single_speed1

So I'm in Chicago for a few days, it was time for a change of scenery so why not. I am just happy my flight yesterday got over with before any of the messed up computer glitches that made flying a nightmare for some people yesterday.

So let's see since I know I will be going ouyt tonight I want to go to as many places as possible. So as a general rule it will be no more than two drinks at any one place. That should help me move right along. But we'll see how it goes since I can be complacent sometimes. So that will be the rule!

So when it comes to eight month old puppy mouth vs.'s a Blackberry phone guess who wins? Guess who loses? ME! I am now searching for a new Blackberry thanks to my dog so graciously disposing of my old one for me. So off to hunt on Craigslist and see what I can find.

A week of sitting on the beach and just enjoying the sunshine and water and now I need to get back to work? Damn, I can think of a billion wet sandy reasons not to go back to work, but I guess that won't do. So after a week and a half of not shaving and wearing flip flops its back to work and trying to chase another dollar to head for that next destination, Chicago. Well there is a trip to Virginia Beach in there I believe, but its time to go home for a few days. Get away from this place and those like it.

Time out is over! C'ya.

This is purely about work and people making me mad because of their lack of care or respect for their own things. It is my fault their houses are all falling apart, I am the root of rot and evil!!
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Dear Homeowners Association,

Hi there! How are you? So you have more work that you would like me to give you an estimate on? Wow, that is great. I really wish you would stop asking me to come give you estimates though. Every time I come out there we smile and nod politely at each other. I give you estimates, then you ask me to break every estimate for a repair down to minute little details, like how much to replace this board and not that one. I try to explain that I can not remove one and not destroy the other, but you have no clue.

But I come and I give you my estimates, always. Then comes the board meetings.

See you don't really know that I know what happens there, about how you each talk about me and my estimates. Yes you, the one who asked me to do her a favor and yet you say that I am a greedy piece of trash that is just trying to rip them off. But that is ok, I know how to smile and just let you think you are, "oh so special" Special enough even that last time I saw you out having drinks with friends you and your two girlfriends were splitting one glass of wine, yes you read that correctly! Three people one glass of wine. But you are special. Then there are the others, oh you lovely people who all need hobbies! Or at least to buy a clue.

Now, there are other people to! You, the people who don't even notice that the front of your house is falling apart, literally the gutters are falling apart and the roof is beginning to fall in. Yes, yes I will give you an estimate and you guys will think I am trying to rip you off. But wait until the roof caves in please.

So HOA, I have to tell you that I always come give you estimates, even though I know you guys only have about three hundred dollars a month left for repairs on forty two units in your neighborhood. Th gutter guys charge more than that just to clean out the pine straw that is causing your buildings to rot.

But as much as you guys are a total pain in my ass I have to keep giving you estimates! Yay! Because well that is just the business I am in. Just please use plenty of lube this time, the board last time left a lot of splinters! But I still love ya, but only because I have to take the extremely bad to go with the good! So please, go easy and at least smile at me. Thanks and I really look forward to the amazing opportunity to do business with you again!

Best regards,

The whipping crew!

Why is it that when I wake up in the middle of the night it is a full on thing? I go from dead asleep to ninety miles an hour in about two seconds. My brain just doesn't want to slow down and I feel like I just need to do something! But, what do you do at three in the morning? Make a post on LJ of course, a mindless boring post. Because you can't do anything really, it's 3 a.m.

I always seem to wake up thinking about things that I can do nothing about. Like, death and taxes kind of stuff or work, which hey lately seems to be about as much fun as the prior two.

Ugh, guess I will go stare at the ceiling some more!

Ok, I am sick of hearing about how shitty the economy is, has anyone else heard of a "self fulfilling prophecy?" The media can kiss my worn out shoes, they keep telling everyone that it's happening and then everyone is running around like a chicken with no freaking head!

It makes it really hard for me to convince people that what they need to do is drop a minimum fifteen thousand dollar investment in a deck for their house. I have had people who are realistic and still want to do stuff to their house and are willing and able to pay for good work, thank you! Then there are still a few that have huge budgets for what some people think of as an after thought, I really like these people, thank you! I really love you.

Thats my little p.o.r. about the economy and chickens.

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Hi there! When did you get here? Oh wait, this is an LJ entry isn't it? So what did I expect.

So the weather is relatively warm and it makes it really easy to take the bike out and just roll for a few hours. BUT! Big but here, having had a cold that has been kicking my butt for two weeks has really put a damper on everything! It's been impossible to do anything it seemed. I spent so much time in bed seating out a fever I thought I would have bed sores.But that is finally beginning to pass, at least now I can breathe on my own again.

