phone. She was god, I was a speck of dust, at least in her eyes. She continuously interrupted me on the phone and announced her superiority over me several times as being "The Adjuster" and I - nothing apparently. Someone forgot to tell her that I am THEIR CUSTOMER and I don't give a rat's @$$ about WHAT they think about their position and how they think they have an ace card over you.

They have NOTHING over you. If they are going to dump you as a customer, they were going to do it anyway, this does NOT give them the right to talk to you like you are a piece of trash. I eventually cut her off and demanded to speak to her manager. Several minutes later, the manager came on and I simply told it like it is. I asked this manager that if these phone conversations are recored, to please listen to that recording and hear how many times this person cuts me off in the middle of a sentence and proclaims her infallibility to me. The manager apologized as I wasn't letting this go. I was then transferred (voluntarily) to another person to take a taped recording of my version of the accident.

Interestingly, the woman who owns the vehicle that cut me off has not attempted to file a claim. I will end up getting the fault for this accident, 99% sure of it. There is nothing I can do about it. A rear-end collision is always your fault regardless of what happened unless you can PROVE what happened. I had thoughts earlier about all these cameras all over the freeway and wondered if maybe there is one there in that particular spot - but it may be too late for that. I doubt they keep tapes on any given spot forever and it has already been 5 days. I don't even know if there is a camera there, but I am going to find out tomorrow. Wish I had thought of it sooner.

That's it. Much more but I cannot write anymore today. I am writing too many entries, too long and I am trying to cut back a little to keep myself from burnout. I may not be successful at it and I may end up disappearing for whatever amount of time - I hope not cause' I really like keeping my journal updated for future reference.

Oh, and one of the main reasons I have not stopped posting here altogether and just post at the other place is simple: I have at least a reasonable assurance that this place is going to be around for a while. I have at least reasonable assurance that the entire site is backed up. I am not dissing the other blog's owners and their intentions, but I do not have the same assurances over there. There are other reasons, but - not worth going into.

G'nite.
ben

Blog Posting

There are times when I sort of phase out of blogging and end up taking several days off or even a few weeks of slowed entries. I am in the middle of one of those phases. It's not that I don't have anything to write about - there are ample subjects going on concurrently in my life at this particular moment in time that make for sufficient writing material.

I just start getting burned out on it and then I realize I better slow down for a little while or real burn-out will occur and I won't write ANYTHING for a long, long time. I am not going away, I have just slowed my entries on both blogs. No big deal. I have other things I am focusing my attention on as well.

Probably something to do with it are money worries - 1 tenant leaving in the next few days, the temporary tenant not staying long - he found a house and is discussing with the owners about renting it and bringing his entire family out here versus having 2 residences, one in Texas and one in Arizona. Judging from the vehicle he drives and the toys he brought with - probably 20 grand worth of dirt bikes in a large utility trailer - he is used to living a pretty decent lifestyle. 2 residences would definitely put a severe hamper on anyone's budget unless, of course, your budget is 6 or 7 figures. It was a stop gap letting the guy in - a weeks worth of rent is better than nothing. I have no idea whether he is only staying a week or maybe more?

I do - allegedly - have another guy coming today sometime this afternoon. He called on Sunday - I figured never to hear from him again even though he said he wanted to visit on Wednesday which is today - I just don't put a lot of faith in Craigslist people saying they are going to do things. Mostly, they don't do anything they say they will. Only when they actually, physically move-in after having had handed you however much money, then I believe it. Even a hand-shake and a verbal commitment is meaningless to these people.

Would it not be better to simply say I am going to keep looking around, I'll get back to you when I decide? That's non-committal. You are not committing to the place, you can just leave and I will know that you are not in the least bit interested in the place, continue searching for a renter, please. People that stand there and look you in the eye and say "Yes, I'll take the room, I'm moving in on such and such a day" and then never show up? Definitely get my goat.

