Where Is This Information When We're Doing Important Stuff Like VOTING For President?
I know that it doesn't really matter because the country elected the son, not the father, for the office of President, but Imagine if something like this ASSociated Press story via Politico.com about Obama's father had come out about the parents of candidates during the election efforts of Bob Dole or Newt Gingrich...or even Ronald Reagan or George Bush?
"BOSTON--President Barack Obama’s father was forced to leave Harvard University before completing his Ph.D. in economics because the school was concerned about his personal life and finances, according to newly public immigration records.
...
Harvard administrators, the memo stated, “were having difficulty with his financial arrangements and couldn’t seem to figure out how many wives he had.”
...
The immigration memos, contained in the elder Obama’s Immigration and Naturalization file, were given to a Boston Globe reporter in 2009 through a Freedom of Information request. The papers were first made public Wednesday by The Arizona Independent, a weekly newspaper. The Associated Press obtained copies of them on Friday.
Concerns about Obama’s personal life while he had been studying in the U.S. had been raised previously, according to the INS documents.
In 1961, while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaii, the school’s foreign student adviser called an immigration official and said Obama had recently married StanleyAnn Dunham - the president’s mother - despite already having a wife in Kenya.
According to a memo written by an INS official in Honolulu, the adviser said Obama had been “running around with several girls since he first arrived here and last summer she cautioned him about his playboy ways.”
Obama told the adviser that he had divorced his wife in Kenya.
He told the president’s mother the same thing, though she would later learn it was a lie.
Obama worked for an oil company and as a government economist after returning to Africa, but his personal and professional life would later deteriorate. He died in a car crash in 1982, when the future president was 21 and a student at Columbia University."
See, the guy we have supposedly running the country has been proven to be a liar and a poser and a fraud on so many levels that it really frightens me not that he ran for office but that our country full of apparently useful idiots with voting rights actually elected him to office.
He even comes from a family of shadowy dysfunctional out of the mainstream--black or white--people which would hardly be considered normal today let alone in the early/mid 1960's.
And I don't give a flying crap if his skin color is white or black or green, he's still a dangerous socialist that hates the American way of life because he never actually lived it until he rose to power and started having other people pay for his lavish lifestyle.
And that's all I have to say about that...
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
My Blog Idols Over At PowerLine Have It Right...
I wrote a fairly testy posting earlier this morning while I was feeling all cranky about the "Royal Wedding" and the amount of time the TV Networks and apparently a large portion of our population was wasting watching the proceedings.
Don't get me wrong here...
As a devout Libertarian (for lack of a better qualifying political moniker), I believe that you should be allowed by society and our government to endlessly expend your time (i.e. waste your fleeting seconds of life on this planet) worrying about Wealthy Celebrities out in Hollywood or the marriage of the offspring of ancient family members of dysfunctional former out of date Feudal European governments....
...or playing Playstation games...
... or just spending a comfortable afternoon picking your nose while sitting naked in a beanbag chair eating Cheese Puffs looking at MTV.
As Internationally famous Atlanta Talk Show Host Neal Boortz says... (and I paraphrase):
"If whatever you do or want to do doesn't interfere with or infringe upon the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property rights of another person or persons, feel free to continue to do it and resist with great vigor any government action or mob (We're a REPUBLIC...not a DEMOCRACY) effort to stop you and like minded people for pursuing your endeavors.
Thus...
If you are interested in the private affairs of idiots that happen to be good looking enough and/or smart enough and/or lucky enough to make a fortune by having people like you buy tickets and throw money at them to appear on TV or film is your thing, GO FOR IT!
But then again, when you step back and realise that YOU don't figure into the fame and fortune equation in any way other than expending your capitol...mental and physical and financial...to the process...
...and that in the end you don't really own anything as a result of wearing a T-shirt with a sports team name or other capitalistic product brand logo or image...
...other than the actual market value of an over priced T-shirt...
then I guess that you get what you deserve in the end...just don't come crying to me or start voting for some politician to come pick my pocket and take some of what little money I've managed to earn ignoring such folly and actually working for a living and paying attention to more important matters at hand.
(remember the aforementioned Neal Boortz quote about infringing on my rights as owner of my property and God given freedoms)
And now I digress...
John Hinderaker, one of the fellows that writes over at Powerline Blog was having basically the same feelings I was having this morning because his wife was going to get up to watch the whole pompous wedding extravaganza in England or Great Briton or whatever they call it these days, and in the process in his writing he pointed out these two YouTube videos:
This one is a real wedding video sequence I missed when it was first published on YouTube but has had something like 65 million hits to date:
Then T-Mobile proceeded to produce this knock off recently of this similar video featuring the "Royals" with some surprising look alikes playing the parts:
And with this about that, all I have to say is...
Heh....
I wrote a fairly testy posting earlier this morning while I was feeling all cranky about the "Royal Wedding" and the amount of time the TV Networks and apparently a large portion of our population was wasting watching the proceedings.
Don't get me wrong here...
As a devout Libertarian (for lack of a better qualifying political moniker), I believe that you should be allowed by society and our government to endlessly expend your time (i.e. waste your fleeting seconds of life on this planet) worrying about Wealthy Celebrities out in Hollywood or the marriage of the offspring of ancient family members of dysfunctional former out of date Feudal European governments....
...or playing Playstation games...
... or just spending a comfortable afternoon picking your nose while sitting naked in a beanbag chair eating Cheese Puffs looking at MTV.
As Internationally famous Atlanta Talk Show Host Neal Boortz says... (and I paraphrase):
"If whatever you do or want to do doesn't interfere with or infringe upon the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property rights of another person or persons, feel free to continue to do it and resist with great vigor any government action or mob (We're a REPUBLIC...not a DEMOCRACY) effort to stop you and like minded people for pursuing your endeavors.
Thus...
If you are interested in the private affairs of idiots that happen to be good looking enough and/or smart enough and/or lucky enough to make a fortune by having people like you buy tickets and throw money at them to appear on TV or film is your thing, GO FOR IT!
But then again, when you step back and realise that YOU don't figure into the fame and fortune equation in any way other than expending your capitol...mental and physical and financial...to the process...
...and that in the end you don't really own anything as a result of wearing a T-shirt with a sports team name or other capitalistic product brand logo or image...
...other than the actual market value of an over priced T-shirt...
then I guess that you get what you deserve in the end...just don't come crying to me or start voting for some politician to come pick my pocket and take some of what little money I've managed to earn ignoring such folly and actually working for a living and paying attention to more important matters at hand.
(remember the aforementioned Neal Boortz quote about infringing on my rights as owner of my property and God given freedoms)
And now I digress...
John Hinderaker, one of the fellows that writes over at Powerline Blog was having basically the same feelings I was having this morning because his wife was going to get up to watch the whole pompous wedding extravaganza in England or Great Briton or whatever they call it these days, and in the process in his writing he pointed out these two YouTube videos:
This one is a real wedding video sequence I missed when it was first published on YouTube but has had something like 65 million hits to date:
Then T-Mobile proceeded to produce this knock off recently of this similar video featuring the "Royals" with some surprising look alikes playing the parts:
And with this about that, all I have to say is...
Heh....
At The "Royal" Wedding--Would They Call Me "The Duke of Fillibuster"?
Somebody Just Kill Me For Not Giving A Flying %$#@?
