Three Dog Blog

My Sh*t List

2010-11-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

More fun for me than anyone:

Pizza Hut
Applebee's
Fuddrucker's
Wendy's
Graebel Moving
Bernie
The Doung
US Air
The Yippy Dog neighbors
The State of Kansas Income Tax department

Ah... I feel better.

California Camping

2010-06-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to it. MUST MUST MUST take pictures!!

Mayonnaise, it's not just for breakfast any more!

2010-06-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, a real ad:

Yup, I'm happy for him...

2010-04-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Two facts:

1. The president and his family made 5.5 Million last year. That's great for him.

2. The state of Kansas kept my overpayment of taxes I paid, about $2000, because I filed late. Because "it's the law".

Am I bitter? A little.

Chillaxing

2010-04-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

Dish Network American Idol Funny

2010-04-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Took a picture:

Things Other People Love That I Just Don't Get

2010-03-31T10:32:00.000-07:00

Stolen shamelessly from Scenic Overlook, who stole it from others. Pass it on.

Politics (being overly attached and fanatical about)
Religion (again....)
Baseball, Hockey, Rugby, Tennis
Diet Soda
Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, The Dead, and rap
Video games
Children
"Good" beer
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peas, cauliflower, squash, etc
Harry Potter
Following "reality" stars that contribute nothing to the world
Shooting
Cats
Desserts
Perfume
White wine
Going to live events
Hummus
Bill and Hillary
Apple Computers (not the iPhone of course!)

To be blunt,

2010-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

are there more assholes in the world these days? Or is it just my life experience? Sure seems that in the past few years I've encountered more people that are just JERKS. I mean flat out jackasses. They mostly hide behind the protection of email, a faceless tool that seems to bring out the worst of people. Maybe I dwell on them, and it's good story telling, or maybe not. In the past month alone I can think of these examples:

While at a restaurant, late so it was near empty, I asked a guy "so how was the steak?". He just stared at me, didn't answer. Oh yes, he heard me. He was spooky. And he wanted another Espresso. I had visions of him going on a killing spree.
RE: The lady in my neighborhood that followed me home to yell at me for "driving too fast"
A pinball parts customer of mine who was griping about their order taking so long. It had been 4-5 days and they picked Ground shipping (or didn't pick Priority). He said he didn't see the option, and I told him that it did default to the cheapest method, to get this: You know, I tried to make nice with you and now you call me cheap. NO more emails. I will not buy from you ever again. and I will tell all the people i know not to also. You are a JACKASS. You dont insult the customer. If they are not here by friday I will get my money back. I should have never waited this long. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
I WILL NOT OPEN ANYMORE MAILS FROM YOU SO DONT EVEN SEND THEM.
LOOK FOR A PAYPAL COMPLAINT ON FRIDAY IF THEY DO NOT SHOW UP.
Last week, I bought $200 worth of parts for my business via the Internet. The guy sent me a PayPal payment request, for which I paid. For some reason, the payment didn't include what I was buying, and you would have thought it was the end of the world. I got a nasty immature email back stating since I didn't say what it was for, they'd send pictures of what they spent it on. Excuse me? I explained what it was for, included a copy of the invoice I showed as having the info, and said I was a little shocked at their email. I thought I'd get an apology. What I've gotten, and still getting, are long emails telling me what a jerk I am. Quotes are: "Be as unprofessional as you like and lay it off on anyone that makes you feel comfortable. While you're feeling all superior on next week, don't for get to look in your mailbox." and "When things get screwed up and no one can find you, you want to blame others. I know, you're really a comedian. This has all been a joke and I should be laughing." and " I can have any attitude that I like. Your over inflated need for special attention not withstanding, so I gave you some." and "You decided that you could treat people at great distances from you like monkey poop and they would just love it." And mostly what I've said to this person is that I'm shocked at being treated this way, and told him many times I paid the invoice I was sent. This is from the owner of this small company. I'm still amazed.
Three+ years ago, a jerk in KC basically stole a pinball machine from me. The other day he felt compelled to email me with a link to pictures of how he restored it.

That's just my thought of the moment. I guess though, I've said it before, will say it again: I hate people.

No humor... at all

2010-03-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

Went to Del Taco for lunch today. It's Taco-Bell like, but better.

Bob the Shift Manager took our order:

Boy, lose that "F" and you're in for some trouble!!!

Silence.......... more silence.........receipt given.......

I wonder if he spit in my food.

Weird people

2010-02-14T08:53:00.000-08:00

I post on Craigslist that I buy pinball machines..... I often get an email back. Sometimes, I just wonder.

Unedited:

Do you work on them?
Yes, but I don't do service calls, too many factors
No a freind of mine used to work on them back in the 60s and 70s he really enjoyed it
Wasn't me. You looking for someone? I know a guy named Alan would fit that bill
No you misunderstood me. My freind used to repair pin balls back in the 50s and sixtys. I really likes it I thought if you need some tech advice he probably would be some great help. He still talks foundly of it. Hes retired and he would love to work on a pin ball machine again I am sure
(Me trying to be nice again) I'm not very good at EM games at all! I've got a Royal Flush I'm working on right now that won't start properly.
And what does that have to do with pin ball machines? I was talking about pinball machines you been sippin the bong water again?

Weirdo.....

speling inkorecklee is kool -NAUGHT!

2010-02-11T07:23:00.000-08:00

I've always been a little annoyed by the butchering of words especially in businesses or web sites, things like Cheez Fries, Quik-E Mart, EZ Wash and things like that that save 1 or 2 letters and make it terrible to look up in your GPS. "No, that's Cheese with a Z... and no E". Oh oh oh!!! No wonder!

Bad but I'm getting used to it is the Text Speak. UR instead of You are, cya instead of see ya, fine I guess. There's something to be said about typing with your thumb.

What I don't get and will not accept is the combination of the two plus the added bonus of laziness to capitalize and spell check. Most PCs these days as well as even cell phones have SPELL CHECK in them, why some people think something like the following is cool versus what I see, and that's a lack of education and pure stupidity. The following is an actual ad:

unusual pinball machine - $200 (in galt)

Location: its n galt

its an odd looking pinball machine that realy works. surprized the shit out of me. it has some lititure writing on the back side of it but, unfortinitly its in japanies and i dont no japanies writing. oh well not my problem anymore. it could b your problem if u r interested. check out the pic and gimme a call or email me. i just want it gone. price maybe nagociable if ur REALY interrested.. 209639XXXX jeff

(In case you want a count of errors, I counted about 40)

It hit me today for the first time

2010-01-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

I got a 1099 form in the mail for about $32 bucks. This is for the measly piddly ass interest I earned by keeping my money in a bank that uses my savings to invest in their own stuff. A 1099 form so that I can pay the government a third. Why? My statement isn't "why is this fair?", my question is "Why is this legal?". When someone takes something away from you without asking or reason, it's stealing. I already earned the money and paid a fee for doing so, why am I being punished for saving? You.. You with the face. You over there. You got your money and you spent it. On a new car, a smokin' hot TV, a house you couldn't afford, or whatever. Enjoy it? I bet you did. Pay the government anything? NOPE! You spent it.

Here's another. I got a 1099 from the state of Kansas for my TAX REFUND! They treat that as income? I overpay, they keep it interest free, then give it back to me. Anyone see the problem here?? Not to mention that if you file more than 2 years late, it's "THE LAW" that they get to keep it. Crooks.

Local Chickens, good eatin

2010-01-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

Truth in advertising, if Todd was in charge:

2010-01-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to hone my advertising skills, but I'm not sure this industry is for me. The below is one I thought "I could do better than that!", But I'm not sure I succeeded. She kinda looks like she's in bliss, but seriously, these face masks are kinda a slap in the face, cool and shocking! Smells good though. Minty!

Here's my attempt, like I said.. Not sure this is for me:

Some people look at the cloulds and see Mickey Mouse

2010-01-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

I look at what my dog made and see PENIS!

And then, it chews THIS. What's up with my dog?

NY Resolution followup, Part 1

2010-01-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

1. The weigh in officially topped in at 210, clothes on, full belly, hadn't pooped, but I'm making it easy on myself.
2. The Perfect Storm is halfway through
5. Sold a game already, and have 54 items on eBay
8. This counts as a blog entry

New Year's Resolution

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yup, I'm going to do it. And I'm going to be OH SO BORING about it:

Lose 10-15 pounds by mid year and keep it off. This doesn't mean exercise or drink less beer.
Read more books. For me, 20 is a good number. I'll keep track. Book in progress counts.
Bitch less. HA HA, just kidding.
Start riding my bike again.
Cut down on the clutter. Easy to say, so let's say I'll sell 40 games this year, and list 500 items on eBay.
Get my taxes done on time.... OH GOD! I'm kidding again! I'm so funny
Put in backyard grass. Sounds easy, but it's got 10 projects that have to happen first.
Blog more.
Add 50 new items (that I already have) to my web site.
Drop my lousy 401K investment company and do it myself.
Organize my CD and DVD library.
And finally? Patent something. That's right. PATENT something....

Isn't it getting a little ridiculous?

2009-12-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

I actually thought it was getting better. Seems like saying "Merry Christmas" wasn't offending as many people. The word 'fat' is still in our vocabulary, a little surprised there after being challenged in court by the OBESE people. 'Retarded' has gone the way of the dodo, being joined soon I predict with friends Moron, Imbecile and Idiot. That's going to be a tough one to swallow, and I'm fighting for the rights of the idiots everywhere to call them what they are!!

I'm tired, really tired, of other people telling me what's offensive. Never have liked it when people tell me what to do, just cause they think they can. If I'm offended, so be it, don't TELL me I am. How I feel when I use a word or hear a word is none of your damn business, let alone something you really know. Words are words.

Fat actually is no longer politically correct, I kid you not that the accepted phrase is "Enlarged physical condition caused by a completely natural genetically-induced hormone imbalance or too much fast food which is not your fault, is it?". Can you believe that? OK, I added the last part, but "completely natural"? Come on. I'm fat cause I eat too much, don't exercise, and drink beer. It's not a hormone imbalance.

I kid you not that the following words are ones you're not supposed to use any more: Bum, Crazy, Criminal, Failure, Fairy, Founding Fathers (too sexist), Garbage man, Ghetto, Handicapped, Illegal Alien, Janitor, Midget, Psycho, Secretary, and Trailer Park (it's a mobile home community). You have now been educated.

Here's the latest though, and give me a break. Just give me a break. It's "Nerd" and "Geek". Yup. Some fucking college professor on the East coast has determined for you and me that: "using terms like nerd and geek "perpetuate the stereotype" that nerds are "socially inept" and geeks are people with a "special expertise." They are so damaging that he believes that "much like racial epithets, he says, they should be avoided."

Good Lord! I'm a nerd and I'm proud!

Here's a question for ya, Christmas cards

2009-12-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

Do you ever ponder about Christmas cards? Some people don't send them, that's fine. If you know who they are, it doesn't matter I guess. Just a question to think about: Do you track who reciprocates with Christmas cards?

Mentally or otherwise? Do you care? Does it bother you when you get left out? Ever say anything like "Er... didja get my card?". Can you help but take note of receiving one from someone a week later, often after Christmas, and feel like you mighta been forgotten? Do you take note of who sends and who doesn't, and adjust accordingly? Does it mean anything ya think? Is this all sounding too vain?

Nearly every year, BG's card comes first. It's almost a given. I like that. There are a handful of old friends that always send cards, even though we may not have talked in years. Relatives are pretty predictable, those that do, those that don't, those that are late. I'm used to it.

How about the "family update" letters? Like them? Hate them? Some of them are amazing in how people change. Usually it seems to be finding God, and having children. Ever get insulted by one in an indirect way? I have, this year as a matter of fact. They don't even know it.

How about the photo cards of just the kids? Or the dog? Well, those are great but I'd like to see how my friends look. If anything, I like the family ones the best. The WHOLE family.

The worst? Cards from my investment company. Stop spending my money on this crap your secretary signs and concentrate on my future, idiots. It bugs me knowing those cards are an expense that are somehow paid for by me, the customer. My company has 20,000 brokers, I'm going to guess each has an average of 100 customers, that's a few million bucks or more spent on cards and postage. Oh, and a card stuck on my trash can, just a friendly reminder that Ann Landers suggested tipping in 1962, this to the same jerks that won't take all my trash if it's "too much" or "too heavy", charge me for an extra can, and make messes I have to go clean up in the street. Think again trash can man.

Ah Bacon, my nemesis.... You've bested me THIS time!

2009-12-19T09:12:00.001-08:00

Yeah, well... What can I say. Bacon was forgotten on the stove, burning, and I grabbed the pan and wasn't careful, maybe slipped a little and all the grease came to introduce itself to my hand. Hurts. Hurts bad. I was up all night, and today a week later, it still stings. Not really thrilled to be marked for life now, but what can I say. I still like you bacon... And your brother Ham.

Christmas is pardoned!

2009-11-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

I'm so relieved!

An Alaska senator says the U.S. Postal Service is resuming a program allowing volunteers to respond to letters sent to Santa Claus in care of the North Pole, Alaska, post office.

Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday that Deputy Postmaster General Pat Donahoe told her in a phone call the agency has reconsidered its decision to not allow volunteers to answer the letters.

