Friday 2/08/2011

Lol.
Cowards.
Did you see the GOP go into "hiding" when the vote for the health care bill was coming up on the floor?
I didn't know that state police could be sent off after them to "bring them back and force them to vote". That's pretty, except they don't know where these senators are, though one report has them in a hotel in Illinois somewhere. I doubt Wisconsin state police have any jusidiction whatsoever in the state of Illinois.

This is Obama commenting on the situation after basically blasting the governor: "I think everybody's got to make some adjustments, but I think it's also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens," he continued.

He continued - to go jump in a lake. So, because public employees make "enormous contributions to our states and our citizens", they therefore deserve huge pensions that they hardly have to pay ANYTHING into, health care plans that are also on the cheap and salaries that are WELL above the private sector?

This is the kind of thinking that has gotten this nation to the economic point of chaos that it is in. WHAT "enormous" contributions, specifically, are being made? I'll give the police and fire credit for that, the rest of it is bunk. In other words, what THEY do is more important than what any of us working in the private sector does. If that's not what should be read into that statement, then please enlighten me: illucidate the underlying message in those words, because that's the only thing I get out of it.

So what teachers have a huge job, so does everyone else. It is not sustainable. These are the operative words. The private sector has ALREADY gotten the shaft in this economic climate, why should public employees be able to slide? They sit there, smug, raising hell at the Wisconsin capitol, demanding their rights - for what? Inflated wages, almost-free pensions and for paying WELL under what I have to pay to ensure that I have health care coverage.

I must have missed something here. Let me look it over. No, I haven't missed anything. My city's government is doing the SAME damned thing, but, there is one councilman who is speaking out about it. The average employee in the city of Phoenix, with benefits and salary/wages, earns $100,000 per YEAR. The figures included everyone from maintenance workers to garbage truck operators to city clerks to - everything. Our city's council, besides that one person, doesn't want to lose all of that, they want to continue to raise taxes.

Lopsided is an understatement when comparing a janitor's wages working for a corporation and a janitor working for the government's wages. Or any other job. It's preposterous, ridiculous and a slap in the face of Americans to think that they can just ride these storms out receiving no cut in hours, no decrease in pay, nothing. In their little world, there IS no recession. 

I'm done with that for now. It's Friday morning and I don't really want to ruin my day with thoughts about the government jobs sector and the ridiculous amounts of money people are making. Or the unions that demand collective bargaining rights. On and on.

However, those senators should all lose their jobs. Hiding. This is a juvenile activity that occurs on playgrounds while playing a game called Hide and Seek: it should NOT be the actions of grown, adult men and women who don't agree with a bill going through their state's senate, so instead of voting on it, they are going to go hide. I do hope the media blasts THEM as harshly as it would if it were Republican senators doing the SAME thing.

NO, that isn't going to happen on the same scale, is it? I'm sure they all feel it is somehow justified. Yet, they were elected to represent the people. The people in that state apparently have spoken. The governor has most definitely spoken: either take this deal or I am going to have to cut 6,000 jobs. But, union employees have this sense of entitlement. They somehow deserve more and more and more and if they can't get it, then who cares, let people lose their jobs.

Changing gears, there is, again, a lot of work today in the truck routing system. If it can all be done in one day, it will certainly be a LONG day in getting it done. Not that I mind that, that will get me some extra hours on my next paycheck, a thing I haven't seen in many, many months. In fact, if I don't get off early today, I'll have almost 6 hours worth of extra PLUS whatever hours I might go over today.

Our store's numbers quantify the hours as well. We're WELL beyond our store's budget for this month and it's only the 18th. Including today, there are 7 more business days in this month. I AM hoping, really, that I can get these hours and then some. The work today in our system pretty much details that that IS going to happen.

I worked out yesterday, btw. I lasted 15 minutes on that Stairmaster. My legs felt like there were on fire. It reminded me of my days in Junior High school, as I think I already said in another entry, when I was doing cross country running. We would run as hard as we could for as long as we could. After a while, your legs felt like lead weights.

I got off of that thing and hit the weights. 25 minutes of that and I felt good about that particular visit and left. I have a minimum goal of at least 3 days per week. So, if I feel too tired today, I will definitely go tomorrow and that will be day 3. I would have gone more, but I have been working much longer days at work than normal and it's drained me. I am tired, that's for sure.

Anyway, work day is here and I'm......outta here!

ben

Thursday 2/17/2011

Thursday

I left work yesterday thinking today would be a lighter load on the plate of things needed to get done.
Au contraire. 
Well whatever. I'm just tired. Work this week has been unbelievable in terms of the amount of work having to be put out by 2 people. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I am saying that a little more help over here wouldn't hurt anything during the rush times. 

So, I'm reading the news this morning and seeing Iran wanting to pass through the Suez canal with 2 warships.........and that those plans had been cancelled, presumably because Israel has "threatened action". Indeed. Iran's antics are laughable. What, are they going to start "patrolling" international waters on a global basis? ROFL!!

Back to AZ. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is not the only outspoken sheriff in AZ. Paul Babeau has basically started a very contentious riff with - the federal government, really - in contradicting Napolitano's claims that the border is "more secure than it has ever been". 

"You have done the very thing they accuse me of doing. I do not represent you, or the citizens of your community, yet I do represent the nearly 400,000 citizens of my county and the viewpoint of the solid majority of Arizonans, who laugh at Secretary Napolitano's suggestion that our border is more secure than ever."

I love it. Just love it. This is the wild, wild west, folks and the attitudes are just a part of it. People carrying concealed weapons all over the place are another part of it. Frankly, after reading Babeau's efforts to slow down the stream of drugs/marijuana coming through "his" county not to mention illegal aliens, I applaud his efforts and I am glad there is a down-to-earth point man telling it like it is, whether it contradicts the big wigs in Washington or not. The funny part is, Washington cannot shut him up, not only that, but his statements are pretty much being re-broadcast nationwide.

Come to Arizona and visit the sheriff's of lore, lol. 

Ummm, benb coming back down to earth. You see, when I see all this stuff in the news in the morning, it wakes me right up. How about the governors of 3 states rejecting federal money to build high speed rail? They do have reason behind their decision: they feel that once it's built, the ridership projections given by the feds is going to be MUCH lower and that it will end up costing the states in subsidies - forever, basically.