It's cooled off considerably here. Allegedly the high today is somewhere in the 60's. I dunno about that, what I do know is I am going to be driving the truck all over the place today - Casa Grande/Coolidge/Florence/Queen Creek. Far east and south valley area. I was also correct last week about the alcohol test - a breathalyzer is NOT a complete drug test and corporate emailed the ops manager who emailed my manager to tell me that I have to go back in, spend another lovely hour with all those sick people in that cramped room, waiting to give a few ounces of my precious urine. Nice. So, technically, this will be my FOURTH drug test of the year. Nice. I continue to hear this story from people that believe that if they know you are clean, they will "use" you more often to get the test.

Dunno about that, but I do know the work day is almost here and I must get to getting to it.

See you around.
ben

Cellphones

I have always wondered, ever since these little devices came out, on the market and people started using them, if there aren't some potential harmful side effects to your brain from having them crammed up against your head for extended periods of time.

Now, I am reading an article about cellphones potentially causing brain tumors. I used to talk on the cellphone quite a lot when I was a Little League board member and was getting calls - dozens and dozens of them per day - about the league. Same was true with when I was the president of the homeowner's assocation. When I got out of those two extremely time-consuming commitments (don't regret my departure from either of them) I also got away from excessive cell-phone use.

This is a topic of interest to me - whether cellphones can harm you in some way - that has been riding around synpses in my brain for quite a long time now. I will be very interested to see what becomes of this research and what might be done about it - if anything. I mean, let's just say this research is black and white truth: the use of cellphones over an extended period of time - over 10 years I think it said - will cause brain tumors. How many people are using cellphones nowadays? Hundreds of millions? Over a billion? Dunno, but that's a LOT of health problems coming to surface if this eventually becomes a reality.

Another thing I have always wondered is the use of these radars to catch speeders. The east valley is littered with permanent versions of them now all over the place. We're being bombarded every day by all kinds of "things" that are invisible, we don't even know it, and yet - I definitely have some ill ease about what those little particles might be doing to our bodies and the functioning thereof. It would be nice if I could move to a log cabin up in the mountains, retire and get away from most of this stuff -but that simply isn't in the cards right now.

Well enough of the speculation. The day is wasting away - it's already 8 am and I have accomplished nothing - so I'm going to get off of this contraption called a computer that allows me to connect with people I have never met that live all over the world and get moving with it.

Have a great day!
ben

Hoover Steam Vac With Clean Surge

I'm going to give this carpent cleaning machine 2 big thumb's up/kudos/my endorsement. Oh, my endorsement isn't worth that much - but still.
THIS machine worked, the first one didn't. The brushes weren't turning and - a carpet cleaning machine is pretty much worthless without spinning/revolving brushes. I have no idea what was wrong with the first one.

Anyway, I did a very high traffic area of carpet where dogs and humans go through frequently. Pass after pass it was extracting dirt from the carpet. I just cleaned this carpet not that long ago, I was a bit amazed at how dirty it had gotten so quickly. As far as I'm concerned, this machine is as good or even better than the Rug Doctor and I will not be renting one of those machines again.

The guys are done with the trenching and I have started laying pipe. Not in a huge hurry, but wanted to get the pipe laid next to the trees because they exposed some roots in the dig - it's all done now, covered up and everything re-watered. I didn't install the emitters, it will be easy to expose the pipe and put a 1/4 pipe into the bigger pipe.

A woman came over a while ago with her kid. She said she was interested but wanted to check the school out that her son would have to go to in taking a bus from my house. I didn't really get from her that she was all that interested, so I have contacted everyone else that has contacted me about the rooms. Again, I don't hold rooms anymore unless a non-refundable deposit is given. There is a couple; a disabled vet and a lady with a small dog in queue - I have replied to all of them with the statement the room is available to be seen today - or this coming week - or whenever.

I never did take that nap I wanted to this morning. Things started happening and that lady called to come over to see the house. I wanted to get the place cleaned up a little and then I got busy burying the line outside plus putting that machine together and checking it out on some carpet. It is nothing like what I thought today was going to be. I only say all of this because I really want to take that nap now that the woman is gone, the machine is together, the workers have left and I don't have anything terribly pressing.

I've GOT to get some renters in here, that's all I know and I know that I don't have til' the second of never to get it done. I've got daily ads going in there is all I can say about it.

