Friday 12/3/2010

Friday

I was pulled over in the semi yesterday by AZ DPS officer. These are the guys whose almost sole job is to pull over commercial vehicles and do inspections.

And, as is their custom, they will always find something wrong with your truck so as to either write up a citation or give you a warning.

I was given 2 warnings yesterday, thanks a lot, there goes my bonus next month, next?

The first warning, and this after the guy spent 40 minutes inspecting the truck, the tractor and the load to the nth degree, was for a strap that had a slit in it. After looking at the strap, I concluded that it was still legally usable. 3/4's of an inch. Further, the cargo that that strap was tying down? Had TWO straps on it. In the case of that cargo, which was a crate holding 3 small check valves weighing at most 500 pounds, ONE strap was legally enough to secure it. The cargo was over-strapped - a thing of which the officer complimented me on and then gives me the warning.

Whatever.

The second warning irritated me. You see, this officer followed me for almost 10 MILES before he pulled me over. Why he did that, I have no clue. He handed me the warnings and I looked at the second "infraction". It said I had followed too closely to a tractor-trailer rig in front me.

BUNK. I asked him WHERE this alleged activity took place. He told me where SR87 meets SR387. Yes, there was a tractor-trailer rig in front of me, yes I had PLENTY of room in front of me. The officer allegedly clocked me at 2.57 seconds distance behind the truck.

First off, the truck in front of me had started slowing down to turn off of SR87 onto SR387. He did not slow down using the footbrake, he began braking using the engine brake. When a truck in front of me does that, it takes a second to recognize that that truck is slowing down - the brake lights do not come on with the engine brake.

Second, this DPS officer was sitting in his pickup about 300 feet off the road semi-facing south. We were coming from the north. At the point where this officer would have been able to see both trucks, I would have been going between 10 and 15 miles per hour. That's right, the driver of the truck in front of me slowed WAY down, he was going maybe 5 mph when he made that turn, I was just rolling behind him waiting for him to clear the road.

I got into a discussion with this officer about that one. That will not look good to my company, following too closely that is. I stated to him the same thing I already wrote: by the time he would have been able to see me, I would have been going no more than 10mph. He stated that "he didn't know how fast I was going". PLEASE.

Don't tell me they don't have a good estimate of how fast a vehicle is going - that's a 6th sense they get after being out there for a long time, looking at vehicles and estimating pretty close how fast they are going. The fact that he stated that he didn't know how fast I was going was what got me going. He KNEW how fast I was going and IF I had been less than 3 seconds behind that truck, it was because we were going SO slow, even if that driver had slammed on his brakes I would have been able to stop before hitting him.

I brought that up as well. He didn't have an answer for it. I then told him these warnings were going to cost me my bonus. He looked at me in shock, but there was no retraction. If they had been citations I would have seen the guy in court, guaranteed. With warnings, I don't know that you can fight them because that's all they are: warnings. At the same time, I lose an entire week's worth of pay that I would have gotten next month for being a safe driver, which I still conclude that I am regardless of this guy's warnings.

Nice way to start the day, it was around 7:00am when this occured. After leaving, I go to the job site with the load and find no supers or foremen there for this company. Only workers. That can sometimes be a bad thing. Well, I was delivering some pipe (as well as a lot of other stuff on the truck). There were 2 different kinds of pipe - different ratings on it - that look EXACTLY the same as each other.

I pointed this out. This is class 52 pipe, this is class 350 pipe, don't mix them up. What do they do? Mix them up. I pointed it out for about the 5th time when another guy walked up, who got into an argument with the backhoe operator, who started yelling at another guy, who started yelling back.

I might have found these morons entertaining, throwing hard hats down, kicking dirt, hurling insults at each other but the encounter with the DPS officer had put me in a bad mood. Watching a bunch of clowns get into a pissing match wasn't top on my list of things to do.

That is what happens when there isn't a forman or a superintendant around to monitor them. I noted on the paperwork that the pipe had been mixed together. This because the super will eventually call and ask where his class 52 pipe is. It is thicker walled pipe and can take both more water pressure internally and also more abuse from traffic above it underground. Mostly, I think it's used to cross underneath roads. Then back to the regular class 350.
Whatever the case, it costs more. At least the pipe is marked, albeit you have to know where to look. I showed this guy - this was like the 5th time now - where the markings were on the pipe, where all 5 sticks were.

Got that truck unloaded and got the bleep out of there.

That was it. There were other deliveries but they had to get out so salesmen ended up delivering them. By the time I got back, it was almost time to go home - I am over hours and had to leave early yesterday and will have to leave early today as well.

And with that, the weekend is almost here.

The news is rife with garbage. "New report: Dream Act to cost taxpayers billions". No kidding? What, is this supposed to shock anyone? Is there ANYTHING that the government does that doesn't cost a buildingful of money?

Pollution. We get these advisories every winter. Pollution settles into the valley and doesn't go anywhere. Pollution advisories are issued - they are expecting this year to be particularly bad for whatever reason. Nice, breath in that wonderful, polluted air. Just another reason I would love to leave the Phoenix area permanently.

Whatever. No plans for the weekend besides usual stuff. Still responding to respondants who are interested - referring to "Plenty of Fish". One of them looks intriguing at least.

G'day.

ben

Thursday 11/2/2010

Thursday

I'm standing in awe of the fact that it IS Thursday already. Where has the week gone? Oh, yes, work has been very busy and keeping me late. Today will be no exception. I was supposed to make 2 trips to Florence yesterday, but, I ended up driving everywhere BUT a second trip there. No, that trip is this morning. Back to the yard, load up for 2 other deliveries and then done. That should take a good part of the day.

Another whammy coming our way: the end of the Bush tax cuts. Or not. Who knows. The bickering in Washington never ceases to amaze me. GOP says extend it to all, Dems say not to the rich, I say shut the bleep up and do what's right for America. The "rich" continue to say that if those tax cuts aren't extended, then it will restrict their ability to pursue hiring more workers. The Dems believe that the rich - shouldn't be rich I guess - sock it to them.

For right now? I say extend it for everyone at least temporarily and then they can sit there and argue and fight amongst themselves til' some kind of agreement is made. I AM glad that there is a tourniquet to the money-let in Washington with GOP taking back the House, I figured that the best that was going to become of it was that NOTHING would be able to happen, however, I think the GOP has it mixed up. Americans that are unemployed and only have unemployment benefits probably want those benefits lengthened and Americans like me that are employed but working less hours probably don't want to see even MORE money going to taxes.

There's my beef with all of them. We ALREADY pay too much in taxes but the GOP is standing thee saying we are going to have to cough up even more? SCREW that. I have to live within my means, everyone else has to live within their means, but the Federal government? Oh no, just take more from the people. I most certainly did NOT vote the way I did so I could see my taxes raised.

Talk about raising the age to receive Social Security benefits and other "entitlement" programs. Great, take away a portion of my retirement, but do it now, I mean right now, cause if that's the way it's going to be, it will light a fire under my feet to do a LOT more to prepare for retirement. I'm already considering having more taken out for 401k even though I can't really afford it. It's almost at 10k now, breaking in to the 5 digits is a good motivator in itself to save even more.