I like it because Obama and his so-called budget to spend trillions of dollars is being snubbed back into his face. 

Oh, I'm glad I just remembered: more notices. Yes, some of my tenants are behaving badly and they need written correction, apparently, to put a stop to it. Just for one example, I came out this morning into the kitchen area to find 4 lights on. 4 of them. No-one out there, mind you, but 4 lights on.

Umm, this one is over, a customer just walked in (before opening time).

g'day.

ben

Wednesday 2/16/2011

Wednesday:

So, I get here at 5:30 am today. Here being work. 2 minutes later a salesman walks in. 5 minutes later a customer comes in wanting materials. 
I think I should remember to lock the front door before opening time from now on, I don't necessary like my pre-work rituals being ....ummm.....trifled with. 

I know, that doesn't sound right, but I'm a bit tired. Yesterday started at 6:00am and ended at 4:00pm. Yes, another long day. I slept well, I am just not used to 10 hours bust-@$$ days right now. I wouldn't mind getting back into that groove - and getting paid for it, mind you, but since my hours were cut back almost 2 years ago, I usually only work 7 and a half hours and that's it.

Well, whatever. I was going to go into some things but, the work day is already here.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 2/15/2011

Tuesday

Oops, forgot to move Monday's entry to it's own spot yesterday.
I got home late. I mean, at 1:00 pm, I still had another delivery to do - in Coolidge, AZ. About 45 miles from where I was at and then back to Chandler. 

In other words, I got off way late and got home late, no time for the gym. In fact, no time for much of anything. 

I was able, however, to sell ALL of our company's drip irrigation tubing. About 24,000 feet of it to one buyer. I have been slowly selling that material off for some time now, but to get rid of all of that tubing is a big plus. My motivation is that when I get rid of all of it, I get a "spiff" - ie: money/percentage. 

Thank goodness I have plenty of that tubing left from my home project : ) Just cause, if something breaks, I don't want to have to pay Home Depot prices for it. I bought an extra 500 foot roll of it a while back. Company management should at least be slightly happy to have all of that tubing - that has been sitting around for 2 years now - sold and gone.

Which reminds me, I have to take that ad down and start up another one. Selling the tubing was a matter of changing my ad, especially the title. Instead of putting Drip Irrigation Supplies as the title, I had put 24,000' Drip Irrigation Tubing and that generated QUITE a lot of interest.

Well, work day is almost here and - there is MORE work in there than there was yesterday. I hope I can find the energy to get to the gym for at least the 30 minute workout after I get done with all of this today.

G'day.

ben

Monday 2/14/2011

Monday

I do like to be busy at work, but what I found in the truck routing system today? Not enough hours in this day to do all of that! 

2 pickups in Phoenix, deliveries spread out all over the east valley, orders haven't been pulled yet. That's a day's plus work. 

3.7 trillion dollar budget. That's 3,700,000,000,000 - if you want to look at the actual number instead of it's name. Is this anything even close to being realistic? I wonder how much of that is going towards payments and interest to China. This is Obama's budget proposal. I thought it was bad when we broke ONE trillion dollars. I dunno, I guess the government wants us to start thinking that billions of dollars is mere chump change and an "evolving" society needs to embrace this word: trillion in context to the word money and think that it's an acceptable thing to waste that kind of money on junk. I consider much of it waste and certainly not anything even remotely close to the spectrum that the Federal government was originally conceived to fill. 

Meanwhile, the other day I was reading about a new method scientists have come up with for drilling oil and that this new method is allow access to a lot of underground oil in the states - land versus attempting to do it in the ocean. They're talking a lot of oil, btw. I thought that a glimmer of good news, especially considering rising gas prices right now. Not that it's going to make any immediate difference.

Well, whatever. 

Work day is here.

I'm sorta out of it this morning, didn't sleep all that well last night, some good ole' fashioned hard labor should help wake me up. 

G'day.

ben

Sunday

So, I worked out yesterday and the day before.  I am going to give it a pass today and then try to hit the gym at least 4 times after work this coming week.  I'm only doing a half hour so far - though it is a very intense half hour of doing the stairmaster machine - it isn't creating some sort of stigma in my head that "gee, I have to spend 2 hours there".  I'm eyeing the free-weights, but Bobby was correct in his statement that at our age, the focus should really be on cardio.  That's not to say that I might not go over after the 30 minute deal and do some bench pressed, flies and tricep curls on one day this week and then maybe biceps, lats and abs another day, just want to focus on the cardio/fat burning stuff.

Amazing how the feeling of lethargy disappears once you get your heart pumping and get the blood flowing.  I am psyched already at the difference I am already feeling after just 2 workouts, great motivation to keep it going.

I cheated today on my diet.  I don't do that often, but when I do, well, might as well go for the gusto.  2 Jumbo Jacks.  600 calories each, 315 calories from fat.  Lol.  However, I had mine made without mayo, that reduces the fact content quite a lot.  If I were doing that weekly or more often, then I would feel guilty.  Monthly or less?? No biggies.  Oh, and 940 mgs of sodium.  I am definitely looking at sodium content of everything nowadays.  I will eat a salad later on and that will be it for the day.

Next month: Dairy Queen German Chocolate Blizzard, the largest one they make : )  Get a nice sugar high, crash from it, wonder why I ate something that makes me feel so BAD after the crash and then not have another one of those for at least 6 months.

Tenant issues seem to be tempering down a bit.  I don't really want to go into all of that on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so I won't.

Welcome to the world of texting.  No, I do not text.  I haven't wanted to text, I don't care anything about texting.  Pick up the phone and CALL me if you want to talk to me.  My distaste for texting is greatly amplified with the idiots that drive down the freeways paying more attention, literally, to their phone and messages/ing than the road.  If they gave texting the same weight of law and consequences as a DUI, which I believe they should, perhaps some of the mayhem on the roads would subside.

I thought talking on cell phones while driving was bad, texting is FAR worse.  Anyway, it seems that the ladies nowadays want to text.  You wanna get a date, it appears your opportunities significantly increase if you have texting capabilities.  When it comes to cell phones and services, I am a big fan of Cricket.  Unlimited access at a pretty decent price.

I haven't quite jumped over the fence to get to the texting pastures, but I am considering it.

