Proud Papa

I don't know where she gets it from really. Sarah is both smart and artistic. Neither myself or her mom are stupid by any means, but nor are we all that brilliant either. There is no way I ever came close to getting good grades in school, and I'm pretty sure her mom just scraped by also.

Sarah has maintained an almost perfect 4.0 grade point average during her entire life in the public school system, and that's never ceased to amaze me. It's been so long ago that I was really able to help her in her math studies that I really don't even remember it. She passed me by almost a decade ago.

Although it was no surprise really, imagine my pride and delight when I found out she had won a scholarship! I was even more proud when I found out that it was not exactly an "easy-to-get" scholarship either. Because her school website will most likely only have it up for a short time, I took a screen shot of it. Because it's only a screen shot, obviously none of the links on it work. (click for full size):


For people that like reading this sort of thing, here's the link to the state webpage that explains what it is and so on: http://www.wtb.wa.gov/WAVEWebpagenew.asp At the top right of that page there is a listing of the press release and the state winners too.

While I'm also proud of my son in Los Angeles who has really made quite a go of things in his life, I didn't have any part at all in raising him and have only known him for a few years. I watched Sarah born and therefore have known her for her entire life.

Times like this are pretty special to a proud papa!

Anyway, I just wanted to pass that on and thump my chest for a moment. Okay, I'm done. Now that I'm done, I want to give credit to Sarah's mom. Teresa hounds her and watches over her and pesters her and keeps her in line, making sure her homework is done and projects are handed in on time. Most of what Sarah has achieved academically is due in no small part to her efforts.

Congratulations Sarah, and thank you Teresa.

It's Been a Week

Last Friday I received my new iPod Touch, and I've had a fair amount of time to really evaluate what it does and how well it does it. Do I feel good about my purchase? Hell yeah!

It's fair to say that I've given it a good test. I've become familiar with the iTunes interface (which is what links and syncs it to my computer), and I've downloaded several apps (all free ones so far). Some of them were amazingly cool, some were just very handy, and of course--A few sucked and were removed. I've even gone so far as to "jailbreak" the thing, which is what the hacker community calls it when you unlock your iTouch or iPhone (they're almost identical) by re-writing the built in firmware that operates them. The firmware is basically like hard-wired software--It's the operating system that's contained inside. When you do that, it gives them the ability to download things from places other than The Mother Ship (Apple's iTunes site).

The built-in wireless runs circles around the Dell Axim PDA that I had previously. This thing connects instantly! The built-in browser works totally flawlessly, giving you the ability to zoom in and out at will just by gesturing on the touch screen.

The touch screen itself is worthy of a mention, but words can't do it justice, so I'll move on.

The fact that it has some sort of leveling gadget built it comes into play in several of the apps. One of them actually is a level if you can believe that! Here's a pic I stole from their site:



You can even play an electronic version of the game of Labyrinth on it by holding it and tilting it back and forth to guide the steel marble through the maze of walls and holes. It's much better than the original wooden box version of the game that you put on your lap. The coolest "useless" app by far is the Zippo lighter. It puts a full size lighter onscreen that you actually open and light. When the flame is burning, the flame actually behaves like a real flame, moving back and forth when you tilt the iPod. Bizarre! If nothing else, it puts back the possibility of using a flame in concert when it's time for the crowd to signal an encore instead of just a lit cell phone screen. Check out an excellent YouTube video of it HERE and you'll see what I mean.

Apparently it also contains some sort of built-in GPS device, because when you go to Google Maps (an included app) it asks if it can use your current location as your point of origin. It's pretty accurate too.

As I mentioned earlier, I unlocked it, or "jailbreaked" it as they say. (Hey, don't look at me--I know it's bad grammar, but that's the term they use.) I did it a couple days ago, but restored it back to factory settings again last night. I wouldn't have even attempted it unless I knew I could restore it with the factory firmware. Enough of that. I determined that there is no reason for me to get apps from anywhere other than the approved Apple site. They were riddled with ads and even slowed down my internet access. Nah, I'll stick with the straight and narrow on this one. It works great and apps for these things are dirt cheap anyway. Most of the apps that you actually pay for are only 99 cents anyway, so why gamble? Being the "tweaker" I am, I had to try it though...

Sorry I'm gushing, but everything about this thing impresses me. When you own something like this you can truly understand what drove Apple stock through the roof in the last couple of years--It's cutting edge usability! Whether it's for holding music or pictures, or running any of the myriad of little applications that make life easier, it's great.

OMG, this blog post looks like a public service announcement!

(We now return you to your regularly-scheduled program)

I Twittered a No-Hitter

It's no surprise that something as inane as Twitter would take the country by storm. By 'the country' I mean demographically-speaking of course. It's geared toward the younger set after all.

So what is Twitter? It's basically an online message board system. You know those articles you read in an online newspaper that have a place for comments at the bottom? It's a site with those comments as their sole content. You post something and wait for someone to post back, or you post something in response to something that someone else uttered in print. Any message you enter is limited to 140 characters. While that isn't much, it's perfectly suited to cell phones and other texting devices. Now you see the popularity? Twitter lets you post your own inane little blurbs on your own Twitter site, or posts similar empty phrases on anyone else's Twitter site. It's huge!

But it's not for me.

I was invited by my dear friend, Dolores. I thought, "Eh, why not give it a try? I'd like to stay in touch after all..." I started up an account, tweaked it a bit here and there to personalize it a little. I searched for people that I knew and added a few to my watch list. I posted a few things on my own site to "troll" for comments, and posted a few on others' as well.

Nothing.

Okay, end of experiment. Account deleted. I'd much rather sit and write without having to be limited by 140 characters anyway. Just as an experiment, try typing anything meaningful in 140 characters. It's not easy. Hey, maybe that was my problem:

I was trying to be meaningful...

