The dentist did not have any good news for me today.
He offered 3 plans: A, B and C.
A - 20 grand.
B - 8 grand.
C - unknown but less than A and B.
I can't do plan A in phases, it won't work that way (like doing one tooth at a time).
Plan B can't be done that way, either, it's an implant with 4 teeth attached to it.
Plan C is partials.

These plans do not include the 3 crowns that I need elsewhere in my mouth.

I'm just going to pray over it, that's all I can do.  I don't have the kind of money it would cost for A or B and probably not C, either, even with insurance.

So - put it on the prayer list.

TMI

Abbreviated for: Too Much Information
Mark is going in for surgery (one of my tenants) for the same thing he had to have surgery for a few years back.  It's a 2 week recovery in the hospital.  So I asked him about it yesterday and he went into full detail about the recovery, passing gas and other - subjects that don't particularly appeal to me at all, and if a person goes on about it long enough, starts to gross me out.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION, thank you.  We all know what happens when you sit down on a toilet and we all know that TMI about that particular function is - well it's completely unnecessary.

Anyway, Hump Day is here (and for those that don't know, it is nothing sexual, just the official middle of the work week).  It is also the day I find out just how much work I need done on my teeth.  I was already told 6 crowns, but that did not include the front teeth.  Dentist appointment at 4:00.

Meanwhile, my search for a much closer walk with the Lord continues.  When thoughts come in that are of this world, whatever they may be, I reject them.  I want my mind focused on the Lord at all times, however much possible that may be.  I have taken 2 steps (major steps, I should add) towards the purpose of rejecting the worldly life and all the pleasures and trappings it may have and am continuing on.  Our church is doing a 21 day Daniel type of fast starting next week and I am preparing myself to engage in it as well.

It is also time to buy a new Bible.  I am still peeved, honestly, about that car wash company taking my Bible and other belongings and simply discarding them (or doing whatever they did with them) in the trash.  It's been quite a while, I just read the Bible online at this point, but I find that a paper copy of the Bible, in-hand, is far superior than reading it on a screen on a computer.  There are pluses, though, to reading it online, one of which is you can have several different versions of the Bible appearing side by side all at the same time while reading whatever book/chapter/verse you are on.

You may not believe this, but if there is a time when I am about to open the Word and I simply don't really know what I am supposed to read, I have simply opened the thing at random and started reading whatever it came to and have found so very often it to be true that that particular book/chapter I end up in ends up being a living, spoken word from the mouth of the Lord to my inner man and spirit for that time.  It's happened so many times that I cannot and won't deny that at least some of that has other origins than mere happenstance.

You cannot do that with an online bible, lol.

So, probably get another New King James version, which is my favorite.

However, looking at the clock? It's time to leave for work!!

G'day.

ben

Faces From The Past

Seems to be a recurring theme going on lately, faces from the past that is.
A couple showed up at church this morning - people I hadn't seen in a long time, though I think I ran into them once at a Home Depot maybe a few or 3 years ago.  Their church had dissolved as of last week but they had been looking for a place for some time now.  I was shocked to see them sitting in some chairs after they had come in, one of those double-take moments.  I shouldn't have been so shocked, I guess, this church is about a mile away from their house - but to find the church takes a little bit of searching, not on the main surface streets.

I don't know what 2013 has in store for me, but I do know that I have been seeking the Lord in getting the past - in the past.  Let things go, forgive others, ask others to forgive me, others that don't want to speak that peace, at the very least, would be rested upon both parties if at all possible.  Not to mention changing some things in my personal life that - definitely need some serious adjustment. Already well into that.

Next week, our church starts a 21 day fast.  There are, of course, differing types of fasting, I believe most people will opt for a meatless diet.  If you happen to like meat, then going 21 days without it is different a form of fasting.  However, fasting for the sake of fasting is irrelevant. And certainly not the purpose the church has in mind. Seeking the Lord, with the whole heart, soul and mind.  Getting into the Word and finding what the Spirit is speaking to my heart, that will be my focus.  For direction, for help, for favor with individuals I need favor with, etc.  I haven't fasted in quite a while - well I went without food a few days this week but it wasn't an intentional forsaking of nutrition, I was sick and I simply did not want to eat anything.

Whatever the case, it's a Sunday afternoon, I have spent the weekend doing much of nothing attempting to get as fully recovered from this week's sickness episode as possible.  I did take one of the dogs for a walk at the park yesterday - I made it about a mile and ran out of energy and decided not to push it. That and church today besides some cleaning, that's been it.

I'm not really looking forward to a 5 day work week which is en-queue, to be honest, because I am not fully recovered yet and sometimes going 10 to 12 hour days for days in a road can bring a form of "relapse" in the recovery process, especially in my lungs.  So, I will simply stand in faith and believe God that I am healed and that the symptoms will not reappear.  As for church, a LARGE number of people were out with the same sickness.  The pastor shared that he had been to at least half a dozen homes yesterday praying for families that have gotten ill with this nastiness that is going around.

Umm, speaking of work, there isn't a paid holiday off until May, lol.  A yearly occurrence.  You want time off, you gotta just take floating holidays or vacation time.  I will not go 5 months without some days off, at the same time attempting to save my hours up for a 2 week extended period off this year, or possibly just take 3, 1 week vacations.  Up to 96 hours as of now.  This is the first year with my company that I will start accruing 10 hours of vacation time per month, up from the 6.6 hours you get for the first 6 years of employment with them and also move up to 140 hours of paid vacation, from the 100 I was getting.

