I made the dreaded call to direct tv.
I bypassed the Philippine Islands and the people they have over there that are manning the incoming call centers.
I got connected to - a particular department that I now call or ask for not naming it here, thanks - and then got into a conversation with a man who eventually said no, he couldn't help me..

Thanks, your manager, please?  You can always tell they don't like that question, but when I ask, it's not going to be anything else, I have determined that only management can help me - if they can or will - so let's get on with it.

Manager gets on the phone and we get into an extended - very, very long - conversation.  But by the end of it, we were talking fishing, this that and the other thing.  The man was very generous, is all I can say, well, all I will say.  He helped me out and that's that.

I still think Direct TV is over priced and at some point, I will probably switch to either Cox or Dish Network - or some other new thing called Prism TV, just heard about it on a radio ad.  Probably won't go with the new one if it's originated by who I think it is.  Oh, yes, just looked it up: Century Link. I equate Century Link's customer service right "up" there with Direct TV, possibly even worse.  I just dumped Century Link and won't be going back anytime soon.

G'nite, it's my bedtime : )

ben

The people who live the next street over.
In recent times, they have gone on an unlimited free-for-all in turning up their music so loud, I can hear it in my living room and bedroom with the doors closed, windows shut, tv on, etc etc, etc.

Apparently everyone else that is subjected to this unbelievably BAD music- it's not just extremely loud, it horrible music to begin with - doesn't care.  I was hoping someone else would finally get sick of it and call the police.  When I call the police, yes they will come out - eventually, sometimes it's hours before they are free to even show up - but then they will just tell them to turn it down and leave.  There is no punitive action for the ordinance violation, so as soon as the police leave, they turn it right back up.

My first call to police was around 6 pm.  I was amazed that police made it so fast, it wasn't even 20 minutes and suddenly the music was turned down.  About half an hour later, music turned right back up.  I waited about an hour and called the police again.  "Did you send the police out to such and such location?".  Why yes we did, Mr. B, do they have it loud again?. YES, they DO.  We'll send someone right out.  Okay, thanks.

A little long for the police to get there the second time, but the music eventually goes down.  It's my bedtime, I go so sleep. I have ear plugs in and my box fan on - always do to help mask outside noises.  But it doesn't matter, it was somewhere around midnight or 1 am, I would have to look at my phone for when I made the third call, but the obnoxious noise that they call music was blaring now.  Like a mariachi band sitting in my bedroom.

I laid there for a while, hoping the noise would be lowered, but it wasn't. I was extremely cranky at this point.  I was going to call the police for the third time, if they weren't going to do anything about it then I was going to go over there myself.  I'm sure the consequences of that action probably would not have turned out too well, but I am SICK of these people who could care freaking less about anyone else in the entire neighborhood.

So I'm on the phone with this sweet sounding lady at police so I am trying to be nice.  We talk back and forth and I finally say: they don't CARE about the cops, they will just turn the music back up as soon as they leave.  Since the city of Phoenix doesn't seem to care to follow their own noise ordinances, I am just going to keep calling back all night long until you finally decide to DO something about this problem.  Of course that isn't really a threat to a person that is paid by the hour to answer the phone, but I wanted to make my point clear enough that perhaps should would relay it to the next officer/s that go out there.

My next course of action would be to talk to the Sergeant and find out why they refuse to do anything about this, ie: start writing citations.  The police must not have been that busy last night, because it wasn't 10 minutes and suddenly the noise was shut off.  I don't mean turned down, I mean turned all the way OFF.  Since their normal, modus-operandi is to play that s*** all night long, I have to assume that the police actually did - something about it this time instead of merely telling them to turn it down.

But I had to call them 3 times over a 6 hour span of time to get anything done about it. I have half a mind to go to Walmart right now and buy one of those obnoxiously loud air horns like they use at foot ball games, go stand out in front of their house and let 'er rip until the thing is empty.  It's 7:30 am, they've been partying all night long, see how THEY like it.

But I"ll refrain.  Instead, I am going to go on a police-calling campaign.  Every time they blast the music, I am immediately going to call the police.  Repeatedly, over and over.  This will generate a "file" against this house - though at this point there must already be one because this has been going on a long time.  But after enough of it for several weeks in a row, then I am going to call either the sergeant in this district or the city prosecutor's office and ask them to review the file on that particular address and also ask why they haven't done anything more than what they have - which up until now has been basically nothing more than a verbal command to tell them to turn it down.

It's raining and not just a little bit.  This is really good news for me.  The ground is getting completely saturated and it will be easy to pull weeds and whatever I want to pull out.

Oh my.  Stink bombs.  Never thought of that.  Harmless but effective. Hmmm.

Well, anyway, it's not getting any earlier and I plan on going to church today, so better get a move on.  Unfortunately, the rain has topped - but - not before it got the ground nicely soaked.  The sky is dark and "ominous", there is thunder and hopefully it will start raining again.

G'day.

ben

Friday here.  Work to be done - at work that is - which is a good thing.  I spent the day yesterday running around as well.
The operations manager almost ran me over yesterday in his pickup truck - literally - he was going 30 mph through our yard, I had just gotten out of the semi headed across the yard but caught his truck coming out of the corner of my eye.

No-one drives that fast through our yard.  Whatever the case, if I hadn't jerked myself to a stop he would have run clean over the top of me.  Well he stopped, terrified look on his face, I hoped incident would help him think about slowing down in the yard, lol.

When asked about the meeting yesterday - this was in the morning, before it had occurred - he was giving out no clues.  I was unabashedly pimping for info, the only thing I really got out of him was that Casa Grande should be in our territory, not 3083's.  I have been trying to get my manager to ask him about this for a while now, but since the opportunity came up, what the heck.  He smiled and said he would take care of it.

It means, if we get it back, more business and bottom line numbers for our store.  The main warehouse manager simply decided to take it away from us at one point and that was that.  We are much closer to Casa Grande, there is a road from our store that is almost a straight shot down there and it used to be ours.  I dunno why he thought he could just steal it from us, but we are, apparently going to get it back.

It is also a bit of a drive - I am getting so sick of being stuck in the east valley and not really getting OUT of it excepting to head west into Phoenix to pick up material for deliveries.  A truck driver being stuck in the same, small area, all the time?  Yikes!