I've just spent an hour in my basement vacuuming about five gallons of water out of the carpet in little Missy the Turbo Pup's Mom's office.
Then I finally managed to get into the shop and get the computer workstation back in order and in the process I turned on my shop TV for a background distraction and within five minutes FOX News had lulled me into a catatonic stupor.
Sort of like being forced to watch the all day build up on ESPN of the coverage of the Super Bowl.
Can't they just show the event and get it over with for God's sake?
Plueassssseeeeee...
For some silly reason I don't give any more of a crap about a wedding in England than I care about the latest exploits of Brittany Spears or any other stupid freaking celebrity bimbo here on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Let's admit it...our country is going to hell in a hand basket financially...
We have wild eyed, towel headed Islamic Jihadist Terrorists wanting to kill us...
...and yet it seems that the entire planet is all caught up in a stupid wedding ceremony that at best will last an insufferable lifetime and will probably not change England's plight in leading Europe down the toilet of "Communism/Socialism Lite."
With England and France and the rest of Europe kow-towing and kissing Arab Islamic Butts at every opportunity, I wouldn't be surprised if some stupid "shoe bomber" or "underwear bomber" trying to use today's event as a way to make another "statement" about the conflict between the western civilizations and the middle eastern islamo-fascistic-idiots.
(I admit that it's not easy being a professional mean old angry curmudgeonly asshole...but somebody has to do it and I find myself particularly adept at it this morning...)
...and you're welcome...
I've just spent an hour in my basement vacuuming about five gallons of water out of the carpet in little Missy the Turbo Pup's Mom's office.
Then I finally managed to get into the shop and get the computer workstation back in order and in the process I turned on my shop TV for a background distraction and within five minutes FOX News had lulled me into a catatonic stupor.
Sort of like being forced to watch the all day build up on ESPN of the coverage of the Super Bowl.
Can't they just show the event and get it over with for God's sake?
Plueassssseeeeee...
For some silly reason I don't give any more of a crap about a wedding in England than I care about the latest exploits of Brittany Spears or any other stupid freaking celebrity bimbo here on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Let's admit it...our country is going to hell in a hand basket financially...
We have wild eyed, towel headed Islamic Jihadist Terrorists wanting to kill us...
...and yet it seems that the entire planet is all caught up in a stupid wedding ceremony that at best will last an insufferable lifetime and will probably not change England's plight in leading Europe down the toilet of "Communism/Socialism Lite."
With England and France and the rest of Europe kow-towing and kissing Arab Islamic Butts at every opportunity, I wouldn't be surprised if some stupid "shoe bomber" or "underwear bomber" trying to use today's event as a way to make another "statement" about the conflict between the western civilizations and the middle eastern islamo-fascistic-idiots.
(I admit that it's not easy being a professional mean old angry curmudgeonly asshole...but somebody has to do it and I find myself particularly adept at it this morning...)
...and you're welcome...
"Their Is No Cure For Birth Or Death Save To Enjoy The Interval"
"Those That Cannot Remember The Past Are Condemned To Repeat It..."
OK Ladies and Gentlemen...I open this morning's blog dissertation amid the Chaos which describes the conditions here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River with a couple of quotations from philosopher/essayist George Santayana, an often quoted (and misquoted) gentleman which has come to my attention recently.
This guy thought and wrote and said some pretty profound stuff in his day, in my considered Redneck Opinion.
Take these additional dittys as a for instance:
"It is not society's fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation."
"Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment."
"The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to be."
Or how about these two sayings?
"The living have never shown me how to live."
"Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace."
Pretty good stuff...in simple sentences, wouldn't you say?
Now with all of that in mind, and moving on proceeding past the distractions of philosophy and literature this morning...
I have to admit that I don't know whether to laugh or cry because my little world is basically upside down and everywhere I look there is something new to do or that begs to be done, and all of the new stuff falls on top of a giant list of things I was already planning to do in the month of May.
The interesting thing is the composure and peace the good Lord has blessed me with in moving forward and dealing with stuff which would historically elicit a hysterical reaction from me.
You see, my problem is that I know what needs to be done, and I generally know how to do it, and the Devil is in the Details of deciding what to try to do all by myself versus hiring someone--possibly a well intended idiot or outright thief--to do any given task.
But for some reason I'm cruising along this morning--possibly heading with the other Lemmings and Sheep to my demise falling over the cliff...
Or maybe I'm just starting to mellow out in my old age, sort of like a old rooster stops crowing and fighting or an old stud bull past his prime decides to stop stomping and snorting and just hang around the pasture eating the sweet clover while letting the other younger bulls fight it out over the territory.
OK...Enough rambling already, I have a date in my basement with some wet carpet and a new box fan I bought at Home Depot yesterday.
If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours...somebody organize a search party...
OK Ladies and Gentlemen...I open this morning's blog dissertation amid the Chaos which describes the conditions here at the Turbo Pup Compound on the banks of the Mighty Tennessee River with a couple of quotations from philosopher/essayist George Santayana, an often quoted (and misquoted) gentleman which has come to my attention recently.
This guy thought and wrote and said some pretty profound stuff in his day, in my considered Redneck Opinion.
Take these additional dittys as a for instance:
"It is not society's fault that most men seem to miss their vocation. Most men have no vocation."
"Happiness is the only sanction of life; where happiness fails, existence remains a mad and lamentable experiment."
"The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to be."
Or how about these two sayings?
"The living have never shown me how to live."
"Religion in its humility restores man to his only dignity, the courage to live by grace."
Pretty good stuff...in simple sentences, wouldn't you say?
Now with all of that in mind, and moving on proceeding past the distractions of philosophy and literature this morning...
I have to admit that I don't know whether to laugh or cry because my little world is basically upside down and everywhere I look there is something new to do or that begs to be done, and all of the new stuff falls on top of a giant list of things I was already planning to do in the month of May.
The interesting thing is the composure and peace the good Lord has blessed me with in moving forward and dealing with stuff which would historically elicit a hysterical reaction from me.
You see, my problem is that I know what needs to be done, and I generally know how to do it, and the Devil is in the Details of deciding what to try to do all by myself versus hiring someone--possibly a well intended idiot or outright thief--to do any given task.
But for some reason I'm cruising along this morning--possibly heading with the other Lemmings and Sheep to my demise falling over the cliff...
Or maybe I'm just starting to mellow out in my old age, sort of like a old rooster stops crowing and fighting or an old stud bull past his prime decides to stop stomping and snorting and just hang around the pasture eating the sweet clover while letting the other younger bulls fight it out over the territory.
OK...Enough rambling already, I have a date in my basement with some wet carpet and a new box fan I bought at Home Depot yesterday.
If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours...somebody organize a search party...
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Lucky To Be Alive
Counting Our Blessings...
This morning and early afternoon finds me on an emotional roller coaster attempting to keep things moving professionally, while at the same time trying to assess the damage from last night's rain/hail storms and get a few things cleaned up after the furry subsided.
The basement floor is a mess but pretty much dried out except around the edges and in corners, but Pat's carpeted office floor is most likely going to be a total loss because the carpet and pad was a bit old and stinky to begin with and the water I'm pulling out of it with a shop vacuum is the color of swamp water.
