| Yes it does snow in Texas |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|05:30 pm] |
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and it sticks too. My house looks like I like in NJ. Even the dog didn't want to stay out long. It's cold and windy and still snowing. |
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| Macs for everyone |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|09:08 pm] |
Well I got mine back up and going right. I need a Firewire 800 to 400 converter. Found one on Ebay for under $10. I'm just waiting for it to arrive and I'm hoping before Friday.
Of course Kitten's macbook is giving her issues, the only way to fix them is reformat it. Nope took the other option. Got her a new one. So I get the old one. I found a store on Ebay that for $106 plus shipping I can get a new 500 gig drive. I'll order that once I get to my Quicken data on the external drive I can't connect right now. I'll replace the old drive, install a fresh copy of OSX and install what I need. Then I'll make a second account for Ronni so she can use it without getting to my stuff. |
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| Back online again |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|09:17 pm] |
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I finally had to treat myself to a new iMac. My last one was 3 years old and showing it when I worked on video. I got the 21.5 inch model, yes I could have gotten the 27 inch but this is more than enough. One small issue. The firewire is 800 and I need a 400/800 adapter so I can connect the external hard drive. Everything is on it. Then I can just link the video camera behind the hard drive. On the upside I did get the terabite hard dive. |
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| I came, I saw, I cleaned |
[Dec. 1st, 2009|11:20 pm] |
While most people spent Thanksgiving with family I spent it on the road. When kitten said she needed me and a replacement for the TV the room mates dog broke I went. Work let out early on Wednesday and I got home and started packing while the sales person for the raidiant barrier company did his thing. I was expecting a price in the several thousand range. However with a 80% discount it was only $1600. We will see if this does help next summer.
I jumped in the Laser and started a 24 hour driving trip alone back up to Philly. I had to stop in TN for a nap. The car ran like a top. Getting 30 MPG at 65 MPH. I think the oil pump is starting to get weak and the steering rack is leaking but the car just will not die. Oskar had sent Chris with dinner. That man can cook. Never did eat his pie. Night is very close to Gray. In the right light and angle you think he is Gray.
Friday was spent cleaning out Kittens room. Packing peanuts, at least 1 inch thick and several feet wide. Several bags of them went out. Almost all the boxes were emptied and recycled.
Saturday we went to the Art Museum so Kitten could do her art history assignment. Then a run over to NJ to AAA Hobbies. We went to a pet store and got lunch. When I stopped for gas the card had to be run twice before it would work. Back to the apartment to finish up.
Sunday, we got the last items done, stuff to come home loaded in the car and it was time to hit the road. I left the old TV in Philly. No time to look at it then and I really didn't want to schlep it home. I stopped in VA for food and gas and the credit card would not work. I switched cards and filled up. Now I'm thinking evil thoughts at HSB, not that it takes much when they jacked my interest to 30.9%. I try to keep the card as close to $0 as I can. Later at a rest stop I call the bank to find out that MasterCard had decided that somewhere my card had been in the last 12 months was no longer secure and the numbers should be changed. So if I needed to use the card I had to call them so they could clear the lock and I could get gas. It started to pour in TN so I called it a night there. Good thing I did because the drivers side wiper was not locked in correctly and I had to reseat it the next morning. Finally made it home around 10PM Monday. The crew that did the barrier install missed the small space over my bed room. So they have to come back on Thursday to do that space.
I checked on the fish this morning, well he's not dead yet. Close, real close. I thought he was dead so I get the net and got him out of the tank. Nope he moved so I put him back. Yep still trying to breath.
Things to save for,
Get drivers seat restuffed. How can my ass be numb and sore at the same time?
New power steering rack. I can still drive but turn it to the stopps and you could stall the car.
New oil pump. I'm sure it's starting to go. |
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| Time to make tracks up north again |
[Nov. 20th, 2009|11:22 pm] |
Kitten needs me to help her get the place in order. I'm on the road next Wednesday afternoon after work. The room mates dog knocked over the TV and broke it. I'm bringing a replacement.
I always said I'd be there for her. Now I'm going to prove it.
On a personal side note I might get to see family while I'm up there for a couple of days. I know I have to stop at AAA Hobbies.
I'm driving up and back in 5 days. This should be fun. |
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| When did I rant last? |
[Nov. 17th, 2009|10:32 pm] |
Boy that long ago.