Well, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Changes at work. Undoubtedly, something coming down the pike and probably, that news will be given out today to branch managers.  That's cause' they are having their yearly end of year get together for the managers.  They go to a fancy resort place and eat some fine food.   Talk of bonuses should arise but also talk of what they are going to do at the main branch will undoubtedly also be covered.

Our branch is doing so poorly now, I can't imagine they won't enact some kind of changes there as well. What those changes are, I don't know yet.  They have thrown out a few things but in the end, you can never really guess.  You just go with the flow and hope the changes aren't so radical that it is upsetting or otherwise disarming in nature.

Well, time caught me and I have to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Driving through Fry's parking lot today.  Going 5 mph or less.  Prolly less, I am no hurry with a bunch of humans around.  A guy gets out of his car, babbling on his cellphone, he walks towards the store, along and next to a line of cars.  I am up to him when he starts to walk in front of me, but I'm already there, just slowly keep cruising.

I must have an anger problem.  This guy goes livid.  I don't even know what's going on excepting the person that works for Fry's is looking up with a discerned face over the top of my car. I couldn't hear anything, I was looking over at her to make sure we weren't going to - connect in an very unfortunate way - since she was in the driveway but on the side, dealing with shopping carts.

I look the other way and here is this black dude, glaring at me and mouthing off.  I stopped the car and opened the door. What's going on?  You need to slow down, blah blah blah.  Trash talk.  I don't get into that crap and I won't tolerate it.  Something around a 20 year old punk going on and on. I frankly told him if he hadn't been so consumed by his phone call, he might have actually LOOKED to see if a car was coming.  MUCH more trash talk.   I finally told him where he could stick it and I would be happy to stick something up there if he continued.  His verbiage was getting really bad, to the point I wanted to get out of my car and knock his teeth out of his head.

Not much the words of a Christian, much less the thoughts of one.  I forced myself to not say another word after the line that told him a baseball bat could be forced up his @$$. This isn't worth it.  I have to get over this stuff.  The enemy pushing my buttons, using people to do it.  I really wanted to just shut him up and then, I stopped.  I just closed the door to the car and drove off.  These kids thinking they are bad, my gosh, starting crap with people they don't know, don't know what those people are capable of.  I was waiting for him to kick or hit my car, though, and the car would have stopped immediately and the situation would have been dealt with post-haste.

When such things happen, my teenage years leap into my mind and things that I shouldn't even be entertaining go into my head.  I HAVE to find a way to tame all of this.  This guy was looking for trouble, I most definitely was NOT.  But it takes an instasecond for me get into the mode, which is unacceptable.  Sometimes the things from the past that come into my head to do to people that are starting s*** with me are unbelievable after the event is over and I start backtracking after away from the situation. WHAT was I THINKING?  I wasn't thinking, just letting raw emotion take over.

I didn't care in my teenage years and most of the people I hung out with didn't care, either.  Someone gonna start trouble, they BETTER be ready to back it up, because we were all over it. I could tell stories, but - well anyway.  My fighting days started the first day of Kindergarten in the slums of Pittsburgh and "grew" from there.  This is something that I have, actually, gotten much better at, but obviously still have a ways to go.

I can only say that at least I drove off.

Gag. Sticking point in my life, gotta just find it within myself to bless those people, let it go and move on.

This I know: These situations are going to keep occurring until I am fully over it, released from it, have it dealt with in my life and I can just smile and say sorry, even if I didn't DO anything wrong.  That's the hard part! People starting trouble with other people about something the other person didn't do!  Yet, I understand the enemy and how he works, I still, so far, fall for it every time.

Done with that.  Tomorrow, my manager is going to be gone after a few hours there in the morning and they aren't sending anyone to take over the branch.  Which is not that big of a deal - but I will be out on the road and that new kid - the one with the mouth and attitude - will be "running" it.  He is still doing more of nothing than working. I am ignoring him at this point, instead of speaking my mind.  I don't much care for people that "work" at a place for an hourly wage yet screw off at least half the day and apparently are getting away with it.  It's obvious he won't be doing ANYTHING while everyone is out of the building.

Lol, but I AM getting over that.  They want to let him sit around screwing off, then let them and him.

Enough.

ben

No business, whatsoever, being in my neighbor's back yard.  This referring to 350 man.
I promised my next door neighbor I would keep a watch out for him - 350 man - doing anything to my neighbor's fence.  350 started to erect a fence that is well into my neighbor's yard quite some time ago.  He got the posts up and that's where it ended.

So when I saw him IN my neighbor's back yard, poking through Randy's (my neighbor) stuff, I called Randy, who is currently in Michigan at his summer home.  Randy, I said, 350 man and Sam are in your back yard.  They took down your fence and are welding on 350 man's fence.

Randy went into a conniption, I would have too considering the circumstances, I asked him if he were going to call the police? Yes.  I call him back about 10 minutes later, Randy informs me the police tell him that it's a civil matter and to take it up in the courts.  How is trespassing on private property a civil matter and how can the police interpret it like that?

Randy pleads with me, telling me he gives me his full authority to go onto his property.  Though I neither like Sam nor 350 man, I was not inclined to get involved with this, but I relented. I got my camera, turned on  the video portion of it and started videoing my walk over to Randy's house/property.  350 man disappears, as I thought he would.  Catching him on video both trespassing on private property and attempting to finish a fence that he KNOWS is OFF of HIS property could be used in the courts against him.  But Sam could have cared less.  "You're tresspassing on private property", he tells me.  This is Randy's property, I replied, of which I have his permission to be here.

I asked him if he thought it was okay to be standing on Randy's property and basically helping 350 man steal a portion of it by helping him erect this fence? Was it okay to take down Randy's fence?  Well, he didn't tell me I couldn't be on his property.  Well maybe you should call him and ask him - Sam and Randy have known each other for a LONG time, they have each other's phone numbers.  Sam made a comment about if Randy wants to talk to him, he can call him.  I said fine, I'll have Randy call you right now, do you have your phone?  Sam goes to get his phone - none too happy that I am recording all of this - and I leave.  There was no way I was going to leave myself exposed to lies or potentially even police action by having them making a false accusation against me - it wouldn't be the first time - I had my eye witness with me and I already have it posted on Youtube so that it can't "disappear".

