Do you know what delineates a CDL A driver from a CDL B driver?
It is the source of much confusion, opinion and a lot of misinformation.
Our local Ops Manager was at our store today - he has been sick and didn't want to be far from home, I guess, in case he needed to leave.
We're all busy about our duties - though I wasn't driving, stuck at the store with no deliveries but plenty to do there anyway - when he asks me about the difference. A manager at one of our stores in New Mexico had hired a driver for an International 7600 series, 10 wheel-dual drive axle truck mounted with flatbed.
He had not checked whether this driver was actually qualified to drive that truck. This driver has a CDL B license. Ummmm, I'm sorry, hiring drivers without checking whether they are qualified to drive the vehicle they will be driving? Especially in the world of trucking? Are you crazy?!!! What kind liability would the put the company under in case of any accident. If an unqualified driver was caught - well - he would definitely not be driving that vehicle from the point of being stopped by the law enforcement officer.
Back to my store, well, I knew the answer but I told him I needed to check. Why? They change stuff with CDL regulations so much, you never know if your information is good or not. I got on the FMCSA site and found the information in very short order. The difference is a tractor-trailer rig, basically, versus a single vehicle with no trailer attached - or is it? No, it isn't that. A Class A CDL (Commercial Driver's License) is required for combination vehicles.
Ahhh, it's easier just to copy and paste, the info is readily available:
Classes of License:
The Federal standard requires States to issue a CDL to drivers according to the following license classifications:
Class A -- Any combination of vehicles with a GCWR of 26,001 or more pounds provided the GVWR of the vehicle(s) being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
Class B -- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing a vehicle not in excess of 10,000 pounds GVWR.
Pretty simple, yes? Clearly understood, yes? Then why all the confusion? I had a manager tell me today at the main warehouse that I was wrong, if a truck has 2 axles on the rear, it also needs a CDL A . Not right. Sorry, thanks for playing, please go home now. The number of axles is irrelevant. I explained it to the Ops manager - but yes - I also printed out a sheet and gave it to him. Well why not? Management SHOULD know the requirements of what amounts to federally licensed drivers that is GREATLY regulated.
The difference? The vehicle being towed, if there is such. Mostly, 10 wheelers aren't towing trailers. I'm just saying that in general terms, there are plenty of dump trucks out there towing heavy trailers and many other scenarios as well.
The manager also argued that a DOT officer had told one of our drivers that the setup he had required a CDL-A license. I simply replied that if it was that trailer out there with tandems on it (two axles), it's probably rated WELL above 10,000 pounds and that's why that officer said that. It took a while, but this manager finally let up.
So, after reading that, can you tell me what the difference is? It's really only about trailers, to get to brass tacks. If the vehicle is pulling a trailer that has a gross vehicle weight under 10,000 pounds, you only need a CDL B license. If the vehicle is pulling a trailer that has a gross vehicle weight over 10,000 pounds, need a Class A license. ANY semi trailer out there is going to be WELL over 10,000 pounds. If it's a single vehicle rated at over 26,001 pounds, then it's a Class B. If it's under that, it's not a commercial license - unless it has air brakes.
You want to talk regulations, just go to the government's site - FMSCA - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration - you're going to read a long, long, long, long time if you want to go through ALL of that.
Good luck with that.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
FaceBook Friends/Discount Tire
So, whoever wants to be Facebook friends - as was talked about in a previous post - that would be cool. I am not giving out my personal info on here, but I'm sure there's some way to identify who is who through other means so that Facebook friend requests can be sent.
Okay, so, the old Buick has a pretty bad vibration. I figure tires, what else could it be? It could be a lot of things, but that car sat for what - 1-1/2 years? I take it to Discount Tire. The guy points at both front tires and says they are sun rotted and is probably the issue. Yes, I have driven semis with rotted tires, the tires come apart, actually, they blow up.
Case in point: JB Hunt. I was doing that local job for them here in Phoenix. They had just started a new contract so all of us drivers were new to the company. They gave us OLD tractors. I mean, they were 8 or 10 years old. The tractor I ended up with had severely dry-rotted tires. I pointed it out to several individuals that could do anything about it within the company - nothing. I informed them that driving that truck on the freeway, fully loaded at 40 tons in 115 degree heat? They are going to come apart.
They didn't want to listen. I'm driving down the Superstition 60 at 65 MPH - the speed limit. One of those tires literally exploded. took out the quarter panel. It didn't cause any steering problems, but the cars around me were sliding SIDEWAYS on the freeway. The explosion sounded like a bomb going off, these people were not expecting that and it caught them by surprise. Fortunately, no crashes. This occured 3 times before - yes - they replaced the tires on the truck. It cost them far more money to not put on new tires than it did to hold out.
However, Discount Tire quoted me $185 for 2 tires. My gosh!!! What is THAT all about? The cheapest tire they had was $65. That means $55 for taxes, fees and whatever else. Unbelievable. No thanks. I asked if they had any used tires, no. Okay, well sorry to waste your time, I am not spending that much more money on this car.
Tomorrow I will call every Discount Tire within 15 miles and see if any of them have a couple of good, used versions. I have gotten some very nice used tires from Discount in the past.
So, whatever. Tomorrow is Friday. I was not able to leave work early today (I am 2 hours over my allotted amount per week) so, maybe tomorrow. But, tomorrow is month end, I think. Month end as in business days left in the month, not actually the 31st. They are pretty rigid about the hours, only if it is completely unavoidable will I ever get any "OT", which it really isn't because it still wouldn't go over 40 hours.
So, that's it. I have nothing more. Computer is on hold - til' I decide that I can really unload the much money and be comfortable with it. Or, of course, this computer shuts down permanently. This machine actually turns itself off now without warning. I mean, I will be doing something on the internet and kabaam, it's done. It turns itself back on, but, it isn't a good sign and yes, that's a new one on me.
G'day.
ben
Okay, so, the old Buick has a pretty bad vibration. I figure tires, what else could it be? It could be a lot of things, but that car sat for what - 1-1/2 years? I take it to Discount Tire. The guy points at both front tires and says they are sun rotted and is probably the issue. Yes, I have driven semis with rotted tires, the tires come apart, actually, they blow up.
Case in point: JB Hunt. I was doing that local job for them here in Phoenix. They had just started a new contract so all of us drivers were new to the company. They gave us OLD tractors. I mean, they were 8 or 10 years old. The tractor I ended up with had severely dry-rotted tires. I pointed it out to several individuals that could do anything about it within the company - nothing. I informed them that driving that truck on the freeway, fully loaded at 40 tons in 115 degree heat? They are going to come apart.
They didn't want to listen. I'm driving down the Superstition 60 at 65 MPH - the speed limit. One of those tires literally exploded. took out the quarter panel. It didn't cause any steering problems, but the cars around me were sliding SIDEWAYS on the freeway. The explosion sounded like a bomb going off, these people were not expecting that and it caught them by surprise. Fortunately, no crashes. This occured 3 times before - yes - they replaced the tires on the truck. It cost them far more money to not put on new tires than it did to hold out.
However, Discount Tire quoted me $185 for 2 tires. My gosh!!! What is THAT all about? The cheapest tire they had was $65. That means $55 for taxes, fees and whatever else. Unbelievable. No thanks. I asked if they had any used tires, no. Okay, well sorry to waste your time, I am not spending that much more money on this car.
Tomorrow I will call every Discount Tire within 15 miles and see if any of them have a couple of good, used versions. I have gotten some very nice used tires from Discount in the past.
So, whatever. Tomorrow is Friday. I was not able to leave work early today (I am 2 hours over my allotted amount per week) so, maybe tomorrow. But, tomorrow is month end, I think. Month end as in business days left in the month, not actually the 31st. They are pretty rigid about the hours, only if it is completely unavoidable will I ever get any "OT", which it really isn't because it still wouldn't go over 40 hours.
So, that's it. I have nothing more. Computer is on hold - til' I decide that I can really unload the much money and be comfortable with it. Or, of course, this computer shuts down permanently. This machine actually turns itself off now without warning. I mean, I will be doing something on the internet and kabaam, it's done. It turns itself back on, but, it isn't a good sign and yes, that's a new one on me.
G'day.
ben
Thursday October 28, 2010
Thursday
The Beggar Bashers. That's what I'm calling them. They are people who go on certain Craigslist boards and just REAM - ANYONE - that goes on there asking for help, even if it's only asking for food. I decided to take a stand against these "people" and got reamed for doing so. Lol. But now, the beggar bashers branding is taking hold and others are catching onto it. If people want to ask for help, let them! If no-one helps them, oh well!
Just thought I'd throw that in there. I occasionally help people with food - not money - but haven't really been doing it in the last several months as my electric bills soared and water usage also went through the roof.
I had thoughts of doing something for Thanksgiving, undecided on that one. Some years I have cooked a couple of turkeys and all the fixings and given it out to the poor people who are living in my own community - there are PLENTY of poor folks around there. I'm as of yet undecided about tripping down to dad's place for Thanksgiving or going down there for Christmas. Caleb is the key factor here- I would rather he go with, he doesn't get to see his grandpa much, he's growing up and soon, he simply won't have time for it. Get out of high school and go into college, plus working? Free time will be very limited.
I've pretty much given in to the fact that I won't even be seeing him that much, let alone anyone else. He's growing up, he's a good kid, his life seems to be taking a good course, that's all I can ask, the rest I have to pray and ask God for.
Umm, well I got off track there, now didn't I? I tend to do that, lol. Anyway, get closer to Thanksgiving and I will be forced to make a decision.
Which also poses another "problem". I have been hearing that Black Friday might just net some crazy deals on computer components. That's quite a ways off, though, like almost a month. I'm not sure I want to wait that long, number one and number two, even if I do, will they have what I want on sale?
That kind of threw my plans into chaos as I started wondering if I was going to miss some incredible deals.
Whatever the case, the work day approaches and I must be offa here.
G'day.
ben
The Beggar Bashers. That's what I'm calling them. They are people who go on certain Craigslist boards and just REAM - ANYONE - that goes on there asking for help, even if it's only asking for food. I decided to take a stand against these "people" and got reamed for doing so. Lol. But now, the beggar bashers branding is taking hold and others are catching onto it. If people want to ask for help, let them! If no-one helps them, oh well!
Just thought I'd throw that in there. I occasionally help people with food - not money - but haven't really been doing it in the last several months as my electric bills soared and water usage also went through the roof.
I had thoughts of doing something for Thanksgiving, undecided on that one. Some years I have cooked a couple of turkeys and all the fixings and given it out to the poor people who are living in my own community - there are PLENTY of poor folks around there. I'm as of yet undecided about tripping down to dad's place for Thanksgiving or going down there for Christmas. Caleb is the key factor here- I would rather he go with, he doesn't get to see his grandpa much, he's growing up and soon, he simply won't have time for it. Get out of high school and go into college, plus working? Free time will be very limited.
I've pretty much given in to the fact that I won't even be seeing him that much, let alone anyone else. He's growing up, he's a good kid, his life seems to be taking a good course, that's all I can ask, the rest I have to pray and ask God for.
Umm, well I got off track there, now didn't I? I tend to do that, lol. Anyway, get closer to Thanksgiving and I will be forced to make a decision.
Which also poses another "problem". I have been hearing that Black Friday might just net some crazy deals on computer components. That's quite a ways off, though, like almost a month. I'm not sure I want to wait that long, number one and number two, even if I do, will they have what I want on sale?
That kind of threw my plans into chaos as I started wondering if I was going to miss some incredible deals.
Whatever the case, the work day approaches and I must be offa here.
G'day.
ben
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday 10/27/2010
Wednesday
I went to bed last night at 7:08.
Unusual even for me to go to bed THAT early. Fortunately, I slept better than the 2 nights preceding it and I think I got at least 7 hours of sleep out of it.
I don't have a lot this morning. I mean, politics is something that has captured my attention as we wind down to voting day. Reid is looking worse and worse, I'm guessing he's losing his "job" and if he does, good riddance to him. Pelosi as well. Too bad it isn't a presidential vote, I seriously doubt Obama will get a second chance at the White House, but, who knows what will happen in the 2 years that he has left to - attempt to wreck our economy even further.
More on my mind is the computer situation. In 6 days, the Army reservist has promised to pay up an entire month's rent in advance. I'm sorta juggling whether to wait and see if that actually comes to pass or not. I'm not screwed if it doesn't happen and she pays as she normally does, I just have less padding if she doesn't and I do go ahead with this computer purchase. I've already committed myself to it in buying the 1 TB hard drive yesterday. It was on sale and it was going off sale in a few days, I figured I wouldn't be as happy with a 500 Gig hard drive as I would be with a hard drive that has twice that capacity.
Halloween. I usually do nothing on Halloween, it doesn't really excite me. I have no plans on this one, either. I don't even give out candy. The lights are darkened and I just stay home. I figure I do enough for people and spending $50 on stuff to make kids even fatter than they already are doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Plus, I'm not a big fan of witches, witchcraft, sorcery and the like. No, Christmas is the holiday I look forward to.
Anyway, work day approaches, there is nothing to do in the truck routing system, I sincerely hope that something comes up to do before work day's end.
ben
I went to bed last night at 7:08.
Unusual even for me to go to bed THAT early. Fortunately, I slept better than the 2 nights preceding it and I think I got at least 7 hours of sleep out of it.
I don't have a lot this morning. I mean, politics is something that has captured my attention as we wind down to voting day. Reid is looking worse and worse, I'm guessing he's losing his "job" and if he does, good riddance to him. Pelosi as well. Too bad it isn't a presidential vote, I seriously doubt Obama will get a second chance at the White House, but, who knows what will happen in the 2 years that he has left to - attempt to wreck our economy even further.
More on my mind is the computer situation. In 6 days, the Army reservist has promised to pay up an entire month's rent in advance. I'm sorta juggling whether to wait and see if that actually comes to pass or not. I'm not screwed if it doesn't happen and she pays as she normally does, I just have less padding if she doesn't and I do go ahead with this computer purchase. I've already committed myself to it in buying the 1 TB hard drive yesterday. It was on sale and it was going off sale in a few days, I figured I wouldn't be as happy with a 500 Gig hard drive as I would be with a hard drive that has twice that capacity.
Halloween. I usually do nothing on Halloween, it doesn't really excite me. I have no plans on this one, either. I don't even give out candy. The lights are darkened and I just stay home. I figure I do enough for people and spending $50 on stuff to make kids even fatter than they already are doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. Plus, I'm not a big fan of witches, witchcraft, sorcery and the like. No, Christmas is the holiday I look forward to.
Anyway, work day approaches, there is nothing to do in the truck routing system, I sincerely hope that something comes up to do before work day's end.
ben
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The Trailer Tenants
I'll just lay it on the line, up front, all out: If I could keep these people here forever, I would.
If I could pay them a salary for the work that is done around here, I would.
If I could not charge them anything, at the very least, I would do that, too.
Call me selfish, call me whatever you want, but these people are jewels in human form.
Excellent cooks. Clean. Moved from doing things outside to doing things inside - well both is what I'm saying.
If I could get a nice travel trailer for them, yup, I would do it.
If I could put them in one of the rooms without feeling the punch of the loss of income, yup, I would do that, too.
I can only say that what they are living in is far better than a tin shed in the back of someone's house with a bunch of pot smokers inside.
