Cafe World Tips Part 4

I have had several of my Cafe World neighbors asking me in Facebook messages how I get my Cafe points up so quickly.

Well I can tell you it isn't because I sit at work all day long playing the game - any streaming video/footage is banned at work - it simply won't come through. I don't normally have time for such, anyway.

There are 2 answers to the question.

1st: It's simply that I keep my ovens cooking all the time. I am at work now, but I have chocolate cake "cooking" on my stoves. When I get home from work, the cake is done, I serve it, start cooking something else. I just base the game on my schedule and when I think I'll be home to be able to sit down for a few minutes and get it done.

2cd: I am of the competitive nature. If one of my neighbors starts catching up to me and am at threat of being overtaken in Cafe points by such, I sort of cheat. It's not really cheating, but it does cost you gold coins. I will start making serving after serving after serving of the dumplings. It gives you 20 points for each phase of preparing the food to be cooked. When it starts cooking, I delete the dish and start over. I can rack up thousands of points quickly simply by doing that.

I don't do that often and right now, the nearest neighbor is over 60,000 points behind me. I have 113 neighbors.

I also have currently around 200,000 servings of food on my counters. It doesn't take long to get those kinds of numbers up when you are cooking basically around the clock.

That's it for this one. Remember that when you get gifts from neighbors, they do NOT add up for any Cafe points. Not that you shouldn't use them, but if you are looking to rack up points, gifts are not going to do it for you.

Sunday

This blog is getting close to 500 entries. Yikes.

I have no valid reason to offer why I think this, but today feesl like Monday. Perhaps because I got off of work so early on Friday, I really don't know, but I was panicing thinking that I was late/missing work. Fortunately it wasn't true, funny the realms the mind goes to whilst in sleep.

I have not heard back from the guy with the RV - though I think I may end up finding someone on my own to move the thing. In fact, I think I will find out whether the king pin on a travel trailer is the same as on a semi trailer - I could just give work some money in exchange for use of the semi to move that thing. I'm just afraid that perhaps the king pins are different widths between the 2 and then - could be a disaster pulling it down the road.

Cleaning day. I am going to go into full blown clean mode here in a little while. I'm not saying my place is a disaster, but it does not a good, major cleaning. The are a couple of football games - my teams are eliminated, I'm to root for the 3-time retired (in word, only) Favre since he's only a few years younger than me and is still kicking-@$$ on the football field - admirable from my view. So I'm rooting for the Vikings, in other words, to go all the way. I thought "old-men" could only play baseball in a professional realm, this guy certainly proves that wrong. Considering he's playing today with his team for the NFC Championship, you can't really say he's a washed-up has-been. Well, you can, I suppose, but it would hardly be true.

A trip to the Home Depot is also in order - early. Oh, btw, I have no love for the Jets or the Saints and I couldn't care less who wins that game - well, I prefer to see the Saints win just for sheer dislike of the Jets QB - which is merely a personal thing that has nothing to do with any logic or reason, so I defer any further comment on my distaste for the man. Back to the point of the paragraph, I want to buy the black, plastic edging that you put around plants to keep the landscaping rocks away from their little pooling area where I water them.

Ahhhhhh, the smell of clean. I took a break from this and spent 40 minutes doing a very nice cleaning of the living room. Looks clean, IS clean.

So it begins - the cleaning that is.

Off to the races.

Later.
ben

Saturday

The deal with the 5th wheel? Waiting game. Owner is attempting to find someone that can move the thing. No hurry here, really, but I would like to get it done this weekend.

Meanwhile, I'm cooking down a huge pot of onions for French Onion Soup. I promised myself last weekend that I would do it this weekend. I still have to go to the store and get the cheese and baguettes. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't have any crocks, either, to use in the oven. Not sure where to find that cheese - Gruyere.

The rain has finally stopped and the skies are clear. I have a lot of floor cleaning to do with people and dogs coming in and out with wet feet. Prolly get out the steam cleaning machine and go over the high traffic areas on the carpet. Kitchen floor is a disaster, lol.

Just a short entry, really. I had thoughts about digging into a couple of subjects - but I think I'd rather head out to the store and grab the stuff I will need to finish this soup. That and clean the floors.

C'yall later.

Fifth Wheel

I've spent a good portion of the afternoon making one phone call after another after another. Unbelievable. I am attempting to get the 5th wheel - it doesn't need any work and it's going for $650, versus the travel trailer that would need a lot of work - and money - and is going for $600. Anyway, I found a guy to move it at a good price. He went over there to look at it - he lives like 10 blocks away from where it's parked - called me back and said it needs a truck with no bed on it - a semi in other words or a pickup that is a flatbed - with a 5th wheel - to move it.

So, that threw the whole deal back into chaos as I had the whole thing worked out. Gag. Well, whatever. Now the deal is back into the seller's hands who is going to find someone he knows to move it and lets get this deal over with already.

Thank you.

I have this feeling the tenancy situation is going to change around here and I have no clue s to why. Butwhen I get feelings like that, I don't tend to ignore them. Meaning I may well be in the "throes" of having to find another tenant soon. Or more than 1, who knows. I haven't gotten any notices from anyone, just got that feeling.

Whatever. Deal with it as it comes. It's been a pretty good, long run on this current crowd of tenants paying regularly, on-time or close enough to on-time, it's been very nice.

The weekend is here. The state of Arizona - I think it's all flooded. The normally dry Salt River running through Tempe and Phoenix and such is now running with water. Tempe Town Lake is now a river, basically. It rained some today, but nothing like yesterday. Yesterday was a gully-washer, that's a fact. I guess it is still raining around different portions of the state and possibly even the valley, but not here.

