Thursday

I've been neglecting my blogs for several days - just haven't felt like posting anything so I haven't. There isn't a lot going on anyway, so no big deal - for me anyway - in not posting anything.

But, I did receive the full amount as promised by the ex-Marine - he is fully paid up through the end of April and I am in a little better place financially to make some payments I have put off. I had the money, I just didn't want to dip into anything further than what I already had, when an emergency comes up, you must have the ability to deal with it.

BTW, Today is April 1st - or April Fool's Day - if you are so inclined, of course, take great liberties at someone else's expense, lol.

My attention has been drawn off to this border situation and that apparent fact that the Federal Government is ignoring pleas from governors of states such as mine - Arizona - for help in getting more National Guard down there. They're so hell-bent on health-care and spending trillions of dollars they don't seem to give a damn about our nation's borders, security and safety. Although a tragedy to see that rancher killed down there, it is almost as if he is a martyr for the cause since it made national headlines. How can Obama and his administration ignore it now? Well, I'm sure he can if he wants to.

From my view of it, Obama is the worst president that has EVER occupied the White House, hands down. George Bush doesn't come anywhere NEAR the incompetency this man has in occupying that space - that's all he's really doing, occupying a space. He doesn't have the mind or the experience to deal with what's going on in our country or the world. More and more, the word "Socialism" is being thrown around in identifying his ultimate agenda. Sooner or later, they are going to try to come after our guns. I hope they do, that will signal the end of this nonsense as the uproar against him and anyone attempting to do so will be the end of any hope he might have for a second term.

I received a card from the Census - they want people to do temporary jobs for Census taking. I am going to call them and see if I can do that on weekends - they pay $15 per hour which isn't bad money and it's only a 2-month stint. I REALLY want to keep saving up for the ceramic tile. I have NOT dipped into that fund and I'm hoping I won't have to. I have X amount of money coming out automatically on a weekly basis from my main checking account going into that fund which is now closing in on $300. I figure I'll need around a grand to do it myself, a couple grand I guess if I'm going to pay someone to do it for me.

I don't know how to do it is the point, but everyone I talk to says it's easy. Yes, well I'd hate to shell out that much money and screw it up. Unfortunately, at the rate this fund is going, I'm probably going to end up replacing the living room carpet with that money and then start the fund all over again for the tile.

Well, my time is running out before I have to sign into work here. Michael left me a note this morning begging to get back onto the computer. For reasons which I will not go into here I have all but permanently banned him from it. He's been off for over 2 months now. I am NOT in the mood to allow him back on it, either, after what I found he had done on and through it. So, NO will be my response to him. What he did was nothing short of outrageous on the thing.

Weather is cooling back down considerably - it was 88 the other day and yes, the AC was running during that heat. The tenants in the trailer received a gift of a Mastercool cooler for the thing which will save boocoo bucks on electricity. It just needs a few parts and a filter - the most expensive thing - and it's ready to go. Mastercool is the best in the business, in case you didn't know, getting a used one in great condition for free is pretty awesome, actually.

Anyway, have a good day, I'm outta here.

ben

Monday

Ummm, a few things to do in the truck routing system - better than nothing. We are getting close to end-of-month so managers will be pushing salesmen to get whatever they can - out the door and into the company's coffers. Usually, the last business day of the month is a rather hectic day in trying to get out all kinds of stuff - all over the place.

Meanwhile, I will have a vacated room to deal with in the middle of next month with the female tenant going for some kind of military training - for 70 days. Hey, I took her in because it was a body to fill the room and give me rent money. Figured I would cross that bridge when I got to it.

Totally incredible that Jeffrey Dahmer's name is being floated again around the news. That guy was killed in prison. I read the entire thing on that guy in the Crime Library (it's online - you can read about all kinds of whackos from the guy that was making furniture out of human flesh to Jeffrey Dahmer and his apparent fetish for eating the flesh of young, human males and so on).

Adam Walsh's dad is the one that started that TV series to help find wanted fugitives. After all this time, perhaps they might get to the bottom of the unsolved mystery: who killed his son.

Well, anyway, was just musing the news online and reading some rather pathetic ads from people looking for housing on Craigslist.

As for now, I must get offa here.

ben

Sunday

Wrestlemania is being held at - whatever they call that stadium now - and my son and JD are going. That should be a cool event for them to go to, plus getting to go into this giant, huge, enormous structure - that would be entertainment in itself for me!

The newest tenant just paid up half a month's rent. I was amazed. Almost stupified - getting money early? Yee-hawwwww! She is, however, leaving for 70 days next month for some kind of military training. The agreement is that I would be able to rent out the room to short-termers/weekly/even daily rentals while she is gone, but she wanted to come back.

If another tenant pays up like he says he's going to, then I will be getting back into better financial shape. The third tenant - I have no idea. I haven't seen him in days. He comes and goes, that's his modus-operandi, but - I need to know when I'm going to get some more money is really all there is to it.

The ex-tenant of whose stuff I still have after 2-1/2 months called yesterday to plead about me keeping the stuff until Wednesday (versus selling whatever I can out of it), when he will come up with the money to "buy it back". I'm soooo very tired of tenants skipping out on paying their rent. If another tenant does the same thing he did, I will not have a problem doing it all over again. After the legal time limit passes, I can do whatever I want with their stuff. The guy should count himself lucky that I am also not imposing a storage fee at $5 per day times 75 days.

Fortunately for me, it's still relatively cool outside so that dealing with all of this isn't necessarily, totally killing my budget in terms of having to pay out $450 per month during the hot summer for electricity plus higher water bill. THAT is really what is concerning me right now - having enough to keep the power on, the house cooled. In keeping with that thought, I am going to dump all the money that lady just gave me onto the power card and put it on the meter. I was going to start getting ahead more than a month ago when all this financial chaos started hitting me. I wanted to get that thing up to $400 at least before the beginning of June - it's STILL possible, but I will have to magnify the effort.

As for today? I forgot to take home the turkey I had thawing in the fridge at work and I am going to have to go get it if I don't want an entire turkey to spoil. Meaning get it, bring it home and cook it today. It's still early enough to do that. I am going to take the dogs and let them run around that big, massive yard there for 30 minutes or so and then come home, prepare the turkey and cook it. Should be done by late afternoon, so no biggies. I will have turkey sandwiches for a week : )

Forgot to include that Michael has left - again. He's back at his family's house, doing whatever. No reason, no idea, just left. He goes through this stuff where he wants to be around his family, then, I guess, he gets enough of it and comes back over here.

Anyway, I best get moving if I am going to make my "Turkey Plan" work.

G'day.

ben

Friday

The lunacy continues. But that's all politics and all the junk that is going on - I believe we are all well aware of what is going on and how to correct it if you are so inclined - at the polls in November. I will guess that a record number of turnouts will be at those polls later this year and an even greater record to be set in the numbers of people registering to vote. I don't care how long that line is, I will be voting if I have to stand there 3 hours. Well, if I'm still around that is : ) I never like to assume that the span of my earthly existence will take me any further than the day I am in - ie: today. Yes, my beliefs are "steeped" in religion, or, more pointedly, coming from the Bible.

It is a bit odd, though, that radio talk show hosts are the people that have more "power" in all of this than most anyone. But, enough of that.

There is one thing that Obama is doing that I find particularly unsettling: his treatment of Israel, the Prime Minister and the attitude he is displaying towards that nation. Obama/U.S. really has no right to interfere with the decisions that a foreign government is making concerning it's own nation. Walking out on the Netanyahu at a dinner is inexcusable and reprehensible. I sincerely hope that Obama is a one-term president, as this man seems to hold himself above everyone. HE knows what's best for us, we dumb@$$ Americans don't know anything. Yes, well I do know one thing: I did NOT vote for him and I suspect many people who did are regretting that decision. If Obama wants to interfere with the inner workings of a foreign nation, perhaps he should go to North Korea or Iran and discuss with it's leaders how they are treating their own people. Yeah, I didn't think so. He's using his position as a sort of bully pulpit - against the wrong people.

