Tuesday

This posting will include refernences to the Almighty, The Creator - GOD. If you don't like such and that particular topic offends you, I advise you to not read this entry. I take no responsibility for the intended effect that God may place upon your heart in bringing salvation to your soul as that is always HIS work, not mine.

2 subjects regarding such.

First is my "old friend" from over 26 years ago, who showed up on my Facebook account, said hi and then wanted to get together. Something nagging at me, I had already confirmed a date with him and my son to go to a shooting range. I ended up blowing that off because Caleb got into trouble and we weren't about to be doing anything in recreational terms.

Then, he sent me his phone number and I said I would call, but failed to. I remembered what the nagging was. The last time I saw him, he had come to my door - my parent's house at the time I was in my 20's, home visiting from the mission field if I recall correctly. He had his baby in a stroller. He started complaining about his cousin, Ron, who had "inadvertently" given his life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, had been filled with the Holy Spirit and was speaking in tongues.

Although I don't normally go around telling people that I also had same such conversion, including speaking in tongues - I wasn't about to condemn a man for engaging in something that I had already doing for a couple of years at that point. I informed him of such. He got very mad, called it all bullshit and walked away, mumbling under his breath. I never heard from him again - until a couple of weeks ago.

I wrote him a candid letter. I didn't feel that us getting together was going to accomplish anything at all - in fact - probably pretty negative - if he was still of the same mind about such things, as I have not changed my view of it since then and won't be huddling in fear because someone on this planet - or lots of someones - doesn't like the idea and think I am a fool and an idiot to believe and engage in such. I frankly don't care what anyone thinks about it, I will state that here and I will state it to a person's face if they are getting cocky about it, which I have seen hundreds if not thousands of times in my Christian life in witnessing or talking to people about the Lord. I don't even bring that particular subject up - speaking in tongues - as I consider it a private matter that is between the Lord and I, not between the world, God and I.

He wrote back. I was surprised, he was totally apologetic. He said he was an arrogant idiot in those days, didn't know anything, that he is now a "Servant of the Lord" - his words - and that he doesn't feel that way about it at all now. I have not returned his email, I just got it today and I am not feeling well, again.

I was sitting here last night and the ex-marine was out here, coughing and hacking all over the place. I had assumed it was the sickness I had already gone through so I didn't really care. I guess I should have, because I now have a very sore throat, my lungs are not feeling right and I don't feel well. Wonderful. AGAIN? In such a short period of time?

Whatever. I'm just going to take it easy, go to work yes, but otherwise not much of anything else until this passes.

Onto the other thing concerning the Lord. The "homeless" people living in the trailer. I don't talk much about my giving nature to people at work or acquaintences because I am not inclined to hear their condemnation of such people or that they are wondering why I am helping people when I am in financial doldrums myself. Again, I don't CARE what anyone else thinks about the things I do concerning the Lord. I am not afraid to discuss such with people, but why bother? Who wants to listen to people's very negative opinion of ALL homeless people, they MUST all be lazy bums, right?

Just a small question: HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? Have you ever spent any amount of time talking to people in that situation? I have spent 25 years doing such. There ARE lazy bums out there, no doubt. Then there's the rest - all kinds of stories, all kinds of situations - all leading to one place: no shelter over their heads.

I wrote to my dad about what I am doing with these people. I had a little trepidation about such - he is sending me money every month until - whenever he decides not to I guess. I did not ask him for money or even hint at such, he sent a check at the beginning of the month some time ago and those checks have arrived near the 1st of the month ever since.

But, I know my dad. He has been helping the homeless forever. His entire ministry has been full of giving food, blankets, whatever aid he could to such people. He wrote back:
I read your EMail and it about brought tears to my eyes. In all your own troubles our Lord leads you to help a homeless couple!
"Even as you do it unto the least of
these my brothers and sisters,
you do it unto me."
I was very happy to receive this kind of response from my dad, really. Remember that some time ago, the Lord confirmed this move to me in a scripture that was printed on paper that basically fell out of an envelope that had been sent to me asking for more money for Haiti. Hogwash, right? I was searching for confirmation at that VERY point in time. I don't need to question how God speaks to us, He does it in a thousand million different ways.

God is good. He always has been, He always will be.

AS for today, since I'm writing an entry, I drove both up into the northeast mountains of AZ and down to the desert Southwest in Casa Grande. The roads in the mountains were covered with black ice, everything else was coated in snow. It was absolutely beautiful - but I am no fan of driving on icy roads. I slowed down well below the speed limit and cruised at a safe and reasonable speed considering the conditions. Everyone else was doing the same.

I am tired and again, not feeling well. This is what, the 3rd strain of virus I have acquired in 3 months time? Remind me to get up and walk away from people sneezing, hacking and coughing without even attempting to cover their mouth in the future. I am sick - of being sick.
ben

Ice

I went out to get into my car to go to work today and saw a rather amazing sight. Ice - the entire car from front to back was covered with a sheet of ice. That might be common for you people in the "cold" states, but I rarely ever see that happening. I also don't have tools such as a scraper to get that stuff off of the windshield.

My concern, however, turned immediately to my plants. I didn't watch or read the weather report last night, if I had known it was going to ice over, I would have covered my plants. I can only hope that they aren't all going to keel over and die.

I am allegedly making a trip to Miami today - the rain stopped yesterday but I have no idea what it's doing up north. This company I am delivering doesn't "do" rain, they simply shut down and go home under such conditions. I would like to make the drive up there - it's a very scenic and beautiful stretch of road that I have taken several videos of and pics as well, I'm going to have to upload all of that stuff and post at least one of them on here or KCL. I don't remember which host is easier to do such with.

The world of tenancy is staying at even keel at the moment. The newest tenant called me yesterday - I rarely ever see the guy - and asked if we were good with this month's rent or how much did he owe? I would have loved to tell him another $200 or something, but that would have been a lie, I reminded him that we had agreed that he was paid up for the month and that the $375 would start next month, which, thankfully, is almost here. My "reserves" have been drawn down a bit with buying and renovating that trailer. I pretty much put buying anything else for it on hold for a while, I am not going to go broke fixing the thing up and that guy can certainly go out and hustle up some work somewhere and buy some of this material himself.

I have bought a few more items for the sprinkler system - it want to finish that project or at least get it operable. I'm getting close to done with it. I won't buy a timer for awhile, the good ones are expensive and I don't have to have it to make the system work.

Speaking of the newest tenant, he did spend the night and I heard him snoring, loudly, out in the kitchen this morning. He warned me of such before he moved in. I shrugged my shoulders - the ex Marine is across the hall from him, he's half deaf anyway. I'm half a house away from that bedroom. I have no idea if it's bothering the other guy or not.

Anyway, work day approacheth.

G'day.
ben

Monday

Sorry about the ads, folks, but if some other site is going to "steal" the info I scour the web for or get from neighbors in Cafe World, or figure out on my own and then post it on their site with all kinds of ads, then I'm going to do the same thing - to a lessor degree. I doubt it makes much money - I'm sure it's based on the number of hits and it is probably tracked as to whether anyone actually buys something or not, I had heard that that's what happened on KCL. Google took down the ads because we were all clicking on them - but we weren't buying anything, lol.

Work day didn't start off too well. Unlocked the front door, went in and the alarm hadn't been turned on. Had an order palletized, shrink-wrapped and taped, ready to go, a salesman had come in over the weekend and had taken material off the pallet to sell to someone else. They didn't bother to leave a note saying who had done it and what they had taken - meaning I had to take the pallet apart, go through my list and make sure everything was there - which it was not, of course.