Crying. I was writing this and it suddenly popped into my head that I was going to make French Onion Soup, and that I was going to cook the onions the night before. Or even put if off until Sunday, but get the onions going. Yes, cutting onions makes my eyes burn and water and I don't remember how to avoid that. I just cut them up - a huge slow-cooker full of them, so it's all over now. But if anyone knows how to cut onions without the burning and tearing effect, I would certainly like my memory refreshed for next time. I am cheating on the French Onion Soup - you are supposed to cook them over the stop top. I am going to cook 1/3rd of them over the stove top and the rest in the slow cooker - my slow cooker is full and I still have 4 very large onions left is the only reason why.

Well, anyway, with seemingly endless number of people chiming in with recipes and how to make French Onion Soup (Googling for recipes, that is, not on this blog), landing on the post that said that cooking the stuff is easy if you just dump the onions into a slow cooker and leave them in there on low for about 12 hours. The next person in the thread I was reading said she tried it, but put the cooker on high for 8 hours. WHATEVER. Okay, well, I want a good soup but laboring over a stove top for countless hours seems ridiculous. I like to cook - but not THAT much. Well, there are certain recipes that I will make here and there that do take quite a bit of time and prep., but I don't do it often.

BTW, what WOULD we do without Google? I don't LIKE any of the other search engines, and I've tried a lot of them. Just thought I'd throw that in there. On that line, what would we do without cellphonees? Well, I'm of the age - I didn't get one until I was in my mid 30's, lol. It IS a useful tool, but like everything, moderation. Plus the new-found fact - apparent fact anyway - that long-term, heavy use can cause brain tumors. I have had that fear ever since cellphones came out, frankly. I went through about a 2-year stint where I was talking on cellphones anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 minutes per month. I figure my use is less than 500 - well probaby not even close to that - now.

Oh, BTW 2: for the naysayers about renting out a travel trailer. I'm not charging full price, the real deal is getting someone to do work around the place in exchange for - a large trailer actually. 36 feet is pretty big, doncha think? That person can dig the trench right off the git-go to install a sewer line and they will have full bathroom priviledges right there in the trailer, as those things are all set up to simply attach a garden hose to it. I have the PVC schedule 40 pipe to run from the other side of the house to that trailer as well. The trench would have to go clear over there anyway to connect with the sewer line in the ground.

Wow. Now that I think about it - that's a LONG trench. about 125 feet to connect with the line which is actually in front of the house. Well, whatever. If the person is motivated to do so, they will do it, if not, the house is always available.

This entry is getting long.

Have a great evening?!!

ben

Friday

Woke up in the middle of a very deep and sound sleep. That alarm clock was at it's second level of beeping. I am groggy and haven't been able to fully wake up. I could have slept several more hours at least. This is the 3rd time this week that this has happened - I have been on a sleep deficit for quite some time, apparently something in the brain has clicked and said it's time to do something about that.

Rain has stopped this morning, but it was obvious it had rained all night long. All that stuff going on in California is coming straight over here. The interesting point of yesterday was the tornado warning. No, folks, I have never heard of a tornado warning in Phoenix, Arizona. It was at least a 5 hour long warning and I went outside, in the rain and was looking around at the sky. I didn't hear of any tornados touching down, but then again, I haven't read the local news yet. I believe it's supposed to rain off and on all day today as well. Well, I just looked at AZcentral.com and there is a spoof in there saying that a tornado actually touched down on the Arizona/California line. It also said the governor has issued a state of emergency. The only thing I can say is our state NEEDS this water, rainfall has been WELL below normal this year.

I'll also say that living on the base of a mountain has it's advantages - unless the ENTIRE valley is going to fill up with qadrillions of gallons of water, the only flooding I ever see is the small stream that starts flowing along my west wall from one end of the property to the other, plus a pool of water where I have my little gras patch growing.

Meanwhile, I was looking into some information on speeding tickets issued by photo radar on the city's freeways. Apparently, DPS targets "freqent fliers" - people who get clicked by those cameras frequently and do not pay the fines. It is also apparent they don't really bother with a "one-timer". Legally, if I don't respond to their snail-mail sent demands to pay $180.00, they have to have me served. I am totally opposed to cameras being set up all over the place for a variety of reasons, and I certainly have no problem of doing absolutely nothing about this photo ticket I received in the mail last month.

As for today's work, I doubt there will be anything but pickups from vendors. All deliveries have been moved out to Monday, which means Monday will be a very busy day for me. Not to mention the fact that today is inventory - they count everything, I will have nothing to do with it because, again, drivers aren't allowed, lol. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or making a bad statement against truck drivers? I'll leave that one alone : )

Ava' great day!
ben

French Onion Soup

I have read - too many - recipes of how to make French Onion Soup. Moreover, I have read FAR too many opinions from people - even French cooks - who snoot the idea of "factory" broth - store bought instead of homemade - and how it "degrades" the recipe. There are SO many variations of the recipe, I was at a loss, but not for long.

I have been cooking since I was 4 years old. I am not a "professional" per se, but I not only learned from my mother, I invented my own recipes. I was making soft chocolate chip cookies LONG before anyone ever put them on the market. It was a mistake, really. One day, I was making my beloved chocolate chip cookies and as was my want, I always stood there, as a kid, and watched them back the entire process.

No, I didn't go do something else. I would have the oven light on and I would watch them bake. A wild hair hit me one day and I thought, "what would they taste like if I pull them out early?". I was instantly in love. I was - 10 years old at the time. My mother had some group of women over for whatever function they were doing - they all ate my cookies and demanded - and I DO mean demanded - to know how I made them that way. I refused to tell them. I thought: A good chef keeps his cooking secrets to himself. I gave them clues, but I really didn't tell them that the only difference, at least in my version of it, was cooking time. Soft, gooey, still-melting choco chips. Ohh, the yum of it. I gave that stuff up long ago - you can watch your belly grow when eating stuff like that.