Well, whatever. The work day is almost here and I want to finish reading some other news stories, such as the semi truck that ran over at least 6 motorcycles yesterday in the Phoenix area, killing at least 3 riders. The man admitted he was "distracted".

G'day.

ben

We have been fairly slow at work all week long - until today. There is enough stuff in there to do to keep me busy well into the afternoon.

Cafe World Tips 15: 70,000 Chinese Candy Servings In 2 Days Off ONE Oven!

This tip is for the use of spices. Though I wrote another entry about this a few days ago, I did not have the same information that I do now.

Basically, the thought came to me to try adding the same spice to one dish, over and over and over, see if Zynga made allowance for that or can you only add it once?

I started with Shu Mai Dumplings - added around 30 servings of 10% spice - and yes, I did end up with close to 3,000 servings on ONE cooked dish of it.

So, I did the same thing with Chinese Candy - but this time, I - lost count actually - but over 300 uses of the 10% additional servings per use of the spice. Meaning, I used the 10% spice that many times one ONE single dish of Chinese Candy that was cooking.

Yes, folks, it came out at at over 70,000 (SEVENTY-THOUSAND) servings off the one, single dish!! In 2 days, just one oven put out that many dishes. The only drawback, if you want to look at it that way, is that you only get Cafe points for the one cooked serving of it. Yes, I spend a small fortune on the spices, but I will get 3 times that amount back, at least when all 70 plus thousand servings are bought and paid for. The great advantage is all those servings off of one oven plus the fact you don't have to tie up all your ovens to actually get there. I am still cooking dishes daily, adding up my Cafe points but now am using 1 oven continuously for more servings and considering 2 ovens.

The point is that these spices ARE useful if used in the most effective way. The other drawback is that it took about 2 hours to put all those spices on there. But it was fun to find out if it works : )

Also, FYI - The 5% and 10% spices are bought with gold coins, not cash. Yes, the better spices are cash bought items - oh well, I won't be buying them but I bet somewhere down the line there will be opportunities to get them for free.

Tuesday

Let the fireworks begin. The tenant showed up that I had put the notice on his door - but I was in bed when he came home. Okay, it's not going to be fireworks, it just feels that way sometimes when you are forced into a position of having to deal - in rather negative terms - with tenants. Perhaps he will move out when I'm at work - won't be the first time that's happened - all well and fine, too, as long as the items removed do not lap over into MY things.

Something that caught my attention this morning: Obama is set to go out and try to win support for the health care reform bill - AFTER - he signs the bill. Huh? Aren't you supposed to do that BEFORE you decide to implement something that is so widely opposed, your political life is doomed forever? No, I don't think that far-reaching, I believe that many of these democrats that smugly recalcitrated over and over that they are "doing what's good for America" even though most of America said they don't want it - yes, they are going to pay for this. Apparently there has even been some criminal acts of rocks being thrown through doors and pellet gun shots and such.

Hey, I'm not for the violence, but I am all for giving these people a permanent boot out the door - a boot so incredibly forceful that the people who take their place and those after that will think twice about telling us what is good for us. We are all fairly smart people, we can figure this out for ourselves. I don't WANT socialism and I summarily reject anything that looks like it or looks like the beginning of it and for sure, this at the very least is the beginning of it.

I saw an accident yesterday, yes changing gears again - but this was very, very bad. I thought I had seen a really bad one not too long ago - this one takes the cake. At an intersection in Mesa where the speed limits are 40MPH, there was a 2 car accident I came up on while driving the semi. One of the vehicles was a mini-van and the other was a PT Cruiser.

When I saw the minivan, I was wondering where the front end of the thing was. There WAS no front end on that vehicle. When I got up closer, I could see the condensor - it was smashed all the way up just a few inches out from the windshield. The condensor is a part of your AC system in your car, it goes in front of the radiator which is directly behind the grill - at the FRONT of the car. I have seen bad accidents in front end damage, this one? It looked like someone had taken a giant axe and cut the front end off. The minivan had T-boned into the PT Cruiser - whose passenger side was smashed all the way over to the driver's side. The tell tale sign: there was cloth put around the windows of the minivan to keep people from seeing the dead body/ies inside of it. Medical units had already come and gone by the time I got there, the police were doing an investigation. I wished I had my camera to take a pic of that minivan. I wondered how fast that vehicle had been travelling to do that kind of damage. FAR greater than 40MPH and obviously, at least to me, had run a red light.

On the freeway this morning, it was raining so hard my car started hydroplaning and I wasn't even going that fast. I slowed down, obviously, but what always gets me are the people that drive like maniacs, even in a heavy downpour. Cutting in and out of traffic, cutting other drivers off, insanity. Yes, the rain is back! My poor doggies - I left them out in the rain to fend for themselves. They are NOT allowed in the house when I am gone, period. They ARE animals and no, it's not animal abuse to leave them in the rain. Most of nature's animals endure the rain out in the wilderness and they don't seem to be dying because of it, so there.

Whatever the case, I was glad I did not water my plants yesterday as I had had half a mind to. I had heard it might rain, so I figured another day wouldn't hurt, and by golly, I was right! I won't have to water them for at least 4 or 5 days after this, it's raining HARD right now. I looked at the drought index yesterday for Arizona - it has different colors over the state indicating the severity of the drought. The index shows that the drought is gone in about 1/4 of the state, is extremely dry in probably another 1/2 and the rest is worse, I forget what they label it, but it's a MUCH small portion than what I saw last time. With rain like this coming at the rate it has been this winter, I don't wonder to see the whole state come out of it. The Salt River running through Tempe and Phoenix - a normally dry riverbed - is running at a good pace right now. That's a GOOD sign. That means the dam/lake above it is full.

Well, anyway, this post is long and I am about to sign into work.

G'day.
ben

Monday/Health Care Bill Passes

When the government says that this bill is going to cost over 800 plus billion dollars, how much do you think the final price tag for all of this is REALLY going to cost? Have you ever known the government to stay on-budget for anything? I would guess triple, even quadruple that amount to be the "final" cost.

You don't just suddenly dump 32 million people into an existing pool of "customers" and figure that everything is going to flow as smoothly as it did before they were all thrown into the mix.

The point? We all want health care like other nations that have subsided, government run health care, but do we want the TAX base that they have as well? Do you really think that 41% of your income should go to the Federal Government? THIS HEALTH CARE BILL ISN'T FREE. It may end up to be a free bonanza for whoever - slackers I would assume, people that spend their lives living off the "good graces" of others - usually taxpayers - but it's going to cost you and I, the average Joe, a good chunk of change sooner or later. Probably sooner.

There are also those that are saying the Democrats - I can say that with confidence because not a single Republican voted for this bill - didn't even bother to READ the bill. This isn't shocking, but it is appalling. I have heard forever now that many politicians vote on bills where they haven't read one page of the text of the bill.

A majority of Amercans were opposed to the passage of this bill. Which means that the politicians "representing" us didn't represent us at all. Those that voted for it did their own thing, dissing their constituency and making it clear that they know what's best for us, we are too dumb to figure it all out. I imagine the voting polls this year will be very, very busy.

Onto other things. I issued the non-paying tenant a 5-day notice yesterday. I'm sure he must have felt it coming, I'm not going to let him live in my house for free forever. He'll have to move back in with mommy or someone else unless he can come up with a good chunk of change within the next 5 days. Life sucks sometimes - but I'm going broke without the money from these tenants. My savings will be gone by the middle of next month if this situation isn't reversed and quickly. If I have to actually take him to court to get him out, then I'm going to be a very unhappy person and his living there will not be "nice" by any stretch of the imagination.