C'ya later.
ben

Saturday - Fry's Food Stores Piss Poor Customer Service

Well, sometimes I get to neglecting this blog and it's just the way it goes.
I figured to start labelling my blogs when I write about a company's bad service so people from all over the place can read about it : )

I wrote about this in the other blog, but I didn't title it this way and I want an entry that has it in the title.

So, I was at Fry's yesterday. That's Fry's Food Stores for the consumer. I didn't really buy that much stuff - wandering around the store, looking at all the police officers that were there because of a shoplifter who was tackled to the floor by three guys - BUSTED!!! The guy was already gone, the officers were taking statements from witnesses and from the people that were involved in detaining the dude, who was attempting to non-chalantly walk out of the store with a big bottle of Jim Beam (alcohol, whiskey I believe).

I get to the checkout and my purchases are rung up. One item comes up at $9.99 - when it should have run up at the sale price of $8.49. I noted this to the cashier, who said that was the correct price. Okay, I'll pay for it then, cause' if it IS the wrong price, then I'm going to invoke Fry's policy on scanning errors.

I go back to check the price and sure enough, there's a sale-price tag that gives the sale price below the normal price. I head for the customer service desk. The woman goes back there and looks at the tag, yup, you were right.

Back to the customer service desk, she gives me 50 cents back. ???? Scuse' me ma'am, I want the free item policy of Fry's - the product mis-scans I either get the item for free or I get $5 back/gift card if the price of the item is over $5. No, sir, this time doesn't count for the scanning error. Ohhh? Why not? No good answer, management please. Always, always, always have to get managment. Very rarely does it end up that I don't need management to get involved.

At Fry's, I have found that many of their associates do not know their own store's policies, especially concerning the scanning error policy. I have had associates arguing with me that I am incorrect and they are right - they in saying that there IS no such policy. Of course I am always proven right - I mean - it IS their policy!!

She calls for a manager and then I bring up to her that even without that freebie, you have given me back incorrect change. If the product normally sells for $9.99 and it is on sale for $8.49, that's $1.50 difference, not 50 cents. She as attempting to do the math in her head instead of letting the computer software do it for her - why I have no idea. I will say that it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the difference between $9.99 and $8.49. It's a buck fifty. So, she is going to make up the difference by giving me another buck back. Nope, ma'am, wrong again. There is more tax on $9.99 than there is on $8.49, I want the extra tax back, too.

I know, I can be cheap. Just me. If she would have done this through the register, it would have instantly given her the correct amount without all the nonsense in writing numbers down on paper and attempting to do math that she apparently is incapable of doing. She ends up giving me a total of a buck seventy-five, which was too much.

The manager finally shows up after all of this. She tells him about the scanning error and that "the policy only applies to items under $5". The man looks at me and tells me store policy - free if the item is under 5 bucks, a $5 gift card if it's over. Yup, I replied, I know that. He took a step back and then realized she hadn't given me anything. "You mean you didn't get a gift card yet?" No sir, I did not. It was that simple. He just told the woman to give me a $5 gift card and he left, and none too happy from the look on his face. He had to walk all the way from the back from whatever he was doing to deal with this - if this woman had known their store's own policy, management would never had to have been involved with this. He was also limping badly, I imagine this is the reason he was none-too-happy to walk all the way up there for - something very simple, really.

The woman didn't apologize for her snappy tudenoidal with me, but I got my freebies so I didn't care. She was a know-it-all out to prove that I was wrong, the only problem is that in the end, SHE was proven wrong and that's that. This is an endless situation with Fry's and their associates not knowing their own store's policies. I occasionally get an item scanned wrong, and yes when that happens, I do get my freebie and I don't feel bad about it - AT ALL. If they don't want to give that kind of freebie, then don't have the policy! Yet when you go to "invoke" it, they trudge through the process as if you're some kind of bad person because you want something that they are allegedly giving away freely whenever THEY make the error! lol

Probably one problem is that most people probably don't know about that policy and if you don't say something, it's just about GUARANTEED that they won't say anything. So, when some dude like me comes along and I insist on getting it, well, it doesn't always go over too well. In fact, most times it doesn't go over too well. That's the state of customer service to be found in many types of stores nowadays - people who want to give you attitude. People who don't give a damn about the customers. People who know everything and, of course - you the customer don't know ANYTHING.