That was it for my part.  I did what I could.  Had it been my property the whole situation, of course, would have never started in the first place, I would have already taken 350 man to court on the property issue and a judge would have already made a ruling on it.  But that's me.  I was going to do nothing more except call Randy, inform him I have a video of Sam doing the fence (and unknown to 350 man, I may not have gotten a video of him back there, but I DID snap several pics of him working on the fence on Randy's side of it).

Well, 3-day holiday weekend over, back to the  wonderful prospect of going to work.  But this morning should be okay, I have a load to pick up downtown and take to north Phoenix.  Not part of my normal territory, but the main branch is swamped and couldn't do it - we are not swamped and we can pretty much do whatever at this point.  We will ever get busy again?  I dunno, I can only wish.

G'day.

ben

Halfway through the holiday weekend.
A man at work that was let go (fired) a week or so ago was found dead in his apartment bedroom by his young son 2 days ago.
Although I have an idea as to why he was fired, I don't have the actual specifics.
What I do know is that he takes rejection type of things very hard, well took them very hard now.

Here's the part that's hard for me.  Whether you believe in prophecy and the gift of prophecy in the church isn't really relevant to me, because I have been operating in that gift for quite some time now.  Not that that makes me anything, it just happens.  So it was in this man's case, but I completely ignored the signs and did nothing about it.  Every time I saw him, the thought "he is suicidal" or something along those lines would pop up in my mind.  I would even see a sign saying " suicidal" before my eyes.

To look at the man, you would not have recognized that.  He was walking around all happy and life was grand, at least on the outward appearance.

I have no idea whether this man was right with the Lord, though many will say that a person committing suicide is hell-bound just by that action alone.  I am not God, I don't know how the Lord sees such things and I do not make such brash conclusions.  I sincerely hope that that is not the case.  I sometimes hear Christians making some pretty - vile - judgments against people, groups, things they don't like and wonder.  Yes, I believe there is a hell but also yes, I don't believe the Lord really wants any humans to end up there.  It wasn't made for people, it was made for satan and the fallen angels that were kicked out of heaven with him.  Perhaps I have made such judgments myself in the past but I am coming to the view that hell is such a BAD place, that one really shouldn't desire that anyone end up there.

I dunno, but I am going to go to church this morning and seek some relief from this.  It weighs heavily on me - the fact that I did nothing about it.  I don't know what I could have said to that man, at work, without getting into some hot water if it blew up in my face, but that's not an excuse, really.

Welcome to my holiday weekend.

Well it's nice having an extended weekend off, anyway.

ben

Gag.
Take a day off in the middle of the week and it messes your head all up. Remind me to make SURE I either get the 2 days off before Christmas or 2 days off after, preferably after.  You just get into your head that it's
Saturday and that you have the next day off, too.

That's okay, I get my revenge: 3 day holiday weekend en-queue.  It wouldn't be so bad going back to work if there was actually something to do!  If it stays this way for too much longer, I have to wonder what is going to happen to our store.  They won't just leave it open forever if it's not producing enough on the bottom line.

I have no idea whether there is anything in the truck routing system, just have to find out when I get work in a little while from now.

Well we got Caleb out and off, that's behind me now, moving on.  To what, I don't know, but moving on.   But I was kind of appalled when I went into his room yesterday after I got back from the airport.  Dirty clothes laying all over the floor and some trash, bed not made.  He just left it like this?  Kinda got me a bit upset that he would leave his room in a shambles.  He apparently forgot his necklaces, too.  One is a cross and I think the other is SA's version of dog tags.

Whatever.  I started to clean the mess up, got well into it but decided to let it go until today.  I was too blooming tired.  I'm telling you, when I stay up past my bedtime, I just pay for it the next day.

Well, enough.  Off to work.

G'day.

ben

I stayed up late last night with Caleb. Like past midnight late - that's really late for me - and then woke up tired and groggy this morning.  Glad I took the day off work.
He was dealing with last minute stuff this morning and then we headed over to my ex's house to pick her up and then headed off to the airport.
U.S. Airways, charges for each checked bag. We got away with only paying for the large bag at $25 and then his smaller bag he was allowed to take on board the plane, so didn't have to shell out another $35, which was really good cause' I am counting my pennies right now.

Off the subject for one line of sentence, we should be getting our end-of-fiscal-year bonus within the next month or two, that will help immensely.

Well, we got his bags checked in, his boarding pass, all that stuff and then off to sit down and spend our last hour plus talking. At close to an hour before the flight leaves, Caleb was picking up his stuff and heading down the aisle.  Mom was like, already?  Yes, we had sat there talking for a long time, Caleb  was obviously ready to be done with us and Phoenix and all of it - not in a bad way, he's a very respectful kid but he's totally psyched about going over there - so I said yes, it's time.  He should be going through that security checkpoint at least an hour before the flight leaves, at least, that's how I do it.  Make sure there are no issues and if there are, you have time to deal with it.

Remember the days when you could just go with the person all the way to the waiting area to board the plane?  I wish it was still that way.  If a person wants to bomb or blow up a plane or use a plane as a bomb and if they are motivated enough to do whatever it takes - such as 9/11 - they they are probably going to be able to do it regardless of security checkpoints.  It might make it harder for them, but not impossible.  Whatever, I'm sure that will never change now that it's implemented so deal with it.

Watched him go through security and then he walked right off without looking back, he was gone.
Took the ex home, we had a conversation about some things going on in people's lives - pretty serious stuff actually, nothing I am going to go into here - got her home and me?  Got back here and sat down.  I'm am exhausted from staying up too late last night.  I have nothing pressing to do today, which is a good thing.

Still, I happened to look up at the clock a while ago and realized I could go outside and watch his plane taking off!  I can't see the runway but you can definitely see planes leaving the airport and heading up into the sky.  At 1:59, a US Airways jet took off, it looked like a 757 and it was at the exact time it should be there. Another plane on an adjacent runway had taken off a minute or so earlier, but it was a Southwest plane - you can pretty much easily identify the brand even from 4 miles away.  I watched that plane flying up and up - then level off a bit - and then it disappeared into the clouds.  There goes my son!

