Wednesday

So, it's supposed to rain again - today or tomorrow don't remember when. This state has been under a drought for years - and years now - the question was posed on the news as to whether we are out of the drought yet. It has been raining up north for some time now - that is where our lakes and underground reservoirs are that mostly feed the Phoenix area. No, was the answer, but we're almost there. Well I ain't no meteorologist and I am no scientist of any kind, but I'd say if the reservoirs are filled and the lakes are all filled up - that's a pretty good sign that we're well on our way out of it. Some of the lakes had fallen to record low levels to the point they appeared to be drying up altogether.

I have hardly been watering my plants in the last few months - between winter and not needing as much watering and Mother Nature doing a lot of the watering for me - well, my water bill is way down. I'm bracing myself for the summer to come and am starting to dump money onto the power card reader as often as I can to try and get ahead - want to have $400 on there by June and have a jump on the high electric usage coming my way. Oh, and of course the water usage goes WAY up in the summer.

So, these new people moved in - let the dogs out, I got mad, very mad considering they were told in advance about that s*** and not leaving the gate open, but it's hopefully good now. They ARE very clean people. I will give them that much, they are what they said they were in that arena. The woman has thoroughly scrubbed that trailer inside and even though the thing is far from finished, at least it's clean in there.

Today, that kind of cleaning starts in my house. I just did that kind of cleaning middle of last week - this is part of the trade-off - they pay for their use of utilities plus cleaning projects. The guy, of course, is working on the trailer trying to get the thing done. It'll be a while, is all I can say. There is alot of work to do to make it leak-free, rotten-wood free and electrical system good. I am seeing people that are very happy to be off of the streets and could care less if the thing is done or not. I ran them an electrical line, gave them a small lamp, an inflatable bed. They already had their own microwave in there and I'm going to let them use the refrigerator I have in my room - I haven't needed to use it since Ken was found unconscious in his bedroom - the mooching/theiving of my drinks is long since gone. That will take care of most of their needs. The big issue after the trailer is done is whether to dig a trench and run a sewer line or not. I say yes - he says who's going to dig the trench? Okay, 110 plus feet of trench is a lot - but - I could either rent a Ditch-Witch and have it done in short manner or hire a couple of people off of the street corners to do it by hand. Neither here nor there, no priority at this point is being given to it simply because there is so much other stuff to get done first and because they have access to the bathroom in-house.

I'm still laughing at Obama and his statement that he'll "meet GOP halfway" on healthcare. WHERE were such statements not even a month ago, when he and all the Dems were sitting there, smugly and defiantely meeting behind closed doors "knowing" they would get mostly whatever they wanted in that bill? I saw nothing but pure arrogance and grandstanding - I hope the bill totally dies and they start something new - something that doesn't have enough dollar bills attached to it that you could build a path to Pluto with the ensuing waste.

The head cold goes on. The continual runny nose - goes down my throat and into my lungs at night, mornings are hell. Hard to breath, takes half the morning before I feel "good" again. I have a lot of driving to do today, I hope I am feeling up to the "challenge". Mostly highway driving, though, not so bad as all city type of driving.

As for this entry, it's history cause' I'm running out of time before time to sign in to work.
G'day.
ben

Tuesday

Sleep issues.
Dunno.
I will be going to the doc's later on this month for the physical that I missed a few months ago, will definitely be discussing with him sleep issues and please check and make sure there aren't any problems that I don't know about that might be causing it.
I can say that I slept better last night than the night before, I can also say that I am sick again - with something different than I had just 2 weeks ago. This is a head cold type of thing. Yesterday I took an hour and a half "nap" after work just to get me to feeling better.

There is only one delivery in the truck routing system - things are slowing down for whatever reason. I have been very busy doing deliveries; pulling orders; doing transfers for at least a couple of months running, now all of the sudden that business is coming to a screeching halt. There is, however, plenty to do around the yard and shop as some things have been neglected - mostly cleaning issues - because of the business factor.

New tenant moved in last night after I went to bed. I only know this because his rather nice pickup truck is parked out front. All 3 tenants at this point have vehicles - meaning parking on the street. I would feel a little "bad" about it, but since everyone else around my house seems to have 3 plus vehicles, I won't lose sleep over THAT, maybe other things, but not that. I will be asking the new tenant if there were any unacceptable noise levels coming from the living room. I always ask a new tenant moving into that particular room about any noise because, of course, it's right next to the living room. I can "fix" issues like that pretty easily: tell whatever kid/s that are out here to shut the bleep up and turn the TV down. I have gone so far in the past as to simply remove the card out of the satellite receiver - which renders the thing useless and nowadays, you can't even receive local channels without a box for converting digital signals.

I still could kick myself for not having some insulation put into the wall between the living room and that bedroom. I had thought about it at the time of having that house constructed but - I forgot and it was too late when I realized the memory lapse. I knew I would be needing at least one tenant, maybe more - I have found, however, wall treatments that might work as well. You simply put the treatment next to wherever offending noises are originating - a TV for example - and it allegedly bounces the noise back towards the offender instead of through the wall.

Anyway, work day approaches and I'm outta here.
ben

Monday

What a hellish day at work. I didn't sleep well last night plus my nose started running sometime yesterday - the 7-1/2 hours at work today did not go by "fast" by an stretch of the imagination. I just got done with an hour and a half nap - I forced myself to get back up or my sleep will REALLY be messed with tonight. I had plenty I wanted to get done today after work - put it all on hold for today, anyway.

New tenant has accelerated his move-in plans - he was going to move in Thursday, instead he just called and said he would be showing up around 9 or 10 tonight. I'm shrugging my shoulders - he paid the rent for the rest of the month, he can come and go as he pleases. I totally forgot to get him to sing a rental contract, though, need to get that done. This guy is a temporary tenant by his own statement. Didn't really care, just get the room filled, that is always my main objective. He didn't really know when he would be moving out - he is having marital problems and it was suggested by whoever is counselling them that they split apart for a while - undetermined amount of time - a month, 6 months, who knows.

Commendable that they are at least trying counselling before - splitting up. I tried that route for several years with my ex, but the fact of the matter is that both sides have to be willing to meet in the middle, if not, you can set up camp at the counsellor's office and live there and it isn't going to change anything.

Guy didn't show up to work on the trailer today - but I really have no set schedule from him for when he's going to show and when not. He still has the business of going out and doing odd-jobs wherever he can so he can continue to stay at the cheap hotel he's at until the trailer is ready for move-in. At the rate the trailer is going, it's going to be a while. Regardless, I am not paying for his hotel stay or even contributing towards it - my part in this was getting the trailer and spending as little money as possible in renovating it. I have located materials for it, I just need to get them here. Right now there is plenty to do in just removing rotted wood and replacing it. That's mostly work, not money as materials are either very cheap or - in this case - have found good, used materials for free.