Calls to the Postal Service were not immediately returned. (1-800-dicklesswusses was disconnected)

I really think this is for the good of the people

2009-11-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

"Santa Claus" holds letters from children sent this year that the U.S. Postal Service says they will no longer deliver. Citing privacy concerns, postal officials say that generically addressed letters to "Santa Claus, North Pole" will no longer be forwarded to volunteers in the Alaska town as has been done for years.

Yup. Protecting YOU!

To give them a LITTLE TEENY amount of credit, they blame this on protecting the children from volunteer Santas that are sex offenders and MIGHT CONTACT A CHILD! Here's an idea: Screen for sex offenders!

Up next: No more eggs sold at Easter. Citing high cholesterol levels in test monkeys, there will be a ban starting two weeks before Happy Friday (previously know as "Good" Friday).

Redistibution of wealth, it's here!

2009-08-04T15:21:00.001-07:00

So, I'm in a grumpy sarcastic mood. Today I got the PRIVILEGE of paying to register my business name, get my NV state license, resale tax license, city license (etc) to the tune of $450. Ask me what this gets me, go ahead. I know for a fact the first thing I'll get will be junk mail. I hope I'm wrong.

Then today, to the relief of many, the government has decided to extend "Cash for Clunkers" and hand out more of my money in the form of 2 billion dollars on top of the 1 billion we're already paying for, all basically giving money to people that can't afford a new car in the first place. This makes sense; give people that have a gas guzzler (they knew it was a gas guzzler) a so called rebate for a new car that will lose that much when it drive off the lot. Then destroy that old car, not utilizing any parts or anything.

...I knew what mileage my truck got when I bought it, It was my decisions, and I live with it, and pay for my gas....where's my money?!?!

Paraphrasing another blogger on this subject, Who pays for it?

You are, because it is your tax money that Obama is giving away.
You are, because when the loans taken out stop being paid, the bank will run to the government for another bailout . . . that you pay for with your taxes.
You are, because this will help put more used car dealers out of business, and they are either going to go to Washington for a bailout of their own or go on welfare.
You are, because the car loans from many banks will be bundled up by companies and then sold to pension funds and other unsuspecting fools. This is a repeat of the Housing Bubble, but this time it is cars, not houses.

It's sunny here, not a cloud in the sky...

2009-07-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Came to the realization today that they name fires around here. Kinda like hurricanes! I'm not sure if this is "The Red Rock Fire" or the "Trailer 1 Fire". It's not as original as naming a hurricane "Shanteel", the first one is by Red Rock, the 2nd was started by a dragging trailer that sparked up. Original huh? Closer than I thought, but we're in no danger, from the top of Hell Hill:

Eye problems, I guess I'm getting old

2009-07-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Man the past year has been rough on my eyes. About a year ago I started wearing glasses again, the first time in 15 years or so since I had LASIK surgery. I mainly wear them when driving, but as this year has gone on, I find myself wanting them more and more. I love the climate here for the most part, cool in the morning's and dry, but apparently the dryness can cause the pores in your eyelids to clog up and this morning, for about the 5th time since I moved here, I've awaken to puffed up and sore eyelids, due to a condition called chalazion, internal hordeolum or just a common eye stye. They hurt! Feels like a zit you can't pop. Fun!

And take a look at the monster below. Thankfully, it didn't hurt. Woke up to this awhile ago, after noticing a tiny little red mark next to my pupil that lasted a few days. This has happened twice, once after blowing my nose too hard! This attractive condition is known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage (thanks Internet!)

Frenchman's Lake Camping & Lakes Basin Rec Area hike

2009-07-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

Of ALL things to forget on a camping trip, MY CAMERA!?!?!?! Thankfully Sue brought her, unfortunately there'd be a LOT more pics of my pups if I had brought my own. Regardless, pictures tell a better story than me blabbing, let me just say CA is just flat gorgeous. Pictures below can be enlarged.

Road TRIP! They all got along fine. Gear is on the trailer.

Spot picked, Good dogs.... Stay! That's Lucy and Dude in front.

One of many lakes

Stealth Swimmers

Todd, the pups and George

Wet all day!

They are pretty good trail dogs, they stay ahead, but not too far, and constantly come back. Next time I'm gonna strap a GPS to one of them, I bet they travel twice the distance.

One of the best pictures

Yes, that's snow! And it's not too far away!

See?!?!?!?!?!??!

That's all the pics I got, but it's making me want to go again SOON!

Charity losers

2009-06-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

We had a garage sale last weekend, and in typical fashion, much of the leftover stuff was slated to go to a local ever-asking-with-the-hand-out-charity. My first choice was one of those places that rents in a nice strip mail (drop off only), and send postcards in the mail begging for stuff. I'm no saint here, I picked them cause they were closest, a new place so I thought they'd be thrilled to have the traffic, and yeah, I want the write off. Lots of stuff good and bad, and seriously. Who ever really takes inventory of the crap you dump off? They simply give you a blank "receipt" which you could write down anything up to the IRS legal limit and not be questioned. Scammy smelling already. Us being a little more organized (if you can believe it), take pictures and actually make a list.

So rewind to a pet peeve of mine; simply saying Hello or Thanks. If you've been in the support sector, you know what I mean. You're busy working on some stupid budget that is only going to get rejected with "We approve this project, but cut the costs in half" and someone pops their head in to your office and says "Todd! Applied is down. When I alt-click to calculate the state premiums, I get a Windows exception error that DMXFUKU dot DLL has caused an error. "

Oh, let me hop right on that. And how are you?

It's equally annoying in email or chat or at the grocery store when you hold the door open for some old bag who thinks she's still hot who don't say a word, by golly I SHOULD hold the door for her! Ever ignored the phone cause you know who's calling is going to ask you the SAME question again about their computer? Now now, you people reading that have asked my my input on something and I've given it and you've said THANKS, I'm not talking about you. You rock. Most of those people won't ever find my blog any way. Hell, as a total side line, I fixed my neighbors Internet the other day and I got not only cookies, but banana nut bread!!!

OK, back to the local charity. Here it is, Monday morning, the Clampett truck & trailer loaded with all sorts of stuff including a TV, books, computers, clothes, luggage, table & chairs, and tons of misc THINGS. All ready for my local charity to sift through like Christmas and put up for sale to support their little non-profit organization!! Cool, they've got a covered drive though (absolutely necessary in this desert climate):

Me: Hi! How ya doing!? I've uh, got all sorts of STUFF for ya.

GW: We don't take TVs

Me: (I'm fine, how are you?) Why not?

GW: We just don't take them.

Me: OK, well fine. Lots of stuff here anyway. Know who takes TVs?

GW: Fred!?! Who takes TVs?? (Fred says XXX Glendale Avenue. Thanks Fred)

I pop open the back of the truck to help unload. I'm THAT kinda helpful guy. I unload an Apple Macintosh all-in-one PC. I set it on the cart.

GW: We don't take monitors.

It's not a monitor, it's an all in one computer.

We don't take computers.

Me: (slight annoyed laugh) Listen dude, ya gotta take the good with the bad! You quickly unloaded my good table and chairs. I got three computers, if you don't want them, how about you throw them away?

GW shrugs and says "Put them over there"

Me nodding, then grabs a stack of books and puts it on the cart. Uh-Oh, GW sees me:

"FRED?!?!?!?!" Fred comes out. Looks at what I've just done and states "We don't take books"

What? Are you fucking kidding me? I lost it a little and had enough "Tell you what, how about you put all my shit back on the trailer then and I'll take it somewhere else?" And they do. I got one last comment from them about they can't afford to pay for trash haul off. It was very canned and rehearsed. Yeah right I thought, but you can take the good stuff and sell it and pay for this fancy new building and the postcards in the mail begging for garage sale leftovers.

20 minutes later another local place that takes donations for Multiple Sclerosis took it all, did most of the unloading and not only gave me receipts, but gave me a handful of coupons for 20% items in their store. And they said thanks. I'll be going back to them.

I'm fine, how are you?

Rock & Roll Wall man....

2009-06-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Just while THINKING about putting this blog up for Mitch to see pics, I thought of ALL of these damn yard projects that just start to overwhelm me. On the plate:

Raised berm area around some pre-existing trees, using rock as a border (see three pictures below). These are all rocks from my yard, the biggest that I can move is about the size of a basketball. HEAVY!
Turning the current cinder block pepper garden (CLICK HERE) in to a much larger tomato and pepper garden area surrounded by Pavestones and getting rid of most the block. Maybe this weekend?
In the background you can see the huge boxes for the gazebo.
Before I do that, I need to make a patio to set it on.
Not really a separate project, but making a flagstone pathway from the old patio to the the gazebo.
In a fantasy world, all around the new patio would be curbing, sprinkler system and grass.
The dogs are getting their own small patio that will be under the faucet (to cool it) made out of a stack of square fabricated pavers. Should be a nice little area for them, if they use it!
Off the gazebo I want to build an arbor like area and use the brick I brought from Kansas for a new patio area there, and remove the flat cinder blocks that are in front of the door of the shed.
The dry creek beds have near filled in with silt from all the rain washout we've gotten. Needs upgraded and repaired!
In the again fantasy world, horseshoe pit, waters/fountain features, and a flat sitting area up on the hill.

See what I mean? I'm sure I forgot 10 things too!

Rain Rain GO away

2009-06-06T06:39:00.000-07:00

Highly unusual for us, it's been raining for near a week here. Very cool to hear thunder again, surprised at how much I've missed it. Rain is cool too, but I'm done with it. My backyard is mud, my dry creek beds are now mud beds, lots of THINGS washed away, and I've got plants to get in the ground! Thankfully unlike Kansas, I have no water problems in the house.

Memorial Day rambling

2009-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great Memorial Day weekend, doing the kind of outdoor summer stuff we love to do. Lots of grilling, lots of yard work. A few weeks ago we went to an auction and picked up over 40 plants, CHEAP!
We're later than we were last year on getting tomatoes and peppers in the ground, but then again we had some snow just a few weeks ago. All of the above plants are non-edible though, so now we have TWO types of planting to get done. I'm happy to say that we got about 10 in the ground this weekend. Digging holes here sucks.

The grilling this weekend included bratwursts, fish, steak and ribs. Overall satisfied my grilling needs for awhile. Got a lot of other little things done too. Mowed, mounted the TV, turned the compost bin, extended the drip irrigation. Too bad the NASCAR race sucked.

Texas Pinball Festival trip coming up!

2009-03-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Pretty excited about the TPF this coming weekend. We're going to drive and make a little vacation out of it sans dogs. Long trip, should take us 2 1/2 days of driving. The forecast is looking OK for our trip, maybe a little rain when we get there.

But look what I woke up to today!

So much for working on the trailer....

Todd Likes to.....

2009-02-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

The urge to blog is constant, but procrastinating is super easy, so when I ran across something easy and silly to blog about, here I am! Go to Google and type in your name in quotes like this following sentence, and simply report the results: "Todd likes to".

Todd likes to ride things!
Todd likes to dance
Todd likes to bowl
Todd likes to socialize
Todd likes to spend time with his wife
Todd likes to play with his children
Todd likes to work hard and play hard
Todd likes to make up characters
Todd likes to take the law into his own hands
Todd likes to eat grasshoppers

I say I scored a 7/10, assuming my dogs are my children. For those interested, there's a video of #10 <Click Here>

I do it to myself....

2009-01-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's my fault. Why oh why do I torture myself!? The reveling in the sale of the project Bally Draw Poker game Friday (at a small $50 profit even!) was short lived. By Sunday, I had my sites on another project pinball machine, and a fairly nice Super Pac-Man video game. To top it off, my friend Jed calls and says "Ya want some books?". Uh, sure? How many? "I dunno, a couple hundred." So on my way home from getting the two games, I stopped by Jed's for the books:

Couple hundred? Try 600-650!! Sheesh. It took me a half hour JUST to unload! Hopefully some gems in this lot. I except that half will be donation or thrown away.

Tracy's gonna love me when she gets home tonight!!!

The Kansas Garden Rocket is finally home!

2009-01-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah!!! Only gone for 18 months, finally at it's proper home!

Pinball Fun in Kansas

2008-11-22T08:32:00.001-08:00

Wow, sure did hit me hard last night how much I miss my KC Pinball buddies. Brutha Burt had a small get together/pinball tournament and set up a web cam so I could enjoy the show. Was really nice to see, hear, and chat with some old friends, and relive the past when pinball parties were a lot more common than they are for me now. (Sniff). It was a late thought to grab pictures, and I only managed to get a few:

I hear Don won. Big surprise........

Seven hours in the corner

2008-11-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

I festered all afternoon, and tried not to be bitchy to my lovely wife, but when they proactively held back my funds from the weekend (totaling over $400), I lost it. In all seriousness, I sent this:

----------------------------

I am appalled that after selling on Amazon since 2004, that after a few refunds for justified reasons, and a few negative feedbacks, that not only is my account under review and my funds held for 30 days, within a few hours my account was SUSPENDED without a valid reason. I'm shocked and angered that your policy only looks at 30 days of activity and then treats sellers in such a rude manner. Unless my account suspension is lifted immediately, I will be removing my inventory from Amazon (now at close to 1800 unique items) and selling elsewhere.

----------------------------

At 10:52PM my suspension was lifted, and my funds released. I'm not exactly certain it had anything to do with the above email, but they weren't going to lift it unless I gave SOME response. To quote them, they said: "In order to reinstate your listings, please write and provide a detailed account of the steps you will undertake to bring your performance up to our standards. ".