Changing the subject (so if you came here from a Google search looking for the Fry's input, that is the end of it, the rest of this is just my personal junk - you are welcomed to read it but it has nothing to do with Fry's), I've been thinking about Christmas this year. I'm guessing it's going to be slim pickings. I'm thinking about buying Christmas presents now so that I have them and won't have to worry about it when Christmas actually gets here. My mother only wants a hummingbird feeder - I think she realizes the financial situation going on with lost hours and dealing with tenants coming and going - so that will not set me back too much even if I get a really nice one. Plus, I bought her a very nice present last year in the form of a digital camera and she LOVES that thing!

I figure to find one online here in the next couple of days and order one. I have no idea what Caleb wants - he usually doesn't ask for much. I would offer to pay for insurance for him to learn how to drive - but it's too expensive. I was quoted between $100 and $125 extra PER MONTH for him. I guessed before I called them yesterday that it would be at least $100 per month. That's out of my budget right now and anyway, I'm not exactly excited about him learning how to drive on Phoenix roads at his age. Drivers in these parts are just plain stupid with all the texting and talking on cellphones and reading magazines and all kinds of stuff while they are supposed to be driving their vehicles. I'm not exactly thrilled about the propsect of being in the passenger's seat while he is at the controls of the car.

I'll have to ask him what he has in mind for Christmas. I also want to buy my dad something - nothing fancy just something. Actually, maybe something for him and his wife - have to think about that one for a while. The rest of my family? You know, my 2 older brothers I never see? Lol. Not going to sweat that, get them something if we are all going to come together this year, if not, then I won't bother. My budget for gifts is basically going to be very low and I'm not looking to spend huge amounts of money on anything.

Well, I didn't get enough sleep last night and I'm tired. I'm going to go lay down for a while and laze around for a bit - these guys working out back should be done in an hour or so, they are cranking right along. I put up a Craigslist ad for someone to come over and dig a trench so I can get this drip watering system moving right along, 2 people showed up this morning, a guy and his dad. I simply informed him that the ad says ONE person and then I had to say it to him twice: ONE person is going to get paid for the hourly wage, NOT two. Only if they get it done faster than one person would have - which may or may not happen - will I give them the equivalent of whatever it would have taken for one person to do it.

Have a great day!
ben

Direct TV's ICU Ward

So, I'm sitting here - like 30 minutes ago - writing up a post for my other blog when the Magic Jack rings (my phone service, I always refer to it as Magic Jack). With Magic Jack, a screen appears on top of everything on your computer - you see the number that is calling.

An 800 number. I figure some sort of sales call, so I was going to let the call drop. But I decided to take the call in case it was my mortgage company. It was a representative from Direct TV's "ICU" is how she referred to it as. She asked me about my last encounter with Direct TV and was my problem satisfactorily resolved. I had to think about it - was I satisfied with the result? Yes and no. I told her the whole story, about how their company called me offering me 2 for 1 pay-per-view movies - buy one today and they would send me something in the mail to fill out and return.

The movie was supposed to start at 7:30 am on a Saturday - it never did, and of course, that started my phone calling to DirectTV. LONG story and I already wrote about it on this blog. If you are REALLY that interested, I suppose you could do a search on here and find it.

So, I'm being very nice to this lady - as always - I am nice unless a person starts getting rude and crass with me, then I dish it RIGHT back out to them - or I just hang up. She looks into all of this - and tells me she doesn't even see where I was called with such an offer. Now - this was not said in a tone that she didn't believe me, such as the woman I was speaking to at my former Title company about getting some paperwork sent from them, she was just sayin' it ain't on there.

I listened. I figured something might happen with this call that I didn't even initiate - and neither did I have ANY desire to call DirectTV. I NEVER - WANT - to call them. It takes forever to get through to anyone and then you almost always have to get to another level of customer service rep - I mean it's like hours if you really want to get anything done. Ohh, but I DO call them when trouble starts.