Onto other things. I was back at Fry's Electronics again today. I'm nudging myself to make the "investment". Investment - in a computer? Well, yes, I would call it an investment. Not that I could get the money back out of the thing I want to build that I am going to dump into it, no.
But making money off of it isn't even in the equation. Nope. It's mostly enterainment. News, Cafe World, Ebay, Craigslist, my blogs, all kinds of stuff. The investment is in my entertainment. I rarely go to movies, I rarely - do much of anything anymore. Not that I don't want to, but, I'm watching the pennies.
My bonus money went to more fixes on the old Buick and trying to get caught up on bills. The insurance payoff? That's what I'm using here plus some on top of that.
They had the 1 Terabyte harddrive in stock that they didn't have they other day. I got that while it was on sale. The minimum you get nowadays for a new computer setup - at least IMO - is a 1 TB. I bought nothing else. I was very tempted, but, I keep putting on the stops. I can't say for sure why, just this thing - been there done that. In, spending money on something and then some "thing" comes up and you are left scrambling. But, I imagine that by this weekend, I will dive into it, buy all the components and get this done. I do reserve the right to not buy a new monitor. People are selling those things on Craigslist all the time for cheap.
I was questioning yet another salesman - what is this slot for, what is the purpose of that. I didn't understand the 2 slots for PCI Express, so I kept asking until I got it. While that was happening, ANOTHER older gentleman, just like the other day at Fry's, stepped in. In fact, he cut us off to ask a question because he was intrigued by our conversation. I can't say why I didn't find his intrusion offensive, so I can't explain it, but I just stood silent and listened to another conversation unfold. I have a lot to learn about computers, that's all I can say about it.
I got the paperwork to get my new harddrive and headed to the line. That gentleman was, by chance, in front of me. He profusely apologized for interrupting our conversation but he had found it so intriguing that he was compelled to get in on it. I told him he was a jerkoff, shove it up his @$$ - that's what most of the world around me does. I did no such thing, actually. Instead, it was no problem, have a great day.
So, how does my spending money on a new computer and these trailer tenants equate to what I started this entry with? I can't tell you that I'm going to end my life and keep a hold on doing ANYTHING in order to help other people out. I have given consideration to giving them next month's rent free. After the extreme amount of water money shelled out a few days ago and the fact that electric usage is WAY down now, I can probably afford it. But I am not telling them that. I won't make that decision until we're there.
I would love to build a garage with loft on top of it. If it were built the way I wanted it, I would move out of this house, they could have my master bedroom and I would move up there. I have seen layouts - a totally open design - that are awesome. It's sort of a giant kitchenette - but MUCH nicer. One can always dream : )
I was also thinking that, if I found a way to afford it, to take their monthly payment and dump it into a savings account. For a couple thousand bucks, I could buy a much nicer travel trailer than that thing out there.
They told me the other day that my ponds are my "pondering" place. Lol, isn't that true? I ponder these things and much more while watching all of these fish go crazy when I throw the Koi pellets in. Well, that and that flakes - the smaller fish have to have ground up flakes or they ain't eating, at least not the pellets.
Hmmm, I have lots of pondering to do. A great lack in my life rears it's ugly head here and there.
Ain't going into that here.
G'nite.
ben
If I could pay them a salary for the work that is done around here, I would.
If I could not charge them anything, at the very least, I would do that, too.
Call me selfish, call me whatever you want, but these people are jewels in human form.
Excellent cooks. Clean. Moved from doing things outside to doing things inside - well both is what I'm saying.
If I could get a nice travel trailer for them, yup, I would do it.
If I could put them in one of the rooms without feeling the punch of the loss of income, yup, I would do that, too.
I can only say that what they are living in is far better than a tin shed in the back of someone's house with a bunch of pot smokers inside.
Onto other things. I was back at Fry's Electronics again today. I'm nudging myself to make the "investment". Investment - in a computer? Well, yes, I would call it an investment. Not that I could get the money back out of the thing I want to build that I am going to dump into it, no.
But making money off of it isn't even in the equation. Nope. It's mostly enterainment. News, Cafe World, Ebay, Craigslist, my blogs, all kinds of stuff. The investment is in my entertainment. I rarely go to movies, I rarely - do much of anything anymore. Not that I don't want to, but, I'm watching the pennies.
My bonus money went to more fixes on the old Buick and trying to get caught up on bills. The insurance payoff? That's what I'm using here plus some on top of that.
They had the 1 Terabyte harddrive in stock that they didn't have they other day. I got that while it was on sale. The minimum you get nowadays for a new computer setup - at least IMO - is a 1 TB. I bought nothing else. I was very tempted, but, I keep putting on the stops. I can't say for sure why, just this thing - been there done that. In, spending money on something and then some "thing" comes up and you are left scrambling. But, I imagine that by this weekend, I will dive into it, buy all the components and get this done. I do reserve the right to not buy a new monitor. People are selling those things on Craigslist all the time for cheap.
I was questioning yet another salesman - what is this slot for, what is the purpose of that. I didn't understand the 2 slots for PCI Express, so I kept asking until I got it. While that was happening, ANOTHER older gentleman, just like the other day at Fry's, stepped in. In fact, he cut us off to ask a question because he was intrigued by our conversation. I can't say why I didn't find his intrusion offensive, so I can't explain it, but I just stood silent and listened to another conversation unfold. I have a lot to learn about computers, that's all I can say about it.
I got the paperwork to get my new harddrive and headed to the line. That gentleman was, by chance, in front of me. He profusely apologized for interrupting our conversation but he had found it so intriguing that he was compelled to get in on it. I told him he was a jerkoff, shove it up his @$$ - that's what most of the world around me does. I did no such thing, actually. Instead, it was no problem, have a great day.
So, how does my spending money on a new computer and these trailer tenants equate to what I started this entry with? I can't tell you that I'm going to end my life and keep a hold on doing ANYTHING in order to help other people out. I have given consideration to giving them next month's rent free. After the extreme amount of water money shelled out a few days ago and the fact that electric usage is WAY down now, I can probably afford it. But I am not telling them that. I won't make that decision until we're there.
I would love to build a garage with loft on top of it. If it were built the way I wanted it, I would move out of this house, they could have my master bedroom and I would move up there. I have seen layouts - a totally open design - that are awesome. It's sort of a giant kitchenette - but MUCH nicer. One can always dream : )
I was also thinking that, if I found a way to afford it, to take their monthly payment and dump it into a savings account. For a couple thousand bucks, I could buy a much nicer travel trailer than that thing out there.
They told me the other day that my ponds are my "pondering" place. Lol, isn't that true? I ponder these things and much more while watching all of these fish go crazy when I throw the Koi pellets in. Well, that and that flakes - the smaller fish have to have ground up flakes or they ain't eating, at least not the pellets.
Hmmm, I have lots of pondering to do. A great lack in my life rears it's ugly head here and there.
Ain't going into that here.
G'nite.
ben
Tuesday
Tenant issues. Always. Lol. I had to leave a notice for the newest member of the household to not make so much freaking noise in the morning. This at the request of the Army reservist. The guy gets on a conference call with a company he is working for and talks VERY loudly and has that speaker turned up JUST as loudly.
That is done. Whatever the results are, I have no clue. All I know is that it tends to get complicated when there are 3 renters living in the house. I could probably live off of two, but the third gets me caught up plus helps to get to fixing things, replacing things, whatever needs to be done around the house.
Onto the Koi. I bought I think it was 10 small ones from a seller a while back. They all died in short order - they had been subjected to high heat in transit from NC to here. I had lost his email address but then found another one of his ads. I wrote him about the dead fish - no great loss at only $20 but I wanted to see if the dude would make good on bad fish.
Nothing at all the response I received from him. Bug off. Get a life. Go F yourself. This was from a simple statement about the dead fish. I didn't even ask him to do anything about it, ie: replace them, I just told him they had all died. This guy has a freakin' COW. I mean, talk about person who needs to get a life.........I wrote him back and told him if he's going to be that pathetic about this situation that I was going to start flagging his ads. The cows turned into whales - didn't know humans could put out anything that big, but this guy did. Told me he would SUE me if I flagged his ads!! ROFL!!!
Well, I will take it further than that. His business ethics being questionable at best (if it were me selling the fish, I would have simply offered replacements), I wrote up an "re:" ad telling everyone my misadventure with this individual. I also told the guy that I doubted he had a business license or was paying taxes on the proceeds from the fish.
I haven't heard back from that one, though, I am not holding my breath, I don't really care WHAT kind of threats this guy comes up with. Sometimes, this is what you have to deal with on CL. Not for the feint of heart, I'll tell you that right now. The fish are a loss, they were $20, not like I lost hundreds, but still, I did want to see if he would offer anything.
I am trying to get the bravery up to go into Fry's electronics and buy everything I need to put together that computer system. The problem is this: I go, spend the money and then some emergency comes up and I don't have the money to deal with it. Been around the block a few times now, it seems things like to happen that way. I was also considering taking this money and paying off the 401k loan and then getting another. Why? Then I would have a couple of thousand for backup emergency funds instead of - almost nothing.
Let's say the AC went out again right now and I had to replace another $800 compressor. I could come up with the money, but it would put bills and such into "jeopardy".
I dunno. Making these decisions sometimes is very difficult. To pay off the 401k loan, I would have to wait 30 days to get another one.
Well, whatever. I'm sorta sitting on this deal until I get some peace about it one way or the other.
Work day approaches, albeit there is nothing in the truck routing system to do......
G'day.
ben
Tenant issues. Always. Lol. I had to leave a notice for the newest member of the household to not make so much freaking noise in the morning. This at the request of the Army reservist. The guy gets on a conference call with a company he is working for and talks VERY loudly and has that speaker turned up JUST as loudly.
That is done. Whatever the results are, I have no clue. All I know is that it tends to get complicated when there are 3 renters living in the house. I could probably live off of two, but the third gets me caught up plus helps to get to fixing things, replacing things, whatever needs to be done around the house.
Onto the Koi. I bought I think it was 10 small ones from a seller a while back. They all died in short order - they had been subjected to high heat in transit from NC to here. I had lost his email address but then found another one of his ads. I wrote him about the dead fish - no great loss at only $20 but I wanted to see if the dude would make good on bad fish.
Nothing at all the response I received from him. Bug off. Get a life. Go F yourself. This was from a simple statement about the dead fish. I didn't even ask him to do anything about it, ie: replace them, I just told him they had all died. This guy has a freakin' COW. I mean, talk about person who needs to get a life.........I wrote him back and told him if he's going to be that pathetic about this situation that I was going to start flagging his ads. The cows turned into whales - didn't know humans could put out anything that big, but this guy did. Told me he would SUE me if I flagged his ads!! ROFL!!!
Well, I will take it further than that. His business ethics being questionable at best (if it were me selling the fish, I would have simply offered replacements), I wrote up an "re:" ad telling everyone my misadventure with this individual. I also told the guy that I doubted he had a business license or was paying taxes on the proceeds from the fish.
I haven't heard back from that one, though, I am not holding my breath, I don't really care WHAT kind of threats this guy comes up with. Sometimes, this is what you have to deal with on CL. Not for the feint of heart, I'll tell you that right now. The fish are a loss, they were $20, not like I lost hundreds, but still, I did want to see if he would offer anything.
I am trying to get the bravery up to go into Fry's electronics and buy everything I need to put together that computer system. The problem is this: I go, spend the money and then some emergency comes up and I don't have the money to deal with it. Been around the block a few times now, it seems things like to happen that way. I was also considering taking this money and paying off the 401k loan and then getting another. Why? Then I would have a couple of thousand for backup emergency funds instead of - almost nothing.
Let's say the AC went out again right now and I had to replace another $800 compressor. I could come up with the money, but it would put bills and such into "jeopardy".
I dunno. Making these decisions sometimes is very difficult. To pay off the 401k loan, I would have to wait 30 days to get another one.
Well, whatever. I'm sorta sitting on this deal until I get some peace about it one way or the other.
Work day approaches, albeit there is nothing in the truck routing system to do......
G'day.
ben
Monday, October 25, 2010
Wasted Tired
After getting at most 4 hours of sleep last night, I ended up driving all day long.
A call came in late - late for deliveries anyway, after 11:00 am, that a contractor needs pipe and materials. The continuance of that was that if we couldn't get it there today, they were going to call someone else. My manager is asking me if I want to do it. Umm, I'm not used to management asking me if I want to do something or not, I just get it done regardless of whether I feel like it or not.
Admittedly, I was tired but my mouth spoke completely opposite: Let's get it done. Downtown, then off to Florence, otherwise known as prison town. I believe there are 6 prisons in that town (at least). LARGE facilities, all of them, included a Department of Homeland Defense "detention facility". A nice drive even if tired, I left there and took the back way back to the yard - much faster.
Umm, excepting the fact that there was a serious accident on that road further down the way and DPS shut it down. I ended up going around 20 miles out of my way to get back. It's all farm land out there. 2 lane highways and a lot of back roads. If you know the back roads, you can beat everyone else by far. I know ALL the back roads in that entire area - I have spent considerable time out there over the last 6 or 7 years. So, I'm toodling along and finally get to I-10. I'm on there for a minute and come up to another accident. A semi, rolled over on it's side, in the middle median. There was another semi parked next to and and a huge crew of people transferring material from the wrecked truck over to the "good" one.
Wow, is all I can say about that. An eerie site to see a semi rolled over on it's side. There was a huge tow truck that, from what I could tell, had tried to upright it and couldn't, it was sitting idle waiting for them to empty the contents of the trailer. My mind imagined what could have happened to cause that. In that area, huge wind gusts come up unexpectedly and that kind of accident has happened many times before out there. But, it could also have been a cutoff. Or perhaps a shutdown. Who knows.
Umm, as usualy with my entries, long interlude. I get distracted by something and hours pass before I come back to this.
Probably sometime this week I am going to buy all the items necessary to build my new computer. This is really what's on my mind right now. I just haven't decided whether to buy the stuff online from Newegg or Tiger Direct or buy it from Fry's electronics. I'm the kind of person that will wait for a while and see if I can find some other venue to get what I want at cheaper prices. So far, the pricing is marginally different from all sources and in that case, having the personal interaction at Fry's with someone who really knows what they are talking about and will spend the time is far better than blindly and coldly buying it online.
Whatever the case, it is my bedtime.
G'nite.
ben
A call came in late - late for deliveries anyway, after 11:00 am, that a contractor needs pipe and materials. The continuance of that was that if we couldn't get it there today, they were going to call someone else. My manager is asking me if I want to do it. Umm, I'm not used to management asking me if I want to do something or not, I just get it done regardless of whether I feel like it or not.
Admittedly, I was tired but my mouth spoke completely opposite: Let's get it done. Downtown, then off to Florence, otherwise known as prison town. I believe there are 6 prisons in that town (at least). LARGE facilities, all of them, included a Department of Homeland Defense "detention facility". A nice drive even if tired, I left there and took the back way back to the yard - much faster.
Umm, excepting the fact that there was a serious accident on that road further down the way and DPS shut it down. I ended up going around 20 miles out of my way to get back. It's all farm land out there. 2 lane highways and a lot of back roads. If you know the back roads, you can beat everyone else by far. I know ALL the back roads in that entire area - I have spent considerable time out there over the last 6 or 7 years. So, I'm toodling along and finally get to I-10. I'm on there for a minute and come up to another accident. A semi, rolled over on it's side, in the middle median. There was another semi parked next to and and a huge crew of people transferring material from the wrecked truck over to the "good" one.