I wrote, but I certainly didn't give them a plan on how I was going to improve!

Sigh. Corporate drama. I miss it not.

Sorry, you apparently didn't behave.

2008-11-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

Amazon must be teaming up with eBay and PayPal with their corporate policies. Today, for no good reason (that I agree with anyway), my Amazon seller account was suspended. Why? Well, the form letters are pretty vague, but it appears that a combination of lower sales in the past month, three non positive feedbacks, and four refunds were enough to do it. So let's analyze:

1. One negative feedback for a damaged package, the buyer is irate with me and there was no calming him down. He even called me a crook, multiple times!

2. One neutral feedback: "Everything was good, except the game won't save. And I know it's not my memory card because i can save other games on it." Certainly my fault. I'll talk to Sony.

3. One negative because I accidentally sent the wrong item, and his replacement isn't there yet. Guess he felt it was his job to leave me a negative for making a mistake. Thanks asshole.

4. A refund cause the customer returned the item (without my approval but that's besides the point). This counts against me?

5. One refund cause the customer changed their mind. Her husband bought it elsewhere. Again my fault.

6. One refund cause I miscounted items, WHOOPS! I make mistakes!! It's TRUE!

7. One cause I sold it to a local guy and couldn't remove it quick enough on Amazon and it sold so I had to refund.

All this resulted in:

---------------------

We are writing to let you know that your listings have been suspended and are currently unavailable for sale. The feedback, claims, and/or refunds submitted to your seller account profile indicate that a number of buyers have been dissatisfied with the service you have provided.

Amazon sellers should maintain refund rates and negative feedback rates of less than 5% of orders, as well as A-to-z Guarantee rates of less than 0.5% of orders.

Your seller account will remain accessible to you. Please take steps to resolve your pending sales.

We encourage you to review your processes in order to identify any operational deficiencies that may have contributed to increased negative feedback, guarantee claims or returns submitted by your transaction partners. In order to reinstate your listings, please write to seller-performance@amazon.com and provide a detailed account of the steps you will undertake to bring your performance up to our standards.

We look forward to hearing from you.

---------------------

Blame me to be grumpy?

We'll miss you Amber....

2008-11-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Sad day Saturday, Amber went to the land of incredibly huge and colorful Frisbees. Her fight with cancer was super short, and apparently surgery didn't help. We'll miss her. Plenty of tears in Reno.....

Something you didn't know

2008-11-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

Cat pukes stains concrete. I'm not trying to follow a theme or anything, just making an observation.

Before

And after!

Welcome to my mansion. Watch your step.

2008-10-27T18:24:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I was taking a whiz the other day when it struck me about something I've been meaning to blog about for a long time, and now enough time has passed since I left "my old job", I think it's safe. In the days where I did a lot of hand-holding computer work (downloading pictures from the camera, how to burn a CD, cleaning up spyware), I ran in to a lot of disgusting, weird or just wrong things. A lot of these people lived in very expensive multimillion homes, but money doesn't make you normal or smart, that's for sure. The following memories are from a half dozen people over the course of a few years:

In one home, the teenager's toilet was jammed very close to the tub & shower. The white shower curtain was pulled back towards the toilet, I couldn't help but notice it was yellowed at the bottom. You figure it out.
In the same mansion downstairs, one of their two retrievers (I assume) had taken a big dump in the middle of the oriental rug, it looked like it had been there for awhile.
Same house, different kid about 12 years old, had a porn DVD (and a rental to boot) in his non working PC. Don't ask me what I did with it, it's a secret.
You know those Folgers pre-measured coffee-in-a-filter packs they sell, for the people that have the money and are too lazy to measure their own coffee and put in their own filter? Convenient? Sure! So when I was asked if I wanted some coffee, she got out the filters, got out the pre-measured coffee packs, slowly tore one open and dumped the contents in to the new filter....
A week later on a follow up visit, the turd was still there.
Oh, and they put their old nice golden retriever down, why? "Well, we were going on vacation..." Nice.
Once at another mansion, I was called because the printer didn't work. It made no sense, that it would just stop working, but it seems like I was always being called to this house to fix weird problems. And not for the first time, the young bratty son who obviously had his dad's prick like attitude is saying to Mom as I'm standing right there: "Mom! We don't NEED him. We need to get a new computer! How much is he going to charge anyway?!". From what I could surmise, yeah, he wanted a new PC. One that downloads porn faster I bet! In this case I found the problem. The printer port had been disabled. Huh!? Wonder how THAT happened!?!?!?!
I once had a nightmare virus cleanup at a house with three PCs. They had twins, and their PCs were side by side, and the third was on another floor. They all got one of those damn pop up virus programs that make using your PC impossible. I was able to spend about 3-4 hours and cleaned it all up, and was even thanked with a bottle of expensive wine. I sent in my bill, and I did get paid, but with it was a note that said "Todd, here's your money. We paid a neighborhood kid about $25 to fix the email problem that you did not. He fixed everything and more in about 20 minutes".
I had this one lady who was well, just dumber than rocks. To make her feel important I guess, she scheduled "Lessons" with me. I'm not teacher, and I'm not always patient, especially with DUMBASS people, but I tried. These lessons involved me standing behind her for an hour or so while I instructed her where to click on the screen while the PC prompted her. Sometimes I even had to take her hand and move the mouse for her. We're talking copying pictures off her camera people, not complex Excel pivot tables! And not one lesson on this, MANY lessons. She didn't read the screen, and didn't seem to retain anything. I also set up her stereo while there once, and sometimes spent a lot of time cleaning up her Internet messes. The last call I spent there actually was challenging, seems like a driver update made her new HP printer stop working properly. She refused to pay $150 of the bill I sent. Why? I was told by her husband's secretary that she felt I didn't do the work, that I should have known better about the problem since I was a computer guy.
One job I had to do was simply to set up an online stock portfolio in Yahoo, and then teach the same secretary how to update it. Picture this now, I'm given his entire investment data, worth in excess of 5 million, and later his wife doesn't pay me $150. I always wanted to send him a thank you card.
I informed one lady (I mostly dealt with the wives ya know) that I had family over Thanksgiving and thus would be unavailable. Do you think that mattered? Cell phone rings, few minutes later home phone rings, then a few later cell phone rings (sigh!). So I answer. It would have been just a WEE bit nicer to get "Sorry to bother you" but the conversation from the adult son went something like this: "Todd. I forgot my password. I need to get online".... "Uh, OK, but you don't have a PC password?"... "No, no, to SPORTSGAMBLING.COM, I gotta put in a bet for the Denver game". Whatever dude, thanks for bothering me.
Not computer work, I was hired to set up a pinball machine is a restaurant owner's newly remodeled basement bar/gameroom. This area musta been 4000 square feet, and it was really cool. To be polite, I took off my shoes. While on my hands and knees under the pinball machine leveling it, the unmistakable smell of piss in the corner was overwhelming. This came to be known as "The Cat Piss House"
That seems to be a pattern too, pinball machines in the corner, new houses and piss or pooh. Setting up a pinball machine at another time, in another new house up at a new golf course, I asked for a coupla paper towels to clean up the mini-pooh Barky Von Schnauzer left in the corner. Little dogs are like cats dontcha know!

Ahh, the goood old days. I did have a coupla good customers that I was always happy to see, but I gotta admit, I'm glad I'm out of that business. It wasn't worth the hassle.

Mover update again

2008-10-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

So I got an anonymous post today asking about a move update... WHO ARE YOU!?!?!?!?!

Regardless, here's the update. NOT MUCH!

Once again I thought they'd gone away and written it off. Nearly a month has gone by since my last rebuttal to them, and I hoped it was over. The last email I sent was the first time I mentioned that we would sue it it was pursued, their response last Friday (they LOVE ruining my weekends) was pretty much 'too bad' and gave me until the 24th to pay up.

There is more though. Saturday I picked up the phone and called my so called friend, the branch manager there that promised to take care of me. I've not heard from him since I moved, he's never returned my calls, never emailed. My message wasn't nasty, but it was to the point: Thanks alot BUDDY! I wasn't sure if I'd get a response, but I did. A page back Sunday at 3AM Central Time. Maybe someone else couldn't sleep.

So, there's more to come. Today we actually talked, and from what I can gather, he's never taken the time to read any of the emails or really has much clue as to what is going on. So for now, I wait.....

Garden Patience...

2008-09-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

...I really didn't have much. Seems like it took forever for stuff to grow, but in the end, unless it freezes here in the next few weeks (not likely), WE'VE GOT TOMS! I mean honestly though, it's almost October, talk about slow! I've been picking tiny cherry toms for a coupla months, but it's not the same as a thick sweet red Brandywine. Here's a coupla shots of the whole mess of toms.

Peppers have been AWESOME, the pics below are even after I picked a few dozen. Last year they were not so prolific, this year we have tons. What I'm going to likely to is pick them, grill and chop them up and freeze.

Crap in my yard

2008-09-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

And by this, I don't mean Dog Logs, I've got plenty of those. What kind of crap do you find in your yard? Mine?!? Me?? It's tons of nails, staples, screws and nuts as seen below. That handful took me 2 minutes of looking around. The staples I'm not sure of, maybe used to put up insulation? The nuts are from the foundation, and I've literally tossed hundreds of them. Why can't the reuse them? Why can't they throw them away. Nah, much to easy to just leave them. Good thing we don't run around barefoot much.

Mover update

2008-09-16T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just again when we thought it had gone away, Friday afternoon came and there's an email from the moving company. (See, they like to do this, send an email about mid afternoon Friday to make us worry all weekend. I am not kidding, every single email from them comes on Monday, or Friday, it's the Friday ones that are after a silent period of weeks.) This time it's been since Friday 8/1, and they are making an addition "goodwill adjustment" for $300.

Three Hundred?

We have already told them they owe *US* near Three Thousand, and they are now only wanting us to pay THEM a little more than that. They make it sound like they are losing money, with no regard for how much we've paid, much, much more than they ever told us we would. All the areas we point out are us paying for their mistakes, but that doesn't seem to matter. Once again I outlined how we were overcharged, and Friday is just around the corner. Man it's lovely.

eBay stock sell off

2008-08-23T06:11:00.002-07:00

eBay announced another change the others day, and again not in the Sellers best interest. They are no longer going to permit the Sellers to accept money orders, cash, checks or cashiers checks, ONLY PayPal. Get this: eBay *owns* PayPal! This means when you list an item, they are guaranteed basically double commissions, because eBay charges 5% and PayPal gets 3%!!! Now, on one hand I prefer PayPal over money orders, especially for small items, but when I list an expensive item like I have in the past, say a $4000 game, why should I be FORCED to pay an additional $120 to have Big Brother eBay launder the money? In this case, it's only better for eBay, not the Buyer, not the Seller. This doesn't mean the Buyer has to have a PayPal account either, they can use a credit card and it's filtered to the Seller via their PayPal account, still with the same fees. I can tell you this isn't great. A customer of mine didn't recognize my name that showed up on their credit card statement, and thus they filed a dispute, my money was seized instantly. I do mean wham bam gone. $93 in limbo. When I emailed the customer, they realized the mistake and retracted the dispute, but here it is almost 30 days later and it's still pending, PayPal says it can take up to 90 days. They blame the credit card company.

Bull SHIT people!! You should put my money back as fast as you took it.

Just another example folks. I'm getting out. eBay can stick it up their ass.

Gimmee Dat STICK!

2008-08-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Super shorty, Abby got the stick. Last month in the heat in the Truckee River. RRrrrrrrroooooooowwww

There are some good customers....

2008-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

A number of weeks ago, I sold a dish receiver on eBay.... for 99 cents. Yippee. It was a normal transaction, I got paid, I shipped, that was it. Then I got the weird feedback:

"WILL SEND $20 MORE. EMAIL MAILING ADDRESS TO @NETZERO.COM. THANKS"

Huh? Describing what I thought is hard to put in to words, but I just smelled some sort of scam. I mean, the person could contact me in a variety of ways, why through feedback. Curiosity got the better of me, I emailed back asking what was the comment, and the reply was in essence, they expected to pay more, so they'd like to send me more money.

Yeah right!!!

I was very surprised when I did get a check for $20 in the mail a few days later. Thanks Kris, very cool. I guess there are some decent people out there!

Sidewalk project

2008-08-21T04:14:00.001-07:00

Here's the next project, in compacted form. This below you is a flagstone sidewalk. It's 3.5 tons, yes tons, of rock, that I get the pleasure to move and lay out in my already rock and dirt covered yard. Why? I'm not sure. And I paid for this! Oh, and those are peppers.

Barky Dog, Episode IV

2008-08-20T20:51:00.010-07:00

We've turned in paperwork and met with the Animal Control officer, and the neighbors gave statements, one which was KILLER, see below (click to enlarge):

See? It's just not us! Thanks Rod.

Things are changing for the better, finally a little silence when we're outside watering or have the windows open or pleasantly taking a morning dump. The Animal control people seem to act quick, and this has been observed at least twice to my knowledge:

That's Officer Heidi's (she's about 4' 9") truck. Go get 'em Heidi!! Amy the mail lady has been spying for me :)

The only other thing to mention is that last Saturday, while watering on the hill, a dog was yipping on the OTHER side of the Yippee Dog's house. The Teacher Beacher was out there and saw Tracy on the hill and yelled over (but actually nicely): "I just want you to know that's not *MY* dog that's been barking!!"