Then there is the driving stupidity - all over the place. Take, for example, the guy in the pickup ahead of me on a 2-lane highway out on the Indian Reservation. We came up to 2 vehicles going about 30mph on this 55mph highway. This driver put on his turn signal and proceeded into oncoming traffic lane - with vehicles only 400 feet away coming directly at him. Wanting no part of what was going to happen, I hit my brakes heavy to get back from his vehicle while he smashes head-on into the oncoming traffic.

The oncoming cars head off to the emergency lane, he apparently realizes his life is about to be over and he gets back into our lane. He waits for traffic to pass and then goes out again. This time, there is traffic coming, but a little further out. Same thing - he's going to get into a collision. A freaking nutcase. How do these people get driver's licenses? This time, a whole slew of cars veer off onto the emergency lane and are stopping while this nitwit passes these cars.

On down the line, I watch a car decide to put on his turn signal and then move over to the lane next to him. Problem was, there was a car RIGHT there, beside him. This driver didn't even bother to look to see if the lane was occupied. The driver that was about to get hit saw what was happening and veered off into the lane next to him.

I see this happen yet AGAIN - totally different car and driver.

It's amazing MANY more people aren't killed in traffic in this area than there already are.

My trip to Miami was cancelled. It was raining this morning and I had this feeling I better call and make sure they are working. Sure enough, they had driven up there and were about to leave - pouring rain and they don't work in the rain.

Long break. I went outside and repaired the ruptured tubing on Phase II of the drip irrigation system. That phase is all but done. Only need tweaking on the amount of water dripping onto any given plant. I did not go out front and continue with Phase III but figure to do so in a few minutes. It is very windy outside and the temp has dropped considerably. It is the Arizona Sonoran Desert version of winter and I absolutely LOVE it. I have no clue why the weather forecasters think it's so great that the temps are going up - in to the 70's last week.

What, did they forget that HELL is coming in the form of wicked high temperatures in just a few, short months? Why are they so bent on ensuring the temp goes UP? They talk about rain in a negative view - There ARE times when I need to get things done that rain interferes with, but 99% of my view of rain - BRING IT ON AND KEEP THE FAUCET OPEN!~!! We're in a DROUGHT, why would they talk about rain like that? I LOVE overcast skies!! In a few months, we won't see overcast skies probably for 3 straight months, at least.

If you have an IQ of 65 or more, you too can be a weather forecaster. I could GUESS better than they forecast.

I haven't really paid too much attention to the news today - I could guess most of it anyway. Obama's health care; Iran's nukes. That about sums it up. Lol.

Yes, I am headed outside, it's really nice regardless of what any of the other "locals" think.

G'day.
ben

White American (Brandy Drink Recipe)

I recently had "need", I guess I can say, for having some brandy. I am no a big fan of taking shots of liquor - call me a wimp, I just don't care for it. I had - and still have - a very long splinter stuffed down into my left-hang, ring-finger fingernail. It was very painful at the time - I wanted to deaden the pain versus going to a doc and paying money I didn't want to spend - and dig into my flesh to get it out.

I searched the net for brandy drinks and found nothing that fit the bill. Having had White Russians in the past, I decide to go ahead and make my own variant of it with Brandy.

It's a very simply recipe, really. A shot of Brandy, a large "2 fingerfuls" of brown sugar, milk and ice. Pour the brandy into a glass; take the large fingerful of brown sugar, dump it into the glass; pour milk until the Brandy is whitened - reallyteh same as a White Russian as you would whiten the coffee liquor - ice it up nicely and stir. You can add brown sugar to taste, really. I don't like sweet - sweet drinks - I rarely ever drink soda or anything that has sugar in it, I just put in enough to deaden the briskness of the alcohol and the milk helps with that to some degree as well.

Also, I would imagine a splash of pure Vanilla would go great with this - I didn't have any but I could bet it would make it taste all that much better. You might also get away with a pinch of cinnamon - this is almost like cooking, keep trying stuff until you have the perfect drink!

You saw it here - I have scoured the internet for a brandy drink with brown sugar and as far as I could see, it doesn't exist, but, of course, I could be wrong.

If They're Going To Do It, So Am I!!!

I am refering to sites coming to my blog, copying entire posts and posting them on their sites. They are making money off of it, I am making nothing. I did NOT give these sites permission to steal my content and display it all over the place - but - being the internet I assume it's legal to do that. Or not? I have no idea.

My Cafe World tips are being published all over the place. I no more entered the Cafe World tip today - tip 9 - and it was published on a site only a few minutes after putting it on here. I don't really care if someone is using the info for their own, personal uses, but to be making money off of it by placing it on a pay site that has dozens of ads on there, too?

Bunk. I am monetizing my blog. I doubt a person makes much money off of it, but I will feel better that anyone coming here is "subjected" to ads rather than having entities "stealing" my content and posting it elsewhere without my knowledge. I was looking for a trick/cheat/whatever to find out how one of my neighbors has acquired over 1,200,000 cafe points in about a week's time and found my blog and some of it's Cafe World contents posted on several "pay" sites in the search I was doing.

Onto other things - just kind of steams me a little that people are taking my content and reposting it elsewhere without even asking.

I remembered - not too long ago - that I have to get up even earlier than I normally do to be at work early. I have 2 deliveries tomorrow that necessitate I come in and get out of there as fast as possible. First delivery is in Miami, AZ, the second is in Casa Grande. These 2 places aren't exactly close to each other - one up in the mountains and the other in the desert southwest. Plus 2 pickups.

I said I could do it under a few conditions. 1: That I come in early and get out of the branch early. 2: That the orders are pulled and on the truck when I arrive Monday. I pulled one of the orders, the other came in late when I was going home, but the branch manager said he would pull the second order. 3: that I don't have to do a bunch of running around to get items to complete the orders.

3 was not necessarily adhered to, but the pickups are close to the 2cd delivery, so hopefully not a big deal. I always try to get the stuff done, is all I can say about that.

Uhhh, like 5 hours have passed since I started this post. Things started happening and I had to deal with it.

Also, my Catahoula will go outside, stand at the sliding glass door - next to where I sit and surf the net - and stare at me. Lol. She doesn't want me to sit inside the house, she wants me to go out there and do whatever I do in my property in tending to plants and watering and landscaping. I usually give into her "demands" and go outside to start engaging in whatever suits my fancy out there. Today it was digging a "tunnel" underneath the east gate to run a water line under it for the front. Drip system.

I did get that accomplished, ran the 1/2-inch line all the way around 3 walls of the front yard and then started installing 1/4 inch line with emitters for individual plants. All 3 dogs were out there at this point.

I have nothing more as I am going to bed early for an even earlier rise than normal in the am.

G'nite.

ben

Cafe World Spice Rack Tip 9: How To Acquire All Spice Rack Components In 5 Minutes

Too good to be true?
I clicked on the links for each piece: the shelves; jars and lids and yes, I had all of it in less than 5 minutes. When you finish the lids, you get $5 CAFE WORLD CASH, on the other items you get free gold coins.
Wanna get hold of the link?
Please send me $19.95 plus shipping and handling and I will send you the ultimate Cafe World Tips and Tricks Cheats.
OH, wait a minute, I'm not really doing that, but if you use it - please at least leave a nice little comment at the bottom of this entry, it IS a freebie, after all!