Momma cried, I had a light misting in my eyes. I realized I had gotten all - or most of it anyway - out of my system at church on Sunday.  God really dealt with me about some things after I had started thinking him leaving, so the tears were on Sunday, today it was just cool to see my boy heading off into a new life, an unknown adventure, what does God have in store for him?  Took me back to my missionary days when there were many times you didn't know what was going to happen next or how God was going to provide.

Lately, Africa has been put on my heart.  I don't really know anyone in Africa, I know of some missions over there but don't know the people running them personally. My gosh, though, there has got to be more to life than clocking in 5 days a week at 6 am and doing the same thing, day after day after day.  I know I shouldn't worry about such things because the Lord is our provider, but I think about going back to the mission field but then I think about my golden years and how it will be to be totally broke, no money, just getting social security checks to live off of, which aren't even a guaranteed thing anyway.

Well whatever.  2 more days of work and then a 3 day holiday weekend.  I don't think I will do much of anything, I'm ready to just stay home and mess around the house and yard.  Just checked, it's almost 3,000 miles to Hawaii.  I was curious because it's a 6 hour flight, much of it over open water.  I'm envious!! I want to fly overseas, too!

G'day.

ben

Less than 24 hours now.
Will I get past this?
Of course.
Will my son be okay?
I trust in the Lord to watch over him.
Will I shed some tears at the airport?
You better believe it.
I don't care what other people think about
men crying, there are situations where it is
not only appropriate, it is warranted.  I am
most certainly not a wimp/pussy-whipped,\
lemonade-bleeding, yellow-bellied sissy.
I don't mean that in a violent type of way, I
am a man and I am a man that cries when it
happens - which is infrequently but yes, it happens.

I love my son dearly.  There are a handful of people
I love on this earth - no offense to long time readers,
many of you I really like : ) - but nothing even in the same
realm as a father and son.  I know it may be more unusual
in this day and age of fatherless (well, they have fathers but
they are nowhere to be found) offspring to actually be
a man and a father that will openly state that I really 
love my son, but so it is.  He means the world to me. I
 would gladly sacrifice my life for him if such were to ever
occur.

For me, this is a monumental step in my son's life.  This is
parting of ways, so to speak, but in a good sense obviously.
It's the natural course of things, your offspring, at least in this
culture (other cultures a bit different I have read, heard and
experienced first hand).  It is what should happen, I do not
believe your offspring should be living with you well into
their 20's, much less 30's or the rest of your life.  They should
find their own way and they should go for it.

I can say that I instilled this into my son since he was a single
digit aged human.  I always told him that if he wanted to live
with me after he got out of high school, he BETTER be going
to college or doing something that will lead to a career.

I think someday he will thank me for putting that into his head
and his heart.  How can you venture out in life and experience it
for yourself if you keep yourself chained to your parents house
and their rules?  I see all this nonsense going on with the younger
generation and I find it totally unbelievable.

My son has a good head on his shoulders and I am confident that he
will do well in life.  That doesn't necessarily mean he will make a
lot of money, I don't measure success in life as being rich and owning
a lot of things, I would rather measure life in the sense of what you
did in obedience to the Lord's calling on your life and how you applied
it to your life.

This is the way I look at some things in life.

I am happy my son is going, in case anyone is getting the wrong idea.
It's just that my heart and my inner man has to get used to the idea
that he won't be at my house and us having long talks about the Lord
and the things going on in both our lives.

Ben

Shake up at work today.
Got in and found an email from the ops manager: So and So is no longer with the company.
He was an inside salesman.  They have recently hired people to take inside sales positions, but they have no clue what they are doing yet, it's a pretty long learning process to learn the business and learn everything that goes into being and inside salesman.

So, this morning we find out the GM is coming to our branch - he doesn't do that often, maybe once every 6 months.  We have no clue.  I leave before he gets there, not a lot to do but we tend to get stuff done when it is in the system to get done.  By the time I get back, he is already gone and the situation is that he is asking my manager if he will at least temporarily move back downtown and take over an inside sales position so that they aren't short-handed while these other guys get the training and get up to speed.

Ummm, well, that didn't sound very good.  Especially finding out the main warehouse manager would come over to our place.  I get along with him, I guess, but I find my current manager much better than him.  When I find out who would take over the main warehouse, well that's even worse.  That guy is - not very good.  He thinks he knows everything and has that kind of attitude.  He is not a good manager in terms of how to treat employees.  But the biggest drawback to this dude is that he tells everyone no when they ask him if they can squeeze in a delivery.  He doesn't even consider it, he just blankly tells them he can't do it.  In a business like ours, we find ways to make things happen.  The main branch has several vehicles, not just semis, that can be used for pickups and deliveries.  There are numerous people that are authorized to use regular, company vehicles.  It's a joke to just flatly say no, we won't do it.

But whatever, that's not my decision.  My manager told the GM he would rather not move downtown but if they need the help, he will both run the store AND do inside sales work.  He also offered that I could take a position down there - as I said I would but only if they don't lower my wages.  Apparently it's some company thing that they may not be able to transfer me to such a position without lowering my wages, I would not agree to that so if that's the case, it's a non-starter.

So that's that.  No idea what the final decision will be.  I doubt, though, that it will take them long to make those decisions, once they start on something like this, they waste no time in implementing it.  So we'll see.

Meanwhile, the countdown: 2 days.  My son is gone for a year, leaving in 2 days.  Not too much more time and right now he's hanging out with his mom at her house.  Has been since yesterday morning.  I do hope he will come back over here and spend a few last minutes with me, but that's not something I would ask him to do, just hoping.

That's it.  Took a bunch of the Hostess I got from church yesterday to work - that all disappeared.  I ate one small bag of it - too much calories in that junk, not worth eating too much of it, but there are 2 junk food junkies at work.  I don't know how or why the church got all of that stuff - no clue.  It's all the new stuff that the newly revamped Hostess is putting out.  Hostess is back, though I don't know if they have the entire line of stuff going yet.

ben

So, I have Wednesday off - to see Caleb off on at the airport - and then a 3 day holiday weekend coming up.  I'm not really looking forward to Wednesday, to be honest, just because of the significance of what is going to take place.  I had always wanted at least 3 kids, would have helped mitigate this situation if such were the case.  But it isn't and now the so-called "empty nest syndrome".  Doesn't mean I'm not happy for my son in pursuing his dream, I just know how my heart felt yesterday at church when I started pondering this whole situation.