Outside, I still have a few tomato plants standing but the hail and water onslaught probably killed half of them and even my new Azalea plants had the blooms beat off of them and stems broken completely off by the hailstones.
Just when I start to get all cranky and feel sorry for myself I catch another news story on TV about the things which went on over in Alabama and down in Georgia and in places nearby here in Eastern Tennessee yesterday afternoon and evening.
We were within a few miles of at least two separate funnel clouds last night, so I guess that I should be happy I still have a roof over my head...all-be-it a damaged set of roof shingles
I have three roofing companies scheduled to come look at my roof in the next few days, and in the mean time I guess I'll go climb up there myself and see what's going on.
No leaks as far as I can tell so far, but I can't believe that my shingles weren't torn up based on the other damage I see on the ground.
Regards Y'all...
This morning and early afternoon finds me on an emotional roller coaster attempting to keep things moving professionally, while at the same time trying to assess the damage from last night's rain/hail storms and get a few things cleaned up after the furry subsided.
The basement floor is a mess but pretty much dried out except around the edges and in corners, but Pat's carpeted office floor is most likely going to be a total loss because the carpet and pad was a bit old and stinky to begin with and the water I'm pulling out of it with a shop vacuum is the color of swamp water.
Outside, I still have a few tomato plants standing but the hail and water onslaught probably killed half of them and even my new Azalea plants had the blooms beat off of them and stems broken completely off by the hailstones.
Just when I start to get all cranky and feel sorry for myself I catch another news story on TV about the things which went on over in Alabama and down in Georgia and in places nearby here in Eastern Tennessee yesterday afternoon and evening.
We were within a few miles of at least two separate funnel clouds last night, so I guess that I should be happy I still have a roof over my head...all-be-it a damaged set of roof shingles
I have three roofing companies scheduled to come look at my roof in the next few days, and in the mean time I guess I'll go climb up there myself and see what's going on.
No leaks as far as I can tell so far, but I can't believe that my shingles weren't torn up based on the other damage I see on the ground.
Regards Y'all...
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
"Batten Down The Hatches Captain..."
...And Full Speed Ahead...
I'm sitting here in the dark in my basement shop this evening working on the Old HP Laptop computer running on batteries...
by the light of a flashlight...
...fortunately with the internet Cable modem and router powered by my UPS in the upstairs office.
Right now I'm surrounded by a puddle of water about 1" deep in places around my feet.
You see, we have been POUNDED not once...but TWICE this evening with powerful thunderstorms which I'm sure at one time or other each contained a tornado, and while we missed the tornadic winds we did get excellent examples of pingpong ball to golf ball sized hail for five or ten minutes in each storm.
Then the second storm finally managed to inundate my gutters with torn leaves and other debris, and pile a two foot high dam of hailstones up against my basement door causing my floor drain to stop up and inundate half of my basement including my shop and storage area with about an inch of standing water in some places.
Now the problem is that there is more rain I can see coming on the internet radar, but it's still raining and lightening so much I'm afraid to go outside and try to stand on a ladder and to clear the gutters in the dark.
Maybe I'll get a new shingled roof out of this adventure, else go the path I'm taking with my bank and fire the insurance company and find someone that actually gives a damn in the process.
I knew I should have been working on the roof cleaning gutters rather than chasing a lawn tiller around the back yard last weekend.
Am I getting too old for this crap, or is it just me being lazy?
I'm sitting here in the dark in my basement shop this evening working on the Old HP Laptop computer running on batteries...
by the light of a flashlight...
...fortunately with the internet Cable modem and router powered by my UPS in the upstairs office.
Right now I'm surrounded by a puddle of water about 1" deep in places around my feet.
You see, we have been POUNDED not once...but TWICE this evening with powerful thunderstorms which I'm sure at one time or other each contained a tornado, and while we missed the tornadic winds we did get excellent examples of pingpong ball to golf ball sized hail for five or ten minutes in each storm.
Then the second storm finally managed to inundate my gutters with torn leaves and other debris, and pile a two foot high dam of hailstones up against my basement door causing my floor drain to stop up and inundate half of my basement including my shop and storage area with about an inch of standing water in some places.
Now the problem is that there is more rain I can see coming on the internet radar, but it's still raining and lightening so much I'm afraid to go outside and try to stand on a ladder and to clear the gutters in the dark.
Maybe I'll get a new shingled roof out of this adventure, else go the path I'm taking with my bank and fire the insurance company and find someone that actually gives a damn in the process.
I knew I should have been working on the roof cleaning gutters rather than chasing a lawn tiller around the back yard last weekend.
Am I getting too old for this crap, or is it just me being lazy?
Firing My Bank?
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow...
Right now I've had it up to HERE...Ladies and Gentlemen (pointing to the top of my ever Greying, ever balding head) with my Bank.
OK...actually my "Credit Union" to be more specific, but still...
What a bunch of ignorant, mealy mouthed, cross eyed buffoons they have over there working in the so-called "managment" positions at the University of Tennessee Federal Credit Union.
Seriously, I don't use the bully pullpit of this blog and the Internet randomly to take undeserving shots at people and things which I don't provide ample notice and time to correct any mistakes or problems I have with a person or group or organization, but THIS MORNING...
THIS MORNING I've pretty much had it with UTFCU and the inept people in charge over there at my local branch.
The silly bitch that sits in the chair with the lable of "branch manager" on the office door acts like she could care less if I ever did anything but have Pat's salary direct deposited along with the proceeds from my business coming in the door however I manage to get there, and then she will happily hand me a big old shovel full of "shut the f**k up" flavored cereal along with a puppy treat for the Turbo pup and consider our "banking relationship" complete.
What really pisses me off is a couple of things...the least of which is that I've wasted four years building a non-relationship when I really need a good working relationshp with a banker.
I drove into this town about four years ago with a five figure casheer's check wanting to set up a bank account to support buying the house we currently live in.
By default I picked UTFCU because they had a branch down the road between my new house and the building my new employeer's offices were in.
Pretty simple.
Since then we've never bounced a check with them except one time when some stupid rules about debit card holds at hotels caused them to want to charge us a bunch of "fees" and we had to come in and make them give us most of our money back.
Then when I started my corporation a couple of years ago it was a no brainer to just wander in and open a business account with UTFCU.
That event was the beginning of the end of my relationship with the aforementioned silly bitch running the branch, because in reality...no matter what the "branch manager" says, the UTFCU is not really in the business of business banking.
That day I handed her a check that day for a little over $5,000.
She proceeded to sit on and hold the funds from the aforementioned check for TWO WEEKS after promising me that she would release the funds as soon as the check cleared the issuing bank.
Then the aforementioned silly bitch--the "branch manager"-- proceeded to act like I was crazy and that she had never heard of the idea of releasing funds when a check clears rather than making everyone wait on the bank's "hold policy."
So now without boring you to death with other minutia and details let's just say that it's been one thing after another that I've put up with...little things like screwed up signature cards, and never ending oddesys to try to get into online banking, and not to brag here but after putting several hundred thousand dollars through their doors and into their coffers to have and to hold at my expense...
I'm DONE with my "relationship" with UTFCU this morning...
The problem I have now is not making the same mistake again.
How do I carefully consider and choose a bank, credit union, or other "financial institution" in order to not waste time and get the best service for my $$$?
I was hoping to apply for a credit line for the company this year to support our growth and cash flow needs.
