Feeble Mind and Attention Span Problems...
I feel really bad because I've resorted to writing just a few words and sticking up photos and You Tube videos on the blog here for nearly the past week.
It's just that my head is spinning with the stupidity on the news and the UN moronity and the upcoming G-20 insanity...
And then there is all of the work I've done installing new floors and new doors...
and did I mention yesterday installing a new double flap Turbo Puppy door in the back wall of the house--requiring chiseling another 10" wide by 16" high hole through solid brick and 2x4's and fiber board and Sheetrock?
Once I get the trim and crown moulding installed I'll put up a picture for your approval.
Then recently our Sears Kenmore Clothes Dryer decided to cough up a couple of tumbler drum wheel bearings so I had to order a rebuild kit online and it arrived via UPS yesterday, so later this morning I'm pulling the guts out of the dryer and doing a "soft" rebuild including all bearings and a new drive belt for the drum and blower fan.
I've done that work a couple of times in the past twenty five years (in addition to watching my father teach me the process in the 1960's and 1970's) so there's another $200 repair charge averted to my credit.
There's all kinds of professional/business rumblings going on around here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of Mighty Tennessee River--mainly independent business stuff--but I'd have to kill you if I shared the details
Regardless, I'm quite happy to report that we've made it from the December 19th layoff last year all the way to September 23rd this year with me spinning in circles and somehow, by the grace of God, managing to pay the mortgage and keep the lights on and the trash hauled away.
Please excuse me if I just take time to give thanks for my blessings and remain silent in prayer for relief for our country's and world's ills.
Some Divine intervention and well thought out protection from our so called "leaders" and self appointed "experts" would be a good place to start...
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Still Alive
Just VERY Busy...
(and angry about the news and why just repeat things on this Blog you already know???)
(and angry about the news and why just repeat things on this Blog you already know???)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Southerners Aren't All Stupid...
We Just Can't Keep Some Of Us Off TV...
(At least she's from South Carolina rather than Alabama)
(At least she's from South Carolina rather than Alabama)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
I Want Some Spicy Mustard With My Platter of Turd-Snitzel & North Korean Kim-Shit Cabbage
And Toss In A Hearty Appetizer Portion Of Toasted Iranian Persian Goat Droppings On The Side...
So by now you've heard that our first Black President...imitating his White Idol American Hemorrhoid Jimmuh Carter...has cancelled the planned Eastern European Missile Defense program in deference to the shit head Russians.
As apubic public service, be advised that the balance of this posting has been deleted in order to keep the Secret Service off my front doorstep this evening.
That will be all...for now...
(wait...in a whispering voice...imagine a program paid for by conservative donors which enlists ex Marines and special forces members which have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses with less than a year to live and dispatches them to places like DC and San Francisco to take care of some domestic political business which we all know needs taking care of and which ACORN and the lamestream media continues to propagate through hook and crook...
oops...did I write that?)
So by now you've heard that our first Black President...imitating his White Idol American Hemorrhoid Jimmuh Carter...has cancelled the planned Eastern European Missile Defense program in deference to the shit head Russians.
As a
That will be all...for now...
(wait...in a whispering voice...imagine a program paid for by conservative donors which enlists ex Marines and special forces members which have been diagnosed with terminal illnesses with less than a year to live and dispatches them to places like DC and San Francisco to take care of some domestic political business which we all know needs taking care of and which ACORN and the lamestream media continues to propagate through hook and crook...
oops...did I write that?)
More Stupid Government B.S.
Someone Write ME A Check...
I'm sorry Folks...I really was planning on having a quiet evening and not bitching about anything, but then I read this article on Boston.Com titled "Homeless Use Of Hotels On The Rise."
Click on the link and go read the whole thing if you can stand it, but here's the part that got my head over pressurizing and starting to rotate...
The number of homeless families living in motels funded by the state now tops more than 1,000, a dramatic 37 percent increase since June 1, a top official for the state Department of Housing and Community Development said yesterday.
Tina Brooks, undersecretary of the department, said 1,010 families - including more than 1,400 children - are now living in motels, at a monthly cost of about $2.8 million for taxpayers.
“It’s a huge strain,’’ said Brooks after a hearing of the joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.
(snip)
“We need to keep the safety net, as vulnerable as it is,’’ said Frost.
In an effort to quickly move families out of state-funded shelters, the housing department started an emergency program in late July to provide rental assistance to families who need help for up to 12 months. Brooks said 352 families received help in the program’s first month, at a cost of $850,000. She said this is a better use of money than putting them in shelters, where families live an average of eight months at a cost of $24,000 per family.
Got all that?
OK...lets get out the old calculator and do some math here.
In the second paragraph they say they've spent $2,800,000 a month keeping 1,010 "families" in motels.
THAT'S AN AVERAGE MONTHLY COST OF $2772.28 PER "FAMILY."
Then in the last paragraph quoted they say they've tossed out $850,000 taxpayer dollars keeping 352 "families" in "motels" because it costs $24,000 per month to keep them in "shelters."
SO THEY'RE TELLING US THAT A "SHELTER" COST $3,000 PER MONTH VERSUS A MOTEL COST OF ONLY $2414.78 A MONTH?
Give me a &%$#!ing break here people.
I own a house and pay my mortgage and utilities every single month for less than $1,750 per month including electricity and water and garbage and cable TV and VoIP phone and even the cost of two cell phones.
But we've got GOVERNMENT spending somewhere between $650 and $1,250 per month more MONTHLY to keep "homeless" "families" in MOTELS?
OK...after thinking for about THIRTY SECONDS I think that I have an idea that could save us all some real money in the long run.
Ready?
Why not cut these "homeless" "families" a CHECK for a reasonable amount like $1,500 each month and kick their stupid asses into the street and let them do like I do and RENT or BUY themselves a place to live.
Seriously, what's wrong with that option?
Could it be that because of generations of government coddling and meddling we have ever increasing hoards of people that either are incapable of or refuse to take care of themselves and their babies?
And look at the cost to society.
Better yet...here's another a neat plan I like...
I'll take the government shelter check for $3000 and continue to pay the current operating expenses and let the "homeless" "family live in my house, and then I'll buy another nicer house and Me and Pat and the Turbo Pup will live there.
That way I'll be making payments on two houses and the government will be subsidizing the increase in equity value I gain over time.
At least at the end of the program two families will have had places to live for a year and someone (that would be ME...your lovely and talented TAXPAYER) will have gained financially from the arrangement...other than the hotel/motel owner.
I swear people, if you don't get agitated every time you see stupid stuff like this in the news and you continue to believe that it's a good idea to allow the Obamamaniacs to extend their filthy tentacles into even more areas of our lives then you deserve what's coming to you in the next twenty years.
I, personally, elect to get old and die fighting before they screw things up completely.
I'm sorry Folks...I really was planning on having a quiet evening and not bitching about anything, but then I read this article on Boston.Com titled "Homeless Use Of Hotels On The Rise."
Click on the link and go read the whole thing if you can stand it, but here's the part that got my head over pressurizing and starting to rotate...
The number of homeless families living in motels funded by the state now tops more than 1,000, a dramatic 37 percent increase since June 1, a top official for the state Department of Housing and Community Development said yesterday.
Tina Brooks, undersecretary of the department, said 1,010 families - including more than 1,400 children - are now living in motels, at a monthly cost of about $2.8 million for taxpayers.
“It’s a huge strain,’’ said Brooks after a hearing of the joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.
(snip)
“We need to keep the safety net, as vulnerable as it is,’’ said Frost.
In an effort to quickly move families out of state-funded shelters, the housing department started an emergency program in late July to provide rental assistance to families who need help for up to 12 months. Brooks said 352 families received help in the program’s first month, at a cost of $850,000. She said this is a better use of money than putting them in shelters, where families live an average of eight months at a cost of $24,000 per family.
Got all that?
OK...lets get out the old calculator and do some math here.
In the second paragraph they say they've spent $2,800,000 a month keeping 1,010 "families" in motels.
THAT'S AN AVERAGE MONTHLY COST OF $2772.28 PER "FAMILY."
Then in the last paragraph quoted they say they've tossed out $850,000 taxpayer dollars keeping 352 "families" in "motels" because it costs $24,000 per month to keep them in "shelters."
SO THEY'RE TELLING US THAT A "SHELTER" COST $3,000 PER MONTH VERSUS A MOTEL COST OF ONLY $2414.78 A MONTH?
Give me a &%$#!ing break here people.
I own a house and pay my mortgage and utilities every single month for less than $1,750 per month including electricity and water and garbage and cable TV and VoIP phone and even the cost of two cell phones.
But we've got GOVERNMENT spending somewhere between $650 and $1,250 per month more MONTHLY to keep "homeless" "families" in MOTELS?
OK...after thinking for about THIRTY SECONDS I think that I have an idea that could save us all some real money in the long run.
Ready?
Why not cut these "homeless" "families" a CHECK for a reasonable amount like $1,500 each month and kick their stupid asses into the street and let them do like I do and RENT or BUY themselves a place to live.
Seriously, what's wrong with that option?
Could it be that because of generations of government coddling and meddling we have ever increasing hoards of people that either are incapable of or refuse to take care of themselves and their babies?
And look at the cost to society.
Better yet...here's another a neat plan I like...
I'll take the government shelter check for $3000 and continue to pay the current operating expenses and let the "homeless" "family live in my house, and then I'll buy another nicer house and Me and Pat and the Turbo Pup will live there.
That way I'll be making payments on two houses and the government will be subsidizing the increase in equity value I gain over time.
At least at the end of the program two families will have had places to live for a year and someone (that would be ME...your lovely and talented TAXPAYER) will have gained financially from the arrangement...other than the hotel/motel owner.
I swear people, if you don't get agitated every time you see stupid stuff like this in the news and you continue to believe that it's a good idea to allow the Obamamaniacs to extend their filthy tentacles into even more areas of our lives then you deserve what's coming to you in the next twenty years.
I, personally, elect to get old and die fighting before they screw things up completely.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My Hands Hurt
Pat Taking Time Off...
Well Ladies & Gentlemen, I guess I finally reached my limit in the world of home improvement.
Two Grand worth of raw material in the form of sticks or bricks or tiles or boards or raw door slabs is a lot of stuff to try and install in a week.
Of course if you buy me a $2000 front door or a $2000 Chandelier I can probably get them installed in a couple of days, but dozens if not hundreds of pieces of individual crap...
At least I still have two more days before the effort extends beyond a week but the staining and varnishing of the two solid core exterior doors will have to wait until the rain passes and the humidity drops down below 70% so it's gonna be next week regardless of any Herculean efforts I may try to expend.
I managed tobreak Pat's back wound my helper handling heavy boxes of laminate flooring and bags of mulch so she took a well deserved day off yesterday and will probably be on the sidelines for a while longer.
Today is day two of paint and trim installation and there's another trip to Home Depot in the works and Missy the Turbo Pup will be on guard to give everyone a good barking when needed.
Other than that, I'm too exasperated with all of this ACORN crap in the news...or the lack thereof...as it seems that FOX News is the only one not willing to totally ignore the scandal as it develops.
This isn't intended to be a bigoted or a racist statement, but here goes.
I've said all along since the early days of the Obama campaign that the attendance at his events looked like a Freak show and a Circus and that the crowd he was pandering to and depending on to elect him to the Presidency could not be raised above the consequences of their own poor choices in life (educational, professional, sexual, and skin color be damned)by any "preferences" and "diversity programs" and the expenditure of any amount of taxpayer dollars.
Now I offer as proof the revelations that instead of closing their Whorehouses and going into legitimate business or funding getting an education, these idiots just want to use our money to build a bigger, better building and import a fleet of new illegals and put them in the business of breaking our laws...possibly in my neighborhood.
I say that they've proven time and time again that they can't or won't be helped and I'm tired of paying Government idiots to give them just one more chance or start one more boondoggle program designed to fail from its inception.
Enough already...Dammit...
Well Ladies & Gentlemen, I guess I finally reached my limit in the world of home improvement.
Two Grand worth of raw material in the form of sticks or bricks or tiles or boards or raw door slabs is a lot of stuff to try and install in a week.
Of course if you buy me a $2000 front door or a $2000 Chandelier I can probably get them installed in a couple of days, but dozens if not hundreds of pieces of individual crap...
At least I still have two more days before the effort extends beyond a week but the staining and varnishing of the two solid core exterior doors will have to wait until the rain passes and the humidity drops down below 70% so it's gonna be next week regardless of any Herculean efforts I may try to expend.
I managed to
Today is day two of paint and trim installation and there's another trip to Home Depot in the works and Missy the Turbo Pup will be on guard to give everyone a good barking when needed.
Other than that, I'm too exasperated with all of this ACORN crap in the news...or the lack thereof...as it seems that FOX News is the only one not willing to totally ignore the scandal as it develops.
This isn't intended to be a bigoted or a racist statement, but here goes.
I've said all along since the early days of the Obama campaign that the attendance at his events looked like a Freak show and a Circus and that the crowd he was pandering to and depending on to elect him to the Presidency could not be raised above the consequences of their own poor choices in life (educational, professional, sexual, and skin color be damned)by any "preferences" and "diversity programs" and the expenditure of any amount of taxpayer dollars.
Now I offer as proof the revelations that instead of closing their Whorehouses and going into legitimate business or funding getting an education, these idiots just want to use our money to build a bigger, better building and import a fleet of new illegals and put them in the business of breaking our laws...possibly in my neighborhood.
I say that they've proven time and time again that they can't or won't be helped and I'm tired of paying Government idiots to give them just one more chance or start one more boondoggle program designed to fail from its inception.
Enough already...Dammit...
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
New Front Door
The Devil's In The Details...
Meand my big mouth and my Ego.
Both (my mouth and my ego) continue to get me in trouble today.
Take my current round of home improvements, for instance.
In order to take maximum advantage of Home Depot's delivery charge, I refuse to just get enough material for one or two projects delivered at one time.
Nooooooooooo
I go out and buy enough stuff and have it delivered--enough to keep a young man busy for at least a week.