We're talking back and forth and she comes up with this: "I want to do something for you today to make up for what you had to go through". I now have 3 free months of Starz and Showtime, plus $5 off for 3 months as well. I was totally amazed. And yes, I checked my TV - all of those channels are on right now. I didn't know that Direct TV had such a department to call people and ask about their recent experience. My history with them usually shows they don't give a bleep, or at least certain of their customer service reps certainly don't give a rats @$$ whether you're happy with their service or not. I even had one tell me one time that I should just go ahead and cancel the service and go with a competitor! Lol.

Ummm, onto other issues. I don't even know what got me started on this, but I was writing this entry and something else happened, I got the vacuum cleaner out, vacuumed a high-traffic area of carpet and was going to put my new steam vac carpet cleaner to the test. Got the solution in the tank - already put it together - turned it on - made the noise you'd associate with a vacuum cleaner/steam cleaner running.........but...........

...........the spinning brushes? Weren't spinning. There is a switch on the thing to turn it from low to high or even off. I moved that switch back and forth several times - nothing. I turned it on and off, on and off - nothing. No suction, either, the noise it was making is warm air it aims at the already treated carpet apparently to help it dry. It's probably nice machine - if it works. I looked at the instructions again - turn the machine on, the brushes start spinning.

I dreaded this, but I called Walmart yet again - in the middle of writing this entry no less. This time, neither of the head honchos were there and I was put on hold for 8 minutes before I hung up, called back. Waited 2 and a half minutes and hung up , called back. Waited 30 seconds, hung up, called back. Waited 15 seconds (the wait was the time after the person said they were going to get a manager for me). Hung up, again. I figure this will irritate them to actually GET me a manager instead of leaving me endlessly on hold.

Yup, ole' LeeAnne got on the phone. Nice enough lady, have had one other encouter with her. Asked her if nearly 15 minutes on the phone was acceptible to get a manager, of which she responded in the negative. I then told her the story from last week about this machine and how I acquired it through the store's general manager, Anthony. She knew all about it, fortunately.

She informed me I could come down to the store and customer service would take care of it. Well, miss, I'm calling to make sure you actually have another machine available before driving there for nothing (notwithstanding the fact that I have absolutely no intention of driving there today, if they have one, they can put it aside for me and I will get it on the way home from work tomorrow).

I give her the UPC label number - she then asked me if I were the one that had complained about the seafood counter last week? Yes, ma'am, I most certainly am. Well, have you been back since the last time this happened? NO, I replied, I don't customarily subject myself to that kind of abuse repeatedly, twice was enough. That got a chuckle out of her - and then she informed me that they had actually taken my complaint and even my advice and done something about it! I had suggested that at the very least, they install a doorbell type setup - if someone needs seafood and no-one's out there, push the doorbell and kalamazoo, someone arrives out of thin air. That would be totally acceptable to me, I had explained, lots of stores do that cause' their butchers and personnel in the back are busy and they don't necessarily expect enough people to show up at that particular counter to have a full-time person servicing it.

Yes, they installed the button with the bell and she claims they have someone working that counter. I'll be in there tomorrow, presumably anyway, and I WILL test her statements. Not that I think that she's lying about the buzzer, but I seriously wonder about devoting an employee to that counter alone. It's not a huge counter and it only has seafood in it - though I have observed people approaching the counter and simply walking away when they realize there is no-one there. I imagine they are losing a lot of potential sales simply because of the fact there is usually nobody there.

So, I'm waiting for her to call back. Considering the amount of time that has passed, I assume they do not have a machine available - that or she's calling Anthony to ask him what to do since - I definitely made an issue out of the entire situation.

Of course, I will be asking for further compensation. I have now not only gone through that rather large ordeal in just GETTING this machine, but now not only did I make 4 visits to get it, wasted time, but I have now brought it home, assembled it, found it doesn't work and also wasted some of the carpet cleaning formula in finding this out. Another gift card will take care of my needs, thank you.

So, I have also thought about my visit to the nursery going out of business. Not only am I going to get more Sissoo trees, I am also going to get several more of the $1 per plant ficus trees. Well, I assume now that if I take enough of them off of their hands, they will give me an even better deal.