Well, enough.  Time for a hot tea or coffee.

G'day.
ben

Another long day at work and didn't help my physical situation - at all.
But now staring the weekend and have plans to do - much of nothing but rest, drink lots of liquids and read the Bible.  Oh, a probably go to church on Sunday and get some prayer.  I would go tonight for the Friday night prayer thing, but they aren't having it tonight since we had a New Year's Eve celebration on Monday.  I think, anyway.  Their calendar shows nothing for tonight anyway.

I made no grandiose New Year's resolutions for this year excepting to get closer to God.  No working out resolutions, no this that and the other thing, I just want to be closer to the Lord.  Which doesn't mean I won't take up working out again, who knows, but I won't resolve such a thing, those kinds of resolutions always seem doomed to imminent failure.

My manager wanted me to go and have some beers with him after work, but I refused. No alcohol, thanks.  And I'm not eating much, still, so no desire to go eat, either.  I think he went without me.

I turned the radio off in the truck today - when I was driving obviously - and spent the time praying instead.  I am by no means stating that I am some super-spiritual person, but as I said, the only resolution I have is to get closer to the heart of the Lord and to hear more of his voice speaking and seek His direction for the rest of my life.

And that's that.  It is late (for me and my current condition), going to read, see if there's anything on
TV and then go to bed early.

I have been sick since New Year's day.  I laid in bed that day and then called in sick to work yesterday. I was pretty much informed my help was needed at work today, I showed up and wish I hadn't.  It's not my normal bed time right now, but I am so wiped out from a 10-1/2 day's worth of work in a very weak body at this point in time - that I am now going to bed!
ben

Church

I went to church tonight for a New Year's celebration, though admittedly it's still 3 hours before New Year's actually hits and I don't think anyone's staying there THAT long.  I was there for 2 hours.  I haven't felt so much freedom in such a long time - and yet I also freely admit there is a ways yet to go.  But it was a great service and the presence of the Lord was so very much palpable.  I am encouraged about the year 2013, not because of the things going on in this world -  what is new about that.  The world always has garbage going on all over, it is a never-ending story.

No, I am simply talking about my walk with the Lord.  I have a number of people now standing in faith with me to overcome, put behind me and move on.  This is where the Lord has been leading me in the last year and a half anyway, but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's growing brighter and brighter as I get beyond obstacles in my life from the past or even the present.  

Anyway, I have a temporary tenant in the trailer.  I had talked with him at length on the phone and in emails - he is from Georgia and came in on a Greyhound bus earlier today.  I went down there and picked him up.  I think that, for however long he is here, it will probably work out well just from judging our conversations and his attitude which seems to be very good and - seemingly - has a very strong work ethic.  It's so hard to really judge character when attempting to discern if a person is going to make a good fit in the household and  what sort of person it is when considering morals and ethics (I would prefer a person with a strong set of those, or at least in the mid-section of it versus somewhat morally obtuse and ethically discerned).  Time will tell.

He has a cousin here of which he has already left and gone to spend the night with to bring in the New Year. It may very well happen that he may move in with that cousin.  I have no clue and he certainly didn't say anything about that, but I either had a feeling about that or my mind just went down that path along with numerous other in determining what the outcome of this will be.  When you start driving your mind through all the potential endings of a situation, it can certainly take you down some interesting paths and vivid places.  It won't offend me if he leaves to go live with his cousin, he needed a place to call "home" before coming here and perhaps my place was that pretense - yes I have a place to live so if that doesn't work out then I won't be stranded.  Again, I have no knowledge at all that this may be what's happening, but I now recognize that I have that "feeling".  

Well, I don't think I'll be staying up another 3 hours until the New Year comes in.  Well, I will probably be awakened.  If I am up, I will do the age-old car honking thing.  The fire station 1 block directly south of me will have it's fire truck horns blaring.  People in this neighborhood will be shouting very loudly Happy New Year! and maybe a few other car horns honking.  The real noise maker, though, are those fire engine horns and the vast amount of fireworks - done by local residents - that will be going off.  No, lol, I don't have a problem with it, just saying that's what happens in my neighborhood.

So, Happy New Year to everyone. 

ben

Another Morning at the Dentist's office

I got rather irritated sitting at the dentist's office, waiting this morning. I showed up early - which I always do in case there are paperwork issues.  The appointment was at 8am, I sat in that office for 41 minutes before the dentist finally showed up, no apology and just got right down to business.

I have a habit of leaving doctor's or any other such office if I don't get seen within 30 minutes of the appointed time unless they come along and tell me they are going to be delayed. They offered me no such amenities, which is why I got irritated.  It brought back memories of other dentist's offices I have been in the far past - which is the last time I went to one - and them making you wait up to an hour without even giving an explanation, much less an apology.

Well, I was already there, I just swallowed that and then was examined by the dentist, who started reading off the problems in techno lingo to his assistant to write down on a pad.  I didn't understand any of it, it was letters and numbers he was using as identifiers.