Totally off-subject, as normal. The point is that I always add my own stuff - or do things my own way - in cooking someone else's recipes. I have decided to combine all of what I have read and do my own thing. I have 20 pounds of onions - if you're going to do it, do it right. Tomorrow after I get off of work, I am going to start cooking them. I was going to put them into a slow-cooker as some have suggested the easiest way to do it, but I don't really LIKE the way onions turn out out of a slow-cooker, so I'm going to pan-fry them. Probably at least 2 large pans full of it. Butter, a small amount of salt and just cook them down. I have done this many, many times on a lessor scale - I love that stuff. It takes a while to cook them down, but they are talking cooking them REALLY down. I already have a good feel for cooking onions, I'll get it to where I think it will taste good in a soup and I will refrigerate them overnight. Saturday, I will actually make the soup and see what comes out of it.

It is a trial cook for me. I will figure out what works and what doesn't and I will cook the stuff again - and again - until I have my perfected version of it. Isn't that what a cook does? You make it the way that tastes good to you. Most likely, if you like, a lot of other people will, too. Around here, my cooking disappears quickly.

I can say that even if the first batch isn't "perfect", it will be good. A cup of chopped onions contains 64 calories. I am looking at calorie content. I don't normally care about veggies and fruits - though fruits usually have much higher calorie counts - I really couldn't care less about calories in an onion. I eat onions in differing food frequently. No, it's the bread and cheese in French Onion Soup that should be looked at in calorie content. I may very well find a reduced calorie content cheese and bread that will help my diet.

Whatever the case, I am actually psyched about trying to make this stuff and see what I come up with.

Thursday

RAIN!!!
It's raining cats and dogs outside, there is little chance that anyone is going to be working on any construction sites today. They - the forecasters at least got this one right, they said there would be a deluge, there certainly is one going on at the moment.
the branch's computers were all shut down - happens for some reason every single time it rains. Took forever to get everything going again in here and now I only have limited time before I have to sign in for work.

Anyway, I found a 5th wheel travel trailer - for $400. It looks perfect on the outside, the inside needs some work. For $400, I'd take the thing as a project to turn it around and resell it.

Also found a 26 foot travel trailer - perfect on the outside, inside needs lots of work. They took the walls off, took out the carpet - couch - all that stuff is gone. They want $600 for that thing. I haven't actually seen either of them in person, just looking at pics that both parties sent me. Prolly, I'll offer the travel trailer dude $300 just because it will take some time to put in carpet and walls and all that, not to mention some money (though, I'm the king of finding good used stuff cheap, and not just on Craigslist, either).

Meanwhile, the definers of what are going to happen at my branch that I work out of are slowly coming out. Calling it a "Hybrid" store, the talk is that plumbing will get one end of the building and that side of the yard and we - will get "this" end, the end I'm at currently and will split this place in half, also splitting the rent cots.

Just a quick synopsis since my time is rather limited. If I get either trailer, I intend on renting it out for $250 or $300 per month for several months and then get rid of it. It's nothing permanent and I already have takers for it if I get one. I know, seems odd, but I sit here and think of ways to make money without having to get a second job, basically.

Well, that's it. Probably not much to do today since the forecast is for rain all day long, but you ever know.

Have a great day!
ben

Wednesday

Forecasters. Where do they get these people? It was forecast to rain all day today, now it's not forecast to rain at all except "early" morning hours. Then, it's supposed to be a gully-washer tomorrow. Bahhhh.

Whatever. I guess it's a good thing for getting deliveries out, but I was looking forward to an entire weekday's week worth of raining every day.

So, the Dems agenda is now in an upheaval. I'm not sorry to say that there are plenty of Americans out there that are totally opposed to this health-care plan as it currently exists and don't want it. What amazes me is that they are now saying:"well, if we can't have a filibuster-proof majority, then we ought to approve the Senate version of it and send it directly to Obama's desk" while several of these morons are stating THEY HAVEN'T EVEN READ OR ANALYZED IT YET!!!

HOW do THESE people get into office? Do you consider it good representation from your elected representatives to sit there and just vote in bills that they haven't read? That they hand to aids to scrutinize FOR them? Or not even do that at all?

That's like you or I signing a contract for something and not bother to read all of that fine print that may be and probably is laden with clauses, fees, and whatever other junk they want to cram in there, knowing that MOST people won't bother to read that stuff. Then, when trouble hits, you're screwed. They vote in these measures and there is junk in there? It's you and I, the American public that is screwed.

Well, I think I'll get off of that subject because - it leads nowhere. We continue to vote in a bunch of people that are rich, have no connection/clue about the working man, have the best health care on the planet given to them for free, do not live in want, probably never have and simply don't get it. It's almost always a popularity contest, not a contest about who's going to do the job best and represent the most people from the state in a way that voices the people's concerns.

I don't even know this Brown dude that got in there - but he has made some interesting statements that I would LOVE to see if he follows through with or not. Probably NOT. They ALL say stuff just to get into office, then when they get there, they backtrack/180 and do their own thing.

Ummm, well, I've had 3 offers on travel trailers, but, they all say they "need work". Well, if they need too much work I don't want it. I have fixed up travel trailers in the past and that can consume a lot of time and money in getting the job done to a point of satisfaction. I am not even sure I want to go down that path, yet. It's only worth doing it if it's at least half-decent and someone will take the thing as their "room" and pay me monthly rent for it. That's it.

Anyway, work day approaches and I might get offa here.

G'day.
ben

Magic Jack: Good or Bad?

Hello to all you Googlers who have come here to see what one man's opinion of this device known as a Magic Jack is.