Edited: The link I had posted has been taken down. I found other links to do the same thing:

http://f372000f.linkbucks.com/

http://b3f6d12f.linkbucks.com/

http://b80a11d9.linkbucks.com/

http://fa4c03a3.linkbucks.com/

http://da0f8c88.linkbucks.com/

Copy and paste that into your browser, then click on each link on that page until you have all the items to complete your spice rack. The items go straight to your spice rack inventory, NOT your gifts section, you need only click on the links on the URL posted above and that's it!
I have no idea how long this cheat is going to last. I'm not sure if this is a hack or what - I am not a compute genious and therefore, I will let one of you readers that is a computer geek/genious please come back and tell me.
Thanks!
..........and you're welcome!

Edited: You will also get a free spice rack - just go to your inventory, click on the windows icon and you will find the spice rack in there which you can place on your Cafe World wall somewhere.

Edit 2: The spice rack isn't actually doing anything yet, Cafe World has yet to release the spices OR how it is going to be implemented/work. There is a tab in the spice rack to click on that signs you up for "advanced" information about what is coming next, but I have yet to be able to get that tab to work.
I am presuming that spices will have to be gifted to you by neighbors to actually acquire them (also and quite probably, you will have the option to buy them with actual money). I am also assuming the reason it isn't available yet is because they haven't finished building the application yet. Still, it can't hurt to get your spice rack assembled in advance and have it ready for whenever Zynga has it operational/live on-site.

Saturday

2 projects that I will continue working on this weekend. The drip watering system and the trailer. I'm actually far more interested in getting the drip system closer to finished than working on the trailer. The guy has been working on that thing pretty much daily and is getting quite a lot done with it. He will not, however, even touch that paneling - which I don't want him to anyway since he doesn't seem confident in being able to make good cuts.

Onto another subject, that concerning fin. KCL's owners state that he made some pretty hurtful comments on another person's blog on KCL - I saw one of the comments but I did not see the one/s they were talking about, apparently they removed both the comments AND blocked fin from KCL. They also called him a coward because his comments were made anonymously. I'm of the type to reserve judgement and hear it from the person's mouth as to why the comments were made and what the intent was. Dear fin, if you read this, do you care to illucidate?

I have someone coming over at 11:00 am to takealookit the house. The end of the month is getting closer and closer, I would like to "snag" someone and get them in here, paying money, as soon as possible. In other words, get that room occupied the day after it is vacated, or even the same day and attempt to keep the money flowing from it. I have no idea about the newest guy - he is only here a couple nights a week and I have seen him a few times at most. I don't even know if he's here right now.

Someone left an anonymous comment on this blog about how they have never had a bad encounter with Direct TV. Yes, all 2 times you called them they were nice to you? I have been dealing with that company for almost 10 years now and I can say with finality that they have some of THE - WORST - customer service ON EARTH. I ALWAYS balk at ANY company that is farming their incoming 800 call centers out to other nations. Direct TV's goes to India - another comment was made that they always speak to an American. Well I'm happy for you, keep calling, you will hear a voice on the other end of the line, eventually, that has a deep, thick accent and if you really get a bad one, you won't be able to understand a thing they are saying. I almost NEVER get an American on the phone, it's 95% of the time going to be an India Indian on the other end of the line.

They have nothing more to say to you than what is written on a computer screen sitting in front of them. If you have an issue, you will HAVE to talk to management and if it's a serious issue, you will HAVE to call over and over before you get an acceptable resolution to the problem. IF you never have an issue with their service, THEN you don't have to call them, all well and fine. I have to wonder if it was Direct TV employees that left those messages here? I remember one occasion where I spent several DAYS making phone calls to that company before getting a resolution that I felt was anything even close to being fair. They COULDN'T CARE LESS if your "experience" with them is satisfactory - they may say they care, but their actions definitely speak much louder than their words. I was going to cancel the service and start up with Dish Network again - I don't really like EITHER of the 2, available satellite companies, but - you can get new, free equipment if you simply shut off one service after the contract period is up - 2 years - and go to the other company.

They lengthened the term of my contract beyond 2 years after I called last year about the theft of the receiver in Mary's room - Mary stole it and never returne it, even after I called the police who also contacted her about it - Direct TV gave me a new receiver for free, I only had to pay the shipping costs. They did NOT disclose at that time that by doing such - getting the free receiver - they were going to extend the contract a full year from the date of receiving the receiver. So, instead of January, it is now July that I have to continue with their service.

Direct TV's stance is that they did me such a great service by giving that receiver to me for free. Yes, well Direct TV gives away all KINDS of free receivers to new customers, I appreciated what they did at the time, but I probably would not have taken the "deal" had I known about the little extended contract clause. Craigslist is FULL of receivers - all kinds of them on there. People are losing their jobs, they're also dumping the satellite. Their loss my gain - I am going to buy another one for the "trailer people" - they will have to pay me back for it - off of Craigslist. Another 5 months of DirectTV? I am not through with them yet. I intend on making a phone call campaign next week to top all campaigns. IF they are going to force you to stay with the service another full year after receiving that unit, they BETTER disclose that information at the time the deal is being made. I can guarantee you that they did NOT say any such thing to me on the phone when such was occuring - it would have sent alert flags up in my brain telling me to stop and think about whether I want this deal or not.

There are some GREAT deals on satellite and cable going right now - one deal is up to 6 full rooms from Dish Network, plus the satellite dish and installation for free. Probably a 2 year contract, great, where do I sign up? I'm not afraid of these contracts, I don't see it unfair that you get all that equipment and you have to be with them for X amount of time. But when that time is up, don't try playing some freakin' game to extend it even further. I do believe I could bring my monthly bill down by switching and yes, I do want the newer equipment, these receivers don't last forever.

Rant over.

So am I, I am going to do my Sunday cleaning today - in fact right now - in preparation for the potential tenant's arrival.

G'day, folks.
ben

Cat Stew

GROSS. I was reading an article online about some famous Italian chef who started going on about cat stew and how wonderful "feline flesh" is. I cannot possibly fathom eating any kind of cat meat, ever. The idea of it is totally and absolutely repulsive to me. Not because I'm a cat lover - I happen to HATE cats actually - but I just don't see cats as an edible substance.`

Of course there was a public outcry and charges of animal cruelty - which I find totally bogus. We eat cows and chickens and pigs with impunity, there is no public outcry about that. Many countries eat dog meat as if it were ground beef, it's that popular. Horse flesh and all kinds of other animals are eaten - including raw bird meat in certain Asian countries - where's the outcry about that?

I personally could care less if a person wants to eat any kind of animal, but if you happen to love dog flesh, PLEASE stay AWAY from my dogs and my property: I have video surveillance, I will see who you are and you will hope that I never find you after you've eaten my beloved Great Danes. Get your OWN dogs/cats/horses/donkeys/whatever to eat.

You see, I don't see the correlation here. If it isn't animal cruelty to shoot a cow in the head to kill it, then drain it, then use every last part of it for everything from leather jackets to dog feed, how is it different with any other kind of animal? I can see such in a case of an endangered species. Lol, cats are certainly not an endangered species. Because I don't like it doesn't mean that those that do should be stopped from "enjoying" such. I couldn't even put a thimbleful of cat meat into my mouth, the idea of eating it is THAT repulsive to me, but to each his own. What moral arguments can you produce about eating a cat? If it's someone else's property, sure, otherwise, all bets are off. In the eyes of the law, that I know of, animals are chattel and nothing more.