Wow, is all I can say about that. An eerie site to see a semi rolled over on it's side. There was a huge tow truck that, from what I could tell, had tried to upright it and couldn't, it was sitting idle waiting for them to empty the contents of the trailer. My mind imagined what could have happened to cause that. In that area, huge wind gusts come up unexpectedly and that kind of accident has happened many times before out there. But, it could also have been a cutoff. Or perhaps a shutdown. Who knows.
Umm, as usualy with my entries, long interlude. I get distracted by something and hours pass before I come back to this.
Probably sometime this week I am going to buy all the items necessary to build my new computer. This is really what's on my mind right now. I just haven't decided whether to buy the stuff online from Newegg or Tiger Direct or buy it from Fry's electronics. I'm the kind of person that will wait for a while and see if I can find some other venue to get what I want at cheaper prices. So far, the pricing is marginally different from all sources and in that case, having the personal interaction at Fry's with someone who really knows what they are talking about and will spend the time is far better than blindly and coldly buying it online.
Whatever the case, it is my bedtime.
G'nite.
ben
Monday 10/25/2010
Monday:
I've been sleeping fairly well for several days in a row - until last night. Wake up at midnight, back to sleep around 3:30 am. I've gotten so used to not having enough sleep that I'm mostly able to perform at work anyway. If worse comes to worse,I take my 30 minute break in the form of a nap.
Fortunately, there is plenty to do today as well. A trip the Indian reservation; a delivery of copper material to another site and probably a trip downtown. That should eat up most of the day. I say fortunately because it is much easier to get through a work day when busy as opposed to not being busy at all.
Well, anyway. I was looking this morning at a "huge sale" by a company discount thing - the huge sale was not that huge and the components in the computers weren't anything even close to what I am looking at doing. I do admit some amount of trepidation at building a computer - I have never done one before - but the benefits outweight any cons. You just end up with such a far superior computer than what you are going to pay at the same price for an - inferior model. Upgraded processor; upgraded motherboard; upgraded video card.
Anyway, I'm just biding my time with this thing. I want to make sure my bills are covered before diving into this project, which I will probably do anytime now. Prolly not today for lack of sleep.
Election rhetoric continues to spew forth out of the garbage machines that manufacturer such filth. I say that for both sides. Dems are obviously afraid. I personally do not think it health that any one party control the House and the Senate plus a president in a 3-some of all 3-somes. They can basically do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it and there isn't much to stop them.
That is, until election day arrives and voters undoubtedly are going to create huge lines and large backups to even get to a poll. I do hope that doesn't sway anyone from taking however much time it takes to cast your vote, regardless of your political views. Let the people speak and let it be as much of the voting public as possible. I would love to get there early - but they don't open up until I'm already at work.
I don't know what happened to an entire entry I made yesterday, just sorta disappeared. I have decided that it is very possible to have a nice water garden without any fish in it for the small pond that I was going to get rid of. Just put an aerator in it and maybe a small pump - of which I have both already - to keep the water from getting foul and full of mosquitos. I also have plants I can break apart to use for such.
In other words, there is nothing I have to buy for such a setup, I already have everything. Where to put it poses an entirely different question, but I think I will put it out front where I was going to put a slightly larger pond for fish. I can put mosquito eaters in there and perhaps, maybe some small - very small goldfish as a stock tank sort of thing, but that's it. I think if set up right, it would look totally cool.
Also, I popped off the panel on the outdoor breaker box to take a peek inside - running a line off of that thing is going to be a piece of cake. I need to get that done soon. I would think about stopping at Home Depot on the way home today - but - again - I doubt I will want to do anything but go home and take a long nap this afternoon after getting off of work.
Well, work day approaches and I'm off to look at more "junk" in the news, lol.
G'day.
ben
I've been sleeping fairly well for several days in a row - until last night. Wake up at midnight, back to sleep around 3:30 am. I've gotten so used to not having enough sleep that I'm mostly able to perform at work anyway. If worse comes to worse,I take my 30 minute break in the form of a nap.
Fortunately, there is plenty to do today as well. A trip the Indian reservation; a delivery of copper material to another site and probably a trip downtown. That should eat up most of the day. I say fortunately because it is much easier to get through a work day when busy as opposed to not being busy at all.
Well, anyway. I was looking this morning at a "huge sale" by a company discount thing - the huge sale was not that huge and the components in the computers weren't anything even close to what I am looking at doing. I do admit some amount of trepidation at building a computer - I have never done one before - but the benefits outweight any cons. You just end up with such a far superior computer than what you are going to pay at the same price for an - inferior model. Upgraded processor; upgraded motherboard; upgraded video card.
Anyway, I'm just biding my time with this thing. I want to make sure my bills are covered before diving into this project, which I will probably do anytime now. Prolly not today for lack of sleep.
Election rhetoric continues to spew forth out of the garbage machines that manufacturer such filth. I say that for both sides. Dems are obviously afraid. I personally do not think it health that any one party control the House and the Senate plus a president in a 3-some of all 3-somes. They can basically do whatever they want, whenever they want to do it and there isn't much to stop them.
That is, until election day arrives and voters undoubtedly are going to create huge lines and large backups to even get to a poll. I do hope that doesn't sway anyone from taking however much time it takes to cast your vote, regardless of your political views. Let the people speak and let it be as much of the voting public as possible. I would love to get there early - but they don't open up until I'm already at work.
I don't know what happened to an entire entry I made yesterday, just sorta disappeared. I have decided that it is very possible to have a nice water garden without any fish in it for the small pond that I was going to get rid of. Just put an aerator in it and maybe a small pump - of which I have both already - to keep the water from getting foul and full of mosquitos. I also have plants I can break apart to use for such.
In other words, there is nothing I have to buy for such a setup, I already have everything. Where to put it poses an entirely different question, but I think I will put it out front where I was going to put a slightly larger pond for fish. I can put mosquito eaters in there and perhaps, maybe some small - very small goldfish as a stock tank sort of thing, but that's it. I think if set up right, it would look totally cool.
Also, I popped off the panel on the outdoor breaker box to take a peek inside - running a line off of that thing is going to be a piece of cake. I need to get that done soon. I would think about stopping at Home Depot on the way home today - but - again - I doubt I will want to do anything but go home and take a long nap this afternoon after getting off of work.
Well, work day approaches and I'm off to look at more "junk" in the news, lol.
G'day.
ben
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Tenant
I am hardly going to say here that I am surprised at anything that tenants bring forth when it comes time to paying rent and - sometimes - one of them not paying it.
It is not pleasant business to have to get blunt with a person that is living in your home - which was my intial objection to engaging in such, long ago, but not now, not ever again.
However, today's encounter was a new one on me. I claim no life-long authority on this type of situation, I do claim a 2-1/2 year tenure in dealing with such and I am prepared for whatever comes against me, even such that occured today.
For 2 weeks, the individual has told me he is going to pay back the $85 in arrears, today, he started a discourse. His discourse was that he is supposed to be paying X amount per month and that today? X amount has been paid. He did not venture into the realm of "therefore I don't need to pay the other $85".
I did ask him anyway. "So, are you saying now that you don't owe me the $85 that you missed 2 weeks ago?". No. He admitted such. Then what, exactly, ARE you saying? He "didn't understand" that he would have to pay "more" than the amount of rent accrued in one month. Oh? We are on a weekly deal here, you are paying by the week, not by the month. If you were paying by the month, then you would pay me a month's worth of rent at the beginning of the month.
This is simple logic. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. But this went back and forth for quite a while. I ended the stalemate. You owe me $85 in arrears PLUS this week. That's a fact, you haven't disputed it. If you can't afford to pay it up all at once, I'll work with you - pay it back in payments. X amount over the weekly rent until you are caught up.
That was that. He handed me a money order for the amount of $90 - $5 over what he owes for a week and that was that. Oh, I see. Well, if he didn't think he owed me more, why then did he give me more, even if only $5? I didn't ask him that, but the reigns are going to be pulled much tighter on this individual. He promised me the full amount owed for the past due and current due - but did not deliver it. That has me on "flag". Meaning, this guy is going to have to be pressed.
No biggies. I can do that and will. I have the advantage over a person that wants to get their own apartment: you going to do that, you don't want what I can put on your record. That would be a judgment for forcible detainer/eviction. A vast majority of apartment properties are going to reject anyone with such, or, force far more money down, like first and last month's rent plus deposit.
I can't possibly write here the entire dialect between us, take too long. It might be entertaining reading to certain individuals, however, I have had a full weekend and I think I've had enough.
The fact of the matter is, it was the boost I wanted to get on with this computer project AND be able to pay my bills. The $325 water bill really hurt this month, I admit I have myself to blame, but that does not ease the pain.
Umm, so it's drawing to a close, the day that is and I have plenty to do.
C'ya tomorrow.
ben
It is not pleasant business to have to get blunt with a person that is living in your home - which was my intial objection to engaging in such, long ago, but not now, not ever again.
However, today's encounter was a new one on me. I claim no life-long authority on this type of situation, I do claim a 2-1/2 year tenure in dealing with such and I am prepared for whatever comes against me, even such that occured today.
For 2 weeks, the individual has told me he is going to pay back the $85 in arrears, today, he started a discourse. His discourse was that he is supposed to be paying X amount per month and that today? X amount has been paid. He did not venture into the realm of "therefore I don't need to pay the other $85".
I did ask him anyway. "So, are you saying now that you don't owe me the $85 that you missed 2 weeks ago?". No. He admitted such. Then what, exactly, ARE you saying? He "didn't understand" that he would have to pay "more" than the amount of rent accrued in one month. Oh? We are on a weekly deal here, you are paying by the week, not by the month. If you were paying by the month, then you would pay me a month's worth of rent at the beginning of the month.
This is simple logic. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. But this went back and forth for quite a while. I ended the stalemate. You owe me $85 in arrears PLUS this week. That's a fact, you haven't disputed it. If you can't afford to pay it up all at once, I'll work with you - pay it back in payments. X amount over the weekly rent until you are caught up.
That was that. He handed me a money order for the amount of $90 - $5 over what he owes for a week and that was that. Oh, I see. Well, if he didn't think he owed me more, why then did he give me more, even if only $5? I didn't ask him that, but the reigns are going to be pulled much tighter on this individual. He promised me the full amount owed for the past due and current due - but did not deliver it. That has me on "flag". Meaning, this guy is going to have to be pressed.
No biggies. I can do that and will. I have the advantage over a person that wants to get their own apartment: you going to do that, you don't want what I can put on your record. That would be a judgment for forcible detainer/eviction. A vast majority of apartment properties are going to reject anyone with such, or, force far more money down, like first and last month's rent plus deposit.
I can't possibly write here the entire dialect between us, take too long. It might be entertaining reading to certain individuals, however, I have had a full weekend and I think I've had enough.
The fact of the matter is, it was the boost I wanted to get on with this computer project AND be able to pay my bills. The $325 water bill really hurt this month, I admit I have myself to blame, but that does not ease the pain.
Umm, so it's drawing to a close, the day that is and I have plenty to do.
C'ya tomorrow.
ben
Sunday
What an unbelievable amount of rigarmoroo to do the fumigation of this house!The prep work is incredible. Pulling everything out of your kitchen cabinets is much more of a chore than one might imagine if one has a lot of them. I have no idea what the final verdict is. Did it get all of them? Judging by the choking sensation I had when I walked in here after 4 hours of it - I would say the poison certainly had it's opportunities to kill them out. I also pulled of several electrical outlets in hopes of that stuff getting into the walls.
Honestly? There was only some fogging for a short period of time after setting off those bombs. I thought maybe they were making claims that were far beyond reality. Looking through the windows, after maybe 30 minutes, you couldn't see anything in here. However and again, walking in here after 4 hours of setting them off and choking - coughing, hacking, I was running through here to open up the windows and air the place out - well that made a believer out of me, at least to the longevity of the poison's ability to stick around. The dead roaches on the floor this morning was further indication that yes, it had to at least partially do it's job. I'm considering doing it again - though getting tenant cooperation with such may be a bit difficult.
I'm certainly not calling it a waste of time. For the roaches I found dead on the floor, I'm assuming much more dead out of sight. BUT, it was "the" project of the weekend. I was going to run a line and get another electrical box going outside for the ponds, NOT. Wait til' next weekend. Looking at this week's projected low temps, I'll be safe. I don't want to load anything more onto that extension cord - 300 watt heaters will be too much amperage combined with the pumps and aerators on that one cord. The pumps and aerators are very low wattage, no problem with current setup but it's only a temp deal.
Enough about roaches and electricity (though, the electric usage was $5.40 yesterday!). Computers. If you've never entered the world of attempting to figure out what to put into a computer to build one yourself, well, unless you are going to blindly go in swinging, you are in for quite an education. I have spent days and even a couple of weeks now poring over an unlimited amount of websites, blogs and internet store pages reading about everything the mind can imagine. Yes, I want to become well-versed on core components, no, I can hardly say I have any amount of expertise, I am relying on opinions and reviews of others.
Well, I've read hundreds of them so far. That is no exaggeration. I'm seriously telling you that there must be millions of pages out there - you can find opinions up the ying-yang ad-infinitum. I neither have the time nore the desire to do all of that, BUT, I definitely have the desire to go ahead and do at least some research. I want the best machine I can build for the money I have to dump into it. Motherboards and processors and video graphic cards. PCI Express, how much wattage in a power supply, do you want to overclock, on and on and on. It's unbelievable the amount of different technology out there. Almost equally as unbelievable the amount of people that actually KNOW - ALL - of this stuff.
I talked to one such individual today. My quest: go to Fry's electronics, pick the brain of whatever computer geek I could find. Well, I found a doozy. The guy was a walking encyclopedia. He had opinions on everything. No, more like, he had EXPERTISE on everything. I spent an hour standing there listening to this guy showing me everything and attempting to show me what I could get with the budget I have in mind. The quest included getting pricing on pre-selected items that I found the experts to agree on - at least to some degree so I could compare pricing with online stores; glean as much information as I could from the guy - especially about motherboards because I find the "expert's" opinions on that to be confusing at best; and possibly even buy the setup then and there and just get it over with.
I ended up being bombarded with information from 2 fronts: the store employee and an older gentleman who knew more than the store guy, which in itself I found quite amazing. He was listening to the store guy talking and just had to chime in. In a scenario where I really don't have a clue, I'm going to take all sides even if unasked for. He apologized for nosing into my business - I replied I was glad to hear the information. He WAS impressed by the motherboard I was looking at buying. He suggested a processor to go with it - WAY out of my budget, lol, at $250. He started laughing as well, "Well, I AM good at spending other people's money!".
I also took a second trip to see the pre-built systems they had. One advantage is they are, of course, already set up. The huge disadvantage is you are paying the same price or even more for a system that is far inferior to one you can build yourself. The money you save in building it yourself is the money you spend on better components. There was nothing there under $900 that was worth spending that kind of money on. Even the more expensive systems - they had better components, but for THAT kind of money you could build your own system that would be doubled the computing that those things offer.