It's coming close to 2 years since I first got the Magic Jack device. I was going through some financial rollercoaster rides - still am actually - and decided to save money where I could. I had heard about the Magic Jack and decided to give it a try. I actually believe it was one of those "too good to be true" stories, considering they only wanted $19.95 per year for the service plus another $20 initially to get the device.

I figured if I could make it work at all, my $27.95 per month home phone bill would go away and that would be a substantial savings right there. Note that that phone bill was bare-bones, basic service that still came out that high every month, mostly because of unbelievable taxation.

I had some problems getting the thing to work at first. Number 1, if you have more than one account user on your computer, the device will automatically reload the software on each user's account as different users access it. When more the Magic Jack is loaded more than once onto the same computer - look out, cause' it ain't gonna work. You have to go into the other user's account and end the duplicated software running itself twice.

When I did get the thing to work, I was amazed at the quality of sound in making phone calls. It's not some thing that has a bunch of background noise and being hard to hear what a person on the other end is saying, it's pretty much crystal clear. Long distance if free. The thing will send your voice mails to your email account - you can actually play back your voice mails on Microsoft Media player! I'm serious, I get an email, click on the link and it takes me to that software and plays it back.

So the pro's and the cons.

Start with the downside: You MUST have high speed internet for it to work. I had that at the time anyway, no problem there and I am not getting rid of high speed internet if I don't have to.
The device itself? Where the nub sticks into a hub portal? Treat it like a package with Fragile written on it - it can't take a lot of "abuse", meaning plugged in and removed too many times. It will loosen up and the device will quit working. Well, really, if you just are careful with it, I'm sure it will be alright. I had a person in my house who would yank the jack out of the hub on my computer, take it to his room and plug it back in.

He was not being careful with it and I demanded he stop doing that. That person no longer lives at my house.

The other con, again, is that sometimes you have to unplug the thing and then plug it back in to get it to work. Not that often and not a big deal. Whether it's plugged in or not, you will still receive voicemail to your email account or, of course, you can call to get your voicemail as well.

Another thing that I don't like about the service is the fact that if you have a problem, you cannot call the company. You have to go to their website and jump through a lot of hoops to get to a "live operator" that is just an Instant Message type of thing. I have yet to "speak" to any of them that actually KNEW - ANYTHING. They all type unbelievably slow making a conversation with them take for freaking ever. I have only had to do that a couple of time, fortunately. Well, one time I did call the inventor - I found his phone number by searching the net for a while, called his home and asked for a new magicjack for free - the old one broke and they refused to send me a new one free. As I said before, you really need to treat these things with care, they ARE a bit flimsy.

The pro's:
Works beautifully, crystal clear sound.
Can change your phone number at any time.
Can take it with you if desired anywhere you go, if there is a computer with high speed internet, you can have free phone service.
The price, obviously, is what is drawing people to it. It's as good as Vonage without the high price tag. In fact, I HAD Vonage - for one month and then dropped that sucky service.

There isn't much to not like about it. At the price, anyone can afford to at least try it once and see if you like it or not. They give even lower prices if you buy 5 years worth at a time. Will the price always be $19.95? I have no idea. I can see where some company will buy it out and jack up the prices, at least a good possibility of that. Still, what do you have to lose? The total start-up price is $39.99 plus tax.

I do not work for Magic Jack, I am a pretty happy customer with it. I have started to turn this particular blog of mine into a critique of different companies and dealings with entities and decided to write one up about this particular product.

Monday

The devastation in Haiti is unbelievable. I can't not read the news about it. The Marines arrival should help to get relief supplies to where it's needed. I have very little to say about the situation except - God have mercy. The very sad thing is that these people are either blaming God for this or openly expressing that there is no God. I'm not judging them, the extremeness of the disaster is paled only by the fact that sufficient amount of aid in the form of medical supplies; food and water have yet to arrive for most of the people that need it. People sitting there bluntly saying: "we're dying".

Completely changing the subject, yesterday's football fiasco was disappointing to say the least. These blow-out games in the off-season are ridiculous. How does a team make it that far and then tank in the most important game for that team of the season? Cowboys totally sucked - I'm not a fan in fact I hate that team so it was not sooo terribly bad, but still, they could have put up a much better fight. Last week, the Cardinals got completely blown away. I certainly hope whoever ends up in the Superbowl - that we don't see anything like this. The only good playoff games, imo, are games that are nail-biters, anyone-could-win-the-game-to-the-finish of the game.

I slightly broke diet yesterday in eating 5 tacos and a medium sized plate of spaghetti. I didn't eat anything else, but that in itself is a lot of food. I don't believe a lot of fat calories, though, cause' I used 93% lean ground beef for the tacos, the rest of it is vegetables,hot sauce and fat free sour cream. Today I will be back full-fledged into a strict eating regime that will mirror last week's determination. I figured one of these weekends days I would probably not do as well as the days before it, so there you go.

As for projects, I spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing out dead leaves and rocks and stuff around the plants and then spreading the new landscaping rock around them. I have a lot left to do, but I am enjoying the work and am not really in a huge hurry - mostly because I AM enjoying it. It has become blatantly obvious that the living room carpet needs to be replaced. I have put out some feelers to see about pricing and get that situation rectified, as I want to keep my house looking good. It's just worn down from the amount of foot traffic - both human and dog - that goes through there. I would rather have ceramic tile installed, but I can't afford that right now. Well, I take that back, maybe I could afford the tile - not really sure - but I have no idea how to install it, I would have to watch someone who does it for a living.

So, perhaps I'll give a little more thought and effort to looking into pricing on the tile and seeing about getting someone over to do it - there seems to be several people that "claim" to do have been doing it for a living on Craigslist that are unemployed now, perhaps I could get one of those people over at a bit reduced rate. I just know that carpet is cheaper and getting it installed is much cheaper - one room is not much work for a professional installer.