Well, it has been a pleasant weekend.  There was quite a lot of work in the truck routing system for Monday last time I looked - which I can only do at work through the company's system, Monday will be busy.  After work, I intend on a 30 minute workout.  I might up it to 35 minutes for the fun of it.

Football season is over, so, back to enjoying the great outdoors in this kind of unbelievably great weather.

ben

Friday 2/11/2011

Well, I didn't have a chance to do an entry this morning cause' I had to go to the main branch instead of the east valley branch to pick up a truck.  That kinda threw off the entire morning.  Not in a bad way, I got up later cause' I knew I wouldn't be able to get in to the main branch as early as I can at the other one.  I have cause to my branch, they wanted their keys back to the main branch after I was transferred, which is no biggies to me.

I just got my butt kicked.  Waylaid, left on the side of the road to die and feeling it.

No, not by any human.  By a machine.  This particular machine has steps on it and the steps revolve around on a track much like and elevator where the steps appear at the top and disappear at the bottom.  That would be called a stair stepping machine.  Yes, I joined the gym yesterday.  $28 per month.  It was going to be $24 per month, but you only get that by signing an 11 month contract.  No thanks.  The man behind the counter asked my name, he said he was ready for me.  In other words, the dude I had talked to about this on the phone previously had let everyone know that I might be coming in and this is the details of the plan.

There IS no plan.  Just pay the $28 per month.  I HATE contracts for a gym.

So, that done, I didn't have workout clothes with me yesterday. I got home from work today - I plan on stopping by the gym on the days I am going to work out on the way home from work, but today I came home from work from downtown Phoenix, not the east valley as I normally do - got my shorts and t shirt on and the ONLY goal I had was to spend 30 quality minutes on that stair step on a Super Fat Burn setting.  It's also a GREAT cardio workout.

I'm toast for the rest of the day, thank you.  I haven't been in a gym in ages, forgot what it's like in there.  I was eyeing the free weights, but as I said, that machine kicked my @$$ today.  It may do that for a while, too.  My priority is cardio and fat burn on that stairstepper.  My goal is eventually 45 minutes on that thing at the highest level, as I used to be able to do.  I really thought, for not having had been on one in over 7 years, that I did pretty well considering.  But, when you can crank that thing up and stay on it for a while, you burn fat like crazy and you really start feeling better.  Still, 2 and a half miles of climbing stairs?  Not bad for a 47 year old man that hasn't worked out like that in quite a long time.

I do, however, imagine I will start feeling better just doing this.  Small steps.  Just take small steps.  I am motivated, but, I know what going to the gym 5 days a week can eventually do to you: cause you to get burnout.

Anyway, I gave the female tenant a rent notice the other day, I got a reply from her yesterday.  She quit going to school, meaning she also stopped receiving that almost-$1,400 per month stipend from the military.  I dunno, if I were in her situation, I would go to school just to get the money if nothing else.  She IS working, just not getting that extra money.  She said she would give me "as much as she can afford" today.  Okay, I'm looking for a minimum of $250 today.  I am guessing I will get $200.  I will NOT be happy with ANYTHING less.  I like to mentally prepare myself in advance for such things so that I don't get upset and start saying things I might regret later.

I gotta tell ya, if I could go to school for free right now and get that kind of money, I would go!!  My first quest would be paralegal, after that a lawyer and the bar exam.

One can dream.  Speaking of money, I believe I am going to set a maximum low that this house can go in terms of market value.  If it hits that low, I'm outta here.  Short sale it, live with the fact that I will either have to live in a rental property for years or buy an old mobile, fix it up and live in that for years, but to sit here and continue to watch housing values plummet, month after month is getting disheartening.  At this rate, whenever the market does come back up - and I am still hearing predictions of 2015, four YEARS from now, it might be decades before the house is even worth what I paid for it.

Direct Deposit. Took the plunge.  Went to the bank that I wanted to have it done it - my account balance there was at zero.  I haven't been using it, but I have wanted to switch over and get rid of the other bank, anyway.  The other bank - Compass Bank - is the one where I have been quite abused, verbally, by management.

So, I go in there, but I didn't want to do the direct deposit thing, just deposit a check and get some money going in there.  A manager comes up to me and asks me if I like Kathy.  Well, I don't hate her, that's for sure!  I walked in there behind another guy - a man dressed to the 9's in pin-stripe suit, tie, white shirt, all that good stuff.  Well, we both stopped at the desk to fill out the info.  He was taking his time, I was done quickly.  I have been passed by people that either didn't need to fill out anything or did it faster than me in the past and I didn't think anything of them passing me in line. So, I passed him by.  He was done a couple of minutes later, but, I was still waiting.

I could feel the glares on my back.  When I was finally called up, I deferred to the man behind me, who gave me a look, passed by me and went up to the window.  Whatever, I just let it go.  15 seconds lady, a lady walks up, grabs me by the hands, asks me about Kathy and being a real gentleman.  Lol, I just told her that guy was here before me, I let him go first.  I told her I was interested in direct deposit, did she have any info on that?  Oh, yes, let's go over here.  We went to her cubicle, I sat down, gave her my ID and the check and deposit slip, she fingered a person to come over, that person was there in  a few seconds, took that stuff, made the deposit and she started in on the direct deposit.

It's done.  I figure it to start next paycheck since it's 2 weeks away, if my company really wants this stuff done that badly, they should hopefully be able to get this done quickly.

Fast forward to Compass Bank.  I was there today making my final deposit.  I haven't deposited one of my paychecks at Chase, didn't want a delay on it in case there is one.  I was at the desk to fill out the slip, a lady walks up to me and asks me to come into her office. ???? Second time in 2 days?  She was training a new employee, turns out, guess I looked like a good guinea pig.  We talked about everything under the sun while she updated my information, had the new guy take my check to the teller area and do the deposit, but I didn't tell her about my extremely negative experiences with management at a different location.  I also didn't bother to tell her that I was planning on coming in, removing all my cash and closing the account.  I didn't feel like ruining the mood of the moment.

Well, it's late for me and I'm - outta here.

Later.

ben

Thursday 2/10/2011

Thursday

Not much to say today, mainly cause' I don't have a lot of time right now. 