I got a lot of stuff done outside yesterday, but there is still much to do. I intend on getting most of it done by the end of this month so I am not left scrambling next month to try and get it finished before the intense heat gets here. The ex-marine apparently is sticking around for a while - which helps me to identify, if nothing else, that his word should be good for the amount of money I am going to receive from him at the end of this month, which is still 10 days off.

That's about it for now, work day is almost here. I have read enough news this morning, it's all focused on the health care bill, Pelosi's face with that smug look is plastered everywhere. They're all patting themselves on the backs and thinking how great they are. These people don't have a friggin' clue. That's my complaint and has been since I was much younger: they don't have to go work jobs like the average American does, they are all rich by my standards if no-one else's, they simply cannot relate to the common American. And from what I've seen in recent days, they don't CARE if they relate or not. This is the epitome of arrogance and self-aggrandization and it is sickening to watch.

Anyway, I'm outta here.

G'day.

ben

Cafe World Tip 15: How To Effectively Use Your Spices

It dawned on me today while using the spices that perhaps, just perhaps, I could dump a 10% additional servings spice on ONE dish, over and over and over and have it multiply it that many times on ONE dish, instead of doing it on 18 dishes that I was cooking.

So I tried it. I dumped the 10% spice on one serving of Mu Shai Dumplings that I was cooking 30 times. I think the dumplings are 580 servings per dish that you are cooking. I then used the 1-hour thyme on it 5 times - it's a 6 hour dish. I then started dumping the Mystery spice on it. Some of the Mystery spices are rather worthless. You get some that that take 2 minutes off of cooking time, or 5 minutes. Big waah. Waste of time for that. Some of them give you free gold coins or cafe points - semi-worth it.

Well, when this dish was done cooking there were almost 3,000 servings on that ONE dish. It does NOT, however, give you multiplied Cafe points, so this tip is only good for increasing the amount of dishes you can get off of a dish that you are cooking.

BTW, some people mistakingly believe that you have to pay cash for all of the spices to get more. True with 1, 6 and instant Thyme, NOT true with the 5% and 10% increase. You can buy those with gold coins.

So, today, I bought one dish of Chinese Candy. I am going to dump at least 100 10% spice on it before it's done cooking - it takes 2 days. That will give me a net of 20,000 servings off of ONE dish that is cooking on my stove!! If I have time, I will 200, but the spices are rather slow in applying them to a cooking dish, I don't want to spend too much time on this game. But let's do the math. To buy one serving of Chinese Candy is 6,000 gold coins for 2,000 servings. If you add the 10% spice, then each time you add the spice, you are getting 200 additional servings of the Candy.

I believe the Candy is 9 coins per serving. So, if I do 100 10% spices on it, giving me and extra 20,000 servings, multiplied by 9, that's 180,000 gold coins for that dish. A 100-pack of 10% spice is 60,000 gold coins, so my net profit by adding the spices to it is 120,000 gold coins plus the 2,000 for the original dish minus he 6,000 to buy it. Not a bad return, aye?

Finally, you can add the spices ANYTIME while a dish is cooking. If you have 1 minute left to cook, you can still add spice to it.

The obvious advantage of doing it this way is that you only tie up one stove. Unless you don't care about gaining Cafe points, you don't want to tie up all your stoves doing this. I do not like doing 2 day dishes because to get any amount of it, you have to use all of your stoves. But, with this method, I don't have to do that, will end up with as many servings as I want tied to how many spices I want to add to the dish, and I get a LOT of gold coins for it in the end.

A Crazy Dream

Dreams - or nightmares - tend to have stuff in them that in actions that are physically impossible. However, this nightmare was a doozy and in my mind, must have gone on for hours (whether it did or didn't isn't the point: I definitely thought I was going to be killed in this drama).

As we taxiied down the runway - inside of some sort of jetliner and I was a co-pilot - we were escaping something that was coming after us. (I love airplanes, so it was only fitting that my dream started out in such). Our lives were in imminent danger - I don't know from what, the dream started here and progressed from that point.

It was a small town and a junky looking airstrip. In fact, in reality, no-one would ever land a jumbo-jet on such a thing. The asphalt was all cracked, the lines were totally faded and there was a small control tower with one man working the field.

The town itself was full of tattered, old homes that were all falling apart. The world I was in did not seem like the earth that I know - though I have been in places in Mexico that slightly resembled the little town we were leaving. The place was dark - as in evil - and scary. Others had scrambled into the plane, I didn't know any of these people, and frankly, I didn't even know who the pilot was, either.

In this dream, I had no idea where I was, how I got into the predicament or what I was running from. As we took off, I sighed a huge sigh of relief as we got away from whatever "it" was, but there was far greater danger that we were approaching.

It seemed like we had only been in the sky for a very short time - as we had just acquired cruising altitude when we both saw it: A giant stone structure whose base was on the ground but apparently ascended more than 35,000 feet - we were above the clouds. It had a GIANT opening in it - miles across and we were somehow being sucked into it. We were also apparently running out of fuel as the engines started flaming out.

The only thing I remember is sheer terror. We could not escape the pull of this structure, whatever was happening was fate: we were doomed to a disastrous crash and there was nothing we could do about it. As we entered this stone thing, the engines had all died and we started a vertical descent at unbelievable rate of speed, INSIDE of this stone structure. There was JUST enough room for the plane to fit vertically, going straight down, on either side of the structure. As we went down, we saw the bottom looming, but before the bottom, the structure opened up on one side and the engines "magically" came back on.

The maneuvers the airplane made are physically impossible. In reality, the plane would have crashed at the opening of the structure. Instead, we did an almost L-turn going into it and then suddenly and immediately going straight down. We made another L-turn near the bottom and were flying, basically, in the Twilight Zone. I say that because it was a land that was very, very strange looking, hard to define. Like the land of dinosaurs without the dinosaurs.

Well, the plane levelled out but we crashed into a semi-flat area at the bottom. There was some - race - of people there waiting for us with seemingly very hostile intent. It became evident quickly that they were out to kill us with arrows, knives, stones or just plain ole' strangulation. They did not have any modern-day guns/weapons/anything.

As the people that had scrambled onto the plane got out, they were viciously assaulted and killed. Heads being cut off, arrows being flung into their bodies, these people that were killing us were cutting off our heads and got a hold of the pilot, stabbing her multiple times, ripping off limbs.

I told you this was a nightmare, I'm writing it out because it was SO vidid and SO incredibly weird.........

Somehow, I managed to get away. I was running for my life. I was looking around while running trying to figure out where to run to to get away from these people. Inside of this stone structure, the ONLY way out was UP. The whole thing was surrounded by huge cliffs and rock structures. For whatever reason, these killers did not know I had slipped past them and did not notice me until I had made a good distance from them straight up the side of this rock structure.

Apparently, I had become the prey and these people had been training a young man in the art of hunting down and killing such. This couldn't have been more than a 15 year old kid. They "dispatched" this kid after me and this guy was running like a Gazelle. UNBELIEVABLE - and impossible for any man - speed. I sped up my race to get up and out of this viscereal stone structure. If you ever see a stone structure jutting up into the heavens, almost into space - please stay away from it. It will try to kill you!

BTW, I have very vivid images in my mind of this entire scenario, it has not disappeared out of my memory and this dream occured over 2 weeks ago.

The rock wall I was on disappeared back inside the stone structure and I found myself crawling up narrow shafts and then onto flat rock and then going back up narrow shafts. I was hoofing it - as fast as my feet could take me I was moving. That kid was gaining on me. The rock slowed him down considerably once he got to it and started climbing it. He had a bow with numerous arrows in a sack on his back.