So, here I am with about $400 sitting in my pocket. Waiting on one particular tenant's money - he will be addressed personally today if he doesn't ante up. He left yesterday and I have had no opportunity to - discuss - this issue with him. Money in the bank is for bills - can touch a bit of it but not too much. I haven't gone off the cliff yet - I am still considering my options. I will undoubtedly not be able to buy or build another computer for a long time, this one is going to have to be able to tide me over for quite a while.
The HUGE water bill - 2 months worth is -paid. Felt good to pay it, yet it felt bad to have a bill THAT big just for water, sewer and trash. Criminy. Water consumption is way down, I haven't watered plants in 2 weeks. The next water bill should be as shockingly low as the low amount of electricity that is being used : )
Oh, Direct TV. Yes another run-in with Direct TV. I decided that if they weren't going to give me new equipment (and in exchange, I would sign another 2 year contract), then they ARE going to continue to give me free movie channels. This was one of the worst interactions with Direct TV employees I have encountered yet and with the LONG list of encounters I have had with them in over a decade, that IS saying something.
These people are getting ruder, more condescending and being very flippant about the fact that you are their customer. They could CARE LESS. Their policies are their policies, if you don't like them, tough. But, experience that I always fall back on, persistence is key. Not with the same person who is mouthing off to you, get beyond that and call again. And again. And again. I spoke with 3 separate "supervisors" which in my view are nothing more than a glorified incoming 800 call center operator - they have no powers to speak of. After all of that, I finally ended up at the Office of the President. I was - getting pretty upset at that point - about the way those people were talking to me. This guy says he's in Iowa somewhere. I had to ask how he could be in the same office as the president is in considering the present's office is in California.
Ohh, sir, but this IS the right department. I had gotten the runaround so much, I didn't even want to talk to this guy. I had specifically asked, after being transferred off to Iowa the first time, to speak with someone in the office that I had called directly, which, btw, was NOT an 800 number. It's in El Segundo, to be precise and yes, the number to headquarters is listed online (albeit ifyou ask any Direct TV employee, they are going to tell you they don't know or have access to that number).
I finally relented and gave him my information. This was after 10 or 15 minutes of me telling him about the previous phone calls, the length of time I have been with this company on 2 accounts for over 10 years, and the fact that I had been PROMISED free movie channels by the 1st individual I had talked to (whose manager came on the line and retracted). I "earned" 6 months of free Starz channels for that. Look, they all occasionally have some great movies and the rest are junk you don't want to watch anyway, which is why I refuse to pay for them. I can't always just turn on any movie channel package and find something I want to watch, not at all. I actually did it for the trailer tenants who told me the Showtime channels had been shut off. Yes, I replied, it was a 3 month freebie, but I'll try to get some more.
Anyway, it was worth the effort. I guess. I mean, it helps my bottom line and that's what counts.
It's 3:00pm Sunday afternoon, the weekend is winding down, they always disappear like lightning. Mind filld with all kinds of stuff. I'm going outside shortly to take care of more landscaping issues.
G'day.
ben
Honestly? There was only some fogging for a short period of time after setting off those bombs. I thought maybe they were making claims that were far beyond reality. Looking through the windows, after maybe 30 minutes, you couldn't see anything in here. However and again, walking in here after 4 hours of setting them off and choking - coughing, hacking, I was running through here to open up the windows and air the place out - well that made a believer out of me, at least to the longevity of the poison's ability to stick around. The dead roaches on the floor this morning was further indication that yes, it had to at least partially do it's job. I'm considering doing it again - though getting tenant cooperation with such may be a bit difficult.
I'm certainly not calling it a waste of time. For the roaches I found dead on the floor, I'm assuming much more dead out of sight. BUT, it was "the" project of the weekend. I was going to run a line and get another electrical box going outside for the ponds, NOT. Wait til' next weekend. Looking at this week's projected low temps, I'll be safe. I don't want to load anything more onto that extension cord - 300 watt heaters will be too much amperage combined with the pumps and aerators on that one cord. The pumps and aerators are very low wattage, no problem with current setup but it's only a temp deal.
Enough about roaches and electricity (though, the electric usage was $5.40 yesterday!). Computers. If you've never entered the world of attempting to figure out what to put into a computer to build one yourself, well, unless you are going to blindly go in swinging, you are in for quite an education. I have spent days and even a couple of weeks now poring over an unlimited amount of websites, blogs and internet store pages reading about everything the mind can imagine. Yes, I want to become well-versed on core components, no, I can hardly say I have any amount of expertise, I am relying on opinions and reviews of others.
Well, I've read hundreds of them so far. That is no exaggeration. I'm seriously telling you that there must be millions of pages out there - you can find opinions up the ying-yang ad-infinitum. I neither have the time nore the desire to do all of that, BUT, I definitely have the desire to go ahead and do at least some research. I want the best machine I can build for the money I have to dump into it. Motherboards and processors and video graphic cards. PCI Express, how much wattage in a power supply, do you want to overclock, on and on and on. It's unbelievable the amount of different technology out there. Almost equally as unbelievable the amount of people that actually KNOW - ALL - of this stuff.
I talked to one such individual today. My quest: go to Fry's electronics, pick the brain of whatever computer geek I could find. Well, I found a doozy. The guy was a walking encyclopedia. He had opinions on everything. No, more like, he had EXPERTISE on everything. I spent an hour standing there listening to this guy showing me everything and attempting to show me what I could get with the budget I have in mind. The quest included getting pricing on pre-selected items that I found the experts to agree on - at least to some degree so I could compare pricing with online stores; glean as much information as I could from the guy - especially about motherboards because I find the "expert's" opinions on that to be confusing at best; and possibly even buy the setup then and there and just get it over with.
I ended up being bombarded with information from 2 fronts: the store employee and an older gentleman who knew more than the store guy, which in itself I found quite amazing. He was listening to the store guy talking and just had to chime in. In a scenario where I really don't have a clue, I'm going to take all sides even if unasked for. He apologized for nosing into my business - I replied I was glad to hear the information. He WAS impressed by the motherboard I was looking at buying. He suggested a processor to go with it - WAY out of my budget, lol, at $250. He started laughing as well, "Well, I AM good at spending other people's money!".
I also took a second trip to see the pre-built systems they had. One advantage is they are, of course, already set up. The huge disadvantage is you are paying the same price or even more for a system that is far inferior to one you can build yourself. The money you save in building it yourself is the money you spend on better components. There was nothing there under $900 that was worth spending that kind of money on. Even the more expensive systems - they had better components, but for THAT kind of money you could build your own system that would be doubled the computing that those things offer.
So, here I am with about $400 sitting in my pocket. Waiting on one particular tenant's money - he will be addressed personally today if he doesn't ante up. He left yesterday and I have had no opportunity to - discuss - this issue with him. Money in the bank is for bills - can touch a bit of it but not too much. I haven't gone off the cliff yet - I am still considering my options. I will undoubtedly not be able to buy or build another computer for a long time, this one is going to have to be able to tide me over for quite a while.
The HUGE water bill - 2 months worth is -paid. Felt good to pay it, yet it felt bad to have a bill THAT big just for water, sewer and trash. Criminy. Water consumption is way down, I haven't watered plants in 2 weeks. The next water bill should be as shockingly low as the low amount of electricity that is being used : )
Oh, Direct TV. Yes another run-in with Direct TV. I decided that if they weren't going to give me new equipment (and in exchange, I would sign another 2 year contract), then they ARE going to continue to give me free movie channels. This was one of the worst interactions with Direct TV employees I have encountered yet and with the LONG list of encounters I have had with them in over a decade, that IS saying something.
These people are getting ruder, more condescending and being very flippant about the fact that you are their customer. They could CARE LESS. Their policies are their policies, if you don't like them, tough. But, experience that I always fall back on, persistence is key. Not with the same person who is mouthing off to you, get beyond that and call again. And again. And again. I spoke with 3 separate "supervisors" which in my view are nothing more than a glorified incoming 800 call center operator - they have no powers to speak of. After all of that, I finally ended up at the Office of the President. I was - getting pretty upset at that point - about the way those people were talking to me. This guy says he's in Iowa somewhere. I had to ask how he could be in the same office as the president is in considering the present's office is in California.
Ohh, sir, but this IS the right department. I had gotten the runaround so much, I didn't even want to talk to this guy. I had specifically asked, after being transferred off to Iowa the first time, to speak with someone in the office that I had called directly, which, btw, was NOT an 800 number. It's in El Segundo, to be precise and yes, the number to headquarters is listed online (albeit ifyou ask any Direct TV employee, they are going to tell you they don't know or have access to that number).
I finally relented and gave him my information. This was after 10 or 15 minutes of me telling him about the previous phone calls, the length of time I have been with this company on 2 accounts for over 10 years, and the fact that I had been PROMISED free movie channels by the 1st individual I had talked to (whose manager came on the line and retracted). I "earned" 6 months of free Starz channels for that. Look, they all occasionally have some great movies and the rest are junk you don't want to watch anyway, which is why I refuse to pay for them. I can't always just turn on any movie channel package and find something I want to watch, not at all. I actually did it for the trailer tenants who told me the Showtime channels had been shut off. Yes, I replied, it was a 3 month freebie, but I'll try to get some more.
Anyway, it was worth the effort. I guess. I mean, it helps my bottom line and that's what counts.
It's 3:00pm Sunday afternoon, the weekend is winding down, they always disappear like lightning. Mind filld with all kinds of stuff. I'm going outside shortly to take care of more landscaping issues.
G'day.
ben
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Our version of chilly has arrived. It's 59 degrees outside. I turned the AC off yesterday afternoon around 2:00 pm and I haven't turned it on since. The electric use yesterday was a little over $6.00 - YES!! - slam dunk, wham, bam thank you ma'am!! If I can get it down to $5.00 per day, that would be about the best it's going to get. The high today is going to be 79 degrees, I figure there will be a couple three hours this afternoon that I will have to close up the house and turn on the AC - it always gets warming inside the house than the ambient temperature outside if, for nothing else, the fact that the sun is baking on the roof and heating things up inside.
I am reminding myself here that I need to buy a couple of thermometers for the ponds today, want to ensure that the temps don't get too low. That water felt pretty cold this morning, but the ambient outdoor temps aren't low enough to cause any great alarm, yet. I have all of those heaters, 300 watt versions, prolly 1 or 2 in each pond, on at night time should suffice. I'll start with one since I do want to keep electric usage down.
I am researching computers and whether I should buy one pre-made or build one myself. I have never built one but there are step-by-step instructions on how to do it online. In fact, I found a very good site and it has pics, very clearly communicating how to go about each step and what order to do it in. I'm considering building my own because I will end up with a better machine for lower price. I have written down the expert's advice for the type of computer I want as to what hardware and even brands should be bought. I am going to Fry's electronics again today with this list in hand to see if it really will be better to build my own, though, there are a couple of online sources for computer compenents (Goodegg and Tiger Direct) that have pricing right there. I would, however, rather buy locally in case I have a problem I can take the machine in and have it looked at. Fry's has such techs available, not for free of course, but if worse came to worse at least I would have that option.
The research is starting to give me a better understanding of how these things work. The motherboard appears to be the component that needs a lot of consideration put into it. DDR3 memory, DDR SDRAM with at least 1 gig. Will I ever want a Firewire port? How many PCI slots does it have? What kind of processor will I want to use, and found out I HAVE to determine that first before getting a motherboard. I like Intel but AMD has almost the same performance at lower prices. So, probably AMD Phenom X4 series, versus Intel i5 or i7. The video card is also a factor - what do I want in one and will it be compatible with the motherboard I buy? Experts seem to lean towards the newer technology that everything is eventually going to go to in PCI Express video cards.
Again, the geeks at Frys will be able to tell me if whatever I am thinking of buying is compatible with each other, versus me trying to figure it out myself. I didn't even know there WERE variances, on another note, of hard drives with RPM speeds. I've been spending, really, a GREAT deal of time in persuing message boards and sites with experts that are giving all kinds of opinions, but much of it seems to agree with each other.
I am now a racist and a bigot. For once, just once in a great while, I wanted a hamburger. I left in the middle of writing this entry because I had to go to Walmart and get the bug bombs. I bought 6 of them, more than enough to cover this house. The house is, however, going to have to be shut for 4 hours. No people, no animals, not even plants. Taking out all food stuffs that could be contaminated by it, opening up all cupboards, drawers and doors. That even is taking place in about - an hour and 15 minutes.
Anyway, I stopped at Jack in the Box. I ordered some tacos for Caleb and I ordered a Jumbo Jack - no mayo and no cheese. The woman at the counter? Didn't understand. That's because she doesn't speak English. Well, she speaks very broken english and understands even less. I repeated myself 6 times at least to try to get her to understand. No, it was more than that. Between the tacos, the jumbo jack and asking for salsa on top of hot sauce, I had to repeat myself more like a dozen times.
I forgot. I made it a point that if I ever go into that place again (last time I went in there and yes, they totally screwed up the order) I was going to pull everything out of the bag, open it all up and make sure I am getting what I asked for. I didn't do that this time. I said "No mayo" 3 or 4 times to this woman because she did not understand me. She apparently thought she "got it" and proceeded to ring up the order. Fast forward, I'm home, pull out the Jumbo Jack and what does it have on it? Not just a little mayo, it was SLATHERED in it. I like mayonaisse, but not THAT much even if I HAD wanted it on there.
I called the manager. I asked for the general manager, I was informed the general manager doesn't work at that store. I then proceeded to verbalize my complaint: You have people working the counter that do not speak english. We went back and forth. I was NOT rude to him, he was very rude to me. I was appalled when he got to his "belief" about this: "I am not going to fire an entire crew of people simply because they don't speak English. That would be bigoted and racist and I am not going to do it".
My jaw dropped, I am sure. "PLEASE explain to me how it is racist and bigoted to ask for people who speak clear and plain English in an Enlish speaking society?". The man called me ignorant, told me I don't understand English either, I mean, this guy went to town on me. I asked for the name of the general manager. Refused to give it to me. No worries, I told him, you haven't heard the last of me. You are going to wish to high heaven that you hadn't called me names and called me a racist and a bigot for asking you to employ people that speak English.
That was that. For now. Jack in the Box corporate is closed until Monday. I have half a mind to forward this story to every local news source in town to see if they would be interested in what is, apparently, Jack in the Box's stance on people who asking for an English speaking customer service representative only to be told that for asking for such, you are racist and bigoted.
Well, onto other things, I'm not going to fume over an idiot, which is what this "manager" is. I just spent half an hour getting all the food together that is going to need to go outside. Put it all in a large plastic bag and securely seal it. Actually, I just had the thought that any opened boxes I am going to throw out in the trash in case there are roaches in there and then, I will have this problem all over again even IF this fumigation works. Yes, there isn't anything there that costs that much - instant potatoes and instant rice.
What am I going to do for 4-1/2 hours? First, I am going up to Fry's electronics and get pricing on the parts that I will need to put together my own computer. I am not going to buy anything today, just want the prices. Then I can compare Fry's prices to Tiger Direct and Newegg. If the prices are the same or close, Fry's it will be.
Then, I am going to go buy a pair of gloves, go home and continue working on the landscaping out front. Everything needs a good pruning. I got a good start earlier this week on it, just need to continue on with that.