I don't know - I feel like I'm sick again but with something else. I don't know what this constant, runny nose business is buy my head is not feeling right and this - sucks really. Oh well, that's life and complaining about junk like that doesn't really do any good excepting for the venting release.

Lastly - another political rant. Obama, of course. Now, suddenly, he wants to bring the republicans to the negotiating table in regards to "his" health care plan. Gee, isn't that wonderful, he totally snubbed them during this ENTIRE process, even after he was called to the table by CNN, who said he broke a campaign promise that the doors would be open and he would invite CNN in to video the entire proceedings.

Personally, if I were one of the dissed Republicans - which are all of them - I would tell him to go jump in a lake. Let the freakin' thing die and let them start something that is TRULY bi-partisan - but AFTER this small issue of millions of unemployed Americans is dealt with, shouldn't that really be the priority right now? This guy's priorities are definitely on a different planet as far as I'm concerned. This just isn't the time to start talking a trillion - or trillions is probably the end of the story - dollars being spent on a health care overhaul when the entire system is broken - the financial system that is.

Rant over. Just that I gagged when I saw the news report of Obama calling the "other side" to the table after all of this time totally - and I do mean TOTALLY - DISSING them and dissing them badly.

I'm done - for now anyway. I haven't really had much time to look at the news today and I want to see what's going on in this world right now.

ben

New Orleans Saints Win The Super Bowl!!

Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaw!
That was a GREAT game!!!
Freakin' Colts dominated the first half, but the Saints came back in the second half, ran over the top of the colts and dominated for a second-half win to take the game. Ohhh yeah, I'm always for a good game of football even if my favorite team isn't in the picture.

I'm not saying Manning is a sucky QB, but I am saying that the Saints won the game, there are going to be NO accusations of "they stole the game" BS such as what happened with the Steelers last year, and anyone that thinks that can go blink off.

Hats off to the Saints!

Couple of things

First off, the room is rented. That was pretty fast. This is not a long-term renter, but I don't really care, get the room rented out as fast as possible. I've got a $200 for the rest of the month. It's not a full month's worth in terms of what I would normally get, but - I try to give incentives to get people to move in here.

I have decided to re-arrange my living room so that the TV's are not against that bedroom wall where he will be staying. I went in there just now to hear what kind of noise levels are to be heard with the tv on loud - which it is daytime hours but I mandate night hours it be turned WAY down - I think the best answer is to simply move them away from the wall there and deal with it that way.

Second, I was pleasantly surprised to find a message in my Facebook box from an old, old friend - a person I have not seen in 25 years. We parted ways after "growing up" - he went to the military, I ended up on the mission field. Two completely different lifestyles - not that one is better than the other, but we lost contact. We used to hang out ALL the time. He was one of my best friends from high school days.

So, we wrote back and forth a little - there is too much to discuss in emails to get caught up = we both came to that conclusion and decided to meet up somewhere. Well that somewhere is next weekend. He wrote me and asked if I ever do any shooting and if I wanted to go to the shooting range. I was floored by that statement, because my bro bought Caleb a .22 rifle for Christmas and I was planning on taking him to a nearby shooting range - a private club but the range is open to the public for a $10 fee per visit. HE is a MEMBER of that club and wants to meet up Saturday. Wow, is all I can say about that, talk about - fate - whatever you want to call it. He is a grandfather already, he sent me a pic of him holding a newborn.

Hopefully this will be a cool, good reunion and maybe we can pick up where we left off, sort of.

I went to town on that trailer today. The guy didn't show up and he wanted to do something that I was opposed to: leave some rotten wood on the floor that has black mold. He just wanted to screw wood over top of it. It took me a good half hour of prying and such, but I got that junk out of there. The resulting repair will be a GOOD repair, not some half-@$$ junk. I will have to keep an eye on him - he's in a hurry to get the thing finished and get moved in here. I understand where he's coming from, but I have repeatedly said I want the job done right the first time. You do not want to be living in a thing that has black mold, period. So, when he come back, he will find that the repair job will actually be easier than what he was proposing and the rot and mold will be gone. Anything else he tries to smooth over he will find me coming along behind him and doing whatever it takes to make it a good repair. We are going to work on sealing up any leaks - the roof is good but there are leaks on the sides where there are seams that have come apart on the outer skin of the trailer. Mostly, that simply entails a caulking gun and caulking. Already bought. I want him to do the jist of the repairs - I am going to focus on the electrical outlets since he says he doesn't know squat about electricity and also I am going to install the new paneling since he also said he doesn't feel comfortable doing that, either.

Superbowl Sunday. It really SHOULD be an excellent game, I hope so. I am rooting for the Saints - but it's all good, neither one is my team, but the Saints have this one shot at it. It may never come again. I only hope it's a close games and that the refs make good calls and that they catch all the junk that might be happening with fouls, especially.

Well, that's it. I did my work on the trailer, got my rent check and now I'm finally going to have the chance to do some rock work out the east side of the house.
G'day.
ben

Today

Umm, that would be Saturday. Taking yesterday off work was very nice. I spent several hours outside putting grass, weeds and distributing the landscaping rock behind the plants. That is the area where the grass is growing through the fence from the "neighbor's" yard - I ended up putting down thick, black plastic sheets over top of the ground so that any future grass or weeds won't have a chance and yes, sometimes that stuff can grow right through the rocks.

Now, that may not sound exciting to anyone, but I thoroughly enjoy spending time outside on whatever project I may have going, and right now, I have plenty of them. In fact, no new outside projects to be started until I finish what I have going - which will take some time to accomplish.

Anyway, I have to make a trip to Home Depot this morning to get a bit for the cordless drill - those old trailers use a square head bit for screws. Strange stuff and I don't think they use those anymore. I also am going to buy more PVC cement and attempt to get at least one row of the drip system actually working. It's actually ready to go as far as the emitters and line in the ground, I just have to finish the header. In fact, 2 full rows of plants worth of line has been installed - I have been putting that off. Summer is approaching - not quite here yet - but I don't want to have to stand out there for hours this coming summer watering plants. Right now I guess my motivation has waned because I have a lot of other stuff going on and I hardly have to spend any time watering plants at all. After the recent, drenching rains, the ground that is in mostly shade all day long is STILL moist - that rain was last week.

I just got through watching a news clip online of a local sheriff who was standing there, on TV, telling people to stand up against the speed cameras on the freeways in a protest they are having later on today. I will not be going - it's way north Phoenix and though I hate those cameras, not enough to drive THAT far. His advice if you receive one of those tickets? Tear it up and drop it into the trash can. Really, that IS what he said!! And LOTS of people are doing just that. They give the stastics every month, I think last month was in the low 20% range of people that had actually paid the ticket, everyone else? Blowing it off.