Onto other things. I took a delivery out to a jobsite today - that's a daily thing for me, of course, that's pretty much my job description. I pulled that order and loaded it - anymore, I am pulling most of the orders I am delivering - I am responsible for screwups. The salesman on that account calls my manager and asks to know why I hadn't delivered the bolts and gaskets that were on that order?

Manager says hole'on, lemee look at the ticket - giving me the benefit of the doubt, he wants to SEE that stuff on the delivery ticket. NOT there. I am not a big fan of taking the blame for something I haven't done, but I've done it many times over to take the pressure off of the salesman who will look stupid in the eyes of the contractor. This salesman starts drilling my manager: well, there was (this that and the other item)on the ticket - you should have known they needed this stuff with it. Lol

LolX1,000. This is the salesman for the account. He has an inside salesman assigned to him to speak with purchasing agents at contractor's offices and write up tickets. WE are NOT mind readers, we get the ticket, we pull the order. Sometimes we question things based on what the order contains, most of the time we don't have time for that, pull the order and deliver it. To try and shift blame to people who have NOTHING to do with writing up the order is very lame, imo. We KNOW they will need those other parts to be able to do the job, but we don't know if they already have the stuff. We assume since it's not on the order - and certainly any salesman would know to ask if they need those parts - they don't need it, they must already have that stuff on hand. Happens frequently - contractors have leftover parts from jobs they have already completed.

I thought, gee, if you want us to contact the contractor and ask them every time whether they need this, that and the other thing to go along with all of that, maybe they should just get rid of the in and outside salesmen and we'll just do their job for them.

NOT. If that were possible, I'm sure it would already be implemented. Instead - we all have X amount of hours in the day to get X amount of whatever our assigned duties are. It's called TEAMWORK, a very good idea that works very well when all players are on the same page.

I have, actually, no problem in making duplicate trips to a jobsite in the same day, it's my job, take out parts to contractors that need them. I do, however, have a problem being blamed for something I had nothing to do with. Not that I will ever voice that (excepting here, where I write out my thoughts freely for the world to see) - I tend to try and keep a good attitude regardless of what's going on - or what fingers or judgments are being given to a person that are unjust at best. It's the idea that a person or persons will NOT own up to taking responsibility for their actions - or in this case, lack of action. Because the salesmen missed this imputes responsiblity to me? HOW, is my question. It does NOT, is my definitive answer.

However, I have determined that since this particular salesman thinks we should double-check his work and his inside salesman's work - which is all he has to do, all day long - his total, complete job description: contact contractors, take orders and write them up - find the materials if we don't have them and order them - I will start calling the foreman at the jobsite in advance to determine that the material being delivered is correct, complete and that nothing is being left out. I did that today before taking the 4 parts - a total weight of about 2 pounds - out there.

Do I have time for that? No. I don't. I have plenty of tasks to do in a day that keep my plate full. Guess I'll have to heap that plate now.

You could call this a rant or venting, I suppose it's a little of that. Mostly, I dislike people who never own up to their own junk - they ALWAYS have to blame someone else.

Fortunately - I am also able to brush such things off after a short period of time. I can guarantee you this will not be going to bed with me tonight, in fact, it's already history -I just like to write about the things that happen in my daily life, such as the man that decided he was going to come into my lane today. Ummm, the problem with that? He was NEXT to me. What kind of moron drives a vehicle and doesn't even bother to look beside them to see a vehicle is RIGHT there? I'm a very alert driver - I saw it happening and laid on the horn to get his attention. He swerved back into his own lane and then - proceeded to flip me off. ROFL!!! I find this amusing because this guy was the driver making the error, not me in any way, shape or form, yet - he gets angry at ME? LOL!!! I was in my car, btw, not the semi. Yes, well the beautiful blonde next to him in the front seat undoubtedly was the cause of the "distraction".

I am done with this, I have things to do and I want to get them done before the sun goes down.
G'day.
ben

Friday

So, this blind woman with seeing eye dog started writing me about the room available for rent on the 1st. I have received something like 15 emails from her, all of them long, drawn-out, rambling about how her friends have to come over here and look at the place and on, and on, and on. Redundancy up the ying-yang. I was thinking, since she kept referring to her friends so much, why THEY don't just put her up? Yeah, I can imagine. Probably not a good fit, this person and my house.

Things I saw yesterday:
I was driving the semi down 40th street - a surface street in Phoenix - going to a vendor. I'm in the middle turning lane. I car comes ROARING by me - I'm guessing at least 80 mph in a 45 zone. Instead of slowing down for traffic in front of him (or her), he decides to use the middle/turning lane to pass! Freaking scary - taking everyone's lives in their hands by virtue of the fact that if that driver crashes, their probably going to die and they're probably going to take someone or several someone's with them. One of those "where are the cops when you need them?" type of deals. Going that fast on a street like that - they would have taken that driver to jail.

Our street where my company's building is located. They shut half the street down at the intersection where our street ends and T's into the main surface street. They put up barricades for traffic to come into the street and exit. The lanes were so narrow, I had to move the semi side to side as I was navigating through the barricades. I had to pull straight out across 3 lanes of traffic, across the center lane and into oncoming traffic to execute a turn out of that mess.

There was a cop sitting there, in his car - doing nothing. I came back later - same mess and same cop, seeing all of this going on, not directing traffic, not doing anything. Took several minutes of waiting before the street was completely clear of traffic so I could execute the turn that needed to be made to get into the street.

Coming back out. Same cop, same nothingness. This time, a utility truck was in front of me. He made a turn out of the street onto the major street - too sharp. The barricades were so close, the rear of his vehicle took out a sign, then a barricade, then 2 more barricades, knocking them all over. I thought maybe I had stepped into the Twilight Zone and was watching a real-live showing of the 3 Stooges with all of this nonsense going on and the cop - doing NOTHING at all. What's the point of him being there? Take a nap all day long and get paid for it?

Well, anyway, it's Friday. I got my new rollerblades and tried them out yesterday. Whatta hoot. The extra money spent was well worth it. I bought the most expensive pair in the store - for several reasons. 1, the construction of the blades was much better than anything else they had. I figured they would last several years if treated well. 2, the bearings and the wheels were high quality - ABEC 5 bearings, where are good bearings and the wheels were much higher quality than anything else they had. 3 - and foremost - it was the only pair there that had a good fit. The rest of the blades there were too tight a fit and would have caused a lot of discomfort in using them.

I took all 3 dogs - consecutively - for a walk - well call it a galloping run, actually. Prince about knocked me over a couple of times - he has a mind of his own and when something gets into that pea brain, look out, he's going to do what he's going to do regardless.

Anyway, those blades performed very nicely.

Well, here we are again: work day almost upon me, gotta get offa here and get ready to start the day.

Later.
ben

Thursday

Thursday already?!!
Hey, I even slept pretty good last night, too!
That's 2 freakin' nights in a row!
Yeeeeehawwwww!

Just out of morbid curiosity, what is it with doctors using their exam rooms to put people under and ---- have sex with them? I really don't understand a lot of stuff that goes on in this world. Are these people unable to find their own - awake - boy or girlfriend and have their with them = legally?