But he eventually got down to plain, simple talk to me and I was listening with - well I didn't figure I was going to get out of this easy, but it was far more work needing to be done that I had anticipated.  I need a total of 6 crowns, 1 root canal and some other procedure.  That does not include my front teeth, which are chipped, crowded together and basically a mess.  He informed me that if I just let my front teeth go, they will eventually all fall out.  Yikes.

I only have myself to blame.  I have had dentist insurance for over 7 years and haven't used it.  Haven't gone into the dentist because of my disdain for them and their apparent idea that only their time is worth money, yours isn't worth anything and yes, you will wait for that dentist to come into your room, it doesn't matter how long he/she makes you wait and you will like it.

The dentist started telling me that he can't really come to a conclusion on my front teeth until I have casts made of them and then he can look at them, compare them to the x-rays and come up with a plan.  Well that's all fine and dandy, I am thinking, but I am not rich.  I can only imagine the cost of all of this.  Thousands and untold thousands of dollars to get all this stuff fixed, regardless of dental insurance that doesn't usually cover very much, anyway.

But, I've gone this far with it.  So, they left the room, telling me they would get me a price and be back shortly.  Well at least the insurance covered all of that, no charge to me this morning.  They did the casts, filling my mouth with extremely cold gooey substance that gells after a few minutes and then made an appointment for Wednesday - next week. The dentist flatly stated he would have to do his homework.  I'm glad he's at least acknowledging he will take the time to come up with a plan, but me? There is NO way I can afford all of this.  Maybe spread out over the next several years but it is a foregone conclusion that, at least with the finances I have available currently, it's simply not going to happen anytime soon.  It will have to be do one thing here, one thing there as I am able to save up for it and pay for it.  It will be do the worst thing first and work backwards down the list.

I'm wondering if it's possible to sign up for another dental insurance plan on my own.  My insurance will run out quickly with all of this. If they even cover 50% I would be happy.  What do crowns cost nowadays? $800? $1,000?  I have no idea.  They're not cheap, I know that.  So, I shook off the pall that tried to over come me in starting to go through the thought processes of how much this is going to all cost and where I would come up with the money.  I will do what I can do and that's that.  If I have to have teeth pulled, then pull them. I don't have any pain currently, at least I have that much going for me and they stated there is no bone loss, so that's a good thing as well. But, I am guessing to fix my front lower teeth, one of them will have to be pulled and the rest realigned, if that's possible, to make room and then several crowns.

Well, Happy New Year, lol.

Hmmm.  Well, if work stays steady and I continue to get the hours I have been, I should be able to start saving up a good emergency fund.  But who knows what's going to happen in 2013 with this fiscal cliff crap and the fact that "lawmakers" - if you can call them that - can't agree on even a stripped down version of a consensus to get something done.

But, I also do not agree that Obama should have unlimited authority to raise the debt ceiling all by himself.  That's simply preposterous.

Meanwhile, the gun control argument rages on like never before.  Well maybe not like never before, but certainly with as much intensity as it's ever had.  I have involved myself in numerous online conversations about that particular issue and I do hear some rather uneducated (in the realm of guns, that is) individuals talking about things they nothing about.  I am absolutely no expert in the field of guns, either, but I am learning.  It's just one of those things where people decide a thing is bad and so get rid of all of it.

I don't mean these people just want to be rid of large magazines that can hold 30 rounds of ammo, I mean  people talking about banning private gun ownership altogether.  I think, fortunately, there are too many gun owners in America for that idea to ever catch on to the phase of enacting a change to the Constitution of our land, since that's what that kind of nonsense idea would take.

New tenant is coming on Saturday instead of tomorrow.  Which is good, need to prepare for that.

We'll see how that goes. Always a gamble, always a roll of the dice when talking about a new person coming in.

Whatever the case, my 5 days off are officially over and guess what?

It's time to go to work!

ben

I decided to get in as much as I could by the end of this year at the dentist - way past overdue (by 10 years anyway) to get my mouth x-rayed and find out what might be going on in there.  The good news was nothing major.  Not even a root canal (I for whatever reason thought I would have at least one of those necessary).

I have been here for 2 hours and 15 minutes (yes, I am keeping track) and now I am waiting for another appointment that they just happened to have opened up by cancellation for some special kind of  cleaning.  I am just biting the bullet in the patience department and keeping a good attitude - though I admittedly despise waiting in offices and having spent this much time here already, well, I am starving! I haven't eaten anything today and it's already 12:30pm.  Prime rib sitting in my refrigerator at home, I can't wait to get out of here and have some french dip style sandwiches with the Au Jus I have left over as well.

Umm, so an incident with a neighborhood kid on my Facebook wall yesterday.  He decided to interject himself in a conversation I  was having on my wall 2 days ago and started mouthing off to the friend I was talking with (I have known this lady for almost 25 years now).  Well, she wasn't taking it and gave him a dose of his own medicine, which he didn't discover on my wall until last night.  At that point, I found him publishing extremely foul language in both English and Spanish going against her.  I informed him to stop, which he didn't do and I unfriended him.

He then came over to my house with another of his friends and started mouthing off about the woman again. It got worse and worse to the point I told him to leave.  He went home (after apparently dumping a soda or something on my car), got on Facebook and posted an entire new post on my wall saying extremely foul things about both her and I.  After blocking him, he then went on his brother's account and got on started again.  Blocked that  as well.