..........and then there's the anti-whaling ship that apparently just got into a collision with one of the Japanese whaling ships. Where, exactly, is this going to end? Envisioning scenes of sinking ships..........

Well, whatever. I have things to do and the day isn't growing any younger - later!

February 5th, 2010

The number of the day and the month of the day is particularly endearing to me, since it is my birthday - my 46th this time - and I do intend on enjoying the day even if I have plenty to get done today. What can I say, I have an empty room and that takes priority over most things in life - get a person in there and get them paying rent. I had thought that an increase in the number of birthdays would negatively affect my - thoughts about it - but really, after I hit 40 the rest of them haven't done much. I think perhaps hitting 50 might be a bit of a drag, but who knows.

I am not going to linger here long, I have a bathroom to clean and carpet to vacuum along with dusting. The kitchen is clean - I always keep it clean cause' I don't want cockroaches and the only way to combat them is to make sure there aren't any food particles laying ANYWHERE - meaning, yes, you even have to pull the oven out and clean under there periodically. Having an exterminator come once a month doesn't hurt either. I had thought I wouldn't be able to afford one, but I came to the conclusion I can't afford not to have one come. The company charges me $40 per month and sometimes they tell me that I can skip a month and it should be okay - so I do that to save some money. However, I've had them here 3 months running, with a super charged spraying last month and the month before to kill the ticks outside.

I'm already feeling the pinch from not getting one tenant's payments - he owes me for 2 weeks now going on 3. That is the tenant that is in CA and finally wrote back saying to go ahead and rent the room. Darn straight, I can't afford not to. It would have been nice if he would have let me known this before the beginning of this month, it always takes longer to find someone after the beginning of the month has passed. OH, that reminds me, I have to get all of his stuff out of there this morning as well. Good thing he doesn't have that much stuff to begin with. Some clothes in the closet and miscellaneous things - shouldn't take more than half an hour or so to get it out of there and then vacuum the floor and clean whatever needs cleaning.

Well, now that I just added that to my list, I better get moving, the potential tenant is coming at noon and it's already almost 8:00am.

C'ya later!
ben

Cafe World Tips - 5: Cafe World Slow

Why does Cafe World go so slow at some times and fast at others?

Edited:
I have done some research on this problem and have found several things that may (or may not) help your Cafe World application run faster.

First off are computers that have dual processors. Apparently, Cafe World application will run MUCH faster if you set your computer to using only one of the processors instead of both. I don't have a computer with dual processors - I have a dinosaur puter' but it still runs good, so, anyway, I stole the information from an answer on another sight, as pasted below:

"OK, I figure out a way to solve this problem. This seems to occur only on those multiple processors systems. I have both a quad processors and duo processors systems. This is how you fix the problem. Open Facebook and go to Cafe World, then open Task Manager, you will notice the memory spike up for iexplorer.exe and resulting your Cafe World running really slow. Right click on it and select Set Affinity. You will see all the number of CPU on your system checked. You ONLY need one check. Select which CPU you want to run Cafe World. After you do that, you will notice your Cafe World run smoothly and fast. You might have to do this everytime you run Cafe World. Hope this help for those who love to play Cafe World. Now go cook, cook and cook......hahahahaha"

Second, try upping the amount of virtual memory your computer has allocated. I set mine at maximum. Your computer will automatically up it - but - you can manually set it for higher value and possibly make the game run a little faster and smoother.

Third, Beta applications are always hogging up EVERYTHING in your cpu's memory. Turn off everything else when you are attempting to play Cafe World - close all tabs, shut off any software, basically, the only thing you want running is the Cafe World application itself.

Try using a different browser. Firefox is "highly" recommended, I haven't tried it yet. There are a host of free browsers available out there besides Firefox such as Google Chrome; Opera; Safari; etc.

Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player - 10 - simply go to Adobe's site for the free download: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?promoid=BUIGP

ALWAYS clear your cache/history before playing, every single time. For whatever reason, I always find that clearing it and rebooting the computer helps immensely. You should also consider frequently using the Defragmenter found under your Control Panel. If you haven't done this recently, definitely run the program and it's almost sure to help Cafe World run faster.

Decrease the graphics level. This may degrade the clarity of the game - but it WILL cause it to run faster.

Finally, if you really want to get the problem solved - go buy a new computer. Seriously, a processor with a gazigibytes worth of memory and all the bells and whistles in ram and such will definitely make the thing run like finely tuned hemi. I am stopping short of that, we are, after all, in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression and spending money on a new computer is out of the question for me - at least for now.

Oh, and to get an idea of just how much of your computer's cpu this game takes up, simply open up your task manager - central; alt; delete - click on performance. Mine automatically goes to 100% usage the entire time I have Cafe World up and running. THIS is why I strongly recommend you shut off any other applications/software/whatever you have running on your computer to help the game work faster.

There are numerous things you can do, in other words, without spending money, to get the application to run faster and smoother. I added all of the above to this entry because I found my answers below a bit lacking in the amount of content it provided.
End of Edit.
_______________________________________________________________________

A small portion of the problem could be found in your computer, the rest of it is because Zynga simply hasn't invested enough money to get the equipment needed to make the game go faster - as more and more people play the game, the software is slowed down substantially.

I have found there are certain days and times of the day when the game runs much faster, such as Sunday morning, when most people apparently aren't playing the game. When the game is running at a good speed, it is actually fun to play it - you can get all kinds of stuff done quickly. When there are too many people playing the game - well that's why you came to this particular post via Google search - the game drags and there's nothing you can do about it.

However, if it's running REALLY slow, then perhaps it's something to do with your computer or your internet speed or a combination of both. I found early-on in playing the game that to get optimum speed is to clear your cache - all history, turn off any software you may have running in your computer (for example, I have a video surveillance system running at my house that is recording the activities off of 4 cameras that definitely slows the game down, I usually turn that off while I'm doing the cooking stuff) and then turn your computer off and back on.

If you have a slow internet speed - that undoubtedly will also affect the performance of the game, and unless you are willing to pay more for a faster connection speed, there isn't much you are going to be able to do about that.

Look, a gazillion people have been complaining to Zynga for some time now about the slowness of the game - it doesn't seem like they get the message. Some people actually quit playing the game because of it. I haven't quite arrived at that point yet, but it is a concern. I am currently at level 69 with over 500,000 Cafe points - the game doesn't give you much to work for after you get to higher levels, so that is one of my gripes, that they would add more incentives to continue cooking food and racking up the points.