That means this old man has enough raw materials lying around the property to last at LEAST a month if I keep at it all day every day.
The good news is that the kitchen floor is lying peacefully in it final resting place now, but there's new baseboards and quarter round to install and of course a new coat of paint on the walls that don't have tile back splash, and there's a solid fir french door slab for the opening out to the carport that has to have hinge recesses routed and holes cut for the knob and dead bolt before receiving stain and marine grade spar varnish and....
Did I mention the new six panel Fir front door slab (needing hinge and knob/dead bolt accommodations) or the three sets of bi-folding closet doors and the new master bathroom door and basement door?
Or the 57 bags of cypress mulch that has to be distributed before it starts raining this afternoon?
I guess I better stop writing and get another nap in before sunrise so I have the energy to start slinging trim and paint around today.
Who's ideas was all this stuff any way?
Me
Both (my mouth and my ego) continue to get me in trouble today.
Take my current round of home improvements, for instance.
In order to take maximum advantage of Home Depot's delivery charge, I refuse to just get enough material for one or two projects delivered at one time.
Nooooooooooo
I go out and buy enough stuff and have it delivered--enough to keep a young man busy for at least a week.
That means this old man has enough raw materials lying around the property to last at LEAST a month if I keep at it all day every day.
The good news is that the kitchen floor is lying peacefully in it final resting place now, but there's new baseboards and quarter round to install and of course a new coat of paint on the walls that don't have tile back splash, and there's a solid fir french door slab for the opening out to the carport that has to have hinge recesses routed and holes cut for the knob and dead bolt before receiving stain and marine grade spar varnish and....
Did I mention the new six panel Fir front door slab (needing hinge and knob/dead bolt accommodations) or the three sets of bi-folding closet doors and the new master bathroom door and basement door?
Or the 57 bags of cypress mulch that has to be distributed before it starts raining this afternoon?
I guess I better stop writing and get another nap in before sunrise so I have the energy to start slinging trim and paint around today.
Who's ideas was all this stuff any way?
Sunday, September 13, 2009
New Kitchen Floor
Day Three...
Well, I'm happy to report that the new plywood kitchen sub-flooring is in place inside, and 15 of the 75 bags of mulch are scattered around outside.
Better yet, no one lost an eye in the process.
It's a good thing I don't do this sort of work for a living because someone would probably starve or freeze to death if life sustaining cash flow depended on the SPEED of my manual labor.
Today finds me attempting to lay most of eight boxes of Dupont Elite Touch Laminate Flooring in their Tuscan Stone pattern on the floor without cutting off an arm or finger during the proceedings.
My back hurts just thinking about it all, but I signed up for the program and so I guess I have to go now and finish what I started.
Regards Y'all...
Well, I'm happy to report that the new plywood kitchen sub-flooring is in place inside, and 15 of the 75 bags of mulch are scattered around outside.
Better yet, no one lost an eye in the process.
It's a good thing I don't do this sort of work for a living because someone would probably starve or freeze to death if life sustaining cash flow depended on the SPEED of my manual labor.
Today finds me attempting to lay most of eight boxes of Dupont Elite Touch Laminate Flooring in their Tuscan Stone pattern on the floor without cutting off an arm or finger during the proceedings.
My back hurts just thinking about it all, but I signed up for the program and so I guess I have to go now and finish what I started.
Regards Y'all...
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Billy Vera & The Beaters: At This Moment
Todays '70's Musical Flashback
Everybody knows that I'm a better singer than I am a dancer. For that reason I generally leave most of the singing and all of the dancing to the other fellows in the crowd.
Given a little liquid courage however, I do seem to remember that I have spent a few minutes hangin' on to the hips and shoulders of a few Bawdy Lasses through the years back in the day listening to this song on the dance floor...
take a listen and enjoy it with me again this morning.
...you're welcome...
Everybody knows that I'm a better singer than I am a dancer. For that reason I generally leave most of the singing and all of the dancing to the other fellows in the crowd.
Given a little liquid courage however, I do seem to remember that I have spent a few minutes hangin' on to the hips and shoulders of a few Bawdy Lasses through the years back in the day listening to this song on the dance floor...
take a listen and enjoy it with me again this morning.
...you're welcome...
Gnawing Success
My Knees Hurt...
Expending 6 hours worth of energy on and off again, I finally managed to get about 90% of the old plywood sub floor cut and pried up out of the way yesterday.
I had to resort to buying one of those "multi-tools" made by Dremel (the Multi-Max) to use to make a flush cut against the edges of the counters underneath the toe kick plates. In spite of what they show you in the TV commercials, it's slow going getting that little flat blade to vibrate its way through 3/4" plywood.
I still have a thin strip about 8 feet long along one cabinet under the sink and dishwasher to cut this morning, then it should be smooth sailing as I cut the new 3/8" plywood sub flooring and move from demolition to installation mode.
Then there's the six doors and 75 bags of mulch haunting me out in the carport and sitting on pallets in the yard awaiting installation/distribution.
Who's idea was all of this stuff anyway?
Expending 6 hours worth of energy on and off again, I finally managed to get about 90% of the old plywood sub floor cut and pried up out of the way yesterday.
I had to resort to buying one of those "multi-tools" made by Dremel (the Multi-Max) to use to make a flush cut against the edges of the counters underneath the toe kick plates. In spite of what they show you in the TV commercials, it's slow going getting that little flat blade to vibrate its way through 3/4" plywood.
I still have a thin strip about 8 feet long along one cabinet under the sink and dishwasher to cut this morning, then it should be smooth sailing as I cut the new 3/8" plywood sub flooring and move from demolition to installation mode.
Then there's the six doors and 75 bags of mulch haunting me out in the carport and sitting on pallets in the yard awaiting installation/distribution.
Who's idea was all of this stuff anyway?
Friday, September 11, 2009
The World USA According To Ralph Peters
I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...
"Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.
We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.
We've learned nothing.
Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.
Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.
Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.
Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001. "
Go here and read the whole article.
"Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.
We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.
We've learned nothing.
Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.
Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.
Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.
Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001. "
Go here and read the whole article.
Tearing Down My House
No Pain No Gain...
I'm pleased to report that I managed to chisel my way through the top layers of the kitchen floor yesterday...finding two layers of old linoleum and a sheet of 3/4" plywood standing between me and my new kitchen floor.
I picked a spot under the Refrigerator to do my excavations just in case I changed my mind and decided to live with the old floor.
Then I worked my way out toward the middle of the room and this morning I'm past the point of no return as I've ripped a big seam across the middle of the floor with the skill saw set about 7/8" deep and by noon I hope to have everything ripped up and laying in a pile outside beside the trash can.
Now we have to run to Home Depot and see if I can get five sheets of 3/8" plywood added to the order which is supposed to go on a truck later this morning for delivery.
Everybody feel free to bring your tools and stop by about 10 if you want to help make some sawdust...
I'm pleased to report that I managed to chisel my way through the top layers of the kitchen floor yesterday...finding two layers of old linoleum and a sheet of 3/4" plywood standing between me and my new kitchen floor.
I picked a spot under the Refrigerator to do my excavations just in case I changed my mind and decided to live with the old floor.
Then I worked my way out toward the middle of the room and this morning I'm past the point of no return as I've ripped a big seam across the middle of the floor with the skill saw set about 7/8" deep and by noon I hope to have everything ripped up and laying in a pile outside beside the trash can.
Now we have to run to Home Depot and see if I can get five sheets of 3/8" plywood added to the order which is supposed to go on a truck later this morning for delivery.
Everybody feel free to bring your tools and stop by about 10 if you want to help make some sawdust...
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Neglecting The News
Saving My TV Sets...
I have to admit that I didn't watch the Obama show last night when he played to the joint session of Congress.
I couldn't stand another minute watching Nasty Pelosi's rigid Botoxed face staring over the President's left shoulder with frozen lifeless eyes like some sort of political Zombie.
Reading the blogs this morning it's evident that I didn't miss much.
Same old lies and platitudes, all wrapped up in a half hour lecture with a Republican Congressman causing gasps of surprise when he had the audacity to heckle Obamarama when he said that his as yet unwritten "healthcare reform plan" wouldn't cover illegal aliens.
The South Carolinian called the President of the United by God States of 'Merica a "Liar" in front of 534 fellow Senators and Congressmenpersons.
Somebody better lock that sucker up...he's telling the truth.
The guys over at Powerline do a pretty good job of summing things up, and I suggest that you click on the link and go over and take a read there this morning.
Meanwhile, I've got a truck load of kitchen flooring, closet doors, and a few tons of mulch heading this way tomorrow morning and I have to get ready to receive the material and get things installed in the next week or so.
Ya'll have a lovely balance of the week and stop back by to see if anything has pissed me off in the news or in the home renovation business because I'm likely to take my frustrations out on my keyboard in the event something happens.
Toudle loo...
I have to admit that I didn't watch the Obama show last night when he played to the joint session of Congress.
I couldn't stand another minute watching Nasty Pelosi's rigid Botoxed face staring over the President's left shoulder with frozen lifeless eyes like some sort of political Zombie.
Reading the blogs this morning it's evident that I didn't miss much.
Same old lies and platitudes, all wrapped up in a half hour lecture with a Republican Congressman causing gasps of surprise when he had the audacity to heckle Obamarama when he said that his as yet unwritten "healthcare reform plan" wouldn't cover illegal aliens.
The South Carolinian called the President of the United by God States of 'Merica a "Liar" in front of 534 fellow Senators and Congress
Somebody better lock that sucker up...he's telling the truth.
The guys over at Powerline do a pretty good job of summing things up, and I suggest that you click on the link and go over and take a read there this morning.
Meanwhile, I've got a truck load of kitchen flooring, closet doors, and a few tons of mulch heading this way tomorrow morning and I have to get ready to receive the material and get things installed in the next week or so.
Ya'll have a lovely balance of the week and stop back by to see if anything has pissed me off in the news or in the home renovation business because I'm likely to take my frustrations out on my keyboard in the event something happens.
Toudle loo...
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Fred's Fizzeling
Owl Gore & His Sniveling Booger Eating Tree Hugging Hippies Cry W I L M A ... F O U L
So from what I can gather, yesterday newly declared Hurricane Fred was cruising along looking like this...
So from what I can gather, yesterday newly declared Hurricane Fred was cruising along looking like this...
Then I went over to the NOAA website and found this sorry map here showing how Hurricane Fred was going to end up thrashing around in the Eastern Atlantic and threatening ABSOLUTELY NOBODY rich or poor or Democratic/Republican.
I actually feel sorry for all of the Patchouli wearing hippies and the sniveling booger eating tree huggers because I think that I know that they mean well...
It's just that the world wide SO-CALLED disasters won't follow their line of unreasonable reasoning. THEN DANG IT IF reality doesen't manage to set in every four to eight years.
And then they have to face the prospect of getting a real job else managing to vote somebody into office that will come over to my house or bank and steal some of my money and give it to them under the guise of supporting the latest government sponsored "Program."
Then I have to go back on Vacation and let the cash flow lapse and tell them to go elsewhere to plunder and...
you get my drift I guess...
Two Days In Internet Darkness...
My Words Overfloweth...
Those of you that occasionally lurk around my little slice of cyberspace this part of the Internet probably noticed my rare silence on Sunday and Monday.
Sorry...
I admit that I sometimes miss writing and have an occasional single day gap once in a while in my never ending diatribes and commentary, but generally that's because what I would have to say would be like acid dripping onto my keyboard and pouring through your DSL or Cable modem onto your computer screen--thus I think it best that I just keep myself to myself on those rare occasions.
Then there's the couple of periods of time over the past three years when I was sitting around in a hospital for WEEKS at a time with tubes sticking out of every bodily orifice...and with the doctors and nurses running out of places to stick tubes and making their own holes in my body (I once had FIVE IV's at the same time.)
Fortunately this week's absence was an exception to those two rules...we were all simply the victims of circumstances where I ended up in a Condo that was supposed to have Internet but the WEP password was unavailable and I decided that Cell Phone blogging was inadequate.
Just like people going through some kind of self imposed 12-step program, I decided to try to live all day in the "real" world for a couple of days and let the Internet take care of itself for a change.
After my hands stopped shaking, I found the experience to be rather enlightening.
When I got back home I learned thatpoliticians democratic constituency stupid people were still acting stupid and the libertarians smart people that are the producers and achievers of the world were still being assaulted for being successful and paying their own way in life, and as a result I have a HUGE backlog of things to say about things which have happened over the past week.
I'm doing my best to stay focused here and get some work done, but please excuse me if I erupt into conniption fit like shrieking at any moment...
Those of you that occasionally lurk around
Sorry...
I admit that I sometimes miss writing and have an occasional single day gap once in a while in my never ending diatribes and commentary, but generally that's because what I would have to say would be like acid dripping onto my keyboard and pouring through your DSL or Cable modem onto your computer screen--thus I think it best that I just keep myself to myself on those rare occasions.
Then there's the couple of periods of time over the past three years when I was sitting around in a hospital for WEEKS at a time with tubes sticking out of every bodily orifice...and with the doctors and nurses running out of places to stick tubes and making their own holes in my body (I once had FIVE IV's at the same time.)
Fortunately this week's absence was an exception to those two rules...we were all simply the victims of circumstances where I ended up in a Condo that was supposed to have Internet but the WEP password was unavailable and I decided that Cell Phone blogging was inadequate.
Just like people going through some kind of self imposed 12-step program, I decided to try to live all day in the "real" world for a couple of days and let the Internet take care of itself for a change.
After my hands stopped shaking, I found the experience to be rather enlightening.
When I got back home I learned that
I'm doing my best to stay focused here and get some work done, but please excuse me if I erupt into conniption fit like shrieking at any moment...
Back To Reality?
Culture Shock...
Sigh...
I spent two and one half hours just after sunrise on Monday morning standing virtually alone on the beach watching two surf fishing rods I occasionally baited with shrimp or squid.
I probably didn't see a DOZEN people over that entire period of time, because most people were packing and heading home from the long Labor Day holiday weekend.