I don't get it.  I have treated that kid very nicely for as long as I have lived in that neighborhood, and what do I get in return?  He can stay away from my house as far as I'm concerned unless he gives both that lady and I a heartfelt apology (which, from gauging his attitude yesterday, isn't likely to occur anytime soon).  His friend was sitting their listening and seeing all of this and was aghast.  At least there was someone his age who thought his actions and reactions to be totally off-the-wall.  It's just unbelievable to me the way kids act nowadays.

Whatever.  Christmas was good.  Final day off and then work 2 days and then the weekend.  But, I am spending 4 hours of this day off at the dentist.  Making the best of it, glad I brought my computer with me.

Nothing much else going on beside potentially a temporary tenant for the trailer, of whom I have had  a lot of communication with before deciding to allow him to come and stay for a few months.  He may stay longer - but only if he makes a good fit around my place.

Well, hope everyone had a great holiday and some time off!

G'day.

ben

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish what few readers I have left a very warm, merry and wonderful Christmas!  I wish you all the best!

More Fry's Food Stores Nonsense

I have been subjected to it several times in the past.  I was to be subjected to it no more.  It's ridiculous, IMO, for a person to stand there, realize they don't have enough money to pay for their food (or forgot their wallet/purse in the car) and then expect the customers behind that person to wait while they take their sweet old time walking out to their car, getting their money and then coming back in.

I have waited as long as 10 minutes for this phenomenon to play itself out and I decided today that it is total BS.  When the woman had walked away, I politely asked the cashier if she was going to go ahead and start checking out the next in line, which was me.  Note that they had fully 3 lanes of 15 items or less open that had very little traffic and the line I was in, full service, had a large number of people waiting with full baskets and it was the only full service lane available.  

The cashier replied no, she was going to wait.  Manager, please.  I'm sorry, are you asking for a manager?  Yes, I am, thank you.  The front end manager shows up and gives me a look after finding out what's going on.  What are we supposed to do? - while shrugging his shoulders and getting an attitude, an attitude that I didn't have until that kind of treatment started coming my way.  You are supposed to move this customer's things out of the way and start checking other customers, that's what.  He said nothing to me and went to the cash register, closed out that other customer's ticket and then the cashier, who obviously wasn't happy about what I had asked - reasonably - to do checked me out.

When we were done, I was walking away and felt eyes on my back.  I turned my head to see the cashier scowling at me, who quickly turned her head back to the line in front of her.  That was enough.  I went to the  Customer Service desk and asked for the store's GM, who just happened to be there and who showed up rather quickly, I might add.  This is a "secondary" Fry's, I only use it when I have other business needing to be taken care of at the part of town - which is 3 miles away from the normal Fry's I go to.  He immediately apologized, asked what he could do - of which I said nothing, just deal with this - and we parted ways after he assured me he would be having a conversation with those individuals.

The problem here is that most people won't say anything, so when the "odd one out" does speak up, they give you an attitude both in their tones and their stance/look.  When I got home, I decided to call corporate and ask them if they have a policy on such things, they do on most every thing else.  The lady I was speaking with said no, no official policy but at the same time, that cashier should not have made everyone wait, especially considering it was the only full service lane available.  Thank you.  I'm not an unreasonable person, but I think a person who forgets their money should realize that they are going to have to go through the waiting process again, it's not going to be a 30 second wait, it has taken as long as 10 minutes for people to go get their money and that's just plain unacceptable.

That was the store at 24th Street & Baseline, now moving on to my experience at the store at 48th Street and Baseline, which occurred yesterday.

I wanted to buy a bottle of liquor for someone for Christmas.  Crown Royale to be precise.  They did not have it on the shelf, instead they have a sign saying it's available at the Customer Service desk.  Upon going to the Customer Service desk and finding a lot of people in line there to do money orders and such, well, I wasn't going to wait that long and then have to go wait in line again to check out with the thing I was buying.  So, I walked up to the front end manager and asked him about getting a bottle for me.  I didn't think it unreasonable to ask for someone to go get it versus having to wait 15 to 20 minutes (customer service at that Fry's takes a long time, especially if there's a long line there) at that line and then having to wait in yet another line to check out.

He was having nothing to do with it.  He told me I could get in line and that the cashier could go get it for me. ????  This guy was standing there, doing absolutely nothing.  I just walked off and got into line, screw the whiskey, I'll find something else.  But, the man kept staring at me - that feeling of having eyes on you again.  So, after a while of this, I finally said "thanks for all the help you gave me!".  But, that was also enough. I simply don't put up with attitudes from people working at grocery stores where I have spent unbelievable amounts of money over the past 8 or 9 years at that specific store.

When I got my items checked out, I called for the store's general manager.  It took her a while to get up there, but upon hearing my statement, she immediately apologized, went to the customer service desk, got the bottle and had me check out at an unopened lane. I didn't ask her to get the bottle, I didn't want it at that point, but she insisted.   I simply informed her that that man - the manager - is completely and totally useless.  Why couldn't HE have done the same thing you just did?  She was all over that, yes, I completely agree, was her reply and a statement that she was going to have a conversation with him about it.

I could see if that manager had been busy or something, but seriously, that man was standing there, doing absolutely NOTHING at all.  Unbelievable. The state of customer service in this day and age at many places is absolutely abysmal.  I do not believe my requests were out of line, unreasonable or otherwise undo-able.