Guy from Top of the World writes me back and says that he doesn't understand why I am opposed to moving the 60 to another location and that the next time I drive through there, look at all the dead animals laying on the side of the road. There are no more dead animals along that very short stretch of road than there is anywhere else. It's a ludicrous argument: let's spend millions and millions of dollars to completely move a highway around a town of 400 people because - they don't want the highway there anymore. I wrote him back and asked if the people living in that community want to foot the bill for it, cause' I can guarantee you that when the facts come out from ADOT, most Arizona taxpayers are NOT going to want to see our taxpayer money wasted on something as petty as what they are asking for with such a big price tag.

I'm sorry, I have NEVER heard in my entire lifetime a community that decides they just don't want a highway running through their town, so let's start a movement against it?!!! I'm sure it's happened elsewhere, I just have never heard of it.

Whatever. I gave my 2 cents worth to ADOT, that's the best I can do.

Today was going to be a trip to Casa Grande with a pickup and delivery, but - the salesman called me last night saying to hold off on it. The contractor is wanting some pipe to be delivered to them but there is a glitch in getting paperwork changed at the pipe manufacturer - sooooo - no trip to Casa Grande today. I like my trips down south, really. There is another delivery going that way, but it's so small I'll be relegated to the pickup truck to deliver it. I'm a TRUCK driver, darnit, I wanna drive the big truck!! Wahhhhhh, lol. Hissy fit and temper tantrum over, it's not that big a deal, just that the pickup has an odor in the AC vents and it does not smell good, at all. Like there's mold or something growing in there.

Well, after work today, I figure to spend another 2 hours or so on ONE section of paneling. I know, it sometimes sucks to be a perfectionist, but I am spending the money, I want it done right. To do it right means taking the time to accurately measure all the angles and getting it cut to spec. They're obviously in a hurry to get it done, I'm in a hurry to make sure it's done right the first time - especially with new material that cost me, not them, the money in acquiring it.

Work day approaches, c'yall later.
ben

More

All of these flags showing up from everywhere are getting confusing. Not that I mind, but I was trying to be able to identify some of them - it's pretty much messed up. There is one flag that has the stripes just like the U.S. flag, but the square in the upper left hand corner has a moon and half moon, or so it appears, kinda strange lookin'. I love these 2 tone flags - half of it is one color the other is another. None of those people are here for my daily blogging, they're here almost entirely for the Cafe World tips. I figured it would have that effect - Google does a crawl, it goes onto their site, people look for tips - walaah. There I am. On one search, I was on the first page when I was looking. Pretty good considering the internet is filled with Cafe World tips junk all over the place.

I just thought it would be cool to have people from all over the world coming here looking for info - all over the U.S. too - and it happened.

After work today. I'm trying to get something done on the trailer every day. One thing - just one thing. It's all tedious stuff, so one thing is enough. Today - took me an hour and a half to measure all the measurement to cut the paneling for a wall that has a window on it. 10 measurements in all. Then the cuts. Several cuts that I was taking my time on - no need to rush, get it right. Then I had to mark the place where I wanted to cut out a hole for a light switch. On and on. Endless, seemingly. I got it in there, got the switch with it's box in there and the lines hooked back up.

Yet, that isn't near the hardest cut in terms of getting measurments. I have 2 corner cuts now that I will have to make cutouts out of newspaper with. As I said, tedious and slow work. But definitely worth it. So, tomorrow, I get a newspaper to use for the cutout and try to get one corner done. Done as in make and tape the cutout, put it over the paneling, draw the cutout onto the paneling, saw it and try to fit it into place.

I am finding just taking my time and not being in a rush the most useful tool of all.

I don't even remember if I said it yesterday or this morning or not on here, forgive the duplicity if so - but I am totally elated that one full line of plants with the drip system is up and functional. I was even further elated that the guy in the trailer dug a trench and installed the line for the plants next to the house. I had skipped those - figured I would get to it later, just get something done. I "paid him back" by getting more done on the trailer. He has also been working on the trailer in the front portion. It's getting done, but it will be a while before I would ever say it's livable. It's livable for them, okay, but for me? I would have to be in their situation: either homeless or that trailer. Oh, yes, btw, I HAVE lived in a trailer, one about the size of that thing.

Changing the subject. I called Direct TV to confirm whether my 2 year contract was over. Back and forth, no, yes, no. Yes, but no. Mary stole the Direct TV receiver out of her room when she moved out last year. I called Direct TV - they sent me a new on at only the cost of shipping. They did not disclose - in a rather lengthy phone call with them to get this done, that the by the act of them giving me a free reciever, it extends the life of my contract by one full year.

I can buy receivers all day long, cheap, off of Craigslist and already have done so once, it works great, I got it at a fraction of new price. If I had known they were going to pull this BS, I would have told them no thanks. Reason - I can get all new equipment from Dish Network for free, with free installation by starting up with them again. Dish Network has as bad customer service as Direct TV - they are both in the bottom of the barrel, floating in the s***, they don't WANT to rise up to the top. They simply don't care.

As a satellite customer for 10 years now, I can say that with confidence. They couldn't give a damn less about their customers, period. They may say publicly that they do, but if you have an issue, good luck. If you are willing to make phone call after call after call after call - sometimes for days - to get what you want done that you believe is fair and reasonable, great. If not, you are totally screwed.

I have done the former on dozens of occasions. I have gained great results - but I had to literally spend hours - times hours - on the phone to get it. I have always been motivated that way, I HATE poor customer service and am relentless with companies until I get some kind of result. Direct TV? I am just waiting for a "second wind". I don't have the energy right now to get into all of that, I have too much other stuff. One's physical and internal resources are going to be strongly taxed in engaging in such. You will be in a battle, you will have to look it as such and you will have to resolve to win it.

Whatever. I have no high opinion of any of these companies, including the local cable company of which I have had 7 years of dealings - they all suck. I like the programming on DirectTV, but I am NOT a loyal customer of ANY of these companies.
I do believe there is definitely a niche for a start-up company that would be interested in giving SERVICE - IN AMERICA, no INDIA or the PHILIPPINES or wherever else.

I frequently get sidetracked in writing these entries - lots of people, lots of issues.

Point?
I'm done.
ben

Wednesday

I slept like a baby last night. For me, that's akin to miraculous proportions. I could only dream of sleeping like that every night. I went to be very early last night, I didn't sleep well the night before and hoped, if nothing else, I could get some good solid hours of sleep in before I - wake up in the middle of the night. I did wake up - but went right back to sleep.

I know that sounds normal for most people - sleep through the night, it isn't for me.

Well, I was reading a study on the U.S. 60 and it has consumed most of my morning time before work.
There is a very small community called Top Of The World (www.savetopoftheworld.com) who wants ADOT to reroute the entire highway around their little town. ADOT is considering expanding the highway to accodomate for increased traffic coming from the Valley (Phoenix area) heading up north for play/camping/wilderness outings and such.
The amount of taxpayer waste in order to reroute that highway through some other route through those mountains and canyons would be so extreme, that I took the time to fill out a public comment on ADOT's home page about it and give my opinion of it. That little town wouldn't even exist if the 60 hadn't been built through that area. I have driven through it hundreds of times, if there's a thousand people living there, I would be surprised. To reroute an entire highway for that small amount of people is absurd. The highway is already running through there.

Frankly, if I were living there, I would be of the entrepreunerial mind - open up a restaurant or a gift shop or a combination of both. There isn't even a convenience store there it's THAT small. A trading post is the extent of the business endeavors there.

Anyway, I have been seeing these signs every time I drive through about saving their community - an expanded highway may make life a little more interesting, but it's not going to destroy the place.

As for now, work day approaches and there is plenty to do in the truck routing system for today's deliveries.