The Decline of the "Service" Industry

Sue probably thinks I won't blog it, but what the hell. Like I told her last night: Sometimes my mood changes enough to warrant me abandoning a notion that sticks in my craw for whatever reason. These notions are things that I call "Blog Fodder". The downside is that because it's now a different day, I'm not spewing the same anger and frustration that it was during the events that I've noted below.

Suzie came over during late afternoon for a prearranged meeting with our wedding officiants (quite a character and worthy of a blog itself, but that's for another day). Due to the time (and me not making dinner) we decided to go out for some grub.

We decided to stop into Jack's Tavern for a burger and a glass of Hefeweizen. Apparently, the service industry has taken a hit along with many other businesses of late. At Jack's Tavern there appears to be no service. Granted--Their service has never been stellar (it's a bar after all). Last night we both ambled in and sat down, pretty much in the middle of the place. It wasn't busy or packed, and we were plainly visible. Their menu is printed on the wall, and although it's in fairly big letters, it's not all that easy to see for older folks like us (okay, me). It's especially so in a dimly lit bar atmosphere. So, we're there at Jack's for a couple minutes... Staring at the menu, then we get up and walk over to the menu and stand there staring at it for a little while. We went back to our seats and waited. Then we waited. Then we waited some more. I started mumbling remarks about their service and decided that 10 or 15 minutes worth of waiting was apparently my limit. "Let's try the Sports Page instead," I said. We got up and left, still apparently no closer to being served than when we arrived. I guess the only way to get service there now is to pour it and cook it yourself.

The Sports Page is only a few blocks away. We walked in and picked a table near a window, only about 20 feet from the bar. It was cold. I don't know if it was where we were sitting, but it wasn't comfortable. As we sat there freezing, the same feeling came over me: The feeling that it was not to be. We didn't stay there as long as we did at Jack's Tavern, but it was apparent that nobody at that time of day in either of those bars thought our money was worthy of their attention. I decided "piss on 'em" and told Suzie, "Let's go to The Pit."

Again, we got up and left.

The Pit is a fairly recent place in Auburn. When the eatery was first built it was called Henry's or something like that. Anyway, it's right next door to Auburn's newly build train station. I guess it was karma that we had stopped into two "dives" only to be rebuffed, because this place was what we needed. Greeted instantly at the door by a smiling waitress, we were seated at a nice, cozy window spot in a comfortable circular booth thing. Although our first choice of drink was out of stock (apparently everybody loves Hefeweizen), our second choice was just fine. Ditto with the burgers and fries. The Baja burger tasted fantastic, but in my opinion needed much more of all of its condiments (salsa, guacomole, etc). It just needed a bit more "slop" to it.

One thing worth noting: When we walk into Jack's Tavern we don't instantly go for a certain seat or place. It's more of an "I guess this will do" thing. It's a series of tall round tables with bar stools in some areas and long, folding cafeteria tables in the main area. We settle--Simple as that. It's pretty much the same thing at The Sports Page. It's a little bit better quality seating, but again--Nothing feels right. What do I want to feel when I walk into a bar or restaurant? I want the, "Oooo, I wanna sit here!" feeling to hit me. Both of those places have nothing in that regard. Zero. Last week when we were in Jimmie Mac's Roadhouse for the first time I said to Suzie when we first walked in, "I hope they sit us over there" and motioned to a particular spot that looked good. Guess what? The waitress took us right to it! That's what I want--A feeling that you want to spend time in a place.

I guess it was meant to be. Jack's Tavern? Crossed off my list. The Sports Page? Ditto. Although it spanks of something my old man would say, I don't feel like they deserve our business any more.

You would think in these times of monetary uncertainty that businesses would do whatever they could to separate someone from their hard earned money.

I guess not.

Things That Piss Me Off

Every now and then things just jump out at me and make me turn my head slightly and wince. Things that--For whatever reason--I don't notice much at first, but when it happens a second time or even more often make me cringe.
I wish I had the memory that makes me remember things easily, but I just have to hope I can recall them. Here are a couple things that I can recall that anger me.

• AM Radio announcers - I don't have a problem with most announcers really. I just can't stand the way announcers pronounce certain words. The way they turn the word "quality" into something more closely resembling "qualuddy". You know what I'm talking about. They strive for the words that enhance that "radio sound" when they speak. It's ironic really because I love to talk in a radio voice myself when I'm feeling in the mood. Maybe I'm jealous... No, I just can't stand hearing them say "qualuddy". I guess that's the price you pay if you want to listen to news on the AM dial.
  
  
• Pill bottles - Okay, this one is kind of twofold. First of all, I don't like child-proof caps on pills, but I've come to grips (excuse the pun) with that: I just wrench the entire outer cap off as soon as I get a new bottle from the druggist. What I'm talking about is the shape of the pill bottles. Why do they have to make pill bottles with a bell-mouth end? Sure, some pill bottles are the same width from bottom to top, but all the smaller ones have an opening at the end, that--Coupled with the shape--Makes it practically impossible to shake out only one or two pills. You also can't reach into them with a finger to "slide" one out because they catch on the shoulder of the pill bottle. There is one company that I've seen that makes pill bottles that are tapered to the opening. That's the way they should all be.
  
  
• Traffic light sensors - Don't get me wrong--I generally like traffic sensors. They have shortened light wait-times quite a bit from the pre-programmed cycle times of yesteryear. My rant involves the intersections with practically instant traffic signal triggering capability from the right lane. I don't know about everywhere else, but here in Washington we can make a free right turn after stopping. We certainly don't need a vehicle sensor in that lane that triggers the light and stops traffic in the main flow just so someone can make a turn they were going to make anyway.
  