Yeah, we know. Amazing you can tell the difference though, ain't it? Why can't you hear your own dog bothering the neighborhood!?

PS: Did anyone catch the Star Wars reference?

Lawsuit coming?

2008-08-19T08:02:00.006-07:00

Well, after more than a year, Gr. Moving has laid down the line and given us until the end of the month to pay them an additional $3900. We've bantered back and forth in emails and while never agreeing 100% with our logic, they've backed down from $6100 due to mistakes they made. We finally time-lined it out and put some figures down and without getting nit picky, we feel they owe us $2400. What's so frickin' frustrating about this whole debacle are a number of things:

I made the mistake of thinking that the branch manager was a friend of mine, he has never returned my calls.
I made the mistake of trusting the verbal and handshake contract.
The blame is often laid on me, I said this, wouldn't do that, wanted this, moved more than I said. All lies.
The amount of money we paid already is double the initial estimates, with money paid to Gr. Moving and PODS.
And lastly that this has caused a lot of stress and sleepless nights for the both of us.

Will I move again? You bet! Will I ever hire a moving company? Not likely. I've learned a lot, but the biggest thing I learned was it doesn't cost $30,000 to move.

Will I have to bail Tracy out of jail?

2008-07-24T09:00:00.005-07:00

Good neighbors! Since we've moved in to this house, we've been battling a little shitty Jack Russell terrier and it's owners. The dog is a yipper, and they leave it outside and it yips from sun up to sun down if allowed. Because of the triangular property layouts, they live in the next cul-de-sac, but the corner or their property meets the corner of our property, so there's really one house and very little space between us.

The first problem was partially resolved. Many months ago, the dog would just walk through their fence (bar type, not wood or chicken wire), cut across the three feet of the other property (which is a neighbor that also complains), and lands on the top of our hill and comes down and barks at my three quiet dogs and me whenever we were out. Apparently we are a threat. No exaggerating, if I opened the back door and my dogs went out, the yippee dog could somehow hear them walking and the barrage of yips were on. It kept getting on our property, and when it took a crap on my patio, I had enough and went over and had a little chat. They put up chicken wire, which stopped the doggy trespassing, but didn't solve the yipping.

Fast Forward to June. YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP!!! At what time? 11:30PM!!! Tracy was heated, she was looking forward to sleeping in and was about to go to bed. Not now, a dog is barking! In her robe, she stormed over and pounded on the door. No answer. Chicken or no one home? 6Am the next morning: YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP!!!! Oh man is she pissed now. Walked over again, pounding on the door, no answer. She's had enough. Calls to the HOA, calls to Animal Control; yeah, they know the house. Letters would be sent, etc etc. Not good enough for Ms. T. She started a petition. On the Saturday before Father's Day, we walked around their cul-de-sac and attempted to get signatures. Of the two people that answered their doors, neither wanted to get involved (spineless people!). One guy said he didn't hear it (wha???????) and an immediate next door neighbor said "I don't want to go there". Regardless, the lady got word of it. Sunday while I was talking to my Pop wishing him Happy Father's Day, I hear yelling. Seems that Jennifer thinks it's our problem, and has come over to bark at Tracy herself! The conversation went something like this:

Are you the lady with the three Golden retrievers?

You must be Jennifer.

What do you do with YOUR dogs when you're not home?

What does THAT matter?

If you've got a problem with my dog, you need to come TALK TO ME!

*I DID*!!! I came over TWICE! AT NEAR MIDNIGHT AND at 6AM!

Well I wasn't home, I was whoring myself out at a bar! (Note 1)

You need to control your dogs. I'm tired of them barking and waking me up!!

Oh yeah, what are you, from California? (Note 2)

Huh?

My dog isn't the problem, YOU'RE the problem. And we BOUGHT a bark collar! (Note 3)

It's kinda blurred, but there were a few "F*** you's" thrown in, and then the lady went to the neighbors and started crying "Don't make me get rid of my dogs again". Yeah, it's happened before.

Note 1: I kinda assumed this, I may be wrong.
Note 2: This was really said, help me here.
Note 3: If it's not a problem, why'd you buy a bark collar?

So this is a month ago. It got AMAZINGLY better very quickly. How nice. Wow. But not for long. Whether the dog got used to being shocked, or the batteries went out, or they took it off, I dunno. We also saw it with a muzzle once, but the yipping is back. What we know is they don't care.

This morning at 6:15, it was yipping again, protecting whatever it is it's in fear of losing. YIP YIP YIP! Tracy stormed to the top of the hill and glared over. The Boy-Toy that lives there came out, brushing his teeth (or teefe), and the FOLLOWING ensued:

Tracy yells over "6:15!! It's a little early isn't it?"

To which the BT replies "The problem is... you opinion is one we don't care about"

Nice! More phone calls are being made today. Fun huh?!?!

eBay, you're just wrong

2008-07-13T10:05:00.004-07:00

I've been an eBay member since Jan 1999 and nearly 10 years later, I'm about through with them. I'm also a stock holder, having a fairly significant number of shares since 2000. Now I'm considering selling them, all of them. Why? In a nutshell, I no longer believe in the company. It's not the smartest thing to do to look at it that way, as opposed to looking at it as an investment, but I've always kept investments in companies I believe it, and I'd feel like a hypocrite otherwise.

They've done TOO many things in my opinion that are in their best interests, not the customer. And I mean the real customer, the customer that SELLS on eBay, not the one who buys. The seller pays the fees, the buyer doesn't. I'm a renter, I rent space. I pay my fees and I sell my stuff. eBay doesn't care about me anymore, they only care that the buyer has a warm and fuzzy experience, and keeps coming back. They've gotten so many sellers, who cares if they lose a few right? Here's the four points that have gotten under my skin:

Feedback: I've bitched about it before. Changed back in May, Sellers can only leave positives for Buyers, but Buyers can do what they want. Example: I listed a video game and sold it to a person in New York. Weeks of no or poor communication, excuses, and no payment, I stopped hearing from him. Can I give him a negative for non payment, wasting my time and making me eat the eBay listing fees? No. Can he leave me a Negative cause he wants to? You bet!
Net Neutrality: Buyers now also rate my shipping and handling costs and time. Costs are posted up front and they see that before bidding. I ship almost always same or next day, using tracking in most cases, and feel I'm very reasonable on costs and timeframe, better than many. Yet get this. Today I'm rated a 4.3 out of 5 stars in shipping, and since I'm below a mandated 4.6, my "Search Standing is Lowered", yeah, in RED. What this means is if someone searches for something I'm selling, they will see other Seller's items first, even if I'm a direct match, cause I didn't hand deliver, ship for free and kiss ass. This isn't in my best interest, and it's not even in the Buyer's best interest, to steer them towards someone with a better RATING than a better match? Wrong. Equate it to this: "Hey, where's a place to eat around here?" Answer? "Uh... Try Taco Fred's" Fred's brother says. It's 10 miles past 20 other good restaurants. I can't rate the buyer in any way, how quick he pays, IF he pays, how his communication is (doesn't matter does it?) or anything. Sellers need to be able to warn other Sellers about bad Buyers. Nope.
Guilty until proven guiltier. I've been tagged four times in the past coupla months for violating "Policy Compliance" and/or selling someone else's "Intellectual Property". There is no appeal. Get this, in the first two cases, eBay changed the rules for minimum prices on Buy It Now items. They changed it and I relisted some items (and they ALLOWED IT) and a few days later? BAM! "Policy Violation: Fee Circumvention". Yeah, for a 99 cent item, they think I'm ripping them off. On the 3rd and 4th cases, it was satellite receivers I was selling. They've given the power to companies to say, without question, "this guy can't sell this, it's mine". On one of the auctions, it had been sold and closed for 3-4 days. Yet, no warning given, I'm red flagged again and have two strikes. I don't know for a fact, but if I have one more, even on a closed auction, I'll be suspended.
Big Brother! This is just enough to bug me. Someone emailed me a week or more ago asking if I'd take $50 for something. People do it all the time, and it can be legit. I could have changed the auction to reflect his price, let him to the Buy It Now, and done deal. But, I just said no. I didn't know what the thing was worth, and as it was, sold it for $31. So last night I get a big long doom and gloom email from eBay, warning me about his email and offer. Yeah, they are monitoring email. Get this! If I DID sell it outside of eBay, they want me to fill out a long form. I would not be surprised if it's so they could get their commission. They go on to mention contacting law enforcement, your credit card company and the US Postal service about mail fraud if you got ripped off. On one hand maybe they are trying to be helpful, but on the other, they're accusing the person asking me a question of breaking the law, possibly. Guilty again.

So again, I sign this: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The year milestone

2008-07-07T13:48:00.004-07:00

It seems very hard to believe that exactly one year ago today, at near this hour, I buttoned up the house, loaded up the dogs, hugged the neighbors and looking like the Clampett's, we started our road trip here. One Year!! Man does time fly, even if you're often bored. Do I miss KC? You bet. Do I regret it, no. Not at all. There are times in your life you have to take chances, and this was it for us.

The dogs knew they were home!!

Ah, that first drink of CRISP Nevada water:

Sittin' Pretty in the once empty garage:

Had to explore everything, right?

Happy Anniversary!

Yahooooo it's the 4th!

2008-07-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Yahoo is only slightly embarrassed of the US right now. They show a patriotic banner the first time you hit their site, then it goes back to normal unless you highlight or click on it.

The 4th was pretty quiet here, no neighborhood fireworks (Get Caught, Go To jail), certainly no neighborhood cookouts, and pretty much hill work. It's looking better. Much more work to do tomorrow, and that's when I'm cooking, so more and pictures later.

First Toms of 2008!

2008-07-02T10:31:00.003-07:00

I fertilized, and the plants are doing a wee bit better. Needs more I suppose. Regardless, an Early girl and a Supersweet 100 have already borne fruit, we picked the first two last night.

Camping in the Tahoe National Forest

2008-06-30T09:01:00.001-07:00

We went spur of the moment camping this past weekend with our new friends Jed & Ayla and had a super great time. Having lots of things to still get done at home, we only went for one day & night, but now knowing what's there, we'll stay longer next time! Only an hour away, and right by the Yuba river. Jed has his own secret place which he discovered years ago, and it's perfect. Lots of woods, right be the river and just nice. Here's a shot of the camp spot:

Before that, we went to a jeep crawl, and it was pretty interesting. Lots of red-necks and whooping it up, testosterone was everywhere. And tattoos! Keystone didn't really seem to like the noise and climbed right up in the chair, his sanctuary I guess.

Picture of one of the crawl areas:

Oops.

Heave HO!

This is steps away from our camp. The river opens up to an Olympic size pool, that's T on the right, Ayla on the left.

Certainly no delay in getting in!

Jed and Sydney.

Another angle:

Abbytail:

Amber-Boo:

The Stone man:

Stones likes getting up on things, especially with Daddy:

In ya go!!

I love this Close up:

Cruise missiles:

No doubt you've heard of the fires in California, it was very smoky:

All of the pictures can be seen here: CLICK HERE

Can't wait to go again!

Growing slowly

2008-06-24T08:21:00.011-07:00

1st part of it is being impatient, 2nd part is putting them in the ground late, 3rd is the dirt here, 4th is the weather. Seems like my toms should be three times as tall as they are, but as I look at my blog, it has ONLY been a month, and maybe I expect too much. But then again, it's been a whole MONTH! My tallest plant is maybe a foot tall, I'm thinking it should be three. Sigh. We water every day, and they are mostly planted in a combination of Home Depot bagged stuff, so I don't get why they aren't moving. Certainly plenty of sunshine!!

Looks about the same, don't it?

Is that a bunny? The peppers seem to be happy, much happier than toms really:

An "Ace" and a coupla Early Girls already turning:

Volunteers from the compost, makes me smile!

Today I'll dig through the cabinets and find some fertilizer. I know I've got plenty of STUFF, why not use it? Today isn't windy thank God, so it's a good time.

How many plants does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

2008-06-10T16:55:00.005-07:00

Uh-One, Uh-Two, Uh-Three! Three HUNDRED I guess. Jiminy Christmas have we gone a bit nuts with plants? This is pretty much last week's haul from Costco, a local nursery and the Garden Club's fund raising sale, about 25 plants there alone. We've got about 50 others planted (including mostly the toms and peppers, but a dozen plus on the hill too) with all these left to go. Plenty on my plate, tons of holes to drill. Drilling holes sucks, rocks and boulders. More fun when it's windy too, which is most often. I think I can do tops 10 holes a day before I'm worn out. Dig, chip, pry, repeat. My hands are sore, my back is taking it fine.

Sleep Mr. Stone man... Sleeeeep.....

2008-06-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

To disclose, I think my pups spend 90% of their day sleeping, and of course we try to make them as COMFY as possible, with at least 6 dog pillows scattered throughout the house (among 27 thousand dog toys). But ain't he CUTE! Don't it make you want to say something like fuzzy-wuzzy? Yeah, it's just Keystone on a dog pillow, but he's ma' boy and I'm proud!

Let the garden grow!!!