I'm still trying to sell the Lexus. Missed what I think was the only good call. I had the ringer off on the phone.
Kitten had come home from what should have been a short break, got sick and stayed until the beginning of fall quarter. Lots of work for her to get her work done and in so she got her grades.
I replaced the carriage lights on the garage. The old ones were tarnished and as old as the house. I got ones that have eyes in them so they come on at dusk and go off at dawn. One shorted out and I replaced it after Halloween.
I had a really good haunt going this year. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=115139&id=728309596&l=624280e7a8&subject=Haunted 2009 I need to upload a few more photos.
Ron finally got her back worked on a month ago. A little better every day. She is walking and doing everything she can go get back to normal. Of course her Amazon sales are up. Going to the post office kills my lunch.
Now she is thinking of maybe she will sell her car and drive the Lexus.
I'm working on taking the family to England and France next summer. I want to do it while Kitten is still in school. After she starts working it won't be as easy. I'm not going to pay anyone else's way. If she wants a friend to come along then that person will have to pay.
The last fish is still alive. It's a real old arrow head tetras. It's swimming on it's side but still fighting. All I do is feed it and add water. Maybe every 3 months I change the filter. It's the last thing left from Hoshi. May she rot in hell.
Toyota dealers have a real interesting way of making service money. Replacing the power steering and power break fluids. Last and the last time I had the Lexus to the dealer they wanted to replace those fluids. Plus the rear wiper blade for $450. When I refused to do it then they started calling about a week later to schedule me for service. I told them in their dreams. I can get it done for half the price or get a turkey baster to empty the reservoirs and fill them with fresh fluids. I can do a lot of little things that they would charge a lot of money for. I'm still looking for drilled rotors for the van. I found a place that might have them but every time I send a email I get someone different and no one reads the trail. They just start from the beginning of the script. Time for a phone call next year.
Well time to play Mafia Wars on Facebook. Let me know if you want to join my family. |
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| I really need to keep up more. |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|08:35 pm] |
I finally got tired of waiting for the contractor to get his fence guy out to fix the fence. So I got one of my neighbors who has been wanting to fix it to do it. I came down to what needed to be done. Three of the posts got replaced with steel pipe. When I told the contractor that he lost the job even after it was scheduled and confirmed and his guy was a no show he told me that his guy was MIA. I told him that lack of communication equals lack of job.
Kitten moved out of the dorms last week. I had a U-Haul on reserve but when I got there the lights did not work. So I took the only other trailer they had. That one had just come back in. So I went from a 4X8 to a 6X12 for the lower price. The week before I had moved everything from the upstairs to the downstairs so I would not have to keep going up and down on the day I loaded the trailer. So I got the trailer loaded after getting Taffy to the kennel. After I got done I realized that I needed to reverse the ball on the hitch. The trailer was sitting too low and the breaks kept coming on and dragging the van down. So I got the jack under the tongue of the trailer and jacked it up. After clearing the hitch I reversed it and reset the trailer. Later that day I had to pick up Ronnie from the airport. She had spent the week and a half at her moms.
Next day the soft stuff that needed to go got packed and we started a trip I never want to do again. Two and a half days not getting over 60 miles an hour with that damn trailer behind me. On level ground it wasn't too bad. Going up hill, well trucks were passing me. Going down if I didn't keep up on the gas well I slowed down. I was getting city mileage on the highway. Anywhere between 9 and 17 mpg. I should get between 23 and 28. During the worst of the driving on Monday my left foot swelled. I almost could not get it into my sneak the next morning. We got to Philly on Tuesday and spent the night with friends. Wednesday we get to the apartment. I had to park partway on the sidewalk to get the trailer out the street. With the help of the room mates parents, brother and friend the apartment got delivered. Then I finally got rid of that boat anchor. A couple of days of buying stuff and putting things together and getting the building manager to come by and see what needed to be fixed followed. Kitten got a little stressed. I was wondering why Mr Use Less was there.
Between entries the lawyer sent a letter that the other person was uninsured at the time and he was no longer going to represent me. On Friday they changed their mind and decided that they could file a suite and see what happens. I was okay with that because I was going to report the whole mess to the local DA but never got the chance.