So is it time to travel yet? I need to go somewhere again. I have no idea where and I will probably just wait until spring, but damn I am ready to go somewhere again! Maybe DC for a long weekend to see my friend Dave. Take a bike and get lost in the city! Doesn't sound bad actually.

Ok, enough rambling for now I guess.

For those that are left in the snowbelt, I'm sorry. It seems like this weather has just been weird everywhere you look this year, snow in Las Vegas this morning? That was just really weird, but then again it was a record snowfall for Vegas.

On the other hand, well it has been warmer than you really want to know about here. I did have to put on a sweatshirt with my shorts this morning. It's usually mild here, but the temps have been kind of crazy warm here. It wasn't this warm when I was down in Florida a few weeks ago.

Oh well, time to get out and go do some work. As long as I still have it I guess I should get to it!

Its time to travel again! This weekend it's off to DC to see my friend Dave. I knew him growing up and we reconnected about two years ago. So I figure its time for me to go see him. So thats what I am going to do for my b-day weekend. Yes, weekend. I am just going to turn my birthday in to a weekend, why not? And yes Kaya is going along for the ride, she likes traveling.

Leave it up to North Carolina to be so close that they still won't call the damn state! I know the election is over, they figure the provisional ballots could make the election go in either direction, there were 50,000 of them in the last election. Considering the difference in the Presidential race is 11000 votes I guess they have to wait and count.

It is interesting just to what extent that state has changed though, the demographics that is. There's even a woman as the governor now.that would be unthinkable just 15 years ago.

It is good to see so many voted and had a voice. Now, if we can just take that change forward and fix the economy and hopefully make the rest of the world hate us a little less that would be good thing in my book.

Thanks for showing up and being counted people.

So I have an interesting way of taking notes on jobs when I go look at them. It usually just involves a pen and one of those yellow legal pads, pretty basic but it is invaluable when it comes down to it. I can take all the notes I need, scribble down prices from my supplier when I am driving down the road drinking coffee, talking on the cell phone and trying to avoid an accident.

So there's all these random notes on these pads, I have several of them. They work very well for me, until I get home.

Living with a fourteen week old puppy with razor sharp teeth can be challenging. See I usually will inadvertently set one of those aforementioned yellow pads down somewhere inadvertently. Well, enter the puppy. She is teething and doing pretty good, except for one thing, she loves to chew up all my notes!

She will take the pad and just shred it from front to back all over the living room. I am convinced that the cat, Mr Man, is just sitting there laughing when Kaya does this, "this is great the dog is going to get in so much trouble!"

So, after several notepads chewed and destroyed with too many random numbers that only I understand or recognize I need to change. I need to quit bringing the tasty treats inside. I had to re-work a bid for an entire house full of siding today. It only took about two hours to re-create the estimate basically. Then I could get back to actually progressing on the proposal. YAY!

I love puppies, but that one got her a time out in the crate for a long time...

I can't wait for the election to be over. Work is slow, everyone is waiting to see who win's the election before they make any sort of commitment to a project or series or repairs. It's getting boring! But, at least the Homeowners Associations I do work for can't really stop. This isn't even to mention the whole credit meltdown and banking fiasco.

*bleh* should have found a different career, but I still hate working for other people, much less having to work with other people!

So the house in LA is still on the market, it has not been something that I would recomend to anyone. Trying to sell a house in the other side of the country that is, too many headaches and worried nights.

I definitly don't want to head to LA this time of year though. The economy is in the toilet, everyone is waiting to see what happens with the election and the rainy season is coming for LA. We still might end up there in six months or so though, who knows.

Don't get me wrong, I love the thought of going to LA, it's a lot of fun there. Good food and endless possibility, but starting up a business again sucks! Lots of good bars to explore and that is one town where they know how to make a cocktail! Ok, so maybe that cocktail will cost you twenty bucks but it will be a damn good one!

Let's see, work. That part of life isn't that bad really. I have been finding enough stuff to keep me going, I don't have work every day but I always have something to keep me busy. So people are trying to fix up where they live really, they just aren't moving anywhere. (hrmph, see opening paragraph! Buy a house people!)

The puppy, Kaya, is doing well. She is getting bigger, she is about sixteen pounds now. Her legs are outgrowing the rest of her body though, so she is pretty goofy. We took her to the beach with us the other week. She was loving it, she got to dig everywhere and seaweed was the best stuff ever! It made a great snack for her I guess. She did get in the water once. She swam out to me, all three feet in to the water. But it was a swim! After that the water was a little too rough for her. I think we are going to go back this weekend, the water is still warm and tourist season is over. So it's nice to have the beach all to ourselves.

Ok, enough rambling. Time to get going.