I guess all of that is out the window, but UTFCU's financial health sucks as I've learned doing some research because they made a bunch of bad loans on houses and commercial real estate before the bubble burst so the odds of them opening a credit line for my little Sub S Corporation is nill...thus me making the executive decision this morning to move on to another "financial institution."
I swear I'd just like to go through an entire week without some kind of stupid bullshit rearing it's ugly head and confronting me with trouble and problems I have to address.
Or maybe if God would just have made me STUPID so I could just sit around grinning and not worry about the stuff I worry about most of the time...would that be the answer?
Probably NOT...and on that note...that will be all...FOR NOW...
Right now I've had it up to HERE...Ladies and Gentlemen (pointing to the top of my ever Greying, ever balding head) with my Bank.
OK...actually my "Credit Union" to be more specific, but still...
What a bunch of ignorant, mealy mouthed, cross eyed buffoons they have over there working in the so-called "managment" positions at the University of Tennessee Federal Credit Union.
Seriously, I don't use the bully pullpit of this blog and the Internet randomly to take undeserving shots at people and things which I don't provide ample notice and time to correct any mistakes or problems I have with a person or group or organization, but THIS MORNING...
THIS MORNING I've pretty much had it with UTFCU and the inept people in charge over there at my local branch.
The silly bitch that sits in the chair with the lable of "branch manager" on the office door acts like she could care less if I ever did anything but have Pat's salary direct deposited along with the proceeds from my business coming in the door however I manage to get there, and then she will happily hand me a big old shovel full of "shut the f**k up" flavored cereal along with a puppy treat for the Turbo pup and consider our "banking relationship" complete.
What really pisses me off is a couple of things...the least of which is that I've wasted four years building a non-relationship when I really need a good working relationshp with a banker.
I drove into this town about four years ago with a five figure casheer's check wanting to set up a bank account to support buying the house we currently live in.
By default I picked UTFCU because they had a branch down the road between my new house and the building my new employeer's offices were in.
Pretty simple.
Since then we've never bounced a check with them except one time when some stupid rules about debit card holds at hotels caused them to want to charge us a bunch of "fees" and we had to come in and make them give us most of our money back.
Then when I started my corporation a couple of years ago it was a no brainer to just wander in and open a business account with UTFCU.
That event was the beginning of the end of my relationship with the aforementioned silly bitch running the branch, because in reality...no matter what the "branch manager" says, the UTFCU is not really in the business of business banking.
That day I handed her a check that day for a little over $5,000.
She proceeded to sit on and hold the funds from the aforementioned check for TWO WEEKS after promising me that she would release the funds as soon as the check cleared the issuing bank.
Then the aforementioned silly bitch--the "branch manager"-- proceeded to act like I was crazy and that she had never heard of the idea of releasing funds when a check clears rather than making everyone wait on the bank's "hold policy."
So now without boring you to death with other minutia and details let's just say that it's been one thing after another that I've put up with...little things like screwed up signature cards, and never ending oddesys to try to get into online banking, and not to brag here but after putting several hundred thousand dollars through their doors and into their coffers to have and to hold at my expense...
I'm DONE with my "relationship" with UTFCU this morning...
The problem I have now is not making the same mistake again.
How do I carefully consider and choose a bank, credit union, or other "financial institution" in order to not waste time and get the best service for my $$$?
I was hoping to apply for a credit line for the company this year to support our growth and cash flow needs.
I guess all of that is out the window, but UTFCU's financial health sucks as I've learned doing some research because they made a bunch of bad loans on houses and commercial real estate before the bubble burst so the odds of them opening a credit line for my little Sub S Corporation is nill...thus me making the executive decision this morning to move on to another "financial institution."
I swear I'd just like to go through an entire week without some kind of stupid bullshit rearing it's ugly head and confronting me with trouble and problems I have to address.
Or maybe if God would just have made me STUPID so I could just sit around grinning and not worry about the stuff I worry about most of the time...would that be the answer?
Probably NOT...and on that note...that will be all...FOR NOW...
Monday, April 25, 2011
Lawn Tiller Induced Coma--Part Deaux
I'm Officially A Yard Whimp?
There was a timeabout a hundred years ago about 20 years ago when I did 99% of my own yard work and generally had one of the best looking yards in our little neighborhood of new houses.
I had a Snapper "high vac" riding lawnmower and a Snapper self propelled walk behind, and a weed eater and a leaf blower and a de-thatcher and a drum aeriator and a gas powered chain saw and just about every hand yard tool known to man.
If something needed cut or chopped or trimmed or killed or planted or otherwise maintained, I was your man and had the knowledge and tools to do it.
Fast forward to the year 2011, and I'm not quite sure what happened (except the ex wife took everything but the little Snapper and the weed eater and the leaf blower in the divorce,) but somehow I've turned into the biggest Lawn Whimp in the annals of recorded history I think.
Today all I have in the way of lawn tools at my disposal is a crappy push mower I resurrected from a neighbor's curb side junk pile (I did rebuild the motor however), a couple of garage sale weed eaters, and a (gasp) ELECTRIC chain saw.
Where I come from no self respecting country Redneck would ever be caught DEAD using an ELECTRIC chainsaw. But I'm a City Redneck now so I can balm my conscience a little...that, and I keep it (the electric chainsaw) hidden in the basement most of the time so family and visitors won't see it and only bring it out to use in emergencies. (Things like a tree or tree branch sticking out of my own forehead and such...)
I was thinking of starting a support group for guys that were raised using a real manly GASOLINE powered chain saw and are forced through age and/or circumstance to use the electric powered toy models like I'm forced to operate these days.
So any wayyyy....as I reported on Saturday, being lacking in the home lawn tool department these days, I ran out and rented a Lawn Tiller from Home Depot for a 24 hour period to use getting my garden plots into order.
Twenty four hours would seem like plenty of time to most people, but for me it's in effect a bit of a rip off considering I can only manage to hang on to the thing for about 15 minutes of each hour.
Then if you deduct the time while I'm hanging onto the handles and the engine is actually running (I'm hanging on the rest of the time to keep from falling down), and you'll find that on average I managed to operate my rented lawn tiller for about 5 minutes each hour.
Doing the math, 5 minutes per hour x 24 hours yeilds a grand total of operating time equal to 120 minutes.
In other words...
TWO HOURS.
Of course I didn't actually come outside after dark and run my rented lawn tiller for five minutes each hour...I was real brave and stacked those minutes up for efficiency sake.
Then I started the motor and plowed around in the dirt until one of two things happened.
A. The tiller ran out of gas...only managed to live that long once.
B. Something broke. Since the tiller was a pretty new Honda model, generally whatever broke was inside of or attached to ME.
Going down the list of aches and pains this morning, besides feeling like my brain has sloshed around inside my cranium like I was a Rodeo Rider on a Bull named "Tornado," I guess that the number two area of damage would be my shoulders around my neck, followed in a close third place with my hands...my callous-less hands which are puffy and don't hurt but actually have no feeling in them right now as I try to type--presumably from the nerve damage.
So after going back to WalMart to buy a quarter ton of "Manure" in neat little 40 pound bags, and some more $1 sale tomato plants (I have a dozen now), I grabbed the tiller motor starter rope and got started about noon yesterday and by about 3:30 PM I was ready to surrender the infernal machine back to it's owners in the Rental Tool Department at Home Depot.