2008-06-02T17:43:00.008-07:00

I like the look of my gardens so far. They ain't fancy, but I like 'em. The eventual plan for the back wall is to totally cover the cement blocks. Today, things in the big garden are a week old. Once again I probably crammed too many too close, but it's always worked, hopefully here too!!

Things are growing (OK, so three peppers have bit the dust), already got some Early Girls, and scattered other tomato buds. Basil is still teeny in the garage (planted a bit late from seed), but it grows fast. Hoping to put it in the ground in a few weeks.

I still got work to do. Cages, drip line, more rocks, and I have to figure out how I'm going to plant the bunch of onions I have, wasn't thinking of them in my design.

We've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 tomato plants and 20 peppers, which is a lot higher pepper percentage than past years, but last year the peppers were poor and I'm trying something different with them. Lots of herbs around too! Basil, thyme, rosemary, sage. Ah, I love this time of year!

Getting ripped off sucks

2008-05-31T10:00:00.002-07:00

May is going to be remembered for me as the month people ripped us off. I hope it's not a trend. If I sit and dwell on it, I get really ticked, mainly at my own stupid self cause I'm smart enough to know better, but also with people. How can some people purposely commit such blatant fraud and live with themselves? Honestly. We're talking 4 instances. The first is the one I'm most pissy about. I got conned, in the parking lot of Costco of all places, for a "We'll fix that dent and make it good as new for $200". Sure ya will. It looks like crap, worse than before, and they even cracked the paint. I fell for the "Ya need to let that white stuff (hiding their crappy work) sit for a few hours before you wipe it off". Yeah, I'm an idiot, and $200 poorer. What makes me doubly mad is that this dent is one I caused due to my own action, while getting fold up tables for a garage sale. The garage sale didn't pay for my dent so far!

The 2nd and 3rd are identical, I ordered two magazine subscriptions via eBay. Months later when I've gotten nothing, I see that neither did anyone else, and both accounts are closed. Here's how they get ya, their disclaimer is it can take 2 months for the magazines to start arriving, and you only have 45 days to file a PayPal claim or it's too late. These people did this on purpose, they set out to steal. That's pure fraud. And maybe it's not over, I was able to file claims anyway, we'll see. I'm also going to write a letter to Consumer Reports, cause ironically one of the three year $34.95 subscriptions I paid for was for them. I don't expect them to do anything about it, but maybe they'll warn others.

The last is "OUCH, I HURT MY NECK!". The insurance adjusters were out today to take pictures of the "damage" to the Ford when Tracy bumped another lady in rush hour traffic a week or so ago. Being third party, I only know it was a bumper to bumper hit and the license plate frame came off, and supposedly dented her bumper with my tow rings. If you look at the Ford, you can't tell anything was damaged. Here's the thing. It was a bump and Tracy got a little upset, enough so that the lady she hit and swapped info with actually hugged. The police didn't see that it was enough to warrant a report or ticket, and everyone went on their merry way. Right? No. Our insurance company says: "she has sought medical care and is now claiming an injury from what appears to be a very minor accident". Yup, let's con the insurance company!! The good news is of course we were insured and USAA has got a spine. The insurance adjuster was out today and wrote up a claim for $12.83 worth of damage, that's the retail price of a license plate frame. He says false claims are up. Maybe, just maybe she just went to the doctor, and she should, she wasn't at fault, but somehow I smell something a LOT different, and I checked my shoes.

Yeah Yahoo, have you got your balls out of your wife's purse?

2008-05-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Wow. They even used verbatim the Wikipedia description I posted previously.

What will Yahoo bring for Memorial Day?

2008-05-23T19:17:00.002-07:00

Mother's Day had their ducky for about three days. Here it is Friday and nothing yet on Yahoo. Will we see anything? Are American Flags offensive? Some would say war is. But is honoring our dead soldiers? Patiently waiting....

Memorial Day is a United States Federal Holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed in 2008 on May 26). It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it was expanded to include those who died in any war or military action.

The twins come home

2008-05-23T19:11:00.004-07:00

I had to do it:

The best part about this? In today's corporate world, which thankfully I'm not a part of, there is no doubt this is "sexual harassment". Certainly not "politically correct". I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think she'd be OK with it, and she of course was, and had a good laugh. Lighten up world, it's funny. SO glad I'm not a part of that two faced crap any more.

What's Shakin'?

2008-05-22T07:46:00.002-07:00

All this free time on my hands and I've not mentioned the earthquakes!! It's been almost a month, but we did feel "The Big One" that happened on April 25th at nearly midnight. It was a 4.7 magnitude and we were both up and the house shook, like an egg in a frying pan. Amber stood straight up, don't think she liked it at all. The other pups I didn't notice. It was a very weird feeling. At first I didn't know what it was, and it happened so fast I didn't have time to think. No damage at all, not here anyway. 15 miles away where a friend of mine lives in Mogul, he's literally on top of the activity, and he's had cracked walls, broken dishes, computers knocked over, etc. He works for the Reno police, amusingly enough the DEA and they are calling their home "the crack house". That's taking it well.

For a map of Mogul and the quakes: http://www.seismo.unr.edu/feature/2008/mogul.html

and a list of recent quakes: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/38.40.-121.-119_eqs.php

Isn't it amazing how many there are? We might have beach front property yet!

Da Pepper Garden

2008-05-16T10:45:00.004-07:00

Using leftover concrete blocks from last year's temporary garden, we have this:

Four types, Yellow Banana, Red Bell, Jalapeno and Italian Roaster. Some creature already plucked one overnight, hopefully that taste was good enough. Pups are there sniffing for bunnies, there were six babies there along the fence line.

Welcome to the moonscape

2008-05-16T08:34:00.015-07:00

Last weekend we started landscaping the back yard, and literally worked on it every day this week (except Monday, I was sunburned). I gotta admit: it's fun. Tracy and I have always liked working our butts off outside and getting dirty and feeling exhausted, and with the back yard a blank slate, we've got plenty to do! No, I don't like the rocks, and digging is a BEYOTCH, and when it's windy the dirt in your eyes suck big time, but it's a good creative outlet and so far so good. Our focus right now is to get areas to PLANT things, tomatoes, peppers, flowers etc, but mainly the toms. Gotta have my toms. So the first project should be an easy one:

Here's my fatness contemplating a circle (actually I broke the damn rake)

Only a few hours later, complete!! Five different tomato plants, Early Girl, Better Boy, Super Sweet 100, Ace (new one on me) and Beef Master.

Stones says: "Where the 'maters!?"

Full view, next project under way. Bigger, better, MORE PLANTS!!!!

Hmmmm.... How's this look... Nah....

Oh, what to do, what to do......

Here's what I settled with. Kinda weaving around and mindless, like me! I wanted to come out further like in the first picture, but I would have had to dig too much and this was going to have to do. The back row of concrete blocks (I REPURPOSED THEM!) should be hidden by the time I'm done (dirt and decorative rock). The next step is to rake out the rocks, the big ones anyway, fill it full of dirt & nature's goodness, till it all together and plant!

Fortunately we're going to a pinball show tomorrow so my hands and back will get a break.

Yahoo follow up

2008-05-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

I didn't grab a screen shot, but for Mother's Day weekend, we had baby ducks! How cute. Santa however, is NOT cute and is banned.

Yahoo is scared of Jesus

2008-05-05T20:46:00.015-07:00

This has been bugging me for awhile, but I've kept it to myself. But no more. Today, with Cinco de Mayo on the calendar, Yahoo changed their splash screen. The wording in the tab is even "Yahoo! Celebrates Cinco De Mayo 2008". Check it out, tribute to millions of illegal immigrants in the United States:

And earlier this year, get this! We changed it for Chinese New Year! Oh yeah baby:

And you bet, Saint Patty's Day? Damn right, Pot O' Gold and everything. We're not offending anyone? Right?

I think we MIGHT have had a pumpkin on Halloween (no witches, that's baaaaaaaaaaddddd!) , and a cornucopia on Thanksgiving, but certainly not Pilgrims, that's offensive. Valentines Day was hearts (no blood). Groundhog day was certainly a fucking gopher, but I didn't take a screen shot. New Years Eve? Oh, you bet. Party whistles and fireworks, what else? The holiday Yahoo change has has been going on for years, and it wouldn't bother me if I hadn't noticed one thing last year. Christmas. Here it is:

That's right. Nothing. Zip. Zero. No tree, no presents, no baby in the manger, no nothing. No Santa Claus, no elves, no candy canes, no notta. No snowflakes, no stockings, no ANYTHING that would offend anyone for it being what it is. Pisses me off.

I've got my own religious beliefs and I don't pawn them on anyone, but give me a break. Christmas is, and always will be, December 25th and recognized because of Christianity. But whether it's Jesus Christ, Santa Claus or snow, it's going to happen the day after the 24th. We stopped recognizing Lincolns Birthday and Washington's birthday and merged them in to Presidents day. Why? Why is it at the same time to we still have Martin Luther Kings day as a Federal holiday? Columbus Day is on the chopping block, you just watch.

As always; Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Having a baby is a glorious thing....

2008-05-02T17:26:00.005-07:00

Ever have one of those situations where the outcome is CERTAINLY not what you expected, but it sure makes sense now that the truth is known. Usually it means a happier outcome than it coulda been. Well, I got a story.....

I was outside watering plants, yeah, I do it. I spot the mail truck down at the cluster o' mailboxes 4 houses down, figured I'd hang around and carry my buckets to Amy or the other dude that fills in when they stop. I'm not paying close attention, when I catch him driving by and not stopping, whoever HE is, he doesn't look familiar. Crap.

So I grab the buckets and proceed to walk down to where he's unloading, and it's a guy I've never seen before. "Hey there!" (I pleasantly say), "These are for you!". He looks at me and says "3813?" meaning of course my address. "I was going to come back" and he points to a laminated, LAMINATED I TELL YOU, little card that says "Pick Up Daily at 3813 Desert Fox Drive!"

I'm thinking, Dude, you SO rate!

"Oh cool", I say. "Where's Amy? She sick?"

He shrugs and says no, but strangely, I sense a smile on his face.

"Wassup? She's not on vacation". I'm more stating a fact here. She was just gone for a few days to Napa, and she almost always tells me when she's going to be gone.

Another head nod and "Nope.... you'll find out in two weeks"

Two weeks? WTF is that about? Huh? "Two weeks? Not sick, not on vacation... She all right? What? Get in trouble or something?"

Another smirk and "You'll find out in two weeks"

Weird. And confusing. I go home. I have her number, I'll call.

I do, I get her voicemail and leave a short message just asking if she's OK.

Tick tock.... hours pass. It's later, and my phone ringy-dings. 775 number (local), unrecognized, and it's not Amy, at least not Amy's cell.

"Hello?"

"Hey Todd itCRRRRsssassa-ME!" Conenction is not great.

"Huh? Hello?"

"Hey Todd it's Amy!"

"Oh! Hey! How are ya!??"

"I got a neccrwCCRRRb job"

Oh great. My fav mail lady is moving on with a new job. Peachy.

"You got a new job?"

Scroll please

A little more......

"No! I got a BOOB job!"

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Now it all makes sense!! So the world welcomes in a new set of twins. Life is good :)

The wussification of corporate America

2008-04-30T09:09:00.003-07:00

I seem to be saying this a lot lately, what is WRONG with people? And what is wrong with companies? My wife tells me you can't hug at her place of work, it's a big no-no. That's not far off from forbidding shaking hands, because that *IS* physical contact you know. How about the good ol' boy pat on the back? Only in baseball (butts allowed too!). When did everyone get carpel tunnel, ADD, restless leg syndrome, acid reflex and autism? Who decided a little ass wiping was a bad thing? Not my Mama, I can tell you that!

It particularly bothers me about the businesses, the entire "that's the way it is" and "it's what's best" mentality, without hurting anyone's feelings except for the accused. What happened to doing what's right? I love the anonymous phone lines for reporting inappropriate dress or performance. Think about it. If it's THAT bad, it'll be obvious and SHOULD fix itself (if the company isn't afraid of firing or some kind of discipline, but they are). But the phone line is set up in case ONE person is offended, but it's not bad enough to publicly complain about it. I heard a story recently about a guy that had to lay off his entire department. One person sued for discrimination cause she was mexican. One of the guys I used to deal with works for a major auto manufacturer, has been reprimanded for stealing from his company, and to this day still appears to sell stolen items on eBay. The company is afraid to fire him. That makes sense.

It seems to be getting worse. I've griped about eBay, in that they're changing their feedback policy so that sellers cannot rate the buyers as anything but good. That's just wrong. PayPal, an eBay company, is doing something similar yet different. If someone has gone past the 45 days to file a claim, they can still report that to PayPal, PayPal will note it and warn you, but you have no recourse. It's like our HOA "courtesy letter violations". The PayPal thing came out of the blue for me, someone who bought something a year ago, unknown to me, never got it. The email from PayPal indicated something to the affect of "While this claim was not processed, we've noted it on your record and it has no affect on your account". What a minute!? If it doesn't, why are you telling me? Where's my trial? How many anonymous strikes to I get before it DOES make a difference.

Now, the other day, I get something from Amazon. Seems like I stepped over the line again. What did I do? I don't know!! But by golly, they're letting me know I did bad!