Well whatever.  I bought a lot of that food today for a family of 8 that was going to go without a Christmas dinner.  I do this every year, buy a holiday meal for a family to cook.  They are coming over right now to pick up the food.  No, the bottle of Crown Royale is not for them, lol.  I also got gift cards for tenants since they have posted cards on the tree addressed to me and others in the house - couldn't be a Scrooge and not give something back, lol.

It's a cool 59 degrees outside right now - that at noon thirty.  It finally feels like winter : )  I was concerned to find a very large Plecostomus in my pond.  I had thought they had all died out last winter and I didn't buy anymore because they can't handle the cold and up and die.  How that one survived, I have no idea.  He's about 11 inches long.  Which reminds me that I am going to place an ad on Craigslist and see if anyone wants him. I would rather give him away, free, than see his dead body floating around the top of the pond.

I decided to go ahead and make a dentist appointment before the end of the year so I could get the free x-rays/exam done and find out how bad the damage is.  I have pain coming from one tooth, dunno.  It's been a loooooong time since I've been to a dentist.  Stories that go along with the reason why I don't go to dentists would take too long/too much writing.  But I can't let it go forever, especially when low level pain starts coming here and there. Next thing you know, you have a full fledged toothache and there is no point in procrastinating.  If I get in there now, at least I can take advantage of this year's worth of limit on my insurance then pick it up again in January if necessary (I'm guessing 90% chance it will definitely have to be picked up in January).  This doesn't include 2 chipped teeth and a tooth with the crown missing - it came off 3 months after I paid a good deal of money to have it put on there.  Hmm, might have been 6 months.  Whatever it was, definitely not long enough to say, gee, I got my money's worth out of THAT little deal.

That's it.  As much as I don't want to, I am going to have to go out there and clean out one of the pond filters today.  I don't much care to deal with the ponds when it's cold outside, but, it has to be done.

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

ben

Well, I'll call the family Christmas party a success even if short-lived.  Arrived at 1:10 pm, shook hands/hugged and then began conversing with my sister-in-law's son-in-law (strange, yes?) and we hit it off right away.  My mom shows up early and leaves early - she doesn't want to drive in the dark and I don't blame her.  But she called me off into a hallway and told me she wanted to give me my Christmas present early.  She handed me a card. Strange, I thought, she usually gets me what I ask for, which in this case is a battery operated hedge trimmer so I don't have to go around with a pair of cutters spending a lot of time trimming plants that could be knocked out in a few minutes with the trimmer.

That's what I had asked her for.  Instead, I opened up the envelope, read the note and looked at a check sitting in there.  Not a small check, either.  I was stunned. My mother giving out cash and a lot of it at Christmas?  The thought has never even crossed my mind that she would do such a thing, it's simply not in her DNA.  I looked at her with a curious look, I guess, because she simply stated she was "distributing her wealth".  Lol.

Later on when presents were being handed out?  Yup, there was my brand new hedge trimmer, battery operated (I have a large enough property that dragging an extension cord around all over the place would not have been too fun).

I think it odd, though: a family that can't seem to pull it together enough to spend more than a very small portion of one day together out of an entire year.  I saw my middle brother for a couple of hours and that will be it for another 365 days.  Well, I gave him and his son some gift cards that I thought they would appreciate - and they did and they gave me a game which I intend on trying out.

Regardless, weekend not over yet and still have 3 more full days left on vacation : )

Ummm, okay.  I just realized that tenants are buying Christmas presents for others in the house.  I had no idea, really.  Meaning?  I better go out and get something for everyone tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

I had no idea what to expect when both the operations manager and the general manager showed up today.  But, when we finally got into the position to where we could chat - there was still a lot going on when they showed up that needed to be dealt with - we were all in my manager's office and the pronouncement was made: we were the best Expressnet store in the entire country!  A 2 man crew bested a LOT of other stores and we got a huge plaque for the store in honor of it.

I mean, yes, I think that's a pretty cool honor in view of the fact of the amount of work we put in the last fiscal year.  We are also getting a little something out of it: an extra paid day off, compliments of our GM.

So, coolness.  Well, I got us into the subject of old equipment.  Not a fan of driving an old truck.  Well, we have an International and I completely despise International trucks for a myriad of reasons, the biggest being they are pieces of junk from the day they drive off the manufacturer's assembly floor.  Our truck is several YEARS past the replacement stage for our company.  We "own" the truck- meaning we haven't had to make payments on it in quite a while.  A good thing, but as trucks get older, more things start going wrong.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, the best thing that happened today was the operations manager, at the behest of the GM, got on one of the computers and ordered a brand new truck : )  It is a Freightliner, not and International.  I'll take a Freight Shaker over an Itisapieceofs**ternational any day of the week.

Excuse the French, please.  Thank you.  It is, really, though, a very prestigious award at least internally within the company so we can ride on that cloud for a while and place the plaque prominently on the wall somewhere where everyone can see it.

So, after leaving work today and going to the bank to deposit 30, worth of checks and cash (company money, not mine), I went out the door of Bank of America and across the street to Fresh and Easy.  Their sale on hams has had the restrictions taken off of it.  I was looking online today at their site and it showed that the $30 minimum purchase had been removed and the limit of 1 was also removed.  49 cents per pound.  You aren't going to find that kind of price on ham anywhere else.  I bought 5 of them.  Yes, I bought 5 of them.  You can't buy meat that cheap anymore.  I have a freezer, 4 of them fit in there easily and a couple more would also fit in there so - try to get 2 more before the sale goes off.