From the look of it, I had thousands and thousands of feet to climb. This went on for quite a while, the boy eventually gained on me until he was maybe 50 feet or so below me. I decided I was not going to die at the hands of a teenager and waited for him. I positioned myself in such a way that when he got to me, my foot was going to go into his face and I was going to attempt to shove him off the cliff and make him fall - about a 100 foot fall. It also became evident that this was some super-human or possibly alien race with great strength and power - and also, apparently, magic tricks.

Regardless, this kid got to me - he looked like a savage. I shoved my foot in his face and made contact, but he managed to grab my ankled and tried to pull me down. I got my other foot and was bashing his face with it while he was also trying to grab that. I managed to slip my foot out of his grasp and then gave one, final, huge blow to his face with both feet. He fell. His body was crashing onto the rocks jutting out and he landed on the ground with a great thud.

Out of the thin blue air, one of the adults of this species magically appeared, picked the boy up and disappeared.

I wasn't waiting around for whatever was coming next, super-adrenaline pumping through my veins I redoubled my efforts to get out of this rock thing and get away from these people. Well, now, a whole group of adults were after me. I was in sheer terror, which helped me to not wear out - my feet kept moving. Somewhere along the way, tall pine trees came into my view. I had thought this a good sign, perhaps I could get out of this thing and back onto - the Earth.

And sure enough, I got up high enough and back onto solid ground. It was a forest and I started running for my life through it, as the people chasing me were giving a relentless pursuit. I was shocked that, as I was running, I came through a clearing in the forest and there was a highway in front of me. Wherever this was, it was at a VERY high altitude as the road was at least a 10% grade.

A car with a man driving approached, I waved him down, frantically moving my arms up and down. The whole thing was surreal. He stopped, I just jumped in and told him to floor it, get the bleep OUT of there. As he started to pull away, the men that were chasing me came crashing out of the woods. They were flinging arrows and throwing rocks as we sped off. 100 feet up the road, an incredible sight as some sort of aboriginal looking people, dressed to the 9's in some sort of tribal-looking wear, painted faces - that looked like death - painted bodies - were standing there, lined up at the edge of the forest, spears in hand but the spears were being held veritically with the spear heads in the ground.

These people were standing there like stone statutes. They were not attempting to stop us and they were not the same people as the others that had been chasing us. The looks on their faces, however, was enough to invoke even more terror. You have to understand that throughout this entire ordeal, I was completely, totally terrified. The people that were chasing us had stopped in the middle of the road, having had given up the chase. Why they didn't use their "magic" to simply plant themselves ahead of us, I'm not sure, but I think it had to do with passing through a portal in the road.

Whatever the portal was,apparently those behind us could not pass through it. We drove on and came into view of some of the most majestic mountain scenery I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen plenty. This was also an impossible road, or appeared to be anyway. It was at the very top of a huge mountain ridge - I have no idea what the elevation was, but we were obviously VERY high up.

This is when I woke up. My heart was pumping and I was breathing heavily as if I had just run a marathon. It took quite a while to calm down.

I had no idea, and still don't, if this dream/nightmare has any relevance to my real life. Some claim that dreams are an extension of yourself and that those dreams can be interpreted to find some meaning that is attached to whatever you may be going through in life.

I felt compelled to put it into printed word simply because it's still in my head. Most dreams I wake up from I completely forget about right away.

Friday

Another day with next to nothing to do in terms of deliveries at work. In fact, there ARE no deliveries, only one pickup - and that place is only 5 miles away from the branch.
Well, the semi hasn't been washed in - months actually - there has been no time for it until the last week or so. It takes several hours to wash a truck and trailer by hand. However, I won't even think about doing that until the sun is up and it warms up a bit. There are plenty of cleaning projects to do, thankfully, that will occupy my time if nothing else comes up.

The subject is worn to threads, but I am still intently watching the health care debacle as it winds down to a vote, allegedly anyway, on Sunday. All the big mounths around the nation are espousing their ideals on the subject - whether for or against it (I am totally against spending 1 trillion dollars in a BAD economy, but who am I?) - it really is like going to a circus and watching the clowns perform with their little toys and the animals.

I do not, however, find any humor whatsoever in the "fact" that this bill will have a loophole to allow illegal aliens to receive free healthcare or that this bill allegedly will allow for elective abortions. It was bad enough to pass a law to make abortion legal, it is that much worse that taxpayer money should go to pay for them.

Well, time will tell. Even if it does pass, there will be hurdles thrown in front of it, from what I am reading, that will make it difficult to actually be enacted as it currently is written.

Weekend is almost here. 7 hours of work and then go home for a couple of days off. I figure to do some Spring Cleaning this weekend - starting with my bedroom I am going to move all the furniture around, vacuum and use the carpet cleaning machine and basically go over every corner of the room until it sparkles. I'm not a big fan of washing windows, but that is on the agenda as well. In fact, my version of a Spring Cleaning will take more than one weekend. I just focus on one room until it's the way I want it and then move onto something else.

Anyway, work day is here and a freight truck just showed up, off to work.

G'day.
ben

Thursday - KCL and Blogging in general

Lesseeeee - I am now a bigot, a right-wing leaning conservative religious nutcase and a hypocrite. Of course, this assessment only came from one person, so I will reserve jugdment on myself in case all of this isn't true : )

I was commenting on another person's journal about that person's take on illegal aliens and the costs that they impose on individual states and on the federal government, when another person came onto his blog and basically ostracized me for my views of things.

Funny, I don't remember signing anything anywhere that says that my views must be in complete agreement with some other individual's views of things. When I have to do that, I will stop blogging altogether. Although I don't doubt the end result of some of our nation's leader's intent is to create a socialist style nation that is run but more: dictated by the federal government as to how we shall live our lives - the American people are not going to go for it. That is evidenced by the large numbers of Americans that are standing up against this health-care overhaul - 37 states now whose governors are threatening to sue the Federal Government if this piece of legislation passes.

The point is simply that I refuse to be gagged and silenced by anyone. People can call me all the names they want - it only stands to make that person look juvenile in maturity and ability to cope in society. I have certainly taken my share of the religious name-calling in my adult life-span of street preaching, talking about the Lord online on numerous different venues and talking to individuals about the Lord as well. People don't need God until - they need a god. When they need a god, then perhaps they will find the true God - the Lord - Jesus Christ - the Father God - The Holy Spirit - a lot of names defining the Trinity and the Lord of Hosts.

Regardless, I suppose this kind of name-calling and trash-talking will go on as long as there are humans present on the earth that are able to communicate with each other, it is nothing that surprises me, but the lows that people will stoop to to try and press another person's buttons sometimes does surprise me at least a little.

Fortunately, I always have this blog to come to if such suppression does, indeed, occur on any other blog, as I have found Blogspot/Blogger to basically not care one way or the other what you do with your blog as long as it isn't something extremely objectionable or against the law. I have even seen extremely objectionable blogs have a warning page issued before you can access it - warning, this blog has been found to objectionable by others, yada yada yada.

I do not, however, believe that KCL owners would ever try to silence me on my personal views of things, they do, after all, opine on many subjects across the board and I would say quite bluntly at that. Not that I have a problem with that, just making an observation. Still, when you get a site like KCL and all of these individuals sort of get thrown into a small box, so to speak, it is always interesting - or ghastly depending on your views of things - to see the occasional torrents of hate and verbal abuse that spews forth from certain individuals.

And, I might add, a handful of individuals that are either singularly or collectively at the onset of such interactions that lend to mild chaos; forms of verbal barbarianism and general malfeasance shown to everyone else.

Well, workday is here, I must be about the company's business.