I also only managed to feed a few small fish...I didn't actually catch anything (caught two unidentified species the day before), but the few hours alone on the beach looking at the Gulf of Mexico was worth every damn penny of the $17 stupid government tax "weekend non-resident fishing license" and $5 worth of bait.
Things were noticibly calmer all day on Monday with the exidous of tourists, and we enjoyed a late brunch I cooked in the condo and ate left over pizza from my three pizza effort Sunday night for the Classmates "official" 50th get together.
We were packed and on the road by 8 AM EST and back in Knoxtown with the Chrysler picked up from the shop and the rental car paid for by 5:30 PM, and after drinks and dinner at a local watering hole we came back home and I collapsed for the evening knowing I had wrung every single moment of fun possible out of the past seven days--at least for someone of my ever advancing age.
So now it's time to turn my attention to the matters of the real world--as real as I ever allow myself to deal with these days--and get some stuff done professionally and do some more work on the turbo pup compound. The Turbo Pup's getting a new doggy door and Pat's getting some new bi folding closet doors and a new kitchen floor.
And me?
I get to work and sweat and pay for the material to complete the aforementioned projects.
I guess that it's time to start drawing and estimating now...Y'all have a lovely day...if you will...
Sigh...
I spent two and one half hours just after sunrise on Monday morning standing virtually alone on the beach watching two surf fishing rods I occasionally baited with shrimp or squid.
I probably didn't see a DOZEN people over that entire period of time, because most people were packing and heading home from the long Labor Day holiday weekend.
I also only managed to feed a few small fish...I didn't actually catch anything (caught two unidentified species the day before), but the few hours alone on the beach looking at the Gulf of Mexico was worth every damn penny of the $17
Things were noticibly calmer all day on Monday with the exidous of tourists, and we enjoyed a late brunch I cooked in the condo and ate left over pizza from my three pizza effort Sunday night for the Classmates "official" 50th get together.
We were packed and on the road by 8 AM EST and back in Knoxtown with the Chrysler picked up from the shop and the rental car paid for by 5:30 PM, and after drinks and dinner at a local watering hole we came back home and I collapsed for the evening knowing I had wrung every single moment of fun possible out of the past seven days--at least for someone of my ever advancing age.
So now it's time to turn my attention to the matters of the real world--as real as I ever allow myself to deal with these days--and get some stuff done professionally and do some more work on the turbo pup compound. The Turbo Pup's getting a new doggy door and Pat's getting some new bi folding closet doors and a new kitchen floor.
And me?
I get to work and sweat and pay for the material to complete the aforementioned projects.
I guess that it's time to start drawing and estimating now...Y'all have a lovely day...if you will...
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Saturday, September 05, 2009
And The Celebration Continues...
Florida Hospitality
After a smooth two hour car ride across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle we found ourselves sitting on the marina waterfront in Destin in time for lunch yesterday.
The first blackened fish sandwich of the trip was then consumed just in time to do a little wandering around the docks looking at fishing opportunities later in the weekend, then by mid afternoon the temperature and humidity managed to run us back inside the car for a journey over to my friend Roy's place to drink gallons of frozen margaritas and to witness enough food for a small army being prepared for small group of 9 in attendenance.
By 10:30 PM (way past me and Missy the Turbo Pup's normal bedtime) I had to excuse myself and crash for the evening. Oddly I managed to sleep for SEVEN HOURS IN A ROW for once...a testimony to being old I guess as twenty years ago I'd have probably just shifted gears and stayed up past midnight and slept in to 9 AM.
Today finds us visiting with some extended family members in the morning before moving on over to the coast for "Phase III" of the never ending 50th celebration.
I guess last night was sort of the "pre-season game" for what is going to ensue over the next couple of days.
Stay tuned to this channel for further updates...
After a smooth two hour car ride across southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle we found ourselves sitting on the marina waterfront in Destin in time for lunch yesterday.
The first blackened fish sandwich of the trip was then consumed just in time to do a little wandering around the docks looking at fishing opportunities later in the weekend, then by mid afternoon the temperature and humidity managed to run us back inside the car for a journey over to my friend Roy's place to drink gallons of frozen margaritas and to witness enough food for a small army being prepared for small group of 9 in attendenance.
By 10:30 PM (way past me and Missy the Turbo Pup's normal bedtime) I had to excuse myself and crash for the evening. Oddly I managed to sleep for SEVEN HOURS IN A ROW for once...a testimony to being old I guess as twenty years ago I'd have probably just shifted gears and stayed up past midnight and slept in to 9 AM.
Today finds us visiting with some extended family members in the morning before moving on over to the coast for "Phase III" of the never ending 50th celebration.
I guess last night was sort of the "pre-season game" for what is going to ensue over the next couple of days.
Stay tuned to this channel for further updates...
Friday, September 04, 2009
The First Day Of My Second Half Decade
The Celebration Continues...
I'm pleased to report that the Lower Alabama portion of my 50th birthday festivities concluded as a great success...with Thursday afternoon having been spent poolside and an early Mexican dinner with Mom and the girls.
Now later today the CHS Class of '77 group 50th birthday party begins down on the Florida Gulf Coast.
I mention this publicly so everyone in the immediate vicinity of Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach will have time to remove all of their elderly relatives and small children from harms way.
We're not sure of the total attendance, but people are flying in from as far away as Utah for the "unofficial" event which has been planned by my fellow "Mancamp" members for about 6 months now.
I sure hope that the weather holds up for us.
Pat and the Turbo Pup and I will be heading south later this morning...stopping overnight at my friend Roy's home where we're threatened with being plied with Margaritas and a Low Country Shrimp Boil.
I also just learned that Missy the Turbo Pup will be participating in what I'm calling the first annual Shalimar Mini Dachshund Races and Rodeo (SMDRR).
It should be interesting watching four little dogs with a total weight of probably something less than 50 pounds spar and joust for dominance and attention.
Then Saturday morning we're jumping across the bay to Santa Rosa Island and our final beach front Condo destination on Saturday.
There one could witness the glorious spectacle of a bunch of middle aged guys standing and laying around drinking and tellinglies stories and competing in strenuous events like farting and belching competitions.
And the girls will probably spend their time sitting around by the pool or on the beach looking disgusted at us while whispering things under their breath like "what was SHE thinking when she bought that bathing suit?"
Do I know women...or WHAT?
I was going to bring my Frisbee along with me but had second thoughts because I didn't want to risk having to have someone call 911 for me after about 15 minutes trying to run and catch it.
Things have sure changed over the past 33 years, but it will be fun to see everybody again...and I can't wait to show the girls how good I look in my new Speedo...
I'm pleased to report that the Lower Alabama portion of my 50th birthday festivities concluded as a great success...with Thursday afternoon having been spent poolside and an early Mexican dinner with Mom and the girls.
Now later today the CHS Class of '77 group 50th birthday party begins down on the Florida Gulf Coast.
I mention this publicly so everyone in the immediate vicinity of Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach will have time to remove all of their elderly relatives and small children from harms way.
We're not sure of the total attendance, but people are flying in from as far away as Utah for the "unofficial" event which has been planned by my fellow "Mancamp" members for about 6 months now.
I sure hope that the weather holds up for us.
Pat and the Turbo Pup and I will be heading south later this morning...stopping overnight at my friend Roy's home where we're threatened with being plied with Margaritas and a Low Country Shrimp Boil.
I also just learned that Missy the Turbo Pup will be participating in what I'm calling the first annual Shalimar Mini Dachshund Races and Rodeo (SMDRR).
It should be interesting watching four little dogs with a total weight of probably something less than 50 pounds spar and joust for dominance and attention.
Then Saturday morning we're jumping across the bay to Santa Rosa Island and our final beach front Condo destination on Saturday.
There one could witness the glorious spectacle of a bunch of middle aged guys standing and laying around drinking and telling
And the girls will probably spend their time sitting around by the pool or on the beach looking disgusted at us while whispering things under their breath like "what was SHE thinking when she bought that bathing suit?"
Do I know women...or WHAT?
I was going to bring my Frisbee along with me but had second thoughts because I didn't want to risk having to have someone call 911 for me after about 15 minutes trying to run and catch it.
Things have sure changed over the past 33 years, but it will be fun to see everybody again...and I can't wait to show the girls how good I look in my new Speedo...
Thursday, September 03, 2009
The Big "Five Oh"
Reflections On The Past Half Century...Resolutions For The Next...
Oh...I don't knowwww...
Where to start writing this morning. There's so much to say.
(And even more to keep to myself...I might add.)
I guess you could say that my life thus far has fallen into more or less four very distinct phases. As a matter of public record, I feel like enumerating them for you this morning before I forget any more of the details.
All of this stuff leads up to a little after midnight here on the morning of September 3rd, 2009 when the calendar says I've been breathing air for FIFTY YEARS.
So lets get down to details...To begin with, the first 17 years of my life we'll call my "Embryonic phase."
The characteristics of this phase of my personality and antics were shaped and moulded under the stern hand of my dear Mother and evil eye of my departed Father.
A solid dose of primary education in the southern part of George Wallace's 1960's/1970's Alabama delivered with a generous portion of "fire and brimstone" at the local Methodist Church should have had me well prepared to go forth into the world as a sold American citizen and moral example for generations to come.
If you think that...you'd be pretty much WRONG by many peoples' standards.
Not only did I corrupt myself and aid and abet in the corruption of those around me, but in moving from LA to Atlanta under the guise of attending college at Georgia Tech and start an engineering career, I have to admit that the next 16 years represent what I today call my "wild buck phase."
Roaming the streets and interstates of Hotlanta in a Firethorn Red Chevy Camaro in the days when the City was still really a giant small town on steroids, I hate to admit that my education suffered under the stresses of making time to throw Frisbee in Piedmont Park and attend various sporting events and concerts.
Sleeping took up a good deal of my time also...usually during the day rather than at night. There was also a two year stint in the part time Navy Reserve where I got to ride a Helicopter Carrier around the South China Sea and the Philippines---but that's another whole story for another day.
I somehow managed to survive all that and finally stumble through getting a degree and by late in the 1980's I found myself with a wife and a mortgage and two car payments and a couple of cats and God knows what other stuff the American Dream causes you to think you have to have.
I was working for the owner of an OEM company in Buckhead which I had helped triple in size of to over $3 million in annual revenue, but then he went and hired his son...fresh out of college with a "Communications Degree"...to come into the "Engineering" business, and miraculously there went my VP of Engineering promotion (The son is still president of that company today.)
So I walked out the door shortly thereafter never to return.
Thus, reaching some level offull blown raging insanity self-assured ego mania, after taking a year off and working as an independent consultant, I entered my "staggering entrepreneur phase" in the fall/winter of 1990/1991 as I filed my first Articles of Incorporation documents with the state of Georgia and bought my own Desk, Giant barrel assed leather "Executive" chair and first Laptop Computer. (I paid near $4K for that set-up and saw the value climb to over $100K when my business partner got through screwing me....but I did keep the chair when we dissolved the Corporation)
Thatfirst independent businessman "staggering entrepreneur" phase (there's a second one...just wait a minute) lasted for another eight and one half years with the formation of yet another company...until late 1998/early 1999 when I had the misfortune to have to abandon ship to bankruptcy when a couple of people decided they needed my money to pay their vendors and employees more than I needed it to pay mine.
For some reason the Federal Bankruptcy courts agreed. Of course the wife went away some time before the money did so she could take her fair share of my earnings.
I pretty sure that I must be some kind of bankruptcy expert by now if anyone wants to hire me--having personally set through the paperwork of no less than five different firms and individuals including my own...
All of that mish mash finally brings us up to the late 1990's/early 2000's, where you'd find me beginning my first of ten years of what I call mysecond childhood phase "Pirate Phase."
I unabashedly report that the "Pirate Phase" is the ultimate culmination of and implementation of years of research conducted in taverns, bars, restaurants, jails, boat stores, marinas,whore housesstrip clubs, churches, shopping malls, courtrooms, and water front properties all over the planet from The Philippines to the Caribbean.
Don't get all up tight about some of those listings, I say you got to see everything before you can say you've seen everything and I probably have a shorter to-do list in that avenue of intellectual endeavor than most people these days.
That said, it's hard to explain to people exactly what my job description was during that period and continuing almost to this very moment.
Some might call it "unemployed" which has actually been true for short segments of that time...BUT...generally it's been VOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT i.e. "semi-retired" as I like to call it.
I have developed the unique theory that when there's no paying work, simply find the closest large body of water, pack a suitcase, and then do this...
Go on VACATION.
Works quite well for me.
Oops...I forgot to mention earlier my idea of instead of just going on VACATION, of actually moving to the Beach and putting most of my money in a piece of coastal property...nothing fancy...just whatever can be afforded for safe keeping of the funds. I did that for about a year back in 2002(unfortunately the investment was better in 2002 than it is today.)
It worked for me...you should try it when things turn around in the real estate market.
The bottom lines for me is to say "Why sit around worrying," as long as your resume is hanging out there on the Internet and in a bunch of Head Hunter/Recruiter's hands.
Another idea I've tried is to take a giant chunk of my last liquid dollars, fly to South Florida, then buy a big old boat with a kitchen and a head (bathroom for all you Land Lubbers), THEN JUST LEAVE for a while.
But Virgil..You ask: "As opposed to VACATION, how is LEAVING different?"
And further "Just WHERE would I leave to if I were so inclined?"
The answer is to simply leave where ever you are right now and go ANYWHERE else.
You don't have to know where you're going or make any reservations that way. It's really pretty simple. On a boat you just end up where ever you are when the sun sets and as long as there is water under your hull(a very fundamental detail on a boat) you toss out our anchor and fire up the blender.
I tried it for a while in the Florida Keys, and it worked reasonably well when my engines weren't malfunctioning (for all you land lubbers...boat engines are always malfunctioning), but then some assholes decided they needed my boat more than I did and made it disappear while a was back visiting Atlanta.
Fortunately I didn't spend everything I had on the boat but I did have to come back to the real world again and attempt to try to figure out what to do with myself...
AGAIN.