  
• Store employees - You know as well as I do that we need store employees. Most of them are pretty able people and do their job well, but there are others and those are the ones I'm talking about. Sometimes I'm scanning a particular area in a retail store for something. I might see the area where something should be, but can't find any of what I'm looking for. I go find an employee and ask nicely if they have any of whatever it is that I'm looking for. What do they do? They walk over to where I was, scan the hooks or shelves carefully, and say, "If we did it would be right here." Wow, thank you for that--I guess you noticed my red-tipped, white cane, eh?
  
  

Stuff

"Grab your bowl of peanuts and follow me."

That was on the back of the t-shirts of a few of the wait staff at Jimmy Mac's Roadhouse in Federal Way. Sue and I decided to head up there on Friday at my suggestion. It seems that my neighbor, Gayle, had been there a few nights prior and it's one of her family's favorite hang-outs. What makes it good? Well, it's interesting to go to a place that has peanut shells littering the floor, that's one thing. We went there during happy hour, and for dinner treated ourselves to 3 different appetizers all at one time. Good stuff! Ditto for the Armadillo Ale (their own brand) that we both drank. It seemed like a great atmosphere too--Not too crowded and not too noisy, but definitely laid-back. Will we go back? Most definitely.

Okay, there's my shameless plug for this blog.

No wait--I should probably mention the place next door to them in the parking lot. The funny thing is that I had just read about this place in an online local newspaper that very morning, and without knowing their address (they only have one location) was very surprised to find them right there next to Jimmy Mac's. The place is called 99 Bottles, and it's a retail beer store. Seriously, this place has every beer/ale/etc under the sun--Truly a place for suds connoisseurs. If you're a beer drinker, you owe yourself a visit. You never know--You may find something there that you've been looking for.

There. No more plugs in this blog. Promise.

In other news, I got my Dell Axim PDA working again. I tore into it again with a little more determination, and tore it a little further apart than I did before. Apparently it had a loose connection inside, because upon reassembly it again works fine. The (insert correct word here) thing is that I have decided to sell it. It's now up for sale on Craigslist. I won't get my hopes up though because they're not a fast-moving item these days. I may have to use Ebay. I think I'm going to replace it with an Apple iTouch like I bought Sarah for Christmas. They are a very cool toy... I mean gadget... I mean tool. Yeah, let's go with tool.

I moved all the steel up to Sue's house this weekend, along with my welder and a few assorted clamps and assembly aids. I intend to get them all assembled this coming weekend. I have been looking on Craigslist for a few weeks for someone selling 3/4" plywood for cheap--Used or not--To use on the shelving. Imagine my surprise when it was right under our noses the whole time! It seems that her son Denny--A concrete man--had several sheets of concrete form-grade plywood standing alongside his garage and wanted it out of there. This is the stuff that has a layer of something on the outside that resembles Formica. It is the ultimate for shelving and it was free to boot. Nice! The good thing is that he has quite a bit more than we need for this project and he'll let us have as much as we want. He wants it all outta there.

Work = Busy. Things have slowed a little at work as far as the regular flow of orders and business, but have not slowed in other ways. We are right in the middle of phasing in our completely new computer system, and it seems that I am in the thick of it. That's good in these slow times. Lots of people can't even find work and I'm facing an increase in my workload. I have to say--The brothers LaCroix timed their implementation perfectly. I would hate for this to be taking place when business was moving along at a balls-out pace.

There is one thing that I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet. Sue presented me with a very cool gift last week: A blown-up artsy picture of Sarah! It's one of a series of pictures that we took of Sarah last October for a school project. Here's what the picture looked like in its original form:


I think that's the one she used but I'm not sure because I'm not looking at it right now. Anyway, she treated it with some computer tweaking that made it look like an oil painting and had it printed up at poster size. A very cool present. Thanks Suzie!

Okay, that's enough for now. Let's all go to work.

Sometimes Things "Click"

...And sometimes they don't.

This is the time of year that Sarah plays tennis after school. This is also the time of year that weather is at its most unpredictable. I got a text from her before I left work: NO TENNIS. That was no surprise--After all, it was pouring rain. Right afterward I called home to check my land-line phone messages. As I thought, there was a message from the local Red Wing shoe store I stopped a few days ago saying that my new boots were in. After work I stopped off and picked them up. I mentioned to the guy there that I needed to figure out where I could get my old ones fixed, and pointed to the area on one of them where the stitching was coming undone.
"Leave em here and we'll have them stitched up for you--No charge." he said.
Cool! To add to that, the gal that rang up my purchase took 15% off because they didn't have my size in stock when I stopped by there two days prior and placed the order. I left my old ones in their hands and wore my new shoes out. That part "clicked" pretty well I'd say.

After I got home I immediately started working in my garage. I had all those pieces of steel that I had cut up at Suzie's house last weekend and I needed to do some more work on them. Time ran away from me. Before long it was 6:30. I was finished and still no Suzie. "Hmm," I thought, "I wonder if I screwed up again." I was in the process of dialing her number when I got a text from her on my cell: "Are you alive?" she wondered. Well, it turns out that I did indeed screw up. I was supposed to tell her if there was tennis or not and neglected to do so. Bad Rick... Baaaddd... I called her and we talked a bit. She had already decided she wasn't coming down by that time. Obviously that part didn't "click." The part that did was that I got all the pieces all drilled up and ready for assembly (welding). Still, I would have rather have gotten to see her.

We were out at a local sports bar several weeks ago eating dinner and we were handed 5 tickets by the waitress. She said, "We're having a drawing on March 25th at 7:30, so hang on to these--They might be worth $1,000. You need to be present for the drawing." Well, tonight was that drawing and we were going to go down there and see if we won. You never know right? Well, that part didn't click. I decided I would go ahead and go down myself just to witness the drawing. By that time it was 7:20. I was just about to leave and I was getting my stuff together when the phone rang.