Basha's and Albertson's both have the Standing Rib Roast - it's not cheap meat but it's FAR more expensive in a restaurant and this is the only time of year that I even see prime rib roasts being sold at the supermarkets.  It's my once a year prime rib meal and I am doing that on Christmas unless I happen to be doing something else, which I don't foresee.  Stay at home, make a nice roast and fixin's, whatever tenants are around can have some and that's that.

3 more presents to buy and that's the end of it.  Not.  Lol, I want to actually show up with something for the family even though 3 of them will have or already have received their presents shipped to their homes.  So, nothing fancy stuff just something to hand to everyone type of present.  I don't even know what to buy in that department, I hope to find something.

That's it.  Time to go to bed.

ben

Spent a few hours yesterday afternoon in attempting to get ornaments packaged, labeled and out in the mail. Amazingly, the post office wasn't overcrowded - that due to the fact that they had all stations manned and were whizzing through everyone in a very expedient manner. 

The general manager is coming over to our branch this afternoon. He rarely comes over and I would assume some sort of agenda as he is constantly busy with the tasks that occupy his position in the company.  What the reason is for that visit, we don't know.  But, as most days, plenty of work to do and who knows what time I will be back at the yard.  I would prefer to get off "early" again today as I did yesterday, 9-1/2 hours instead of 11 or 12, cause' I still have Christmas shopping to do and time is growing short.  3 days until the family party and I still have several presents yet to buy.

I read and listen to the news about politics - daily in fact - but I tend not to occupy myself in my thoughts with it as I simply believe they are all playing games.  I don't really think they care about the American public as much as they care about their titles, positions and clamoring to get media attention.  I have no idea what low this nation will have to reach before they really start to deal with the problems - I'm simply speaking about money and government waste and the deficit, not even touching the topic of the violence since I don't believe the government has the answers to that dilemma anyway.  Certainly the whole slew of them that are currently in there are worth as much as a speck of dust in my backyard. 

In fact, unless there is some sort of revolution, I don't think it's going to be dealt with at all until the hand is forced upon them.  By that time, it will be too late.  

Whatever.  I'll leave that in the hands of a capable God who isn't broke and can take care of my needs according to His riches in glory, that according to His word. 

My ex-pastor who shunned me contacted me on Facebook yesterday asking if we could meet up for a coffee.  I almost declined, still not sure I am ready for that, though I did get the "load" of unforgiveness off my back a while back with that whole situation.  No sense in wrecking my life over other people's selfish actions.  But I accepted the offer though a firm date hasn't been made yet.

Well, almost time to leave for work.

G'day.

ben

I continue to watch all the gun-banning craze.  And now, the craze for people to go buy the same kind of gun that was used at the murder scene since - they are now talking of banning such weapons.  Knee-jerk reactions? I doubt it, it's being used as an excuse to say see, look what happens when Americans own guns, now let's get rid of them.

Whatever the case, the pics of the tiny faces and the stories behind their lives - and the funerals - are all coming out.

On another note: Christmas is almost here.  I have bought all of 2 presents so far, but I finally found out what 3 other people want and it will be easy to get those items.  Plus my mom's, which I couldn't find in a store so I finally ended up buying online yesterday and having shipped to her house hopefully getting there by Friday - so she can see her present before our family's get together at my oldest bro's house on Saturday.

So make that 3 presents I bought, sorta slipped my mind that I had bought mom's last night on line.

I finally got to see the Boeing plant yesterday.  I've passed by it countless times in my lifetime in living in Arizona, but just from the outside.  Just so happens they are replacing a bunch of underground valves which got me in there.  But, I didn't get to see the inside of the facilities, which is what would have really been fascinating to see.  Just a bunch of buildings and a lot of suits walking around.  That would be expected, of course, that place employs a lot of people.  Oh well.  I half-hoped to see my brother there, but only half, no reason for him to be walking outside, but you never know.

Well, I am just getting started on this entry and looked up at the clock: time to leave for work!

G'day

ben

Of course, here comes the gun control advocates saying we should all hand in all of our firearms because that will stop the kind of senseless shooting that occurred yesterday in an elementary school in Connecticut.

Good luck.  If there are 300 million guns in America, that means there is a large number of Americans that own guns for whatever purpose they own them. I would guess it makes up a majority, not a minority, but I haven't seen any analysis on that - yet.

There are so many arguments both pro and con gun ownership.  The shooter took his mother's 3 guns, apparently, to commit the horrific crime that occurred yesterday morning.  So, it was easy for him to obtain the guns without having to go through much of anything.  But the plain fact of the matter is, if guns are completely outlawed in the United States, no-one can own them at all, not even hunters, then who is going to have the guns besides law enforcement?  Of course, easily obtainable on the black market, just like any kind of drug you want.  Or any kind of merchandise you would like to buy.   It's an age-old argument, but there is truth to it: if guns are outlawed in America, then the only people that are going to have them are police and criminals.