I knew I hated the traffic and what Atlanta had grown into...and I had to get back to the water in order to be a Pirate...I know...I'll MOVE TO AN ISLAND, they can't STEAL and entire island.
So I did...
But this time I didn't go solo. I managed to con my girl Pat into going along with me. We packed everything up in a truck and had it hauled south to the Georgia Coast, and while she flew back and forth to Chicago and telecommuted from our Condo on a Golf course (I don't play golf) I spent my time wandering the Island on a bicycle and wondering If I shouldn't get back into the engineering business again.
One thing led to another, and after nearly five fabulous years on our little Island I was ready to come back to my chosen profession. Thus the beginning of my "Second Coming as an Entrepreneur" Phase.
After a false start with a company that moved us away from the Atlantic to the banks of the mighty Tennessee River, today finds Pat retired after 28 years with the same company and me scrapping and marketing and managing to sell enough of my time to keep the financial engine of our household running. Some weeks I make enough to last three months and some months I don't make a penny, but that's the way things are when you're in business for yourself and that's something people like our Politicians refuse to understand.
We're still looking at trial starting a Tailgate Catering business this fall to test some concepts and the menu, and I've also got another couple of irons in the fire with old college friends' companies and looking into incorporating a specialty company serving a unique manufacturing enterprise I've been asked to serve.
Things aren't perfect, but each day brings improved health (I'm avoiding talking about several near death medical experiences here this morning), a reasonably stable emotional and financial existence in spite of "the economy" and the current political climate, and most importantly I'm surrounded by the women in my life that love me...My Mom, my partner of eight years Patricia, my Sister Virginia, and my Little Missy the Turbo Pup.
I guess the main thing I've learned in my research over the past 50 years is that when a man has a family like mine, he's wealthy no matter what the balance sheet says when it's all said and done.
I am truly blessed and I know it.
That said, it's time to go take a nap I guess.
Regards Y'all
Oh...I don't knowwww...
Where to start writing this morning. There's so much to say.
(And even more to keep to myself...I might add.)
I guess you could say that my life thus far has fallen into more or less four very distinct phases. As a matter of public record, I feel like enumerating them for you this morning before I forget any more of the details.
All of this stuff leads up to a little after midnight here on the morning of September 3rd, 2009 when the calendar says I've been breathing air for FIFTY YEARS.
So lets get down to details...To begin with, the first 17 years of my life we'll call my "Embryonic phase."
The characteristics of this phase of my personality and antics were shaped and moulded under the stern hand of my dear Mother and evil eye of my departed Father.
A solid dose of primary education in the southern part of George Wallace's 1960's/1970's Alabama delivered with a generous portion of "fire and brimstone" at the local Methodist Church should have had me well prepared to go forth into the world as a sold American citizen and moral example for generations to come.
If you think that...you'd be pretty much WRONG by many peoples' standards.
Not only did I corrupt myself and aid and abet in the corruption of those around me, but in moving from LA to Atlanta under the guise of attending college at Georgia Tech and start an engineering career, I have to admit that the next 16 years represent what I today call my "wild buck phase."
Roaming the streets and interstates of Hotlanta in a Firethorn Red Chevy Camaro in the days when the City was still really a giant small town on steroids, I hate to admit that my education suffered under the stresses of making time to throw Frisbee in Piedmont Park and attend various sporting events and concerts.
Sleeping took up a good deal of my time also...usually during the day rather than at night. There was also a two year stint in the part time Navy Reserve where I got to ride a Helicopter Carrier around the South China Sea and the Philippines---but that's another whole story for another day.
I somehow managed to survive all that and finally stumble through getting a degree and by late in the 1980's I found myself with a wife and a mortgage and two car payments and a couple of cats and God knows what other stuff the American Dream causes you to think you have to have.
I was working for the owner of an OEM company in Buckhead which I had helped triple in size of to over $3 million in annual revenue, but then he went and hired his son...fresh out of college with a "Communications Degree"...to come into the "Engineering" business, and miraculously there went my VP of Engineering promotion (The son is still president of that company today.)
So I walked out the door shortly thereafter never to return.
Thus, reaching some level of
That
For some reason the Federal Bankruptcy courts agreed. Of course the wife went away some time before the money did so she could take her fair share of my earnings.
I pretty sure that I must be some kind of bankruptcy expert by now if anyone wants to hire me--having personally set through the paperwork of no less than five different firms and individuals including my own...
All of that mish mash finally brings us up to the late 1990's/early 2000's, where you'd find me beginning my first of ten years of what I call my
I unabashedly report that the "Pirate Phase" is the ultimate culmination of and implementation of years of research conducted in taverns, bars, restaurants, jails, boat stores, marinas,
Don't get all up tight about some of those listings, I say you got to see everything before you can say you've seen everything and I probably have a shorter to-do list in that avenue of intellectual endeavor than most people these days.
That said, it's hard to explain to people exactly what my job description was during that period and continuing almost to this very moment.
Some might call it "unemployed" which has actually been true for short segments of that time...BUT...generally it's been VOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT i.e. "semi-retired" as I like to call it.
I have developed the unique theory that when there's no paying work, simply find the closest large body of water, pack a suitcase, and then do this...
Go on VACATION.
Works quite well for me.
Oops...I forgot to mention earlier my idea of instead of just going on VACATION, of actually moving to the Beach and putting most of my money in a piece of coastal property...nothing fancy...just whatever can be afforded for safe keeping of the funds. I did that for about a year back in 2002(unfortunately the investment was better in 2002 than it is today.)
It worked for me...you should try it when things turn around in the real estate market.
The bottom lines for me is to say "Why sit around worrying," as long as your resume is hanging out there on the Internet and in a bunch of Head Hunter/Recruiter's hands.
Another idea I've tried is to take a giant chunk of my last liquid dollars, fly to South Florida, then buy a big old boat with a kitchen and a head (bathroom for all you Land Lubbers), THEN JUST LEAVE for a while.
But Virgil..You ask: "As opposed to VACATION, how is LEAVING different?"
And further "Just WHERE would I leave to if I were so inclined?"
The answer is to simply leave where ever you are right now and go ANYWHERE else.
You don't have to know where you're going or make any reservations that way. It's really pretty simple. On a boat you just end up where ever you are when the sun sets and as long as there is water under your hull(a very fundamental detail on a boat) you toss out our anchor and fire up the blender.
I tried it for a while in the Florida Keys, and it worked reasonably well when my engines weren't malfunctioning (for all you land lubbers...boat engines are always malfunctioning), but then some assholes decided they needed my boat more than I did and made it disappear while a was back visiting Atlanta.
Fortunately I didn't spend everything I had on the boat but I did have to come back to the real world again and attempt to try to figure out what to do with myself...
AGAIN.
I knew I hated the traffic and what Atlanta had grown into...and I had to get back to the water in order to be a Pirate...I know...I'll MOVE TO AN ISLAND, they can't STEAL and entire island.
So I did...
But this time I didn't go solo. I managed to con my girl Pat into going along with me. We packed everything up in a truck and had it hauled south to the Georgia Coast, and while she flew back and forth to Chicago and telecommuted from our Condo on a Golf course (I don't play golf) I spent my time wandering the Island on a bicycle and wondering If I shouldn't get back into the engineering business again.
One thing led to another, and after nearly five fabulous years on our little Island I was ready to come back to my chosen profession. Thus the beginning of my "Second Coming as an Entrepreneur" Phase.
After a false start with a company that moved us away from the Atlantic to the banks of the mighty Tennessee River, today finds Pat retired after 28 years with the same company and me scrapping and marketing and managing to sell enough of my time to keep the financial engine of our household running. Some weeks I make enough to last three months and some months I don't make a penny, but that's the way things are when you're in business for yourself and that's something people like our Politicians refuse to understand.
We're still looking at trial starting a Tailgate Catering business this fall to test some concepts and the menu, and I've also got another couple of irons in the fire with old college friends' companies and looking into incorporating a specialty company serving a unique manufacturing enterprise I've been asked to serve.
Things aren't perfect, but each day brings improved health (I'm avoiding talking about several near death medical experiences here this morning), a reasonably stable emotional and financial existence in spite of "the economy" and the current political climate, and most importantly I'm surrounded by the women in my life that love me...My Mom, my partner of eight years Patricia, my Sister Virginia, and my Little Missy the Turbo Pup.
I guess the main thing I've learned in my research over the past 50 years is that when a man has a family like mine, he's wealthy no matter what the balance sheet says when it's all said and done.
I am truly blessed and I know it.
That said, it's time to go take a nap I guess.
Regards Y'all
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Strange Quite Car...New Computer & Phone For Mom...
Tired As Usual...
Well folks, we made it to LA in what turned out to be a surprisingly uneventful high mileage trip (34 MPG) in the battery powered Camry.
I took along some extra C Cells but didn't have to get them out of the suitcase.
Of course it started raining within 24 hours of our arrival so I'm glad we spent yesterday afternoon at the pool rather in front of the dying computer Blogging.
I almost have Mom's flashy new monster HP laptop registered and configured and we got her into a cell plan that doesn't end up costing her $50 per call (she never uses her phone) and now it time to whip up a batch of chicken and skirt steak Fajitas before crashing for the evening.
I have no idea what's happening on the news or in the internet/bloggosphere but if I can get the wireless connection on this thing working with the router I'll probably produce a good late night rant tonight.
I feel the steam pressure building in my head right now...
Well folks, we made it to LA in what turned out to be a surprisingly uneventful high mileage trip (34 MPG) in the battery powered Camry.
I took along some extra C Cells but didn't have to get them out of the suitcase.
Of course it started raining within 24 hours of our arrival so I'm glad we spent yesterday afternoon at the pool rather in front of the dying computer Blogging.
I almost have Mom's flashy new monster HP laptop registered and configured and we got her into a cell plan that doesn't end up costing her $50 per call (she never uses her phone) and now it time to whip up a batch of chicken and skirt steak Fajitas before crashing for the evening.
I have no idea what's happening on the news or in the internet/bloggosphere but if I can get the wireless connection on this thing working with the router I'll probably produce a good late night rant tonight.
I feel the steam pressure building in my head right now...
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Eco-Friendly Beach Bash
Touring The Gulf Coast In A "Hybrid"
Well, we tossed the old Chrysler 300 into the shop at the local dealer today and agreed to give them something near a grand to replace some important parts in the power steering system under the hood.
I guess that as painful as that $1K sum is it's also the first money we've spent in 2-1/2 years except the purchase price and oil changes/tire rotations so that's pretty good in my book.
Did I mention that we just paid off the loan a year and a half early last week so we now live without a car payment?
After handing over the keys and signing the papers we had the courtesy driver haul us over to Hertz where we expected to pick up a "full sized" Chevy Impala.
Instead we drove off their lot with what I call a "mid sized" Toyota Camry.
The trunk space is surprisingly small because instead of suitcases this "Hybrid" has at least 25% of the available space taken up with giant batteries covered with plastic and carpet.
Has anyone seen and actually drove one of these things?
It took me five minutes to figure out how to start it, because when you "start it" instead of a key all you do is waive the little plastic lock button thingie at the dash and push a button.
Then you set there scratching your head the first couple of trys because the gasoline part of the "hybrid" drive system doesn't actually "start" when you push the "start button."
Then once you manage to shift into gear and start moving forward or reverse it feels sort of like driving a golf cart until you hit about 3-5 MPH when the engine fires up and the computer switches into over drive and off you go making Owl Gore and his tree hugging hippy followers smile knowing smiles of approval.
I swear it's pretty disconcerting at first to get used to, but we have eight days planned to enjoy the advantages or disadvantages of the latest modern automotive technology I guess.
Our route takes us south tomorrow to my beloved family farm home in Lower Alabama to celebrate my 50th birthday with my mother, then on to the Western Florida Gulf Coast for a group 50th birthday party with a bunch of my high school classmates over the long Labor Day weekend.
Of course Internet access will be slow and/or sporadic at best so please excuse any lapses in blogging between now and our return to the banks on the Mighty Tennessee River on September 8th.
And wish us safe travel...if you will...
Well, we tossed the old Chrysler 300 into the shop at the local dealer today and agreed to give them something near a grand to replace some important parts in the power steering system under the hood.
I guess that as painful as that $1K sum is it's also the first money we've spent in 2-1/2 years except the purchase price and oil changes/tire rotations so that's pretty good in my book.
Did I mention that we just paid off the loan a year and a half early last week so we now live without a car payment?
After handing over the keys and signing the papers we had the courtesy driver haul us over to Hertz where we expected to pick up a "full sized" Chevy Impala.
Instead we drove off their lot with what I call a "mid sized" Toyota Camry.
The trunk space is surprisingly small because instead of suitcases this "Hybrid" has at least 25% of the available space taken up with giant batteries covered with plastic and carpet.
Has anyone seen and actually drove one of these things?
It took me five minutes to figure out how to start it, because when you "start it" instead of a key all you do is waive the little plastic lock button thingie at the dash and push a button.
Then you set there scratching your head the first couple of trys because the gasoline part of the "hybrid" drive system doesn't actually "start" when you push the "start button."
Then once you manage to shift into gear and start moving forward or reverse it feels sort of like driving a golf cart until you hit about 3-5 MPH when the engine fires up and the computer switches into over drive and off you go making Owl Gore and his tree hugging hippy followers smile knowing smiles of approval.
I swear it's pretty disconcerting at first to get used to, but we have eight days planned to enjoy the advantages or disadvantages of the latest modern automotive technology I guess.
Our route takes us south tomorrow to my beloved family farm home in Lower Alabama to celebrate my 50th birthday with my mother, then on to the Western Florida Gulf Coast for a group 50th birthday party with a bunch of my high school classmates over the long Labor Day weekend.
Of course Internet access will be slow and/or sporadic at best so please excuse any lapses in blogging between now and our return to the banks on the Mighty Tennessee River on September 8th.
And wish us safe travel...if you will...
Sunday, August 30, 2009
"My Grace Is Sufficient for You, For My Power Is Made Perfect In Weakness."
1 Corinthians Chapter 2, Verse 3
Please excuse me, because I'm not preaching.