It was my brother, Don, calling from Georgia, congratulating me and Suz on our engagement. He and his wife totally loved Suzie's work on the invitation. All the time Don and I were talking I kept hearing her holler in the background, "I want to know about his girlfriend." I gave Don the link to my blog so he might have a chance at staying in touch with things around here. Neither of us are any good at calling each other. After all, I never even called him to tell him I was getting married... How's that for brotherly love? Oh well... At least I was home to take his call. That part definitely clicked.

As to the $1,000 drawing? Hell, I never would have won anyway...

It's Been a Long Time

Sometimes that's the case. For whatever reason, I don't feel like blogging anything. Some days I felt lethargic, some days I didn't have any time to sit down and write, and others I didn't feel I had anything to say. Some days I did have something to report, but it was insignificant enough that I didn't feel strongly about it I guess. I had some spare time last weekend but instead spent it trying out Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista on another drive in my computer--Kind of a test of sorts. I can recall at least once when I was going to blog and was just about to start when something came up and I had to switch gears.

Okay, enough with the excuses.

Suzie got wedding invitations sent out way back about the time of my last blog post. She spent a lot of time and effort working on them to make them appear like some sort of medieval parchment. Everybody loved them! She is having so much fun with this wedding. I probably should stop calling it a wedding--It's sometimes seems like it's more like a party--But no, it's first and foremost our wedding.

My granddaughter Emma had her 4th birthday this last week. I wish I could have been there, but alas, it's a bit far away to be popping in for birthdays. This coming Friday is her brother Ethan's first birthday! I'm sure that will be a special event--The first ones usually are pretty fun because the kids have no idea why there is so much sensory overload going on in the form of people, colors, sounds, and tastes. They just know it's fun and exciting, whatever it is!

Sarah started tennis again this last week. As usual, it's a crap shoot as to whether or no they will ever hold their match until the last minute because of our weather patterns. Out of 4 days they tried to play this last week, they succeeded in actually playing on one day. That was good actually, because I had a lot going on this last week.

One of the things I had going this week was buying some steel for shelving in Sue's (no wait--our) garage to replace her existing rickety wall shelving with solid, welded steel & plywood shelving. After getting quotes from a few of our suppliers at work, I commenced to fret and worry about how I was going to transport them. Although they would probably all cut steel to any length I wanted, I was pretty sure they would charge extra for it, and I was trying to keep the costs down in this project. The reason I was worrying about transporting was because steel is sold in 20-foot sections. To put it in perspective, my pickup truck is 17 feet long, bumper to bumper. So how was I going to pull that off? As usual, my mind went into overdrive and made a mountain out of a molehill. I spent a week searching for lumber racks, ladder racks, or anything else you call those big racks that bolt to the sides of your truck bed and extend over the cab. Having no luck, I then started investigating creative ways to mount a bundle of 1.5" steel angle (only 8 pieces, but they weighed 200 lbs.) along the side of my truck. I racked my brain. With input from several people, my own ideas, and tips from the web, I gave up. I decided I needed to stop farting around and just order the damn steel. I needed to get this thing going. I went ahead a placed the order on Wednesday, deciding that I would just arm myself with some new hacksaw blades and cut it myself on the spot. Friday I picked up the steel. It was a great deal at only $14 per 20-foot section of 1.5" x 1.5" angle! (Yeah, yeah--I love to tout my good deals...) Because the supplier was near my work, I took my truck to work, equipped with everything I would need. Sue met me nearby to help me with it. When I drove up to pick the stuff up, I asked the guy in the office if I could just drag it outside out of their way and cut it for transport. He says, "We can cut if for you, no problem." All that worrying for nothing! We drove the truck into the building and stopped. It's a huge, huge place. It has all kinds of overhead cranes to move everything around, and it's designed with drive-through loading big enough for side-by-side semi trucks, two deep if they wanted. That was a good thing too, because while we inside waiting for the guy to cut them, the rain and wind let loose once again. We would have been soaked to the skin I'm sure.

Yesterday was an interesting day. While Sue and I were still in our robes and drinking coffee here at my house, my mom stopped by and told us about a garage sale in town. Apparently, the woman holding the sale had a small production company that put on plays at our local acting theater here in town and she was selling all her costumes and outfits. My mom said my dad had even outfitted himself with some sort of costume that he is going to wear to our wedding, complete with hat! Sue and I were practically floored--My dad is taking part in the festivities and even looking forward to it! Like I told her, even adults like to play dress-up--We just need an excuse to do it, right?

Anyway, the lady at the sale had a ton of cool stuff, although not a lot of it was the right size or period. Sue bought a couple of small things that I don't remember, and I bought a really cool wooden instrument for $5. It's apparently a mandolin, based on what Suzie and I have seen on the web. It looks like a lute, but it doesn't have the "folded back" tuning board that they show in internet pictures. It's pretty beat and has no strings on it, but it's still a very cool prop or decoration. I could carry it at the Renaissance Faire this summer and be like a wandering minstrel or something. Here's a couple of pictures that Suzie took for me:



From there we went to Sue's house where I spent much of the afternoon cutting the steel with my metal chop saw and deburring it. I ended cutting the lengths into about 60 pieces, then cut the end of each one to 45° for safety reasons. (They would be the protruding edge of the shelf that you would have a tendency to boink into with head or hand.) That was tedious and noisy, but it went well. I had my hearing protection on and had a nice working platform set up so I didn't have to bend over. Beer too of course (duh). It was a pleasant day, weather-wise. I also got a bunch of light tubes changed in her ceiling fixtures so we could actually see in there. They have been out or flickering for as long as I've known her. I was actually getting used to not being able to see anything in there unless the door was open... We finished the day with a pleasant evening at Denny's house up the street, followed by a nice, relaxing soak in the hot tub staring at the stars.

It was a good day for sure.