G'day

ben

Wednesday

Odd day to start a work-week, but here it is.
They say this radiation doesn't leave your system for 4 days - meaning Friday - I don't actually feel anything from it.
Of course, the hardest part of all of this is waiting for the prognosis - who wants to hear bad news? But then again, who wants to not hear what's going on and attempt to act like nothing's happening?

Out of all the whacky, crazy and violent news that is all over the net, I found the story about the kids filling sandbags to save their town of Fargo to be inspiring. The story says that normally, the city would have asked college students to do the job in such a situation, but it's spring break for them and they are apparently not there. Hope their efforts save the town from a flooding disaster.

On the homefront, the days are ticking away until I will, unfortunately, have to evict the non-paying tenant. He is unemployed and though I sympathize with his situation, I have a situation that is rapidly going to deteriorate as the days get warmer and we start having to run the AC in the afternoons - and eventually - all day and night long. I have to have that money to pay for that. Fully one tenant's monthly payment during the summer goes to paying the electric bill.

The people in the trailer are giving me $25 per week, but that is also going up as they are running the AC in that thing during the afternoons - and then again - all day and night long for as long as they are during the summer as well. I calculated about $100 per month just to cool that thing plus the other usage of water, laundry and showers. A bit of uncertainty ahead with all of this and what I'm going to end up with in my pocket concerning tenant monies. I need that guy out of there before the end of the month if I'm to receive no further money from him, I think he has that figured out at this point.

So that's it. 3 day work week and then another weekend arrives already.

G'day.
ben

My Nightmare

Dreams - or nightmares - tend to have stuff in them that in actions that are physically impossible. However, this nightmare was a doozy and in my mind, must have gone on for hours (whether it did or didn't isn't the point: I definitely thought I was going to be killed in this drama).

As we taxiied down the runway - inside of some sort of jetliner and I was a co-pilot - we were escaping something that was coming after us. (I love airplanes, so it was only fitting that my dream started out in such). Our lives were in imminent danger - I don't know from what, the dream started here and progressed from that point.

It was a small town and a junky looking airstrip. In fact, in reality, no-one would ever land a jumbo-jet on such a thing. The asphalt was all cracked, the lines were totally faded and there was a small control tower with one man working the field.

The town itself was full of tattered, old homes that were all falling apart. The world I was in did not seem like the earth that I know - though I have been in places in Mexico that slightly resembled the little town we were leaving. The place was dark - as in evil - and scary. Others had scrambled into the plane, I didn't know any of these people, and frankly, I didn't even know who the pilot was, either.

In this dream, I had no idea where I was, how I got into the predicament or what I was running from. As we took off, I sighed a huge sigh of relief as we got away from whatever "it" was, but there was far greater danger that we were approaching.

It seemed like we had only been in the sky for a very short time - as we had just acquired cruising altitude when we both saw it: A giant stone structure whose base was on the ground but apparently ascended more than 35,000 feet - we were above the clouds. It had a GIANT opening in it - miles across and we were somehow being sucked into it. We were also apparently running out of fuel as the engines started flaming out.

The only thing I remember is sheer terror. We could not escape the pull of this structure, whatever was happening was fate: we were doomed to a disastrous crash and there was nothing we could do about it. As we entered this stone thing, the engines had all died and we started a vertical descent at unbelievable rate of speed, INSIDE of this stone structure. There was JUST enough room for the plane to fit vertically, going straight down, on either side of the structure. As we went down, we saw the bottom looming, but before the bottom, the structure opened up on one side and the engines "magically" came back on.

The maneuvers the airplane made are physically impossible. In reality, the plane would have crashed at the opening of the structure. Instead, we did an almost L-turn going into it and then suddenly and immediately going straight down. We made another L-turn near the bottom and were flying, basically, in the Twilight Zone. I say that because it was a land that was very, very strange looking, hard to define. Like the land of dinosaurs without the dinosaurs.

Well, the plane levelled out but we crashed into a semi-flat area at the bottom. There was some - race - of people there waiting for us with seemingly very hostile intent. It became evident quickly that they were out to kill us with arrows, knives, stones or just plain ole' strangulation. They did not have any modern-day guns/weapons/anything.

As the people that had scrambled onto the plane got out, they were viciously assaulted and killed. Heads being cut off, arrows being flung into their bodies, these people that were killing us were cutting off our heads and got a hold of the pilot, stabbing her multiple times, ripping off limbs.

I told you this was a nightmare, I'm writing it out because it was SO vidid and SO incredibly weird.........

Somehow, I managed to get away. I was running for my life. I was looking around while running trying to figure out where to run to to get away from these people. Inside of this stone structure, the ONLY way out was UP. The whole thing was surrounded by huge cliffs and rock structures. For whatever reason, these killers did not know I had slipped past them and did not notice me until I had made a good distance from them straight up the side of this rock structure.

Apparently, I had become the prey and these people had been training a young man in the art of hunting down and killing such. This couldn't have been more than a 15 year old kid. They "dispatched" this kid after me and this guy was running like a Gazelle. UNBELIEVABLE - and impossible for any man - speed. I sped up my race to get up and out of this viscereal stone structure. If you ever see a stone structure jutting up into the heavens, almost into space - please stay away from it. It will try to kill you!

BTW, I have very vivid images in my mind of this entire scenario, it has not disappeared out of my memory and this dream occured over 2 weeks ago.

The rock wall I was on disappeared back inside the stone structure and I found myself crawling up narrow shafts and then onto flat rock and then going back up narrow shafts. I was hoofing it - as fast as my feet could take me I was moving. That kid was gaining on me. The rock slowed him down considerably once he got to it and started climbing it. He had a bow with numerous arrows in a sack on his back.

From the look of it, I had thousands and thousands of feet to climb. This went on for quite a while, the boy eventually gained on me until he was maybe 50 feet or so below me. I decided I was not going to die at the hands of a teenager and waited for him. I positioned myself in such a way that when he got to me, my foot was going to go into his face and I was going to attempt to shove him off the cliff and make him fall - about a 100 foot fall. It also became evident that this was some super-human or possibly alien race with great strength and power - and also, apparently, magic tricks.

Regardless, this kid got to me - he looked like a savage. I shoved my foot in his face and made contact, but he managed to grab my ankled and tried to pull me down. I got my other foot and was bashing his face with it while he was also trying to grab that. I managed to slip my foot out of his grasp and then gave one, final, huge blow to his face with both feet. He fell. His body was crashing onto the rocks jutting out and he landed on the ground with a great thud.

Out of the thin blue air, one of the adults of this species magically appeared, picked the boy up and disappeared.

I wasn't waiting around for whatever was coming next, super-adrenaline pumping through my veins I redoubled my efforts to get out of this rock thing and get away from these people. Well, now, a whole group of adults were after me. I was in sheer terror, which helped me to not wear out - my feet kept moving. Somewhere along the way, tall pine trees came into my view. I had thought this a good sign, perhaps I could get out of this thing and back onto - the Earth.

And sure enough, I got up high enough and back onto solid ground. It was a forest and I started running for my life through it, as the people chasing me were giving a relentless pursuit. I was shocked that, as I was running, I came through a clearing in the forest and there was a highway in front of me. Wherever this was, it was at a VERY high altitude as the road was at least a 10% grade.

A car with a man driving approached, I waved him down, frantically moving my arms up and down. The whole thing was surreal. He stopped, I just jumped in and told him to floor it, get the bleep OUT of there. As he started to pull away, the men that were chasing me came crashing out of the woods. They were flinging arrows and throwing rocks as we sped off. 100 feet up the road, an incredible sight as some sort of aboriginal looking people, dressed to the 9's in some sort of tribal-looking wear, painted faces - that looked like death - painted bodies - were standing there, lined up at the edge of the forest, spears in hand but the spears were being held veritically with the spear heads in the ground.