December 2, 2010 6:03 AM

Anonymous said...

Well enough about that. I left this morning - it must be in the low 40's outside anyway - the dogs escorted me to the gate as they do every morning and then, before I even got in the car, they beelined for the doggy door and inside the house. Duke was cold this morning IN the house, I can't imagine what he was experiencing outside.

I dunno what else. Lots of stuff on my mind. Nothing that is overwhelming, just a lot in there. Don't really feel inclined to speak about some of it on the world wide web, either, so it will just have to stay in there. Lol. I am going to try to finish the electrical project this weekend and then get some Christmas lights up out front. I would also like to get a Christmas tree, but this year, I want a smaller tree. A big tree takes up too much space in the living room and also blocks my view outside. My traditional thought of having a giant tree is fading. I might even opt for a living tree and plant that sucker after Christmas is over.

The female trailer tenant says she doesn't really get off on Christmas anymore and that she used to. Well, I suspect, that's because she has gone from living with a high income job to being homeless and then, living in an old trailer. She gets on my old computer every day and fills out applications. She says she will take a job anywhere, anything to get some income. I'm sure they don't want to live in that old thing the rest of their lives.

I am, however, going to do my best to get them both in the Christmas spirit. Putting up a lot of nice looking lights is the first step. They have been eating the ham and turkey for nearly a week now. I bought all of that stuff so they haven't really had to spend any money on food for a while now. I am going to take $30 of the money they give me for rent this month, get a movie theatre gift card and give that to them. It isn't a question of need - they are always going to be in need until they get a good flow of income - it's a matter of getting a different perspective on things. When you are broke and living the way they are right now, I can understand why things might not seem so bright and cheery.

Anyway, the work day is here, I'm outta here.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 12/1/2010

Wednesday

Got home late yesterday from work. At noon an "emergency" came in and some valves had to be delivered to a water company in Coolidge. That got me home at around 4:30. 

Do we need to get deficit spending under control? Obviously. Bring down the national debt? Of course. Should we just ignore the millions of people that are going to be affected by the complete loss of unemployment benefits?

Not so fast. I know people that get those benefits, it's ALL they have. The people that I know aren't sitting home watching soap operas or playing on video gaming consoles during the day, either, they are either hitting the streets putting in applications or online doing the same. There are entitlement programs that need to go entirely, there are others that need to be scaled back, but this? 

I can't agree with. The news is saying that jobless benefits begin to run out today. If we're going to bail out banks and become part owners of car dealerships, the least we can do is help those that will have nothing at all if these benefits aren't extended.

This isn't about saving someone's Christmas, if you are on unemployment benefits, I'm sorry, but buying Christmas presents shouldn't even be on the list of things to use that money with. No, it's about keeping the lights on, buying food, pay the water bill, putting gas in the car to go and try to find work. I don't believe that, when we voted a few weeks ago and sent a clear message about runaway spending, it included ending the jobless benefits. GOP prolly should rethink the stance if they are going to oppose it - those that are unemployed might remember it in 2 years and give the same bashing to the GOP as the Dems just got.

Uhh, some pretty bleak news in there. Think I'll give it a pass. I have a lot of driving to do today. Jobsite in Florence - a huge order building a small hospital out in the middle of nowhere, at least that's what I call it. 2 tripper. Well, 3 tripper, really, but I won't be able to get 3 trips done in 1 day. The truck is already loaded and ready to go, get that pipe out there, get back here, load'er up again, back out, and then if there's time, downtown and then back to the yard.

It's a good day when I'm busy at work. Even better that it's the first day of the month and we are already going to be doing an 80k order. That gives a nice jump start for the rest of the month, which it will need, because Christmas time is traditionally very slow even in the best of economic times for our company.

My Cyber Monday scouring didn't result in me getting anything but 2 sweaters for the dogs. It's cold out there - 30 something degrees right now - the Danes are going to have sweaters. Probably arrive sometime next week. I am putting the Windows 7 quest on hold. I have bills to pay and Christmas is approaching. Plus, I was shorted on rent by one tenant - the one who got a job and then lost it because she didn't wake up in time to get there......because........she spent the previous night at the casino.

Well, I got half of it from her. She offeredt to do work around the house for the rest of it - not. I need the money, not work. You want to work, yes, PLEASE go find a job.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 11/30/2010

Tuesday

Yesterday, after getting home from work, I put the turtles in "storage". Pulled them out of that cold water, one of them was quite upset about it and hissed at me. Well, whatever, turtle, according to the experts you'll be far happier in a box with padding than in freezing cold water. And so it is, they are in the storage shed as I type this.

There is a freeze warning in effect right now as well, but, the temp outside is 37 degrees. I'm not worried about my plants as this isn't cold enough to damage to any of them that I know of. I guess I'll find out later on when I get home from work. 

Unfortunately, the cold weather means the dogs are going to have to have access to the house while I'm at work. No choice in the matter, large, short-haired dogs in almost freezing weather? Gotta be able to get into some warmth.

The house is much warmer than it is outside and that without even running central heat. I turned it on for a few minutes this morning to bring the temp up a little, but, it's about 30 degrees warmer in the house than it is outside. 

"If lawmakers vote to censure Rangel, he would stand in the well of the chamber as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers a verbal rebuke" I read this a few minutes ago and thought, gee, this would make great entertainment to see Pelosi rebuking a crooked politician. I'm no fan of Pelosi, yet, somehow, the entire scenario would be fun to watch, I do believe. 

Well, there's a lot in the news today, 271 before-unknown-to-exist paintings by Picasso surface; the cable fiasco; North Korea; Obama suddenly deciding it must be a good time to actually try to have a dialogue with the GOP; the teenager that was going to blow up a bomb at a Christmas tree ceremony who has pled not-guilty (good luck with that); and a massive election fraud in Haiti. Gee, we seem to hear a lot of that going on around the world, the biggest of which was Iran's so-called free elections. 

Anyway, back to the house, I finally figured out where I might be able to unload the dirt that is going to be dug out if I put a pond in the front of the house. I shut the turtle pond down yesterday and will have to decide what to do with those turtles before the winter is over. Not really there yet. The pond I might put in the front could be a turtle pond, but then, that's all it could be, I'm not really interested in that idea. I want a plant pond with smaller fish out there, not turtles that will mow down every plant I put in there. 

Ummm, that's about it for today's writings. The truck routing system is full of pickups for tomorrow - a huge delivery in the system. So large, it will take 2 full semi loads to get it all out there. So, busy today at work picking up the parts for that order plus pulling the stuff we have at our branch for it as well. Haven't driven the semi in what, almost 2 weeks? Lol.

G'day.

ben

So You Want A Great Dane

I've read this, that and the other thing by so-called experts on Great Danes ALL over the web.  Most of these individuals are nothing more than what I am:  a person that owns a dog or dogs that are of the Great Dane breed.

I have 2 pure-breds and 1 mix.  They all have very, VERY different personalities.  They are wonderful, awesome dogs!! But, like any dog, they also have their peculiarities and sometimes even annoyances.