I also have plenty of work left to do on the pond I just installed. I have some digging to do to let a couple of the shelves down so that it is all even at the top. Tuck the plastic beside the pond and then fill it in with dirt. That will take quite a while and I don't even know if I will finish that this weekend. I also have to run a line and install another electrical box to get sufficient electrical outlets for the ponds to run the aerators, pumps and soon, probably a couple of heaters. So, I have PLENTY to keep me well occupied.
It's a beautiful day out, being out there even during the hottest part of today will be no problem at all.
Finishing up, waiting for Kirby to get back from his bike road so he can get his stuff and leave. He was going on a 25 mile ride, but he left 2 hours ago so hopefully he'll be back soon as I want to get this up and going and get it over with. I don't REALLY feel like doing this - AT ALL - but I have no choice in the matter. Well, I guess I do have choices but they aren't anything I want to engage myself in.
OH, I was going to pull some of the electrical covers off in the kitchen to make sure that stuff can find a way into the walls...............outta here!
ben
I am reminding myself here that I need to buy a couple of thermometers for the ponds today, want to ensure that the temps don't get too low. That water felt pretty cold this morning, but the ambient outdoor temps aren't low enough to cause any great alarm, yet. I have all of those heaters, 300 watt versions, prolly 1 or 2 in each pond, on at night time should suffice. I'll start with one since I do want to keep electric usage down.
I am researching computers and whether I should buy one pre-made or build one myself. I have never built one but there are step-by-step instructions on how to do it online. In fact, I found a very good site and it has pics, very clearly communicating how to go about each step and what order to do it in. I'm considering building my own because I will end up with a better machine for lower price. I have written down the expert's advice for the type of computer I want as to what hardware and even brands should be bought. I am going to Fry's electronics again today with this list in hand to see if it really will be better to build my own, though, there are a couple of online sources for computer compenents (Goodegg and Tiger Direct) that have pricing right there. I would, however, rather buy locally in case I have a problem I can take the machine in and have it looked at. Fry's has such techs available, not for free of course, but if worse came to worse at least I would have that option.
The research is starting to give me a better understanding of how these things work. The motherboard appears to be the component that needs a lot of consideration put into it. DDR3 memory, DDR SDRAM with at least 1 gig. Will I ever want a Firewire port? How many PCI slots does it have? What kind of processor will I want to use, and found out I HAVE to determine that first before getting a motherboard. I like Intel but AMD has almost the same performance at lower prices. So, probably AMD Phenom X4 series, versus Intel i5 or i7. The video card is also a factor - what do I want in one and will it be compatible with the motherboard I buy? Experts seem to lean towards the newer technology that everything is eventually going to go to in PCI Express video cards.
Again, the geeks at Frys will be able to tell me if whatever I am thinking of buying is compatible with each other, versus me trying to figure it out myself. I didn't even know there WERE variances, on another note, of hard drives with RPM speeds. I've been spending, really, a GREAT deal of time in persuing message boards and sites with experts that are giving all kinds of opinions, but much of it seems to agree with each other.
I am now a racist and a bigot. For once, just once in a great while, I wanted a hamburger. I left in the middle of writing this entry because I had to go to Walmart and get the bug bombs. I bought 6 of them, more than enough to cover this house. The house is, however, going to have to be shut for 4 hours. No people, no animals, not even plants. Taking out all food stuffs that could be contaminated by it, opening up all cupboards, drawers and doors. That even is taking place in about - an hour and 15 minutes.
Anyway, I stopped at Jack in the Box. I ordered some tacos for Caleb and I ordered a Jumbo Jack - no mayo and no cheese. The woman at the counter? Didn't understand. That's because she doesn't speak English. Well, she speaks very broken english and understands even less. I repeated myself 6 times at least to try to get her to understand. No, it was more than that. Between the tacos, the jumbo jack and asking for salsa on top of hot sauce, I had to repeat myself more like a dozen times.
I forgot. I made it a point that if I ever go into that place again (last time I went in there and yes, they totally screwed up the order) I was going to pull everything out of the bag, open it all up and make sure I am getting what I asked for. I didn't do that this time. I said "No mayo" 3 or 4 times to this woman because she did not understand me. She apparently thought she "got it" and proceeded to ring up the order. Fast forward, I'm home, pull out the Jumbo Jack and what does it have on it? Not just a little mayo, it was SLATHERED in it. I like mayonaisse, but not THAT much even if I HAD wanted it on there.
I called the manager. I asked for the general manager, I was informed the general manager doesn't work at that store. I then proceeded to verbalize my complaint: You have people working the counter that do not speak english. We went back and forth. I was NOT rude to him, he was very rude to me. I was appalled when he got to his "belief" about this: "I am not going to fire an entire crew of people simply because they don't speak English. That would be bigoted and racist and I am not going to do it".
My jaw dropped, I am sure. "PLEASE explain to me how it is racist and bigoted to ask for people who speak clear and plain English in an Enlish speaking society?". The man called me ignorant, told me I don't understand English either, I mean, this guy went to town on me. I asked for the name of the general manager. Refused to give it to me. No worries, I told him, you haven't heard the last of me. You are going to wish to high heaven that you hadn't called me names and called me a racist and a bigot for asking you to employ people that speak English.
That was that. For now. Jack in the Box corporate is closed until Monday. I have half a mind to forward this story to every local news source in town to see if they would be interested in what is, apparently, Jack in the Box's stance on people who asking for an English speaking customer service representative only to be told that for asking for such, you are racist and bigoted.
Well, onto other things, I'm not going to fume over an idiot, which is what this "manager" is. I just spent half an hour getting all the food together that is going to need to go outside. Put it all in a large plastic bag and securely seal it. Actually, I just had the thought that any opened boxes I am going to throw out in the trash in case there are roaches in there and then, I will have this problem all over again even IF this fumigation works. Yes, there isn't anything there that costs that much - instant potatoes and instant rice.
What am I going to do for 4-1/2 hours? First, I am going up to Fry's electronics and get pricing on the parts that I will need to put together my own computer. I am not going to buy anything today, just want the prices. Then I can compare Fry's prices to Tiger Direct and Newegg. If the prices are the same or close, Fry's it will be.
Then, I am going to go buy a pair of gloves, go home and continue working on the landscaping out front. Everything needs a good pruning. I got a good start earlier this week on it, just need to continue on with that.
I also have plenty of work left to do on the pond I just installed. I have some digging to do to let a couple of the shelves down so that it is all even at the top. Tuck the plastic beside the pond and then fill it in with dirt. That will take quite a while and I don't even know if I will finish that this weekend. I also have to run a line and install another electrical box to get sufficient electrical outlets for the ponds to run the aerators, pumps and soon, probably a couple of heaters. So, I have PLENTY to keep me well occupied.
It's a beautiful day out, being out there even during the hottest part of today will be no problem at all.
Finishing up, waiting for Kirby to get back from his bike road so he can get his stuff and leave. He was going on a 25 mile ride, but he left 2 hours ago so hopefully he'll be back soon as I want to get this up and going and get it over with. I don't REALLY feel like doing this - AT ALL - but I have no choice in the matter. Well, I guess I do have choices but they aren't anything I want to engage myself in.
OH, I was going to pull some of the electrical covers off in the kitchen to make sure that stuff can find a way into the walls...............outta here!
ben
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday
I can't believe it's Friday already. Seems like this week has just blown by. I'm still thinking of getting a computer even though yesterday's fiasco ate up a bit of my "free" money. I am going to negate it by transferring some savings money to my checking account to make up the difference and hopefully still be able to get something. Or not. I really don't know yet, gotta sit down and do the math.
So, what to do this weekend? Dunno yet. Last weekend was not a weekend, it was just 2 more workdays around the house. I'm edging towards just doing some easy stuff around the yard and normal cleaning duties and call it a wash. I started on pruning trees and bushes last weekend out front, there is still a couple of hours worth of work out there at least.
The news is rife with absurd, outrageous and extremely entertaining blips. This Governor Christie? I would vote for him in a heartbeat if he ran for president. I don't care if he comes across as obnoxious, his view of government and keeping it within the limitations of the money that is available to be able to operate are exactly what this country needs. That's WHY he comes across as obnoxious, he takes very weighted stands against government waste and spending.
Obama? I will say it again, as I have for quite some time now: he will go down as the worst president that has ever occupied that office. His statements that we are all afraid and not in our right minds - equating that we are stupid and have no idea what's going on - was the best thing he could have said, cause' it makes him look like the complete and unmitigated @$$ that he is. The man is in a world unto his own.
Reid hopefully is going down in flames. Angle is lambasting his policies and challenging him on all fronts. The faces I associate with this health care fiasco bill are Reid, Pelosi and Obama. The Democratic party is in such disarray, they are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from any of those three "characters". Companies across America are now proclaiming that health care costs are going to rise substantially BECAUSE of this bill.
Umm, well, I'm out of time. The car drove perfectly to work today, I wanted to throw that in there cause' I had a little trepidation this morning. There are 2 problems left - there is at least one bad tire on it and I think the exhaust has a leak.
Anyway, I gotta get offa here, wish I had more time, really, I was just getting fired up :
G'day.
ben
So, what to do this weekend? Dunno yet. Last weekend was not a weekend, it was just 2 more workdays around the house. I'm edging towards just doing some easy stuff around the yard and normal cleaning duties and call it a wash. I started on pruning trees and bushes last weekend out front, there is still a couple of hours worth of work out there at least.
The news is rife with absurd, outrageous and extremely entertaining blips. This Governor Christie? I would vote for him in a heartbeat if he ran for president. I don't care if he comes across as obnoxious, his view of government and keeping it within the limitations of the money that is available to be able to operate are exactly what this country needs. That's WHY he comes across as obnoxious, he takes very weighted stands against government waste and spending.
Obama? I will say it again, as I have for quite some time now: he will go down as the worst president that has ever occupied that office. His statements that we are all afraid and not in our right minds - equating that we are stupid and have no idea what's going on - was the best thing he could have said, cause' it makes him look like the complete and unmitigated @$$ that he is. The man is in a world unto his own.
Reid hopefully is going down in flames. Angle is lambasting his policies and challenging him on all fronts. The faces I associate with this health care fiasco bill are Reid, Pelosi and Obama. The Democratic party is in such disarray, they are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from any of those three "characters". Companies across America are now proclaiming that health care costs are going to rise substantially BECAUSE of this bill.
Umm, well, I'm out of time. The car drove perfectly to work today, I wanted to throw that in there cause' I had a little trepidation this morning. There are 2 problems left - there is at least one bad tire on it and I think the exhaust has a leak.
Anyway, I gotta get offa here, wish I had more time, really, I was just getting fired up :
G'day.
ben
Thursday, October 21, 2010
THursday
I'm writing this "distracted", so sorry if there are erros. I'm on hold with DriecTV, attempting to bget 3 more months of movie channels for free.
I got up for work this morning, as is normal for me, did the normal tings, got into the car and left. 1/4 mile down the road, the car stalled. Pulled over and tried to restart - fired right up. Another 1/4 mile and it stalled again. This time I barely made it off the main road, onto a side street near businesses and theo nly parking space was in a "No Parking Zone". the car, after numerous tries, fired up again, but imeediately stopped.
I decided to call a cab to take me to my son's mother's house to get my other car. I called Discount Cab. I gave them the location, they refused that, they wanted an address. Well, I was at 46th Street and Baseline in Phoenix, what else do you want me to tell you? Their system takes addresses, not locations. Unbelievable. I ended up hanging up on her - she refused to budge and the huge building had a name on it, yes, but NO street number posted anywhere.
I got to thinking about it and changed my strategy. I would end up paying $20 at least to get to my other car, this car would end up being towed because it's in a no-parking zone. I would have to pay for that tow plus a tow to the repair facility. So, a cab ride and 2 tows? No thanks. I walked in the rain - yes it was also raining - to the nearest convenience store about 1/4 mile away, got a phone book, found a tow company with a 20% off coupon in there. They were there in half an hour. Now, I get the car towed to the repair facility and a ride to work since the 2 are 200 feet apart.
I come back 8 hours later and they hadn't even looked at the car. I sat down and made myself at home. Didn't get angry, didn't start trouble, just sat there and talked with the owner - as I did last time. He got up , went over to a mechanic, got him started on the car. Virgil - Highland Auto - Chandler, AZ - the owner, doesn't sit in an office separated from workers in air conditioning, no, he sits there in the shop, summer included, heat included, and deals with everything as it comes along.
I was there - ohh - 3 hours anyway. I encountered some interesting individuals. However, Virgel and I had several conversations about this, that and the other thing while fully 4 different mechanics looked at my car. It turned out to be the crank sensor - which I replaced 2 years ago, but which I also suspected was the culrpit this time because of the way the car was acting. $169 for all of that. And it isn't over, either. I could clearly hear an exhaust leak that is going to need to be fixed.
Anyway, that was the start and end of my day, which totally drained me. I am tired, very tired, just waiting another few minutes before going to bed, plus I am conversing with the 5th rep from Direct TV so far. I just call and call until I get the "right" person and then, I get freebies. I'm a now 11-year customer with that company, they aren't going to give me new equipment then they are going to give me free movie channels and reduced pricing, period.
Well, hunky dory. Got home, nothing had happened around here- thankfully. Just rain. I haven't watered plants in a while and I won't need to a while longer.
I could write more, but, I am listening to music on the phone that is COMPLETELY annoying and I am starting to get cranky.
Good evening.
ben
I got up for work this morning, as is normal for me, did the normal tings, got into the car and left. 1/4 mile down the road, the car stalled. Pulled over and tried to restart - fired right up. Another 1/4 mile and it stalled again. This time I barely made it off the main road, onto a side street near businesses and theo nly parking space was in a "No Parking Zone". the car, after numerous tries, fired up again, but imeediately stopped.
I decided to call a cab to take me to my son's mother's house to get my other car. I called Discount Cab. I gave them the location, they refused that, they wanted an address. Well, I was at 46th Street and Baseline in Phoenix, what else do you want me to tell you? Their system takes addresses, not locations. Unbelievable. I ended up hanging up on her - she refused to budge and the huge building had a name on it, yes, but NO street number posted anywhere.
I got to thinking about it and changed my strategy. I would end up paying $20 at least to get to my other car, this car would end up being towed because it's in a no-parking zone. I would have to pay for that tow plus a tow to the repair facility. So, a cab ride and 2 tows? No thanks. I walked in the rain - yes it was also raining - to the nearest convenience store about 1/4 mile away, got a phone book, found a tow company with a 20% off coupon in there. They were there in half an hour. Now, I get the car towed to the repair facility and a ride to work since the 2 are 200 feet apart.
I come back 8 hours later and they hadn't even looked at the car. I sat down and made myself at home. Didn't get angry, didn't start trouble, just sat there and talked with the owner - as I did last time. He got up , went over to a mechanic, got him started on the car. Virgil - Highland Auto - Chandler, AZ - the owner, doesn't sit in an office separated from workers in air conditioning, no, he sits there in the shop, summer included, heat included, and deals with everything as it comes along.
I was there - ohh - 3 hours anyway. I encountered some interesting individuals. However, Virgel and I had several conversations about this, that and the other thing while fully 4 different mechanics looked at my car. It turned out to be the crank sensor - which I replaced 2 years ago, but which I also suspected was the culrpit this time because of the way the car was acting. $169 for all of that. And it isn't over, either. I could clearly hear an exhaust leak that is going to need to be fixed.