From Amazon.com Seller Performance Team
Subject: Notice: Policy Warning

We have received a complaint about an inappropriate email contact that originated from your email address. Please note that sending excessive email is against our policies. Please consider the privacy of Amazon.com participants to be of utmost importance and refrain from sending unsolicited or excessive email.

So what did I do? Did I send someone their tracking info and they thought it was spam? Did I Respond to an idiot that was whining about something stupid and they reported me for responding? Was it sending the guy a link to my pinball site as he bought a pinball price guide (we all know solicitation is a BIG no no). Or what? Who was it to? What was it about? When did I send it. I'll never know, you want to guess why? Because the Amazon Seller Performance Team is a send only, never respond email. When I emailed asking what I did, I got this in response:

Thank you for writing to us about the notice you recently received. Please note that this is an automated response to your message. While we cannot provide a personal reply to messages sent to this address, please be assured that you are a valued member of the Amazon.com selling community and we value your communication with us.

Accused, tried and convicted. And don't do it again, whatever it is, we're not telling you, you should know better.

A Hair Above the Rest

2008-04-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

What other business seems to have witty names besides hair cut places? You ever notice that? It struck me a week ago and then even more so when I saw something on Family Guy (which I forgot of course). There's one by one of my favorite taco places, and for the heck of it, I just checked the Yellow Pages:

Shear Bliss
Hair It Is
Shears 2 U
The Happy Lookers
Best Little Hair House (for Reno, that's funny!)
Urban Tangles

And I know I've spotted some other funny ones around town that are not in the book.

Just an observation.

The biggest change....

2008-04-11T06:23:00.004-07:00

I've been in Nevada for 9 months now, and sometimes still can't believe we made the move. It doesn't seem like 9 months, yet in some ways it does. To date I'm still fighting the overcharges with the moving company, still don't have nary a tool or most garage items unpacked, haven't found (or looked for lately) my crock pot or EPROM programmer. When I do open up a box, I'm often struck with a sense of "Huh! Forgot about that!". Since there are no built in bookshelves like the old house, most books are still packed up. As are lots of things I probably don't need. Will I ever be unpacked?

But it's feeling like home. I no longer flip three light switches looking for the right one, and I can drive home without really looking for my street. My dogs are happy. I love my kitchen. But I tell ya, I'm still lacking PEOPLE. Some KC friends still seem close, others dropped me before I left town, it was kinda weird. Why is it that some people that you rarely saw in person, can no longer pick up the phone or email just cause you moved? In some ways I guess they were never good friends. And I'm not finding good friends here, but I've also kinda given up trying, at least as much as I was 6 months ago. Yeah, there are people that I like & seem OK, but too often I feel like I'm a third wheel, which is a feeling I've ALWAYS hated. One guy has turned out to be a real loser, and it's sad cause he could be OK if he wasn't always so full of bullshit. Another squirrelly guy has actually turned out to be pretty OK, despite being a bit of a loner and a conspiracy theorist. Thankfully we have pinball in common. I know my neighbors about THIS MUCH more than I did when I got here, but I've gotten to know my mailman fairly well. Who woulda guessed?

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, and that means outdoor work. I actually miss mowing, and a garden is right around the corner! I was a long cold winter and I'm ready for a change. It's supposed to hit 70 today to really give us a taste of things to come. I'm sure in 4 months I'll be bitching about the 110 degree temperature, but I'm going to enjoy the time between.

Looking at my life, this is definitely the biggest chance & change I've ever made. Quitting my corporate job, getting married, buying a house, etc were all huge events, but nothing like this one. I'm still surprised.

(This ramble was brought to you by early morning Folger's)

Game over....

2008-04-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

The title is about as witty as I want to get. I guess it happens to a lot of people, a little life changing moment that makes you slow down and think... I was coming back from a friends house about 20 miles North of me, two lane highway, speed limit 65. I had slowed down a bit for the car in front of me when I noticed the guy behind me approaching fast. Fast he was, and passed he did, both of us without using his signal. I then passed the vehicle in front of me and two miles later crested the hill and came upon this:

Unfortunately, the person in the picture is not the driver. The driver is in the ditch, dead. For some reason he lost control and flipped at least 2-3 times, and not wearing his seatbelt, he was ejected. He must have died quickly because it couldn't have been minutes. Life is that quick. I was home an hour later, seatbelt as always, but driving a little slower.

Is it Spring yet?

2008-03-30T19:37:00.003-07:00

Today (Sunday), we actually started to get in the MOOD! No no no, not for that. That's later. I'm talking about outside busy work. It wasn't exactly warm, I don't think it cleared 50 out, but it was nice enough and the mood struck that we worked in "the yard" (Note 1). It was kinda nice. The back yard need a LOT of stuff done to make it livable, but I can picture it a lot nicer. Last summer we got rid of the hideous child prison, and now we've got plans & thoughts for a real garden, bigger patio and more plants. I'm looking forward to it. Paul? Send more round rocks please. (Note 2)

(Note 1): When I say Yard, I mean back property filled with dirt.

(Note 2): Flat Rate Priority is only $8.90! For whatever weight! You could fit maybe two in there!

Paranoid

2008-03-30T09:30:00.003-07:00

OK, I don't give out my phone number, or Social Security number willy nilly, but you would THINK when ordering something, you would provide your name right? Today's customer paranoia goes like this:

I received an order for a DVD. The ship to name is "no eye dee"
I email for a real name, it's not a cheap DVD and I don't want it undelivered.
Anne D. responds with "my name is anne...with my other quite correct information you should have no need for my last name"
I note that the email address has her full first and last name. Ha.
She emails again: "i would like to be erased after the order is in."

Damn right I'll erase ya. I'll get out my big old rubber eraser on a stick and reach over to Washington and WIPE YOU OUT!!! Maybe sign her up for some paranoia newsletters....

The US Postal Service

2008-03-29T20:00:00.007-07:00

I shouldn't make it sound like there's nothing but assholes here, quite the opposite. Much of my griping about people are what I experience through the Internet. The anonymous blanket email can give you brings out the jerk in people. No need to be polite, just get to the point: "wheres my order??!!!?!?!?!?!". How much effort would it have been to say "Hi, can you check on my order?". Not much. Pressing the Shift key I suppose. And when emailing a short demand, the mix of question marks and exclamation points are supposed to indicate displeasure, anxiety and urgency. Yeah, I get it, you're impatient.

But that's not this blog. Let's talk about my mailman. (OK, she's usually a gal, but it's also still a manhole, get over it.) To date she has changed her routine to pick up my packages daily, makes a point to pet my dogs, hands me my mail quite often instead of sticking them in the community mail box, took and handled an international package for me, brought me supplies, had her boss come visit to thank me for my business, and just overall has been SUPER nice and appreciates my business. Oh! And I have her phone number in case I need something. This, in contrast to Kansas, where I received the following paraphrased letter:

Mr. Tom Svec:

Blah blah blah your recent online pickup requests are not scheduled in advance and do not include number of packages. Requests must be received by 2:00 am on the day your pickup is scheduled and must include the number of packages ready for pickup

Explanation? I'm a burden on the mail carriers end-of-day sorting routine. I figured out that I add 5-10 minutes. Maybe. I could do it in 30 seconds. I also figured out at the time I had spent tens of thousands in postage. Even though I'd often even carry my packages to his truck, I'm a burden. They want me to either call in daily, or take my packages directly to the PO. Smart.

Now I'm in Reno! I received the following, letter AND gift!

Now, the actual GIFT was a joke, it made me laugh, but it was the whole POINT of it all. In case you can't tell, it's a cardboard letter scale, if your letter weighs more than what slot it's in, it tips over. This sitting on top of my digital scale which anyone mailing 20 packages a day is likely to have. HA. Still, the whole EFFORT made me "Welcome to Reno". And they spelled my name right.

What's wrong with people?

2008-03-27T09:34:00.003-07:00

Why is it that in an age with SO much great technology at our fingertips, people are still inconsiderate idiots. Case in point today is the fact I was supposed to meet a guy at 9:00 to pick up a stack of DVDs. We emailed back and forth about a half dozen times last night, him on his Blackberry, and set a time this morning, a good 20-25 minute drive for me. I called on my way and got no answer, and doubting myself, I turned around to go home and check the phone number. It was right, and I called again. No answer (and yes, I'm leaving messages). Maybe he gave me the wrong number, but the "Dave" matched up, so I emailed. Nothing. Now it's been an hour and a half and not a word back. We'll see if I'm wrong, that something tragic happened, but I'd place my bets on something else. He's sleeping, he sold them to someone else, he got busy with his jujitsu, SOMETHING. Or I'll never know, it'll just be deleted from Craigslist and I'll always kinda wonder.

Is this worth blogging about? No, maybe not to you, but it gets it off my chest. I'm tired of rude, stupid and irresponsible people, and it only seems to be getting worse. Watching Judge Judy sometimes astounds me, makes me laugh too but it's just appalling. The other day, a couple didn't pay their 19 year old babysitter and she called child protective service to be vindictive. Why didn't they pay? Well, first off, she gave the kids lice!! And well, partially maybe kinda might be because she had a coupla guys over to drink beer, and secondly, she was having sex there on the couple's bed!! Her defense? "My sex life has nothing to do with my babysitting skills!"That's it, that's her reasoning. Sheesh. I can't even comment (Can, won't)

I have this habit of holding the door for people. Maybe my mom brought me up right. It's polite right? And what do you say? Thank you right? Many, not most, but many don't. And all they have to do is look at you and maybe smile and acknowledge it with a nod. Nah!! That's too much effort. My reaction is to tell them "You're Welcome!" when they say nothing, and still, I rarely get a reaction. I'd get more reaction, and it would be more fun to hold the door open and as they walk through, slam it in their face! HA! Gotcha! Thought I was holding it for YOU eh?? WRONG!

What bugs me is it's accepted. Even taught. Misbehaved children have ADD or autism. In the workplace, you literally have to defecate on the bosses desk to get fired, doesn't matter if you're not doing your job! You don't want junk mail, sales calls or people at your door? Good luck, it's their RIGHT to bother you!! What's your good to bad ratio on calling any kind of customer support? I can tell you mine!

An Amazon customer of mine (and I use that loosely) actually used the phrase, "The customer is always right". It infuriates me. Whoever came up with that saying CERTAINLY meant try to give the customer what they want, and strive to please them, but they didn't mean that a customer can do no wrong. That phrase always bothers me for that one reason, it means that the vendor is always wrong when the customer complains. In my case here, the customer is complaining about something HE didn't read about, and he admits that, but he has no fault. Not only does he want a refund, he wants me to pay for return shipping. This is a $3 cable. Is there anything wrong with the cable? No. He just doesn't want it now. He has left me a negative rating publicly lying that the cable is defective and filed claim with Amazon to get his money back. Here's a bit of irony, he WILL get his money back, as Amazon also has a customer is always right policy. But what's interesting is Amazon allows that TWICE, saying that a buyer can make a dissatisfactory claim two times in the lifetime on Amazon. And while I don't get charged for this, it does affect my "Customer Experience Performance". Sigh.

So I ramble. It's what I do.

I started this specifically griping about how bad people are in email. Apparently they have enough brains to find & use a computer, and somehow run an email program, but politeness in email is thrown out for MANY people. Screaming, demands, and lack of common courtesy is the norm. Ignoring instead or replying is almost expected.

Fantasy world:

"For sale, blah blah blah blah"

"Hi! Do you still have Blah Blah? I'm in Sparks, could you tell me if it's green? If so, I'll take it, give me a phone number and/or directions and a time to pick it up"

"Why yes, you're the first to respond. It's an army green with little flowers around the edging. I'm also in Sparks and we can meet at THIS place at noon, my phone number is XXX-XXXX if you get lost, do you want me to cook you a sammich?"

OR

"I'm sorry, it sold pending pick up, I'll email you back if they don't show"

Reality:

"For sale, blah blah blah blah"

"Hi! Do you still have Blah Blah? I'm in Sparks, could you tell me if it's green? If so, I'll take it, give me a phone number and/or directions and a time to pick it up"

(NO RESPONSE)

OR (actually unedited responses to similar inquires)

"Here at home u can pick it up I leave in bluff apt by parr. When can u make it I'm going 2 my mma at 10 am.wat about 9 am "

--------------------------------------------------------

Well, my DVD guy called. Was I right? I dunno. He did apologize, but he was uh... Umm. In class. How about that! We'll see if he's there at 12:30.

Hello Neighbor!?

2008-03-21T21:54:00.002-07:00

I finally met another neighbor the other day. Exactly 7 months, 6 days and 27 minutes (where HAS Pushing Daisy's gone!?!?) since I've moved in. She didn't exactly introduce herself, she was looking for one of her little shitty dogs that roam the hood quite often. Yip yip yip. I hadn't seen him/her, but offered to look in my back yard. Do I know her name? Not really. E-something-A. Anyway, Mitch had the perfect scenario:

N: Have you seen my leetle dawg?
Me: (Lifting and looking at bottom of shoe): NOPE!

Update to "I Hate People"

2008-03-09T22:05:00.003-07:00

The guy that left me a negative on the CD (where I didn't get the email) removed it after I asked. Now get this! They other guy that griped about late shipping, has basically told me to screw off and says he's reporting me to Amazon for QUOTE harassing him! HA! What an idiot. In more ways than one. I admit I called him an asshole. Oh well, he was.