One of my Danes must follow me everywhere.  His feelings are visibly hurt if I want him to go lay down instead of his face in my face constantly.  The dog knows no limits to his loyalty to be at my side, either.  Yesterday,  I crawled under my house to get at some electrical wiring.  When I say crawl, I mean I was on my belly sliding underneath pipes and conduit and such.

Who was RIGHT behind me?  Yup, Prince, the black Great Dane.  I didn't call him to come follow me under there, the first time I went under the house I had no idea a dog that large could even FIT underneath all of that.  Not Prince. He was on his belly, pushing himself along with giant and rather powerful rear legs and followed me right along.  When I got to where I needed top be under there, he came right up beside me, took a comfortable position and just laid there, staring at me.  I couldn't, of course, help but pet him for a bit and then, back to work.

Meanwhile, Duke, my other Dane, was up there, whining away. He desperately WANTED to be with us, but he wasn't even going to try crawling under there.  The Dane mix?  Wanted nothing to do with it.  She went about her business, but, then again, she isn't a pure Dane, so I'll keep this conversation to the purebred Danes.

I do agree, just from my experience with these 2 Danes and another Dane we had when I was a teenager: they want to be with you - people - all the time, as much as possible.  People tell me when I leave, Prince, makes horse like noises and trots and prances back and forth for hours.  Leave for work, that is.  When I come home?  He is RIGHT there, waiting for me. So are the other 2, to be fair.

Danes want attention, that's the jist of it.  They want a lot of attention. They are nothing but big, giant babies.  I'm quite serious, that's just what it is.  If they don't get enough attention, from my perspective, they get their feelings hurt.  Prince will start making his horse noises in my house when I tell him to lay down.  It isn't barking, it isn't loud, it's an objection.  I object to you telling me to lay down when I want you to pet me, continously, the entire time you are here.

Oh, btw, I have a doggy door in my house.  When I am gone, I am told they do NOT come in here much.  Yup, they are out there, waiting for me to come home.  Umm, but now it's getting cold outside and I suspect that if I ask again, they're going to say they are coming inside.  Why?  They simply cannot handle cold weather.  I just ordered some sweatshirts for them on a Cyber Monday Walmart sale, it's going to be in the 20's tonight, very cold.  My dogs NEVER sleep outside unless they are sick, ie: throwing up or diarhea.   They sleep in my bedroom and yes, they have their own bed.  Actually, I have a bed and pillows on the floor. One bed does not fit all of them.

They are heavy dogs, they really should not be left to sleeping on hard floors.  Duke is 143 pounds and Prince is 132 pounds.  Hey, do YOU want to sleep on the "raw" floor all the time?  Didn't think so.

Food? Yup, they eat.  No, they are not fat or obese.  I never have and never will allow my dogs to get fat.  I do go through a lot of dog food, but, I have 4 dogs, 2 of them VERY large.  The Dane mix would be considered large, not very large.  about 40 pounds of dog food per week plus scraps.  Oh, and btw, be prepared to clean up some giant dung in the back yard.

I could go on, but 1, it is my bedtime and 2, it's only a surface scratch at what it's like to live with Great Danes.  I will write again about what it's like actually living with Great Danes versus "professional" sites that just give overviews. Not that those are bad sites, just don't give an up and close, personal reality of what it is to live with them day in and day out.

Monday 11/29/2010

Monday

Get up this morning - 38 degrees. I didn't have the heat on, no. It isn't cold under the covers. Go to bathroom, turn on hot water - comes out - cool by the time it's running "hot". No clue. Get in, shock and awe, jump out freezing. 

Get dressed - I had turned the water heater breaker off when I was working on the electrical stuff yesterday. On the way out this morning, one of the dogs catches the phone wire and yanks it right out of the wall. Wonderful. That supplies the internet. Left a note for Kirby - he uses the internet during the day in combination with a side business he runs. Get a new phone line if you must have internet and I will reimburse you.

What else was I going to do? They don't cost that much, that isn't the problem, I don't happen to have an extra 25 foot line laying around.

Get to work. They left the heat on all weekend long. Not a problem, per se, just a waste of electricity when no-one is here. Check the routing system - at least there is one delivery today, albeit small. Smack me in the face and welcome back to reality. Lol

Today is Cyber Monday. I am only looking for one thing - doubt I will find it on sale though. That would be Windows 7 Home Premium. I will be checking the usual suspects and then go on beyond those to see if anything is out there. 

Here's the biggest news I've found today: Leslie Neilson died. That guy was hilarious, especially in that Airplane! movie. Okay, so there is this newest leak of "Diplomatic Cables". Who cares. I don't. The rest of the world shouldn't either. Unless there's classified stuff in there, that is. The biggest rumblings is that there are some "untoward" statements about leaders of other nations all over the world.

I'm sure they talk s*** about us, too, again, who cares. Well, I'll be reading about that further/in-depth later on today. 

As for now, it's time to get offa here and bounce back into the working world.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 11/28/2010

There was a 1% chance of rain forecast yesterday for today.
ONE percent.  So what does it do this morning? Yup.  Rains.  A pleasant diversion, actually.

Well, anyway, I get that whole electrical setup done yesterday for find - that whoever wired the AC system wired it with incorrect colored wire and the neutral wire is actually a hot wire.  I was feeding the new panel off of that 100 amp lug.

So, this morning, I decided I was going to find out how possible it is to punch out a new hole at the bottom of the main circuit panel and attempt to feed a line through the hole, down through the wall and yes, through a small hole in the floor to get access to running a  line under the house and over to where the new panel is already set up.  This would provide the neutral line that is imperative for that kind of setup.

I didn't expect it to be easy, and it didn't let me down.  First off, I had to crawl under the house to get to it.  This is no small chore in itself, because there are many low-lying obstacles in the way.  Getting there, I realized I would need a knife to cut away the plastic that covers the entire bottom of the house.  Back out, got the knife and a flashlight, back under.  Prince following me under there each time. HOW that giant dog can squeeze himself under there?  Amazing sight.  Maybe I'll get a video of it and post it on YouTube.

Cut the plastic.  Out again, cordless drill with a wood bit on it.  Back under.  Drill several holes.  Bit not big enough.  Back out.  7/8ths bit.  Drill new hole.  Back out.  Start trying to fish a piece of Romex down through the top hole, the wall and find the bottom hole.

An hour of this.  I finally decide to try and find something rigid and straight to stick down through there.  But what?  No way am I stick the only thing that comes to mind in there:  a stick of rebar.  No, whatever it is, it's not going to be able to conduct electricity.   Small tree that died after I transplanted it last year.  That was the ticket. Cut it out, cut off the branches, perfect.  FIRST try and it goes straight down through the hole at the bottom and out.  WHY didn't the Romex do that?  Because, I was trying to feed it at the wrong angle.  Changed my angle, walaah.  I went back under the house and sure enough, there it was, mixed in with a clump of other wiring being fed to the entire house.  Secured it at the top, put the main panel door back on, done for today.

Why?  That was ENOUGH of that stuff for one day, that's why.  If my explanation of the rigors of trying to just get that part of it done wasn't enough, dunno what else to say.  It is, hopefully the hardest part, though, I will have to drag a line clear under the entire length of that house at a diagonal to get it to the new sub-panel.  Which reminds me, there is no green ground wire, either.  Have to get a 2 strand wire, I guess, might as well do it right.  Either that or just run an entire new line altogether, but that will cost some serious money in wire, that stuff isn't cheap.  Still looking on Craigslist for wire that I might be able to get my hands on.