I don't even go to church regularly these days, but still I like the Apostle Paul's words there...
When you look at all the crap going on around us it's somehow reassuring to hear that someone might actually be in charge that isn't elected in politics by the morons I saw walking around the local Mall this afternoon.
I, personally, am fortunate to have made it back home from our shopping trip without having been arrested for tearing some idiot's arm off and beating most of their entire family to death with it.
The older I get, it seems the less tolerant I am of "crowds" and "the general public." I'll probably never set foot in an amusement park or a NASCAR race or most football stadiums ever again because I can't help having laser beams exploding from my eyeballs and out of my butt when I witness the stuff you're forced to witness these days.
It's either because I just keep getting smarter and smarter else the aforementioned "general public" is continuing in a gradual spiralling descent into moronic pop cultural behavior which makes me want tokick the shit out of them knock some sense into them when they get in my way and waste my time with their inane endeavors spending money they don't have to spend.
I guess it's best I just stay home and let them all self destruct, except that the government keeps coming to my door asking for money to help buy houses and cars and health insurance and retirement while I continue to insist on living within my means.
Is it just me???
Please excuse me, because I'm not preaching.
I don't even go to church regularly these days, but still I like the Apostle Paul's words there...
When you look at all the crap going on around us it's somehow reassuring to hear that someone might actually be in charge that isn't elected in politics by the morons I saw walking around the local Mall this afternoon.
I, personally, am fortunate to have made it back home from our shopping trip without having been arrested for tearing some idiot's arm off and beating most of their entire family to death with it.
The older I get, it seems the less tolerant I am of "crowds" and "the general public." I'll probably never set foot in an amusement park or a NASCAR race or most football stadiums ever again because I can't help having laser beams exploding from my eyeballs and out of my butt when I witness the stuff you're forced to witness these days.
It's either because I just keep getting smarter and smarter else the aforementioned "general public" is continuing in a gradual spiralling descent into moronic pop cultural behavior which makes me want to
I guess it's best I just stay home and let them all self destruct, except that the government keeps coming to my door asking for money to help buy houses and cars and health insurance and retirement while I continue to insist on living within my means.
Is it just me???
Saturday, August 29, 2009
We STILL Have Katrina "Victims" FOUR YEARS Later?
And We're Spending Tax Money Encouraging Them To Move Back...
I hate the fact that the leftist liberal NBC network bought my formerly favorite "The Weather Channel."
I say that today they might as well rename the stupid thing this...
"When Weather Kills Poor Folks Because Conservatives and Republicans DenyGlobal Warming Climate Change Channel."
Of course that name is hard to print in TV Guide and in online/TV listings...but still...
Seriously...hasn't anyone but me noticed the continuing slide by "The Weather Channel" into being a "Oh My God" there's wildfires and earthquakes and tornadoes and Hurricanes network?
Of course for years they've prided themselves in throwing Jim Cantori and Mike Sidell into the eye of each season's hurricanes but these days, particularly this quite Hurricane Season, they seem to just want to manufacture stories about potential future man made "Superstorms" while harping on past storms and the associated GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGED man made stupidity that caused loss of life and property damage.
For instance, while waiting for my latest dose of "Local on the Eights" I just had to wince my way through a "pseudo-weather story" about the four year anniversary of the liberal, sniveling, booger eating tree hugging pinko commie socialists' favorite storm...
HURRICANE KATRINA!!
Remember Hurricane Katrina?
How could anyone ever forget Hurricane Katrina...the storm conjured up by Karl Rove and George Bush to wipe out people too lazy to watch TV or listen to the Radio while electing stupid Governors and Corrupt Black Mayors and Congress persons.
...taking a big breath here boss...
So any way...I didn't really give a crap about today being the "anniversary" of that storm which legitimately smacked the hell out of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but then they tossed out a bunch of facts that to this very minute continue to make my head spin near orbital rotational velocity and over pressurize at dangerous levels.
For instance, did you know that:
1. To date FEMA has generally wasted some part of over 7.8 BILLION taxpayer dollars in the state of Louisiana under the guise of "Hurricane Recovery Funding?"
2. To date FEMA has spent only 3 BILLION of innocent bystander's dollars in the state of By God Mississippi--while they really did take the brunt of the storm?
Or how about these Apples...
A. There are still about 1,668 "families" living free in FEMA trailers in Louisiana today...down from over 120,000 right after the much maligned inadequate government/BUSH response...
AFTER EVERYONE WAS TOLD TO GET THE HELL OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE MOSTLY LIVING BELOW SEA LEVEL IN 2005.
B. Mississippi has managed to run all but 441 of the government incapacitated dead beats out of FEMA housing after have 48,000 living in linear residential facilities (trailers) right after the storm actually made A DIRECT HIT ON THEIR AREA.
Now...
here is the coup de gras that caused me to start foaming at the mouth and spitting and throwing things at my TV screen...
The new kookie Weather Channel "Bimbo du jour" News Lady proudly reported that the City of New Orleans was recovering and the population was back to 77% of the "Pre-Katrina" levels...although rents were much higher and the Federal and State "authorities" were continuing programs to assist the residents in returning to their homes or home town (I'm paraphrasing of course.)
OK, let me get this straight...
We're paying for people to return to a city which exists below sea level--protected by taxpayer funded pumps and levies--while we also pay for many of these same people to live for free in taxpayer provided trailers while they wait on taxpayer funding to cover their rent so they can move back INTO A FLOOD AND HURRICANE PRONE AREA?
What?
Who?
When?
Where?
You'll have to excuse me because I HAVE TO GO FIND A COOLER FULL OF ICE WATER NOW AND SOAK MY HEAD.
That will be all...for now...dammit
I hate the fact that the leftist liberal NBC network bought my formerly favorite "The Weather Channel."
I say that today they might as well rename the stupid thing this...
"When Weather Kills Poor Folks Because Conservatives and Republicans Deny
Of course that name is hard to print in TV Guide and in online/TV listings...but still...
Seriously...hasn't anyone but me noticed the continuing slide by "The Weather Channel" into being a "Oh My God" there's wildfires and earthquakes and tornadoes and Hurricanes network?
Of course for years they've prided themselves in throwing Jim Cantori and Mike Sidell into the eye of each season's hurricanes but these days, particularly this quite Hurricane Season, they seem to just want to manufacture stories about potential future man made "Superstorms" while harping on past storms and the associated GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGED man made stupidity that caused loss of life and property damage.
For instance, while waiting for my latest dose of "Local on the Eights" I just had to wince my way through a "pseudo-weather story" about the four year anniversary of the liberal, sniveling, booger eating tree hugging pinko commie socialists' favorite storm...
HURRICANE KATRINA!!
Remember Hurricane Katrina?
How could anyone ever forget Hurricane Katrina...the storm conjured up by Karl Rove and George Bush to wipe out people too lazy to watch TV or listen to the Radio while electing stupid Governors and Corrupt Black Mayors and Congress persons.
...taking a big breath here boss...
So any way...I didn't really give a crap about today being the "anniversary" of that storm which legitimately smacked the hell out of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but then they tossed out a bunch of facts that to this very minute continue to make my head spin near orbital rotational velocity and over pressurize at dangerous levels.
For instance, did you know that:
1. To date FEMA has generally wasted some part of over 7.8 BILLION taxpayer dollars in the state of Louisiana under the guise of "Hurricane Recovery Funding?"
2. To date FEMA has spent only 3 BILLION of innocent bystander's dollars in the state of By God Mississippi--while they really did take the brunt of the storm?
Or how about these Apples...
A. There are still about 1,668 "families" living free in FEMA trailers in Louisiana today...down from over 120,000 right after the much maligned inadequate government/BUSH response...
AFTER EVERYONE WAS TOLD TO GET THE HELL OUT BECAUSE THEY WERE MOSTLY LIVING BELOW SEA LEVEL IN 2005.
B. Mississippi has managed to run all but 441 of the government incapacitated dead beats out of FEMA housing after have 48,000 living in linear residential facilities (trailers) right after the storm actually made A DIRECT HIT ON THEIR AREA.
Now...
here is the coup de gras that caused me to start foaming at the mouth and spitting and throwing things at my TV screen...
The new kookie Weather Channel "Bimbo du jour" News Lady proudly reported that the City of New Orleans was recovering and the population was back to 77% of the "Pre-Katrina" levels...although rents were much higher and the Federal and State "authorities" were continuing programs to assist the residents in returning to their homes or home town (I'm paraphrasing of course.)
OK, let me get this straight...
We're paying for people to return to a city which exists below sea level--protected by taxpayer funded pumps and levies--while we also pay for many of these same people to live for free in taxpayer provided trailers while they wait on taxpayer funding to cover their rent so they can move back INTO A FLOOD AND HURRICANE PRONE AREA?
What?
Who?
When?
Where?
You'll have to excuse me because I HAVE TO GO FIND A COOLER FULL OF ICE WATER NOW AND SOAK MY HEAD.
That will be all...for now...dammit
Friday, August 28, 2009
Time To Make The Donuts Build The Walls
Back Cramming Lumber Into A Basement...
Well, I'm spending part of last week of my life under the age of 50 years being reminded that I'm OVER FORTY.
I sure feel like it.
I managed to get about seven hours sleep last night and I feel like I can manage to stagger through another six to eight hours of throwing lumber around our job site today.
I really want to finish the framing so the plumber and electrician can get in this weekend.
To accomplish that superhuman feat I have to have a complete crew on site at 8 AM.
Wish me luck...if you will...
Well, I'm spending part of last week of my life under the age of 50 years being reminded that I'm OVER FORTY.
I sure feel like it.
I managed to get about seven hours sleep last night and I feel like I can manage to stagger through another six to eight hours of throwing lumber around our job site today.
I really want to finish the framing so the plumber and electrician can get in this weekend.
To accomplish that superhuman feat I have to have a complete crew on site at 8 AM.
Wish me luck...if you will...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Youth Tops Age And Beauty In The Construction Business
Every Time...
I arrived on site about 7:45 AM to find a big strong twenty year old kid with a face full of metal piercings and a bunch of obvious prison tattoos sweeping the concrete basement floor...
and no other carpenter to be found.
I was panicking as I looked at almost 400 sticks of lumber...nearly half 2"x6" and all of it ten foot or longer...all needing carrying thirty yards around the back of the house, cut to length, nailed together and stood up to form walls for two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small galley kitchen and a living area making up the basement apartment for my client's handicapped father and his live in "caregiver."
I was amazed when my client jumped on the computer, put up an ad on Craigslist, and within a half hour had seven potential carpenters and a big strong thirty-something year old guy that knew his way around a tape measure and framing square better than I did on site by 9:30.
Sawdust proceeded to fly and the tattooed kid drug half the wood pile around back and by 1:30 I was dead tired from trying to keep up with my "crew" and we had near half the boards up in place around the perimeter concrete block walls.
I excused myself shortly thereafter leaving them to work another couple of hours unsupervised on some tasks I had identified, and now after a two hour nap I'm able to hold my head up and have enough strength left over to move my fingers around the keyboard.
Tomorrow's going to be a long day but if everyone shows up at 8 AM as agreed we should have 99% of the framing in place and "Grandmas favorite tree"--a giant 20" diameter log holding a steel beam holding the house up--sliced into manageable chunks and replaced with walls and two 6"x6" pressure treated wooden columns.
I hate to admit it, but I'm getting too old to get anywhere near a construction site without a suit and a white hard hat...it's time to leave the hammering and nailing to the younger men and settle for reading drawings and waiving my arms and pointing...
and saying "good job fellers..."
I arrived on site about 7:45 AM to find a big strong twenty year old kid with a face full of metal piercings and a bunch of obvious prison tattoos sweeping the concrete basement floor...
and no other carpenter to be found.
I was panicking as I looked at almost 400 sticks of lumber...nearly half 2"x6" and all of it ten foot or longer...all needing carrying thirty yards around the back of the house, cut to length, nailed together and stood up to form walls for two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small galley kitchen and a living area making up the basement apartment for my client's handicapped father and his live in "caregiver."
I was amazed when my client jumped on the computer, put up an ad on Craigslist, and within a half hour had seven potential carpenters and a big strong thirty-something year old guy that knew his way around a tape measure and framing square better than I did on site by 9:30.
Sawdust proceeded to fly and the tattooed kid drug half the wood pile around back and by 1:30 I was dead tired from trying to keep up with my "crew" and we had near half the boards up in place around the perimeter concrete block walls.
I excused myself shortly thereafter leaving them to work another couple of hours unsupervised on some tasks I had identified, and now after a two hour nap I'm able to hold my head up and have enough strength left over to move my fingers around the keyboard.
Tomorrow's going to be a long day but if everyone shows up at 8 AM as agreed we should have 99% of the framing in place and "Grandmas favorite tree"--a giant 20" diameter log holding a steel beam holding the house up--sliced into manageable chunks and replaced with walls and two 6"x6" pressure treated wooden columns.
I hate to admit it, but I'm getting too old to get anywhere near a construction site without a suit and a white hard hat...it's time to leave the hammering and nailing to the younger men and settle for reading drawings and waiving my arms and pointing...
and saying "good job fellers..."
Getting Hammered
With An Air Compressor...
Well, I have to go out and meet my new construction crew at 8 AM this morning.
I hope it's not a freak show but you never know in the construction business and some people might consider me a freak when they see me at first but any way...
I just hope the two guys are on time and reasonably capable but the owner hired them and all I have to do is get the lumber nailed together and in place reasonably square/plumb and I can almost do that by myself if it wasn't for the 10' ceiling height.
I have a few thousand dollars of tools loaded up in the Chrysler (the Suburban's not really road ready right now due to inactivity and neglect and besides the mileage sucks) and a big stack of wall panel drawings and we're gonna see if we can frame out this basement in TWO days instead of THREE.
Assuming the personalities aren't a problem I really love doing stuff like this..sort of like playing with a giant set of Tinker Toys and getting paid a modest sum for my efforts.
Doing the math this is somewhere around my tenth major residential construction effort including some stuff I've done for myself and friends and family and of course the Habitat for Humanity houses I built down in Georgia back in the late 1990's.