You simply cannot tell me that a person that has ill-will such as the person that killed all those kids yesterday will not find SOME way to carry out his intentions. Look at the guy in China who injured 22 kids at a school.  He didn't even use a gun, he was using a knife. Are we also going to ban knives?  If you do that, then what? Ban  baseball bats?  Stones?  This person was set on carrying out his act of ill - evil - will and he had probably planned it in advance.  Planning in advance means determining how you are going to enact your crime and with what tools/weapons you are going to do it with.

There are so many studies out there, too much to read, much less comment here on.  If you want to ask me my real opinion on why so many of these horrific crimes are occurring much more frequently, I'll tell you this: a lack of spirituality in this nation; godlessness; a lack of "need" of a god; a small but frequently cited group of people that are atheists; a generation of kids being brought up to fend for themselves, to figure out morality on their own and come to their own conclusions about religion without any or much input from parents.  We're all victims and we should sit in pools of self-pity and stay that way long enough for the evil thoughts to come in, take root and expand over time to the breaking point of - what we saw occur yesterday.

Enough.

ben

I was busy with work this morning, but finally got into the truck to do a run for pickups, deliveries and get 4 new tires installed on the rear drive-axle on the tractor.  I turned on the radio and started hearing about an elementary school in Connecticut where a "man" had killed 18 children and 8 adults.  Shock.  I have been reading and watching the news on this all day long now as time permits.

Shocking.  I don't get shocked about much of anything anymore, but this? .....is absolutely shocking.  How can anyone go into a school and just start killing kids?  I understand that this guy was out for blood in his family lines as the news has reported it, which is bad enough in itself, but why taking the lives of innocent children?  This situation must be world news by now.  I mean, in every language and every nation, the news must be reporting this everywhere.  The question is: why?  Why is all of this happening? You read about it more and more frequently where a man or men go into a college or some institution and just start mindlessly shooting people.  I just can't and won't ever understand this one.  Elementary school aged kids, shot down in school.

It was hard to concentrate on much of anything else today.  Just short of a 50 hour work week.  Paycheck today from the 2 previous weeks was quite large by my normal pay standards.  The week passed quickly, to be honest, the days just seemed to blaze by at work and when I'm off work, well, time REALLY flies by.  Weekends used to seem to "last" longer.  It's the same amount of time now as it was 25 years ago, but I have to say it seems like Friday gets here and 2 hours later I'm waking up for work on Monday.

It's an existence that I would like to do away with.  I don't mind working, but what I am doing has no eternal value to it.  I guess the line of work I am in gives you and I the ability to go to our faucets, turn them on and have water coming out and be able to go to the toilet, use it, flush it and know that it's being whisked away in giant pipes to a treatment facility, so perhaps some earthly good coming out of it, but that doesn't really cut it for me.  I have spent too much time working in the church and working on the mission field to have myself limited to just going to work 5 days a week and dreaming of the weekends to get here because the work load is so great, I don't feel like doing much of anything by the time I am done.

But, I do like getting paychecks.

Well I'm done.  It's Friday night, but I'm tired even though it's early and I have a lot to get done this weekend.

G'nite.

ben

Manager not at work today.
I show up and there's lots - too much - to do.
I get started on pulling what I call a "technical" load.  That's either one that has to have some thought in how to try to get all of it onto the truck or one that has a lot of "special" material that we don't stock and is sitting in various tag and hold areas.  This one was the latter.

The material was all over the place and I had to check each piece by numbers.  It was dark, hard to see anything and time consuming.  When the inside salesman showed up - taking the manager's place - he offered no assistance whatsoever. When you have a day ahead of you that is full of deliveries with orders that have not been pulled, that is not helpful at all.

I was pulling the material and kept getting interrupted phone calls, contractors and people asking questions.  I finally got the truck loaded and headed out - on down to Coolidge.  When I got there, I found out they had no equipment to unload the truck.  Hardly exciting.  2 sticks of pipe at 500 pounds a  piece; 3 valves at 250 pounds a piece and a much larger valve at almost 600 pounds.  Various fittings ranging from 75 pounds to 300 pounds and other, heavy material.

They wanted to unload it by hand.  When faced with taking an entire truck loaded with material back to the yard and having to unload it and then - reload it for future delivery? I'll take unloading by hand any day of the week if the contractor is down for it.  We got it all off of there, including that giant, heavy valve.  I simply pulled the truck next to and then straddled the trailer over a large pile of dirt and we dumped it off of it.

Back to the yard to find out that the next delivery was "supposed" to go out first. It really wasn't, but the salesman acted that way.  The contractor had been calling and calling him, where's the material.  Well, the inside salesman running the show today was supposed to pull the order - excepting the pipe - and have it ready.  He had pulled half of it and had told them that the load would be out there by 1:00 pm. It was 12:15 when I got started on it.  I informed him that 1:00 pm was a non-happening event.  He started to walk off and  I asked him if he could help out to get it done quicker.

Nope.  My manager will hear about this tomorrow.  When it comes to deliveries, they take precedence over everything.  That inside salesman should have dropped what he was doing and helped me get the rest of the order pulled. Instead, he went back inside and was doing his thing.  I understand he has a full workload already, but if they are going to send someone to run the shop when my manager is gone and that person is not going to help out, they need to find someone else to come out.

My manager will drop whatever he's doing to pull orders.  The only thing that really takes precedence is if a customer comes into the store.  I could have gotten a lot more done today if he had helped out instead of pushing a lot of it off until tomorrow.