Male tenant showed up today, after being gone 4 days.  Handed me rent.  Female tenant that was helping a lady with her newborn - gone for the last, what 6 days?  She owes rent - today actually.  The other was off to work early this morning.

I was informed that the Steelers are playing in a little while, I think I'll cruise out the rest of my vacation on a Steelers game followed by whatever movies might be on with a bit of cleaning thrown in.  I am not dreading work tomorrow.   That is no frame of mind to go back to work.  The only thing I ever dread at work is if there is nothing to do - I am a work oriented person, I want to work, I want to keep busy while at work, having nothing to do is not my idea of fun.  People muse about how great it must be to have a job where you just sit around doing nothing.  In my view of it, that is a job from hell, a NIGHTMARE job.  I can't imagine the boredom of inactivity and not using your mind to accomplish anything while you're there 8 hours or however long.

So, I bid you a happy Sunday.  I feel better having taken this time off.  There are 2, 3 day weekends coming up for Christmas and New Year's, so not too long before even more time off.  I probably won't be writing another entry before tomorrow (no guarantees, however), so I bid you a.........

G'day.

ben

Saturday 11/27/2010

Vacation slowly winding down.  Today and tomorrow left and then poof, back to driving trucks all over the place and everything else that is associated with my job description.  I hope it's busy Monday morning as I would rather just jump right back into it and having something to do versus - nothing.

I got up this morning and headed over to Ace Hardware to see if I could score a weedeater with the 50% off coupon.  The coupon is restricted:  Nothing over $30 and nothing that is on sale.  They had one weedeater at $24.99 - small but exactly what I needed.  Everything else was over $30.  I got that one and paid a whopping $13.95 for it.  Put it together, went out there and started hacking down overgrown grass.  THAT little project is going to take a while to finish.

I also went to Home Depot and spent the store credit on the electrical setup I need for outside.  Huge overkill.  A 6 breaker box.  It was the smallest outdoor box they had.  They had plenty of smaller indoor boxes, but not outdoor.   It wasn't that expensive, I just didn't really want one with that big of a box or that many circuit breakers.  I could power EVERYTHING outside with that box, easily.  As it stands, I only bought one circuit breaker for it and the wiring.  I only need it for Christmas lights out front for right now.  I will eventually run line next to the big pond and have it running off of that setup with a 4 outlet setup right there, next to that pond.

I don't need that right now, I am just going to put a 2-outlet setup out front for Christmas lights out there.  I won't have to run miles of extension cords, I can start running lights right off that setup.  I haven't started on that yet, I am still feeling vacationy - like - I don't really want to do to much intensive.  But, I would like to start getting Christmas lights out there.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm looking at this picture of this 19 year old freak of nature that conspired to blow up a van at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  I mean, the Feds were all over this and the whole thing wasn't even real to begin with, the bomb was a fake put together by the feds.  The question I have is: how many more of these nutcases are out there, in our country, planning to blow up whatever?  None?  10?  100?  1000?  More?  These people are already HERE is the point.  That's insanity.  We can only ask the Good Lord that all of this stuff is uncovered before an - NFL stadium is blown up full of people or a concert at a concert hall or a huge gathering of people outdoors such as with this Christmas tree plot.

NK is still churning the rhetoric machine.  Don't really want to go into all of that again, just waiting to see what, if anything, happens with this joint military exercises the US is going to do with SK.

As for now, I am going to go outside, get the electrical components and get started on doing whatever it is going to take to get the new electrical panel installed, up and running.

G'day.

ben

Black Friday 11/26/2010

I didn't bother to get up early.  It was cold - in the 30's and I had no expectation that anything on sale would just disappear as they used to when times were good, money was flowing, people were using their homes as ATM machines (second mortgages/refi's) and spending on credit cards was no big deal.  I still couldn't believe the TV images yesterday and even the day before of people camping out in front of stores for these "big" deals.  If they were giving away free 72 inch HDTV TV's, yes, I would pitch a tent.  I have waited in the past an hour and  a half at most.  That's when it first started.  No-one was putting up tents and showing up 24 hours in advance.  I don't see the point of sacrificing that much time in a very uncomfortable setting to get - things.  They put one woman on the news and asked her - she was first in line - what she was going to get.  She didn't even know!!! She just knew she'd find "something" and that was good enough for her.

No, I got up at 6:30 am, took my time, drove leisurely up to Walmart, yes, it's a Supercenter.  I didn't know what I would see in the parking lot for cars.  It was a bit surprising:  there weren't any more cars in that lot than you would expect to see on a busy day at Walmart. Walked in, lots of police and security standing around everywhere. I really only wanted one thing:  the $98, 19 inch HDTV that my mother hinted that she wanted for Christmas.  I really didn't think those would be big sellers - after all, a 32 inch HDTV was selling for - I believe it was $238.

I walked to the back and couldn't find any anywhere.  Bummer.  I saw one of them in a shopping cart behind counter in the electronics department.  It was full of all kinds of stuff, like when people go to check out and decide they don't want or - oftentimes - don't have money to pay for it on their cards as they might have thought they did. I had thoughts maybe  A store manager was standing right there, so I asked him if he knew if there were any of those left anywhere.  He reached behind the counter, picked the thing up, handed it to me and said: "Yes, this one, it's the last one in the store".  I looked it over.  Hadn't been opened and the box wasn't damaged.

Good enough for me, I thanked him profusely and walked off.  For yuck's sake and because I scored what I went there for, I walked around the entire store.  I found a fleece jacket for $7.  Yeah, I grabbed one of the few of those that were left.  But, I didn't really see the great deals that I thought I would see.  There was stuff out in the aisles all hyped up as a great sale - but maybe the stuff had a couple of bucks hacked off the price, it certainly wasn't a 20, 30 or 40% slash.  I was looking for deals on Christmas lights - nothing but regular sale prices.  I"m not complaining, I saw what I figured I would see, really.  A few good deals - especially on the flat screen TV's -  but not much else.  And, everything that was slated for that Black Friday sale - besides the last of the type of TV I got - was still there.

I left there. I have a $57 card for Home Depot - it's a store credit for something I bought, lost the receipt and just said fine, give me the store credit, I know sooner or later I will be able to use it.  So I went there. The store was virtually empty.  They had a few great Black Friday sales, the rest was nothing that even caught my attention.  A washer and dryer set was the biggest steal there, I am not in the market for such and if I were, well, I pretty much always buy used.  I bought nothing.  I walked the entire store and the only thing of interest was an iron for $6.  I just passed it by. I called mom while there, wandering around the store.  I had to tell her what she was getting because yesterday, when I was visiting her, she said she was going to look for a TV - well, I didn't want her getting a TV when - I just got her one.