Ok, yesterday officially sucked ASS!!! That was one of the worst experiences of my life quite honestly, I have had some doozies before but not like that one. I am really glad that I am leaving town for two weeks though, heading to LA. I have a lot to do when I get there, work that is, but it sure beats the hell out of being here.

We are going to rent a truck when we get there and that way we can make any Home Depot runs and not have to have stuff delivered, so that will be good. I do know that there is a lot of painting to be done there, my fav! But it will be ok I guess, I just HATE painting.

I keep looking around and wondering what to do with all Molly's old toys. I mean I have a lot of her stuff, she was daddy's girl basically. She got anything that we thought would make her happy, it worked most of the time. She was the sweetest happiest dog I have ever known. She protected us all and was probably the best judge of people I have ever known, just wish that I had listened to her more about that!

Well, seeing as how there is nothing really to clean up here, my usual mid-day thing, I will head back out for work for a bit.

Nothing to see here, move along...

I have to take my dog in this afternoon, she has to be put down. She has been with me for the last ten years, she has been wonderful and a total pain in the ass at the same time. She would always annoy the crap out of me when we first got her. Now, she is the sweetest dog I have ever known. She is just getting ODS (old dog syndrome) for the most part, but I am heading to LA on Tuesday and honestly, no one else can take care of her. She has so many special needs and issues, like oh she can't walk anymore, that no one else would take care of her.

So thank you Molly for a long and wonderful ten years. I will always love you.

Ok, I haven't posted in a while, ok fine a long time but whateva. I think it's that I just get busy with work and forget about things really. Oh I still read LJ, just on my Blackberry instead of on a real computer.

So let's see... I have a trip to California coming up in a month. Heading back out to LA in the glorious heat of summer. Yes, even as I get older I still like the warmth of the summer, even if it is roasting temperature sometimes. I need head out there and fix up the gf's house so she can put it on the market. Yeah, I know it is a horrible time out there to put something on the marker, but honestly depending on who you listen to nothing is ever a good enough deal and there is no good time to do anything. It will sell, it's a great little house. Yes, it is much smaller than your's betawriter, try half the size, approximately 700 square feet.

As far as what else I have been up to, let's see... WORK! I have done my best to stay steady, if not busy with getting new work to do. It's a pain, but a pain I love to chase. There are those days where it would be easier to jsut do someone else's work and let them chase it down, but this is way more intriguing at the end of the day honestly. I couldn't sit at a computer all day, I know a lot of you do, but it just confounds me.

I am still riding the bike, maybe not every day but I am still riding and racing. Yep, maybe you think that I am getting old for all that, but damn I still love doing it. Nothing like zooming through traffic on a bike and feeling the wind blow right through you.

Hey, speaking of bikes, good grief I am soon going to ride that darn thing everywhere. Every time I pull up to a gas pump it's atleast sixty dollars to even make a dent in my gas tank! Everyone keeps talking about how the government should do something, well they shouldn't do anything! Stay out of it, it's called free market for a reason. Maybe people will think twice, eventually, about the way they live and how much they take for granted being able to drive everywhere in their big SUV, Cadillac Escalade anyone, with one or two rug rats in it. Oh, don't be suprised if the next time you hire someone to do something for you there is a fuel surcharge added to the bill, I have had to do it recently. People ask me about it, but I tell them honestly what it is and why I need to charge it.

Okay, well it's time for some breakfast, ok lunch and get back to work. I have a door that needs to be installed!

So with my work every now and then I have to haul a trailer with me. I have a large cargo van that can pull it, think blank white cargo van. Yep, I'm one of those people. So yesterday I had to haul the trailer from one job to another. It's not that big of a deal really. It was myself and two other guy's driving their own vehicles.

So we were going across some REALLY bumpy streets, up and down all over the place. So I was driving through traffic with one of the guys behind me, Jorge. He drives really slow so he usually ends up in the back.

So I'm busily driving along talking on my Nextel radio. So while we are moving along at about twenty miles an hour I go over a large bump in the middle of an intersection, I feel somethings not right so I look up, oh shit! Somethings not right, this big trailer, about 6x12, is sitting real funny and something just doesn't look right. Then I see the whole front of the trailer isn't sitting right, it's sitting on the ground still sliding along behind me! It was literally chasing me skidding along the ground! The trailer had come off my ball hitch and two chains, they are there for safety reasons, had come undone. All I can do is slow down and hope this thing doesn't rear end me.

The trailer finally comes to a stop after about twenty yards. The tongue of the trailer had dug right in to the pavement. I was already stopped in the middle of the road and luckily Jorge saw what was happening and slowed down behind me. So then I hop out of the van to check out the damage. Luckily the trailer was fine and never caught up with me. I got the guy in front of me to circle back around and come help us with the trailer, first we tried just brute force lifting the trailer, wasn't gonna happen, it was way too heavy. We ended up using a jack to lift the trailer in the middle of the street while traffic was whizzing past us. We eventually got the trailer up and got it hoked to the van better, making sure the padlock was all the way on this time!