Saturday we packed what was coming back and then headed over to NJ to meet up with some friends and I quick trip to AAA Hobbies. Ain't nothing like it here in TX. We started for home around 2, got stuck in traffic in MD for hours and finally got home on Sunday around 8.
Back to work today. It was easier than all of last week. And I think Taffy got a cold. I think she might be going to the vet tomorrow. |
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| Getting it together now |
[Jul. 18th, 2009|09:01 pm] |
I decided it was finally time to get the oil changed in the van. While it was there it got the 40k service. The right windshield wiper "needed" to be replaced. No thanks I'll do that myself and the rear breaks are "starting to get close". The breaks can wait. The wiper I'll do myself thank you very much. They want $32 to changer a wiper blade. $7.99 get a new blade.
Also the van has a receiver as well. So I got the hitch and the ball as well. I know I'm going to need it this fall when Kitten moves out of the dorm and I will need to bring up all her stuff. I plan on a u-haul trailer. No way I'm going to ruin the van.
I also finally got most of the mud off the laser. While we were away the driver's side window needed to be fixed. When I backed out from behind the shop I didn't go far enough and when I started forward I wound up in a sink hole. I was tossing mud for a mile and what was stuck on the car stayed on the car. I was like someone glued it on. The caliber is still covered but the breaks do work. |
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| Time to get caught up |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|10:21 pm] |
Well let's see what I remember.
1) the fence is still a mess. I have not heard anything about it. It's like they dropped off the face of the earth. I got a call from the insurance company and the bill the contractor sent to them was almost double what I paid so far from the insurance check. No wonder why I haven't heard from them. I'm going to take up the offer from a neighbor and we are going to fix it our selves.
2) Vacation Kitten was home for 3 weeks. We did a road trip out to Disneyland in CA. Three days out and 3 days back. I had taken off 2 weeks in a row, first time in a long time. Boy did I need to get away. So the trip starts using Mapquest for directions because any GPS I tried would only take the southern route on I-10. I had no desire to go along the Mexico border. So we are making good time when the instructions say to take this road. Well I would only call it a path. All stones and dirt and one lane. It took us past a crop dusters field and we exited via a ball field. Of course the road we came to was not the one Mapquest said we should be on. Thankfully the GPS was willing to take the route I wanted. I wanted to take route 40 and 66. It took all day to get out of Texas. We ended the day in Ft Sumner NM.
Next day off we go. I have never seen so much empty. Plenty of room at there. We passed wind farms and open desert. Even Route 66 looked empty this time. After lunch at a diner attached to a casino and a few miles down the road I caught the eites and had to let R drive. We decided to go to the meteor crater. It was not that far off the road. $45 later we got to see a real deep hole in the ground. It does give you a lot to think about when you think how powerful we think we are that a rock from space put a 3/4 mile hole in the earth. We almost got all the way out of AZ when I decided that was far enough and called it another day.
First stop was fuel and the sign said London Bridge. I remember a History Channel piece on Mega Movers on it so I was going to stop there on the way home. Gas in AZ was $2.49 and the first station in CA only about 10 miles later was $3.89. OUCH! Then WTF a customs station. What are you bringing into the state? Money, lots and lots of money. :) Staying on 40 we passed a solar power station. Again the History channel came to mind. They are taking it offline because it would cost too much to clean and refirb the mirrors. Turning south on 15 for about 4 hours got us to Anaheim. There is a pass that is several thousand feet vertical drop. Well I was doing 65 with my foot off the gas down hill. Checked in and walked over to Disney where we did dinner. Back at the hotel we watched the fireworks from the room without the music.
Kitten survived the first day walking but I got a wheel chair for her the rest of the trip at Disney. We kept up our string of rides breaking on us. The day time parade must have Walt spinning in his grave. The winds almost canceled the fireworks the night I was going to record. Main Street Electrical Parade started late. Oh it's no longer on Main Street so that was taken out of the name. We went to ride Screaming and it was broke twice. We did get to ride it. The wheel at CA Adventure broke with us on it. We were there for about an extra 10 to 15 minutes. We got off Indiana Jones for the second time and the lights came on. We went to ride splash mountain and they were emptying the ride.
We did better at Universal as the only thing that broke was the sound system on our bus during the tour. Well that is why friends don't let friends run PCs. I dropped the tour guide with that.