Anyway, word day is here and I'm outta here.
Have a great day (and keep Haiti in your prayers)!
ben

Sunday

Yesterday did pretty well with the diet, considering it was a Saturday. Today, I was going to make French Onion Soup, but after reading the instructions, I realized it is going to be an extremely long cooking project that isn't going to happen in a single day. It will have to wait until next weekend. Actually, I think I may go ahead and stew the onions on Wednesday and have them in the fridge for several days - as recommended by several cooks - it allegedly makes the finished version taste better.

They also declare that you should only use homemade broths. Well, unless I'm cooking something pretty soon here either a roast or a chicken, that isn't going to happen, will have to settle for "factory" broths. The idea for this came from my Cafe World game where I see this French Onion Soup and oh, do I love that stuff. I have no idea what the caloric content of such is, perhaps I better find that out as well before making it. I imagine the cheese is the calorie killer - onions hardly have calories and I doubt broth has much, either. Regardless, if I'm going to go to that much work to make the soup, I want to make a lot of it - enough to last several days anyway. To sum this up, I had no idea French Onion soup had so much time for cooking it. Makes me want to make it all that much more.

So, that kind of poo-poo'ed my menu plan for today and was left wondering what to make for afternoon dinner. I have a half ham in the fridge, but I don't feel like eating any more ham right now. I'm thinking of opting for tacos and tostadas. I haven't had tostadas in quite a while - pretty tasty stuff and easy to make.

Watching Cowboys V Vikings. I'm ALWAYS a fan of whoever is playing against the Cowboys, and since both the Steelers and now the Cardinals are eliminated, I might actually be able to get behind that team. The Vikings, that is. I'm not a Saints fan, either, I hope their Superbowl run is cut off.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to put in for an extended weekend for my birthday. I don't even know which day my birthday falls on, but whatever it is, I want 2 extra days off plus weekend. It's already the - 17th today? - that's only 19 days away. I'm really wanting to take a week off - but I want to wait until summer for that. It would be nice to be able to take even a small vacation somewhere, somehow I don't think that's going to happen. There are no signs of recovery - for me anyway - in the economy and until housing comes back - construction that is - our company will be tanking.

And, of course, I am very concerned about whatever decisions are being made about the branch I am working out of - it's just something that I will have to wait out until any news surfaces, though I don't think it will be much longer, in fact, I believe they have already made a decision it just hasn't been made public yet.

Well, I'm going to get back to watching this Cowboys game - Vikings are looking good, my fingers are crossed!
ben

Day 6

This is the orange grove that I have talked about before. You can click on any of the pics for a MUCH larger view. That's "my" truck and I backed that sucker a long, long ways in there.



Hol'on a sec while I get my hand oxygen gauge I happen to have in my back pocket....seriously, this is the "thing" they were adding on to in the middle of the orange grove. Why they have that sign there - well no-one there could answer my question, but I didn't die of asphyxia while there.



This is near Tucson. This was the day that I-10 was shut down by Casa Grande and the ONLY way back was to go around. Actually, that pic is showing near Oracle and leaving Tucson. There had been a major crash on I-10, 3 people killed a semi actually blew up all kinds of carnage and waste.



This is the highway - SR77 I believe it was - it was very windy that day. The picture doesn't do the scenery justice - it was a total brownout and it was quite eerie out there in the middle of the desert with the sky all brown and everything around brown as well. This road usually doesn't have anything near the traffic that was on it that day, but it was one of the few roads to take to get to Tucson from Phoenix or vice-versa.

Yesterday, I didn't do quite as well as the days before it, but I'll still take it. A ham sandwich - 2 slices of bread, 1 slice of ham; a can of Chunky Soup - a little calorie laden and probably fat too, but I was very hungry at that point - and I ate a few slices of raw potatoes while making a pot of stuff for the kids to eat - I ate none of that stuff though it was very, very tempting.

Actually, I was working all day long and went into overtime because there was a lot of freight to put away - I was not feeling well for lack of eating. Only after I got home and wolfed down that sandwich and yes, then ate that can of soup did I feel better.

Anyway, I don't remember how to add pics to this site, so I'm going to add one, see if it works, if it does, come back and post more with commentary....here goes:

...well it put the pics at the top of the post. I guess I could have copied and pasted them down here, but what the heck. Wanted to get a few pics up since I haven't posted any in a long time. Going to take some pics of the work we did last weekend on spreading around all the rocks maybe later today or tomorrow.

Computer totally crashed yesterday. Virus. I don't even fool with trying to fix viruses anymore, I have wasted far too much time in the past in trying to deal with them. I just immediately reformat the harddrive and reinstall windows at this point. I can have it down in less than an hour and have enough software installed to be back to normal. I've gotten pretty good at it - I paid someone once to do it for me a long, long time ago, but realized that this was probably going to happen again and again - you get the picture, no way could I afford to have someone come out and fix this thing everytime a kid downloads something stupid on my computer (which always gets them banned for at least a week, sometimes as much as a month) or perhaps I have gone to a website that starts putting stuff onto your harddrive before you even know what's happening.

I have to take the blame for yesterday's junk. Some "thing" popped up on my computer screen and told me I have a virus. Yes, I thought, YOUR virus. Sure enough, this is the same virus that hit it about a month ago. It virtually takes over you computer - you can't access your control panel, well you really can't do anything after a while except to shut the computer down.

Well, anyway, today will probably be something of a battle in the diet world. I'm home, it's the weekend, I usually like to make a pot of something or other and eat it. I'm mildly hungry right now, mornings aren't usually an issue, it's the afternoons, especially on a Saturday or Sunday. Since I figure I will probably end up eating something, I will have to figure what I can make that isn't full of fat and laden with too much calories. I'm leaning towards a chef's salad. I've done the diet thing before - if I start feeling I'm depriving myself, then I start getting hungry even if I'm not, it's all in the mind, just have to figure out how to fight the battle and win.