It's so much easier pushing nails into wood using pneumatics and based on my creaking, ever ageing knees and back I hope to come through the process only slightly worse for the wear.
Time now to do a little reading, smoke a cigar, and catch a couple hours nap before heading out.
Y'all have a lovely day and try to have at least half as much fun as I'm gonna have now...if you will...
Well, I have to go out and meet my new construction crew at 8 AM this morning.
I hope it's not a freak show but you never know in the construction business and some people might consider me a freak when they see me at first but any way...
I just hope the two guys are on time and reasonably capable but the owner hired them and all I have to do is get the lumber nailed together and in place reasonably square/plumb and I can almost do that by myself if it wasn't for the 10' ceiling height.
I have a few thousand dollars of tools loaded up in the Chrysler (the Suburban's not really road ready right now due to inactivity and neglect and besides the mileage sucks) and a big stack of wall panel drawings and we're gonna see if we can frame out this basement in TWO days instead of THREE.
Assuming the personalities aren't a problem I really love doing stuff like this..sort of like playing with a giant set of Tinker Toys and getting paid a modest sum for my efforts.
Doing the math this is somewhere around my tenth major residential construction effort including some stuff I've done for myself and friends and family and of course the Habitat for Humanity houses I built down in Georgia back in the late 1990's.
It's so much easier pushing nails into wood using pneumatics and based on my creaking, ever ageing knees and back I hope to come through the process only slightly worse for the wear.
Time now to do a little reading, smoke a cigar, and catch a couple hours nap before heading out.
Y'all have a lovely day and try to have at least half as much fun as I'm gonna have now...if you will...
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Ted Kennedy R.I.P.
I Didn't Agree With The Man...But At Least He Stood For Something
I just can't be mean and celebrate someone's death or suffering. I hope my peers on the center/right side of the Bloggosphere are equally respectful.
I just can't be mean and celebrate someone's death or suffering. I hope my peers on the center/right side of the Bloggosphere are equally respectful.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Vista Crashed THREE TIMES SINCE NOON YESTERDAY
I Want To Send Bill Gates An Invoice...
Dammit...I'm Trying to do some CAD drawings of wall panel framing and I just lost a couple hours worth of work...
The computer monitor is covered with spit and I think that it's time to go outside and read "Atlas Shrugged" and maybe smoke a Cigar.
I swear techhology is goin' to kill me before it's all over with...
Dammit...I'm Trying to do some CAD drawings of wall panel framing and I just lost a couple hours worth of work...
The computer monitor is covered with spit and I think that it's time to go outside and read "Atlas Shrugged" and maybe smoke a Cigar.
I swear techhology is goin' to kill me before it's all over with...
Monday, August 24, 2009
The New Phone Books Are Here Wire's Here
Wierd Steve Martin Movie References...
I'm still right behind Mr. Martin for the title role in the his early 1980's film"The Jerk"...but all you Bankers and Lawyers are safe for now....
(or maybe not...don't test me)
I'm still right behind Mr. Martin for the title role in the his early 1980's film"The Jerk"...but all you Bankers and Lawyers are safe for now....
(or maybe not...don't test me)
Hearding Herding Cats
Bankers & Lawyers Will Be The Death Of Me...
Today's bitching and complaining has to do with my bankers and other people's Lawyers.
Ready?
I almost went back to school to be a Patent Attorney some years ago, but then I decided it would be a bad idea because I'd be forced to commit suicide after killing all of the other lawyers within range of a 30-06 rifle once I finally went insane dealing with stupid "non-standard standards" and rules and "traditions."
I've just spent the past week and one half trying to expedite losing my ass in a real estate deal which was supposed to close last Thursday.
By closing one would generally expect to have all of the paperwork completed and more importantly...
FUNDS WOULD BE DISTRIBUTED.
As it sits right now I've handled making all of the copies of materials on my end, paying to overnight them to the Georgia coast on Wednesday, only to find myself...the OWNER OF THE PROPERTY...as the only person which hasn't been paid as of 1:25 PM four calendar days after closing.
The buyer's Lawyer has been paid.
The buyers real estate agent has picked up their check.
My friend Bruce...my Agent/Broker called to say he had his check...
But I...
THE SO CALLED OWNER?
I'm still waiting for a stupid wire transfer which is costing me $5 to receive a five figure balance and my bankers say they don't have it and that if it doesn't show up by 3 PM it won't be credited to my account until tomorrow.
Five days late.
What kind of crap is it that I can deposit a potentially rubber check and the funds are available immediately, but I PAY to have funds electronically, securely transferred from a law firm that had the money last Friday to my account, and the bankers get away acting like they have to decipher the da Vinci code to get the money into my account?
Are they hauling stone coins from Easter Island or Gold Bullion from Spain and Central America?
All I know is that it's a good thing all of my guns are in the next state in a closet or you might see me on CNN slobbering on myself as the "authorities" describe the scene...
dammit...
Today's bitching and complaining has to do with my bankers and other people's Lawyers.
Ready?
I almost went back to school to be a Patent Attorney some years ago, but then I decided it would be a bad idea because I'd be forced to commit suicide after killing all of the other lawyers within range of a 30-06 rifle once I finally went insane dealing with stupid "non-standard standards" and rules and "traditions."
I've just spent the past week and one half trying to expedite losing my ass in a real estate deal which was supposed to close last Thursday.
By closing one would generally expect to have all of the paperwork completed and more importantly...
FUNDS WOULD BE DISTRIBUTED.
As it sits right now I've handled making all of the copies of materials on my end, paying to overnight them to the Georgia coast on Wednesday, only to find myself...the OWNER OF THE PROPERTY...as the only person which hasn't been paid as of 1:25 PM four calendar days after closing.
The buyer's Lawyer has been paid.
The buyers real estate agent has picked up their check.
My friend Bruce...my Agent/Broker called to say he had his check...
But I...
THE SO CALLED OWNER?
I'm still waiting for a stupid wire transfer which is costing me $5 to receive a five figure balance and my bankers say they don't have it and that if it doesn't show up by 3 PM it won't be credited to my account until tomorrow.
Five days late.
What kind of crap is it that I can deposit a potentially rubber check and the funds are available immediately, but I PAY to have funds electronically, securely transferred from a law firm that had the money last Friday to my account, and the bankers get away acting like they have to decipher the da Vinci code to get the money into my account?
Are they hauling stone coins from Easter Island or Gold Bullion from Spain and Central America?
All I know is that it's a good thing all of my guns are in the next state in a closet or you might see me on CNN slobbering on myself as the "authorities" describe the scene...
dammit...
Monday Musings
I Don't Know Nuthin New....
I'm happy to report that I didn't do a damn thing this weekend...
unless you count sitting and drinking and cooking to entertain family guests in town for the weekend and the Bristol NASCAR race.
I did produce a load of ham and asparagus crepes for breakfast yesterday morning, and followed that up with a giant cast iron skillet full of marinated skirt steak and chicken at dinner time--served up with tortillas to make Fajitas (along with colored bells and onions) which everyone including the Turbo Pup chowed down on.
I'm so far behind on my Internet reading and news watching that I'll probably spend 'til noon today catching up on what's going on out there in the rest of the world.
Until then..y'all have a nice day...if you will...
I'm happy to report that I didn't do a damn thing this weekend...
unless you count sitting and drinking and cooking to entertain family guests in town for the weekend and the Bristol NASCAR race.
I did produce a load of ham and asparagus crepes for breakfast yesterday morning, and followed that up with a giant cast iron skillet full of marinated skirt steak and chicken at dinner time--served up with tortillas to make Fajitas (along with colored bells and onions) which everyone including the Turbo Pup chowed down on.
I'm so far behind on my Internet reading and news watching that I'll probably spend 'til noon today catching up on what's going on out there in the rest of the world.
Until then..y'all have a nice day...if you will...
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Always The Bridesmaid...
Never The Bride
I'mhappy sorry to report that I learned I'm the "Number Two" candidate for the job down in "the Atlanta Metro Area" that I interviewed for earlier this week.
I'm also happy to report that as a result Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup and I will continue to be allowed to live herein Mayberry in Knoxtown on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River for the foreseeable future.
Good God but I had forgotten how insane the traffic is there in north Atlanta/Norcross.
And it NEVER lets up.
We drove out of town on Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM across the top end "perimeter" Interstate 285 and I swear we needed a few thousand logos and a fancy paint job and a roll cage and helmets on our heads like we were running in a NASCAR race because anyone going less than 75 was basically A BRIDGE or obstacle to the passing drivers.
Four to Six lanes bumper to bumper screaming down the interstate to a halt at Roswell road where someone had blown a tire.
We got back home to find the home Internet down and the so called "legal firm" in Brunswick putzing around finishing the real estate closing document package LATE as usual so I've been busy yelling at Comcast and holding my head in a bucket full of melting ice trying to keep it from exploding for the past 36 hours...thus the silence here on the WWW.
The good news is I have ongoing responsibilities with my forensic injuneering work including a new project at a university in New England and I'm going to run over and help frame out the lumber on my basement design project next week and we have company coming to town for the NASCAR race at Bristol, TN and once the stupid attorneys get my funds wired over I can start adding onto the Turbo Pup's deck and put in a new kitchen floor.
In the middle of all that ruckus my high school class of 1977 is meeting down on the Florida Gulf coast (Owl Gore Hurricanes permitting) over labor Day to celebrate every one's 50th birthday...so we pretty much have a busy month of stuff to do ahead of us without packing up and moving back to Atlanta.
Just like moving here from our little island on the Georgia coast was a major transformation, the move to Atlanta and taking on the responsibility as project manager of a $140,000,000 fluidized bed boiler project would have been a mental and physical cultural shock which possibly I wasn't prepared to accept...
and as Doris Day used to say...
Que Sera Sera...
I'm
I'm also happy to report that as a result Pat and Missy the Turbo Pup and I will continue to be allowed to live here
Good God but I had forgotten how insane the traffic is there in north Atlanta/Norcross.
And it NEVER lets up.
We drove out of town on Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM across the top end "perimeter" Interstate 285 and I swear we needed a few thousand logos and a fancy paint job and a roll cage and helmets on our heads like we were running in a NASCAR race because anyone going less than 75 was basically A BRIDGE or obstacle to the passing drivers.
Four to Six lanes bumper to bumper screaming down the interstate to a halt at Roswell road where someone had blown a tire.
We got back home to find the home Internet down and the so called "legal firm" in Brunswick putzing around finishing the real estate closing document package LATE as usual so I've been busy yelling at Comcast and holding my head in a bucket full of melting ice trying to keep it from exploding for the past 36 hours...thus the silence here on the WWW.
The good news is I have ongoing responsibilities with my forensic injuneering work including a new project at a university in New England and I'm going to run over and help frame out the lumber on my basement design project next week and we have company coming to town for the NASCAR race at Bristol, TN and once the stupid attorneys get my funds wired over I can start adding onto the Turbo Pup's deck and put in a new kitchen floor.
In the middle of all that ruckus my high school class of 1977 is meeting down on the Florida Gulf coast (Owl Gore Hurricanes permitting) over labor Day to celebrate every one's 50th birthday...so we pretty much have a busy month of stuff to do ahead of us without packing up and moving back to Atlanta.
Just like moving here from our little island on the Georgia coast was a major transformation, the move to Atlanta and taking on the responsibility as project manager of a $140,000,000 fluidized bed boiler project would have been a mental and physical cultural shock which possibly I wasn't prepared to accept...
and as Doris Day used to say...
Que Sera Sera...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Back Toward The Turbo Pup Compound...
Employed Or Unemployed?
After a 2-1/2 hour series of interviews Tuesday in one office, we have a 6 AM Departure for home scheduled, with hopes of hearing good news later today.
My recruiter said the last guy lasted about an hour, so I hope the extended nature of our discussions was positive.
It seemed so to me.
Then there's to be a flurry of activity with the Thursday Coastal real estate closing with E-mailing of forms and Notary's and wire transfers.
The good news is that I'm a richer man on Friday regardless the outcome of this latest adventure I guess.
Wish Me luck...if you will...
After a 2-1/2 hour series of interviews Tuesday in one office, we have a 6 AM Departure for home scheduled, with hopes of hearing good news later today.
My recruiter said the last guy lasted about an hour, so I hope the extended nature of our discussions was positive.
It seemed so to me.
Then there's to be a flurry of activity with the Thursday Coastal real estate closing with E-mailing of forms and Notary's and wire transfers.
The good news is that I'm a richer man on Friday regardless the outcome of this latest adventure I guess.
Wish Me luck...if you will...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Live From Hotlanta
I'm Torn With The Prospect Of Moving Back...
Well, we made the drive from Knoxtown to Norcross in the Atlanta suburbs in time to meet with an owner and a real estate agent about finding a house in the area.
I've thus far kept to myself the fact that I have an interview for a KILLER JOB with an international engineering company tomorrow at 9 AM. I survived a phone interview last week and they've been looking at me since last April and if they hire me I'll be making 40% more money than I've ever made in my career.
Of course that's the only way anyone will ever get me back into this giant traffic jam they call Metro Atlanta--BRIBE ME WITH TONS OF CASH.
Any way, we've run around and looked at eight "pet friendly" houses for lease because I learned my lesson buying a house in a town where I didn't need one without a job to go with it...and that's sort of what the Turbo Pup compound became when my old company closed down last December.
Sitting around in my underwear all day as an independent insulting injuneer and forensic nerd is certainly fun and somewhat profitable, but no one at my house is making enough money to retire any time soon and it's time to get down to business and make some real dough to replace that I've frittered away over the past eight or nine years living in Florida and on boats and islands on the Georgia Coast.
This position will strain my professional beach bum mentality but if they offer I'm afraid I'm going to have to accept.
The pony tail may have to go also.
Wish me luck...if you will...
Well, we made the drive from Knoxtown to Norcross in the Atlanta suburbs in time to meet with an owner and a real estate agent about finding a house in the area.