In all of this, I hadn't had a cup of coffee yet, so I stopped at McDonald's and got a large cup, went home, got online and did some surfing.  Went outside and realized 2 things I need from Home Depot. 1 - a weedeater.  I have grass that I always pull out and it always grows back.  I stopped pulling it out because - it always grows back and it's a pain.  A weedeater would hack it down in a few minutes with much less effort.  2.  The electrical setup I need for outside.  Not enough outdoor electrical outlets.  I haven't gone back today, in fact, I don't think I am going back out at all.  I am going to think about it and make a decision tomorrow - which one is more of a priority.  Probably the electrical outlet, but, I have a coupon from ACE hardware for 50% off any item  in the store that's $30 or under - just one item - valid tomorrow only.

I'm going to go there and see if I can score a weedeater cheap and then I can spend the store credit on the electrical setup.

I have already eaten another complete Thanksgiving meal today.  The trailer tenants also consumed a large portion of it, plus forked over the money for a pay-per-view on Direct TV: The Expendables.  I have wanted to see that movie, it's an all day ticket on every TV in the house.  Watch that later.

I then started doing more landscaping maintenance on the front.  I've definitely sold myself on installing the small pond out front.  I started pulling out that Texas wild grass that Mary planted some time ago.  It looks okay, but not great.  It's appeal is much lessened now that much of the other stuff I have planted out there is slowly starting to mature.  Well, where that plot of grass is is where I want to "plant" the pond.  What am I going to do with the dirt? Good question, I may just half bury the pond and then use the dirt to build up mounds all around the pond and put plants in on the sides of the mounds.

Mark - one of the trailer tenants - said he was going to buy a space heater today.  Alarm bells went off in my head.  Space heaters consume a lot of electricity and I did not withhold that information from him - immediately.  If they want to heat the thing, they are going to pay for it.  Look, I don't run the heat in my house at night, either.  I am not expecting them to do anything that I don't already do.  I do admit that on some morning, I'll turn the heater on for 10 or 15 minutes, but that's it.  It got down in the 30's last night and no, the heater wasn't on.

Oh, I took Coco with us to Grandma's yesterday.  Well, Caleb's grandma anyway.  Coco is the Dane/Catahoula mix.  She was okay for a while, but after about 3 hours, she started getting nervous.  Did she need to go outside?  Let her out, she stood at the window and stared at me.  Was she hungry?  Fed her, and then started this nervousness again.  I got up to go to the bathroom, she followed my footsteps.  I wondered if it was a flash from the past.  She was handed off to 4 different families before I got her.  She had separation anxiety when I first got her that you wouldn't believe.  It wasn't til' we got in the car that she calmed right down.

I kinda wonder about the materialistic society that we are becoming.  Thanksgiving is becoming just another day off.  God is becoming something that we don't really need.  If we don't have the most current electronic gadget, we are behind the times.  Yes, I did just put together a new computer - but that's after using the old one for some 10 years.  This computer?  I won't be replacing it for a long, long time.  I will undoubtedly upgrade it over time, though right now, the only upgrade it needs is Windows 7.  I'm kinda hoping Cyber Monday might have a deal on it on one of the software sights like Newegg or Tiger Direct.  I just look at this Black Friday hype and mania and see it as a sign of what we are becoming.  Yet, many of us are broke.  It was no wonder to me, at all, that Walmart had far fewer shoppers than in previous years. I wondered how people were paying for the carts stuffed full of stuff - mostly electronics - with credit cards?

Not trying to judge people.  Just wondering.  I also saw North Korea shooting off more bombs/artillery.  They're talking the brink of war.  Are they going to shoot at the aircraft carrier USS George Washington ?  I mean, they know there are US troops in South Korea, are they also going to wage a war with the US? Is this just more talk and rhetoric, or are they serious?  I'm guessing the rhetoric, but who knows.

My vacation - the rest of today, Saturday and Sunday.  Next month, I'll have a 3 day weekend for Christmas and a week later a 3 day weekend for New Year's.  I wrote dad and told him I was hoping we could find a couple of days that Caleb could get off of work to come down with me.  If not, I may just go down there by myself.

As for the rest of today.  Well, it's a bit cool outside, but really, it's wonderful.  I'm going to go back out and do some more foliage maintenance.  My next door neighbors kitty keeps coming over when I'm out there visiting.  I find the thing strangely endearing.  I have been a cat hater since after my childhood - my parents had cats and guess who had to clean up after them and also take care of the litters every 6 months?  Yeah, I got tired of it and that's the reason I really don't much care for them.  But someone else's cat?  I'm finding that that's fine by me.  Kinda strange the kitty just comes right up to me and puts around, smelling, looking and doing whatever cats do.

 I am going to get a box at work, put the turtles in it and shut down that pond for the winter.  The turtles will get stored in the shed, just following the expert's advice.  When it's time to take them out?  I'm not sure.  I can't put them in any pond that I want plants in - which is all of them - because they just cut them down. They would have to have their own setup.

That's it for today.  I'm content and at peace.  I signed up on Plenty of Fish yesterday, someone said I should try it out, well, why not.  It's a dating thing, meet the ladies.  One person showed interest - a 48 year old that has kids, lives in Gilbert, states that she is successful, a businesswoman, owns her own house, all kinds of stuff.  Interesting.  I put it all out there, who I am, what I do, etc etc.  Well, I don't know about that, just have to think about it and wonder if I met her, would there be a connection?

I'm headed outside.

Later.

ben

Thanksgiving Sales Frenzy

I'm not sorry to say that I will never support stores in going out on Thanksgiving Day to buy - stuff.  Just like the deal with grocery stores now being open until 6:00 pm.  Are there not enough days leading up to Thanksgiving to be able to buy whatever you need in advance?  Christmas is what, 30 something days off, and we need to degrade the spirit of THIS day for the commercialization of a future holiday?

No.  I don't care how good the deals are, I wasn't going and I won't be going.  Stores should shut down, just like they "used" to on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.  Even if you don't celebrate the day as it once was, doesn't it seem even necessary that there are a couple of days per year where most everyone can expect not to work and get together with others?  I know, I wrote about this a couple of days ago, but the desperation from retailers is crossing the line in a big way, at least with me.  I'm not saying I won't ever go to their stores - I'm saying I won't go to their stores today.

I had thoughts of getting up early and going to Black Friday sales, but I don't think so. I mean, I will get up early - my normal time - and head out to see if there's anything left, but to get up at midnight for a 5:00 am sale is a bit ridiculous.  Those people sitting out there?  Phoenix is under a freeze warning tonight. Well, parts of it is, anyway.  The point is that it is going to be cold out there and there are people at Walmarts and all kinds of other stores, sitting in chairs, waiting for these stores to open up.  Kohl's opening at 3:00 am.

I don't see any deals that are worth me freezing my @$$ off in the night cold in 30 degree weather to get a deal.  Not sorry, don't care.  The only thing I am really after is a gift for my mother, not anything for myself.

Whatever the case, Thanksgiving at mother's was very pleasant, sans my brothers - they weren't there in other  words (I have encountered TOO many people that have no idea what sans means) - Caleb, one of the dogs and I headed out and got  there around 2:45 pm.  Caleb had to work but came straight here and we headed out to grandma's.  Great food.  It was a good visit and I was glad to have gone.