Then we stopped by the local hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant and after consuming an order of Pollo and Carne Fajitas and a couple of Jumbo Gold Margaritas on the Rocks with Salt, I came straight home and landed in my bed.
I woke up about Midnight in a stupor, and I swear I could feel EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE IN MY BACK, LEGS, AND ARMS.
That is, if you can call what I have in my body these days Muscles.
The way my body is declining I think that even the word "Flab" would be an overstatement.
If I used the words "my flab is hurting" I think that I'd risk insulting Richard Simmons and his swarm of "Sweating to the Oldies" followers.
Hold on...wait...oh no...I think that the top of my head even hurts right now, but I can't feel it because my hands are numb.
OK, I have to go now and see if I can find a position in bed which doesn't make me want to call 911...
Pray for my recovery...and regards Y'all...
There was a time
I had a Snapper "high vac" riding lawnmower and a Snapper self propelled walk behind, and a weed eater and a leaf blower and a de-thatcher and a drum aeriator and a gas powered chain saw and just about every hand yard tool known to man.
If something needed cut or chopped or trimmed or killed or planted or otherwise maintained, I was your man and had the knowledge and tools to do it.
Fast forward to the year 2011, and I'm not quite sure what happened (except the ex wife took everything but the little Snapper and the weed eater and the leaf blower in the divorce,) but somehow I've turned into the biggest Lawn Whimp in the annals of recorded history I think.
Today all I have in the way of lawn tools at my disposal is a crappy push mower I resurrected from a neighbor's curb side junk pile (I did rebuild the motor however), a couple of garage sale weed eaters, and a (gasp) ELECTRIC chain saw.
Where I come from no self respecting country Redneck would ever be caught DEAD using an ELECTRIC chainsaw. But I'm a City Redneck now so I can balm my conscience a little...that, and I keep it (the electric chainsaw) hidden in the basement most of the time so family and visitors won't see it and only bring it out to use in emergencies. (Things like a tree or tree branch sticking out of my own forehead and such...)
I was thinking of starting a support group for guys that were raised using a real manly GASOLINE powered chain saw and are forced through age and/or circumstance to use the electric powered toy models like I'm forced to operate these days.
So any wayyyy....as I reported on Saturday, being lacking in the home lawn tool department these days, I ran out and rented a Lawn Tiller from Home Depot for a 24 hour period to use getting my garden plots into order.
Twenty four hours would seem like plenty of time to most people, but for me it's in effect a bit of a rip off considering I can only manage to hang on to the thing for about 15 minutes of each hour.
Then if you deduct the time while I'm hanging onto the handles and the engine is actually running (I'm hanging on the rest of the time to keep from falling down), and you'll find that on average I managed to operate my rented lawn tiller for about 5 minutes each hour.
Doing the math, 5 minutes per hour x 24 hours yeilds a grand total of operating time equal to 120 minutes.
In other words...
TWO HOURS.
Of course I didn't actually come outside after dark and run my rented lawn tiller for five minutes each hour...I was real brave and stacked those minutes up for efficiency sake.
Then I started the motor and plowed around in the dirt until one of two things happened.
A. The tiller ran out of gas...only managed to live that long once.
B. Something broke. Since the tiller was a pretty new Honda model, generally whatever broke was inside of or attached to ME.
Going down the list of aches and pains this morning, besides feeling like my brain has sloshed around inside my cranium like I was a Rodeo Rider on a Bull named "Tornado," I guess that the number two area of damage would be my shoulders around my neck, followed in a close third place with my hands...my callous-less hands which are puffy and don't hurt but actually have no feeling in them right now as I try to type--presumably from the nerve damage.
So after going back to WalMart to buy a quarter ton of "Manure" in neat little 40 pound bags, and some more $1 sale tomato plants (I have a dozen now), I grabbed the tiller motor starter rope and got started about noon yesterday and by about 3:30 PM I was ready to surrender the infernal machine back to it's owners in the Rental Tool Department at Home Depot.
Then we stopped by the local hole in the wall Mexican Restaurant and after consuming an order of Pollo and Carne Fajitas and a couple of Jumbo Gold Margaritas on the Rocks with Salt, I came straight home and landed in my bed.
I woke up about Midnight in a stupor, and I swear I could feel EVERY SINGLE MUSCLE IN MY BACK, LEGS, AND ARMS.
That is, if you can call what I have in my body these days Muscles.
The way my body is declining I think that even the word "Flab" would be an overstatement.
If I used the words "my flab is hurting" I think that I'd risk insulting Richard Simmons and his swarm of "Sweating to the Oldies" followers.
Hold on...wait...oh no...I think that the top of my head even hurts right now, but I can't feel it because my hands are numb.
OK, I have to go now and see if I can find a position in bed which doesn't make me want to call 911...
Pray for my recovery...and regards Y'all...
Sunday, April 24, 2011
"An Older Head Can't Be Put On Younger Shoulders"--Batman
My Calculator Died...
I was just sitting here at my desk this morning fooling around with some stuff when I reached for my old cheap TI-30XA calculator.
I thought I was noticing that the display was a little dim yesterday, but now?
NOW?
It's apparently DEAD.
And there's not a little snap close removable panel on the back to access the battery?
I guess I'll get my tiny phillips head screwdriver out and see if I can access it's internals, and if not I'll go back to Walmart and and spend another $19.99 and get a new one this morning.
Like I always say..."if it's not one thing...it's another..."
I was just sitting here at my desk this morning fooling around with some stuff when I reached for my old cheap TI-30XA calculator.
I thought I was noticing that the display was a little dim yesterday, but now?
NOW?
It's apparently DEAD.
And there's not a little snap close removable panel on the back to access the battery?
I guess I'll get my tiny phillips head screwdriver out and see if I can access it's internals, and if not I'll go back to Walmart and and spend another $19.99 and get a new one this morning.
Like I always say..."if it's not one thing...it's another..."
Lawn Tiller Induced Coma
...A Machine Kicks My Ass...
Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I went to bed before dark yesterday and just got back up in the last hour.
You see, yesterday afternoon, in a fit of homeowner induced insanity, I went out and rented a lawn tiller.
I've committed this same crime before, so I knew what I as getting myself into.
But I did it again anyway.
This time I rented for 24 hours, although as usual...
After about the first 15 minutes I was ready to take the darned thing back to Home Depot.
So any way, I managed to get one of the tomato plots tilled up pretty good, and the squash/zucchini bed area is in pretty good shape, and then I wandered over to the other tomato bed and found the ground there to be as hard as a concrete parking lot.
Then I remembered that I didn't do as good a job last year tilling that area and apparently it didn't soften itself up by itself in the off season.
I reluctantly scratched around with the tiller bouncing around on top of the ground for a little while and only managed to get a couple inches into the dirt, and by then I made an executive decision that it was break time.
Then I poured myself a fresh drink and sat down with my neighbor Danny to catch up on the local gossip (My neighbors who are ten years my senior do all of their own lawn work and, because I hire a "lawn guy" to do my lawn they like to watch me when on the rare occasion I actually attempt to do anything in my yard.)
Turns out we were sort of starring in the local tongue waging banter because of Pat's trip to the hospital last week.
Meanwhile, back in the garden, after fooling around making very little progress I made another executive decision.