Actually, they had some very nice cacti there in pots that I would love to get my hands on - if the price is right. Their asking price before was ridiculously low - but I didn't want to spend that much money on that kind of thing. I would love to have a Saguaro cactus growing somewhere on the property. You grow one up to be nice and big - they are worth huge money. Well they used to be, anyway, this economy - I like to hope anyway - won't stay this rotten forever. A large Saguaro in the past could fetch as much as $8,000.00. Yup. You can't just go out into the desert and dig one up, it's against the law and I believe it's a federal law - like a HUGE fine and possible imprisonment.

Well, I'm just sorta excited about the prospect. I'll get them - and probably leave them in the pots throughout the winter until the growing season starts again. I can put them all together in one area and cover them up with the nursery grade shade screen to help protect them against frost. We DO get frost a few times a year, you know. I learned from last year that the only time I really need to cover up plants is if a deep frost is going to happen - not highly likely here, but I do remember one year where there was one particular night that the frost killed off a lot of people's plants because they didn't heed the warnings.

Lee-Anne with Walmart called back. They actually do have one machine available. I informed her I would be by tomorrow to get it, "old" one in tow.

That's probably enough for one entry.

G'evening.
ben

Tired

I'm again tired. I simply haven't been sleeping well. 3 to 5 hours of solid sleep and then I wake up at night and it usually takes a long time to get back to sleep -some night I never do.

As always, there never seems to be a lapse in the constant whirl of things going on around here and in my life. If there is a lapse, it is so temporal in terms of length of time it is as if it is non-existent.

I have asked the title company 3 times now to send me the information I need - interest payments on the mortgage. The lady has said she has twice sent it. I have not received it, I have no idea WHERE she is sending it, but I fear the IRS is going to do my taxes for me, so, I guess I will just have to GO there this week and get the information in-person. Unless they will fax it to me, then I can have it in minutes.

I still have not heard back from the lady and I wonder if she is bugging out at this point. I sent her 2 emails of which she has not replied to. I suppose I should write another CL ad and get on with it, but - I am going to wait until Friday and if I haven't heard from her then, pretty much rest assured that there isn't anything "there" to be found. Not the end of the earth, doesn't even hurt my feelings, really, just would nice to be able to know whether to pursue this further or move on.

I was reviewing my son's grades yet again today - looking for any teacher inputs for homework or classwork. Apparently that dies down during the quarter change as there are no recent entries on any of his classes, and yes, they enter the info even if NOTHING was submitted for a grade. Caleb has altered his school day to go to Homework Lab several times a week, JROTC on other days for Rifle Team practice. He complains he doesn't get enough of that kind of practice, so his marksmanship isn't what it could be, but - keeping his grades up takes precedence. Twice a week is enough for shooting pellet rifles.

The dogs apparently understood today when I shoved dead grass into Duke's mouth - the grass he had clawed out of the ground - as they are all staying away from me. It's actually a nice reprieve from constant dogs in my face. ]

Well that's it for today. I have a semi-full plate of deliveries tomorrow - perhaps more will be dumped onto the day's worth of stuff to do and I will be busy all day long. Not that I wasn't busy today - but - it has slowed down some in the last several work days worth.

Hope you are all doing well.
ben

Tuesday

So, the lady that's here for a week - will be gone by the time I get home. She was pretty fun to talk to it was nice having the female side of things around. Meanwhile, another person showed up yesterday to discuss moving in. This conversation went on for almost 2 hours as this guy apparently wanted to talk - and talk - and talk.

Which is a good thing at the initial "interview" process - the more a person talks, the better glimpse of who that person really is - is displayed. The talking wenting into OT when the last-remaining tenant came out and these 2 apparently hit it off. I guess it's always a good thing to have tenants liking each other versus the hate factor I have seen in my house a few times now.

Well, I have a potential - and yet another - tenant. He has a friend where the 2 have been wanting to move in together for some time - allegedly - the eggs haven't hatched yet, there aren't any green chickens running around, I'll just wait and see - and continue to run my Craigslist room offering ads as well.