Anyway, that was the start and end of my day, which totally drained me. I am tired, very tired, just waiting another few minutes before going to bed, plus I am conversing with the 5th rep from Direct TV so far. I just call and call until I get the "right" person and then, I get freebies. I'm a now 11-year customer with that company, they aren't going to give me new equipment then they are going to give me free movie channels and reduced pricing, period.
Well, hunky dory. Got home, nothing had happened around here- thankfully. Just rain. I haven't watered plants in a while and I won't need to a while longer.
I could write more, but, I am listening to music on the phone that is COMPLETELY annoying and I am starting to get cranky.
Good evening.
ben
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
We tried to give this guy some information, that's it. He NEVER listened to any of us, 3 of us attempting to inform him what we have learned, some of us the hard way. He was going to do things his own way, didn't care what anyone thought about it and now? A $250 fine.
I'm referring to another truck driver in our company that works out of our Tucson branch. He drives up to the main branch often enough and we - other drivers - see how he has his load strapped.
He actually started arguing with me about a year or more ago concerning straps and not having to put them under the rub rails. Besides Federal law, or own company's driver training program requires that drivers use rub rails if a truck is equipped with them.
But, that's now what he got caught on. Another rule about strapping loads is if the trailer doesn't have a bulkhead on the front (a big piece of metal basically that's on the front of the trailer designed to keep loads from shifting forward in case of accident/extreme braking events). The rule states that you have to put an extra strap - 1 more than would be required for whatever it is that is on there.
In the case of a regular pallet, that, therefore, would be 2 straps instead of one. Well, he was pulled over near Casa Grande I believe it was on I-10 and handed over a ticket for not having 2 straps on the front pallet. I saw the item on the front, plastic material. The driver was mad at D.O.T. because the item was "less than 5 feet in length". Yes, I said to him, but there is no bulkhead on the trailer, THAT is why you got the ticket".
He got mad at me and walked off. Tough. The new rules coming out? Retroactive, that violation will put 10 points on his driver record. It's a different point assessment than the regular one. It doesn't mean you lose your CDL, it targets you as a problem if you start racking those points up. It also affects the entire company. Yes, one driver here getting pulled over for that violation will put that information in a MUCH larger database and a cop in Virginia might see one of our trucks (we are a national company with a huge fleet) and pull it over to check - straps.
So, not only is this guy's insolence against the rules, cops and other drivers attempting to help him out going to cost HIM, it will also begin to rack up against the entire company. The new rules have provisions to actually shut an entire fleet of trucks - the whole company's worth - down. No, this one single individual isn't going to cause that, but if there are enough more like him, yes, that can happen. Then what? Hopefully corporate will jump all over this.
Corporate gets these notifications from the DOT about any warnings or tickets given to CDL drivers. There will be a notice of this violation that is automatically generated from corporate sent to that driver's management structure - which include the ops manager here in Phoenix and probably the GM as well.
I don't want to be a rat and say anything about the rest of what this guy does, so for now, I won't. The fact of the matter is, though, that all 3 of us drivers tried to inform him that his load was improperly secured on several different occasions of seeing this stuff, this guy just gets attitude. It's not like he didn't KNOW that he could get a ticket for such is the point.
Onto other things. $250. This is Obama's new ploy to buy a guaranteed control of the Senate and House. Nice. It's so OBVIOUS that this is what he is doing, it is nothing about trying to help the American people, it's ALL about buying votes. Totally outrageous, frankly. I hope those that were going to vote against entrenched, almost life-long politicians aren't swayed by this newest attempt to deceive, is what I call it.
I'm referring to the $250 he wants to give to Americans who are on Social Security and didn't get a cost of living increase again this year. $250 is not that much money and even for people on fixed incomes, I can't imagine it going THAT far. If it was $2,500 I could see some political damage, but hopefully that amount is so small it won't change anyone's minds. I would to see a total changeout of every politician that is in there, regardless of party, and replaced with new faces. Would that make a difference? Probably not, to be realistic, but it would be worth a try anyway.
Well, the elections are soon but I expect the political bile to only get worse, especially from the party that apparently is facing the inevitability that they are going to lose seats and perhaps lose too many seats to stay in control.
I'm still seething that the Obama administration would invite the Iranian president to ANYTHING - much less talks on how to deal with a war and cause it to end. It's like invited the devil to return to heaven, it ain't gonna work out too well.
Whatever.
Work day is here, albeit the fact there is nothing in the truck routing system to do (unlike the last 2 days where I have been extremely busy). Oh well.
G'day.
ben
I'm referring to another truck driver in our company that works out of our Tucson branch. He drives up to the main branch often enough and we - other drivers - see how he has his load strapped.
He actually started arguing with me about a year or more ago concerning straps and not having to put them under the rub rails. Besides Federal law, or own company's driver training program requires that drivers use rub rails if a truck is equipped with them.
But, that's now what he got caught on. Another rule about strapping loads is if the trailer doesn't have a bulkhead on the front (a big piece of metal basically that's on the front of the trailer designed to keep loads from shifting forward in case of accident/extreme braking events). The rule states that you have to put an extra strap - 1 more than would be required for whatever it is that is on there.
In the case of a regular pallet, that, therefore, would be 2 straps instead of one. Well, he was pulled over near Casa Grande I believe it was on I-10 and handed over a ticket for not having 2 straps on the front pallet. I saw the item on the front, plastic material. The driver was mad at D.O.T. because the item was "less than 5 feet in length". Yes, I said to him, but there is no bulkhead on the trailer, THAT is why you got the ticket".
He got mad at me and walked off. Tough. The new rules coming out? Retroactive, that violation will put 10 points on his driver record. It's a different point assessment than the regular one. It doesn't mean you lose your CDL, it targets you as a problem if you start racking those points up. It also affects the entire company. Yes, one driver here getting pulled over for that violation will put that information in a MUCH larger database and a cop in Virginia might see one of our trucks (we are a national company with a huge fleet) and pull it over to check - straps.
So, not only is this guy's insolence against the rules, cops and other drivers attempting to help him out going to cost HIM, it will also begin to rack up against the entire company. The new rules have provisions to actually shut an entire fleet of trucks - the whole company's worth - down. No, this one single individual isn't going to cause that, but if there are enough more like him, yes, that can happen. Then what? Hopefully corporate will jump all over this.
Corporate gets these notifications from the DOT about any warnings or tickets given to CDL drivers. There will be a notice of this violation that is automatically generated from corporate sent to that driver's management structure - which include the ops manager here in Phoenix and probably the GM as well.
I don't want to be a rat and say anything about the rest of what this guy does, so for now, I won't. The fact of the matter is, though, that all 3 of us drivers tried to inform him that his load was improperly secured on several different occasions of seeing this stuff, this guy just gets attitude. It's not like he didn't KNOW that he could get a ticket for such is the point.
Onto other things. $250. This is Obama's new ploy to buy a guaranteed control of the Senate and House. Nice. It's so OBVIOUS that this is what he is doing, it is nothing about trying to help the American people, it's ALL about buying votes. Totally outrageous, frankly. I hope those that were going to vote against entrenched, almost life-long politicians aren't swayed by this newest attempt to deceive, is what I call it.
I'm referring to the $250 he wants to give to Americans who are on Social Security and didn't get a cost of living increase again this year. $250 is not that much money and even for people on fixed incomes, I can't imagine it going THAT far. If it was $2,500 I could see some political damage, but hopefully that amount is so small it won't change anyone's minds. I would to see a total changeout of every politician that is in there, regardless of party, and replaced with new faces. Would that make a difference? Probably not, to be realistic, but it would be worth a try anyway.
Well, the elections are soon but I expect the political bile to only get worse, especially from the party that apparently is facing the inevitability that they are going to lose seats and perhaps lose too many seats to stay in control.
I'm still seething that the Obama administration would invite the Iranian president to ANYTHING - much less talks on how to deal with a war and cause it to end. It's like invited the devil to return to heaven, it ain't gonna work out too well.
Whatever.
Work day is here, albeit the fact there is nothing in the truck routing system to do (unlike the last 2 days where I have been extremely busy). Oh well.
G'day.
ben
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Visiting With Dad
My dad called me at work - wanted me to stop by and pick him up on the way home from work. Millie - his wife - was not feeling too well and didn't want to go anywhere. They ARE older folks - I don't get too hyped up about the older generation doing whatever makes them happy, regardless of what the might mean to plans that have been made.
So, I stopped at Walmart - I have one good pair of jeans and one pair of dress slacks and that's IT for pants. I have several pairs of blue jeans with holes or rips in them. Oh, dog food, roach killer, new windshiel wipers for both cars.........ummmm, oh and more pond clear. I usually only need to use "Pond Clear" at the start up of a pond. After it clears the pond out, it's not necessary again as the filtration unit keeps it clear from that point forth.
Stopped at their hotel - a nice place and visited with both of them for about an hour and then took dad to my house. He wanted to see all of these plants and trees I have been talking about forever. He was pleasantly surprised to see the fish ponds. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mark had done even more cleaning in the kitchen. First impressions - sort of anyway, my dad was here a couple of years ago I guess it was with Millie - are always important. I mean, between Mark and I cleaning in this place for 3 solid days, it's freaking awesome in here. I did not ask Mark to do anything in here - he saw what I was doing this weekend in spending hours and hours of relentless cleaning and picked up where I left off.
We left and went to dinner without Millie, who wasn't feeling up to coming. Spent a good hour and a half, maybe it was 2 hours there, visiting. Dad is very interested in what is going on with Caleb, who is beginning to show more and more confidence in himself and speaking up - not in an obnoxious way either - about what's going on in his life and what he's up to. It was a great time and I hope to make it down there either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I don't know that Caleb will be able to go either time - that's up to him. He has work and that is very important to him as it should be. I don't know that it takes more precedence than family, but I consider the economy and the fact that people my age that are unemployed are willing to take the same job he got. Keeping a good impression with an employer is even more important now than ever. Again, I'll leave that up to him and hold no ill will with whatever decision he makes.
For me, my dad is getting old - but - he looked good today. A bit slower, yes, but still very talkative, looked healthy, I was glad to see him still getting around.
We left - Caleb went to his mom's house, I took dad back to the hotel, but I went back inside with him as I wanted to bid Millie a goodbye. She's a good lady and I'm glad she and dad found each other. They get along well - at least what I see when the doors aren't closed - but it is a good match I think and they have been together awhile now. Quite a while, actually. We talked a while longer but I could see they were both wearing out so I bid them well, a safe trip home and hopefully see each other at Christmas or Thanksgiving.
That was it. I'm pooped. I drove all day long today, it was nonstop and grueling. Not complaining, just saying that getting up early, working, stopping at stores, going out? I'm not 20. But it felt good anyway. It felt even better today at a jobsite. Most jobsites we have don't have forklifts,they have fork attachments that are put on backhoes. One of the forks was bent so that getting both forks into a pallet was almost impossible. On the last pallet, they operater basically destroyed the pallet and all the very heavy parts were laying all over the bed of the semi.
The backhoe operator and his helper - both in THEIR 20's - grimaced and started complaining, what are we going to do now? I smiled - easy, put the bucket of the backhoe up next to the trailer and we will throw the parts in there. These are people that don't know me. I have seen the look before - WHO is actually going to end up doing the work? These aren't 2 pound parts, they're 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 50 pounds and up, a varying allotment of different sized things.....and as if I'm just going to stand there, an "old" guy and direct them. Not at all. But I always read that. I got up on the trailer and started pickup up those things by 2's, chucking them into the bucket and going at a rapid pace until it was done. The helper was also up there - going about an 1/8th of the pace I was. I thought nothing of it, this goes on everywhere. When I was through, this guy exclaims: "HOW did you do that so FAST?".
Took me by surprise. Didn't know what to say to that, so I just remarked that we have to throw this stuff around all day long. I thought about it later, he was paying me a compliment and for that I am appreciative. For good health I am far MORE appreciative.
It's the end of the day. I hope tomorrow is busy, but there was only one thing in our truck routing system and I believe that is being put off as the vendor has not finished manufacturing the part needed for our contractor yet and may not have it done until Friday.
I would get into politics - the Obama administration inviting the "president" of Iran to talks about Afghanistant is unconcsiounable, but why ruin the rest of a good day? Go to bed in peace.
G'nite.
ben
So, I stopped at Walmart - I have one good pair of jeans and one pair of dress slacks and that's IT for pants. I have several pairs of blue jeans with holes or rips in them. Oh, dog food, roach killer, new windshiel wipers for both cars.........ummmm, oh and more pond clear. I usually only need to use "Pond Clear" at the start up of a pond. After it clears the pond out, it's not necessary again as the filtration unit keeps it clear from that point forth.
Stopped at their hotel - a nice place and visited with both of them for about an hour and then took dad to my house. He wanted to see all of these plants and trees I have been talking about forever. He was pleasantly surprised to see the fish ponds. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mark had done even more cleaning in the kitchen. First impressions - sort of anyway, my dad was here a couple of years ago I guess it was with Millie - are always important. I mean, between Mark and I cleaning in this place for 3 solid days, it's freaking awesome in here. I did not ask Mark to do anything in here - he saw what I was doing this weekend in spending hours and hours of relentless cleaning and picked up where I left off.
We left and went to dinner without Millie, who wasn't feeling up to coming. Spent a good hour and a half, maybe it was 2 hours there, visiting. Dad is very interested in what is going on with Caleb, who is beginning to show more and more confidence in himself and speaking up - not in an obnoxious way either - about what's going on in his life and what he's up to. It was a great time and I hope to make it down there either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I don't know that Caleb will be able to go either time - that's up to him. He has work and that is very important to him as it should be. I don't know that it takes more precedence than family, but I consider the economy and the fact that people my age that are unemployed are willing to take the same job he got. Keeping a good impression with an employer is even more important now than ever. Again, I'll leave that up to him and hold no ill will with whatever decision he makes.
For me, my dad is getting old - but - he looked good today. A bit slower, yes, but still very talkative, looked healthy, I was glad to see him still getting around.
We left - Caleb went to his mom's house, I took dad back to the hotel, but I went back inside with him as I wanted to bid Millie a goodbye. She's a good lady and I'm glad she and dad found each other. They get along well - at least what I see when the doors aren't closed - but it is a good match I think and they have been together awhile now. Quite a while, actually. We talked a while longer but I could see they were both wearing out so I bid them well, a safe trip home and hopefully see each other at Christmas or Thanksgiving.
That was it. I'm pooped. I drove all day long today, it was nonstop and grueling. Not complaining, just saying that getting up early, working, stopping at stores, going out? I'm not 20. But it felt good anyway. It felt even better today at a jobsite. Most jobsites we have don't have forklifts,they have fork attachments that are put on backhoes. One of the forks was bent so that getting both forks into a pallet was almost impossible. On the last pallet, they operater basically destroyed the pallet and all the very heavy parts were laying all over the bed of the semi.