That's it for this Cafe World Tip posting, for what it's worth, continue to enjoy the game!

Edited: I have gained a bit more experience with trying to keep the game moving on my blog, please go to my latest update on Cafe World slow to see some better information:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5728287180412980995&postID=1340420064836443763

More

The man that was interested in fixing up and living in the trailer showed up today. In fact, he was finished the gutting work when I got home from work. I told he could start in on the project if he thought he wanted it. It will cost a couple a hundred to get it to where I want it in terms of the walls, floors and electricity. I really didn't HEAR him say he wanted to live in it, but - I wasn't paying him for his work today, so I assume by virtue of the fact that he was working on the thing that he does, indeed, want it.

I have had numerous replies for the room. One guy says he's going to come over tomorrow at noon. I say "say" because I get lots of that - they're coming but they never show. No big deal, it's part of the game. A couple I haven't replied to - their email pretty much gave them away, people I don't want to deal with and don't want living here. I'm not desperate - yet - I can wait and see if I can find another good tenant. I like these people that live here but are rarely here, pretty nice setup, really.

I have 2 ads out - one for full price for the room and one for someone to pay reduced rent and help around the house. I won't need that, however, if this guy ends up moving into the trailer, he is going to do all of that stuff, I can just get full rent rate for that room instead.

Anyway, start of a 3-day weekend. I guess you could call it 3 and a half days, since I got home at 1:45 today, almost a full half day!

Well, I was going to get into some things here but I am going to start an early cleaning - I have people coming over - hopefully anyway - just want to make it look nice in here.

Thursday

Got off to a late start this morning - I had forgotten to write up a paper for the guy to read and decide whether he wants the trailer project or not. Leave that little tidy up to him. Had to put the trash cans out. Got in the car and drove off. I then remembered I had left the kitchen trash can on the floor and there are chicken bones in there. I figured to catch one of the dogs red-handed, so I turned around, went back home, snuck in and.......yup, the Catahoula, head buried so deep in the can she didn't even hear me sneaking up behind her, however, she got a very nice dose of reality when I did get within reach of her.

I also found the tenant that left for CA - and apparently never to return - his email address and wrote him a letter. What's up, where's my rent, are you coming back? Pretty short, sweet and right to the point. A couple of emails later he has determined he is probably going to move back to CA, please re-rent the room, but please do not throw out or sell his personal stuff. Would never do that, really.

Yes, a new ad is already in Craiglist. And, already, I have 2 people interested. I can't wait around for stuff like that. The man wants his stuff back, though, he's going to at the very least have to pay up last month, give him a free ride on this month. He knows that and said when he comes back he will pay it up - another $115. Meanwhile the other tenant came back last night - after I went to bed. He's $100 in arrears as well and soon to face $200 in arrears.

Well, I already dismissed one woman from renting the room. She wrote me, I wrote her back and then she started discussing with me what I "should" do with my son and his friends. That was enough to tell me right there that this lady would be a HUGE problem, thanks for revealing that up front, please don't write me back. It's not as if I try to make it a secret that there are teenagers here just about every single day, it's right out there, on those ads, for everyone to see. The fact that there are 2 other tenants and shared bathrooms is also right up front. In the first email back to that lady, I told her very specifically what's going on over here - and that it would be up to her to decide whether she could handle such conditions.

Next? Don't watch Fox news, CNN or MSNBC. That is, apparently, Obama's latest command to democrats. Fortunately, I am not a democrat. I don't consider myself a republican, either, though definitely I am on the conservative side of things. Regardless, I think the man makes him self look very desperate when he's telling people specific news organizations not to watch.

Whatever. I have a lot of work to do today, the truck routing system at work is full of orders and pickups. Get that done and then - go home for a 3-day weekend!!

I'm done, c'yall later.
ben

Wednesday

Normally, this would be hump day, but since I am not working Friday, the middle of the week occured the moment I logged out of work yesterday until now, just before logging back in.
And today looks to be very busy at work - busy, that is, if it doesn't rain too hard to shut down all the job sites. Yes, it's supposed to rain again, they give it 70% chance which is basically the statement that yes it is going to rain, the question is: how much?

The man that said he might want to live in the trailer finally called yesterday. He is coming tomorrow to take a look at the thing. I have not had a chance to start looking for materials yet - though I did place an ad on Craigslist with a list of materials needed.

Obama making more gaffes, this time his apparent tendency towards telling all of us Americans that we shouldn't be spending our money in Las Vegas when we're cash strapped. The first politcal player on the scene of this gaffe was Reid, which I thought rather hypocritical for him to be lashing out at Obama after his OWN gaffe not long ago after his reference about "negroes" and skin tones. Lol. What a bunch of clowns we have running our nation. If the decisions they were making weren't so far-reaching in their ability to - destroy this nation as we know it financially if nothing else - I would certainly be laughing. It's about time we all stood up and started mocking some of these people. That's my take - how they ever made it in the real world, I'll never know, but apparently that's what's expected of them in the political arena? Reid says an apology isn't good enough from Obama, well neither was his "apology" to Obama if he wants to live by his own, self-made standards which apparently change with the direction the wind wants to blow.

Whatever. The government advises us to save money while the government itself is belching money out the giant, Federal budget smokestack like it's hay from the farm. Instead of looking to start downsizing the Federal Government, and more importantly, begin to start limiting it's influence on the American way of life and getting out of the auto dealership business - etc ad nauseum - it wants more and more powers. Gee, and people bash people like me that say these are small, but concurrent and frequent steps being taken towards socialism.

I wax political, usually don't on my blogs but the seriousness of this situation seems to multiply exponentially on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. This isn't a game but we are forced into being unfortunate players.

Well, work day is here, gotta git.

G'day.
ben

Tuesday

3,800,000,000,000
Looks a little different when you start adding all those zeroes, doesn't it? This is our expected budget? This is why I am saying that the Obama administration easily over-shadows anything that Bush ever did, including the war in Iraq. We will be paying for this administration's bs for generations if something doesn't stop this tirade of spending such as we have never seen before. The word trillion is now being thrown around as the word billion "used" to be.

Even more alarming was the news report yesterday that stated the the "worst may be yet to come", that some analysts are predicting that the collapse of our economy is going to enter a far worse phase than anything we've seen yet. Well, if it does, you're definitely going to be looking at the next Great Depression. I slowed down on my food storage undertakings, I think I will up the ante in that department again. I am not going to caught empty-handed - no food; guns; nothing; if this situation gets any worse.

I have enough food in my freezers and my storage closet to last around 2 months. I have decided that I want enough canned food alone to last 3 months. I don't know how long that will take to accomplish, but accomplish it I want to do. I already have a place to go if this Phoenix area goes out of control. If more and more people continue to both lose their homes and their jobs, it is only a matter of time before the amount of criminal activity that we see will top anything we have EVER seen since whatever statistics have been taken.