I've thus far kept to myself the fact that I have an interview for a KILLER JOB with an international engineering company tomorrow at 9 AM. I survived a phone interview last week and they've been looking at me since last April and if they hire me I'll be making 40% more money than I've ever made in my career.
Of course that's the only way anyone will ever get me back into this giant traffic jam they call Metro Atlanta--BRIBE ME WITH TONS OF CASH.
Any way, we've run around and looked at eight "pet friendly" houses for lease because I learned my lesson buying a house in a town where I didn't need one without a job to go with it...and that's sort of what the Turbo Pup compound became when my old company closed down last December.
Sitting around in my underwear all day as an independent insulting injuneer and forensic nerd is certainly fun and somewhat profitable, but no one at my house is making enough money to retire any time soon and it's time to get down to business and make some real dough to replace that I've frittered away over the past eight or nine years living in Florida and on boats and islands on the Georgia Coast.
This position will strain my professional beach bum mentality but if they offer I'm afraid I'm going to have to accept.
The pony tail may have to go also.
Wish me luck...if you will...
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Leaf Blowers & Hurricanes
Can't Live With Them...I Say We Maim & Disfigure The People Responsible...
Meanwhile, in local news, the lawn guy stopped by a day late this week to provide me with my $40 worth of noise, dust, and mental torture.
We covered the Turbo Pup's pool the day before because we saw him drive by, but then he pulled a magic trick and disappeared after only cutting a couple of adjacent lawns.
Then Friday we uncovered the pool to do some maintenance and sit around in it and sure enough here he comes again ...at lunch time rather than the usual 4 PM, and we had to recover the pool and I had to stop work on my never ending front porch refinishing project. (As a side note I'm happy to report that I finished that month long epic task just in the last hour.)
Any way, I had my head stuck in the computer and didn't pay attention, and dang it if the rocket scientist lost his mind again and forgot these words...
DON'T USE THE LEAF BLOWER IN THE CARPORT.
I was out there just now putting things away and straightening up in anticipation of being in Atlanta/St. Simons this week and having guests this coming weekend and EVERYTHING was covered with lawn clippings and dust.
I swear I'm going to buy a leaf blower, find out where this guy lives, and every time he leaves home I'm going to collect everything I sweep up here in and on my stuff and take it over to his house blow it all in through his dryer & stove hood vents.
And speaking of blowing, I see where we have our third named storm in a week out there in the Atlantic, as the Cape Verdi part of the "official" (I accept no imitations) 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season gets underway.
Owl Gore and his Hippy followers probably have had to change their underwear a couple of times this weekend as they watch the Weather Channel.
"...three storms...that'l teach Rove and Rogers and Bush and all those climate change "Deniers..."
I predict this season to be similar to one of the first seasons that we lived down on St. Simons Island...quite in June & July, then it blasted our socks off in August and September with a whole bunch of little bitty piss ant sized Hurricanes and larger Tropic Storms that rained all over Florida and delivered the Georgia Coast a glancing blow a couple of three times.
It actually made for a bit of sinister macabre excitement as you had to think about buying generators and plywood and whether to pack up and bail out inland or just move the cars to higher ground on the mainland and "ride that sucker out..."
Today I find myself safely blasting the climate change jihadi infidels from a safe distance here on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River while my generator sits in the basement, unopened, still shrink wrapped in it's original packaging.
If you're on the coast and need one I'll make you a deal (retail x 3) but you have to come pick it up...which sort of eliminates the need in the first place.
Regards...Y'all...
Meanwhile, in local news, the lawn guy stopped by a day late this week to provide me with my $40 worth of noise, dust, and mental torture.
We covered the Turbo Pup's pool the day before because we saw him drive by, but then he pulled a magic trick and disappeared after only cutting a couple of adjacent lawns.
Then Friday we uncovered the pool to do some maintenance and sit around in it and sure enough here he comes again ...at lunch time rather than the usual 4 PM, and we had to recover the pool and I had to stop work on my never ending front porch refinishing project. (As a side note I'm happy to report that I finished that month long epic task just in the last hour.)
Any way, I had my head stuck in the computer and didn't pay attention, and dang it if the rocket scientist lost his mind again and forgot these words...
DON'T USE THE LEAF BLOWER IN THE CARPORT.
I was out there just now putting things away and straightening up in anticipation of being in Atlanta/St. Simons this week and having guests this coming weekend and EVERYTHING was covered with lawn clippings and dust.
I swear I'm going to buy a leaf blower, find out where this guy lives, and every time he leaves home I'm going to collect everything I sweep up here in and on my stuff and take it over to his house blow it all in through his dryer & stove hood vents.
And speaking of blowing, I see where we have our third named storm in a week out there in the Atlantic, as the Cape Verdi part of the "official" (I accept no imitations) 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season gets underway.
Owl Gore and his Hippy followers probably have had to change their underwear a couple of times this weekend as they watch the Weather Channel.
"...three storms...that'l teach Rove and Rogers and Bush and all those climate change "Deniers..."
I predict this season to be similar to one of the first seasons that we lived down on St. Simons Island...quite in June & July, then it blasted our socks off in August and September with a whole bunch of little bitty piss ant sized Hurricanes and larger Tropic Storms that rained all over Florida and delivered the Georgia Coast a glancing blow a couple of three times.
It actually made for a bit of sinister macabre excitement as you had to think about buying generators and plywood and whether to pack up and bail out inland or just move the cars to higher ground on the mainland and "ride that sucker out..."
Today I find myself safely blasting the climate change jihadi infidels from a safe distance here on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River while my generator sits in the basement, unopened, still shrink wrapped in it's original packaging.
If you're on the coast and need one I'll make you a deal (retail x 3) but you have to come pick it up...which sort of eliminates the need in the first place.
Regards...Y'all...
Josh Blue...Disabled Comedian
Laugh Along With Me
I caught this guy once late at night on TV and couldn't remember his name...but I found him tonight.
Check him out in these videos:
I caught this guy once late at night on TV and couldn't remember his name...but I found him tonight.
Check him out in these videos:
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Owl Gore & The Global Warming Zombies Celebrate
The First "Cone Of Death" Of The "Official" 2009 Hurricane Season Is Upon Us...
Anybody but me notice it took until mid August???
Anybody but me notice it took until mid August???
Sauce For The Goose
Sauce For The Gander...
Grab yourself a cup of Coffee, Sit back, and Click on this link
and check out House Speaker Nasty Pelosi's position on "Un American Activism"
http://www.breitbart.tv/06-flashback-pelosi-tells-anti-war-protesters-im-a-fan-of-disruptors/
heh...
Grab yourself a cup of Coffee, Sit back, and Click on this link
and check out House Speaker Nasty Pelosi's position on "Un American Activism"
http://www.breitbart.tv/06-flashback-pelosi-tells-anti-war-protesters-im-a-fan-of-disruptors/
heh...
Friday, August 14, 2009
Never Waste A Disaster To Increase Government Control
Hudson River To Become Yet Another "No Fly Zone"?
Back in the late 1950's when my Dad was learning to fly in the Army you could basically get in an airplane, start the engine, and take off in any direction as far as the gas in your gas tank would take you.
By the time I started flight training in 1991 at McCullum airfield in Kennesaw, Georgia the little airport didn't have a control tower but we had to learn to talk on a "Unicom" radio system, maintain a "pattern" and "Pattern Altitude", and stay underneath the screaming fighter jets and lumbering C-130 transport planes from nearby Dobbins Air Reserve Base and the aircraft coming and going into Atlanta's Hartsfield (and now Jackson) International Airport.
The air regulations and restrictions have gotten stricter and stricter since then (ever seen a book called AIM/FAR...Airman Information Manual/Federal Air Regulations?) and before it's over I say basically no one is going to go no where...unless it's on Delta Airlines.
Today after 9/11 you can't fly without government mandate over places like Disney World and Pro and College football stadiums during games in progress and most downtown metro areas (unless you're towing an Ad Banner or are the president in Air Force One.)
Any way, as a result of the recent mid-air collision, does anyone want to bet with me that within the year the Class B airspace under 1000 foot altitude along New York's Hudson River will be changed to be off limits completely or require some kind of new government mandated "permit" to fly within (of course the "permit" is just another form of Tax?)
I say that it will...because the Government just can't restrain itself these days from passing new laws when something happens instead of enforcing the existing laws already in place.
You see, unlike drivers today blabbing and texting on cell phones and wrecking their cars in the process, as a pilot you are trained to be able to fly the airplane, talk on the radio, scan you insturment panel, and look at complex maps while in the air...but YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY IS TO TO KEEP YOUR EYEBALLS FOCUSED 99% OF THE TIME OUTSIDE THE COCKPIT.
It was your job to look for other air traffic, mantain a mental picture of the terrain around you, and even keep in mind flat smooth areas with gliding distance should you lose engine power.
During training I'd be flying along worrying about whatever subject me and my instructor were working on that day and he would just suddenly close the engine throttle and ask "you just lost your engine...what are you going to do and where you going to go?"
Then he would sit there and watch me go through all of the emergency procedures (except calling on the radio) and set the plane up for a landing in a pasture or whatever clear space I was supposed to have noticed in the past five minuets as we were flying along.
Then maybe 500 feet off the ground would he give me engine power again and make me start climbing back up as he told me how dead I would be because of whatever mistakes I had made in the exercise.
Just now I just I had to sit through watching Geraldo Rivera on FOX News ranting about how the air traffic controllers at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport were responsible for the accident this week. The CONTROLLERS...not the PILOTS
BULLCRAP...
If the private plane or helicopter had strayed out of the VFR (visual flight rules) corridor and hit an AIRLINER coming out of Newark or LaGuardia or JFK I'd blame the controller for not making a call, but...
As an aviator I suggest that the Pilots are each responsible for this event, because radios can fail and other people like flight controllers make mistakes or get distracted and in the end it's the PILOT that's responsible for maintaining separation between aircraft, not the government flight controllers.
I guarandamntee you both these pilots were talking to the other people in the cockpit and looking at the ground and pointing and waiving their arms rather than focusing on flying their aircraft like they normally would be doing over rural Kansas.
I know that crap like this I write about is over the heads of or of no interest to much of the general public, but dammit people...
if someone that knows doesn't tell you the details, the media will just leave you stranded sitting around your TV's knowing nothing.
...so know you know.
and you're Welcome.
Back in the late 1950's when my Dad was learning to fly in the Army you could basically get in an airplane, start the engine, and take off in any direction as far as the gas in your gas tank would take you.
By the time I started flight training in 1991 at McCullum airfield in Kennesaw, Georgia the little airport didn't have a control tower but we had to learn to talk on a "Unicom" radio system, maintain a "pattern" and "Pattern Altitude", and stay underneath the screaming fighter jets and lumbering C-130 transport planes from nearby Dobbins Air Reserve Base and the aircraft coming and going into Atlanta's Hartsfield (and now Jackson) International Airport.
The air regulations and restrictions have gotten stricter and stricter since then (ever seen a book called AIM/FAR...Airman Information Manual/Federal Air Regulations?) and before it's over I say basically no one is going to go no where...unless it's on Delta Airlines.
Today after 9/11 you can't fly without government mandate over places like Disney World and Pro and College football stadiums during games in progress and most downtown metro areas (unless you're towing an Ad Banner or are the president in Air Force One.)
Any way, as a result of the recent mid-air collision, does anyone want to bet with me that within the year the Class B airspace under 1000 foot altitude along New York's Hudson River will be changed to be off limits completely or require some kind of new government mandated "permit" to fly within (of course the "permit" is just another form of Tax?)
I say that it will...because the Government just can't restrain itself these days from passing new laws when something happens instead of enforcing the existing laws already in place.
You see, unlike drivers today blabbing and texting on cell phones and wrecking their cars in the process, as a pilot you are trained to be able to fly the airplane, talk on the radio, scan you insturment panel, and look at complex maps while in the air...but YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY IS TO TO KEEP YOUR EYEBALLS FOCUSED 99% OF THE TIME OUTSIDE THE COCKPIT.
It was your job to look for other air traffic, mantain a mental picture of the terrain around you, and even keep in mind flat smooth areas with gliding distance should you lose engine power.
During training I'd be flying along worrying about whatever subject me and my instructor were working on that day and he would just suddenly close the engine throttle and ask "you just lost your engine...what are you going to do and where you going to go?"
Then he would sit there and watch me go through all of the emergency procedures (except calling on the radio) and set the plane up for a landing in a pasture or whatever clear space I was supposed to have noticed in the past five minuets as we were flying along.
Then maybe 500 feet off the ground would he give me engine power again and make me start climbing back up as he told me how dead I would be because of whatever mistakes I had made in the exercise.
Just now I just I had to sit through watching Geraldo Rivera on FOX News ranting about how the air traffic controllers at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport were responsible for the accident this week. The CONTROLLERS...not the PILOTS
BULLCRAP...
If the private plane or helicopter had strayed out of the VFR (visual flight rules) corridor and hit an AIRLINER coming out of Newark or LaGuardia or JFK I'd blame the controller for not making a call, but...
As an aviator I suggest that the Pilots are each responsible for this event, because radios can fail and other people like flight controllers make mistakes or get distracted and in the end it's the PILOT that's responsible for maintaining separation between aircraft, not the government flight controllers.
I guarandamntee you both these pilots were talking to the other people in the cockpit and looking at the ground and pointing and waiving their arms rather than focusing on flying their aircraft like they normally would be doing over rural Kansas.
I know that crap like this I write about is over the heads of or of no interest to much of the general public, but dammit people...
if someone that knows doesn't tell you the details, the media will just leave you stranded sitting around your TV's knowing nothing.
...so know you know.
and you're Welcome.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
dISTRACTED
drAWING AND cALCULATING AND tIRED OF bITCHING & cOMPLAINING
Oh...where to start this morning...
Since my last rant (which I think was one of my better ones although a bit coarse in language), all I've been doing is thinking about thinking about some things I need to get done around the Turbo Pup Compound, doing a little drawing and design work for myself and some clients, reading depositions on the latest Forensic Engineering lawsuit, and negotiating a real estate deal which hopefully gets me out of the slumlord/investment rental property on the Georgia Coast.