Meanwhile, the experts are suggesting the swine flu vaccine will arrive too late for most Americans and that 60% of the population will get infected with this pig. It does further state that "only" about 25% of the population will actually get sick. ONLY 25%? Lol. I wasn't going to get the vaccine, anyway, as I am allergic to these flu shots for some reason. They're predicting the end of this month to be the peak of the infections, I am holding out hope that I don't get this nasty bug.

And now, the pirates are in the news again. This time threatening to kill 25 Chinese crew members of a ship they have hijacked. Without going into all of it - good luck there, pirates. You kill the whole ship's compliment of sailors and you should fully expect that your lives will end with it, if you think the Chinese are going to just sit there, watch that happen and then let you go scott-free.

I love reading the news on the internet in the morning. Well, at least if there's something interesting to read.

A few deliveries this morning in the system - nothing grand, small stuff. Still have to use the semi, though, cause' there's pipe involved.

Have a great day!
ben

Abuses From Aaron Rents

Folks, it is unfathomable to me why anyone - a customer of Aaron Rents in this case - to put up with any kind of abusive speech from it's employees either calling you on the phone, or visiting you at your doorstep. Being late on a payment does not give a company the right to demoralize you, insult you on the phone, or worse, threaten you in person.

I was once customer of Aaron Rents. I rented-to-own a large-screen TV that - ended up burning up into a small, dense piece of plastic when my house burned down. Ummm, I had just gotten done paying that TV off when that happened, not a pleasant experience, but then again, a house fire is probably not most people's first choice of a great time.

Anyway, I was late several times on payments. I unabashedly admit this. Paychecks didn't always coincide with payment dates. I always made the payment - within 5 days of due date - but certainly not all of my payments were on time.

One day I was working on my yard in front of my house. An Aaron Rents truck pulled up. A young guy - very large man though - walked up to me, I knew this guy and he knew me. He actually got in my face and demanded the payment right then and there or he was going to take the TV, right then and there.

I don't mean in a civil way, either, he was posturing as if he were going to hurt me if I didn't succumb to his agreement.

I stood up, I'm no small man myself, got right back in his face and informed him if he didn't back down, get OFF of my property, I was going to defend myself and the outcome would not be pretty, and THEN I would be calling the police. I further informed him about the FACT that he's ON - MY - PROPERTY - THREATENING me, ON MY PROPERTY.

I don't take such things lightly. I don't care how big a man is, I am not going to have a person talking to me like that - on my property. He's lucky I didn't thrust my right foot into his crotch, as I had determined to do if he had further forced himself upon me.

Let me tell you something straight, right here and now: They CANNOT just walk into your house and take whatever you're renting from you!! If you give them permission, of course, but if you don't, they are engaging in an act of burglarly and criminal trespassing!! Now, if you WANT them to take the thing away, fine, let them go in there and get it. If you are going to pay the bill, tell those dudes to take a hike!!

If they don't leave, CALL THE POLICE!!! You are NOT a criminal!! It is not a crime to owe money. It is a CIVIL problem, if it comes to that, it MUST be taken up in the courts. PERIOD. There is no state in the Union that has a provision that says some thuggish looking dudes from a rental company can come and harass you, threaten you and force themselves into your house to get their rental unit. Police can't force that upon you, either.

I called the manager of that store after I told that FREAK to get OFF of my property before I HURT him and informed him of his employee's actions and my intended reaction if they EVER come back to my house and act like THAT again. He took me seriously - I was QUITE serious - those guys never showed up again.

Now, did it end there? No. In a subsequent month, I was a few days late - 2 days I think I remember, and some person from that store called and started verbally abusing me on the phone. I hung up on that person and went down to the store. I would like to SEE these people talking to me like that TO MY FACE. No-one there took credit for the call, of course, the manager - of whom I was on a first-name basis at this point - Brian - didn't specifically condone that kind of call, either, but who knows if he was saying something different when I left. The end of the story? I paid every payment, owned the TV - and lost it to flames.

Well, that wasn't Aaron's fault and certainly I didn't blame them for that.

I write this stuff for the Googlers in the world that are looking for such information. I was reading a story about RAC - Rent A Center and then found more about all of the rental centers. I would NEVER put up with the abuse I read about in the RAC story, which was far worse than what I reported about my experience with Aaron Rents.