I found out that my ear has not recovered enough to enjoy some rides. I didn't toss my cookies my it felt close.
I got to see my niece and finally meet her son.
Disney is going one upgrade/change a year on CA Adventure. There was talk about going back next year for my birthday.
The trip back was uneventful we stopped at London Bridge and the Wigwam Motel.
A few relaxing days at home and then back to work.
The first week was uneventful. It took me a day or two to get back in the grove. I was even in a good mood. By Thursday there was a video conference with management so they could tell us that we should post our resumes so others can find the skills they want so we can transfer out of GS. We are going to be sold. They won't tell us to whom until Sept. I made a call to a CTO that I know so that he knew that I was looking and wanted to work for him.
We tried to go camping this past weekend. Well it's been over 100 for the last 3 weeks. It was so bad that even the dog was out of it. So we came home a day early.
That brings us up to today. Kitten went back to school. The house is already empty. I've set the A/C on the second floor back up to 90 as no one is there.
At work we lost a valuable resource. I have no idea what happened yet. I'm going to try to find out but we are poorer for them walking him out.
Well I think that covers it. |
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| Fence replacement step 1 |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|09:58 pm] |
The fence guy was out today to measure what I wanted replaced. He is also going to try to fix the gate or replace it. Whichever is easier.
One of my neighbors was getting his roof replaced when the storm started. He got water in his house.
One of my friends at work has several leaks and half his fence down. I gave him my contractors number. |
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| Now that was a storm |
[Jun. 10th, 2009|08:23 pm] |
Tornado watch, straight line winds of 50 mph plus. Lots of rain. The so called fence went down again. One of the poles that go into the ground to hold it up snapped at ground level. Where I could sink a nail I did to hold it up. Using twine to hold the center together. I hope the dog doesn't decide to test the fence.
The weather is for more rain off and on the rest of the week. Here is hoping the direction is not from the north. I called my contractor because the fence was supposed to be replaced from the hail damage. He said he will check in the office tomorrow and let me know some idea of when they will be out to finish up. |
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| Another gun show |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|09:09 pm] |
I went and helped a friend today. Of course of all the weeks I'm oncall I get called after I get there. It didn't need to be NOW but someone put a time on things that I did not say. Also I got bad information so I almost had a problem on my hands. I still managed to get it all working right in time.
I only bought one box of 20 empty shells. I was looking for more and got nothing. However I made quite a bit of money for my friend. So he offered to pay me in primers. For those how know nothing about reloading primers are like hen's teeth. So getting 5 bricks (1000 per brick)for 8 hours of work puts me ahead. Each brick depending on size and use is between $65 and $85 if you can find them. I do believe I'm ahead this time.
I also talked to kitten today. I told her that her friend and future room mate J can come down for A-Fest. Some how I have the feeling I'm going to be paying for this. We agreed to talk more about it when she is home in a couple of weeks. I miss my kitten.
I'm also looking at a house that needs work. A lot of work if I can believe the neighbors. I know it needs an A/C unit as it was stolen. The fence needs fixing and who knows about the pool. I think Ronni is going to call the listing realtor and see if she can go see it. If see does she will take a camera so I can see what she sees. They are listing it cheap, but maybe not cheap enough. |
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| Another quiet weekend |
[May. 31st, 2009|06:23 pm] |
Let's see.... washed out the grill, cleaned and re-oiled the outside table. None of that has been done for the 5 and a half years I've been in Texas. Of course where there was water there was a dog. I even put out a childs pool with water in it for her. Nope she would rather be under the hose. She will get in the pool long enough to wash off a ball and get a drink. Then out again to run around. I guess the high 80's are not enough to get down and wet yet.
I also put down weed killer/fertilizer.
Of course no weekend is complete without a dog's head hanging out the back window. I took her to both dog parks and walked through any store the allows dogs.
Yes you must pay the pet tax.
I want to sell my Lexus RX300. Anyone want one? |
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| Did the bank f-up? |
[May. 26th, 2009|07:25 pm] |
Oh I hope so. For a change in my direction. Did someone put the wrong account number on a rather large check for my car payment?
I'm sure someone will bring it to the banks attention but it looked good.
Heck after vacation I'm going to see if I can find enough money to put that kind of payment on it for real.