G'day.
ben

Tuesday

In talking with my mother on the phone yesterday, it came about full swing from listening to the sound of her voice just how - aged - she is getting. It kinda gets scary as one realizes their parents are not going to live forever and that one's parents are having some difficulties in the physical department. Dad will be 79 this year and his health has been steadily on the down side - he's not bedridden or anything, but he has had his share of problems. Mother - is just slowing down. She is also still getting around, quite well really. I always think of my brothers and their refusal to even talk with my dad. It's been years now - at least 5 years I think - since they have even spoken on the phone, much less seen each other.

It was also evident in my trip with my son for Christmas to dad's house this his wife's children - grown men - were holding it against them, and me, for such. It's funny how very easy it is to make judgments against people without having all the facts. Sometimes, without having any facts at all, just listening to rumors and gossip, drawing conclusions in pure and total ignorance, really. I wish not to spend another Christmas with those people, my dad - his wife - sure his wife's kids - not. I could tell one of them was biting his tongue, wanting to unleash fury. I assumed for the sake of our parents he said nothing.

Good and well, too, because I would have given it right back. I can be that way at times, a faulting of mine, lifelong faulting I should add.

Changing the subject, I banned Michael from the computer - indefinitely. Possibly permanently. First, he wanted to install Limewire, a music download service that is free for the basic service. It is also quite dangerous - the music can and often times does have viruses attached to it -- if your filtering system doesn't catch it, next thing you know you have a Trojan Horse in your harddrive - if you're like me - good luck getting it out. I always end up reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows. I told him no, you can't, the end.

I checked the history the next day and sure enough, he had either installed the software and then uninstalled it or at the very least had attempted to do such. Either way, he disrespected me and that was enough.

Another thing he was doing was searching for certain material on the internet - I will not be going into it, needless to say it was enough to make me quite angry, actually.

Ummm, wow - work day is almost here and I was just getting into getting this entry hammered out.
Well, I have plenty of work to get done, so, I'm outta here.
ben

Monday Part 2

I am absolutely loving all these flags showing up on my Feedjit counter from ALL over the world! When I go to the live Feedjit page, I simply put the cursor on each flag to see what nation it is. I'm amazed at how many flags on this earth look very similar - while the U.S. definitely stands apart in it's appearance. Most of these people are looking for help with their Cafe World cafe - I have 8 entries devoted to that so far - but others are also going to some odd entries if I do say so myself in looking at the search parameters they put into the Google field.

My manager is the same sick I was last week. Gag. He sounds bad. But, he was trudging through the day regardless. I was driving all over creation today, I felt good enough and made it pretty well without getting too fatigued from the sickness that is leaving my body - thank GOD Almighty!

The people in the trailer are pretty much keeping to themselves - as I had asked them to. In other words, please do not expect to be hanging out in my living room - I have enough people in my house already. They are honoring that. Well, I really demanded that from the beginning - they moved in long before I was prepared for them to, I was going to run a Direct TV line out there to the trailer - provided they pay the extra monthly charge for such and pay for the receiver that I would have to get - and have their entertainment THERE, not in HERE. I'm not trying to be cruel, but those were my conditions set out from the git-go.

I have no idea whether they are liking it here or not, the man doesn't give such information out and the woman has been SO sick, I can hear her coughing and hacking in my house. I took a humidifier out there a couple of days ago. The man said it made him cough even more than before. Yes, will the humidity will get into your lungs and loosen all the junk up and yes, it will come out, that's a good thing. I also took my small refrigerator out there - the more they are confined to out there and not in here, the better. They only use the bathroom in here at this point, though I have offered them availibility for cooking. They have a microwave they brought and apparently are living off of frozen foods and sandwiches. Well, whatever, that is their business and none of mine. I've let them use the grill a few times as well, but I want to keep that "sparingly" as well - that thing uses up propane pretty fast if you are cooking every day on there.

I have absolutely no desire, whatsoever, to go out there and work on that trailer today, so I am not going to. Instead, I am going to spend and hour or 2 on the rock project. I LOVE working on my yard - and the weather has warmed up nicely so it's absolutely beautiful outside right now. Note that I said warmed up, not heated up so that you'd think you were in an oven. That's coming, yes it is - but it's still 2-1/2 - give or take - months away. I am dumping money onto the card reader - the power card reader - here and there to try and get at least $400 on there before the real heat hits. I'm still at windows only for cooling in here - it's perfectly nice.

I have had several replies to my tenancy opening, but they are all from women. I love women, don't get me wrong, but I have experience now: please go find a place with all women or go get your own place, cause' I've had almost nothing but trouble with them in here. Not saying I won't ever have a woman tenant in here again, but I have time on my side right now and I am continuing to run my ad - a new one everyday - until I get the "right" person in here. When push comes to shove - gender becomes meaningless.

That's my world. I am going to see about getting the pair of roller blades tomorrow after work and see about upping the ante on this diet. It's a stalemate right now - a good dose of daily exercise - rigorous exercise, should deal a blow to the stubborn weight loss department. Almost every diet on the planet includes the caveat that you exercise daily. I will take one dog on each trip out - different dog each time of course to make it fair. Get them exercised and me at the same time.

As for this entry, it's hitting the history shelves cause' - I'm outta here.

G'day.
ben

Monday

I was a bit surprised to come into work, get into the system and see alot of work for today. 4 deliveries - 2 of them in Casa Grande and some pickups. Nice, a good way to start out the week: busy and get the day over with quickly.

The world started with a bang this morning - 2 commuter trains in Brussels in a head-on collision; Clinton stating that the Revolutionary Guard is basically THE government in Iran (that IS a scary thought if true); The offensive they started in Afghanistan; and then, the comics: Biden mouthing off again. That guy is hilarious - every time he opens his mouth, he sticks his foot into it.

I do feel for the dead and wounded and families thereof of the train collision; I'm always worried for our troops in such potentially deadly situations in any war - I hate to see any of our boys and gals getting killed over there. Pray for them, folks, they need that kind of covering.

I am actually feeling pretty good this morning - the sniffles are gone, the headaches are low-keyed at this point and I am not coughing near as much as I was. Good sign, maybe I'll be 100% by the end of the week. Then I can get back to the business of working on that trailer and other projects around the house.

As for yesterday, I ended up pulling a lot of weeds out of the ground. The rains caused a mini forest of them to start growing everywhere. I know it sounds weird, but I always water the weeds and come back to them a half hour or more later - it loosens up the soil around the roots and I can pull the entire weed out - roots and all, instead of just the top of it coming out and having to deal with it again in a week or two.

My before-work time is almost up, gotta get offa here and get into working mode.
Later.
ben

How Much Do You Spend On Groceries?!!

I was astounded - today really - when I started thinking about the staggering amounts of money I have spent on groceries in just the past 5 years. I was writing yesterday about my visit to Fry's Food Stores and the manager's agreeing to replace rotten chicken sight unseen. I said something about the conservative estimate I had spent at the place in the 5 years I have been going there - $25,000.00.

Perhaps one shouldn't look at food in such terms, but my gosh. If I really came up with an accurate amount, it would be much more than that in counting visits to other grocery stores such as Walmart Supercenters; Bashas; Safeway and occasionally Albertson's and Fresh & Easy. Did I throw in Smart & Final? Which also doesn't count the lunch I normally eat at work which is, normally, bought at Subway.

How much more have I spent, really? Double the amount I said - 25k - probably is more realistic.