The backhoe operator and his helper - both in THEIR 20's - grimaced and started complaining, what are we going to do now? I smiled - easy, put the bucket of the backhoe up next to the trailer and we will throw the parts in there. These are people that don't know me. I have seen the look before - WHO is actually going to end up doing the work? These aren't 2 pound parts, they're 20 pounds, 30 pounds, 50 pounds and up, a varying allotment of different sized things.....and as if I'm just going to stand there, an "old" guy and direct them. Not at all. But I always read that. I got up on the trailer and started pickup up those things by 2's, chucking them into the bucket and going at a rapid pace until it was done. The helper was also up there - going about an 1/8th of the pace I was. I thought nothing of it, this goes on everywhere. When I was through, this guy exclaims: "HOW did you do that so FAST?".
Took me by surprise. Didn't know what to say to that, so I just remarked that we have to throw this stuff around all day long. I thought about it later, he was paying me a compliment and for that I am appreciative. For good health I am far MORE appreciative.
It's the end of the day. I hope tomorrow is busy, but there was only one thing in our truck routing system and I believe that is being put off as the vendor has not finished manufacturing the part needed for our contractor yet and may not have it done until Friday.
I would get into politics - the Obama administration inviting the "president" of Iran to talks about Afghanistant is unconcsiounable, but why ruin the rest of a good day? Go to bed in peace.
G'nite.
ben
Tuesday
Came home yesterday to find that Mark - the trailer tenant - had finished in the kitchen that of which I did not have time to finish. This guy is good at cleaning, this is a fact.
He took down the blinds, took them outside, cleaned them off with a hose, cleaned the windows, went over the floor again - after I had just done it the day before - very nice.
If I could get a hold of a good trailer for those people - I mean a nice one - I would. They are welcomed to stay as long as they want to. I'm charging them very low rent and they do a lot of work around the house - nice setup. Their plans to get into their own apartment have been totally dashed and the only way I can for them to get into their own place is that one of them finds a job.
Anyhoo, today is the visit with my dad and his wife. They are coming over sometime this afternoon.
So, on a day when you hope there is less work to do so you can get off early? Not happening. 5 deliveries and a pickup downtown equal all day long. Well, not ALL day, just meaning I'll be lucky to get off at my regular time.
My new pond it's semi-permanent occupants are doing well. The water is a bit cloudy - added some unwanted stuff to the water when I shut the other pond down, there was debris floating around in there that got transferred to the new setup. The much larger pump and filtering system is slowly dealing with it, plus I put some stuff in there made specifically to clear up the water. It clumps stuff together which basically ends up at the bottom of the pond. I have an 800 gallon per hour pump down there that basically forces everything on the bottom to it - and it does get clogged up for all the leaves and just it sucks into it. Still lots of work to do on it, but at least it's up and running.
I was wondering what all the hoopla about Obama calling voters "scared" was - well I read the statements for myself. "said Republican candidates are "playing on fear" and suggested voters are falling for it."
In other words, voters are too dumb to figure this stuff out by ourselves, which is why we need even bigger government, the Feds can take ALL of our money and we will just sit there like animals in cages waiting to be fed. I can see why people are outraged, personally? I consider the source. Obama hasn't got a clue what he's doing and if anyone is fearful, it's HIM losing complete control of the House and Senate. Of course, he has had a free ride, it's probably going to change, so now HE is using the same tactics - well everyone else is, really.
The elections are only a couple of weeks away, I can't wait. I hope the polling places are jam-packed with people, the more the merrier. It would be nice, for a change, if a majority of voters showed up so that it isn't a small percentage of American society telling the rest of us how it's going to be run. That's the jist of it. Too many people are too lazy, unmotivated to take a few minutes to cast a vote. Then these same people complain about everything that has to do with politics. Gonnnnnnnnnng!! (The Gong Show) - you lost your right to complain when voting day came and went and you didn't bother.
As for today, work day approaches and I'm going to jump right into and try to get all of this done as fast as possible. The earlier off work today, the better.
G'day.
ben
He took down the blinds, took them outside, cleaned them off with a hose, cleaned the windows, went over the floor again - after I had just done it the day before - very nice.
If I could get a hold of a good trailer for those people - I mean a nice one - I would. They are welcomed to stay as long as they want to. I'm charging them very low rent and they do a lot of work around the house - nice setup. Their plans to get into their own apartment have been totally dashed and the only way I can for them to get into their own place is that one of them finds a job.
Anyhoo, today is the visit with my dad and his wife. They are coming over sometime this afternoon.
So, on a day when you hope there is less work to do so you can get off early? Not happening. 5 deliveries and a pickup downtown equal all day long. Well, not ALL day, just meaning I'll be lucky to get off at my regular time.
My new pond it's semi-permanent occupants are doing well. The water is a bit cloudy - added some unwanted stuff to the water when I shut the other pond down, there was debris floating around in there that got transferred to the new setup. The much larger pump and filtering system is slowly dealing with it, plus I put some stuff in there made specifically to clear up the water. It clumps stuff together which basically ends up at the bottom of the pond. I have an 800 gallon per hour pump down there that basically forces everything on the bottom to it - and it does get clogged up for all the leaves and just it sucks into it. Still lots of work to do on it, but at least it's up and running.
I was wondering what all the hoopla about Obama calling voters "scared" was - well I read the statements for myself. "said Republican candidates are "playing on fear" and suggested voters are falling for it."
In other words, voters are too dumb to figure this stuff out by ourselves, which is why we need even bigger government, the Feds can take ALL of our money and we will just sit there like animals in cages waiting to be fed. I can see why people are outraged, personally? I consider the source. Obama hasn't got a clue what he's doing and if anyone is fearful, it's HIM losing complete control of the House and Senate. Of course, he has had a free ride, it's probably going to change, so now HE is using the same tactics - well everyone else is, really.
The elections are only a couple of weeks away, I can't wait. I hope the polling places are jam-packed with people, the more the merrier. It would be nice, for a change, if a majority of voters showed up so that it isn't a small percentage of American society telling the rest of us how it's going to be run. That's the jist of it. Too many people are too lazy, unmotivated to take a few minutes to cast a vote. Then these same people complain about everything that has to do with politics. Gonnnnnnnnnng!! (The Gong Show) - you lost your right to complain when voting day came and went and you didn't bother.
As for today, work day approaches and I'm going to jump right into and try to get all of this done as fast as possible. The earlier off work today, the better.
G'day.
ben
Monday, October 18, 2010
Monday 10/18/2010
If weekends are supposed to be laid back, relaxing and a time of rejuvenation, then nix this last one. I spent all day Saturday getting the new pond up and dealing with other ponds and I spent all day Sunday cleaning and also moving pond filters around, plus cleaning them.
I am glad to have all that stuff done, yes, but wow, that was a lot of work. As for my dad's visit tomorrow, just a few more things I need to get done around the house and I will be finished with that. As for the ponds, I removed all fish from the turtle pond and put them in both the big pond and medium-sized one and am considering shutting the turtle pond down.
I just don't like these turtles. They are not friendly, they don't come up to you at all, like I have seen in other ponds, they are always hiding at the bottom, they are useless creatures as far as I'm concerned. I have seen a couple of ads on Craigslist from people wanting red earred slider turtles, I am teetering on giving them a call and seeing if they want to come get them.
That would knock it down to 2 ponds up and running and for now, that's all I want. The small feeder pond I was using up until I did the big switch I am considering just getting rid of it. It is in bad condition - I bought it from a family who had had small kids playing in it like it was a playground (fortunately I got it cheap and I DID get some use out of it) - they did some damage in terms of structural integrity and portions of it collapse when filled with water. It still holds water, yes, but I really don't think I want to continue using it. That would leave me with 4 ponds, 2 of them up and running. At max, now that I have a bit better grasp of what I am doing here, I want 3 ponds going. So, probably get rid of another one and be down to 3 of them.
I am in no hurry to figure that out right now, definitely NOT in a hurry to start trying to dig out another pond hole. Great exercise, sure, but I am not exactly motivated. I do want to put one out front - a small one but again, not high on my list of priorities. Have to figure out what to do with the dirt that is pulled out of the ground and THAT definitely poses a problem. I'll sit out there for a while and just look at the situation and try to figure out what my next move is.
Meanwhile, I need to get a power station going out there so, that is probably my next small project. The big pond isn't exactly "done" yet, but it is up and running, the intended result for this weekend's exertions.
They were saying on the news on the way into work this morning that there is rain coming. Perhaps, but from looking at the radar, it isn't that much rain. Still, I haven't been watering hardly at all lately - my plants that is - as long as they look okay, I am not watering them right now to get a bit of a reprieve from high water bills.
LOTS of work to do today in our truck routing system. In fact, it should take the entire day to finish all of that. Which is fine with me. If there is one thing I hate, it's starting a work week on a Monday with NOTHING to do.
With that, I'm outta here. Got a few minutes to take a look at the political bantering - apparently the Dems have conceded that they are going to lose at least a dozen seats and Obama is whining about how nobody listens to him......lol.
G'day.
ben
I am glad to have all that stuff done, yes, but wow, that was a lot of work. As for my dad's visit tomorrow, just a few more things I need to get done around the house and I will be finished with that. As for the ponds, I removed all fish from the turtle pond and put them in both the big pond and medium-sized one and am considering shutting the turtle pond down.
I just don't like these turtles. They are not friendly, they don't come up to you at all, like I have seen in other ponds, they are always hiding at the bottom, they are useless creatures as far as I'm concerned. I have seen a couple of ads on Craigslist from people wanting red earred slider turtles, I am teetering on giving them a call and seeing if they want to come get them.
That would knock it down to 2 ponds up and running and for now, that's all I want. The small feeder pond I was using up until I did the big switch I am considering just getting rid of it. It is in bad condition - I bought it from a family who had had small kids playing in it like it was a playground (fortunately I got it cheap and I DID get some use out of it) - they did some damage in terms of structural integrity and portions of it collapse when filled with water. It still holds water, yes, but I really don't think I want to continue using it. That would leave me with 4 ponds, 2 of them up and running. At max, now that I have a bit better grasp of what I am doing here, I want 3 ponds going. So, probably get rid of another one and be down to 3 of them.
I am in no hurry to figure that out right now, definitely NOT in a hurry to start trying to dig out another pond hole. Great exercise, sure, but I am not exactly motivated. I do want to put one out front - a small one but again, not high on my list of priorities. Have to figure out what to do with the dirt that is pulled out of the ground and THAT definitely poses a problem. I'll sit out there for a while and just look at the situation and try to figure out what my next move is.
Meanwhile, I need to get a power station going out there so, that is probably my next small project. The big pond isn't exactly "done" yet, but it is up and running, the intended result for this weekend's exertions.
They were saying on the news on the way into work this morning that there is rain coming. Perhaps, but from looking at the radar, it isn't that much rain. Still, I haven't been watering hardly at all lately - my plants that is - as long as they look okay, I am not watering them right now to get a bit of a reprieve from high water bills.
LOTS of work to do today in our truck routing system. In fact, it should take the entire day to finish all of that. Which is fine with me. If there is one thing I hate, it's starting a work week on a Monday with NOTHING to do.
With that, I'm outta here. Got a few minutes to take a look at the political bantering - apparently the Dems have conceded that they are going to lose at least a dozen seats and Obama is whining about how nobody listens to him......lol.
G'day.
ben
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday 10/17/2010
Work started early this morning, and no, nothing on the ponds. The living room carpet needed cleaned and definitely cleaned it. That and the rest of the living room. There is a love seat in there that is in great condition - but I haven't been able to sell OR trade it for anything. I'm thinking of giving it away to get it out of here. It is out of place and I can't envision ever finding a way to incorporate it.
In reality, I need new carpet and at least one new recliner would be nice. A pipe dream, perhaps, but it gives me reason to continue saving.
I apparently forgot to pay the water bill last month (I could have sworn I did and I'm going to go looking through my checking account for such) and have been slammed with 2 months of a huge bill. Bye bye to the bonus of it's true. And, bye bye to any idea of getting a new computer. Or not, who knows. Tenants are pretty much paying regularly now so it is feasible that I can still get ahead enough to get some of the stuff done that I need done.
I could also pay off the 401k loan and get another. It has around $600 left on it. Pay it off - have to wait 30 days to get another one but a couple of grand right now would be extremely helpful. At 4.25% interest it's the best deal around. Excepting, of course, compromising my retirement account. Haven't given any real thought to it, would rather not, don't know. Again, wait and see what happens with tenants and if the check from the insurance company comes in - even if only $400 or $500 - it will still be a big boost.
Electric use IS on the way down, hopefully it will really take a plunge with getting some of these people and using Ben's Laundromat far more than necessary for one person to either stay within my new limits or - pay for the excessive use above and beyond rent. I threw this idea around with several people I know and I continued to get the same answer: with the rent you're charging and the fact that you don't ask extra for utilities, yes, by all means, do charge extra for laundry. In fact, the consensus was to not give ANY freebies away. I DID stop saying in my ads that laundry was also included in the cost of rent because I was getting tired of footing that bill.
As for the house, I still have quite a lot to do, but I also have to get some stuff on the ponds done as well. I have to switch the 3 filters around and that will take at least an hour. I want to clean the carpet in the hallway and my bedroom and give my bathroom a spic and span cleaning as well as my bedroom.
Yes, it will be a full, long day to say the least. Gotta run up to the store and get some more paper towels, laundry detergent and softener..................and with that, I'm outta here.
Happy Sunday.
ben
In reality, I need new carpet and at least one new recliner would be nice. A pipe dream, perhaps, but it gives me reason to continue saving.
I apparently forgot to pay the water bill last month (I could have sworn I did and I'm going to go looking through my checking account for such) and have been slammed with 2 months of a huge bill. Bye bye to the bonus of it's true. And, bye bye to any idea of getting a new computer. Or not, who knows. Tenants are pretty much paying regularly now so it is feasible that I can still get ahead enough to get some of the stuff done that I need done.
I could also pay off the 401k loan and get another. It has around $600 left on it. Pay it off - have to wait 30 days to get another one but a couple of grand right now would be extremely helpful. At 4.25% interest it's the best deal around. Excepting, of course, compromising my retirement account. Haven't given any real thought to it, would rather not, don't know. Again, wait and see what happens with tenants and if the check from the insurance company comes in - even if only $400 or $500 - it will still be a big boost.
Electric use IS on the way down, hopefully it will really take a plunge with getting some of these people and using Ben's Laundromat far more than necessary for one person to either stay within my new limits or - pay for the excessive use above and beyond rent. I threw this idea around with several people I know and I continued to get the same answer: with the rent you're charging and the fact that you don't ask extra for utilities, yes, by all means, do charge extra for laundry. In fact, the consensus was to not give ANY freebies away. I DID stop saying in my ads that laundry was also included in the cost of rent because I was getting tired of footing that bill.
As for the house, I still have quite a lot to do, but I also have to get some stuff on the ponds done as well. I have to switch the 3 filters around and that will take at least an hour. I want to clean the carpet in the hallway and my bedroom and give my bathroom a spic and span cleaning as well as my bedroom.
Yes, it will be a full, long day to say the least. Gotta run up to the store and get some more paper towels, laundry detergent and softener..................and with that, I'm outta here.
Happy Sunday.
ben
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Much More Work Than Anticipated
The new pond, firing it up and getting it going, that is.
That's because I am going to have to move around all of my filters to make this feasible. I have enough filters, yes, but - emptying them, cleaning them, moving them with the hose and pump - it'll be tomorrow by the time I have that finished as there is a lot of other things I want to get done around here as well.