There was one State Trooper that pulled up and just made sure things were ok, they were. It was just one of those hilarious yet scary as hell things that seems to happen to me. It was really funny after the fact though.

So there has to be something to be said about being able to wear shorts at the end of November! I love it! I watch the Chicago news sometimes at night just so I can laugh and enjoy the momentary feeling that I am not there for the weather. Don't get me wrong, I love the cold and snow and the changes that it brings, but sometimes it got to me there.

So for now I can walk in to Starbucks, some things never change, and look at everyone else as they stand there and comment about the cold and smile a little. Then usually say something to me about my shorts and "how can you stand it?" To which I just smile and laugh a little and say, "its not cold out really, just be glad there is no wind or snow." This happened to me twice this week.

I got to go see Hank III and Assjack a few weeks ago, it was a really good time. That was good to get out and laugh and just have a really good time. This weekend I believe it is off to see Roller Derby, a friend is in it so it should be fun!

Now I guess it's time to make some phone calls for work and start thinking about dinner!

Sometimes I seem to go forever with out updating this thing, oh well.

So what have I been up to? Let's see, there was a recent trip to New Jersey for a cousin's wedding then a quick trip in to New York City to see some old friends.

The wedding was funny, I saw cousin's that I hadn't seen in a very long time and probably won't see again for a long time. It's funny how that always work's, you see the family at some event and then you don't see them or anything for years, one of them I hadn't seen in what must be eighteen years. Now she's basically grown up and an adult! Talk about feeling older, that definitely did it to me considering last time I saw her she was like four or five.

As with all wedding's there was an obnoxious amount of liquor involved, it made you want to float away, I think I almost did. But we all had a great time and promised to stay in touch. That should last about as long as all of us leaving New Jersey and heading back to our different states.

So I finally made it back to work and then low and behold it was off to Florida the next weekend. I literally drove down there, ten hours, caught a few hours of sleep and then back in the car for another two hours and then on a plane zooming back home. The reason I had to make this weekend killing journey was that it seem's my father had a minor stroke a few weeks ago and no one trusted him to make that ten hour drive by himself. So I got volunteered to drive with him.

That was just way too much family time for this person, love my family and such, but at an outstretched arms distance!


So after so much family time I think it is time for a good redneck/punk show. Hank III is playing tonight and I think it will be a really good diversion from all things work/family related.

(Although the Cuban/Latin music I am listening to right now makes me want some Mojito's and a nice sunny patch of beach somewhere. I really recommend the whole forced tropical desires/setting in the middle of winter. Putting on a good latin vibe with some tropical drinks in the middle of winter forces you to be in a little better mood. Hey it works for me anyways.)

Time to clean some house I guess and take the dog out for a drag.

Enough! I dont care if it is a hundred degrees outside, no really it is, I am going riding. It's jsut been one of those weeks. The a/c drives me crazy sometimes and pushes me outside I think. I have some other things I should do, but they can wait for the moment, ride time. It is one of the only things that actually clears my head. Well, margaritas work but then it just leaves me cloudy later!

So why the heck did I leave California? I keep asking myself that. It had everything I wanted, some damn fine weather at that! I don't care that it was LA, I can get used to anything.

It was a beautiful place really, yeah there was smog and everything else, but it was a lot of damn fun! Getting to go to Bigfoot Lodge and getting a good laugh at the rock-a-billy guys who spent way too much time on their hair, or the guy who got kicked out because he got naked while they were showing some old black and white porn on an 8mm projector.

There was a great little house, like 750 sq ft kind of tiny. But it had a huge yard! (It calls out for a swimming pool really!)

All-right, yes it was really easy to get lost there on the freeways. It took me two hours to make a fourty five minute trip one night, at two in the morning. But granted, that was leaving a Suicide Girls show, so it was worth it. (See, I am not even mentioning the rest of that night, your welcome)

But I don't think that I have seen the last of LA. Maybe it will be different when I do finally make it back there, but it is a beautiful place. I know some people decry the vast amounts of excess and the whole Hollywood thing. But really, if you don't want to see all that you don't have to be part of it, it's nothing like most people would expect anyways, kind of boring.

Don't even get me started on cars either. Ok yes I am a total guy and will drool over cars. But they have some damn fine cars there!

Blah blah blah, ok I am heading out for a bike ride and then another interview for contracting with this huge deck company. Hey, everyone's got to make a living somehow!