Anyway, the party on Saturday.  I didn't go into it with the pics I posted because I didn't have the time when I posted it, lol.  I was going somewhere, don't even remember what now.  Anyway, I sat down at a table with 2 old friends and we started making jokes.  Pretty funny stuff, actually, then a 4th person and another old friend I hadn't seen in ages sat down.  After reacquainting ourselves yet more came and sat down with us.  So it went until a man came up through a side door, squinting at me and a look of recognition.

I had no idea who this person was, but he definitely recognized me.  I just sat there and said hello to him after he came up shaking my hand and spent two hours after that attempting to figure out who this person was.  It finally came back to my memory.  He used to go to the same church I went to now going on a decade ago - we weren't really close or anything so I think that why he had been put into the dark storages of the basement portion of my memory banks, lol.

But there was a completely different atmosphere there, much different than the last time I was there for a party for whatever reason, which was at least a year ago.  The old abrasiveness of what had occurred at the church had rubbed off.  The air wasn't charged with negativity and it was a cool party.  I determined myself to make the rounds and speak with everyone that I knew from the past there, whether I wanted to or not, lol.  Also met some new people that were there because of Caleb.  On attempting to leave, I got hung up with yet 2 more people and we talked for at least another 30 minutes - which is when I remember it was my dad's birthday!

So I went over by where Caleb was, made the phone call and we both wished him a happy birthday and talked for a while.

That was it for the party, 4 hours of talking was enough for me.  There was a good hour long portion of it where we took pics and then we all prayed over Caleb - and by that I mean just about every individual and couple there not only prayed over him, but gave him prophetic words.  It was good.  I recorded much of it and intend on putting it on a disc for Caleb to listen to if he so desires, there was a lot spoken over him and in such events like that, it's difficult to remember everything that was said.

And now? Monday morning, lol, another weekend cashed out and gone, there was NOTHING in the truck routing system for today as of the time I left Friday afternoon.  I surely hope that something was put in there over the weekend, because there is NOTHING to DO at the shop at this point.  We have dealt with everything, the place is clean and I have no desire to sit around on my @$$ all day, attempting to burn up 8 hours.  I can't do that, I'll figure out something to do if such is the case, but I hope it isn't the case.

With that, I bid you a g'day.

ben

Well, it was a pretty cool party last night.  All the old = edgy - stuff from the past seemed to have disappeared with most of the people there.  Meaning, all the judgementalism and finger-pointing and bad-mouthing must have gone away with the winds, because excepting for one person, I felt none of that there last night.

I met with my pastor yesterday for a couple of hours at the church.  I'm not going to go into the specifics of the reason we had met - it wasn't a bad thing or something negative, but it was on a personal level coming from both of us so just not going to go there on a website that anyone on earth can read.

It was a good  meeting and I was happy to have had spent the time talking and praying with him.

Anyway, today is Caleb's big sending-off party.  I'm guessing the whole thing will be a bit uncomfortable since it's my ex-pastor and his brother and their respective families throwing the party. Long time readers know oh-so-well what I went through with these people in the past, so not going to go into all of that again, either.  I'm going for my son's sake and for the potential that there may well be people from the past that I haven't seen in a decade that I might get the opportunity to meet up with.

No guarantees there and no disappointments if not.  I am half-hoping the meeting I had with my ex-pastor quite some time ago at the Starbuck's might be continued on today.  Nothing too serious, just perhaps we can at least have some kind of agreeable relationship.  Those people have been part of Caleb's life since he as born, literally.  They were there for his birth - though I was the only one that got to go into the operating room and see him removed from my ex's belly, lol.  They cut her open and I saw all of that stuff in there and I was very proud of myself that I didn't fall on the floor and pass out.  They weren't quite so sure, I had apparently turned white as a sheet seeing all the blood; guts; whatever all of that is that was in there.  I flatly said no, I am okay, I will make it through this and I did.

But they were there for him his entire life.  I'm sure he probably thinks of them as god-parents.  I certainly don't hold it against Caleb for having the kind of relationship with them, but from my end of things, I doubt I will ever see the kind of relationship we had - or I thought we had anyway - before the church fiasco/nightmare.  That whole point in time and the events that took place during that time just changed my view of them completely.  I forgive them but I don't have to be close to them.  But who knows. There are others that will be there that will also "charge" the air a bit.

But I'm still looking forward to it.  Many of them sowed into Caleb's trip - that's Christianeze for giving money to, lol - and I am happy that they helped him out. Caleb is still about $600 short but I guess he will be allowed to go, anyway, but he will still need to pay that money eventually.

So that's pretty much today.  I have done cleaning around here and normal Saturday stuff, other than that, just passing the time until it's time to go to the party.  I am one of those punctual people that always shows up early - but I am going to show up 10 to 15 minutes later than the stated start time.  On purpose, yes.  I have my reasons and I figure it's a good plan, lol.

Oh, forgot, guess I better get outside soon and get the pond filters cleaned, never-ending chore during the summer when the fish are eating a lot and - clogging up the filters with their waste, lol.  Winter is MUCH easier, they eat very little and the filters don't hardly ever clog up. The benefit of summer is the fish grow - and grow - and grow.  The big ones I wish I could put a stop to their growing, too much bigger and they are going to have to be moved to someone else's pond somewhere - but the small ones can grow several inches in a good summer season if they are fed enough.

Well, better get with it.  Got busy talking to a minister in Africa - funny the things you can do on the internet nowadays.

G'day.

ben

New ice machine finally arrived at work on Monday.  I spent the last day installing the thing.  We should have gotten one several years ago when the store opened, but for whatever reason it never happened.  Well walaah.. All the free ice I will ever need.  I can take a cooler to work with me, fill it up with ice at the end of the day and bring it home.  We go through a LOT of ice in my house, the automatic ice maker in the big refrigerator cannot keep up with the demand.