Prolly a meet-in-the-middle, have a couple of calories, work outside and burn them off type of deal. I have plenty of work to do outside in pulling more grass and getting the rock spread around the plants.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well, I'm outta here.
ben

Day 5

I'm not sure I'm going to keep posting day this, that and the other - just doing it at the beginning of this to try and get a handle on this dieting situation and keep the momentum flowing.
Yesterday's total food intake consisted of the following:
2 slices 9 grain bread
3 thin slices of ham
1 small chunk of sharp cheddar cheese
2 glasses 1% milk

Fry's ran out of skim milk, which is what I usually drink, so I opted for the 1% - milk is on sale and I'm always good with sales.

There is less than 1,000 calories on the above-mentioned list. It's funny when you start actually keeping track of your caloric intake as to how much you are really eating. You think you aren't consuming that much, but when you break it all down, item by item, you begin to realize you are eating far more than you should. In the 5 days I have been on this diet, I normally would have consumed a total of around 15,000 calories by now. If I've even topped 5,000 I would be surprised.

This is really nothing different than budgeting. You get a notepad and start writing down every single thing you buy for a month, sit down after that month is over and make sure you're holding onto something, because you're probably going to be shocked at the amount of waste and excess you will find within the pages of that notebook - same thing with eating, I do believe. Once you realize on your budget where you are throwing your money away - well then you have to decide whether you can live without whatever that thing is or those things or activities are. I've done this budgeting thing a hundred times, I don't recall doing anything like this for dieting.

In fact, this dieting has motivated me to go ahead and get another notepad and start a 30-day write-up of my financial expenditures - all of them whether in person or online - and see if there is anything I can do to cut back. Unfortunately, when you own a home, there are going to be things on that notepad that you spent money on that you probably wish you wouldn't have to, but have no choice in the matter. There will also be things on there that you bought for your house - inside or out - that prolly - you could have lived without.

THAT is what I need to pinpoint. How much am I spending on household items that maybe I could live without. I really see a great connection between spending and eating now that I am writing it all out. Yesterday, I was going to stop at a Subway and get a 6 inch wheat something or the other - I never had time to do it. This morning I am hopeful to change that, I am a bit hungry this morning and a nice sandwich - no cheese or dressings - would be good to help stifle that little nagging that is telling me to eat something.

Well, I would go on with this but I just realized it's almost 6:00am and I need to get offa here and started on the day's work.

ben

Thursday

Some pretty horrific images emerging from that 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Lots and lots of dead bodies laying all over the place. I can't imagine the horror for those that survived and have no food, housing, nothing. Pray for these people - hopefully help gets there quickly.

Nothing much on the homefront. Michael isn't going to school that I know of and JD's younger brothers - 2 of them anyway - are still in Juvenile Detention. JD says they are getting out - on my birthday, lol. My birthday's the 5th. Birthdays are nice, a good day to celebrate one's own life, but when you start racking them up - you don't really look forward to too terribly many of them. Tenants are mostly behaving, the ex-Marine has landed a new job - but is stone broke. I am going to help him out by giving him whatever food I happen to be making. Yes, his rent is paid up until the 1st.

I'll enjoy the lull - a break in anything significant going on in my life - while it lasts. Still dieting, in fact, I only ate a sandwich and less than a handful of potato chips yesterday. Yes, I know, potato chips are laden with fat calories, but when you have only eaten maybe 400 calories total for the entire day, I doubt that matters too much. The funny thing is that I'm not hungry this morning. You'd think after going that long without eating much of anything a person would be ravenously hungry, instead, I have nothing but a little gurgling going on in my stomach - I guess it's reminding me that it's still there and would like a little business to deal with. Customers will be going into it a little later, lol. I figure to get a 6 inch Subway sub sometime this morning - probably chicken - with wheat bread, all the veggies but no dressings on it.

That should keep the caloric and fat calories down on it and give me enough to feel like I've eaten something. I won't eat again until I get home, and then I'll probably make some more chicken - or - if I don't feel like cooking, I will have another ham sandwich and that will be it for the day. I'm not trying to starve myself, but I am trying to get a kick-start on this thing going and drop some pounds quickly. Considering I've been working my @$$ off since I started thing 3 days ago - burning lots of calories - I have to imagine I've already dropped a couple as it is. I will be at the main branch later this morning and will weigh myself on the industrial scale.

As for now, work is about to start and there's plenty to do today - which is nice, keeps my mind off of food - so, c'yall later and have a great day!
ben

The Bug Has Finally Hit/The Casino

I have not been to a casino in quite a while.

I don't go unless I get that feeling. I have to say that, after all of this time, it has finally come back to me. I haven't even thought about going to that place. I am not into losing money, I am not addicted to gambling and I will NOT go unless all parameters are in place.

I have written about this several times, but for me, it's worth going into for fact (for me anyway) of difference between those that want to go to have a good time; those that go frequently because they are addicted; those that go because they are broke (or almost broke, anyway) and are trying to make "mortgage money"; and me - the person that is totally superstitious about the matter and won't go unless all points of the superstitious matter are, in fact, met.

I will NEVER go to a casino out of desperation. It is a losing proposition - the casino will get your money just BECAUSE you are desperate. You play whatever game in a different mindframe. It's not the same as being relaxed and enjoying the experience. I rather enjoy watching people, I always have, there is ample opportunity for such in a place such as that.

I refuse to allow myself to get addicted. Ask Charles Barkley about his 10 million plus losses to gambling addiction. Probably not devastating to him. Any great amount of money is a loss to me. Let me give a face to that: I'm out fifty bucks and I'm reeling. Why did I do that? I could have paid a bill with that money - whatever. Losing is not an option and I do not go into a casino with that fear in my mind, if that fear is present, I won't even leave the house.

There is more. The only problem is the bug is - now - I don't do casinos worknights. I only go on weekends and let me say again, my visits are VERY infrequent. I could tell of the visits of winning this, that and the other, but, the point is made without it - go when you feel the going is good. Beyond that? Learn how to count cards. I haven't done that and I know that the time and money spent would be money earned - and being kicked out of casinos all over the place, but still.

Nother' long break, stuff happens and I have to deal with it.

G'nite.
ben

Wednesday

Hump day already.
A very large order going out today. In fact, I have serious doubts that all of that pipe plus all of those fittings are going to fit onto one truckload. It's 50k worth of material, very good for our branch. Hopefully take up most of the day in getting all of this done - though, in reality, there is plenty of clean-up still left to do around the branch.

BTW, all the Cafe World posts I have been doing is more of a interest thing for me than anything - how many people will come to this blog from all over the world looking for tips and secrets for that game? Feedjit is very helpful in telling me where people are coming from and how they got here - almost always a google search or even twitter page results. Feedjit also tells me what the question or words were in the search. I have really started turning this blog into a composite of critiques of companies - good and bad, my Cafe World endeavors and still, of course, my daily life, since I figure that's what a journal is all about.

I am always surprised as well the number of visits of people coming here looking at my Fry's Food Stores entries. Mostly in-state searches, but again, Feedjit tells me where these people are at. I don't think Fry's is anywhere but AZ - it's owned by Kroger and I know Kroger has all kinds of different stores/names all over the U.S.

Coakley v Brown. Talk about political entertainment. It took me by great surprise to read yesterday that there is an inkling of a possibility that a republican could actually win the now-empty (well there is an interim dude) seat that Senator Kennedy used to occupy. The hype is that if Brown wins, he could possibly be placed into office before the "Big Vote" occurs on health care and he would, of course, vote against it.

For the record, I no longer consider myself republican but I also certainly do not agree with the liberal slant, either. I actually have no party at this point. I could say independent, but I haven't really done the research on that "party" to come to any conclusion as to whether I would want to identify myself with them or not. I am definitely on the conservative side of things, but I have found that the republican party is no better at the table in speaking the truth and doing what they say they are going to do than are liberals.

However, I am totally opposed to aspects of this health care bill. I have repeatedly stated my opposition to ramming a bill through just to get one - through, regardless of how much of mine and yours money is going to be spent. For something so enormously huge (yes, repetitive and improper grammer, I make my point) I figure a good year, 2 years however long it takes to look at all the implications and the money and everything it's going to affect before getting a final bill on the President's desk to sign.

Well, anyway, work day is here and I must be offa here.

C'ya later.
ben

Cafe World Tips and Answers Part 3

Question:
cafe world..why have my buzz rating going down since I added another oven

Probably your oven has nothing to do with it. But if it does, it's simply - probably anyway - that you have more customers coming in than you have seats to sit them down at. They stand there, tap impatiently, then leave, bam, your buzz rating goes down. So, watch your game for a while. If there are any customers standing there without a seat, try adding more tables. Sometimes they sit down and have to wait too long to get served. Make sure your serving counters are close enough to the tables and definitely, make sure your waiters/waitresses aren't blocked from getting to your tables. Of course, you could do "auto-serve", where the waitresses magically fling the plates from the counter to the tables without moving.
This is accomplished by blocking your counters in. However, I do not have a buzz rating problem and I do not use fling magic.

Question:
why don't my servers in cafe world on facebook serve everyone.

Either you don't have enough servers or they are blocked from getting to the tables. Again, make sure your counters are close to the tables. I've seen all kinds of cafe layouts, my favorite is a giant U-shape setup where the tables are lined next to each other in - you guessed it - a U shape. The counters are put in the middle. Your servers have fast access to getting the food on the table. If you have more customers than the servers can handle, you'll have to slow down the customers some how. One easy way is to have only one entrance door. Of course, check and see that you aren't able to level up and hire another server.

Question:
how to get rid of neighbors on cafe world.

This is a commonly asked question and there is no way, yet to do that. I do have an idea though, that if you dump them as a friend on Facebook you will probably see their stuff disappear on Cafe World as well, but don't quote me on that as I haven't tried it yet. I don't really know why anyone would want to get rid of neighbors - even if they aren't playing the game you can still get 20 gold coins from them every day and 5 Cafe Points as well.

Question/statement:
setting up cafe world so chef doesn't throw food.
Actually, you want your chef to stand in one place and serve the food and cook it. It saves a LOT of time in having to watch your chef - which would be you - walking back and forth and back and forth, it more than quadruples the time it takes to prepare food or serve it. But, if you REALLY don't want him/her to do that, simply make sure your ovens are not blocked. I block all of my ovens to force the chef to "throw" (I like to call it flinging) the food.

Question:
facebook cafe world samples. I assume the person was asking how to get them. You can get 100 free samples from your neighbors on your Facebook wall whenever any of your Cafe World Neighbors prepare a dish and the application gives them the option to post it on their wall - allowing all neighbors to grab up 100 free servings. I currently have 19,000 free servings in my gift box. You can also get free servings by gifting. You gift your neighbors, hopefully they gift you back. I FAR prefer getting my free samples from my Facebook wall because it's MUCH faster to do than trying to collect all those gifts from neighbors.

Question:
Cafe World don't get points when visiting neighbors
I have no idea, honestly, why you wouldn't get points when visiting neighbors. The only thing I have had happen is that it goes down from 5 Cafe Points to 2 after you have visited enough of them. I have never had that problem, I have no context to give an opinion.

More questions? I'm at level 63 and have figured out quite a lot of this game - though I'm sure there is some I don't know. Still, if you have a question about Cafe World I will be happy to try and give a good answer.

Tuesday

Day 2
I usually don't eat anything in the mornings anyway, so who knows how I'll fare today on the "reduced caloric intake" plan. Otherwise known as a diet. It isn't really that hard, it's mostly just watching the portions sizes of what I may happen to be eating and also eliminating eating anytime near bedtime. Meaning - for me - about 3 hours minimum. I put the number at 6:00pm and if I go over a little, not the end of the world. I stepped up my output yesterday after getting home from work. I also pushed a broom for about an hour yesterday at work, that's got to count for something as well.

Well that's cause' it was kinda slow at work yesterday. Today looks to be an all-day marathon. 1 pickup at a jobsite; 2 deliveries; and a trip downtown. That should pretty much consume the entire day. Take that back, I just looked into the truck routing system, now there are 4 deliveries instead of 2 plus more pickups. Yes, the day should be cashed in pretty fast.

Well - back to the dieting junk - I am totally bypassing any restaurants that start with a J and has a dummy in a box/B and has a porcelain statue for it's ads/Giant yellow M and has a clown as it's mascot. And other places like that. In fact, if I don't come across a Subway somewhere, I just won't eat. Subway finally got in their version of a light ranch dressing - of which I have them put on sparingly anyway. I mostly do salads there - vegetables do not usually have much calories attached to them.

That should focus me for a while. My tenant is using a place called 24 hour fitness. I thought he was going to Lifetime Fitness. He says there are no contracts and you only pay first and last month's monthly fee in advance. $70 upfront. Not bad, really. I'm assuming the days of contracts at those places are over - people do not want to get locked down into a long-term contract for a - fitness center. I also gaffe at the thought of putting down $75/$100 plus just to register you. It's simply going into a salesperson's pocket. Bunk. So, I think I am going to check out this place, see if what he says is true and then make a decision. I gotta have a good boost in this workout situation, a couple of months worth of a fitness center would help me along considerably.

Well, as normal at this early hour of the day, the work day is almost here and I must be offa here.

G'day.
ben

Monday

Yesterday, I took no small amount of pleasure in watching fully 5 teenaged boys attempting to push my old Buick back up the driveway into it's parking space. The battery is dead and I will have to get a new one for it, it simply won't hold a charge.
The humor was because of their words: "This car doesn't look that heavy" after I told them it was going to be hard to get it up the driveway. After 5 attempts to just get the thing up over the curb, my neighbors came running over and yes, we got the car up the driveway. BTW, how does a car "look" or "not look" heavy?

There are people in our neighborhood that would have reported it to police, who would have come out and put a red sticker on it and eventually, have it towed off for not having current registration. In fact, one individual makes it a habit to turn in every neighbor on the street for alleged blight violations. I had no idea I wasn't the only one that had received such notice in the mail from the city. There were no violations on my property, nothing ever happened. I tend to like to keep my property maintained, no looking like s***.

The weekend flew away like a jumbo jet taking off at the airport. All that rock stuff was definitely worth the effort, but - it's like there never WAS a weekend.

The man that started the stuff the other day when I pulled up in the truck apparently had a sudden change of view as well. Perhaps because I threatened to call the police if he ever threatened me again. It's much easier, in dealing with an ex-con, to simply say you're going to call the law than to try and butt heads. He was at my next-door neighbor's house, talking away with me as if nothing had ever happened. I went along with it - easier to be friendly than not - to see where it would lead.

Well, I ended up leaving anyway and that was the end of that. This is the dude that was taking pictures last week of me and the truck. Whatever.

The rock project is almost done, but - I can't go on any further with this, it's time to go to work!

Ava' great day!
ben

Sunday

It was very nice, yesterday, to get all those boys out there working, without complaining, working hard for at least 4 hours. Maybe it was longer than that, I didn't check the clock, I only know that around 5:00pm or so, they were visibly worn out and I ended it there. There is still several thousand pounds of rocks to haul all over the place, but it will get done and I will be happy.

Fact, I'm already happy, the east side of the house is starting to finally look something like I envisioned it to. I did want to erect some sort of overhand or awning over there for shade purposes in the summer and move my BBQ grill over there. Not yet is all I can say, not yet. There are still plenty of other things to be done over there and it's all about hours spent at this point, not money.

Changing the subject, the ex-Marine lost his job. He apparently had a scuffle with the Ops Manager of the company he was working for and now he's unemployed. One thing I can say is that he is paid up for the month of January and also he gets a check from the military every month for his disability - whether I see any of that next month or not remains to be seen. It's obvious he's hurting financially because he isn't going out much at all - quite abnormal for him but it costs money to go to bars and karaoke and all that stuff. I'm not sweating it - yet. It's only the 10th, he has time to find a new job - yet - but as we all know, jobs aren't exactly available in excessive amounts right now.

Meanwhile, I am still receiving $100 per week from one tenant and the other switched from weekly payments to bi-monthly. I give regular room rates for paying bi-monthly, he was paying a full $65 more for the "priviledge" of paying weekly. No big deal.

Today - going to continue work on getting the rock hauled all over the place. I'm attempting to decide what to make for Sunday dinner - I usually do something a little more extravagant than other days worth of eating, but I have no ideas popping into my head yet. I was thinking a roast, but it's alreayd almost 10:00 am - getting a little late for that. The usual suspects are just not clicking - I want something different today. Maybe go to the store and look around and get some ideas just standing there - looking.

In fact, great idea, I think I'll head up there right now before all this work business gets started and I won't have time!

C'yall later
ben