Obnoxiously Slow

I have decided to alter my plans a bit on the east side of the property. I originally wanted it lined with evergreens - but as in their name, they take forever to actually grow!!! I've had a small one in the ground for a year now and that thing has barely grown at all - that with frequent waterings and Miraclo Gro applications.

The nursery that is going out of business where I bought the Sissoo's has an ad still up on Craigslist saying that they are doing the last few weeks of the sale and then - bye bye. They are practically giving these trees away now. I can plant 7 or more of those trees over there and eventually this place will look like a Sissoo tree farm. Excepting I'll be loving it, of course, provided I'm still living here.

My battles to keep tenants in this place are seemingly never-ending. The economy is dictating people moving around for various reasons - jobs/family/whatever the case may be. I have to be able to deal with this factor, yes, but - it gets old. A woman just called and wanted me to hold the room for 2 months by giving me a deposit. Yeah, right - give me a deposit equal to the 2 months - non-refundable, lol. No, I was outside at the BBQ doing the chicken wings and this person left a message. I will not be holding a room for 2 months for anyone. I need the money NOW.

The Taco Bell kid - well he's 24 years old but still - is allegedly going to call me back tomorrow about the room that is currently occupied by the saleslady who is leaving on Tuesday. I tell them all now that I do not hold rooms for anyone unless a non-refundable deposit is given. Not applicable to the 2-month people. I sometimes have to learn the hard way, but usually I DO end up learning.

It's warm outside - again - and I am not doing anything else out there until the sun starts going down later today. The dogs have already been laying in the grass - so far so good. The hummingbirds are relentlessly feeding at the feeder - it's fun to watch them coming and going like giant bees they move so fast!

Sunday

I would really like to do another neighborhood type of BBQ/party. The last one drew a large number of people from around the community and it was a good time. Some people just wanted to complain about everything under the sun - granted. There are always people like that, they must be bored, lonely - whatever in life because there are a lot of better things I can think of to do than sit around whining all day long. It serves no purpose. To MAKE it serve a purpose, go out and DO something about that of which you are complaining about.

It is still too hot, IMO, to do any kind of party like that. It is still getting very warm during the afternoons in the direct sunlight and I think something like that is better off waiting. I will say that I have a freezer full of chicken and beef - and brats now that I think about it - Fry's was getting rid of a bunch of packages of it for cheap a while back cause the due date was 2 days off - I bought all of them and dumped them into my freezer.

Brats are VERY popular at BBQ's, I have learned. They aren't cheap. Up to $6 for a 5-brat package. Other than that great sale I found, the lowest I ever see them on sale is $2.50 per package. Not bad, but - still pretty pricey considering the amount of meat you are getting. Which, in turn, is why I suppose they're so popular - they have a wonderful flavor.

I just got done doing a Miracle Gro nutrient spray on all of the plants on my property. That stuff seems to really make plants grow like crazy. I also took down the temp fencing I had around the patch of grass. See what happens. The grass is tall and already needs cutting, actually. I know the dogs are going to go out there and lay down on it, again, see how that grass handles it. I MAY go out there and continue on with the rock shovelling ceremonies today - but - I am going to start cleaning house here in a few minutes which is going to take precedence for a couple of hours worth anyway.

Plus I want to watch NFL - whatever is showing - today as well. I'm going to try the new carpet cleaning machine also, see if it stands up to the rave reviews it has received by SO many people. HUNDREDS of them.

Anna's Linens has some sort of drapes on sale and I would like to try that instead of the vertical blinds I have up there. They pretty much got destroyed - almost half the slats are gone. The reason is that the doggy door used to be in the sliding glass door where this setup is at. The dogs going in and out - well it's just plastic stuff, it can't really take a lot of abuse like that. I could replace the vertical blinds with a new set, but I sort of like the idea of trying out some drapes there and see how it looks. There IS no doggy door there now, so that problem is eliminated.

Well now that I think about it, I have a rather ambiitous list of things I would like to get done today - I best git to gitting to it!

ben