I took the rest of the afternoon off.
Some people might consider it sacrilegious to spend part of Easter Sunday working in my garden, but the way I look it things the Bible says the Lord helps those that help themselves.
And eating one of the quality tomatoes I grew last year could be considered by some if not many as a Religious experience...thus I balm my conscience with that realization.
So instead of "fishing for men", I'm "tilling for tomatoes" this Easter.
Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I went to bed before dark yesterday and just got back up in the last hour.
You see, yesterday afternoon, in a fit of homeowner induced insanity, I went out and rented a lawn tiller.
I've committed this same crime before, so I knew what I as getting myself into.
But I did it again anyway.
This time I rented for 24 hours, although as usual...
After about the first 15 minutes I was ready to take the darned thing back to Home Depot.
So any way, I managed to get one of the tomato plots tilled up pretty good, and the squash/zucchini bed area is in pretty good shape, and then I wandered over to the other tomato bed and found the ground there to be as hard as a concrete parking lot.
Then I remembered that I didn't do as good a job last year tilling that area and apparently it didn't soften itself up by itself in the off season.
I reluctantly scratched around with the tiller bouncing around on top of the ground for a little while and only managed to get a couple inches into the dirt, and by then I made an executive decision that it was break time.
Then I poured myself a fresh drink and sat down with my neighbor Danny to catch up on the local gossip (My neighbors who are ten years my senior do all of their own lawn work and, because I hire a "lawn guy" to do my lawn they like to watch me when on the rare occasion I actually attempt to do anything in my yard.)
Turns out we were sort of starring in the local tongue waging banter because of Pat's trip to the hospital last week.
Meanwhile, back in the garden, after fooling around making very little progress I made another executive decision.
I took the rest of the afternoon off.
Some people might consider it sacrilegious to spend part of Easter Sunday working in my garden, but the way I look it things the Bible says the Lord helps those that help themselves.
And eating one of the quality tomatoes I grew last year could be considered by some if not many as a Religious experience...thus I balm my conscience with that realization.
So instead of "fishing for men", I'm "tilling for tomatoes" this Easter.
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Dog Ate My Homework
Blogger Software Sucks Sometimes...
Dammit...
I just spent at least an hour writing what I thought was a pretty good posting.
It wasn't a simple personal diary entry or a spittle laced rant about something that was bothering me for a change.
It was for once a real piece of literature/opinion commentary that might have resonated with a few people.
Then I hit the "Publish" button here on on my Blogger Software and everything went to hell.
Needless to say the entire document disappeared and I'm too lazy to try to reproduce anything similar because creative writing can't be reproduced as far as I can tell and the Blogger software only managed to auto-save only the first few paragraphs.
Just Damn...
Both of my computers have some lurking spam robot/viral bullshit wandering around on them that the idiots publishing Norton 360 can't seem to find right now, and I suspect that is at least part of the problem.
And then of course Mr. Gates' lovely Window's Vista and Internet Explorer's quirks could be behind the problem.
But it's Good Friday with Easter coming up Sunday, and I'm trying to stay undisturbed for a change.
I think I'll just try to stop bitching now and think good thoughts and work on my own spirit by getting the garden started this weekend...
Regards Y'all...
Dammit...
I just spent at least an hour writing what I thought was a pretty good posting.
It wasn't a simple personal diary entry or a spittle laced rant about something that was bothering me for a change.
It was for once a real piece of literature/opinion commentary that might have resonated with a few people.
Then I hit the "Publish" button here on on my Blogger Software and everything went to hell.
Needless to say the entire document disappeared and I'm too lazy to try to reproduce anything similar because creative writing can't be reproduced as far as I can tell and the Blogger software only managed to auto-save only the first few paragraphs.
Just Damn...
Both of my computers have some lurking spam robot/viral bullshit wandering around on them that the idiots publishing Norton 360 can't seem to find right now, and I suspect that is at least part of the problem.
And then of course Mr. Gates' lovely Window's Vista and Internet Explorer's quirks could be behind the problem.
But it's Good Friday with Easter coming up Sunday, and I'm trying to stay undisturbed for a change.
I think I'll just try to stop bitching now and think good thoughts and work on my own spirit by getting the garden started this weekend...
Regards Y'all...
Thursday, April 21, 2011
I Called The Local Talk Radio Show Today
Latest Three Minutes Of Fame...
For those of you just stopping by this blog today...or for the ones out there like me that have trouble remembering when and where you were in the past 24 hours...
I just realized that I've actually spoken in the past to Atlanta Radio Talk-Show host Neal Boortz on the air a couple of times back in the early 2000's.
Then when I lived the glorious life for four and one half years down in the "Golden Isles" on St. Simons Island Georgia, for some reason I wanted to be a"semi-regular" caller to the Lauren Nobles morning talk show back in the day.
Then this afternoon...finally...in a fit of insanity, I spent THREE MINUTES on the air with our local personality Phil Williams which has a show here every weekday afternoon Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM.
I've met the dude once and called in a couple of times and he likes to talk about the crap I want to talk about I think.
Time to go cook dinner...I guess...
For those of you just stopping by this blog today...or for the ones out there like me that have trouble remembering when and where you were in the past 24 hours...
I just realized that I've actually spoken in the past to Atlanta Radio Talk-Show host Neal Boortz on the air a couple of times back in the early 2000's.
Then when I lived the glorious life for four and one half years down in the "Golden Isles" on St. Simons Island Georgia, for some reason I wanted to be a"semi-regular" caller to the Lauren Nobles morning talk show back in the day.
Then this afternoon...finally...in a fit of insanity, I spent THREE MINUTES on the air with our local personality Phil Williams which has a show here every weekday afternoon Monday through Friday from 3 PM to 6 PM.
I've met the dude once and called in a couple of times and he likes to talk about the crap I want to talk about I think.
Time to go cook dinner...I guess...
"Screw- Top" Versus "Pop-Top"
Relieving The Pressure On My Brain
Well, the good news is that yesterday my girl and my Turbo Pup and I spent an entire day together in the same building for the first time in five days.
Turbo Pup's Mom lounged around recovering from her recent Hospital Resort Vacation.
Turbo Pup relaxed being happy that her entire Pack was back together and she could catch up on her normal 15 hour a day sleeping schedule.
And Me?
ME?
I was so busy I actually wore clothes and shoes all day while sitting at home--never left the building.
I needed the clothes and shoes because I had to meet with my PLC programmer in my basement shop in the morning to finally get this latest panel software moving off of dead center.
Then one thing lead to another and I looked up at the clock and it was already 2 PM and I was still fully clothed including shoes.
You see, most of the time around here my attire is at most a tee shirt and lounge pants and socks, and in the warmer months shirts and socks could be considered optional.
Not a pretty sight these days sometimes, but still...
So any wayyy...
Things were bouncing along pretty good until about 2 PM when I finally remembered to call and check on the progress of myprofessional pipe technicians linear tubing installers so called "plumbers" working down in Lower Alabama.
Mom hadn't seen or heard a thing today.
After an exchange of phone calls back and forth from her end, she called me back to report that the owner's wife had cursed her out, and hung up the phone.
I placed a call to their office to confirm that regardless of their intentions, that I was officially terminating their participation in the project, and the stupid lady proceed to call me and Mom--the customers--"incompetent."