Not sweating it, I'll get it done, just that my dad is coming over here on Tuesday and I want the place spic and span, including a fresh carpet cleaning.
So, I finally did it. I posted the notice.
I was going to do it a month or more ago, I just thought I might be pushing it by doing so.
What notice?
Concerning the use of my washing machine and dryer. I came home yesterday to find the water temp setting on hot wash AND hot RINSE. TOTALLY unecessary, a HUGE waste of electricity in heating up more water, NOT going to continue to happen.
The notice was basically this: 2 free loads per week, $1.50 for each and every load after that. ANY load, whether the freebie or not, that is washed using HOT rinse will incur an extra added fee of $.050. I cannot ever remember any laundromat having machines that have hot rinse - and I have been to several. I don't even know why they would build a machine with hot rinse, I wish this one didn't have it.
Of course, I could eliminate hot water altogether on that machine and simply tie the hot water line into the cold water line. Trickery? Perhaps, but cold water wash and cold water rinse will do the job perfectly fine in most cases. If clothes are extremely dirty, I can see using hot water wash, but still, no hot water rinse. Basically, I have one tenant that does up to 8 loads of laundry a week. That's right, eight loads for ONE person. She does very small loads of wash, wasting entire wash cycles when she could and should be doing full loads. Perhaps in the case of whites and wanting to keep them separate do I see the need for extreme separation, but this is ridiculous.
I haven't written up the second notice: leaving computers on 24 hours a day. I have spoken individually with everyone here about not leaving them on all the time - they consume enough electricity that when you add it all up: 4 computers could be costing as little as $60 to run 24 hours a day and up to $360. Well, I'm pretty sure it's not $360, I am headed for an electric bill this month of around $300. AC is still on every day is the primary culprit, yes, but excessive laundry use is the other.
I did make a concession, though. If a person wants to do the 3rd or 4th or however many loads after the initial 2 free loads by using cold water wash and rinse only and using the clothes line to dry them, be my guest, it's on the house. Yes, the machines consume electricity without even using hot water, but - the real culprits are hot water and an electric dryer that is usually run 70 minutes to dry clothes.
I think I'll wait on handing out computer notices until I see the effect of quashing 10, 15 "extra" loads per week - that one tenant is not the only culprit here, though she is definitely the biggest culprit.
Of course, electric use will go way down - hopefully by next month, after the AC system is shut down for the winter. Open the windows, air the place out, let the fresh, polluted Phoenix air come wafting in. We have pollution problems here, not as bad as LA, but enough that during the winter especially, high pollution advisories are doled out frequently. On those days, they do not allow the use of wood burning fire places and actually have fire place police running around, pulling up in front of people's homes and writing up tickets. Yes, you read that right, they actually have people going around writing out finable tickets. I don't have a fireplace so it doesn't effect me, but, the city budgets around here are out of control and not enough money (wouldn't it be nice if they just figured out ways to cut BACK on spending instead of continuing to run all kinds of programs that we cannot afford) to run them, perhaps they will do away with this stuff - I somehow doubt that the fines being paid compensate for the amount of money to actually run such a program.
10 hour interval here as I got busy with the ponding stuff and it went on all day long.
Shutting down even a small pond is not small business. I had NO idea that I had put THAT many plants in that little thing! I mean, it was totally cool looking, but, I just didn't think there was that much in there. Take all of that out and put it in the large pond.
Next, catch the large goldfish while at the same time pumping the pond water into a 5 gallon buck to be dumped into the newly started large pond - have at least some cycled water in there. The large goldfish took about 45 minute to catch with everything else going on.
Next was the REALLY hard part: attempting to catch all of this very LITTLE fish in there. The size of minnows and smaller, there were at least a hundred of them in there. Me? I'm not going to lose a single fish, even an itty-bitty thing if I can help it. I would take the net and feed it through there, get some in there and dump them into a 5-gallon bucket. This went on for quite a while.
I didn't notice that some of them were jumping out of the net. Movement on the ground caught my eye and I saw at least 10 of them little buggers flipping around down there. I picked all of them up and dumped them into the bucket.
Realizing this method I was using wasn't going to work, I took a smaller pump and started pumping all the water out of that pond. Down to less than an inch of water, I turned the pump off and removed it. I then picked the pond up and got the water pooled into one end. 20 swipes with the net to get those little things. I was dumping the water that was straining out through the net onto the ground. I got the amount of water down to almost nothing and poured it into the bucket.
My issue was not putting that stuff into the new pond.
Now, I start swiping the net through the 5-gallon bucket, getting a lot of fish on each swipe, dumping the water out of the net onto the ground each time, putting the little fishies into the pond on each attempt. Time after time after time until it was down to almost no water in the bucket and yes, I dumped the rest of it into the pond. Little fishies are as important as giant fishies in any water environment.
This is half the day doing this. The goldfish had been in there quite a while after I got done with the little fishies. Now, I'm thinking about getting excess amount of fish from the 2 remaining ponds into this much larger one. I figured the Koi would be okay. So, the "big" pond that has them in it - well, it was time to get them out. Just try to catch a 16 inch Koi in net that is designed to catch 4 inch at max fish.
6 Koi to catch, pain the rear. Koi make themselves very difficult to catch, much harder than goldfish. Catching those 6 fish took quite some time. I did get all of them - they all hang out together and I didn't want to separate them. The rest of the fish I left in there. Next, to the turtle pond.
I wanted to get 4 or 5 of the goldfish out there, pretty easy, really,didn't take too long.
After that? NOTHING. That took much longer than I expected - like all day long. I didn't get the half of the rest of the stuff I wanted to get done around here today and that is not good. I have a full load on my hands tomorrow.
Anyway, this entry is done.
G'day or more appropriately, G'nite.
ben
That's because I am going to have to move around all of my filters to make this feasible. I have enough filters, yes, but - emptying them, cleaning them, moving them with the hose and pump - it'll be tomorrow by the time I have that finished as there is a lot of other things I want to get done around here as well.
Not sweating it, I'll get it done, just that my dad is coming over here on Tuesday and I want the place spic and span, including a fresh carpet cleaning.
So, I finally did it. I posted the notice.
I was going to do it a month or more ago, I just thought I might be pushing it by doing so.
What notice?
Concerning the use of my washing machine and dryer. I came home yesterday to find the water temp setting on hot wash AND hot RINSE. TOTALLY unecessary, a HUGE waste of electricity in heating up more water, NOT going to continue to happen.
The notice was basically this: 2 free loads per week, $1.50 for each and every load after that. ANY load, whether the freebie or not, that is washed using HOT rinse will incur an extra added fee of $.050. I cannot ever remember any laundromat having machines that have hot rinse - and I have been to several. I don't even know why they would build a machine with hot rinse, I wish this one didn't have it.
Of course, I could eliminate hot water altogether on that machine and simply tie the hot water line into the cold water line. Trickery? Perhaps, but cold water wash and cold water rinse will do the job perfectly fine in most cases. If clothes are extremely dirty, I can see using hot water wash, but still, no hot water rinse. Basically, I have one tenant that does up to 8 loads of laundry a week. That's right, eight loads for ONE person. She does very small loads of wash, wasting entire wash cycles when she could and should be doing full loads. Perhaps in the case of whites and wanting to keep them separate do I see the need for extreme separation, but this is ridiculous.
I haven't written up the second notice: leaving computers on 24 hours a day. I have spoken individually with everyone here about not leaving them on all the time - they consume enough electricity that when you add it all up: 4 computers could be costing as little as $60 to run 24 hours a day and up to $360. Well, I'm pretty sure it's not $360, I am headed for an electric bill this month of around $300. AC is still on every day is the primary culprit, yes, but excessive laundry use is the other.
I did make a concession, though. If a person wants to do the 3rd or 4th or however many loads after the initial 2 free loads by using cold water wash and rinse only and using the clothes line to dry them, be my guest, it's on the house. Yes, the machines consume electricity without even using hot water, but - the real culprits are hot water and an electric dryer that is usually run 70 minutes to dry clothes.
I think I'll wait on handing out computer notices until I see the effect of quashing 10, 15 "extra" loads per week - that one tenant is not the only culprit here, though she is definitely the biggest culprit.
Of course, electric use will go way down - hopefully by next month, after the AC system is shut down for the winter. Open the windows, air the place out, let the fresh, polluted Phoenix air come wafting in. We have pollution problems here, not as bad as LA, but enough that during the winter especially, high pollution advisories are doled out frequently. On those days, they do not allow the use of wood burning fire places and actually have fire place police running around, pulling up in front of people's homes and writing up tickets. Yes, you read that right, they actually have people going around writing out finable tickets. I don't have a fireplace so it doesn't effect me, but, the city budgets around here are out of control and not enough money (wouldn't it be nice if they just figured out ways to cut BACK on spending instead of continuing to run all kinds of programs that we cannot afford) to run them, perhaps they will do away with this stuff - I somehow doubt that the fines being paid compensate for the amount of money to actually run such a program.
10 hour interval here as I got busy with the ponding stuff and it went on all day long.
Shutting down even a small pond is not small business. I had NO idea that I had put THAT many plants in that little thing! I mean, it was totally cool looking, but, I just didn't think there was that much in there. Take all of that out and put it in the large pond.
Next, catch the large goldfish while at the same time pumping the pond water into a 5 gallon buck to be dumped into the newly started large pond - have at least some cycled water in there. The large goldfish took about 45 minute to catch with everything else going on.
Next was the REALLY hard part: attempting to catch all of this very LITTLE fish in there. The size of minnows and smaller, there were at least a hundred of them in there. Me? I'm not going to lose a single fish, even an itty-bitty thing if I can help it. I would take the net and feed it through there, get some in there and dump them into a 5-gallon bucket. This went on for quite a while.
I didn't notice that some of them were jumping out of the net. Movement on the ground caught my eye and I saw at least 10 of them little buggers flipping around down there. I picked all of them up and dumped them into the bucket.
Realizing this method I was using wasn't going to work, I took a smaller pump and started pumping all the water out of that pond. Down to less than an inch of water, I turned the pump off and removed it. I then picked the pond up and got the water pooled into one end. 20 swipes with the net to get those little things. I was dumping the water that was straining out through the net onto the ground. I got the amount of water down to almost nothing and poured it into the bucket.
My issue was not putting that stuff into the new pond.
Now, I start swiping the net through the 5-gallon bucket, getting a lot of fish on each swipe, dumping the water out of the net onto the ground each time, putting the little fishies into the pond on each attempt. Time after time after time until it was down to almost no water in the bucket and yes, I dumped the rest of it into the pond. Little fishies are as important as giant fishies in any water environment.
This is half the day doing this. The goldfish had been in there quite a while after I got done with the little fishies. Now, I'm thinking about getting excess amount of fish from the 2 remaining ponds into this much larger one. I figured the Koi would be okay. So, the "big" pond that has them in it - well, it was time to get them out. Just try to catch a 16 inch Koi in net that is designed to catch 4 inch at max fish.
6 Koi to catch, pain the rear. Koi make themselves very difficult to catch, much harder than goldfish. Catching those 6 fish took quite some time. I did get all of them - they all hang out together and I didn't want to separate them. The rest of the fish I left in there. Next, to the turtle pond.
I wanted to get 4 or 5 of the goldfish out there, pretty easy, really,didn't take too long.
After that? NOTHING. That took much longer than I expected - like all day long. I didn't get the half of the rest of the stuff I wanted to get done around here today and that is not good. I have a full load on my hands tomorrow.
Anyway, this entry is done.
G'day or more appropriately, G'nite.
ben
Friday
Did you watch the Angle/Reid debate last night? I had forgotten about it, was flipping through channels when the light when on: Oh, YEAH, that should be on now! Sure enough, it was on CSPAN. I missed the first 25 minutes of it, yes, but the part I saw? Hilarious!! Love this stuff. From where I'm sitting, Angle blew Reid right out of the water.
But, my perspective may be skewed. After watching Reid and Pelosi on their high horses, ignoring American sentiment against the health care bill and them pushing it through anyway, I don't care if they both just get voted right out of politics - forever.
So, the end of the week, temps are supposed to start cooling back down again (we'll see about that one!). I have "high" plans to get that pond going this weekend. I wanted to wait until I had a full day to start on it in case I run into problems. I mean, getting home from work and having several hours of daylight left might be enough, but I just got this feeling that I better wait until Saturday and have a full day, weekend if necessary, to ensure I have ample "problem-solving" time.
But, I am psyched about it and can't wait to get that big pond up and running.
Good grief. Another truck driver showing up early on Friday morning. I should have locked the door behind me coming in here.
Well, anyway, don't be this guy: Passes his driving test, drops the official off and then, thinking he has the gear selector in reverse but actually having it in drive, he crashes INTO the DMV office!! Oh am I ever-so-loving glad my son didn't do THAT at HIS driving test!
I'm getting all kinds of advice on what to get on a new computer, one "geek" told me this: Whatever you do, make sure you get the BEST video graphics card that you can afford. Without a good graphics card, you have nothing.
Okay, I did not know that. I do know that I have seen those cards going into the $200 plus range.
I'm thinking getting a new computer? Might be a while. There is no point in building something that isn't much better than what I already have. 8 gigs of ram, minimum 750 gig harddrive, that video card, a good processor. Like, WHAT is a good processor? So many opinions I don't have a clue. Dual core this, quad core that.
Oh well. I won't be doing anything about that until I get that insurance check - which allegedly is in the mail. If that and what's left over from the bonus doesn't amount to enough, probably dump it into my ING savings account and let it sit there until I do have enough.
Ummm, work day approaches and today>? Plenty to do.
G'day.
ben
But, my perspective may be skewed. After watching Reid and Pelosi on their high horses, ignoring American sentiment against the health care bill and them pushing it through anyway, I don't care if they both just get voted right out of politics - forever.
So, the end of the week, temps are supposed to start cooling back down again (we'll see about that one!). I have "high" plans to get that pond going this weekend. I wanted to wait until I had a full day to start on it in case I run into problems. I mean, getting home from work and having several hours of daylight left might be enough, but I just got this feeling that I better wait until Saturday and have a full day, weekend if necessary, to ensure I have ample "problem-solving" time.
But, I am psyched about it and can't wait to get that big pond up and running.
Good grief. Another truck driver showing up early on Friday morning. I should have locked the door behind me coming in here.
Well, anyway, don't be this guy: Passes his driving test, drops the official off and then, thinking he has the gear selector in reverse but actually having it in drive, he crashes INTO the DMV office!! Oh am I ever-so-loving glad my son didn't do THAT at HIS driving test!
I'm getting all kinds of advice on what to get on a new computer, one "geek" told me this: Whatever you do, make sure you get the BEST video graphics card that you can afford. Without a good graphics card, you have nothing.
Okay, I did not know that. I do know that I have seen those cards going into the $200 plus range.
I'm thinking getting a new computer? Might be a while. There is no point in building something that isn't much better than what I already have. 8 gigs of ram, minimum 750 gig harddrive, that video card, a good processor. Like, WHAT is a good processor? So many opinions I don't have a clue. Dual core this, quad core that.
Oh well. I won't be doing anything about that until I get that insurance check - which allegedly is in the mail. If that and what's left over from the bonus doesn't amount to enough, probably dump it into my ING savings account and let it sit there until I do have enough.
Ummm, work day approaches and today>? Plenty to do.
G'day.
ben
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