Which doesn't matter to me, I don't proclaim "free ice" to prospective tenants, if it's there, great, help yourself, if not, go buy some.  But, still, I can now bring home large quantities of ice on a daily basis as long as the machine is full.  Contractors that find out we have that machine may come in in the morning to fill up their ice chests, that's fine, they won't come in the afternoon to do so.  I had just gotten the thing running before I left yesterday, so I can't say decisively that it can put out large quantities of ice in a short period of time, but, the thing had already dumped it's first load in less than 20 minutes and was freezing it's next one when I left.

I am optimistic that the entire thing will be full when I arrive at work this morning.  It will be a new habit to get used to - taking home the ice, but one that I will readily grab onto.  The water is filtered, too, meaning the ice should have no "taste" to it at all.

Well, that was it for this morning, lol, it's time to be off to work - which has been painfully slow as of late.

G'day.

ben

I've Been Subpoenaed

The City Prosecutor just won't give it a rest.
I disagree with the man about putting the lady that owns the 3 dogs that mauled my Great Dane - Duke - on probation for 3 years.  He refused to bring it down to a maximum of 1 year.  He states that he wants "something" on the record so that if it happens again, he can get much more aggressive with prosecution.

Well I'm not out for blood.  It's a dog, he was treated, he got better, it's over. Would have those dogs attacked a human like that? I have no idea.  I can't foresee what I don't know.  A great number of dogs will attack other dogs and never consider humans as something they would like to bite into.

Granted, duke had dozens and dozens of bites all over his body. His left ear had been chomped so badly it was loaded with staples to put it together again.  I get it, it was bad.  The dog was bloody from head to toe.  There was blood all over my car seat after I had taken him to the vet.  Again, it's a dog and dogs get over it.
What I want and what is fair and reasonable is her to pay Duke's vet costs.  Pets are considered chattel, there is no getting pain and suffering for a dog.  He was in pain and he definitely suffered. He limped for days after that attack.  He wasn't feeling good and I gave him aspirins for several nights to help.  Again, it's a dog. Yes, if I would have been there, I would have probably attempted to kill all 3 of those dogs.  These are animals and I do not believe any jury on earth would find me guilty of whatever charge might be trumped against me if such were to happen.

The police? The prosecutor?  They are claiming this lady was trying to clean all the blood off of them to conceal what those dogs had done to my dog - amazing that, allegedly, those dogs were also covered with Duke's blood - when they went to her house to confront her on it.  This is their beef with this situation, though the prosecutor has said nothing about that to me, I found that out from the lady herself.  My only problem with this lady - which is substantial - is that she will give me money and then disappear for weeks.  She doesn't give me that much: after all this time I have received around $80 from her.  

Court date set for next month, I have no choice but to go.  I don't know what the judge is going to say.  I don't know what is going to happen though I am pretty sure they are going to attempt to get me to agree to all of this.  I will say no to 3 years probation.  If they won't bring it down, I will refuse and they will have to drop the case.  Let's be reasonable.

First day back at work, getting off the last subject, after being off for 9 days.  I'm going to tell you right now that I could easily get used to being able to sleep until 7am instead of having an alarm blaring in my ears at 4:30 am.  But in the job I am at now, that's not going to happen.  Whatever the case, I sat down after getting in the door - I am always the first one there - and go onto email.  Manager will be gone today, no clue who is taking his place.  Turns out, the Operations Manager.

Well for the most part, the Ops Manager and I get along pretty well.  He came in and we shot the s*** for a while before I went off to get some things done - though in terms of deliveries, unbelievably slow day.  I got back from that and..........waaaaalaaaaaah.............our new ice maker had arrived.  This is a commercial scal ice maker. Every new store is supposed to have one, ours didn't get one but now finally, after several years,  one shows up on a freight truck.  Why do I want a commercial-grade ice maker? Because, we live in the desert.  I am at hot construction sites.  I want ice at the shop for when I am outside working.  And to be quite honest: at the end of the day?  Fill up a cooler and take it home!

I emailed my pastor to discuss a bit with him about his stance on praying for people after listening to his sermon yesterday. Turns out he meant nothing of the sort.  He understood after I explained to him how that may have come off.  I am guessing he is going to re-explain all of that this at Sunday's service.

Lots more, but enough for one entry.

ben

The worst part of extended time off vacation: sitting here half awake, downing coffee, wishing it were this afternoon so I could be home, off work and not doing much of anything, lol.

Church was interesting yesterday.  Number one, they had the lights off over the congregation.  I guess people like it, I don't.  It puts me to sleep.  2, the pastor made a rather startling announcement that he had almost quit the church - ie:, the church would have folded, due to disappointment and not seeing things go the way he had hoped and then 3, gathering from his sermon, he is not interested in praying for people individually and you need to do that for yourself.

Biblically speaking, seeking the Lord is both an individual and a corporate activity.  He had, however, asked if he could pray with me about a situation last week to which I had said yes.  It just turned out that we both had things come up and didn't have time for it.  It was kind of strange hearing that coming from a pastor of a church yesterday and I am going to have to rethink whether I want to continue with this church.  No hurry on that, though, let things play out and see what happens.

I dunno sometimes.

Whatever the case, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Mountains

So, Caleb and I left this morning at 9am to go to mom's property, have a little party for Caleb and a food fest and visit for a while. It will presumably be the last time Caleb and mom see each other until whenever next year.  When we arrived I was wondering what the heck all the caution tape was around the trees for?  My brother's 4-wheel drive Suzuki was in the way, had to wait for him to move his vehicle and then, getting closer, I realized my mom went all out on this affair.  She bought yellow ribbon and put it around trees and on fences and then up Luau signs all over the place plus she had Lei's for everyone.

I was helping my oldest brother do some repairs on her driveway - anything I guess to get close to him, he's just off on his on world forever I guess - but he was being cool.  Chris and Linda - my brother and his wife - basically came up this weekend to do the party, they were not otherwise going to come up to their cabin this weekend, they apparently had other plans that they had to alter to be there.  So that was really pretty cool and nice of them to go out of their way to go up there and be a part of it.

It was a huge feast. My ham and ribs plus a lot of other stuff.  I brought up so much meat there was a lot left over, both my mother and my brother have food to eat for a while, lol.  It was kind of a sentimental thing leaving there today - we did not stay overnight - just because I knew this would be the last time mom sees grandson for a year and of course life, who knows what may happen.