When I pointed out that we were the customers and if anyone was "incompetent" it was the owners and some of the people working at Goolsby Brothers Plumbing & Electrical, the lovely woman then proceeded to curse at me and hung up the phone.
WTF?
I then wrote them a letter and faxed it over with a copy of a check covering the time they had spent out on the property on Monday and further instructed them that they were not to set foot on our property again or we would prosecute them for criminal trespass.
And so now after all of the crap I went through last week calling around looking for a competent plumber, and then flying all the way to Alabama trying to coordinate the effort, I find myself back to square one this morning trying to find someone smart enough to remove some dirt and connect a few elbows and some straight PVC pipe to the existing working piping on a timely basis for a reasonable price.
The good news is that I have two very good prospects...but the project probably will not be finished until next Monday at earliest--a week after we dug the holes and found the pipes.
Oh...WAIT...I almost forgot...
Now, as to the so-called "professional plumbing company" and the sweet, sweet, lovely woman--supposedly the owner's wife--manning the phones over at Goolsby Brothers Plumbing and Electrical in Enterprise, Alabama?
They are going to rue the day they screwed around and acted like this on a project with a guy that's a blogger and knows how to handle things here on the Internet.
I'm not going the liable/slander route because I don't have to...they gave me enough stuff in less than a week to keep me busy for at least a month warning potential customers about our experience.
I'm starting later this morning with Angie's list.
Then I'll move on to all of the referral web sites that have customer reviews.
Then the Better Business Bureau.
I have a lot of paying things to do right now, but I have a looooonnnnnngggg memory, and any company that would let an employee...let alone the owner's wife...call and curse out a senior citizen for no reason, deserves a special place in Hell...
...and I have several ideas how to make sure they enjoy an expedited trip through the gates to their just rewards.
That will be all, for now...Y'all.
Well, the good news is that yesterday my girl and my Turbo Pup and I spent an entire day together in the same building for the first time in five days.
Turbo Pup's Mom lounged around recovering from her recent Hospital Resort Vacation.
Turbo Pup relaxed being happy that her entire Pack was back together and she could catch up on her normal 15 hour a day sleeping schedule.
And Me?
ME?
I was so busy I actually wore clothes and shoes all day while sitting at home--never left the building.
I needed the clothes and shoes because I had to meet with my PLC programmer in my basement shop in the morning to finally get this latest panel software moving off of dead center.
Then one thing lead to another and I looked up at the clock and it was already 2 PM and I was still fully clothed including shoes.
You see, most of the time around here my attire is at most a tee shirt and lounge pants and socks, and in the warmer months shirts and socks could be considered optional.
Not a pretty sight these days sometimes, but still...
So any wayyy...
Things were bouncing along pretty good until about 2 PM when I finally remembered to call and check on the progress of my
Mom hadn't seen or heard a thing today.
After an exchange of phone calls back and forth from her end, she called me back to report that the owner's wife had cursed her out, and hung up the phone.
I placed a call to their office to confirm that regardless of their intentions, that I was officially terminating their participation in the project, and the stupid lady proceed to call me and Mom--the customers--"incompetent."
When I pointed out that we were the customers and if anyone was "incompetent" it was the owners and some of the people working at Goolsby Brothers Plumbing & Electrical, the lovely woman then proceeded to curse at me and hung up the phone.
WTF?
I then wrote them a letter and faxed it over with a copy of a check covering the time they had spent out on the property on Monday and further instructed them that they were not to set foot on our property again or we would prosecute them for criminal trespass.
And so now after all of the crap I went through last week calling around looking for a competent plumber, and then flying all the way to Alabama trying to coordinate the effort, I find myself back to square one this morning trying to find someone smart enough to remove some dirt and connect a few elbows and some straight PVC pipe to the existing working piping on a timely basis for a reasonable price.
The good news is that I have two very good prospects...but the project probably will not be finished until next Monday at earliest--a week after we dug the holes and found the pipes.
Oh...WAIT...I almost forgot...
Now, as to the so-called "professional plumbing company" and the sweet, sweet, lovely woman--supposedly the owner's wife--manning the phones over at Goolsby Brothers Plumbing and Electrical in Enterprise, Alabama?
They are going to rue the day they screwed around and acted like this on a project with a guy that's a blogger and knows how to handle things here on the Internet.
I'm not going the liable/slander route because I don't have to...they gave me enough stuff in less than a week to keep me busy for at least a month warning potential customers about our experience.
I'm starting later this morning with Angie's list.
Then I'll move on to all of the referral web sites that have customer reviews.
Then the Better Business Bureau.
I have a lot of paying things to do right now, but I have a looooonnnnnngggg memory, and any company that would let an employee...let alone the owner's wife...call and curse out a senior citizen for no reason, deserves a special place in Hell...
...and I have several ideas how to make sure they enjoy an expedited trip through the gates to their just rewards.
That will be all, for now...Y'all.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Good Test Results
Never Mind...
Good News!!
When the diagnostic tests were finished and we got home about Midnight last night, we had learned that other than having to live with me, apparently Turbo Pup Mom's problem is stress related, not Heart defect related.
I'm going to try to slow things down a little around here for a while.
Time to hit the shop and try to catch up for things missed over the past three weeks of insanity.
We appreciate your prayers & support.
Good News!!
When the diagnostic tests were finished and we got home about Midnight last night, we had learned that other than having to live with me, apparently Turbo Pup Mom's problem is stress related, not Heart defect related.
I'm going to try to slow things down a little around here for a while.
Time to hit the shop and try to catch up for things missed over the past three weeks of insanity.
We appreciate your prayers & support.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
If It's Not One Thing...
Then It's Another
The good news is that I finally made it back here to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River slightly before midnight last night.
The bad news is that the Turbo Pup's Mom was suddenly admitted to the local Hospital yesterday morning--the one I spent a couple of nights in recently--for an unplanned diagnostice procedure and had to spend the night last night.
I have to go now and see my Girl.
Prayers would be accepted and appreciated.
The good news is that I finally made it back here to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River slightly before midnight last night.
The bad news is that the Turbo Pup's Mom was suddenly admitted to the local Hospital yesterday morning--the one I spent a couple of nights in recently--for an unplanned diagnostice procedure and had to spend the night last night.
I have to go now and see my Girl.
Prayers would be accepted and appreciated.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Funky "Swing Shift" Work Schedule Yields Sleeping Air Controllers
Government Insanity/Stupidity At it's Finest...
Does anyone but me wonder why the government has people that do things as important as controlling Commercial and Private (and even some Military) Air Traffic working weird work schedules which even people that do things like building automobiles or making plastic bottles aren't asked to work.
Where I come from, if you work "shift work" you generally do "first shift" or "second shift" or "3rd night shift" for at least weeks if not months at a time.
Some people spend most of their careers working "night shift" because they like it.
But the FAA's idea of a work schedule?
Check out these details I was surprised to learn this morning about what some of the controllers are asked to do at control towers--particularly those serving smaller airports:
Union spokesman Doug Church said up to now, 25 percent of the the nation's air traffic controllers work what he called a "2-2-1″ schedule, working afternoon to night the first two days, followed by a mandatory minimum of eight hours for rest before starting two morning-to-afternoon shifts, another eight or more hours for sleep, then a final shift starting between 10 p.m. to midnight.