As of August 20th I will only own one piece of real estate, and I'm darned glad to see that extra property go. All in all I had a terrible experience trying to buy and improve an inner city property in an area where the residents generally behave as animals and criminals and their plight will hardly improve no matter how much money and effort is poured into their community by the government and private investors.
That's not a "Racist" statement...that's just a fact speaking from first hand experience gained over five years.
I wish I could snag another good deal on an investment property but right now with things as they are I think I'm just going to make some more improvements on the Tennessee house and hold the rest of the funds in reserve for a rainy day.
Remember I'm "officially" unemployed...living from project to project like an injuneering hobo.
Meanwhile I'm still sitting here amazed at the stupidity and insanity I see around me in the world...public and private and political, and as a result I remain dedicated to redoubling my efforts to solidify my family's positions financially on a cash flow and long term investment basis before the government idiots and our society's bands of "looters" (per Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged") end up standing on my doorstep wanting even more of the value of my personal efforts in the form of new and increased taxes.
Tomorrow I might even emerge from my office and bedroom and actually get some more work done on the never ending front porch refinishing project because phase two of the rear deck project is on the horizon in the next 30 days.
I'm thinking of building a simple "outdoor kitchen" on this next pile of deck lumber as I more than double the size of the deck surface area...including built in seating, counter space, a little refrigerator, a sink, and a built in gas grill to augment my Webber Kettle Charcoal grill.
I say Charcoal rules, but Gas has it's advantages when you need to use a burner to steam crab or keep a bunch of food hot and don't want to heat and stink the house up in the summertime.
And if things keep pissing me off and people keep bothering me I may just end up mounting a surplus machine gun turret adjacent to the new rooftop cruise missile launch platform and radar installation I'm designing...
Don't be surprised...remember someone (I think it was Ben Franklin) said...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...
Oh...where to start this morning...
Since my last rant (which I think was one of my better ones although a bit coarse in language), all I've been doing is thinking about thinking about some things I need to get done around the Turbo Pup Compound, doing a little drawing and design work for myself and some clients, reading depositions on the latest Forensic Engineering lawsuit, and negotiating a real estate deal which hopefully gets me out of the slumlord/investment rental property on the Georgia Coast.
As of August 20th I will only own one piece of real estate, and I'm darned glad to see that extra property go. All in all I had a terrible experience trying to buy and improve an inner city property in an area where the residents generally behave as animals and criminals and their plight will hardly improve no matter how much money and effort is poured into their community by the government and private investors.
That's not a "Racist" statement...that's just a fact speaking from first hand experience gained over five years.
I wish I could snag another good deal on an investment property but right now with things as they are I think I'm just going to make some more improvements on the Tennessee house and hold the rest of the funds in reserve for a rainy day.
Remember I'm "officially" unemployed...living from project to project like an injuneering hobo.
Meanwhile I'm still sitting here amazed at the stupidity and insanity I see around me in the world...public and private and political, and as a result I remain dedicated to redoubling my efforts to solidify my family's positions financially on a cash flow and long term investment basis before the government idiots and our society's bands of "looters" (per Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged") end up standing on my doorstep wanting even more of the value of my personal efforts in the form of new and increased taxes.
Tomorrow I might even emerge from my office and bedroom and actually get some more work done on the never ending front porch refinishing project because phase two of the rear deck project is on the horizon in the next 30 days.
I'm thinking of building a simple "outdoor kitchen" on this next pile of deck lumber as I more than double the size of the deck surface area...including built in seating, counter space, a little refrigerator, a sink, and a built in gas grill to augment my Webber Kettle Charcoal grill.
I say Charcoal rules, but Gas has it's advantages when you need to use a burner to steam crab or keep a bunch of food hot and don't want to heat and stink the house up in the summertime.
And if things keep pissing me off and people keep bothering me I may just end up mounting a surplus machine gun turret adjacent to the new rooftop cruise missile launch platform and radar installation I'm designing...
Don't be surprised...remember someone (I think it was Ben Franklin) said...an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...
Monday, August 10, 2009
Five Years Of Blogging
I just realized that today I celebrate my fifth anniversary as a Blogger.
Sometimes it seems longer than that, but most of the time it doesn't seem like that long ago that I pounded out the first words on my keyboard intended for public consumption.
After all, the words were already overflowing out of my brain any way, and so it made sense when my friend Tripp suggested I capture them and put them up on the Internet for everyone to enjoy...or not.
So it's with very little pomp and circumstance that I present not the first, but the second piece I wrote titled "Washing Your Underwear In Public" and first published on August 11th, 2004 while visiting Chicago with Pat:
Spending ten continuous days living out of suitcases in a hotel room brings me back to a reality that I have spent very little time with since college—the Public Laundry.
That’s what the sign on the door says here at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites in Elgin, IL.
Laundromat, Wash-O-Matic, Rinse-and-Wring, call it what you may, each and every visit provides a wealth of entertainment opportunities and interesting insights into human nature, and invariably brings you into contact with persons and situations with which you could otherwise do without.
Of course I have had, through the years, intermittent opportunities to further develop and maintain my college developed skills in the public cleansing of my most personal clothing items. The issue of boxers or briefs become quite evident unless you properly sort, handle, and maintain control of your clothing items before and during your visit to the local “Palace of Clean Clothing” (POCC for short.)
For instance, there was that time when I ran away from home, after separating from my ex-wife, and I was forced to give her the old Kenmore washer and worse, the old Kenmore dryer I had recently, lovingly, totally rebuilt for a cost of a hundred thirty six dollars and fifty-five cents (or something like that.) The personal cost of a weekend of cursing and scraped knuckles was extra. I later learned that she promptly discarded both the washer and dryer in favor of brand new equipment once the divorce was final—she just didn’t want me to have them. She tried the same thing with the 30-year-old Snapper self-propelled mower I had also rebuilt, but you know how it is with a man and his lawnmower. I think that lawn mower cost me about five thousand dollars in the final settlement, but it was worth every damn penny.
Any way, back to the local POCC. I rode the elevator down to the second floor about one o’clock this afternoon, carrying our white clothes and my four-dollar mini-box of detergent, purchased from Rashee, the friendly Indian proprietor of the lobby gift shop. Somehow, I avoided buying a genuine imitation Rolex watch or a cigarette lighter that looks like a pistol (against FAA regulations, you know)--but I was awfully tempted.
Upon arrival in the POCC, I found one of the two washers filled with someone’s unwashed blue jeans and one of the two dryers in mid cycle. Undaunted, my heart full of hope, I launched the load of white clothes with $1.00 worth of quarters, $1.50 worth of detergent, and planned my return 20 minutes later with the colored clothes. Wrong you stupid, white, redneck man.
Upon my return twenty minutes later I found BOTH dryers in operation and the load of blue jeans mysteriously in mid-wash cycle. This was war. What (or whom) was in that second dryer? I again left the POCC briefly, planning to catch the one dryer at the end of its cycle and then load MY own second load into MY washer. Again, wrong, you paleface redneck. Another ten minutes and another three floor round trip on the elevator found me and a four foot tall middle eastern woman glancing furtively at each other as she partially unloaded both dryers and fumbled with clothing of all sizes from 6x to Jolly Green Giant. Was this woman running a laundry service out of the Holiday Inn POCC? Could be…
Another elevator trip up three floors, another ten minutes writing this story, and back to the POCC where I found both washers empty, one dryer available, and the little woman with the red dot on her forehead nowhere to be seen. I sprang into action, untieing the sleeves of my dress shirts from the knot they invariably form in the rinse cycle and gleefully launching another $2.50 worth of quarters and detergent into action. An additional dollar bought me the services of the available dryer. I was turning the corner, in the home stretch now, ladies and gentlemen.
Three floors down, and three floors back, and my heart is still singing the pleasures of clean, although slightly damp and wrinkled clothing. The aforementioned mysterious load of blue jeans was doing nicely in the dryer also.
Got to run, now…I have a dollar date with a lovely, appliance-white-colored clothes dryer. She’s mine, Mine, MINE I said, ALL MINE, get away, dammit… I THINK I NEED A DRINK.
Yawn...
I'm Just Too Tired of Being Too Tired...
The way I see it today, most of the people out there that aren't STUPID are CRAZY...
and they're allowed to VOTE...
(and if you're a regular reader of this blog don't go getting all angry and insulted because most likely I'm not talking about YOU...but still...)
a disproportionate number of them (the aforementioned STUPID or CRAZY people) seem to be working in media and/or call themselves "journalists."
and that just bugs the CRAP out of me almost to the point of tears these days.
I'm coming up on the ripe old age of 50 early next month, and if they give me about ten more years of putting up with this crap I'm concerned that I'm likely to go to jail for the rest of what's left of my life for beating some Ivy league "journalist" to death with my walking stick.
Or as I gain more weight (6'3" tall, 250 pounds now) maybe I'll just knock them over yelling at them and sit on their chest until they quit breathing.
Then at least I'll get credit for coining the term murder by "Assfixication."
Dammit...
The way I see it today, most of the people out there that aren't STUPID are CRAZY...
and they're allowed to VOTE...
(and if you're a regular reader of this blog don't go getting all angry and insulted because most likely I'm not talking about YOU...but still...)
a disproportionate number of them (the aforementioned STUPID or CRAZY people) seem to be working in media and/or call themselves "journalists."
and that just bugs the CRAP out of me almost to the point of tears these days.
I'm coming up on the ripe old age of 50 early next month, and if they give me about ten more years of putting up with this crap I'm concerned that I'm likely to go to jail for the rest of what's left of my life for beating some Ivy league "journalist" to death with my walking stick.
Or as I gain more weight (6'3" tall, 250 pounds now) maybe I'll just knock them over yelling at them and sit on their chest until they quit breathing.
Then at least I'll get credit for coining the term murder by "Assfixication."
Dammit...
Saturday, August 08, 2009
Friday, August 07, 2009
?
Think About This...
You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity . . . .
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving . . . .
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else . . . .
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation . . . .
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
- Adrian Rogers
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
- Thomas Jefferson
You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity . . . .
What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving . . . .
The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else . . . .
When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation . . . .
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
- Adrian Rogers
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.
- Thomas Jefferson
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
The Weather Nerds Aren't Actually "FORECASTING"...
They're "BROADCASTING"...
OK Ladies and Gentlemen...(taking a big breath)
I just saw where the so-called "Experts", to the dismay of Owl Gore and the hysterical, sniveling, booger eating eco-friendly, tree hugging man made global warming crowd...
just down graded their predictions for this year's Atlantic Hurricane season.
GASP!!!
You can read the story here:
And here's the money statement...
"This is the quietest start for more than a decade. The last time a storm didn't form until August 5 was back in 1992," Klotzbach said.
This from the exact samestupid partisan government sponsored idiots rocket scientists who always try to tell us what is going to happen next year when they can't tell me if it is going to rain here on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River next week.
And the lamestream media never covers the retractions and reductions like they cover the next storm that kills "the disenfranchised" or displaces "working families" or disproportionately affects "minorities."
I'm so pissed off about this global warming CRAP that I'm thinking about posting about it every SINGLE DAY until the end of this "Hurricane Season" just to remind what few readers I have of how ludicrous the whole "prediction fascination" and "government control of the weather" phenomena is.
Based on our experience living on our little island on the Georgia coast earlier this decade...I'll have to laugh my ass off when the western Atlantic and the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico lights up like crazy and we get a huge number of storms in a close procession through October...thereby proving that man/womankind isn't in control of and has no effect on the weather and our predictions are mere news stories and political fodder for the idiots and paid politicians in our society to debate.
dammit...
OK Ladies and Gentlemen...(taking a big breath)
I just saw where the so-called "Experts", to the dismay of Owl Gore and the hysterical, sniveling, booger eating eco-friendly, tree hugging man made global warming crowd...
just down graded their predictions for this year's Atlantic Hurricane season.
GASP!!!
You can read the story here:
And here's the money statement...
"This is the quietest start for more than a decade. The last time a storm didn't form until August 5 was back in 1992," Klotzbach said.
This from the exact same
And the lamestream media never covers the retractions and reductions like they cover the next storm that kills "the disenfranchised" or displaces "working families" or disproportionately affects "minorities."
I'm so pissed off about this global warming CRAP that I'm thinking about posting about it every SINGLE DAY until the end of this "Hurricane Season" just to remind what few readers I have of how ludicrous the whole "prediction fascination" and "government control of the weather" phenomena is.
Based on our experience living on our little island on the Georgia coast earlier this decade...I'll have to laugh my ass off when the western Atlantic and the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico lights up like crazy and we get a huge number of storms in a close procession through October...thereby proving that man/womankind isn't in control of and has no effect on the weather and our predictions are mere news stories and political fodder for the idiots and paid politicians in our society to debate.
dammit...
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Kill The Lying, Thieving, Pompous Democratic Bastards
And Grind Their Bones To Make My Bread...
Maybe there really is hope for your Children and Grand Children...
(As for ME personally...long before I'm most likely gonna be out of this slowly failing, decaying earthly body...far...far...away from John "Served in Vietnam" sKerry / Ed "Jabba the Hut" Kennedy / "sHillary" Clinton / Arlen" Spinchter" / Obama Rama ding Dang's Socialistic Idealistic Unattainable Genocidal pandering wealth distribution legacy BULLSHIT regardless.)
Maybe there really is hope for your Children and Grand Children...
(As for ME personally...long before I'm most likely gonna be out of this slowly failing, decaying earthly body...far...far...away from John "Served in Vietnam" sKerry / Ed "Jabba the Hut" Kennedy / "sHillary" Clinton / Arlen" Spinchter" / Obama Rama ding Dang's Socialistic Idealistic Unattainable Genocidal pandering wealth distribution legacy BULLSHIT regardless.)
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Driving Instead of Driveling
East Tennessee Here We Come...
On the road at 7 AM.
Wish us a safe trip.
I'll try to write something nice when I get home.
Regards Y'all...
On the road at 7 AM.
Wish us a safe trip.
I'll try to write something nice when I get home.
Regards Y'all...