Working Together

Sue made an interesting comment yesterday. It came during the process of the new stove installation.

See, Suzie is the kind of person that won't wait for her significant other to do something if she can do it herself. It's something she has learned over the years of her previous marriages. It became clear to her quite a while back that if she wanted something done she'd better do it herself, or be very patient. Through years of learning and doing all matter of things herself, she has become a very capable person--Able to do anything she sets her mind to.

So back to the stove installation.

Naturally, with the new stove (she keeps calling it my stove) sitting in her dining room staring at her and plenty of time on her hands she wasn't about to let that project go untried. We brainstormed a bit the day I helped her bring the stove home, tossing ideas about what would need to be done. The old stove had cabinetry that needed to be cut all the way down to meet the floor, and the opening on the counter top that the stove slides into also needed to be opened up bigger.

It didn't surprise me one bit on Monday when I got home from work and saw her email. She had already pulled the old one out, enlarged the counter top opening to fit it, and was sending me pictures of the electrical connectors that we needed to buy to complete the install. Nope, very thorough. I had no doubt as to what to get when I went over to Lowe's before heading up to her house. When I got there and found out how much she had done and how well she had done it, I was very impressed. I jumped in at that point, but the brainstorming between us didn't stop. We had to try a few ideas and methods before I was finally able to get the lower part trimmed down to the floor. After the electrical changover, we plugged the stove in and attempted to slide it in a couple times, but found that there was one board still interfering along the back. At that point, however, we were finished for the day. She opted instead to just leave it where it was until the following day when she would trim the offending board out of the way. We spent the rest of the time playing with the stove and marveling at how cool it was.

During the time I was there she showed me her bandaged finger, noting that she had cut herself during her work, and didn't notice it until she had blood spots all over her pants. It wasn't long after that I started seeing blood while I was working too, and like her didn't notice I had wounded myself. While I was working, we talked about the blood on the pants and how to get it out. Because I had hydrogen peroxide and she didn't, she sent me home with them when I left. As I was leaving she noted, "We worked pretty well together on that didn't we?" Because we are both very opinionated and have our own way of doing things, it's easy to be offended at suggestions from the other, and we are both trying to be aware of that fact.

She had Keith put a new radiator hose on her car yesterday as well. She could have done it of course, but she wanted him to have something to do. Because she had been using my car while hers was out of commission she had to come down here yesterday to take me to get it. After I fed her and we got all set to go, she picked up the newly blood-free pants and made the comment I mentioned.

Ah yes, the comment--You thought I forgot about that didn't you?

I don't remember it verbatim, but I'll pretend to quote it: "We're quite a capable pair aren't we? I can install stoves and you can get the blood out of my clothes." We both thought it was pretty good. She called us both "multi-capable" people.

We're also apparently both bleeders.

The Sunday Morning Report

I'm not sure if I love or hate daylight savings time. Actually, I don't think love falls into it anywhere at all. I know that I hate changing either to or from daylight savings time. I hate what it does to our circadian rhythm. It takes days if not weeks for us to get used to it. I do, however, like the fact that it stays light longer in the evening. We tend to get more done when it's not dark outside, whether we're actually doing outside activities or not.

I think I'm still going to vote against it. While I don't hate it, it's fair to say that I dislike it a lot.

There are a couple negatives to report today, both of which are in the vehicle department. Suzie had her car take a dump on her a few days ago. She was almost certain that the engine had breathed its last gasp. It has been a bit of an oil leaker, and while she was out and about one day it started squealing and getting hot. She thought for sure she had killed it by running it too low on oil. I was skeptical based on her description of the events, but didn't get to actually check into it until yesterday. Instead, I lent her my truck and let her drive that a few days. Yesterday we found (much to her delight) that it was just a blown upper radiator hose. What deceived her was the fact that it the escaping steam and noise was being directed down the backside of the engine instead of where you could see it. Now we just have to find a replacement hose, and as we've already found, that's not going to be as easy as it should be. We'll get it though.

The other victim? My truck. I don't know what it is--I'm sure it's minor--But it acted up all at once yesterday. It was acting like it had no fuel and was refusing to run unless you kept the gas pedal pushed a certain amount. That meant that when you came up to a stop you had to push on the brake and the gas to keep it from dying. I'm sure it's an easy fix. Probably some crap in the carburetor. The bummer is that it happened when we were actually needing it yesterday, which takes me to the next newsworthy event.

Suzie bought a new stove for her kitchen. Talk about a killer deal: A guy was emptying his condo to move to New Zealand (where he's from) and had to move things quickly. He first tickled her interest by putting it up for sale on Craigslist, which is where she first saw it. When she contacted him, he told her about it and mentioned that he had put it up for sale on Ebay as well. It suffices to say that not many people buy ranges on Ebay. Because of their size and weight, they have to be "local pickup only" or it would cost you a small fortune. To make a long story short, she was the sole bidder and "stole" it for $245! It's a 1 year-old Maytag drop-in with a smooth white glass cook top. It's very deluxe, and from what we've seen on the web, they're going for anywhere from $1200 to $1500. We had to drive to Issaquah to pick it up from his storage unit yesterday, which is exactly when my truck started acting up. Oh well... We got it home and all is well.

I sent Suzie home in my car last night with the hopes that I could get my truck squared away today and find her a replacement radiator hose. I dunno though--It snowed again last night. While it didn't snow that much, it's taking its sweet time melting, so it's obviously still pretty cold out there. Oh well... You gotta do what you gotta do...