You think I'm being paranoid, that's not it at all. You can't have thousands of people living on the streets that never had to live there before and even that many more about to end up there and not think that sooner or later, the levels of lawlessness are not going to rise to unprecedented numbers. Add to that the fact that the City of Phoenix as announced some 350 layoffs from the Phoenix Police Department. The force didn't have enough officers to begin with and now they are talking layoffs?

Trust me, if/when the unemployment benefits run out and people still can't find jobs, hungry, homeless, etc etc etc, the shit will hit the fan and it's going to spread out all over everyone. I am oh so very glad that my mother has her home locked up like a fortress. She does not open the door for strangers - they prey on the older folks living in Sun City all the time. When someone she doesn't know comes to her door, you can be rest assured she is standing there with a gun in her hand. It isn't pointed at the person at the door, but it is THERE, never-the-less.

I am not talking about living in fear, going mad-crazy with survivalist thoughts and theories, I'm simply talking about prudence, reality and making rational decisions to ensure that you aren't going to be out there starving as well. Take the other news story that came out that says that food levels will drop and that food shortages are coming. The news isn't particularly full of much of anything good right now.

I go to Craigslist and look at the housing wanted - some of these people are actually attempting to get free rent simply by giving you their bodies - whatever you want to do sexually to them, have a free for all. No, I want nothing to do with that, I'm just saying, if you want to see the levels of desperation that are going on out there,just look at some of those housing wanted postings.

No, it's not a pretty picture going on and it seems to be getting uglier every day.

Random Thoughts

I will turn 46 on Friday. I guess it doesn't really hit me as hard as when I first turned 40 - or 41 - or 42. I have never really thought I have wasted my life because I have spent much of it - adult version of it anyway - doing missionary work and helping people that are in less fortunate circumstances. I am still doing it now - to a lessor degree of course because of financial setbacks, but I don't see a time when I will ever stop trying to help people. The only reason I say that is because I look at other people my age who have big bank accounts and toys and all kinds of goodies with higher paying jobs. I then look at what all of that means.

Would I like to have a higher paying job than I have now? Wouldn't anyone? I would like to be able to support myself without HAVING to have tenants living in my house -definitely, but I am not envious of richer - or much richer people. That isn't any way to live life, in fact, that isn't living at all.

Let's move on, I will undoubtedly spend and entire entry's worth on Friday about my life up to 46, no sense in going there now. JD's brothers get out of kiddie prison on Thursday - that would be juvenile detention. They were on probation, smoking pot, getting pee tests - showing positive, probation officer insisted the judge give them 30 days. I think he was only going to give them a week. They dissed the probation officer, went to kid prison. Will they change when they come out? I have sincere doubts. It is, apparently, nothing like adult prison - which from what I have seen is nothing short of living, earthly hell.

I will be very interested to see if any change at all has occured - and if so - is it a lasting change. I want to have faith that they will change, but there is no adult male role model in their lives (their father is a life-long loser in spending more time in prison than in the free world - all 4 of those kids/brothers HATE their father) and I just have serious doubts that, without the right influences, they are going to make it. I used to let them over here until they started stealing from both me and tenants - a BIG no-no in my book. ANY and ALL kids that come over here are told the first time they enter the door, bluntly and to their face, that if they take anything, I don't care what it is, that doesn't belong to them from my house, they will be banned from my house, goodbye, don't let the get hit you in your @$$ on your way out.

I was going to stop at Home Depot today and start looking at pricing on the things I will need for the trailer - but I was very tired. I did not sleep well last night, probably due to the situation at work - I got maybe 5 hours of sleep. Extra-cirricular activities are always put on hold on days after nights when I don't sleep well. I totally forgot to even think about going to Stardust - a non-profit org., I believe, that goes into houses that are being gutted, remove anything that can be re-used and then sell it at a good discount.

Shifting gears again, I haven't been to the casino in a long, long time now. I'm going to get on the online trainer and play a thousand hands or so of blackjack, make sure I'm good for the game, and think about going soon. Maybe on my birthday. Yes, probably on my birthday - or this coming weekend anyway. I keep thinking about going but I have reservations - and when that happens, I refuse to shadow the doors of any casino. The feel must be right - I have said this countless times on my blogs, but my "feel" for the game stands and if it isn't there, well, I'm not a big fan of throwing $100 away to a casino just because. No, I want to go to the casino bank and make a withdrawal - turn my $100 into $200/$300 - or my best to-date: almost 2 grand. I thoroughly enjoy most of my casino trips. Some of the people at the tables are totally cool, which is great conversation. Others are desperate for money and come to - of all places - a casino to try and win. Others are blindly rich and will lose 10k in a matter of an hour or less and think nothing of it. It's totally crazy the huge mix of people that go into those places. Which is what makes it so entertaining for me. I do not, however, enjoy the cigarette smoke that permeates every casino I have been too. They just built a huge, Vegas-stay hotel/resort/casino about 7 miles straight down I-10 from where I get on I-10 - I want to go there just to see the place and maybe play a few hands and see what happens.

The tenant that went to CA for a funeral of a friend? Still a no-show and still a no-contact. He has enough stuff in his room - including an entire wardrobe of some rather expensive-looking clothing to make me think that he would want to come back for that stuff. I'm contemplating the 5-Day Notice Of Abandonment. I just don't see this guy like that - yet, I am only a phone call away. I have to figure he is broke and wondering how he is going to attempt to justify paying to stay here when he has no money. That or he landed a job over there and arrivaderche. Or however that's spelled. I'm still pondering to give the notice or not. I think I'll wait another day, the 1st of the month is today, I can't get anyone in here, legally, for the 1st anyway - though I would never do tenancy issues out of alignment with the law, anyway. Not worth it, don't want the trouble.

Oh, the situation at work? No word one way or the other. Strange, really. Leaves it up in the air as far as I'm concerned. Hard to treat something as if it never happened when - it definitely happened and there is no resolution. I need resolution to things like that, not "it's water under the bridge". Or if it IS water under the bridge - in other words it isn't going to happen again - then let me KNOW it's water under the bridge.

Well that's enough for one entry, I am exhausted - but - I am going to go out and make a list of materials I need for the trailer.

G'day.

ben

Monday

Yes, I'm at work, no I'm not on the clock and yes, I decided that I am not going to forsake my daily rituals because of one person's sour attitude towards me - a person I don't even know.
Until someone says something different, I will continue to do so. I suppose I could just as easily sit at home and drink coffee and surf the internet before leaving for work, but it's much easier to do it here - get done with surfing go straight into work mode. I'll be waiting for whatever news is going to come my way because of all of this.