Got home - a PILE of food out on the counters.  The trailer tenants cooked all that food, ate to their heart's content, I couldn't believe how much food is left over.  I repeated 6 times anyway: HELP ME EAT THIS STUFF!! Don't ask, just come in, help yourself, come in later, help yourself some more.  I was amazed at that amount of food left over.  I would have run an ad if I would have known this, and frankly, I might anyway.

My big refrigerator is loaded with the stuff.  Well, we'll be eating well for days.

As for the temps tonight, a hard freeze forecast.  Just a general Phoenix forecast for it.  I haven't even gotten out my blankets and sheets that I have in the shed for these occasions yet.  Well, I found a local forecast that specified which cities were in that hard freeze forecast - it is all outlying cities, not for Phoenix.  I hope it's right, cause I don't have protection on plants that would need it.

I also threw in an extra heater in to each pond.  The fish were all hovering around the 1 heating in the large pond, now they have 2 heaters to hover around.  Leave the extras in there until around tomorrow afternoon.  I do wonder about the trailer tenants.   There is no heat in there, I know they have plenty of blankets. I have camped out in the wilderness in zero degree temperatures, but that doesn't mean that it's actually fun or anything. It's more like a challenge, can I survive this without freezing to death?  Of course you can with the proper gear.

Of course,  don't turn the heat on in here, either.  But, this house is well insulated and when I walked in here tonight, it was quite warm in here.  In fact, overly warm from the cooking that was being done.

Well, whatever the case, it was a good day.  I am having a nice vacation.  3 days left before going back to work on Monday.  Our company is actually opened tomorrow - but it is usually dead.  Our contractors always shut down for Thanksgiving through Monday.  The stores are only opened until noon - I am not working, no biggies to me, just seems almost a waste to even open the place up.  Our company is all about numbers, though, there must be the numbers there to substantiate opening up.

So, my bed time really.  But there is a movie on I have never seen, one of those feel-good movies: The Town Christmas Forgot.  I'm going to stay up until 10:00 to finish watching it and then go to bed.  That's LATE for me!  I'll get up around 5:00 am, head over to Walmart and see if the 19 inch TV for $98 is available.  If not, well, not the end of the world, definitely.

Well, hope everyone had a great day.

G'nite.

ben

Happy Thanksgiving 11/25/2010

Just want to wish a happy Thanksgiving to everyone, especially regular readers from all over the net (and world) - even if your country doesn't celebrate this particular holiday.  I am going to my mother's house this afternoon with Caleb to visit and partake and then coming home to another feast afterwards.

I am thankful, more than anything, for the love of the Lord in my life.  I am thankful, also, to have a roof over my head; food to eat; a job to go to to bring home the bacon; a car to drive to get to work;  I'm thankful for what family I have left and friends.

I hope you all have a great day, it's good to be alive.

ben

Wednesday 11/24/2010

I missed writing an entry yesterday.
Actually, I had one going, I just didn't finish it and it's in a draft form.
You might be surprised at how many entries I have in draft form, lol.

What to say?
Politics.
North Korea.  If a military attack from one country against another is not considered an act of war, what is?  Unbelievable.  Let's just give out useless "condemnations" from the White House forever.  Oh, and BTW, why was it such a great shock to find out they have much more nuclear capability than what was previously thought?  If we don't do anything, they will just continue to grow their nuclear ability until - yes, until they can send nukes wherever, just like we can, just like Russia can.

Sanctions aren't working and they are NEVER going to work, that's all I can say.

Vacation.  What's to say?  I'm enjoying the time off.  The temps outside are unbelievably wondeful.  I spent  a good part of the afternoon working out front, trimming ground growing vines and still attempting to come up with a plan for the dirt - I really want to put a pond out there.  It's just a bit over half way through my days off.

Thanksgiving Day - tomorrow.  My son isn't getting off work until 2:00 pm.  We are usually eating Thanksgiving meal by then.  However, my son and I are the ONLY ones showing up at her house, so, it makes it a bit easier to decide to wait until Caleb is off of work and take off to grandma's house.  I would let Caleb drive - but he has never driven on the freeway, number one and number two, rest assured we will get there FAR faster than what he will get us there : )  Maybe he can drive the way home.  The freeways should be virtually empty and it will be a great time for him to get used to trying higher speeds without all the dangers of driving on Phoenix freeways.

Trailer Tenants.  They continued to insist that Thanksgiving dinner wait until we get home.  I told them that I won't be home until 7 or 8:00 pm.  Cook the dinner, eat it, enjoy it!!   They got the hint and will be in here cooking tomorrow.  I think they still feel that they are an imposition to me, I have attempted from 7 ways to Sunday to tell them they are more than welcomed here and I don't consider them some sort of blockage to life.   I can do no more than that.

Pickup truck inhabitants.  There is a pickup truck parked beside a house on a sort of parking area on the property belonging to the house.  It's been there a long time.  I have half-noticed that there are always people around that pickup.  It wasn't long ago that I became suspicious that possibly there are people living IN that pickup.  There is definitely a couple living in there.  I half know one of them.  No, I am not going to give them a place to live, there isn't any room left here for more people.  But, we can take a Thanksgiving dinner to them.  This, I feel, mandatory.  What kind of people are they?  Does it really matter?  They are part of God's creation, that's all I need to know in this particular circumstance.  Okay, there are things that would limit my desire to help, I don't think those people fall under any of those guidelines.

Black Friday.  Walmart is advertising a flat screen HDTV - 19 inch - for less than $100.  I don't want a 19 inch TV, my mother does for Christmas.  I'm not convinced, however, that I want to show up at - what time do you need to show up at nowadays? - to be sufficiently in front of the line to be able to score one at 5:00 am.  Or will they disappear that fast?  Who knows.  I have resolved that if I do anything, it's going to by the Cyber version of Black Friday - isn't that on Thanksgiving?  I dunno.

More? Sure, but I'm tired, it's late (for me) and I'm going to bed soon.

G'nite.

ben

Monday 11/22/2010

What happened to the day?
I'm asking myself that question as bedtime rolls around and I didn't even get an entry in.
I did much of nothing, again.
I mean, a load of laundry, a bit of cleaning, feed this and that, but nothing major.

However, I did get it into my head that the smallest pond should be installed out front of my house and remove several plants to do so.

I have not, however, figured out what, exactly, I am going to do with the dirt.  Which sort of nixes that project before it started.  I have no idea what to do with the dirt. I don't have a pickup truck to haul it off, I have no open areas where I could put a mound of dirt and say, gee, that looks good.

Dunno.  I ain't giving up on it, I just haven't figured this out yet.

Besides that? Tomorrow's high temp? Forecast at 65 degrees.

Lol.

I was sitting out there at the ponds today and the breeze made it feel a bit brisk.  That, sitting in direct sunlight.
Now THAT'S a change!

G'day.

ben

Sunday 11/21/2010

Look, I've been reading the news.  I'm taking my leisurely ole' time doing whatever I please - I'm on vacation and that's that.
I find it highly - and I do mean HIGHLY - amusing that Obama, Clinton and all of the rest of the rhetoric pukers are now suddenly talking bi-partisan-ship and attempting to make the GOP look bad because of Kyle's resistance to voting on a treat during a lame-duck session.