In other news, I gave my laptop a new lease on life. It had something going very wrong with the palm rest. That's what they call the whole of top of it where you rest your hands while you're typing. It also contains the touchpad. Something on mine was going bad, and you had to be very cognizant of where your cursor was when you were typing because the slightest pressure in the wrong place would send the cursor somewhere else on screen while you were typing. You could (and would) screw up your document considerably. Because it's a Dell, parts are available all over Ebay, and I bought a brand new palm rest (the complete top with the touchpad in it) for $15. Killer! It took me less than a half hour to strip the whole laptop down to replace it. I was aided by the fact that Dell has manuals for disassembly you can download. I didn't have to wonder at all about the order of disassembly, how to get a certain piece of trim off, or anything else. It went very smoothly, and now the laptop behaves as it should.

Oh crap... I just looked outside and it's snowing again...

Stoners in the News

Have you noticed that every person they bust over anything drug related looks the part? They look like they're the one of the most brain-dead people on the face of the earth.

Do you think they're actually genetically engineered at birth to look stoned? It's possible that kindergarten teachers know before anyone else that they haven't got a chance in life. I can see them now, clicking their tongue and shaking their heads at the poor kids that have "loser" written all over them.

It's possible that only the finest stoned-looking people make the cut. Perhaps only the people that have genuine human loser interest in their mug shots are published. Maybe it's all up to the AP news or the papers to see which ones make the losers' greatest hits.

Maybe they all go to Stoner's Hair Salon?

Here's today's winner--Arrested for putting his girlfriends cat into a homemade box/bong contraption:

"I know for sure this isn't the first time someone has done this," he said. "I'm just the first one to get caught." He said he put the cat in the bong a total of three times and it seemed to calm the cat.

You think?

"Every time we took her out she would pretty much just lay down and proceed to clean herself and act like a stoned person," he said.

Well, thanks for being newsworthy dude... Someone had to do it...

The Death of Electronics

Sometimes it seems that I'm plagued with dying electronics. It seems like it's always happening. When I think about it though, I suppose it's more of a law of averages. After all--I have a lot of electronics, and when you have a lot of anything, that's just more chances for something to go amiss.

The latest victim? My Dell Axim PDA. I haven't had it very long, but it was used when I got it, so I guess that's just the way things go. It didn't fry or go dead, so it's not quite like the way most things die. Instead, the power button suddenly stopped working. It won't turn off or on with it. The only way to make the unit come on is by plugging it into its cradle (it comes on automatically when you park it), and the only way to turn it off is to take the battery out.

Before the Axim died, the most recent victim was my cable modem. Actually, it wasn't quite a victim because it was still working, but something wasn't right about it so I replaced it.

Another ongoing battle I've been having is with my wireless router. It works then it doesn't work. It may work fine one day, then the next day it drops the signal constantly. I don't notice it here at this machine because I'm plugged into it with a cable, but downstairs I do. I have two laptops down there that use it--One is the "coffee table machine" that we use to surf things while we're downstairs, and the other is the one I have permanently plugged into my stereo receiver to play internet radio (nonstop music with no ads). Those will constantly lose the signal on some days.

I tried "hot-rodding" the router yesterday. I found an online community that has built and supported a hack that turns a standard $50 router into a the kind you would normally find powering a wifi "hotspot" somewhere. Basically, it "unlocks" features that the router is already capable of. I thought that if the router was already dying what did I have to lose? Well, the hack worked fine, but the router still drops the signal intermittently like it did before. Nothing really gained there.

Sigh. I wonder what's next? Time to do some buying and selling I guess...

A Day of Deals

It seems like it was all around us yesterday. Everywhere we looked, we were doing something thrifty or getting a deal on something. For the sake of pointing them out, I'll put the word "deal" with them to point them out.

The first thing I did after we got up was to get a haircut from Suzie. (Deal.)

After I got out of the shower and cleaned up I made some calls about changing the wheels and tires on my truck. The idea was to have my current tires remounted on wheels that I bought from a guy on Craigslist a couple weeks ago for only $60 (deal). After many calls, I ended up out at our local "junkyard alley" the next town over, where the tire shop at Budget Auto Wrecking said they would mount and balance my 4 tires for 10 bucks apiece. When I drove out there, it was wall-to-wall people, all apparently waiting for their turn to have some sort of tire/wheel work done. Disgruntled, I drove around a little and reluctantly decided to go back and get in line at Budget. Instead, I noticed a Tire Shop sign right next door at AAA Auto Wrecking. I didn't even know they had a tire shop. Anyway, they were the same price and there was only one customer there at the time. The tire shop was run by a wisp of a woman about my age that was working her butt off. She did the changeover for $40 cash with no tax (deal). She also threw in, for free, a baggie full of black plastic lug nut covers the hold the center caps on my wheels (deal).

While I was out doing this, Sue was out hitting pawn shops, checking their jewelry offerings. She wasn't sure how I'd take the fact that she was more interested in wearing used jewelry (and getting more bang for her buck), so she was doing investigative research. When I got back to my place, she was back there already. I had no sooner gotten home when Steve rode up on his Harley. He was there to drop off a special little Compactflash/Ethernet port card that would work in my PDA. He had gotten two of them on an Ebay deal and only needed one of them. Knowing that I had the same PDA as he does, he gave me one (deal). I may never need it, but hey--Free is free.

During his visit, he mentioned this coming year's Spring Opener motorcycle run, which was held in Toppenish last year. He said that it was in Goldendale this year, and also mentioned that he had made reservations for it already. Right after he left we got online and found the motel he was staying at and negotiated a good price on a stay there with my AARP membership (deal).

Right after that Suzie told me about her wanderings into the local pawn shops while I was out with my truck. She said I needed to "broaden my horizons" as she put it, and look other than new jewelry stores. To explain, she told me all about her findings at the pawn shops. The prices, selection, and the 30-day return policy. After we talked about it, I assured her that I would not be the least offended should she find a ring she liked better in a pawn shop. We decided to go to the nearby stores of the Super Pawn chain, which is the store that impressed her the most. At our second one, we found a ring for her. A ring that she totally loves! It's a full carat total weight (not to mention more gold) and we got it for the same price as one of the two 1/5-carat rings I bought her at the jeweler. It was marked at $999.95 at the pawn shop but we got it for $350 (deal). I must say, it's a beautiful ring all right. We both think it's great! The other rings ended up going back to Fred Meyer Jewelers.

I must say, it was a day of feeling good about the deals we scored. Neither Suz or I could stop checking out her new ring... It's a beaut! We both agreed that we are indeed lucky that we both recognize the benefits of shopping used. It's much better to have quality used than substandard and new, and besides--If you save in one area, it affords you the luxury of spending your savings somewhere else right?

Friday Tidbits

Boy, Suzie sure is fired up these days! To say she is excited is an understatement. She is to the point where if she wakes up early: Forget about going back to sleep. Her mind won't let her. She is totally pumped with wedding-planning fever.

I still haven't told everyone in my family about our getting married. I know--I'm bad. I've still got to tell my brother in Atlanta and my sisters. I guess I don't feel as connected with members of my family as other people do with theirs. I don't know what instilled that way of thinking. It was apparently something in the way my parents raised us because everyone else in my family is the same way. Anyway, I'll get em all contacted in the next day or two I'm sure.

Denis dropped by last night and we yakked for a couple hours. He dropped off a box full of Harley stuff that he was getting rid of. Magazines, books (nice ones), memorabilia, and even a Harley phone. He's been out of work for a while now, and he's been doing a lot of housecleaning. He's been selling stuff on Craigslist and making runs to the Goodwill.

Work actually hasn't been bad this week in the absence of Bruce. I feared the worst. I guess he timed it pretty well because we haven't had a lot of turmoil and crazed running around that tends to happen there lately on busy days.

This is a time of year that makes it hard to ride the Harley to work. You know it's going to be warm in the afternoon, but it's totally frozen in the morning at 5:30 when I leave for work. Basically, it's "No pain, no gain" as far as riding goes. I suffer in the morning if I want to enjoy the ride home this afternoon. Oh well... It just reinforces the image that I'm a real biker I guess.

Yeah, right...

A Major Announcement

Ricky and Suzie are officially engaged to be married!

Yes, it's true-- She wears an engagement ring. I think both of us knew way back when that this would come--We just "click" too well for it not to. The events of the past year have taught us about one another: The good, the bad, the likes & dislikes--There are so many things we've explored and learned about each other. We even had one "breakup" a couple months ago, and that lasted about... I dunno... One day? We were miserable, and I think it just reinforced our bond.

We love and need each other, and we intend to keep loving and needing each other.

The biggest hurdle we face at this time is the actual physical fitting of me into her household. While I don't have a lot of stuff, there really is no room for me at this time. Fortunately, we're not getting married this instant so we'll have time to work the logistics out before that takes place. Her house isn't a giant one by any means, and at this time she still has two boys living at home. Only Dane, her 20 year-old is actually living there. Keith, her 18 year-old, does have a bedroom there, but spends most of his time at his dad's house (we think). The bottom line is that Dane is shopping to move out as soon as possible (and has been for some time). Keith? Who knows. He's a very quiet young man and it's hard to communicate with him. He may end up rooming with her daughter Rachyl.

As I said, we don't have a date. What we have agreed on is we'd like it to be a back yard wedding at her house (she has a nice setting for it). We're discussing the possibility of having some sort of a Medieval aspect to it as well. You know, the way people dress for the Renaissance Faire when they have them? We're not sure yet about all that. We just know one thing: We want it to be a FUN wedding--One that people won't be in a hurry to leave from. Wedding and party all in one place.

I'm not sure I'll go to the extent of renaming my blog, but it's indeed apparent that there will be a Rix Life, Part VI.

Oh, Come On... Chuckle At Least...

You have to admit--A sense of humor is a good thing. Things don't always go just the way you want to, and a sense of humor can help you "switch gears" for a second or two.

Okay, it's time to collectively say to yourself: "Man, that Rick is messed up..." Why? 'Cause I thought this was funny:


Yeah, everyone like funny stuff, but I really appreciate the unusual things. This cartoon is a good example.

Sorry... But I like to chuckle. Sue me.

How Long Can You Tread Water?

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be living in the midst of a depression. Okay, okay--Technically it's not a depression, but rather a recession instead. Still, to be touched by and experience the chain of events that has been slowly unfolding is almost mind-boggling.

From my perspective, it seems like it started with the big Boeing strike several months back. Of course that didn't cause it, but that's when I noticed things starting to slide in our area. That's when jobs started drying up, cars started being repossessed, homes foreclosed on. It's no secret that Boeing workers here represent a huge percentage of our Northwest population. They are highly paid, and in most cases, have no idea how to manage money. When I was at Boeing I witnessed it firsthand: Every time a raise came around, they would buy something with it. Another "toy" that they couldn't afford. Although they were making the biggest money a blue collar worker could hope to make in this country, they were still in dept up to their eyeballs. They had all the best and newest of everything, but yet actually really owned very little of it. I could not believe that the Boeing machinists union voted to go on strike at a time like that. What were they thinking? The whole time they were out of work conditions worsened. When they finally did go back to work the damage was done and the water spiraling down the drain had started to reach quite a velocity.

When the strike started the ripple effect had already been in place and building, starting with the housing market slumping. People were flabbergasted that a house could actually be worth less than they bought it for in our country. The slow spiraling downhill of lending institutions that failed because of the housing market slump just made it worse. Pretty soon it was everywhere you looked. It was like the catastrophe's you hear about in third world countries where a ferry goes down or a bus crashes killing huge numbers of people because they had exceeded it's capacity. It was like a gag contest: "How many people can we fit into our mortgage loan system? Come on, hurry--There's room for more! Keep jumping on board! HURRY!" Well, as we all know, the house of cards fell, albeit in slow motion. It's still falling... With no end in sight.

Things where I work are going very well thanks to two brothers that have their fingers on the pulse of their company. The Brothers LaCroix have never overextended themselves that I know of. Every move they make is deliberate and calculated. They are the epitome of frugal (you should see the crap they have stored). Our workload is very diverse and therefore never really slumped much--Even during the Boeing strike. Now they are playing the bad economic times to their benefit: Buying things and getting upgrades performed at a time when goods and labor are at an all-time low. One of them got a new car a short time ago and the other one is looking. Our whole company is in the final stages of a complete computer system install, designed and performed by a subcontractor guy that is trying to make ends meet and probably gave them the deal of a lifetime on his labor.

I honestly don't know where things are going at this point. I'm glad I have actual cash in a bank (yes, a fair amount of it survived the stock market crashes and slides), but like everyone else, I didn't move things like I should have. There's no way I can do anything with any of my stocks and mutual funds now--I'll just have to forget about them and ride them out. Every morning when I get up and sit down here with my coffee it seems that another company is filing for bankruptcy. This is a strange time. They say that history repeats itself. While that may be true, the combination of events is rarely the same. One thing that we can still depend on though: Friends and/or family.

While we have either or both of those we'll be okay.

Internet Teevee

I love the internet. We all love the internet.

It lets us stay in our nice, cozy houses and avoid interacting with other members of the human race. It lets us shop for good deals while we're sitting in our jammies. Heck, we might even still be wearing the same jammies when the man in brown delivers that good deal right to our door. The internet lets us do lots of things.

Add one more thing to the list: Internet TV. Yeah, I know... It's been around for a while already. The trouble is, it's always been marginal at best. Either it's riddled with ads, requires you to login, or the video you watch is of barely watchable quality.

Enter HULU.com. The internet has a new reason to justify its existence. Like most of you, I had never heard of Hulu before watching that funny Superbowl ad with Alec Baldwin.

Not only is the quality stellar, they have TONS of channels to select from. Favorite shows of all kinds. I just finished watching last night's Leno show a few minutes ago. Before that? A great version of The Family Guy. It lets you watch in full screen, lets you fast-forward (it has a cool slide bar at the bottom), and pretty much gives you full control. Sure, there are a few ads here and there (after all, they have to make money, right?) but overall it's great!

No more need for VCR's, DVR's, or any other recording device to catch your shows. Just kick back and watch them right here.

Oh, and don't forget to order some groceries online... You're going to get hungry.

Bring on the Speed

You wouldn't think so, but I wonder if it's true: Modems wear out on a regular basis? No, you wouldn't think so. After all, they're electronic--They have no moving parts.

It was August of 2006 when I went through the same thing I just went through: My internet stopping and starting. The fix then? A new modem.

After having a cable guy here to check my line a week or so ago (and finding nothing wrong), I opted to find myself another modem. I found a smokin' deal on a replacement that is virtually identical to one I'm replacing, and just like before, not only is my stopping and starting fixed (hopefully anyway) but my internet is way faster. I recall the same thing before. Apparently, over time the speed gets slightly slower and slower. You don't really notice it because it took so long to get to that point. When you hook up a new modem: WHOOSH!

It's good to be surfing at Warp 10 again.

What a Strange Thing

I woke up this morning and glanced over at my clock: 3:15. Good, not time to get up yet. The next thing I know I wake up and look over at it and it says 3:52.

Oh shit, I forgot to set my alarm!

I got up and started furiously bustling around, doing all my usual Monday morning stuff. I got the garbage all ready to go out, made my sandwich, and even got a crock pot ready to go with pork roast in it. I'm sitting up here at 4:30, drinking my coffee and reading the online news. Hmm... That's funny--There's nothing about a Super Bowl winner.

Then it hit me. I waved my mouse pointer over the date at the bottom right of my screen. Sunday!

Boy do I feel like a boob! But even better than that: I felt like sharing my humility with the fine readers of my blog. How's that?

Suzie and I had a fantastic day yesterday. Everything we did seemed to "click" for us. I usually get up before she does, and after I finished my coffee I decided it was shower time. I had just turned on the water and stepped in when I heard a slight creak sound. I turned and was pleasantly surprised to find her in the shower with me. Good thing I'm not jumpy or I would have probably screamed--She was that stealthy!

We did some junkyard visiting to start with. It is a rare woman that would even consider going to a junkyard for any reason, but yet Suzie enjoys it. She's always on the lookout for good stuff just like I am. While I didn't get exactly what I wanted, I did score something for my truck (pocket item) that wasn't really on my shopping list: I got a new Chevy bowtie emblem for the grille. The original was missing off the truck when I got it. She bought a new side mirror for her Camry. That was a good deal at $25--It was like brand new. The yard where we found that item was a recent addition to our "junkyard area" of town, having only been there a short time. While it didn't impress me with their selection of trucks, it did impress me with their selection of everything else. They have a lot to pick from and the guys at the counter were very pleasant to deal with. Most of the time the guys working those places are a surly lot--Assuming everyone in the world is out to get them apparently, or maybe pissed off at the world that they have to work at such a place. I dunno. This place wasn't like that.

After some installation of our newly acquired parts back at my house, we did a little house cleanup and headed up to her place. There was a hot tub part that I had to install. Luckily, it also fell into the way the rest of the day had been going: It installed without a hitch. Will it solve her hot tub problem of intermittent operation? Only time will tell, but we're trying to be optimistic.

We finished out the day with a visit to the sports bar up the street from her house where we both ended up pleasantly stuffed with good burgers and beer.

Now that I've had one cuppa coffee, I wonder if I can go back to sleep? Prolly not. I have to look at the bright side: At least I didn't drive to work...