Oh goodie, here comes the rain again. I came home from work and they were replacing the gutters. I didn't even know they were coming today or I would have emptied the drive way. |
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| I finally did a gun show |
[May. 23rd, 2009|11:28 pm] |
Damn they can get expensive. Oh if I only had money to burn I would have dropped about 5 grand. I saw stuff I never saw before and would love to own. But of course there is that money thing again. Ammo is through the roof. Talk about profit taking. I think it's doubled in the last year and getting reloading items is tough as well. The best price I could find for large rifle primers was $65 a brick. People are hording ammo because of the Dems in control. After the 2nd amendment was upheld now everyone is worried that they will try to take our ammo. This is nuts.
There is a house in Richland Hills that I saw online I decided to check out. It's big, it's cheap and it needs ass loads of work. It could be a nice house again with a lot of work. I don't know what the state of the pool is but the fence would be the first thing replaced.
I took Taffy to the dog park on the way home from there. I gave her a real good hosing down there. The under fur is thin in a couple of places. |
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| Dog day afternoon |
[May. 17th, 2009|06:41 pm] |
Dallas turned the Cotton Bowl into the Dog Bowl. Yep the place became an off leash dog park. The whole field, end zone to end zone was a dogs dream. There were pools every 20 yards or so, buckets of water between the pools. Dogs of every size was there. Dogs that normally don't find enough room to run were out there running for all they were worth. Is that a truck or a Great Dane coming at me?
Taffy had a blast, in and out of pools and sniffing other dogs. Yes she made people pay the pet tax.
I really think that was enough to call it a good day.
The new roof is on. The next step is the gutters and then the fence.
60 Minutes just had a piece on that was good for AIG. Not like all the other stuff that was focused on the stupid but hey, we are trying to pay you back so hear what we are doing. There are 116,000 of us who did not kill the company working very hard to keep it going in the right direction.
I should know, I'm one of them. |
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| Roof today |
[May. 15th, 2009|07:19 am] |
this will drive the dog nuts while we are at work.
Cars are done. You would never know anything happened to them.
Edit:
I thought about the bird. I found her at the other end of the house and she had been there for a while. She left piles all the way back to the cage. Boy is she going to be glad when this is done. |
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| All the hail damage is almost fixed |
[May. 12th, 2009|10:53 pm] |
The car is back and the roof get's done tomorrow. Wednesday. Whatever.
I'm tired. Of everything. The GM credit card doubled the interest and dropped my credit line to what I owe. I found some 3.99% checks that were still good and moved the balance to a different card. No way I'm paying 30.99% interest.
Anyone want a 2002 Lexus RX300? I don't want this anymore.
I wish I was back up north again. I want to play paintball with the Tempest again.
I hate web speak used all the time in normal conversation. I'm tied of LOL and nam nam used in every conversation and every other sentence.
There are times I just want to chuck everything and go start over somewhere. |
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| They want how much to ship? |
[Apr. 23rd, 2009|10:17 pm] |
I've been craving Tastykakes. Yes that Philadelphia treat that I have not had for years. Well I had a couple last October when I was up there. So anyway I woke up the other morning and I had been dreaming about them. I know, strange. Anyway I went to the website and found that they ship. However what they don't tell you until you are almost ready to pay for it is the shipping charges. If you have pies in the order shipping is $74.!!! Forget that. I don't care if they are a couple of days old I'm sure the post office is cheaper than UPS even for 2 day delivery.
I guess I can wait until Kitten comes home in June to have her bring me some. |
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| F'in Texas dentest |
[Apr. 19th, 2009|10:03 pm] |
This guy has to be the worst. Pity is until I know of I have to pay to replace the crown I don't know if I should change yet.
Okay let's start at the beginning. We were at Central Market sampling the BBQ stuff when something went crunch. Did not pay it much mind. Later at the theater I relented and had a Milk Dud. Well next thing I know my mouth is filled with grit and something felt wrong. I clean out my mouth and find the lower left crown. I clean it off and stick it back in. Now this is the second time in less than 5 years it came out. I thought it had some Milk Dud stuck to it so I brushed when I got home and it still felt strange. I pop'ed it out and found a good chunk of the enamel is missing from the outside.
I'll be calling from work in the morning.
I also pulled out a bush that was being choked by what looked like poison oak. |
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