"Maybe we need to work in more time for rest," Church said. "You’re forcing yourself to work at a time when the body is used to sleeping."
I don't know about you, but if I were a controller I'd do like other employees in other industries that pick a schedule and accept adequate pay to compensate me for working that schedule.
You can't tell me that there aren't people out there that would agree to work the night shift full time for at least a big chunk of the year rather than having to switch back and forth between daytime and nighttime during the week every week.
Then again, maybe it's the Air Traffic Controller UNION thugs which are responsible for this situation.
Regardless, it doesn't make much sense to me...that coming from a guy that's flown ten flight legs in the past 8 weeks.
Maybe it's just me....
Does anyone but me wonder why the government has people that do things as important as controlling Commercial and Private (and even some Military) Air Traffic working weird work schedules which even people that do things like building automobiles or making plastic bottles aren't asked to work.
Where I come from, if you work "shift work" you generally do "first shift" or "second shift" or "3rd night shift" for at least weeks if not months at a time.
Some people spend most of their careers working "night shift" because they like it.
But the FAA's idea of a work schedule?
Check out these details I was surprised to learn this morning about what some of the controllers are asked to do at control towers--particularly those serving smaller airports:
Union spokesman Doug Church said up to now, 25 percent of the the nation's air traffic controllers work what he called a "2-2-1″ schedule, working afternoon to night the first two days, followed by a mandatory minimum of eight hours for rest before starting two morning-to-afternoon shifts, another eight or more hours for sleep, then a final shift starting between 10 p.m. to midnight.
"Maybe we need to work in more time for rest," Church said. "You’re forcing yourself to work at a time when the body is used to sleeping."
I don't know about you, but if I were a controller I'd do like other employees in other industries that pick a schedule and accept adequate pay to compensate me for working that schedule.
You can't tell me that there aren't people out there that would agree to work the night shift full time for at least a big chunk of the year rather than having to switch back and forth between daytime and nighttime during the week every week.
Then again, maybe it's the Air Traffic Controller UNION thugs which are responsible for this situation.
Regardless, it doesn't make much sense to me...that coming from a guy that's flown ten flight legs in the past 8 weeks.
Maybe it's just me....
One Step Forward
Two Steps Back...
Well, yesturday I spent four hours playing "ditch digger from hell" to no avail...
The water line here was installed 27 years ago and additional driveway surface has been installed since and we have only a very general idea where it runs through the property.
I removed the St. Augustine Grass sod in chunks and dug a a ditch 15" to 18" deep along a 20' section of the drive adjacent to the leak and didn't find anything.
Today I'm going for getting another 6" of depth in some of the trench and after that it's up to the professionals to find it.
Then because I couldn't find THAT leaking pipe, just for fun I started fooling around with the water heater flushing the pressure/temperature relief valve and when I was done IT STARTED LEAKING.
Then for even more fun I tried to turn off the cold water supply valve to the water heater and it was STUCK from probably not being used in 15 or 20 years , and then when I managed to break it free it wouldn't close completely and get this...
IT STARTED LEAKING AROUND THE SHAFT!
Probably from the age of the valve and sediment building up in the valve seat and around the seal on the shaft.
So after I managed to screw the top back on the top of my head covering my exploded brain, we had to turn off the water to the whole house and make the obligatory trip to Lowe's for two valves and PVC pipe and fittings and so on and so on.
Now I have about 7 hours left after daylight to fool around in my ditch and install two valves on the water heater and get back to the airport for the return flight to Knoxtown later this afternoon.
If on FOX News you see anyone killed in a water heater explosion or drowning in a freak water pipe accident, check the name and location on the story because--the way things are going right now--there's a good possibility it might be ME.
Well, yesturday I spent four hours playing "ditch digger from hell" to no avail...
The water line here was installed 27 years ago and additional driveway surface has been installed since and we have only a very general idea where it runs through the property.
I removed the St. Augustine Grass sod in chunks and dug a a ditch 15" to 18" deep along a 20' section of the drive adjacent to the leak and didn't find anything.
Today I'm going for getting another 6" of depth in some of the trench and after that it's up to the professionals to find it.
Then because I couldn't find THAT leaking pipe, just for fun I started fooling around with the water heater flushing the pressure/temperature relief valve and when I was done IT STARTED LEAKING.
Then for even more fun I tried to turn off the cold water supply valve to the water heater and it was STUCK from probably not being used in 15 or 20 years , and then when I managed to break it free it wouldn't close completely and get this...
IT STARTED LEAKING AROUND THE SHAFT!
Probably from the age of the valve and sediment building up in the valve seat and around the seal on the shaft.
So after I managed to screw the top back on the top of my head covering my exploded brain, we had to turn off the water to the whole house and make the obligatory trip to Lowe's for two valves and PVC pipe and fittings and so on and so on.
Now I have about 7 hours left after daylight to fool around in my ditch and install two valves on the water heater and get back to the airport for the return flight to Knoxtown later this afternoon.
If on FOX News you see anyone killed in a water heater explosion or drowning in a freak water pipe accident, check the name and location on the story because--the way things are going right now--there's a good possibility it might be ME.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Dumbasses and Dumbass Bureaucracies
811 "Call Before You Dig" Service Apparently Feckless...
Later today, if the Airlines ever get me delivered to South Alabama (my earlier flight was "delayed" thus I've had to reschedule everything for mid-morning/afternoon) I'll be digging holes in my Mother's front yard looking for a water pipe.
Of course this task would be much easier if the so-called "utility locator service" AKA "Call before you Dig" could manage to get someone out to the property with a couple of cans of colored spray paint after I called them on Wednesday.
Now it's SATURDAY and their offices are closed and all they can do is play a recording on their answering machine telling me to call the phone number listed in the phone book for each utility, even though I said we had a known water leak and wanted to have the line located and other utilities identified so we didn't do more damage trying to fix the current problem.
I say that the only thing worse than an idiot employee is an idiot government employee, and further...
the only thing worse than a stupid private company is a stupid pseudo-government entity followed by all forms of government monopoly enterprises.
Please pray that I don't explode and kill some innocent bystander in the process of exterminating the next feckless, obtuse, ingrate I encounter in the next 72 hours.
OK, maybe not, but still...
that will be all...for now...Dammit...
Later today, if the Airlines ever get me delivered to South Alabama (my earlier flight was "delayed" thus I've had to reschedule everything for mid-morning/afternoon) I'll be digging holes in my Mother's front yard looking for a water pipe.
Of course this task would be much easier if the so-called "utility locator service" AKA "Call before you Dig" could manage to get someone out to the property with a couple of cans of colored spray paint after I called them on Wednesday.
Now it's SATURDAY and their offices are closed and all they can do is play a recording on their answering machine telling me to call the phone number listed in the phone book for each utility, even though I said we had a known water leak and wanted to have the line located and other utilities identified so we didn't do more damage trying to fix the current problem.
I say that the only thing worse than an idiot employee is an idiot government employee, and further...
the only thing worse than a stupid private company is a stupid pseudo-government entity followed by all forms of government monopoly enterprises.
Please pray that I don't explode and kill some innocent bystander in the process of exterminating the next feckless, obtuse, ingrate I encounter in the next 72 hours.
OK, maybe not, but still...
that will be all...for now...Dammit...