These people were standing there like stone statutes. They were not attempting to stop us and they were not the same people as the others that had been chasing us. The looks on their faces, however, was enough to invoke even more terror. You have to understand that throughout this entire ordeal, I was completely, totally terrified. The people that were chasing us had stopped in the middle of the road, having had given up the chase. Why they didn't use their "magic" to simply plant themselves ahead of us, I'm not sure, but I think it had to do with passing through a portal in the road.

Whatever the portal was,apparently those behind us could not pass through it. We drove on and came into view of some of the most majestic mountain scenery I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen plenty. This was also an impossible road, or appeared to be anyway. It was at the very top of a huge mountain ridge - I have no idea what the elevation was, but we were obviously VERY high up.

This is when I woke up. My heart was pumping and I was breathing heavily as if I had just run a marathon. It took quite a while to calm down.

I had no idea, and still don't, if this dream/nightmare has any relevance to my real life. Some claim that dreams are an extension of yourself and that those dreams can be interpreted to find some meaning that is attached to whatever you may be going through in life.

I felt compelled to put it into printed word simply because it's still in my head. Most dreams I wake up from I completely forget about right away.

Ummmm, call me naieve, I had NO idea that Boeing was still producing the 747. That is a picture of the 747-8R, a production plane that is not available to the airline industry yet. This is a pic of it's maiden flight - February 8, 2010. I am in love with the 747. I flew in one when I was 10 years old and I will never forget the experience.

I'm Irradiated! - My Experience With Thyroid Scan/Radiation Iodine Parts 1, 2, 3

Part 1

Yayyyyy!
Oh. Well, this doc visit took all of 10 minutes this morning. Not too many people in there and the doc was waiting for me. THAT is amazing in itself. Yes, the doc was up front, waiting for my arrival. How often do you see THAT? Like - NEVER!!

Anyway, she took me to the back, all kinds of "radiation" signs all over everything - nice aye? How would you like to work in a place like that? She pulls out this giant red and white pill. Says it's radiation iodine. Nice, can I have one with breakfast every morning? Well, apparently it IS a very low dosage, cause she didn't have any protective coverings over here when she handed it to me and proclaimed that the Arizona sun has more radiation in just walking outside than handling or taking that pill.

It's been 30 minutes since I took the thing and I don't feel anything different. Back there at 1:00 pm to get the pictures taken and then again tomorrow morning. I was wrong about taking the pill twice, tomorrow they are just going to take more pictures and then - whatever news there may be coming from my doctor, I would assume.

Well, whatever the ending, I am playing the game - their game I should say - so I give myself credit for doing something that I absolutely abhor: going to ANY doctor's office, and on top of that, a doctor's office where when you enter the back, the sign on the door says nuclear medicine, danger, radioative materials, authorized personnel only.

Thanks, have a great day, c'ya next time.

The new tenant walked out this morning before I left for the doc's visit and proclaimed that I was up early. Lol. I am usually at work AT 5:30 am, so , not really. She seems like a really nice gal, I was going to ask her if there is too much noise at night, but I thought better and let it go. I'll wait until later. The boys are out of school on Spring break. I guess it IS spring already, or almost there anyway. That's scary. I love spring, but I hate the hell that comes after it. NOT looking to another summer living in the Arizona Sonoran desert.

Well at least my drip system is almost finished. I have one more trench to dig - I had thought I could just run a line to the plants in question under the gravel, but this is going to need it's own station and it's own 1/2 to 1/4 inch line run to it. About 30 plants worth. I will not be purchasing that stuff, however, until my financial situation greatly improves. That may actually happen if the ex-Marine does as he says he's going to do and pays me 2 months worth of rent in the span of a couple of days time. We'll see. The now-unemployed pizza delivery driver? Now $300 behind in rent as of today.

I informed him I would not be willing to go beyond a month's worth - he has til' next monday to come up with some money or he is going to get outed. I am actually a very compassionate person and hate to kick people out, but this is a business transaction and my priority must always be to take care of my own needs. There IS no other reason to rent out rooms, at least for me, than for that purpose alone. Look, in the world of tenants, I have come to accept that here and there, I am going to get screwed out of a month's worth of rent and that's the end of it. If it happens, it happens. I probably won't go after the person for the money, just let it go and move onto the next person. BUT, of course, they have to leave peacably and get out when I tell them to. If it goes to court, then I have to decide, after I win, whether to let it go or go for the throat. So far, I haven't gone for the throat on anyone, and trust me, Mary - I could easily win a monetary judgment against her and then go after her paychecks.

But is it worth the hassle? There is enough involved in doing that that I would have to say - I'm in the middle about it. Mary did a lot of work around here and that work is stuff that is lasting - not just cleaning projects but all the landscaping help I received from her. If she could have just not been a drug user, she would still be here, undoubtedly. I have enough other stuff going on right now that I really don't give it much thought.

Anyway, the newest tenant has a job and is in the military reserve. We have agreement that if she has to leave for extended period, I can do temp room rentals while she is gone. Well, I probably should get that agreement in writing since she's going to be gone for 2 months starting in May. I can rent rooms over night, sometimes a week here and there. Basically like a hotel. When Caleb is out of high school, presuming I am still here and he goes off to college, I will rent out the 4th room in such a fashion. Just temp stuff. A few extra dollars here and there. Fix the room up very nice with nicer furniture to make it a little more alluring and pleasant. Hey, it's not THAT far off. Caleb is turning 17 in May. He will start his Senior year in High School in August. Next May, he will graduate high school and then the rest of his life faces him.

He has been going to school counsellors for advice on what to do after high school. He is fairly determined to go to college first and then into the Marines. Well, I hope somewhere along the way he decides a different military organization. I love the Marines and what they do, don't get me wrong - totally respect them. But - they are the first in and the first to die. Call me selfish, I do not want to bury my son, I would rather have that the opposite way. He was ALL concerned about this news of thyroid "stuff". Of course. Who wants to lose a parent, especially at his age? Hopefully there is nothing major here, fix the problem, move on in life.

I'm very hungry. Wasn't allowed to eat since last night until now. The doc said I could eat an hour after I took the pill. Well, I don't want anything screwing up the results, I definitely do NOT want to have to do this again, so I'll just fast until after they take the pics. Then, I will treat myself to something - whatever I feel like. A nice, thick juicy steak with a baked potato and a salad sounds wonderful. I always believe in treating myself after such ordeals, especially considering I will have gone 20 plus hours without eating anything. No, not a restaurant, I just filled my grill's propane tank - grill that sucker and have at it.

Sometimes, I wish I could find other people who write like I do - they detail the events of what happens in different things that come at you in life. I'm sure there are bloggers out there that do diary type things, but I really don't find people that want to do a complete run-down of your experience in any given thing. If you could read - well for me, if I could read - what a person went through in the same circumstance, I know I would be a little more at-ease about what's going to happen.

So, I have entitled this post accordingly for anyone that might have to go through a thyroid scan. So far, I have taken one very large pill that has done nothing noticable to me at all. I will write later on or perhaps wait until tomorrow after the second set of photos and you will have a little better idea of what you are facing in such circumstances. The mind can play really big tricks on you and blow things totally out of proportion simply for fact that it is the unknown. I went there at first with this thyroid scan stuff, but I am much more at rest with it now. I would far rather know what's going on than to just sit here and act like nothing's happening.

Part 2:

I went down the second time today for the 1:00 o'clock appointment. I only knew that they were going to put a camera on my neck and view my thyroid. At this point, I have no idea whether this individual is a nurse, a doctor or just a lab technician. She was very unhelpful, I was asking questions and getting nothing answers. Questions such as what, exactly, were they looking for from this camera view? Oh, you know, things like nodules and things. Oh, I see.