In addition to that, I got another negative today, comment was "Recieved speaker quickly but it never worked. Could not contact seller." I'm starting to think Amazon has a problem with their email system, cause I never got nothing. Emailed that dude too and haven't heard back. Sigh.

In Memory of.....

2008-03-09T20:26:00.002-07:00

Not much discussion here, I just thought it was interesting. Shelly will appreciate it. Raised a lot of questions. I Googled and found nothing. Made me wonder what kind of impact Louis had on someone 70+ years ago to do this to their car. I can't be sure, cause I didn't see the driver, but I'm guessing the driver wasn't born when Louis passed on. I didn't get a picture of it but the entire back row was covered with those ribbons. Huh....

I hate people (a discusson on Amazon & eBay by Toddy)

2008-03-07T23:14:00.001-08:00

I dunno where to begin, and I bet I don't end well. I'm just gonna blab about I hate people!

THAT, in a nutshell is it. I guess a better word is customers. I hate customers. Whiny customers. For me, it's mostly about the drama I get from the feedback on my Amazon and eBay sales. I've figured out that it has to do with the amount of personal interaction, from the most hands on to the least.

I've got really four areas of business:

My pinball and arcade game sales. The most hands on, and the most satisfied customers
My web site sales. Often some hand holding and advice, people ordering exactly what they need: the second set of satisfied customers (usual complaints are when I'm at fault for not shipping quick enough)
eBay sales. These people at least understand the feedback system.
Amazon. The worst. They click, they buy. They bitch.

A good percentage of the Amazon idiots just don't get it, and I'm getting tired of it. (eBay has announced changes in their feedback system, and it's just plain wrong in my humble Todd opinion.) I'm here to do ONE thing, fill your order. I mail most things the same day, within 24 hours for sure. Does that matter? Nope! Does it matter that what I sent is what you ordered and you don't like it? Well, I don't actually know how to answer my own question there, but let me just say it doesn't matter, it's still my fault.

On Amazon, negative feedback to me (the seller) is left with no recourse. Don't like the color? Leave me a negative. US Postal system took 2 weeks? Leave me a neg. (oh, don't look at the postage date where I mailed it the same day). Buddies at the same USPS smushed it? That's my fault. Don't like the software cause it SUCKS? Again, Todd's fault. OR! OR! This one is best! You're a grumpy old bitch that just didn't have a good day, how about leaving Todd a good old 3 out of 5 with the comment "it wuz ok".

THANKS GRUMPY OLD BITCH! You're a PEACH!

GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I know. I know. So where is this going? Well I'll tell ya. See, eBay has, in their infinite corporate wisdom, decided that the seller shouldn't be able to leave a negative or even a NEUTRAL rating to the buyer ***AT ALL***!!! Only positive. Only "A++++ THEY PAID ON TIME", not anything like "Buyer took a week to pay and complained about blah or blah" or even yet "Buyer never paid for the item". NOPE! eBay's rationale was that they noticed when a seller got a negative, the buyer in turn got one too!!

Well no fucking shit eBay!!

Buyers aren't perfect, far from it. There are those that don't pay, there are those that take a week to pay, there are those that provide wrong addresses, complain about things clearly disclosed in the auction, insist on different payment methods, different shipment methods, expect 7 minute turnaround and Priority shipping times when not paying for it, and simply being a pain in the ass. The PC program won't work on an Apple. The screws not included are not included. The stereo with a non working left channel only works on the right. On and ON!!! At least on eBay, the way it used to be, you had a reason not to give the seller a negative; you might get one back! If it was that big of a deal, you did it anyway and risked it. On Amazon, people leave for me them willy-nilly, there is no recourse. Take a look at these gems:

"CD had a few small scratches - was advertised as like new - seller did not respond to e-mail - diappointing transaction" First off, I didn't get an email. Second, Uh, was there actually a problem with the CD? It really was like new.

"hey u gave some thing that does not work when i put it in to my os2 it dont work it wont load and u gave me a ps1 game shark i didnt want that u need to send my the rest of my stuff or send me 15 dollars for rippin me off if not im goin to report this" This one was tough, I have no idea what he means, I emailed twice and never got a response. Report to who? The Royal Canadian Mounted Police?

"i try to put it in 2 computers hp ,and dell and the cd to install the drivers wont run got stuck i try every method and its useless thats what i get to buy used things" Yeah, well, I pulled that off a working machine Bozo. Try reading the manual.

"This doesn't work!" That's it, no email, no response to mine.

"i'm honest and serios customer i don't nedd your 7 dollars please take alittle respect with customers i have an excellent reputation as customer and you only send one cd to avoid this problem review before send and asume your mistakes i hate somebody doubts from me" Go ahead. Say "Huh?"

"I didn´t receive the CD cover !!!" No Kidding!?!?!? That's why it was listed as: Comments: CD only in the case, no inserts.

"These games are awful, don't buy, no problem with Seller though." Personally my favorite negative.

Here's the problem. Amazon allows for these negative feedbacks, and I just have to accept them. Amazon collects the money, so payment is not a problem, and these people are free to buy from whoever they want! At least on eBay, as it is now, they buyer can be blocked if they have negative feedback within the past months, and it certainly hurts them if they try to sell. With the upcoming eBay changes, a buyer can harass the seller for positive feedback, and if he doesn't give one? He's free to leave a negative to the seller... Just... like... that! The sellers only protection is to blow smoke up the buyers butt: "Oh you paid so quickly!"..... "You're the BEST customer kissy kissy"..... "Gosh DANG I hope you love the used butt plug... come back for more PLEASE!!!". It sucks I tell ya.

The customer is not always right!

Where have I been?

2008-03-07T22:01:00.001-08:00

Blogger's Block. That's what I got. Sigh.....

It's happened. Call the media

2007-12-14T22:56:00.000-08:00

At exactly 150 days, 8 hours and 12 minutes, it happened. The doorbell rang. It was not UPS. It was not FedEx. Too late for mail-lady. It was not the gutter salesman. Neighbors exists. Not only do they exist, I guess they party. At least once a year anyway. 150 days. Almost half a year. Half a year wondering what in the hell is wrong with this neighborhood, but 150 days, 8 hours and 13 minutes later, I had a party invite in my hand. Will the world continue to survive?

PS: Want to know what's sad? I only know their last name because they have wireless. SECURED wireless BTW, but savvy enough to name their wireless after themselves. Me? I'd name my wireless network "IMGONNASHOOTYOUALLANDMOVEBACKTOKANSAS" but the damn router wouldn't take it.

Ex-spukes me?

2007-12-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

DISTURBING PICTURE WARNING!

My Abby. Poor girl. She chews so hard. She means so well. But sometimes you just have to swallow. It's not pleasant, but it's REQUIRED. And some things are not meant to be swallowed. Like knives for instance. She wasn't feeling well for days, and finally, the TRUTH came out. I wish I had taken a picture of what it was before, blue, fluffy, squeaky (oh, you can't take a picture of sound?), one of her favorites balls. It's gone now, I think she's OK although it took another day to make sure. Poor girl.

PS: Our carpet was white when we bought the house. JUST KIDDING!

Merry Christmas, Damnit.

2007-12-11T08:37:00.001-08:00

I vow to get in the mood this year! Last year (the entire year, but mainly the holidays) sucked because we were moving. Has it been a year? Yes. T started her job on December 18th, while she was home for a week over Christmas, we skipped a lot of things, including a tree and lots of presents (had to have SOME!). This year is going to be different. And to get myself in the mood, I stole this from Shelly:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Bags for most, but I do both.

2. Real tree or artificial? Fake. And after putting up with the fake tree made in O'Fallon MO for the past 20 years, we just bought a new 9 footer with built in lights.

3. When do you put up the tree? Supposed to be right after Thanksgiving, but we just did it a few days ago (12/09)

4. When do you take the tree down? Before New Years Eve

5. Do you like eggnog? You know, I do, but we don't have it much. Homemade is killer, and I'm looking forward to it this year (you do know it's made with raw eggs right?)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A Radio Shack Electronics Kit, you could make all sorts of things, buzzers, radio, etc. I think it formed who I am.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? A what?

8. Hardest person to buy for? Hmmmm. My Dad is pretty tough.

9. Easiest person to buy for? When I get in the mode, my honey.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't want to be specific, but thoughtless gifts from certain relatives.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. You'll shoot yer EYE OUT!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I start early, procrastinate, then catch up 2 weeks before. Hey, that's today.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Hell ya.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Prime Rib, covered with salt, thyme and Farmland Cider House Bacon (sponsored by Pop-Tarts!), which I can't find here so hoping someone will overnight a few pounds.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored and blinky! But Noooooooooooooo!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the bells. I sing bass, "Ding dong, ding dong"

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? Stay at home, always. Christmas Eve too.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Doubtful. I won't even try. Can't name the dwarfs either.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. Dog Toy. Beer can.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We had a tradition, we could open one present on Christmas Eve, and could not come downstairs the next morning until Pop was ready with the camera. And made coffee. I always thought the logic was so that it would keep us busy in the morning. Mom had to approve which present, and it seemed like it was often a book or puzzle. I still like that tradition and we carry it on. Stockings are done after breakfast dishes are cleaned up.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Politics. Merry Christmas is not a political statement. Happy Holidays is fine, but Merry Christmas isn't offensive, and if you think it is, likely YOU are. I hate that you never hear a lot of the songs that have anything to do with God, they've literally disappeared. Or they CHANGE the fricking words! Some companies don't have Christmas off, they have a family day. Whatever. Ho-Ho-Ho is offensive? Take my word for it, Yahoo will have turkeys and crap on Thanksgiving day, but look at how sensitive they will be around the 25th. Will we get a "holiday tree"?

23. What I love most about Christmas? Spending time alone with my honey and pups, eating lots, watching TV and feeling like a family.

24. Do you sleep in on Christmas Day? Nope, never can.

25th: Favorite Christmas cookies: Swedish Creme wafers and Spritz. First one is a family recipe coming soon to a blog near you, the other is a butter cookie, HAS to be colored red & green and not overcooked. Mmmmmmm

First big snow in Reno!

2007-12-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hill's Pet food Presents The Science Diet Three Dog Blog (partnered with Purina)

2007-11-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

I'm *SO* FRICKIN' *sick* of advertising. Junk mail, sales calls, pop ups, SPAM, crap slapped on football players, NASCAR drivers, flyers stuck in my door, kids pushing cleaning products and candy. Hell, the other night a kid showed up at the front door with PAINTINGS! PAINTINGS!? Leave me the HELL alone! Go play Battleship! What sparked this? Well, I'm not so sure how the hell it's so frickin newsworthy, but in the past 24 hours I have heard no more than 3 times that the Reno/Tahoe Open is now the.... (ready?)

THE:

That's just GREAT! What the hell is wrong with companies? This is such a big turn off that I've now got a "who cares" attitude about them building here. Great, more advertising. How long will it be before our driver's licenses are sponsored by Kodak? Our water bills featuring "Brita Water Purification products". Little signs along the highway saying "The fresh air you're breathing thanks to a donation in part by Frebreeze".

I think it started with golf a long time ago, and just snowballed. I remember being annoying by the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In KC, they renamed Sandstone Amphitheatre to "The Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre". Think many people call it that?

"Hey Bob! I got tickets to see Rush at Sandstone, ya wanna go grab some chips & beer and go?"

"Hey Bob, I got tickets to see Rush on their new Atlantic Records Snakes & Arrows tour at The Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, wanna go grab some chips by Frito's Quality food products, some Anheuser-Busch Incorporated beer made in St. Louis by skilled midget artisans and make a road trip in my Ford F-150 Eddie Bauer Custom Special edition Extended TL4?"

Yeah..... That's it.

Racing and golf have got to be the worst. I don't think the Indianapolis 500 is pwned yet, but I bet they're working on it. I mean, look at all this crap:

Allstate 400
The Red Bull GP
Budweiser Shootout
Gatorade Duel 1 (and 2)
Auto Club 500
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
Kobalt Tools 500
Food City 500
Goody's Cool Orange 500
Samsung 500
Subway Fresh Fit 500
Aaron's 499
Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 (by Depends Adult Diapers)
Dodge Avenger 500
Nextel Open
Coca-Cola 600
Autism Speaks 400 presented by Visa
Citizens Bank 400
Toyota/Save Mart 350
Lenox Industrial Tools 300
Pepsi 400
USG Sheetrock 400 (cause everyone knows racing and sheet rock are LIKE THIS!)

I'm stopping, but the list goes on and on. Isn't it pathetic?

Have you Googled yourself?

2007-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have. Not news to me, but maybe to you, the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Conference has been around for years. 15 years ago, Dan Schmidt gave me a flyer. Somewhere I still have it. I also am well aware that SVEC makes networking equipment, just check eBay.

But news to me:

Silicon Valley Engineering Council
Silicon Valley Engineers Club
Sequachee Valley Electric Cooperative
Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative
Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century
Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center
Synsmash Vortex Elite Crew
Sichuan Video Electronic CO
SeaDataNet Virtual Educational Centre
Spatial Vector ElectroCardiograph
Shree Vidyaniketan Engineering College
Sacramento Valley Education Committee
Sacramento Valley Environmental Water Caucus
Shenandoah Valley Emmaus Community
Scottish Vocational Education Council
Spatially Varying Exposure and Color
Surprise Valley Electrification Corp

That's right, that's right! Svec is COOLER than ever!