I have had thoughts in the past about getting a freezer and buying meats when they are on ridiculous sale and freezing them - hopefully being able to get them wrapped for long-term freezing - this is something I am definitely going to revisit. In fact, I am definitely going to start looking. Meats are easily the highest cost food I buy. Lots of chicken and ground beef - and whatever else may be on sale.

I have bypassed pork for some time now - for whatever reason, it's extremely high priced per pound and I just don't believe pork should cost more than steak.

Long interlude. I got distracted, went outside and started pulling weeds - all the rain has caused weeds to sprout up everywhere. Gunshots just went off, 6 of them, somewhere near here. Last time I heard gunshots, I called the Phoenix police who gave me a hard time about it, as if I don't know the difference between a car backfiring and 6 shots from a handgun going off. I did not call this time. Why bother if they aren't going to believe you anyway.

The weekend is over. As normal, weekends fly by as if they never started. I'm not complaining, I love my weekends off. There is work to be done tomorrow, but I totally put it out of my head to the point that I don't remember what was in the truck routing system at work. I have a lot on my mind these days - time goes into a black hole somewhere and disappears. I am getting over the sickness - thank God - not 100% but definitely feeling better. I realized I got it from the new people wh have been sick since they got here. Their explanation - offered not asked - is that people get sick at the food pantries and such and don't go to doctors to get help, thereby handing the sickness out to everyone else because of close proximities at times to everyone else.

Well they are out of that situation so I hope they get better soon and all the coughing and hacking will disappear.
Anyway, I'm done for the day,
g'nite.
ben

1 More Leaving.........

.............heading to Craigslist soon enough to start another tenant seeking campaing. This time, the one that's leaving is the ex-Marine. He is going to move in with his buddy that he is always hanging out with. Hardly unexpected, still undesirable. There is no such thing that I have found yet in keeping tenants. They are all temporary, they are in-between one thing and another.

Not the end of the world, especially since I have until the first of the month to find the next victim to live in my house : )

The downside is that that room is unfurnished. It seems much easier to find new tenants when having a furnished or near-furnished room than an empty one. Never-the-less, I have a couple of weeks to find this person - whoever he may be - and yes I totally prefer male tenants at this point in having a slew of bad luck with female tenants and ensuing chaos in several cases.

So, anyway, that will occupy time and my mind until I get a firm commitment on the room.

Today's doings will include at attempt to get the new paneling started in the trailer. It has become obvious - to me anyway, that the front of the trailer is going to take much longer to finish than the rear section that we have been working on. It's larger, there is flooring to replace and there is much more area of paneling to be replaced. I have also determined that every single window in that thing is going to have to be unscrewed pulled out and fresh caulking put on the metal frame between the window and the trailer's skin. The windows have been obvious leaking points from rain water getting in.

Fortunately, there is this modern miracle called a cordless drill. It takes those screws out in a hurry. Pulling the window away from the metal it is mounted on is pretty easy stuff, already did it on one window. There are fully 7 windows in that camper. The windows themselves are all in great condition - one of the selling points for me in getting that camper. Replacing those windows would be a pain at the very least.

I will say that the guy living in the thing is motivated to get this done. He is not, however, confident in installing the paneling and isn't even going to attempt it. That's okay by me, I am somewhat of a perfectionist and I would hate to have spent that money on that stuff only to find a half-@$$ed job done of installing it. the trailer is really a challenge - something different to do - that I am keeping tabs of how much money I am spending on the renovation. I am not going to have those people living in it forever. The man is a worker - he simply cannot find a job right now. Sooner or later, he will find one and hopefully make enough money to get their own apartment or something - and then I will be coaxing them out of it.

My thoughts are simply, if the job is done well enough on that trailer, can I turn a profit on it, even a small one, to make it worth trying it again? Maybe. At the price, this trailer was really a find. The roof, exterior metal and windows were all in good condition. I found a lot of trailers that were in crappy condition - leaking roofs to be precise. That is a deal-killer for me. A roof that has been leaking is going to take much more work in both fixing the roofand the damage it has done to the ceiling and everywhere else the water has gone.

Of course, if I found one that had a leaking roof but still has potential - at the right price it might be worth acquiring. It's neither here nor there, but as some readers know, I am always looking for legitimate ways to increase the fatness of my wallet. Right now it's pretty thin.


Anyway, this tenancy business is a constant battle. I did get a reprieve with the last 3, it was a good little while that I had 3 of them paying regularly and no-one leaving.

Umm, I have more I wanted to write about but - I want to get over to Craigslist and get the first ad published, it's just an urge that needs to be quelched.

C'yall later.

Oh, and thanks to Fin for turning me onto Feedjit - I saw it on his journal quite a while back and wanted it on mine. In recent times, I have seen the flags - on Feejit - from all sorts of different countries around the world and am attempting to be able to say which flag is from where before I put the cursor on it to tell me. Pretty cool, really.
ben

Today

I - couldn't stop myself. I went to work. But - it wasn't the kind of work that takes a lot of physical output. I'm saying this because I'm trying to put the lid on this sickness, bury it in it's coffin and say goodbye to it.

But there is just too much to do around here. I abandoned the idea of a fence around the plants on the southwest side of the house. I would have had to build the thing at least 4 feet tall and I just don't want that kind of thing back there. Instead, I put up chicken wire around each individual plant. The dogs want to walk along that fenceline - fine - they will be able to do it without trampling the plants.

Trampling the plants at this point would entail stepping into a circle with very sharp points sticking out the top. I'm not going to say it's dog-proofed, but I do have some level of confidence. They aren't after the plants, they could care less about them - they're after the fence. Someday - I'll either be off of this property and it won't matter or I will build a block fence there and the dogs will lose interest in whatever's behind the fence.

I then got to work on the travel trailer's bedroom. Specifically, cutting pieces of styrofoam to size and filling in the gaps. I was enjoying this work because I was nailing it. My cuts were just a little larger than the hole to fill - intentionally - to make a secure, tight fit. The bedroom is done - with insulation.

Now comes the difficult stuff. Cutting the panelling to size. This will be no easy affair. Windows/corners/outlets/angles. I intend on making cutouts for the angled pieces that simply defy my level of ability. I imagine precise measurements could be taken at various point along an angled cut to give precise cutting points - it would be far easier, imo, to simply take newspaper and tape and make a precise cutout of it, put it on the paneling, draw the outline and have a close enough cut. Any offage can be covered with molding.

I quit after getting the insulation done today. I will be in no hurry for the paneling. Meaning that yes, I will do the work, but no, I am not doing a rush job. I spent the money, I want it to look good. A pain in the @$$ - definitely - worth the outcome - definitely. These people living in it? The man has figured out I am going to get this done right regardless of the fact that they want to have it done. I would be pissed at myself for caving in to their desire to have the finished product. Won't they also be happy with a good looking, clean environment? Yes, I think so.
Done with this, long lapse - numerous things going on.
ben

Fry's Food Stores

Yes, another entry about Fry's Food Stores, but this time I give them kudos. I bought some chicken leg quarters there earlier this week which had an expiration date of - use by today, actually. I opened it 2 days ago and that fowl smelled REALLY foul.

I don't do rotten chicken, no way, no how, no nothing. I kept forgetting to take it back with me to exchange it. So, today, I figured I would at least try asking and seeing if I could exchange it sight unseen. I rarely - and I mean rarely - return anything to Fry's. I think this dude I asked was actually the newest general manager of that store. I do miss Kim, the guy that was running that place for a long time. Apparently - coming from several store associates - Fry's has some sort of policy to move managers around every couple of years.