The scenario played out as follows:
You go into a room, you see this rather large machine with a sliding bed on it, the bed obviously slide underneath an apparatus. I'm getting onto the bed, asking questions, getting nothing answers. She slides the bed - with me on it - underneath what she called a camera. It is nothing like any camera I have ever seen. It was approximately 20 inches by 20 inches square with a white, plastic looking surface. There was no lense and if she hadn't told me, I would never have guessed that that thing was a camera.

She informed me that that camera was going to come very close to my face and her information certainly wasn't wrong. She had this big, flat screen cranked down to about an inch above my nose as I was facing up. I do not have claustrophobia, but a person that does would have a problem with this thing. That's because you aren't sitting there for a few seconds.

No, you are laying there for up to 30 minutes with monstrosity right in your face. She said 30 minutes, anyway, I was underneath that thing for about 20. A couple of minutes of a general view, apparently to get the thing focused on my thyroid, then another couple of minutes doing whatever she was doing before starting the full-fledged ordeal.

The full fledged ordeal was facing up for 5 minutes without moving, 5 minutes with your head tilted as far as it can go to the left and then 5 minutes with your head tilted as far as it can go to the right. It was neither pleasant nor unpleasant, it was just there and I was just biding the time until this was over. Once it was over, that was it, I left. I thought twice about asking her if she saw anything unusual, I figured I would get yet another nothing answer so I let it go. She did inform me the radiation would be out of my body in about 4 days.

Helllllllo? I thought this was a low dosage! 4 days?!!

So, tomorrow is the last portion of this ordeal - more photos and then the results are sent to the doc. So, I'll be posting a part 3 about tomorrow's ordeal - which should be nothing more than taking more photos. I will ask her about the results just for the fun of it, though I consider nothing about any of this ordeal to be fun. If there is a part 4, that will be posted on this entry as well. Part 4 would be whatever the results are and if there is anything wrong what it is and what MORE stuff I am going to have to face.

The rest of this has nothing to do with the doc's visit, if you were here just looking for that info, then don't bother to read on, as this is what happened after I left the lab and is irrelevant to the discussion about the scan.

I went to the marketing agency to do the interview on camera for them. Very laid-back atmosphere, people very nice, no pressure. She took me into a room, we sat down at a conference table and she started asking me questions about my experience going through the loan modification process. As as my want, I went into great detail about the rigors of getting the mod done, the wariness I had of loan mod companies after hearing about all the scams going on, and the fact that I would NEVER just hand over 2 grand to a company without something given back in exchange.

This marketing agency is trying, apparently, to get an account with an organization known as Neighborhood Housing Service, the final question was whether I had heard of it before, I had not. However this interview was supposed to help, they are using interviews such as mine to show to them to apparently try and acquire a new contract with a new customer.

That was that. They had my $50 check written, but they didn't have it signed and the person that is the signor apparently had stepped out. They apologized profusely, showed me the check and said I could get a $50 gift card instead. No problem. They then realized that the check signer also had those as well. I had no reason to disbelieve them, they had a large office complex with numerous people working there and there is really no reason to lead people on for $50. So, I gave them my address and they are going to send it to me in the mail. If they do not, well, I will pay them a visit, in-person : )

Finally got to eat after 20 plus hours of not eating anything and only having a few cups of coffee.

Home - I guess it's no big deal about going over there again tomorrow. Just want to get this over with, find out the prognosis and get on with it already.

Part 3:
Drove all the way over there and ended up spending more time in the waiting room than underneath the camera. In fact, from the time the lab tech took me in there and I left was under 5 minutes. Apparently, the second visit is only to confirm that the first visit's worth of readings were accurate. The tech did come forward a little and tell me that they were trying to determine whether my thyroid is over or under active. I'm guessing with my alleged symptoms it's over. I won't repeat what I have been reading online about radioactive iodine and potential complications as I do not attest to the theorem that a person must acquire such simply because some body of text says it will. The results should be to the doc today or no later than tomorrow, according to the tech.

That's it, that was all there was to it. Part 4 will be whatever the diagnosis is and whatever treatment may be necessary.

ben

Ben

Cafe World Tip 14 - How To Acquire Mega Cafe Points

I wrote something about this before, but it seems that people feel the need to pay some dude or dudette that has come up with a "cheat guide" and strategy this that and the other thing.

The information those people are selling is available all over the internet for free, you just have to do some searching.

I have a Cafe World neighbor that has gone from level 43 to level 153 in about 3 weeks time. Impossible? Well, yes, if you're "just" cooking like everyone else does.

However, if you use a Cafe clicker, totally different story. The food cooks FOR you. You don't have to do ANYTHING once you set it up. It buys the food, prepares it, cooks it, serves it and then starts all over again all by itself.

Personally, I refuse to use such a thing and I have alerted Zynga to it's existence. Since my neighbor is still using it a month later, apparenlty Zynga doesn't care about this cheat, and that's exactly what it is: cheating. I would rather just cook away, that's what lured me to the game in the first place.

But, if you just want to get ahead of everyone and don't really enjoy the game and all of it's cooking glory, then look up Cafe clicker on the net and you will eventually find complete instructions on how to beat everyone. I have a link posted in an earlier tip that I put on here if you really can't find one yourself, then search my Cafe World tips and you will find it under "Automatic cooking".

Personally, I hope Zynga does something about this cheat and does away with it entirely. I won't, however, hold it against you if you want to try using it : )

In An Ideal World

.........I wouldn't always have to think about finances, I wouldn't have to have 3 strangers/tenants living in my home and I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. In the real world - well anyone that is breathing has learned about the real world. Interestingly, God NEVER promised us an easy life. He said He would help us, yes, but there ain't no red carpets being rolled out everywhere you go. Yet, for all the hardships life has to offer, there are the joys and the good things that help to equalize it all out. It's all a matter of perspective, really - the age-old is your glass half empty or is it half full axiom. A positive outlook on life - whether you are rich or poor - is the only way to go. I try, really do.

Not that anything ridiculous is going on right now, though those thyroid scans tomorrow and the next day are still bothering me. I just fall back on the fact that we all have to go out of this world somehow, if it's my time, then so beit. I hope not, definitely, there are MANY things I would love to do while I still have life within me. I have never gone overseas and I dearly want to visit various places in Europe "someday". It's a goal - it's on the horizon, usually, eventually, I find a way to make goals happen. But, for now, it's out there, not within grasp yet, still in the dream phase. And anyway, I would far rather do travelling like that with a significant other - which is also, for now, a fairy-tale in the dream world.

My "big" outing today will be to go get that Direct TV receiver. I actually would rather wait until my contract with Directv is up and then switch to Dish Network, thereby acquiring all new equipment for free, but it's still 3 months off til' I can do that. I would actually rather stay with Direct TV, but since I am an existing customer, they will not agree to any of the good deals going on for reduced prices in monthly service and they won't give me free equipment. I've tried that in the past, which is why I ended up switching to Dish Network, and then, back to Direct TV. In reality, I wouldn't mind dumping the $80 per month I am spending on it, but tenants rule this house in terms of amenities, that is one I cannot do without without jeopardizing losing all of them.

Long time readers may remember Ken, the guy that used to live here and of whom I found unconscious in his bedroom - and stayed unconscious for almost 2 months. He is on Facebook and he actually sounds lucid and normal. He says he lost 2 months of his life - has no recollection of any of the hospital stuff he went through, I must say that that is a GOOD thing because they subjected him through quite a lot of stuff during that period. What I'm more happy about is that he hasn't been able to drink any alcohol in the entire time he's been going. He would get flaming drunk on the weekends and wreak havoc in my house, I would always have to go to his bedroom door, bang on it loudly and deal with it.