Where was the bi-partisan ship during the health care debates?  Behind closed doors, dems-only invites.  CNN coverage, as promised by Obama?  Never happened.  GOP had it's own version of a bill, Dems wouldn't even look at it.  In fact, just about everything Obama has "accomplished" has simply a Democratic agenda that has been easily rammed through because of majorities in both houses and a Democratic president.

Well welcome to reality.  The Americans that voted out the incumbents are not going to fall for this BS.  Kyle has his reasons, that he has outlined publicly, for wanting to wait until the freshman newcomers are sworn-in/actually in office.

Not going too far into that, it doesn't upset me, no, it just makes all of them look pathetic.  Crying and whining about "partisan politics", they are the grand masters of that s*** and they can now eat it JUST the same that they smiled with a **** eating grin shoving their bile down everyone else's throats.

I have no love for either party, but the Dems seem  to want to be able to play this game from both ends of the table, whichever side they happen to be on, they work it to the Nth degree.  My middle brother is EXACTLY this type of person, there are always excuses for everything and it must always be someone else's fault if something goes wrong, ALWAYS.

Onto other things.  It rained today. Didn't expect that but haven't checked the forecasts for over a week now.  Skies were very dark, but the rain only lasted a few minutes.  I wished it would have rained all day long.

Caleb has to work Thanksgiving Day.  He was shocked when he was asked about whether he was working or not - people actually have to work on Thanksgiving Day?  Yes, though not all that long ago, grocery chains shut down altogether on Thanksgiving.  I think it a mistake to have stores opened on a day when everyone should be able to take a day off and spend it with whomever they choose.  I understand emergency service personnel having to work, but a grocery chain?  Supposedly Walmart and Sears are now opting to be open on Thanksgiving Day as well.

I'm not amused.  As far as food for the big feast goes, there are ALL of these days before Thanksgiving - make your list, go to the store, buy it, get it over with.  Which reminds me, I was going to take the turkey out of the freezer this morning and put it into the refrigerator.  Umm, I think I'll give it a kick start and leave it out until bedtime.  Maybe take it out of the refrigerator again tomorrow for another 6 hours or so. It takes many days for a turkey to thaw in my refrigerator.

The entire day has passed since I started writing this.  I'm watching one of the Lord of the Rings movies, thinking about what I am going to do tomorrow (as change from: what is going on at work tomorrow); and thinking about going to bed soon.  I know, vacation you should stay up late.  When you get used to going to bed early and have done it for years and years, it's just what you do, only on a few occasions do you push it later.

Anyway, have a great evening/night/sleep.

ben

Saturday 11/20/2010

First day of vacation has begun.
I cleaned both pond filters today - a major chore and the most time consuming task of dealing with ponds, at least these ponds - and also checked in on the turtles.  They are not coming out of the water and I assume they are hibernating.  It isn't cold enough to put them in the box like the experts told me I should - it's still getting up into the high 70's during the daytime.

I have done nothing else besides cranking around the internet and - nothing.  I didn't turn the TV on until 5:00 pm.  I am on vacation, I probably should DO something, ie: go OUT and do something, but, I just didn't feel like it today.  Tenants told me I should go to the casino, considering my history.  Yes, but, it just wasn't there for me today, the feeling hasn't been there since the last time I went.  Of course,the last time I went, I came home with - $300 I  think it was - more than I went in there with.  Not a huge haul, but not bad for one nights' worth of entertainment.

Wow.  Lots of distractions.  Not a long entry, but I'm done with this one.

G'nite.

ben

Friday

Friday

Well this work day won't get over with fast enough.
I am feeling better, but not enough to say I really wanted to get out of bed this morning and rush right on down to work. 

Whatever plans I may have had for this weekend are shot down unless I come back to life here. Of course, I am also starting an 8 day off vacation, so, I have plenty of recovery time available : )

I sent my mom a bouquet of flowers - an "Autumn" bunch, which were supposed to arrive 2 days ago. Yesterday morning, I called her and she said she hadn't received anything.

I called the florist - they had sent me an email saying that "your flowers have been delivered" - all bright and airy. The guy put me on hold and said he would call them to find out what happened.

Well, it turns out, my mom wasn't home so they left them at the house next door (note that I specifically put on the instructions, of which they give the option, to leave at the doorstep). I didn't give them a hard time, though, I just said thanks and called mom back: your package is at the next door neighobrs. I didn't tell her what they were, sort of a Thanksgiving type of arrangement that looked pretty sweet on the page.

The next morning, the man of the house that lives over there brought the flowers over to her. Mom was exuberant, to say the least. Orange roses. Never heard of them, I didn't see orange roses in that arrangment, which also has all kinds of other flowers in it. Do they have orange roses now? I guess so! 

I didn't know my mother loves to receive packages so much. She kept going on about how much she loves that kind of thing. Have to remember that for Christmas, lol.

Umm, so work day is almost here. Some running around to do in pickups and one delivery. Gonna try to make it the entire day's worth, but no guarantees.

G'day.

ben

Feeling QUITE Under The Weather

...........and considering the weather is absolutely beautiful, it makes it that much worse.

I left work after I finished whatever there was to be done at 10:30 am.  I have PLENTY of sick hours, so no biggies there.  I felt like throwing up all morning long, then my head started feeling woozy and now?  I just got up from an almost 2-hour nap.  Do I feel any better?

NO, is the definitive statement on that situation.  Worse, my sister-in-law is coming over to give me 2 Koi in about half an hour.  She is desperate to get rid of them, so I am not going to say no, but I am also not going to be very much into a lengthy social interaction, either.  She wants some goldfish in exchange - I offered - but at this point, I have absolutely NO desire to try and catch fish.

Oh well.  I found out today that several people at our main branch have also come down sick - they didn't show up for work. I am going to show up to work tomorrow morning unless I feel REALLY bad because, it's the last day before my 8 days off.  I can usually force myself through a work day when sick, but I also don't want to spread it around to anyone.

In the latest news - like just now - the female tenant that lost her last waitering job - just lost the new job, too.
She took a nap and overslept.  I dunno about any of that, but if she stays current on rent, which she has without any full-time job, instead,working for  a company doing house-cleaning, it doesn't bother me.  I mean, doesn't it stand to reason that if you are due to show up at work at a certain time, you are going to do whatever it takes to GET there on time?  Like, set an alarm clock?

My sister-in-law finally arrived.  I am not feeling well, at all.  I had no desire to deal with it, I love the fish setup out there, but most things take a back seat when I am sick.  Just focus on getting better and then I'll get back to the things that I like to do.  Her 2 Koi are about 5 inches long, very colorful, nice looking fish.  I put them in the water and they were swimming around in there like they were in heaven.   I offered her some goldfish, she would only take one of them.  I offered her a plecostomus - I have too many - she took one.  All of them are VERY large - I thought maybe a bit too large for her tank.  I asked her to let me know if it was showing signs of stress in there as I would take it back if so.

We got into a conversation anyway- I don't like being rude even if I feel like s*** - I heard a story that I had never heard about her.  Her ex-husband had shot her 5 times at close range with a .45 caliber handgun in 1998.  A long story, but my gosh.  How do you live at close range with holes the size of baseballs in you?  She was in a coma for a month and a half and said it cost her company - Boeing - 3 million dollars in the end to deal with all the expenses she incurred.