I will not give them kudos for that. I like the idea of knowing the people that work there and having some sort of business relationship. In the 5 years I have been going to that store, I estimate I have spent a minimum of 25 grand there. $500 minimum per month times 12 months times 5 years. That's actually 30k, my estimates are on the conservative side.

Regardless, I asked the manager about the chicken - do I have to bring back the rotten stuff or can I just get a fresh package sight unseen? I was totally honest about it, it was a package of the cheap stuff at 74 cents per pound, a loss of a little over 3 bucks for the package I had purchased. He walked with me to the back of the store, picked up a package, took it to the front, bagged it and said have a nice day.

I consider that good customer service. Prolly he didn't even have to do that, in fact I'm pretty sure they want to see either the receipt or the rotten merchandise. So, Fry's, hats off to you for today's visit. Amazingly, in the last few months, even a couple of workers that usually have some pretty consistent, sour attitudes have also brightened up considerably. Nice job. I was going to complain the other day about their 93% lean ground beef on sale for less than 2 bucks per pound - a good deal for that kind of meat - but I didn't feel like going to the trouble. Fry's seems to make a habit out of advertising something at a great sale price and then - not having the product available when you show up. No, they didn't have any - at all.

Anyway, onto Fry's Electronics. My attempted trip there today met with a 3/4 mile backup of traffic on Baseline road. My keyboard failed - again - had to replace it - again. I couldn't believe the amount of traffic, like rush hour on a weekday afternoon with people coming home from work. Took an entirely back route to the store which is less than 2 miles from my house. That store was PACKED with people. You'da thought it was Christmas in February. The line was over 100 feet long to pay.

I can only say my trips to anywhere today are over with. I have no desire, whatsoever, to fight that kind of traffic. This keyboard is different than my old one and I am finding it troublesome trying to get my fingers used to the smaller keys.

Anyway, I'm off to the back yard to finish a fencing project I started this morning. For all you Fry's execs that read this journal - I know of at least 2 when I post anything about Fry's Food Stores - thumbs up for today's visit.

G'day.

ben

Saturday

I was reviewing my credit card statements this morning - I have been paying everything almost a full month in advance to ensure that I am not late on any payments - and am very nicely encouraged by the fact that 4 out of 5 of the accounts are coming to an end in terms of money owed and the use I got out of them for getting into this house.

There is one card, however, that has such high interest and loaded with so many fees - a $21.00 monthly, minimum payment only brings the principal amount down a few dollars. This - I find to be highly irritating. Not only that, but the card itself is no longer issued, the bank of Delaware or whatever the name of the company is dumped that card.

I have only myself to blame, of course, but still. I have tried several times to contact them and arrange a payoff on it. They refuse. Probably because I am talking to people in Delhi, India, not mainstreet America. I ended up contacting the bank itself to file a complaint. The complaint is simply that they had offered a substantial reduction to the amount owed on the card if I would simply make a one-time payment to get rid of the balance. Now, they are refusing to honor that deal. Note that at the end of the first year of use and the beginning of the second year, they dumped a $150 "annual fee" onto the card. THAT is what really got me cooking about this "card".

I will be calling that company - the bank itself, not the outsourced company that is being used to collect payments - until they get sick of my phone calls. They WILL, at the very least, respond to me and not dump me off onto a voice messaging system with a person that promises to "call back as soon as possible" - with ensuing phone call never being made. I am going to pay 2 of the other cards off - the balances are less than $100 now - and take the monthly payment money I was making on those cards and apply it to this card.

Even my Fingerhut account is getting close to a $100 balance. I usually pay more - sometimes much more - than the minimum monthly amount due. I want to keep my Capital One card; the Chevron-Texaco card; the Fingerhut account - but probably not the prepaid card. It only has a $200 limit - it's a prepaid account, I could just cancel the account, they would take the amount owed out of my "savings account" with them and that would end that card.

It was also nice to see that this month's monthly payments - including Direct TV and also Qwest high speed internet - are paid until next month. Child support also already paid and in the ex's account, the only other payment due this month is the car payment. Oh, water bill should be showing up sooner or later as well. Getting ahead feels so much better than always being behind.

I will be putting any more purchases for the trailer on hold until next month. The only exception would be if I could find a smoking deal on carpet. However, we are nowhere near the point of putting carpet in and there is enough material to keep busy for - weeks actually at the rate we are going. The walls - insulation and paneling - have to be installed and the leak-proofing has to be completed. Well, in order - leak-proofing before any new materials are put in there. The floor in the bedroom is done. Insulation in the floor, new wood, good to go.

Ex-Marine landed a new security job. The only thing that saved me from his lack of employment in terms of receiving monthly rent is the fact that he receives a check from the military every month for damage to his hearing while serving in the Marines. The newest guy? Seems pretty cool - I hope to be able to ask him today about anything that might be bothering him and try to address any issues - if at all possible.

Work? Who knows. I just continue to bust-@$$, keep a good attitude, work work work. I left early a couple of times this week - but only after all the deliveries were done - because I wasn't feeling well. Jury's out on how I feel today, I usually only start feeling it when I start working or doing something, and right now? I don't feel like doing anything. I sense that things are not all well in the land of my employer - numbers aren't exactly high - just the feeling that decisions are being made. What decisions affecting who, no clue. When companies do lay-offs, it's not like they broadcast that they are going to do it in advance or tell the affected individuals about the demise of their employment, either. That's standard, modus-operandi for most all corporations. I neither expect or want to be laid off from work. I can only hope the job situation continues, I'll take reduced hours over NO hours any day of the week, month or year. I can imagine the alternatives - not a pretty picture.

I do have a plan if such happens - ugly at best - to try and save my home from foreclosure if I lose my employment income. $1,000 per month in unemployment benefits to start with - but that's taxed, lol. I could easily see myself renting my master bed and bath out. My son wouldn't much care for it, but I would be moving into his room. I could get $500 a month for my bedroom and bath - it's large, a lot of room with a walk-in closet. I would still have a deficit to deal with - but at least I would be able to make the mortgage payment, keep the internet and satellite tv on (not for me - tenants will not stay without either of those 2 - either and both are equally important), water and electricity. The painted picture is actually not as bad as - people losing their homes and ending up living in apartments or - in many cases - having to move into someone else's house and rent out rooms. Craigslist is full of people advertising to rent a room - at a rate that is a give-away at best.

I understand these people are broke and destitute, but to take $250 per month for a room that is bringing $400 would not be doable in my situation. I am "giving" away help to those people in the trailer, that's as far as it goes for now. Even they are expected to pay for their own utilities - I demand that. No-one rides for free around here. I figure their $100 per month - $25 per week - pays for their usage of everything. They can figure whatever they want, but they would be on the streets right now and I am quite sure they understand that. If they stay, the amount they have to come up with will go up when they start running the AC on that trailer, and trust me, I have no doubts in my mind whatsoever that when it gets hot, they are going to cool that trailer. That is why I am making sure all walls and the flooring have a good amount of insulation going - try to get some kind of efficiency out of the use of it, but in the end, they are responsible and I will make sure that it happens - for payment for the amount of electricity they are using. I already know what my summer electricity usage is - I figure it to go at least $100 above that with that AC unit running out there.

Well, this entry grows long and I have some things I want to get done around here - mostly cleaning projects.

G'day.

ben