And you thought it just meant 'shoe maker'. HA!

My kind of story (Thanks to Unca Frank & Ant Judith)

2007-10-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not going soft, but sometimes I like these heartwarming stories, and this one truly is amazing. Enjoy.

In 1986, Dan Harrison was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Dan was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan and his son Dan Jr. Were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, rapped its trunk around one of Dan's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

Mixed Nuts

2007-10-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

The Movie. What a disappointment.

Steve Martin is probably one of my idols, if someone were actually to ask me who my idols were and I was given a chance to think about it. He's brilliant. His early stand up comedy rolled me back in my teenage years. Later on, just more funny. Check out this. It seems like he was on Saturday night live forever, but really not a lot. He was just so damned funny it's memorable. His books, if you've not read them, are a quick read and a joy. Search for him on Amazon and you'll be amazed at what all he's been involved in. He's funny, he writes, he directs, he acts, he plays the banjo like a cat-outta-hell. Kinda funny he plays with "The Rock Bottom Remainders" which includes another coupla favorite authors, Stephen King, Greg Isle, Scott Turow, Matt Groening and Dave Barry amoung others. Read "Dear Amanda", cracks me UP! Who's Francisco? To hear him read this on books on tape is the best. And he's not young either, I bet a lot of people peg him in the 40s. Try 60s. Look here for when he was young messing with the Smother's Brothers.

But man does he make some bad movies. Or maybe my sense of humor is weak. I had my hopes up with all the stars in this gem. Madeline Kahn, Juliette Lewis, Rob Reiner, Adam Sandler, Rita Wilson, Garry Shandling, Steven Wright, and good old Parker Posey!! WHO? I even spotted Haley Joel Osment. But what crap. Bad acting, a story that went no where and I barely cracked a smile. Tracy went to bed Steve, TO BED! I rate this up with Napoleon Dynamite and Dude, Where's my Car. Sorry Steve. Love ya, hope ya haven't forgotten my number, but this sucked.

This will be the last letter I write to you.

Milestone?

2007-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

This week seems like PROGRESS! I think it's mainly cause the last POD has been here, is now empty and now gone (*note), but all of a sudden feels like a big hurdle has been jumped over. All my STUFF is in one state! Add to that I've turned on Amazon and have started receiving orders, and I've started forming a game plan on listing things on eBay. I also moved my office out of the mudroom, which in hindsight felt so cold and temporary. Not really much to blog about, now looking forward to when it ALL feels like HOME.

* Didn't even hear them come and take it! Walked outside, it was GONE!

My neighbors are GREAT!

2007-10-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I'm just kidding, I wouldn't know, I've barely met any. Honestly, I've talked more to Jesús, the guy that cuts the grass across the street, than I have almost ALL my neighbors. There's always exceptions, the neighbor facing our backyard came over last night and tried to sell me on some travel agency pyramid/multi-level marketing crap. That killed 20 minutes.

It's made me start to wonder, is this normal? You know how you have some friends that always want to kiss on the cheek and it's just not you and feels awkward? The guy that always, ALWAYS shakes your hand? Maybe it's the thing here, maybe everyone around us is wondering why WE haven't come over, had an open house, whipped out the Welcome Mat. We must be cold-clammy-keep-to-ourselves weirdoes.

My gripe about mortgage companies

2007-10-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

When I was "a kid", on my first house, I was annoyed that my mortgage was sold 3 or 4 times willy-nilly, but I wrote it off as me not having great credit at the time and being a first time mortgage owner. And I got over it and went on with life. When I bought my 2nd house, I went with local Cap Fed and had it set up with my accounts for autopay, never even considered that they'd sell it and they didn't. I like Cap Fed. Still do. Too bad it's only in the Midwest.

When you are looking, mortgage companies act like they're your best friend. What a crock. Just like a lot of industries, they just want your money, and the salespeople just want their commissions. We went with CTX, for no real good reason except on the advice of our realtor, but I won't use them again, and won't recommend them. Why? It's all "standard practices" and crap like that, but it gets so IMPERSONAL about something so important. Within a month or two, they sold off our 2nd mortgage to Countrywide. Did I have a say in this? No. Did someone call me up and go "Mr Svec? Get your wife on the phone will ya, we want to see if it's OK if we sell off your mortgage. No? Not OK. Oh, I understand, we won't do it then". Hell no. Not even close, just a letter saying it's been done. It happens all the time, your letter says so. Matter of fact it's "common practice". Well thanks a lot asswipes, now I have to:

Send in a 2nd payment in another envelope (that'll be about $50 in postage over the term of the 8 year loan)
Monitor a 2nd companies terms & timelines
Simply DEAL with TWO now. Now I'm on TWO mailing lists too, and already gotten tons of junk mail from both stupid companies wanting me to buy insurance and refinance.

And another gripe. Don't they want my money? Fricking CTX charges $20 to make an autopayment on their site. $20!!!! I'm doing all the damn work, why do they get MORE for it?!?!? So we send in a check.

But back to the transferring. They did it again. We're barely 6 months in to our loans and now CTX has sold the main one off to Chase. You know that's just great. Do *I* have a choice in this? Hell no. Can I do ANYTHING without paying a fee? Nope!! If I wanted to go with my local bank, I'd have to pay all sorts of costs, appraisal, closing, blah blah. Absolutely not fair. The letter says "This is a common practice in the mortgage industry and has no effects on the terms & conditions". Yeah, while that may be true, it's impersonal and aggravating. This is October 17th and it's affective with my Nov 1st payment. What if I was out of town? What if I had it auto-paid through MY bank (not CTX)? What if I had already sent it? HUH? HUH?

It's common practice to spit your used gum out the window, but that doesn't make it right.

It's common practice to leave a Mexican restaurant as quickly as possible if you've overflown the toilet, but that doesn't make it right.

Frankly, it just pisses me off. They do it for one reason, and one reason only, so they can make money.

Just feelin' GOOD!

2007-10-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

I probably have a thousand mini movies of my pups. Finding old ones brings back memories. Almost to the day, this was 5 years ago just months before Roscoe went to the world of endless treats and tennis balls, our October 2002 trip to take him to the ocean. OK, OK, we went and saw my aunt & uncle in PA for the first time in 10 years too, and saw another aunt & uncle in Annapolis, and went to DC, and picked up a pinball machine along the way, and stayed at some B&Bs, and visited Tracy's brother. But the main IDEA of the trip was to take my boy to see the ocean. Amber liked the water better, but he was happy, and that was my goal in life at the time. Good boy.

How do I run in to the weirdoes?

2007-10-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm an eBay Trading Assistant. All that means is I flagged myself on eBay and wrote up a little paragraph on how I can help YOU (you computer illiterate weasel) sell your stuff. For a fee. I always thought it was a bit ironic, first off, to find me, you have to have a computer. Second, you have to be smart enough to look on eBay for a TA. I guess there are plenty of people still that just can't handle it, as evident by some of the people that contact me.

About three weeks ago, I got an email: "i have equestrian equipment, 1st ed signed books and custom clothes. please contact", and so I did. I first checked to make sure I had changed my locale to NV, and I had but didn't want to waste anyone's time if they thought I was still in KC. I asked where they were located, again not wanting to drive 45 minutes south for junk, and got a reply: "4th street near 395. can you do this?". Sure I can, and I let them know I'd like to meet, see what they have, etc and go from there.

I had done this a few times in KC and from experience, know that the majority of STUFF they want to sell is not worth much. One guy brought me about 10 things to "try out", half did not sell, the other half only got $10-$20. Another guy had a lot of decent books, videos and CDs, which are easy to list and sell on Amazon, so I take those when I get them. Again we're talking small dollars here, but the books & vids take very little time to list and ship, and once in awhile you get a gold nugget. I also worked my butt off on taking pics, wording and and prepping to list a pop-up camper, but the dude thought it was worth way more then I researched, and realized that if I sold it, I'd be taking a cut (which I lowered from my other stuff, but still money he wouldn't see). He changed his mind after the work I did and sold it on his own. Think he'll get his old crappy books back I never listed? Nah.

Anyway! Asking for a phone number and address for this new guy got some strange replies: "I really do not have a phone number right now. In all actuality, the sooner this could happen - the better...so if Sunday might work? I know these things take time (and no... lol this stuff isnt hot) still, I'm at the Sandman Motel at 1755 E. 4th"

Hot? Who said anything about being hot? Why would you bring THAT up? And Hotel? OK, getting a little weird. Without replying, I get another email: "I vacated my last apt due to an illness and now Im selling the last of my stuff before I head out to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota next week. That simple. Its not weird or stolen and if you want, I can have this verified by the Reno PD."

Now I'm curious, but also a heckuva lot more hesitant on doing anything. To see how serious this dude is, I ask for pictures. Response? "im not giving out anymore inventory lists or pics due to three other ebay sellers jerking me around and then asking wayyyyyyy too many questions. i know what i need and as an ebay seller, i respect your business process. a visit to see this stuff would be worth your time. say tuesday afternoon? sorry about it, but ive been burned too many times in reno already. if no, i appreciate your time in advance. peace "

Uh huh. I'm not sure how sending pics could transpire in to jerking him around, and not sure what business processes of mine he respects, but I kindly told him I didn't' want to waste my time on junk, and if he had pics and could send them, I'd consider a visit. I also made it very clear that anything I was going to sell, I'd take with me, and I'd bring a simple contract so he would feel more comfortable about me taking his stuff. And then he DID send pictures (has a digital camera too eh?). It was horse stuff for sure, and looked like some of it would sell OK.

One of the last two emails I got from him increased my uneasiness: "i dont know if this will work but Sir.. i you knew what was going on in my lie then you would understand. it's not weird... sounds sketchy i know; but if you fear this transaction ask a police officer to accompany you. i'm doing my best with the tools i have... God has done this for me for a reason; and yes with a receipt of you taking the items then i would trust you. otheriwse the items get thrown away and destroyed and thats money gone for you and i. please... work with me. "

I don't know what ever happened, because I never heard from him again. We set a date for Tuesday, but having no way to contact him, I sent one email asking how and didn't bother following up when I didn't hear back. I'm sure he truly has issues and if serious, I feel for him.

Snow?

2007-09-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

(Totally forgot to post this and now it's been a coupla weeks.)

A coupla days after we had snow in the mountains, it was a late Friday night, chilly and about 11PM I walked out to....

SNOW!

OK, not a lot of snow, and not even sticking anywhere on the ground, but still SNOW! It was just 90 degrees out, and I JUST mowed the front yard that same day. What kinda weird-ass whacky place is this!

My Favorite COPS quotes

2007-09-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have never been able to pinpoint exactly why I like watching shows like COPS, America's Most Wanted, Most Amazing, Judge Judy, Jerry, etc etc. It has something to do with observing how STUPID people are I think. COPS plays quite often on Court TV, so much so that in a few days, I better watch my TIVO or I'm gonna run out of space. It's good background noise too, if I'm in there cooking, it's an easy show to listen too while I work. I know she won't admit it, but Tracy likes it a bit too, especially the 1 minute clips of the truly memorable moments, such as:

Put it in da paper! Put it in da paper!!
What did I did?

I love the blank, dumb, I'm So Innocent look on some perps faces, very bad actors in most cases. More of my favorite quotes & moments:

I wuz scared (always in response to "Why were you running?"
That's not mine! (Mary Jane in the wallet, crack pipe, gun, etc)
I'm not gonna lie to you (or) Why would I lie?
I don't have nuthin' on me. (it's in the bushes where I threw it)
"So you haven't been smoking any weed?"... "No, why would you say that?" (Guy has a joint behind his ear in plain sight. Whoops! Forgot! Silly me!
And one of my favorite action adventures was when this idiot had about 20 police cars behind him, as if he's going to get away! Happens to be in Kansas City:

More weather talk....

2007-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

It's as weird as KC, but different. Yesterday it hit mid 70s, today 80 and this is what I can see from my back yard, best to enlarge it:

Yeah, that's snow in the mountains. SNOW! Officially it was there on the last day of summer, can you believe it? The pups love snow about as much as they love the water, and I can't wait for true winter weather to arrive. Biggest bummer is I don't have a wood burning fireplace, but I'll survive. The gas one puts out a nice ambiance, and maybe as I get older I'll realize what I was doing was a LOT of work. Satisfying work though.

Weird weather

2007-09-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

All of a sudden the weather here is reminding me of Kansas.

Don't like it? Wait a minute!

A week or so ago it was in the 90s near every day and it had been hot since the day I got here. The other day about 9PM I opened the door and WTF? It's RAINING? Tracy gets a little excited and tells me to grab the cooler and put it under the eave to catch the water. Sure enough, it filled it half way full (water for the garden, filthy too. All that dirt running off the roof). The next day it's still cloudy and I hear something about chains required at elevations above 7000 feet, that's Lake Tahoe. Already??? We went from 90 to snow in a week? Sheesh. And I guess it's true, while it reached mid 70s yesterday and is already 60 here and it's still mid morning, I've heard of 6" to a foot of snow in the "Sierras". Absolutely weird. The lows every day for the next week are upper 30s, highs in the mid 70s. Great sleeping weather, but doubt we'll be taking the dogs swimming soon.

Last weekend:
Oh look! A Chicken!

Throw the ball, will ya dad?

Drying out: