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

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.....

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!!!

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

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?

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

What will Yahoo bring for Memorial Day?

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

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'?

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

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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....

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....

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?

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

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

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?

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!?

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"

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.....

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)

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:

1. My pinball and arcade game sales. The most hands on, and the most satisfied customers
2. 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)
3. eBay sales. These people at least understand the feedback system.
4. 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?

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

It's happened. Call the media

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?

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.

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!

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

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?

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)

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

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?

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!

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

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:

1. Send in a 2nd payment in another envelope (that'll be about $50 in postage over the term of the 8 year loan)
2. Monitor a 2nd companies terms & timelines
3. 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!

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?

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?

(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

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....

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

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:

My helicoptor is bigger than your helicopter, NYAH NYAH

I wasn't going to bitch about this, cause I've been accused of being fairly negative and bitchy, but I am what I am so I'm GONNA! Let me start by saying I've found that overall the people here in Reno/Sparks are pretty friendly and helpful. I've got more than one story about people going out of their way to help, suggest, advise or just discuss something with me unexpectedly. The earliest example is when I was still in KC and Tracy was wanting to hire someone to do our yardwork cause she was working so much. I emailed a friendly person that had come to look at our playground, asking if she knew of any neighborhood dudes that cut lawns. Guess what? She did it for us! She hauled over her mower MORE than once and cut our lawn, fer nuthin'!! And after that, allowed Tracy to come borrow her lawn mower too! What a nice gesture. (I still need to meet her.)

But not this dude. A few weekend's ago we were exploring, going up & down the Truckee River looking for dog swimming areas. Out by Verdi (Ver DIE) we came across a little subdivision right along the river, which happened to be having a neighborhood garage sale too. It was Sunday, so not many participating, but we still managed to hit a few. On the way out, an old GEEZER was at the end of his driveway and had a large gas powered helicopter on a stand that he was about to put away. Could he be selling? Could he be closing up his garage sale? Nah, I doubt it. Those things are expensive and this looked like a big one. But what the heck, it's a neighborhood garage sale, right? Beautiful day, sunny, blue skies, nice driving weather.... I roll up and roll down the window and:

That thing for sale??
(Grumpy look on his face) You couldn't afford it sonny.
(Me, a bit smart alecky) Now, how do you know how much money I have in my pocket?
(Almost angry look!) Do you know how much this costs? This is over $20,000 and is worth more than your car. To give you an example (of what I don't know) I own a Boeing Bell Blah T-206, costs me 1.5 million.

Goodie for you scooter. Take some of your money and buy a personality. I'm not even sure how the conversation ended, but we didn't talk much more and I drove away. What an ass. It struck a little nerve, and probably always will when people PRESUME things about you, your lifestyle and your financial situation. I've lived with that a lot, especially since I've gone self employed, which to many means "doesn't work". For all he knew, I was a bulti-zillionaire. It's the same thing to hear how "lucky" you are, let's ignore the hard work we've done, we're "lucky"!!

Lucky I tell you!