Caleb also dropped a bomb-shell on all of us today, something I had not heard before.  He will have no internet access on the Salvation Army compound in Hawaii.  Meaning he can't send us emails or update his Facebook wall or anything like that at all.  The SA does that on purpose, but a lot of missionary organizations really do that as well. They want you to focus on the Lord and the reason you are there, not on all the technology and junk that the worlds thrives on nowadays.  I remember going through 5 years of having very little access with the world and travelling around Mexico with NO access at all.  I did not miss TV - and I still don't, lol - Facebook and the internet did not exist at that time or if the internet did exist, it was in it's infancy, laptops and all this other stuff we have now simply weren't around.  You remember, the days when payphones were everywhere?  Yeah, that era, lol.

It is really good for them to do that with the recruits they bring over there, but for a parent, that's kinda hard to take.  So beit and such is life, but I am not going to sit here and say it isn't going to affect me.  They did tell him on the Sabbath Day he can take a bus to the library and use the internet there if he likes, otherwise, it's not a happening event.  Knowing my son?  Probably won't be hearing much from him.  It's basically write letters and send them out.  I didn't write letters when I was on the mission field but I did make phone calls here and there to talk to my mom and my dad.  Well, this is just something that we're all going to wade into and see what happens.

Going over to visit him will not happen, not the way they have it set up over there.  I mean, I have always wanted to go to Hawaii so I could go anyway and spend the day he has off with him, but other than that it just won't work out.  It's okay, though.  But on my bucket list are to go to the 2 states I have never been to: Alaska and Hawaii, and I really would like to take a cruise ship up to Alaska.  I know, seasickness. I don't really think that's that much of a problem on a giant cruise ship that isn't getting tossed around as much by the ocean.  I could be wrong, however.

I'm winding this vacation down.  It has not really been one of those relaxing type of vacations, but I didn't expect it to be.  It's been go, go, go.  The drive today up there and back wasn't really that bad excepting on the way back it was raining so hard it was hard to see the road in some places.  I'm just tired of traveling/driving and now the car has a heating issue of what the problem is I don't yet know.  Fans are working, there are no leaks, the engine is running fine as far as I can tell and so, I assume either a clogged up radiator or a faulty thermostat.  I am going to start by flushing out the cooling system and replacing the thermostat and see if that fixes it.  If it doesn't, I will either pull the radiator and have it cleaned out or I will take it into a shop to have it evaluated - does it have a blown head gasket?  It doesn't act like it does.  I have seen plenty of cars with blown head gaskets and they don't run well at all.

Start with the easy - and cheap - stuff first and go from there with it.  I have no more long drives to go on at the moment, just getting to work and back and it's not overheating type of thing, it's just the temps are getting up there, much higher than that car normally operates at and I know cars: you don't deal with them, they will deal with you.

________________________

I wrote all of that yesterday and just didn't finish.  But no sense rewriting what already happened, so there it is.  It's almost my bedtime and yes, I would love to have a few more days off. I have realized in the last 2 days that I am getting bored at work.  Yes, I keep busy, but it's the same thing every day and we have been slow for quite a while now. I think it's the slow part that is getting me bored and the fact that I rarely get a longer run. I am kept in-town with a few out-of-town runs but nothing too far out of town.  I am also realizing that this isn't my life's calling and that ministry is what gets me going.

I am also hating living in the desert.  I like tall trees and streams/water.  I don't want to live in a desert.  I really don't like it here anymore.

Whatever.  I need to get a plan and get with it.

Goodbye vacation.

Soon, goodbye to my son.

ben

9th picture down from the top.  Look closely.

San Diego

Okay, finally getting a chance to write up an entry on the trip.
First, it was 5 hours there and 5 hours back.  That's including stopping to eat and get fuel.  Lol.

My sister-in-law wanted to drive but after seeing how slow she was going to go, I opted out of that.  It would have turned into an 8 or 9 hour trip and I am allllllll about getting trips over with.  Not that I wouldn't have minded being a passenger, but adding THAT much time to a trip like that was just not in my plans.

We arrived at the hotel and I was pleasantly surprised.  The King's Inn San Diego is a very nice hotel for the price.  Not a 4 star place, obviously, but FAR better than that hell-hole down the road - Motel 6 - and only a little more per night in terms of cost.

The rooms have central AC/heat, not those window units and there was a mini-fridge.  2 Queen beds, firm but comfortable mattresses, a couple of chairs and table.  The bathroom was small but who cares.  I mean, okay, I liked that bathroom at the Marriott I stayed at last year in North Phoenix, it was a treat unto itself, but this hotel for as low as $73 per night or even lower depending on when you book and if you do it online, is definitely a keeper.  Our room had no front window, which didn't matter, because it would have "overlooked" the wall on the other side.  We were at a part of the hotel where it curves.  The window in the rear of the room was wonderful.  Nothing fancy, but it was a hillside covered in vines and various landscaping.

I did not, however, sleep that well the first night.  I have no clue, no explanation.  We got on the boat that next morning and I took a motion-sickness pill - they don't work on me but I took one anyway - and expected that I would drink several beers, which worked last time to get rid of any motion sickness.

However.  I know that's not a sentence, but it's going to have to do here.  Sea-sickness started hitting me only 2 hours into the trip and I didn't want to drink beer at 8 am.  It got worse, too, until the point that I couldn't DRINK or EAT = anything.  I did not have a pleasant trip on the ocean. But no matter, neither did anyone else.  The captain of the boat couldn't find a school of fish to save his life.  He drove that boat for a solid 4 HOURS before stopping, claiming he had found some fish.

But we only stayed there 5 minutes and away we went.  No-one caught anything.  Second stop some 30 to 40 minutes later. Same thing, 1 person out of 51 pulled a fish in.  Away we went.  This went on all day long.  I didn't drop a line in the water a single time, but Caleb was all over it every time we stopped.  He tried to catch fish and he couldn't land a single one, but that because the captain simply wasn't finding them.  In fact, most of the anglers caught nothing that day, I was on the ocean for 14 hours, 12 of them extremely seasick and I can only think of one other time when I was REALLY happy to get off a piece of machinery and onto solid ground - it was  a flight for execs on a new turbo-prop - new back then anyway - about a 30 seater - I turned white as a sheet and I literally got out of that plane and kissed the ground when we landed.