Whatever the case, it's time to go to bed.

ben

Christmas party.
Pretty serious conversations for being a Christmas party, is what I can say about that.

I don't want to get the guy fired.  He - the dude I have been having issues with - came up to me, put out his hand and we started to talk.

He was very serious.  I mean, too serious, where was this going?  We got into the issues we've had, the attitudes, all of it and then he dropped the bombshell: If anything happens between us again, management has threatened to fire him. I just want the s*** to stop.  I have to talk to this guy on the phone frequently, we have to get along for as much communication that we have with each other.  Many times a day, I have to call various salesmen and inside salesmen to get information or ask questions about an order that is incomplete or whatever.

I spoke my mind, blunt and to the point.  When I call you, you have attitude all over your voice. You act like you are completely disinterested.  We went back and forth -civilly of course - and we came to an agreement at the end of all of it.  I really don't want to see the guy lose his job, he would have a tough time finding another one in this economy and having had been fired.  He's got a newborn  - or near newborn, wife, all that good stuff.

That conversation went on for quite a while.

Then, another conversation started with an outside salesman. Just a clearing of that air on that instance, but it was good to get it all out.

Then yet another conversation.  A counter salesman comes up and tells me how some of his customers tell him that I should be moved up in the company.  Are you serious?  First I've heard of that.  He then goes on to tell me how they take notice of my busting my ass every time I have to go to the main branch - which is quite frequently - picking up material for orders.

Well whatever.  So I'm talking with the operations manager's wife.  She's a complete opposite of him.. I mean north and south poles difference.  She doesn't want anything to do with the company, she was offered a job and flatly rejected the offer, lol.  The took my hand, put her arm around me and took me inside the house, right in front of her husband!! Yikes!!! I was very uncomfortable with that scene, of which her husband followed us in maybe a minute later.

Okay.  Awesome food. Barbeque everything and delicious.

Whatta week.  Manager having issues with associates and I as well.
My situation with the inside salesman has been dealt with.  At least, as far as management goes it has been.
After my manager wrote out - whatever he wrote - to the inside salesman manager, well, both he and the operations manager showed up at our shop this morning.

I wasn't there.  Out on the road.  In fact, out on the road for 11 hours today.

The information that came my way when I finally got back to the shop though, was interesting.  "We know that when Ben gets upset, it's because it's for the good of the company". In other words, it was a compliment, even though they pretty much made it clear on both sides - the inside salesman and I - that there would be no more talking to anyone outside the company about internal affairs.  Well, issues, I should say, with other individuals within the company who seem to have a calling - to do something else in life, cause' what they are doing now?  Ain't workin'.

Meanwhile, we are potentially going to get a part-time person to help out at our branch.  We are always asked if we need more help, we always say yes and it is always put on a backburner somewhere.  All well and good - I don't really care at this point, I will just work the unbelievable hours and whatever.  But, things that need to get don't - won't.  It consumes a large amount of time just doing pickups for deliveries.  That's because the companies we buy from are spread out all over the place.  Not to mention the fact that some of those places are not exactly in a big hurry and at least one place will tell us a time when we can pick it up - and more-often-than-not, it isn't ready.  Such as yesterday at that place, I waited for almost 2 hours.

It also doesn't help when our customers - contractors - have issues getting the truck unloaded.  This morning?  I just ended up unloading all 86 sticks of pipe by hand.  The bantering was getting ridiculous, the workout was good.  Later on, I was at a jobsite waiting to get 5 megalugs unloaded.  About 1,000 pounds, I couldn't unload those things by hand.  Not without risking dropping them and having them break.  After calling the contractor several times, I finally called the inside salesman on the account and informed him that I would be leaving and we can bring this stuff back on Monday, since they don't seem too interested in unloading it today.

The contractor - this dude is the site superintendent. He is above almost everyone else out there.  He told me repeatedly he was going to call whoever and get them to unload the truck.  Either he didn't call them - or more likely - they just didn't listen.  After calling my company's salesman for that account and asking about leaving - and that salesman getting instantly pissed "They told me they needed those things today" and telling me he would call me right back - that got the ball rolling.  A few minutes after that phone call and a pickup truck came flying up to their yard, a man got out, walked over to a group of workers and started getting nasty with them. It became obvious that he HAD, indeed, called them and that they had ignored his request to get the truck unloaded.

You see, I told the salesman that I had a LOT of other things left to get done in the day, that I had been sitting there for 40 minutes and if they can't get to unloading the truck, fine, we'll bring it back on Monday.  I like OT, but I am also cognizant of our company's need to keep costs down and keep it's current head-count intact.  Well, whatever works.

Company party tomorrow afternoon with the 3rd annual Corn hole competition.  I'm pretty good at it.  If I'm coupled with a person that is also pretty good at it, good chance to win. Last year the pot was over $200 to the winners.  I won't be driving out there.  I am going to my manager's apartment to get a ride.  It's probably 60 miles from his place to the manager's house (Phoenix metro area: VERY spread out).  I absolutely LOVE just riding in a car and not having to worry about driving.  I just ignore the road completely.  I can't hardly EVER do that.  I have to focus on traffic all day long in the semi and let me tell you, driving that thing in city traffic takes a great deal of concentration.

I think the next time my son and I go on a trip somewhere, I'm a gonna make him do at least some of the driving.

It's late.