Meanwhile, I'm reading of 13 students that were killed in Juarez, Mexico. Rather shocking, really, I spent a lot of time in that city from 1985 until 1990 doing missionary work. At least once a week I would drive over there and hand out food, clothing and blankets, but many weeks I would be over there every single day. We had found the orphanages and the old people that couldn't fend for themselves and would make it a point to help them. It's crazy, but neighborhood kids would see some of these old people walking to the store and would simply take their money from them.

I say shocking - the killings - just because of the time I spent over there. I never witnessed anything like that, but that was a long time ago and now I am reading that some of the leaders of these drug cartels actually live in Juarez. For those that don't know, Juarez is directly across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. It is also the largest border city in Mexico that I know of, much larger than Tijuana.

I would venture to guess that many Americans are not necessarily including any kind of trip to any point in Mexico as a vacation destination at this point. I wonder what the missionaries are doing nowadays. I was always of the mindset that if I was there doing the Lord's work - providing that He actually wanted me to go - He would protect me. I could tell some pretty crazy stories, in fact, I did have many of them written into my old JS blog, which is, of course, gone.

Anyway, overshadowing even that is this new budget proposal of Obama's. Money really does grow on trees! Oh, wait, no, they can just print more! How long is it going to be before the U.S. dollar is as worthless as a twig laying in the gutter on a street? No guesses here, but at this rate, I can't imagine it being forever.

I digress. If people think the Bush administration - or President Bush specifically - will go down as the worst president ever, let's try rethinking that. This Obama character has done absolutely NOTHING as far as I'm concerned, excepting to spend trillions of dollars and apparently wants to spend trillions more. The 4 years of his presidency will not be over fast enough, I cannot imagine that man getting a second term.

Well, the work day approaches and certainly, I don't want to be even one second over in getting off the internet and about the day's business. However, and realistically, I have so many breaks that have gone unused - those are half hour breaks that come off of my time automatically, every day whether I take it or not - I could legitimately sit here for days and days doing nothing but spending my breaks. Seriously. I wouldn't do that, of course, but I'm just sayin'.

G'day.

ben

American Kennel Club-Great Dane,Color, Markings and Patterns

I think I'm going to have to kill Prince, my black Great Dane.
Why? Because by the AKC's standards for Great Danes, the following applies for black Danes:
Black--The color shall be a glossy black. White markings at the chest and toes are not desirable.
Unfortunately for Prince, he has white markings both at the chest AND at the toes. He MUST be killed because he is undesirable.
Who the BLEEP is AKC? Do they want to take care of my Great Danes for the rest of their lives because they are undesirable?
Will they compensate me - on the other end of the spectrum - for taking care of "undesirable" traits that should put the animal to rest?

I mean, seriously. When they say these traits are undesirable, shall I go get a butcher knife and stab both of them through the heart?

You think I'm exaggerating, perhaps I am. They have their guidelines, wonderful. All canines outside of their guidelines - we should do WHAT with?

They fail to illiterate their stance on THAT particular stance, they certainly illucidate their stand on Danes that don't meet their standards.

I think Prince is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL dog. So is Duke. They have personality and character.

AKC needs to illucidate these standards of theirs, and what, exactly, we should do with Danes that do not meet them.

Sunday

Feeling a little better. Also feeling better about the situation at work. Whatever happens, I feel I did the right thing. Not doing anything would have had management believing I do nothing, or mostly nothing and that's not a good place to be in. I kinda feel in the middle of some pretty shaky ground, right now, to be honest - either way it is a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, or at least it has the potential of being that. I only know that I have given 4 years of my life working at that company, I love working there, still do, but I will not have my name or reputation tarnished and blemished because of misinformation being thrown around in offices and behind closed doors - or wherever it's happening - simply because I might have been afraid to say anything and potentially rock the boat.

In other words, if, for some reason, this ends up costing me my job, I will have the confidence and peace-of-mind that I went out standing up for myself, regardless of the potential consequences. I did not get into anyone's face about it, I wrote a simple email. I did make some comments on my Facebook page - oh well, that's MY page and at work, I cannot even access Facebook. No-one can through the company's internet. The comments? Things like what a genius I am, I can drive a truck AND be at the shop, surfing the internet at the same time!!

Well, for any potential naysayers, put yourself into my shoes. I work - hard - for 4 years running at a job. I go to great lengths to learn as much as I possibly can that is available to learn. I learn how to write up orders, do counter sales, shipping-receiving, pulling orders - a far greater role than just being a truck-driver only, and trust me, there are a LOT of truck drivers out there that will do nothing beyond the role of driving the truck. I do what is asked of me and more - sometimes far more. I don't complain and I willingly and gladly do all of it, without hesitation.

When my manager called me on Sunday at 9:00 pm asking me to go down to Tucson on an all-night run, I didn't huff and gaw, I said okay, what are the details, I'll be out of here in less than 10 minutes - and I was. I drove all night. I am not a night person anymore, that run messed me up for days!

At the same time, the company helped me out tremendously when my house burned down. A LOT of co-workers came to my aid with gift cards - some with HUGE amounts on them and furniture and all kinds of things. The company's family fund granted me 5 grand to help me get back on my feet. I am indebted to the company for the extreme and great amount of help I received in a dire time of need. I took 2 weeks off of work - the company granted me that and said if I need more, don't hesitate to ask. I had the hours saved up, yes, I'm just saying they went out of their way to help me out, and I am eternally grateful for such.

But, it tends to mess with my head when someone starts making accusations. I get a bit riled up. I think I have gotten over the riled up portion this weekend, I just wrote it out, processed it and now let the chips fall where they may. EVERYONE gets talked about behind their backs at some point or another during the span of your life - how you deal with it certainly is telling of the character and mold you come out of, the mettel that you are made of. I am of the mindset that when someone says something about you that you know is not true, then stand up to that person, regardless of their position - of course, do it respectfully and with some amount of grace. I like to think back to the scripture that says "we are all equal in the eyes of God". No man is really greater than another, we are all just specks of dust, according to Moses. Even Paul, one of the greatest characters in the New Testament oft-times lamented how far he fell short of the calling of which he acquired to attain, the prize that lay before him.

I only write all of this because, for whatever reason, I am feeling uneasy about what may lay ahead at work tomorrow/this coming week. Perhaps it's just the side of me that wonders what's going to become of all of this - usually, though, it's the part of me that goes through every conceivable ending - good and bad - in analyzing potential outcomes. Of course, if you look at the potential outcomes of the "bad" endings - well, there is always something else down the road, around the corner past the next bend.

Meanwhile, I have a big project ahead of me - or not. I'll see after this guy sees what it is. I already informed him the other trailer I was going to get was a piece of trash. He had offered to help fix up whatever I end up getting. Okay, well, we'll see how determined he is.
The tenant that left for CA is still gone and no phone call. I forgot to save his phone number in my cell - I know he has my number in his, he can call if he wants to to let me know what's going on. I'm wondering if I should put the room back up for rent? No, have to go through the legal procedure, in this case Abandonment proceedings - which has no court case at all. It's simply a notice posted on the door and whatever other contact info you might have for the person, contact those numbers/email addresses and give notification. Still have to keep whatever posssessions the person has in storage for X amount of time and give it back to them if they come to claim it - which is all well and fine, my only intent is to be getting money in from that room's use.

Well, I have a lot of laundry and cleaning projects to do today so I best get with the program.
ben

Venting

Between Facebook, this blog and copying and pasting to my other blog, I think I over-vented yesterday. It still blows me away that such an accusation could not only be made by a manager, but also be made without even ATTEMPTING to verify the validity of it either before or after the accusation was broadcast to at least 2 other managers, probably even more.

It was really my fortune that this man said something to me about my alleged over-use of the internet the other day, elsewise I wouldn't have ever known about it and the accusations that were made behind my back? Maybe would have found out about it at the pink slip table, who knows. The thing about this that sticks in my mind is the way he said it, when he said "you are on the internet quite a lot" or whatever he said, my mind is allowing that to phase out so as I don't dwell - and stew - on it so much.

I made my case to the general manager and now whatever happens is in his realm of authority to deal with. I have to wonder just how many ears heard about this "fact" that I am sitting on the internet all the time, doing nothing? How far out of management ranks did it go? It's pure poison, or maybe more like a contagious disease - it spreads easily and quickly.

How long am I going to go on about this? Until there is a resolution to the situation. When a manager in a company makes unjustifiable statements and it's found out, the only thing that will resolve it for me is a heart-felt apology. If I don't get that, then at the very least, keep his nose out of the inner workings of a store that he has absolutely nothing to do with, is not his job title or role and falls under no category, whatsoever, of the realm of his dealings.

Anyway, I bought a trailer today. It's the one that I have been vascillating on whether to get it or not. I figured, after all this time, that I wasn't going to find anything better for the money. I may be able to find other units - this one needs a lot of interior work, yes, but the price tag on it won't be that great - carpet, some wall panelling, a good cleaning. What sold me on it is that it is obvious the roof has never leaked, the structure is good. The back bedroom will have it's wood workings torn out of it, carpet installed and then either a twin or queen bed put into it. The front - needs panelling, some caulking, just fix up stuff.

If the guy that is intended to move into it doesn't want it, I will fix the thing up and resell it for what I have into it. Or just try to resell it for what I paid for it, plus the $50 I am giving to my neighbor tomorrow to move it over here. This isn't really a money-making deal here. Though, really, if I spent $300 on the interior in buying the stuff to refurbish it, I could sell it for somewhere near twice what I paid for it. I'll have to decide that when/if I come to that bridge.

Nothing else. I am attempting to relax. I spent the week working while sick and that takes it's toll. There is plenty to do around here, but most of it can wait. Laundry and house-cleaning are always on the top of the list on weekends - and it will get done regardless of how I feel - but it can wait until tomorrow morning after I get back with the trailer. I have Friday off next week - our company gives a birthday holiday to everyone, I put in last month for it off so I could have a 3-day weekend.

I did not get the safe-driver award - with no explanation as to why. I do not have any at-fault accidents or tickets. Who knows. The money would have been nice, but oh well. It does have to do with management input - I don't wonder if this "internet" scandal had anything to do with it. I was kinda hoping for it - it would have paid for most of this trailer.

Oh, the tenant that left for CA last week to go to a funeral? No word. He has my phone number. I have no idea whether he left anything in his room or not. I'm guessing not. On Monday, if I have not heard from him, I will place a Notice of Abandonment on his bedroom door. If there is anything in there, it will be stored somewhere and that will be the end of that. I was VERY happy that the ex-Marine paid for the entire month's rent - I know he is hurting for money since he is still not employed, but he gets that disability check every month and fortunately for me, having a roof over his head takes precedence over - whatever else. The weekly payer - always pays. So, I'm only short this 3rd person right now. Actually, if he decided to leave, I could offer this older gent the room for a reduced rate - in exchange for work - and would be much nicer than a trailer.

Thats all folks. Major Payne is on - one of the few comedy movies that I thoroughly enjoy and I intend on watching it.

Later.

Friday - Internet At Work

I take great pride in my offerings at work. I work my @$$ off, I try to do the best job I can of not making mistakes. I am a safe driver and endeavor to avoid accidents at all costs. I almost always have a good attitude - maybe this week I was a wee bit grumpy because I was working when I should have been home, in bed, getting rest to get over this illness.

So, when a manager accuses me of "spending a good deal of time" surfing the internet, well, I'm pissed to say the least.

The story:
Wednesday morning. Raining. I'm sick. I don't feel well. It's the end-of-month time and the company always wants to push out as much material as possible to get our numbers up as high as possible. So, I go out in the rain, yes, it was raining and it was raining enough to get me nicely wetted in a short period of time - pull the transfer orders. They are simply orders for material we have that they either need for a delivery at another branch or need for stock material.

I come back in, sit down at my computer and was looking at an order that was supposed to go, that I suspected probably would not be going out. Rain usually shuts most job-sites down. So, I am contacting the inside-salesman for the account via instant messenger while looking up Mapquest - on the internet yes, but totally work related - to see how to get to another delivery out in the far east valley.

A "higher-level" manager comes walking through and asks me if I'm surfing the internet again. I thought he was joking, but I responded that I was attempting to find out whether an order was going to go or not due to the rain. He goes over to the water cooler and then comes walking back by me, looks down at me and says: "You spend a good deal of time on the internet". I was floored by this statement.

When a manager says something like that to you, you figure he's thinking you're sluffing off at work, wasting time doing nothing. I'm 100% opposite of that mindset. I have been working since I was 10 years old and before that I was doing odd jobs for money. I have the old-school work ethic - work your @$$ off and you will be rewarded for it. I don't LIKE being at work doing nothing, it's boring, I don't feel like I'm earning my pay and I would rather be out in the warehouse pushing a broom if there's nothing to do than sit around doing nothing.

This man did not wait around for an answer or an explanation, he told me he had come to this conclusion because he had been sitting at my computer when we had inventory last week and saw all the sites I was visiting - and then walked off. I mean, without even giving me the benefit of a doubt, this guy is my judge, jury and executioner. I went to get a cup of coffee and saw him standing in the main room of the building, I verbalized that I do get on the internet - when I come in early before clocking in - every single day. He got a foul look on his face while ignoring me.

I became suspicious that this guy was telling other managers about this situation - we are a 2-man crew at the branch I work at, I guess if we wanted to slouch off, we could get away with it - or could we? NOT. There is too much work to do - we hit $260,000 worth of sales out of branch - most of that comes from the deliveries I make in the semi truck - this month. If I were sitting around F****** off, looking at the internet, there is NO WAY that kind of sales revenues would ever be generated.

I wrote an email to the general manager. If this kind of stuff gets back to him - well - what's going to happen to my job? Buh-bye, nobody wants slouchers in a recessed economy where there are 1,000 workers for every job that is available. Even if it were a GREAT economy, I would NEVER sit around screwing off. I wrote about the incident and the fact that I often-times do not even get a break during the day - losing 1/2 hour of time that is automatically deducted from my hours whether I take the break or not - and that I had worked 10-1/2 hours the day before, sick and getting NO break at all. It was not a whiny letter, more of an information event, I'm covering my @$$. People are going to talk shit about me behind my back, all well and fine, but if I find out about it, I'm going to do whatever I can to rectify the situation.

I re-read my letter before sending it - is it communicating what I want to say? Yes, definitely, I hit the send field on the screen and that was that. Come to find out, yes, this man has said something to both the general and ops manager about this and gave the message that the internet, apparently, should be shut off at our store. UNBELIEVABLE. Without even ASKING my manager, at the very least, about what's going on, without attempting to find out if there's a LEGITIMATE REASON for the usage of the internet, he simply makes a carpet-sweep judgment and then broadcasts it to the world.

I would like to say here that this man is not my manager, he's not my manager's manager and he's not the manager's manager's manager - who would be the General Manager - a person I have come to respect and admire as well - and really, at least from my standpoint - has absolutely no business whatsoever interjecting himself into a situation of which he has no knowledge at all. A person should at least VERIFY the 'facts' before going around spouting them off to everyone.

So, yes, I'm pissed. This is personal - the statement being made is that I'm a sloucher, which is total BULLSHIT. Should I be writing this on the World Wide Web? I don't care. I pay the price to receive my paycheck, I do it willingly and with a good attitude, I have NOTHING to hide here. My manager and I work our asses off, there is nothing else to say about it.

The man actually had the audacity to ask my manager why I hadn't left yet, the day he showed up at our branch. He has NO CLUE what's going on, yet is starting all kinds of shit. Again, there is nothing that will rise my ire more than baseless accusations - ESPECIALLY something that concerns my work ethic. It just FRIES me.

I must move onto some other subject, because this subject is causing me small amounts of irritation and even anger.

The weekend is here. I have no idea what I am going to do this weekend because, all day long, my mind has been consumed with this manager's SHIT statements.

I'm just going to end this one, I cannot get off the subject and hopefully a couple of beers and relaxation - and YES - SURFING THE FREAKING INTERNET - will help me calm down.

Venting session over, and yes, it does feel better.

Friday

At last......I have been sick half of this work week and have felt none too good. It's end of month - our company always pushes to get as much product out as possible, therefore the reason I didn't call in sick. Wednesday was the worst day of it and the longest work day this week as well.

Anyway, my quest for a travel trailer goes on. I have contacted another guy who wants $700 for a gutted trailer. Meaning there is nothing inside it besides the cabinets and shower I believe. Everything else has been removed. I am trying to get the guy to bring down his price - he has been advertising the thing on Craigslist for over 2 weeks now. Another guy has an RV thing he converted to an office which no-one is apparently interested in because he has been advertising it for over a month. I keep making offers, sooner or later, I'll get a positive reply.

Meanwhile, on the home front. I'm sitting in my kitchen yesterday late-afternoon when I hear a woman starting to yell loudly. Of course I got up, went outside to see what was going on. It was the big, heavy (at least 300 pounds probably closer to 400) man that lives 2 doors down, starting trouble again. The woman apparently didn't want his help on something they were doing at my neighbor's house, so she was telling him to back off.

This guy, unfortunately, is a total hot-head. I got right in that woman's face and threatened to kick her @$$. That's when I dialed 911. This guy is a troll and a bully. He tried to pull that crap on me a few weeks ago, instead of responding in kind, I simply informed him I would be calling the police if he continued. That shut him up. Anyway, this woman was visiting my neighbor, who flew off the handle, got into the big man's face - I thought they were going to get into a fight.

Fast-forward several hours. Police had come and gone, no-one was arrested but at least the situation had been calmed. My neighbor has heart problems and high blood pressure. Again, I'm sitting in my kitchen and it's now night time, I hear the fire truck and ambulance at the station a block from my house fire up their sirens - and come - to my neighbor's house. Yup, all that anger and yelling almost did him in. They carted him away in the ambulance with the explanation that his blood pressure was very high and they were unable to bring it down.

I am biding my time in the neighborhood. It is easily the worst neighborhood I have ever lived in. I can't sell the house, upside-down by at least 10k on the mortgage, I have no choice but to bear with all the nonsense until - if-ever - the housing market comes back up again. I would oh-so-ever-loving LOVE to get OUT of that neighborhood and never see it again.

Well work day approacheth, I'm outta here.

More Rain

Unbelievably, it is raining again. It's not that I'm tired of the rain - bring it on - but just shut it off while we have to work outside, okay? Another "I should have called in sick" day. There is about half a day's work in the system, I'm hoping to get it done and go home early.

Of course, that was my hope yesterday, as well, but instead spent 10-1/2 hours at work. I feel better than I did yesterday, but I'm certainly nowhere near 100%.

Ummm, not much going on, really. I didn't watch the president's speech. No interest in that president, therefore, no interest in much of anything he has to say. The man has focused on a bill that will waste a BIG pile of money while totally ignoring the fact that our economy is in a shambles and certainly, spending even MORE money is NOT the answer. Why don't we try to find a way to help all these people who don't have jobs and have lost their homes first? I'm sure those people could give a whack's ass about anything BUT getting jobs and getting back into decent housing.

I fret everyday at work - I haven't heard of any more layoffs coming, but who knows? I do my job, hope to be employed at the end of the day - and the next morning - and that's the size of the American economy right now. Those that are fortunate enough to still be employed are certainly not thinking that their jobs are removed from the chopping block potential. It's a very bleak scenario for many, many people, if the government wants to help (which I have serious reservations that the government should have ever tried to get involved with any of this to begin with) let it help people start growing a bank account again. The rest is pure bunk.

Whatever. Work day is here, it's pouring rain outside, I don't feel well - great day!