Joe just called. He is also a former tenant who went to California and never returned - well never until a few weeks ago. I have a closet filled with his stuff and have contacted him telling him to come get it or lose it. He wants to come get it. I hope he has the $115.00 in hand that he promised he would have when he would come to get it, because if he doesn't, well, he's going to have to go get it first. I want the unpaid rent and I see no moral deficiency in holding his things until he pays me. It IS legal for me to do so after 21 days have passed after abandoning his rental unit. I could have had a yard sale and sold whatever I could and then give the rest to Goodwill. People leave me having to deal with their stuff, you can be rest assured if they want that stuff back, they are going to have to pay the same kind of price I have to. In this case, he left the unit, his rent was already past-due, didn't bother to come back and did not give notice of intent to move out. I have held onto that stuff for what, over 2 months now? I could also legitimately charge him a storage fee - whatever is reasonable. $5 per day is reasonable times 60 days. Yup, it adds up. I am not going to do that, but I refuse to give him his stuff back until he pays the unpaid rent. If he comes here starting trouble, I will simply call the police.

I don't expect the worst out of people, no, but with ex-tenants it can happen and HAS happened in the past. Today could be filled with all kinds of excitement!

Ummmmmmmm, with that I am going to end this one.

G'day.

ben

Cafe World Tip 12 - What does the Spice Rack and Spices Do?

There seems to be a great deal of confusion out there over Cafe World's introduction of the new Spice Rack.

Apparently, people are having a hard time obtaining everything, even though I and several other internet sites have posted links on how to get all the jars and shelving instantly.

But beyond obtaining everything you need to build your spice rack, what do the spices actually do to the food? Interesting question, and since I have been using the Spice Rack for a week or so now, I can tell you exactly what it contains and what each spices does to or for your food, as follows.

First, there are 7 spices you can obtain in your rack - so far anyway.
The first spice is called the Mystery Spice and has a "mystery effect on your food".

The second spice is called Super Salt and it adds 5% more servings to the dishes you are preparing. So, if you're making a dish that give you 900 servings per cooked dish, you will get 45 more servings on EACH one that you put the spice on. If you have 9 ovens and put spices on all 9 dishes you are cooking, then you will get 45 servings times 9.

The third spice is called Power Pepper and it add 10 percent more servings per dish. So, if you have 900 servings in a dish you are cooking, you add the Power Pepper and you will net 90 additional servings.

The fourth spice is called Onehour Thyme (their spelling) and it speeds cooking time 1 hour per dish you are cooking. So, if you have a dish that takes 4 hours, you put the Onehour Thyme on it and it now takes 3 hours to cook instead.

The fifth spice is called Sixhour Thyme - same as the Onehour Thyme but it takes off 6 hours of a dish you are cooking.

The sixth spice is called Instant Thyme - it prepares the dish instantly.

The seventh and final spice is called Salvage Sage. It removes spoil from a dish.

Obviously, this is a great addition to the Cafe World lineup, BUT, there are some drawbacks. First, to actually use the spice is painstakingly slow. You click on your spice rack, click on whichever spice you want to use and then click on the dish you want to use it on. It must take at least 30 seconds if not long for the application to life the spice bottle into the air, over the dish you are cooking and then dump some of the spice over it.

Second, the better spices cost money. Not gold coins, real money. You get a limited number of servings of them and then if you want more, well, it's going to cost you. For example, to get a 6-pack of instant spice costs $25.00!!! That's a bit much for for a game, don't you think? A 100-pack of it costs $145.00. You didn't read that wrong, one hundred and forty five dollars. I'm guessing it's possible to get some of these spices free from your neighbors, I definitely know you can get the mystery spice gifted to you from neighbors.

You CAN buy Super Salt and Power Pepper with gold coins. Pretty pricey, but what else do you have to do with your coins? Oh, yeah, you wanted to re-do your Cafe. Well, it's all about your priorities, I guess. A 50-pack of Power Pepper costs 30,000 gold coins. Well, the gold coins didn't cost money, so I have been buy that stuff and using it on dishes that cost a lot of gold coins to buy to begin with. Probably not a good deal to use on Super Chunk Fruit Salad, but definitely worth it on more expensive dishes that take longer to make such as Chocolate Cake, or maybe the Giant Dino Egg which takes 3 days to prepare and costs 1,800 gold coins per dish to prepare.

So, that's a review of what the Spice Rack is all about. It IS worth it to use on some dishes, but again, the biggest drawback for me is how long it takes to actually use the spice on each dish you are cooking.

Now get back to cooking!

ben

Poverty

Okay, I'm not THAT bad off. I still have money in my accounts, but it is dwindling quickly. Paying the child support helped to ensure that my money will totally disappear soon if I don't get some paying tenants - paying - their rent, as in - paying. You know, like when a person gives you money for services rendered/offered/completed?

I have a water bill to pay, a few credit card payments to make and keep the electricity on this month. Beyond that is gas for the car and of course food for the stomach. Michael's mother has actually been bringing him food on a fairly consistent basis. Of course, I tend to force the issue simply by not having foods that Michael likes or - even harder - has to be cooked. I like cooking my own food, therefore I do not buy a lot of prepackaged garbage. Prepackaged if full of all kinds of wonderful garbage, most notably fat content and sodium content. Packed with fat calories, that stuff is really not good for anyone.

I would not, of course, be in this position if even ONE of my tenants was current on his payment. I have an alleged, prospective renter coming over this afternoon. Craigslist people are the bane of my existence. They call me, I do not call them. I put my Magic Jack phone number on the ads so that a person can simply call me if they are interested in the room and discussing it instead of endless emails. They say yes, they will shop up - but they never do. Probably 20% of the people that say they are going to show up actually DO show up. Oh, the point was that I can change my Magic Jack number at ANY time if some whacko starts doing crank phone calls. Of course, I can just shut the thing off as well and those whackos will be talking to nothing buy my voice mail.

Rehashing the same thing over and over, Monday and Tuesday are the "Days". The thyroid testing, that is. Mom and dad are seriously concerned after I informed them of what is happening, even though I tried to tone it down and not really make a big deal out of it. Oh well, I guess that's what parents are supposed to do.

I do have one consolation: after Mondays photos of my thyroid, I am going to a marketing company who is going to video me in answering questions about the process I went through to get my loan modification done. It's an hour's worth of my time for 50 bucks, so I don't think it a waste at all. They advertised on Craigslist asking for people to come in. I thought it a scam at first, but it's real live people operating out of a building in north Phoenix and yes, they have been there a while. The worst that can happen? I don't get my $50 and then there's some serious "answering" to do. Lol.

Well, I'm going to get this little drive with Caleb over with.

I'll report back how it went after we get out of the hospital with all the injuries sustained in the acci.......I mean after we get back and see how it went : )

g'day

ben

Friday!!!

Umm, wow, I got caught up in some news and Craigslist stuff and my before-work time is almost already gone!!
Oh well.
I am reading this situation with the health care bill very intently - this little deal where federal funds can be used to perform abortions is sickening - to me anyway. If you want to kill your baby - PAY FOR IT YOURSELF, don't assume or expect American taxpayers to do it for you. I will be very upset, honestly, if this bill passes with that junk in there.
I only state this because now the dems are stating they are ready to try to pass the bill without taking that wording out of there. I consider this a form of governmental corruption on a mass scale. Even many liberals do not like the idea of taxpayers having to foot the bill for such.

Anyway, the weekend's almost here, I have a short work day - shortened anyway, because I was out late yesterday afternoon doing a return in the far, southeast valley. Which I thought was cool, knowing I would be able to get off early today : )
Have a great day, folks!
ben