Nice company that will eat that kind of expense.  My company doesn't have a limit, either.  Most companies have a million dollar limit and it's over.

Anyway, that's over.  I can't remember the last time I have felt this bad, hope it doesn't last too long.

ben

Thursday 11/18/2010

Thursday

Ate some shrimp yesterday afternoon. Last night, it must have come back alive, cause'
it woke me up. It was deciding whether to go through my system or back out the way it came in.
Yeah, well, about an hour of that and it finally settled back down and I slept the rest of the night.
No need to go into too much detail about what happened this morning as I walked out the door to leave for work and ........ended up running back into the house.

So, my sister-in-law is contacting me on Facebook yesterday having some kind of emergency. What's up? She has an aquarium. She has 2 Koi in it. She says the Koi food is clogging up her filtration system and the water is turning yucky, she wants to get rid of the Koi.

I'll take hers and anyone else's Koi that want to get rid of them for free!
She wanted to bring them over last night. No thanks. I want to be able to see what I'm doing out there, night time is NOT a good time to introduce fish into a TOTALLY different kind of environment. An aquarium and a pond are 2 totally different things and it takes fish a while to make the transition comfortably. 

Which reminds me, get some stress reducer on the way home from work, it helps fish eash into a new environment.

Sarah Pallin. I have figured from the beginning that her departing as governor and going on campaign trails all over the place was eventually going to lead to what it looks like may just happen: a run for the presidency. The talk is growing stronger and stronger and now there is an article out. Of course, the loud mouths are already debunking her and saying there is no way she could ever get voted into the Oval Office. I would like to suggest that those people simply have the platform with the press and use it - frequently - to express their opinion, and frankly, that's all ANY of us have when it comes to politics: an opinion. 

Would I vote for her? Well, if she was the only other thing going up against Obama, yes, definitely. The political landscape is going to change dramatically, however, over the next, what 12 months or so? Give it time, see who comes up to the forefront, see who is the best qualified candidate. 

2 more work days, including today, until the start of vacation. I'm going to be sleeping in, I can say that much with confidence. Every day, sleep in at least an hour if not more. 

Whatever the case, I am done with writing - my system is acting pretty messed up right now and I'm not really feeling all that great. I dunno what was wrong with that shrimp, I don't normally have this kind of reaction from that particular food, but, definitey, my system said no to it and is kicking it out.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 11/17/2010

Wednesday

2-1/2 days until 8 days off.
Yup, I'm counting the days now. I have this half-plucked idea I might spend a day or two before Thanksgiving going down to see dad - but - not sure about that. I think I can take a couple days off during the week between Christmas and New Year's even though I am also taking this much time off at Thanksgiving. 

A nuclear free world? Obama and his attempt to get a new treaty ratification going with Russia and the apparent fact that it's going to be shot down for now. There is never going to be a world without nukes. It would be extremely stupid for the U.S. to agree to, eventually, disarm and dismantle all of them. We would be sitting ducks, available for roasting at any time. Nukes aren't meant to be used, really, just deterrents for other nations not to use THEIR'S against us. 

I started toying with the idea of short-saling the house. 10, 15 years until the mortgage is equal to what the house is worth? Lol, I mean, that IS laughable. That's pretty much the projections I have been hearing for some time now. I dunno what to do. It's kinda tough to try and figure out what's next. So many people are just walking. Goodbye, c'ya later. 

My next move, though, is to try another loan mod. If they won't reduce principle amount, maybe I can get the interest rate reduced another percentage point. That would bring the payment down another $200 (at least) per month. It's funny that a bank will allow you to short-sale a house - meaning they are going to accept an offer for the house FAR below what your current mortgage is on it, but - they refuse to reduce the principle amount on the mortgage making it more affordable and possible for the current individual or family to stay in it. 

Whatever the case, I am seeking some way to get the total payment - taxes and insurance included - down below 1k per month. Another percentage point would bring it down to the $800 per month range. So, yes, I am going to write yet another letter of hardship, send it in and see what happens. It's worth a try and I would rather stay in that house than leave it. Rental housing, I am seeing in the Phoenix area, is getting much harder to find and the rates are going up. 

Anyway, my pre-work time is about gone.

G'day.

ben

First Dead Fish

Lovely title, aye?
Well, that's what I found when I came home from work today.
I saw that fish and first thought that a Heron might have found my ponds and here we go, what now?
But then, I started thinking about it.  This is the pond that is above ground.  From what I have read, Heron need to be able to step into a pond.  I don't think that includes up and over almost 2 feet in heigth.

The dead fish was about 3-1/2 feet from the pond.  What Heron is going to drop a fish, as what I've read can happen, only 3 feet from a pond and not stop to pick it back up?  From what I've read, it's much further away, they're taking off, drop it, for whatever reason don't come back for it.  But 3 feet?

I surmise the thing accidentally jumped out of the pond.  It happens.  I have seen some of those fish jumping out of the water on more than one occasion.  They have, however, always landed back IN the water, not outside of the pond itself.  It undoubtedly flopped around until it could flop no more and that was the end of it.  The fish was, obviously, long dead.

Nothing I could do about that - but - I was thankful it was a goldfish and not one of my Koi.  I have too many goldfish to begin with, I am still trying to give some of them away.  That's how unpopular goldfish are in ponds and how popular Koi are - people don't even want to come get them for free.  No, I am not crying, there is no grief such as whenever I lose a dog, it's just a fish.  Koi, I wouldn't be that way, either, but I would look at the money lost and the time spent scouring Craiglist ads to get them.

Well, anyway, I HOPE it wasn't a Heron, they are plenteous in the Phoenix area but - there aren't any ponds around here that I know of.  I can say that because yes, I have looked at Google earth and other such venues for such in my area.  Plenty of pools, no ponds.  Heron aren't going to "naturally" be in this area looking for more victims.  A pond shows up on a satellite view pretty much as easily as a pool does, not quite as much cause pools are much brighter in the exposure.

Changing the subject and just throwing this out there:  We all remember 911.  Terrorists using jumbo jets as giant bombs.  This is the irony of the TSA forcing pilots to be subjected to these scanning and/or groping searches at the airports.  What would they need with a weapon if they were so inclined?  They have one of the largest flying weapons you can find: a jumbo jet, filled with fuel, a literal flying gas bomb at their disposal.  It makes no sense.  But, I am totally against both of these types of searches anyway.  One is irradiating you and also allowing naked views, the other has a complete, perfect stranger feeling out your penis, testicles, butt, vagina, boobs, it's insanity.  The protests aren't going to go away.

The argument that it's low level radiation doesn't wash with me.  I don't care what level of radiation it is, I don't want ANY part of it.

The "final" tenant handed over rent today.  All accounts are now even.  For the first time in a long time.  I have a water bill left to pay this month and that is it for recurring monthly bills excepting the mortgage - which - I get paid on Friday.  That paycheck is gone already, lol.  Electric use is way down; water use is down; food expenditures an eighth of what it used to be, if even that.  I hear people getting into a heated argument outside, I think I'll mosy out there and see what's going on - next door neighbors that is.

G'day.

ben