Regardless, back to the motel, that has 2 pretty decent restaurants.  Prices a bit stiff but what else is new at hotels and their prices on things.  Not to mention California.  I hadn't eaten since the evening before - there was no way I was going to eat anything on that boat, I would have just lost it all over the place.

Interesting thing, though, Caleb, on the 3 hour trip back to land after fishing, had his Bible out and a minister stopped to talked to him. They talked forever.  I was too sick to even listen to what they were saying, much less attempt to join in the conversation.  But after we got off the pier, we all stood in a circle and prayed.  It was really cool, actually, and I was already starting to feel a bit better after being on dry land.

Oh, the restaurant: Fajitas. EXCELLENT.  They were very good.

That night?  I got into bed and yes, I slept 10 hours, only getting up to go to the bathroom.

Next morning.  Seaworld.  I had to think about that for a while.  I ended up heading to the Waffle Spot restaurant and having a LOT of water - I was really dehydrated and didn't even realize it - and numerous cups of very good coffee, ordered Eggs Benedict. I decided that I would just get my mind into the idea that I am going to spend the entire day there and might as well enjoy, no matter how strung out I was from the previous day's - mal-adventure.  Not saying I won't ever go seafishing again, but I guess if I'm going to go, I better start drinking beers the second my foot hits the deck of the boat.  Tammy states emphatically the it's a proven fact that beer will stop sea-sickness.

So, we get to Sea World.  Not familiar with the place at all, I just started walking and we found the first hing and went in and started looking.  We went to ALL the shows - WELL worth the walking all over the place and the rather hurried pace when realizing the show was about to start and yes, they shut the gates and won't let anyone in after a show has started, with personnel standing there refusing entry.  Fortunately, we made it in time for all the shows and all of them were funny, very-well orchestrated and the orca whales; seals and dolphins were so well-trained.  It was amazing to watch them in action.

It was a very enjoyable day and we went to every attraction and every show there, sans the Mantra ride. I was NOT going to get on a roller coaster after what I had gone through the previous day, but I did tell Caleb he could go if he wanted to.  No thanks.  Lol.  I'm here to say that Sea World San Diego is a class act and anyone going to San Diego, if you've never been, should add it to your itinerary.

The shark exhibit was awesome.  You walk THROUGH the aquarium with solid plex-glass walls and rounded ceiling.  The sharks are swimming beside and over you.  We were quite impressed with a very large Sand Shark, I think it was, that was about 8 or 9 feet long. It was the biggest thing in that tank and it just slowly swam around in a somewhat huge circle.  This was a massive aquarium.

I dunno, I had a great time and so did Caleb and my sister-in-law at SeaWorld.  My sister-in-law did not go on the boat with us the previouis day, instead, she went on a whale-watching boat and she said she got sick as well -but throw up type of sick, like puking over the side of the ship.  The swells in the sea that day were pretty large, I will attest to that and apparently even that large ship was getting knocked around, she estimated over half the people on the boat were throwing up off the side of the ship.  It was so bad, they gave them all coupons for a free ride the next time they wanted to go.

Well, I won't be in San Diego again anytime soon for that.  My vacation is over, my money for it is gone and moving on.  Slept very well that night, too.  Like about 9 hours of good, solid sleep, the likes of which have eluded me at home for quite a long time.

So it's over, we're home and I am cooking BBQ ribs and a ham for tomorrow's affair up in the mountains.  Yup, the travelling ain't over, as we are going up to mom's property for a send-off for Caleb.  Grandma needs to see her grandson before he leaves for a year.  As expected, my middle brother isn't going to show up but my oldest brother and his wife will be there.  It'll be good regardless, though I think it a bit of bulls*** that my middle brother isn't going to show up, considering he has had ample advance notice.

But that's him, we don't talk and life goes on.

Next?  I am going to post a review on the hotel on here.  It will end up showing up somewhere on a Google search for people looking for hotels in the Mission Valley area and I want people to know that if they are on a budget yet still looking for a decent hotel in that particular area, this IS the place to go.

Going to slow cook the ham - the only way I can cook the thing and actually take it up there in a cooker to keep it warm.  I have heard slow cooked ham is quite good, I will be finding out soon enough.  I will cut the ribs into three-rib sections and probably just have to micro-nuke them up there to heat them up.  The ribs I want to take to give my mother a taste of them.  I have not had anyone ever tell me my slow-cooked ribs are somehow less than good. Most people devour them like it's Porterhouse steak.

Although I am on vacation - and only 2 days  left of it - it's been pretty busy.

Saw J.D. last night.  I was up later than normal and came out to find him on the computer.  We talked for quite a while.  He was talking about the night when I had told George to turn the freaking surround sound down.  He witnessed Mark and George getting into it, with George starting the altercation.  J.D. was surprised at the time, he stated, because they were yelling at each other. I heard nothing.  If I had, I would've been out here (here - my kitchen where my computer is also at) in a flash to deal with it.  Probably just as well I didn't hear all of that, I was already fuming from the inconsiderate nature of a person to not take into any accounting how other people might feel about turning up the sound level on a system so loud, you can't even hear the TV in your OWN ROOM.

Enough.  I have a lot to do today and not much sunlight left to do it.  Mark took care of the dogs and watered the plants once = which is all I asked him to do, however, the ponds were WELL down in water levels.  Between the plants using the water and evaporation in extreme heat, it doesn't take long for them to go down 8 to 10 inches or even more depending on how long you let them go without refilling.

_______
Long interlude.  Filled up the ponds, turned on the landscaping drip system, ribs coming along nicely, ham back in refrigerator.  All sites I read say it only needs 6 hours on low heat.  Sort of a juke motion.  Can't wait until I get there to put on the ham, it will be too late in the afternoon before it's done.  But I can't keep cooking it, either.  The answer?

Ummmmmmmmmmm........................

I usually wake up at 4:30 am.  I can put the thing on until we leave, turn it off, transport it up there, turn it back on for however long it needs and it will be done.  I am not even going to put it IN the cooker tonight.