I was "forced" to give the remaining female tenant a notice last night. She went on vacation at Christmas, spent her rent money on that and is behind - WELL behind - in her rent. She has been avoiding me, coming home after I go to bed because she knows I will stop her on her way in and start a discussion about money.

Well, since that's the case, I left her a rent due notice. Nothing official or for the courts, just a semi-friendly notice that if she doesn't either pay the rent or discuss this situation with me, I would have no choice but to start eviction proceedings. 

I will give her 2 days to either write me something back, give me some rent money or discuss this face to face. If nothing happens, it's the 5-day pay or quit notice and onto the rest of it. I hardly have sympathy for a person that decides a vacation and blowing ALL of your money on it, leaving nothing for the necessities of life left over is something even remotely good to do.

Oh, wait a minute, she still has her truck, so she must be making THAT payment. She has her cell phone, I doubt she's let that be turned off. She's been pretty good about rent until this vacation deal. 

Whatever, it's life with tenants. The "kid" tenant took my statements which were beyond being just hints and started to deal with the dishes. Except, he's putting pans into the dishwasher. Instead of cleaning them with some dish soap and putting them away, a process that would take all of a couple of minutes, he's decided that throwing them into the dishwasher is a good idea.

NOT. I'll be having yet another discussion with him about that today. I don't PUT pots and pans into the dishwasher. They take up too much space in there and basically is a waste of energy to wash them. You hand wash those things, dry them and put them away. 

There's an old mobile up for sale a block away. It's in good condition and is being sold by owner. There IS no bank financing for such things at this point, banks aren't financing stuff like that right now. I have more than half a mind to inquire about that, what the terms are and go ahead and short-sale my house, as I am starting to get sick of dealing with people and their BS. Having to chase people down for rent, having to deal with people making noise at night, having to deal with people who don't want to do their dishes, don't want to help clean the bathroom, on and on and on. 

That or take up my quest to find a second, part time job, or find a job that gives me 40 hours plus some OT. I could get rid of 2 of these people, rent out 2 rooms to one person for a little more money, find a good tenant and not have to deal with all of this. 

I dunno, but, my time's up for today.

ben

Wednesday 2/9/2011

Wednesday

So, this kid tenant is now helping himself to my printer. How do I know this? Because one of my ink cartridges is dry. Color cartridges at that. It costs over $30 to replace those color cartrdiges.

Yup. The printer is going to be hooked to the other computer and the option to use it off of the old one will disappear, including the software installed on that computer to run the printer. I want it installed on my computer, anyway. Perhaps I should hand him the receipt after spending that money on those cartridges and see what he thinks about paying for it.


I left a rather blunt note yesterday on the kitchen counter, to which he again apologized when I got home yesterday. He left a pan sitting in the sink and this time, I absolutely refused to clean it. I feel like I have brought a young kid into my house and that I have to train this kid in basic, elemental things for living. I really don't need that kind of assignment right now.

My trip to the gym yesterday to get signed up was put off yesterday, mainly because I ended up going over-hours at work. One particular company that we supply always has an emergency. I don't like going over my part-time hours of 7 hours anymore because I know that I will simply end up getting off earlier another day during the week to lose the OT. I've been at 35 hours - part time - for over a year and a half now.

I frequently ponder whether I want to keep working as a part-time employee or go out and find full time work again. I have no idea if or when we are ever going to get our hours back. There are trucking jobs out there that are giving 50 plus hours a week. I decided at the beginning of this year to yes, go ahead and give it another 6 months. I get the feeling that if I stick this out, it will pay off in the end.

Unfortunately, the housing market may not be corrected until as late as 2015. That is, of course, 4 years from now. New housing construction was 90% of our business before the collapse. Now it's almost nothing. Seriously, I rarely deliver to a housing project. It's either road work - they are replacing pipes under the street; business or water treatment plants.

Well, I'm going to put that one back on the shelf. I do seriously doubt I would stick around for 4 more years of part time work, though. It's just something that is going to play out and I am going to either get my hours back or I am going to end up deciding to find greener - money greener - pastures.

I saw a rebuke online the other day: to get a woman, you are going to have to get off your lazy ass and get out there and find one. Literally, that's what the article said, lol. I was feeling like maybe that was being directed towards me cause' I gotta say, getting up and getting out to find a woman has it's appeals and not so appealing elements to it.

First off, where to you "go" to find a woman? A bar? Night club? Yeah, right. Those are one-night stand establishments. Run into one at the grocery store? Not very probable. Church? Maybe, if I start going to one, get into a single's group and spend a lot of time at it. It's the options available that aren't very intriguing or appealing to me, hence the lack of doing much more than internet dating sites. Perhaps the gym,hmmm, didn't think about that one. Not likely, either, but you never know. Everyone I know - they meet their ladies at the work place. There are no available options in that department at my work.

Oh well. Just musing.

As for now? Work day is almost here. I have the main branch locked out of their truck routing system. Who am I to do that? No-one, but I always do ask why they are taking our work when they KNOW it is in our territory. The excuses are usually very lame, but sometimes there is a good one. Such as the contractor wanted it first thing and we couldn't do it. I'm guessing, however, in this case, that my manager was not asked or informed about this delivery that should be ours to do. I will be getting a phone call in about 20 minutes asking to get out of the system and then I'll politely ask the question: why?!!!

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 2/9/2011

Comments Section.

Tuesday 2/8/2011

Tuesday

So, the newest tenant comes home yesterday, pulls out $100 and says here, this is towards NEXT month. He already paid for this month. Who gets AHEAD in their rent? Lol, that was a shocker to me. Okay, I'll take it!

Back to the second newest tenant of which I refer to as a kid, he has this habit of leaving dirty pans in the sink. I have this habit of not having ANY dirty dishes, pots or pans in the sink. I am pretty staunch about that position, too. Imagine all kinds of people living in one house, dumping junk into the sink. 

Yes, you are imagining my version of a nightmare. I left a rather - stern - statement in writing, on the counter, next to the sink this morning before heading off to work. Either clean up your dishes/pots/pans or don't use them. Thank you. 

I put the dude at the gym off. I didn't go in. I decided to wait until I have more available finances, I like to keep some money around in case there is some sort of emergency. It was also a tactical move. Wait and see if they call back, then tell them why you haven't gone in and see if there are any concessions. 

He calls back yesterday, I explain my situation. The last time I talked to him, it was a come in, sit down, let's talk type of thing when I asked about prices. That's car dealership tactics and I hate that kind of stuff. In other words, get you in the door and then use pressure/psychological tactics to try and get you to do something you don't want to. 

Yesterday, the offer came in at $24 per month, no start up fees. Awesome, but I forgot to ask if that also includes having to sign a contract, because if it does, no thanks, back to the negotiating table.

My uncle sent me a birthday wish the other day, so I sent back a note to him. I was amazed that he finally decided he was going to get into a discussion. I don't know the man, to be honest and he doesn't know me, either. I haven't seen him since I was 16 years old, 31 years ago. He informed me that my dad's wife doesn't like him and they don't get together because of that fact. Oh. The things my dad keeps from me, I had wondered why, the last time he went to a reunion, his wife stayed home.

Well, I'm just zooming through this as my time is short before work day gets here. I'm mostly consumed with what to do with this guy that is very high maintenance that is living in my house. I don't LIKE high maintenance people, you spend too much time dealing with their issues, and issues they have, lots of them. 

Anyway, work day is here and I must be off to the races!

G'day.

ben

Monday 2/7/2011

Monday

Well, the Steelers did not make history yesterday, the Packers won the game, congrats to the Packers. Steelers let 2 TD's occur early in the game and that pretty much set the stage. Still, they DID make a comeback, just not enough.

So, the general manager sent me an email. I just got it here on my work account this morning. The company is promoting "Direct Deposit". No, folks, I don't do direct deposit. I haven't done it since it first started coming out. The reason is simple: the first time my paycheck wasn't deposited and took a week to get it "fixed" was the last time I did that. That was........I don't know how long ago. 15, 20 years? When did direct deposit start becoming popular?

So, am I ready to try it again? I guess I'm old fashioned, I would far rather have a paper check in my hand than invisible transactions going through phone lines. Not only that, but I have to make frequent enough trips to the bank, anyway. It's not like tenants are going to be making direct deposits to me.

Of course, when your general manager comes along writing you a personal email about it, then you might come to think that there perhaps is a bit of pressure to do it. The list of people in the AZ group that do not do direct deposit? Just me and one other guy, lol.

I don't do automatic withdrawals, either. I will NEVER do automatic withdrawals on any bill. If I find myself broke for some reason and that automatic thing comes and takes what I have left out of there, or worse, the money isn't available at all, baam, you get hit with OD fees or you are left with nothing. Okay, I have automatic withdrawal into my savings account. I can turn that off at any time I want, unlike automatic withdrawals to say a credit card company or some other revolving account.

So, what to do. I'm sure the GM doesn't want to hear about my objections to direct deposit. I can pretty much make that assertion without too much thought........

Anyway, the work day is almost here and there is absolutely nothing to do in the truck routing system, big bummer : (

But, it will be a beautiful day today : )

ben

SuperBowl Sunday 2/6/2011

A couple of hours left to go.
I had half a mind to go to the Steeler's bar/hangout - but - tickets are sold out.
It's a bar, yes, but there are allegedly going to be thousands of people there cheering
on the Steelers. I sorta like getting into the kind of atmosphere for a deal like this.

As for my birthday yesterday, I was cruising along, having a great day, until the "kid"
tenant called me from work and started making demands for a written statement to be
given to the State of Arizona.  Without going into all of it, I ended up hanging up on him.
I will NOT tolerate being yelled at - over the phone or in person - from a damned tenant.
I don't yell at THEM for any reason, I expect to be treated the same.  Freaking kid, he's
never been out of the house until he moved here and apparently has gotten his way with
his mother, of whom I have heard him yelling at on the phone.

I was fuming mad after that.  When I was a young adult, I used to believe the Christian thing
to do in such circumstances would be to just let the person rant and yell and scream and just
let it go.  I have no such belief anymore. I can't find it in the Bible where it says to let someone
abuse you simply because you believe Jesus Christ is Lord and your personal Savior.  I don't
tolerate that crap from people in my life and I put an end to it immediately when it happens.

He didn't come home until much later, in fact, I was going to bed when he arrived.  He said hi, I
glared at him, got the dogs and went off into my bedroom.  I mean, not only did he start crap with me
in yelling, bad enough in itself, he did it on my birthday.  Just pure BS.  Whatever.  I was out working
on the side of the house where the ponds are earlier cleaning up and putting the sheets and blankets away
after removing them off the plants when my son comes out.  This guy had talked to my son about the
situation and I was curious as to what kind of story had been told.  He had actually owned up - to my son
anyway who had not part of this situation - that he had crossed the line and screwed up.

Great.   He comes out about an hour later.  I was out there pondering things, moving things around, attempting to decide what I am going to do next out there.  Definitely, several plants and trees have
succumbed to frost/freezing temps.  I am worried about my Sissoo trees.  Most of them look dead, even
the big ones that are 15 feet tall.  I'll be REALLY bummed if they all die and don't come back to life when
spring comes around.

He apologizes.  I really didn't know what to say.  So I just puked it out: I am not used to having TENANTS ........ YELLING at me..........in my OWN home, even IF over the phone.  That was it.  It's going to take a few days for me to come out of that one.  It's a guaranteed fact that if he does  it again, he will be looking for a new place to stay.  It wouldn't bother me at all at this point if he went and found a new place to stay, anyway.

Let him experience what it's like with OTHER hotheads his own age.  Maybe move into a college type of situation with a bunch of human pigs that don't like to clean up after themselves and take care of their living areas.

Whatever.  He left again for work, I'm just trying to cool off.  I just think it takes a LOT of gall for a person to start yelling at the owner of the home that that person is living in, especially considering that I wasn't yelling at him, or even raising my voice for that matter.

So, back to Superbowl Sunday.  It should be a really good game, regardless of who wins.  2 great quarterbacks - my opinion anyway.  Steelers defense is awesome.  Offensive protection for Roethlisberger isn't all that great, if the Burger Boy didn't have the ability that he does to shake off the tackles and move out of the pocket, we wouldn't even be here right now.

Wow, that stadium is nice!!
Still, you have 2 teams that are based in frigid cold areas.  I would FAR rather see a game in a stadium with no roof over it's head.  Snow falling would be a plus.

Umm, I have a lot to do in the next 50 minutes before the game starts, I better get offa here.

Later.

ben

Saturday 2/5/2011

I turn 47 today : )  Got on my Facebook account and found 2 dozen Happy Birthday's on there, very nice.  Denny's appears to still have their Grandslam breakfast for free for birthday people, I"m going to go and find out.
Even if they don't, I just want to eat at Denny's this morning, haven't had a Denny's breakfast in ages (probably cause' their breakfast aren't anywhere to be found on a "diet").

Inexplicably, I slept 10 hours last night. That is a birthday gift in itself.  I normally get between 4 and 7 hours of sleep - just because I don't sleep well.  Well, I only woke up once and I went right back to sleep.  Amazing!!

I have no great plans on my birthday today.  Just enjoy the day.  I was thinking maybe take in a movie, haven't been to the theatres in ages, don't know if there is a single movie there that would actually interest me, I will take a look a bit later on.

I bought a freezer yesterday.  It's something I have been wanting to do for quite a long time, but, I just haven't really looked into it too much.  There was some obvious discontent that the small freezer for the tenants is not big enough - some people don't know how to cook and just buy frozen dinners for their eating pleasures.  I started looking on Craigslist - people are asking way too much money for the stuff they are selling on there.  I don't even bother to offer them a lowball offer, I just move on to the next.

I ended up placing an ad for a freezer instead.  I got a reply same day: $50.  Some guy was getting rid of stuff out of a storage unit that had been abandoned - he owns the place apparently - just wanted to get rid of it.  He sent pics - I bought it without even going over there to look at it.  $50 plus $20 to deliver it.  Almost perfect condition.  The door seal is in excellent condition, the door isn't all messed up and the coils underneath the shelves are not all rusted out.  About 5 feet tall with three shelves and enough space in there to store a LOT of food, plus the shelves in the door itself. THAT was a  steal.  Now just going to wait until some great sales come along on - mostly chicken but whatever else comes along - and stuff that thing full of stuff, leaving some space on one of the shelves for tenant use.

My son got into an altercation at work yesterday.  I was surprised he didn't get fired.  He was out pushing carts into the store when some dude came driving up and nicked his car on one of the carts.  In other words, this guy wouldn't wait for him to push them across the driveway.  The story becomes somewhat obscure, but the guy got out of his car and got up into my son's face.  Threatened to kill him (if my son would have called me at that point, I would have been there in a flash and that man would have paid for making that kind of threat to a minor, much less my own won).  My son is 5'7" tall and weighs 240 pounds.  He has fat on him, yes, but he is a STRONG kid.  He works out at the gym at school quite frequently.  He's trying to lose at least 20 pounds by the time graduation comes around.

He was not intimidated by the man in the least, even though this guy was estimated to be around the age of 30.  He got right back in the guys' face and basically threatened to beat the s*** out of him.  The guy was apparently astonished that Caleb was basically about to rip the guy's face off (the guy also called him a fat loser - that is what really set him off) and turned around to get back into his car.  The "man", however, decided with renewed bravado that he was going to take care of my son, turned around and apparently went up to hit him, my son rushed at him - which is when management got out there, pulled him off the guy and made him settle down.

I didn't really want to lecture my son - if he wants to get into a fight, he will pay whatever consequences and that will all be on him.  The management that came out was lower level and just "let it go", did not report it to higher level management, who would have surely fired him for not doing something else - such as calling the police or just running into the store and getting management to deal with it.  But, I did mention to him that if he HAD gotten fired, all that work experience that he was gaining at that store would go out the window.  What, are you going to tell your next employer that you were fired because you beat the bejesus out of a customer, even IF that customer started it and escalated it? Who is going to hire a person with that kind of MO?

Just gave him some food for thought, cause' he's in a job that will undoubtedly have that kind of scenario play out over and over again.  His reaction to the situation will determine whether the offending person will get mad or just let it go.  I also told him there are complete jerk offs that I have to deliver to - some of the construction foremen are total a**holes and in one particular case, I would love to give my knuckles some pain, but, that isn't the way civilized society works and each person eventually pays - or gets paid - one way or the other whether for good or bad.

Well, he's gotta learn life lessons on his own, I can only throw out my little bit of wisdom and hope he gleans something from it.  Much easier to learn from other people's mistakes than to have to go through some of it on your own.

Today is supposed to get warmer - it's 9:20 am and it's 41 degrees out with a projected high of 64.  Tomorrow is supposed to get into the 70's, now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

G'day.

ben

Friday 2/4/2011

Friday

Another week passed already, tomorrow my birthday (for some reason, I am actually looking forward to it) and Superbowl Sunday follows. 

Meanwhile, the "Day of Departure" in Egypt where the demand for Mubarak to quit intensifies today, allegedly, anyway. Interested that the nation's Army isn't trying to stop them from protesting. 

Have you ever bought a Subway sandwich, eaten half of it and put the other half in the refrigerator for the next day? I do that frequently, but gag me with a silver spoon if it doesn't get somewhat soggy by the next morning. It's cheaper to buy the footlong and it halves at different times - I'm not going to eat a foot long sub as I used to, not very good for a diet. 

So, here's the local news of the day: we're all complaining about how cold it is, lol. I think the high yesterday was 49, pretty much unheard of in these parts. The high today is supposed to be in the low 50's, still cold by AZ desert dwellers standards. It's around 30 degrees right now and "feels like" 24. I just think it feels cold. I am not a big fan of having to go out there in this cold and start loading up a truck in the dark. 

No, not at all. Which is exactly what I have to do in a few minutes. Oh, the trailer tenants: they got a food box from the Salvation Army, I think it was, they even delivered it. It came with a 20 pound turkey. Cooking that tomorrow and using the leftovers to make Devonshire sandwiches on Steelers-Win-Their-7th-Superbowl-Trophy Sunday. Lol. 

G'day.

ben

Fish

It's been cold here - at least by Phoenix terms - it's cold.  The weather reports I read this morning were either wrong or at 5:00 am the temps were still coming down, cause' at 6:00 am it was 24 degrees.  I have resigned myself to the fact that this winter?  Gonna experience some plant damage due to freezing conditions and there isn't anything more than covering the plants with sheets that I can do about it.  I hope the plants don't TOTALLY die out, much of the stuff will make a comeback if even a little bit of the plant is still alive, especially Honeysuckles.

My trepidation today had a little to do with that - but not that much. Really aren't going to know the extent of the damage from last night and yes, in the morning as it's going to get freezing again - for days or even weeks.  I'm guessing eventually?  I will have a LOT of plant trimming to do.

Nope, the trepidation was with the fish.  How cold did those ponds get?  Are the fish all floating lifeless on the top of the water? Did they survive?  I went out, both ponds had no fish floating, sigh of relief.  Checked the temps.  The pond that isn't buried in the ground was almost 60 degrees, the one that is in the ground about 52 degrees.  Both ponds have 2 large heaters going in them right now.  So, cool that.

No, for plant damage?  Yup, I can foretell at least some of it.  I also found out that Taro - a water plant, does not do well in cold weather. The giant leaves were shrivelled up.  The small leaves that were just coming out were in perfect condition.  Still another night of this stuff to go, predictions of high 20's to low 30's tonight.

G'nite.

ben

Thursday 2/3/2011

Thursday

I don't think it got quite as cold as the weather people thought it was going to. They were predicting a hard freeze, yet I just checked the temp and it is 32 degrees. Yes, I just checked another source, it's 32 degrees. I believe my plants can survive that, it's the 25 degrees they were forecasting that had me worried.

Meanwhile, my dogs are giving me stares this morning as I put on their sweaters and herded them out the door. Sorry, doggies, but with those sweaters on at least you'll stay warm. They are all short-haired dogs, not exactly the kind of coat necessary to keep warm on a cold winter's day. The trailer tenants are going in the house this morning. Lynnette said around 8, I'm guessing they are in there right NOW, lol. Well, they'll take the dogs in with them is the point. I guess they feel they need to have a valid reason to be in the house, this apparently fits the bill.

I'm absorbed with the Egypt chaos going on. Now the military is doing something to at least put a stop to the violence, that's a good thing, I'm curious to see where this is all leading. Are the protesters really going to be able to get 1,000,000 people out there? If they could, that would be a sight to behold.

My back is hurting. I have had chunks of flesh ripped out of my body on a few occasions in my life, it ranks right up there with the worst of it. I have no idea how much she cut off of there, but it must have been a good sized amount cause' usually, stuff like that doesn't last very long in the pain department if it's small.

As for all the bad news she gave me yesterday, I just have to shrug my shoulders. I can't do anything about the past, I can only look towards the future. I haven't used much sun screen in my lifetime, so, my left arm has a lot of "stuff" on it. She told me I better start using sunscreen on my arms as well. I have been using it on my face since she told me to - even though there is now a suspicion floating around that sunscreen can cause cancer.

Saturday is my 47th birthday. I don't really know what to think about that. I sorta feel as long as I'm in my 40's, I'm not really that old, but don't say that to the younger generation. According to them, you'd think I already have one foot in the grave.

I don't know, but I am seriously considering going back to the gym. There is a Gold's Gym about 3 miles away from my house. I spoke with an individual on the phone yesterday, he would not, of course, give me a price over the phone. Typical sales pitch, sounded like a car salesman. Come in, sit down and we'll figure out what you need. You mean, come in, sit down and sign on the dotted line, don't you? I didn't ask if it was a contractual arrangement, if it is, I won't be going to that gym. Too many other gyms no longer require contracts.

I think they just want to try and persuade you to sign up. I AM serious about working out at this point, which is the only reason I called. I could hit the gym on the way home from work 3 days a week to start. Not going to set any weight loss goals at all, just want to get in there, get on the cardio machines and take advantage of a much greater selection of free weights. Plus, they usually have a machine that works on your abs.

I think I could get into it again, but this round, I want a portable music player of some sort, one that you can download music to. You know, the kind of music that motivates you? I know plenty of rock and other style music that gets me moving, lol.

Well, I finally got out of him - the dude at the gym on the phone - that the "average" monthly fee is about $25, which is what I expected. A FAR cry from the days of yesteryear where you were expected to sign at least a 1 year contract and the fees were much higher than that.

I'm just about at the end of the "thought" process - do I really want to do this - and into the yes, let's get with it. If I find I simply can't muster myself to getting in there at least 3 days a week, I'll drop it and feel stupid for not having enough motivation to work out at an organized venue. I think that is enough motivation in itself.

Right now? Well, I'm not very motivated to go out into the freezing cold and start pulling orders to load onto the truck to go out to jobsites, but, that's the nature of the business I am working at and really have no choice...........

...g'day.

ben

Wednesday 2/2/2011

The, uhh, doctor, was a bit out of sorts, I do believe.  She was not necessarily focused - a day after the death of a loved one, perhaps, might do that to a person.  I tried the empathy route: my best friend died a month plus ago.
Yes, that helped ease the situation in the room.  I don't know what her notes said on that computer, but she had totally forgotten that she was going to cut things out of my flesh and that a full body inspection was to be done.

Not cause' I WANTED any such thing, but that she ordered it the first time I went there.  I just went along with wherever she was going with this, but I was giving hints along the way.  She wanted to "freeze" things again on my flesh.  I suggested that when I was here the last time, you were talking about cutting things off.  She said something about the full body exam last time, I mentioned that that hadn't been done and that you were talking about doing such this time.  After a while of this, a light turned on in her head and she remembered all of it.

Well, she says, do you want to do the exam today or just put it off to some other time?  No, thank you, let's get this done today.  I didn't bother to mention that the $50 co-pay isn't exactly appealing and let's get all of this done NOW, don't ask me to come back again for awhile unless there is some serious issue.  She's a nice lady, I cut her huge slack for going to visit family of the deceased and then coming back to work the next day.  Okay, now I am taking off my clothes to the underwear and putting on a gown.

She finds - I don't know, this went on for quite a while - 30 of them?  Basil cell lesions all over my body.  Legs, arms, face, neck and back.  Unbelievable.  I'm thinking what the heck am I living in this damned desert for.  Get OUT of this place.  Go to Minnesota where it's currently 28 below zero or something.  Yeah, THAT sounds wonderful.

She didn't cut out the stuff in my arms that she said that she was going to do last time.  Instead, she got out the Nitrogen thing and started freezing all of it.  Face, arms, legs, back.  "Did you know you have huge lesions on your lower back?".  No, thanks for telling me.  "You have sensitive skin, we're going to have to deal with this redness".  Yes, I hope we do.  Look, it's not that she's a nasty person, or even putting it nasty, it's just that the news is becoming increasingly - depressing  really - as this goes on, and on, and on.

We get to this "thing" on my upper back that I didn't even know was there.  She was particularly concerned about that.  So much so, that she cut a good sized chunk of flesh out.  It doesn't feel particularly good at this point in time, either.

I'm not in a good mood right now.  That visit today, in and of itself would not have put me in a bad mood, it would definitely get me thinking about things, but not a bad mood.  No, but then this kid tenant calls me and tells me I need to write him up a statement for Arizona's "free" health care declaring the amount of rent he is paying me per month.  He didn't ask me, it was a demand.  Like I MUST do it for him.  I got off the phone quickly with him - I am at the line with this guy.  That's the line where you cross and some very negative things will start issuing from my mouth.

Then I found out that tonight, it's going to be even colder than last night.  A low of 27?!!! The HIGH today was 47.  Yeah, I know, the rest of the country is in a blizzard and minus zero temps, I'm sorry and I hope that everyone comes through that okay.  I am just not used to this kind of winter.  I"m sure that some scientist somewhere will try to find a way to attribute all of this to global warming.

However, the agitator for me about the cold tonight are my plants.  Some of it isn't going to survive, even if covered up, if it gets too cold for too long a period of time.  I have my C-7 Christmas lights covering 2/3rd's the side of the east side of my house in plants.  If some plants out front die, I can deal with that, dig them up, throw them out and do something else.  But over THERE, where my ponds are? NO thanks.  Those lights put off some amount of heat, that coupled with being completely covered up with blankets and I am hopeful for a good outcome.

You know, some days you just put behind you and put them out of your system.  This is going to be one of them.  It didn't get any better, with the kid tenant who has no clue in life.  Sympathy and empathy with your common man is non-existent with this person and after he started up with his stuff, I snapped at him and gave  a very clear signal that I didn't want to hear it.  It's amazing this person has made it this long in life without learning basic, elemental respect and common courtesy for your fellow man. I don't know, but he departed for his room after that and I haven't seen him since, which is a very good thing, thank you.

You wanna go on?  I wanted to print something off of my old computer - I don't have this computer connected to the printer, that is going to change.  I tried to bring up the internet and the freaking thing got error messages and took forever to get there.  The usage of the computer is going to be changed from administrative to the "lower" tier, don't remember what it's called.  The lower tier does not allow downloads and restricts lots of sites.  

Then, I had to worry about my dogs in the cold tomorrow morning.  Put the sweaters on them, that's what I will do.  How long will that last?  Not long.  I already spoke with Lynnette, one of the trailer tenants, she will GLADLY come in here with the dogs.  Okay, well, they're going outside until she brings them in, but I won't worry cause' yes, they will have heavy sweaters on and that will be sufficient.  She is going to get up and bring them in.

It's just one of those days.  I haven't even gone into all the crap I've read on the news, or the terrifying situation going on in Australia.

Uhhh, so this entry is done.

Looking for a bit better day tomorrow.
ben

Tuesday 2/1/2011

Tuesday

When you see a news story with a headline that states: "100 million threatened by massive winter storm", you first wonder if that isn't a bit of an exaggeration, then you begin to wonder just WHAT kind of storm could cause that big of a threat?

Umm, just reading about what's coming. It's going to get cold enough here to freeze tonight - meaning dragging out all those sheets and blankets and putting them back over the plants again, plus turning on the heat in the ponds.

Josie's surgery this morning, mine this afternoon. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Okay, back to Egypt. I finally have found some of the reason that these people are unhappy with the current Egyptian regime. Half of that nation's population live under or barely above the "poverty" line at $2 a day. Huh? The World Bank thinks poverty starts at $2 per day? If I were making $20 per day I would still think that poverty. But, I'm a fat, rich American, right?

Then there's the stories of police brutality and police high-handedness - taking advantage of it's citizens and making them do basically whatever they please. I dunno, I don't live there, but I do have a FB acquaintance who has a son living over there. Her son reported that the cops "disappeared" for several days - they were taking off their uniforms and going around looting businesses making it look like the protesters were nothing but a bunch of maraunding hoodlums. Interesting take this kid has on the situation - but he's there, I am not.

Obama's health care plan struck down. I figured that would come along eventually. The administration says some sort of precedent has been set already and that this judge's ruling will be overturned. Bunk. When it gets to the Supreme Court and THAT court makes a ruling, then I'll call it a precedent. That law has hardly been in existence for any length of time, there IS no precedents set. Judges making rulings, sure, but the appeals process hasn't hardly begun yet.

They like to talk in such a way that you'd think they believe we are all a bunch of bumbling idiots. I don't have to be a lawyer to know how the system works, thank you very much. This federal judge's ruling will be appealed like all of them will be whether for or against the bill, ultimately it MUST be decided in the Supreme Court. It will be the showdown of the ages as far as I'm concerned, since Obama has MUCH to lose in credibility and ability to get himself elected in the next presidential race.

Of course, I was never a fan to begin with and after seeing him completely ignore the will of the American people, well, his 4 years will not be up soon enough.

Superbowl rhetoric is heating up. I am an unabashed Pittsburgh Steelers fan. I grew up in Pittsburgh, I have a REASON to be a fan. The accusations fly high and heavy: you are just jumping on the bandwagon. Perhaps I did, when I was in my mother's womb attending my first Steelers game in 3 River's Stadium some 47 years ago. I didn't just get on the Steeler's bandwagon. I have been a fan during the good and the bad years - I am confident of a 7th Vince Lombardi Trophy for that team. I have had people at work, online and in others mouthing off to me about how the Steelers suck and how they already have enough trophies, let someone else have it. Since they got in my face, I got back in theirs: A simple wager of $100. No takers yet. I figure if I can go to a casino and drop $100 on the table, that's the minimum bet I would place on the Steelers as well.

Well, get through this day, get flesh cut off my arms, go home, put up blankets and sheets on as much of my plants as possible and - nothing. No work tomorrow, doctor's orders.

Nothing in the truck routing system today. Oh well, hopefully something will come up, I would rather not have to "invent" things to do to stay busy at work.

Have a great day, this is the Day that the Lord hath made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.

ben