Wet welcome, Fantastic Foles, Bye for now, Hey Asshole

I didn’t feel like blogging since returning from the trip. Thursday and Friday were of course busy with getting the stars around the house realigned.  Unfortunately almost every day since we have been back has been overcast and raining.  As a result the property is once again a sopping wet mess.  When I mowed I only could do the area right around the house unless I wanted to install pontoons on the tractor.  It was nice to have so much time around the house, I spent almost the entire four days at home base.  I also spent a large amount of that time working on a backlog of running club work.  I bet over the four days I have been back I put five or six hours into it.

Cindy had an appointment with a foot doctor for her injury that has been going on for a couple months now.  He gave her a steroid shot to reduce inflammation.  Unfortunately she had a number of side effects from the shot like itchiness, being overly emotional, and a few other things.  This foot injury is tied into the post office as she originally hurt her foot on the job so it has been handled as a workman’s comp claim.  Well there has been an incredible string of red tape and bullshit associated with this.  Cindy has been yanked around by the PO ever since the incident.  Unfortunately the fact that she is no longer working for them has further complicated things.  It’s a real mess.  If you are considering a career in the Post Office I would highly advise against it.

On Thursday I stopped to see Nicki.  She had her cone removed after 10 days of it protecting her surgically repaired eyelids.  I couldn’t believe the difference.  I had not seen her eyes look normal for over a year.  Her rolled under eyelids and incessant rubbing of her eyes which pulled down the lids had practically blinded her.  She looked so happy.  It was like she had a word balloon over her head saying “I can see! I can see! And no more annoying cone!”

It made me very happy to see her this way and made what we spent to have it done worth every penny.  Hell this was the first time I can EVER recall thinking a vet bill was cheap.  The eyelid surgery was only $500, practically what I paid wasting my time for an hour with the snooty pet allergist at the other place.

I came back from the trip a pound heavier than when I left so I got some cardio sessions in both Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday I did a track 5K at a very pedestrian 9:06 pace.  On Sunday Cindy and I put in 13 miles on our bikes on very wet roads averaging a decent almost 18mph pace.  During both sessions I could tell my fitness level was not where I want it to be.

I did a reconciliation of all of my trip related expenses.  My out of pocket was almost exactly the same as last year’s Grand Canyon trip but the way my money was spent was shifted around.  The most amazing change was our gas expense.  Last year we spent something like $1200 on gas.  This year the Prius sipped only $376 of fuel for the nearly 5000 mile road trip, amazing.

We were happy to see the chickens survived the 11 days without us ok.  Since we left it appears that either the third hen, Pebbles, is starting to lay eggs or one of the others is laying two eggs a day.  We have been getting  three eggs a day more often than not.  We think it is Pebbles though since she is now squatting down when you try to pet her and her crown and ears have gotten much, much redder the last couple weeks.

We have such a backlog of X1 dvr’d shows that we didn’t bother going to the movies Saturday night.  Plus after a road trip, any financial savings we can manage is helpful.  We probably have chewed through at least a dozen hours of content over the 4 days and have at least another dozen to go.

When I got back I had to go through my annual hassle of getting my NFL Sunday ticket working.  I only have Directv for the ticket and have no other regular satellite programming.  This is a configuration you can not call up and get.  It is something they allowed me to do years ago since I was a long time customer.  However for the last 3 or 4 years it has been increasingly difficult to continue my special gig.

When the NFL season ends I put my directv account on a 6 month suspension.  After 6 months it reactivates and I start getting billed for the Sunday ticket.  Well for some reason the Sunday ticket did not automatically renew this year.  I had to spend a good half hour on the phone once again getting things straightened out.  After the woman on the phone got it turned back on she told me that even though they were able to do this for me once again this year, in the future I may be required to have a programming package.  I told her I had been told this many times in the past and my answer is always the same “Would Directv like $400 of my money or $0”   She had no rebuttal for my logic.

Over the four days I finally heard back from the Rhinoshield guy that painted my pool deck.  After paying $1500 to get my deck fixed and painted in March of 2013 with a “two year warranty”, I have had issues.  The first problem was most of the hairline cracks that the guy fixed started to reappear within 3 months of the job.  When I contacted the company they said concrete issues are not part of the warranty, it just covered the paint work itself.  I thought that was sort of lame but ok.

Well over time there have been a bunch of small spots appearing on the deck where the “two coats” of deck paint are coming off.  I ignored it for awhile but since my two year warranty was still in place I started to take action on it a couple months ago.  I left messages for the guy that did the deck work, who lives in Miami, and heard nothing.  I then contacted the parent company in Jacksonville and got assurances that the guy down here would respond.

Finally after a couple more tries I finally got him on the phone.  He told me he was going to call me the day after Labor Day to make arrangements to come out and “fix” it.  Well no call came on that Tuesday, and my follow up call on Wednesday went un-returned as well.  Unfortunately none of this behavior surprised me.  During the original job I had numerous ignored calls, missed appointments and other aggravation.  When they actually did show up to do the work I remember thinking that it seemed like it didn’t take nearly as long as it should if they were doing a good job.  The guy “primed” the deck by himself in less than an hour and when the supposed two coats of paint were applied, the whole thing was done in 2-3 hours.

Well the deck looked good when they were done so I assumed their speed was due to efficiency, not neglect.  Unfortunately it appears the latter is true.  When I did finally get him on the phone he gave me some BS that it is normal to have to do some touch ups over time.  To me, a couple hundred small spots far exceeds normal maintenance.  I think they basically just rushed and did a shitty job.

My premise is backed up by some other indisputable facts.  When the exterior of my house was painted by Rhinoshield five or six years ago, which results I am extremely happy with, part of the job was to paint the front landing of the house.  They use the same process to paint the landing as they do to paint a pool deck.  After all this time, there is NOTHING flaking off that area.  In addition, my next door neighbor had his pool deck painted by Rhinoshield a few months prior to I did.  His deck still looks great, his cracks have not returned and he has none of the “freckling” that I do.  I plan to march the Rhinoshield guy to both spots to make my case that my entire pool deck should be repainted, if he shows up on Wednesday.

I received the replacement wheel ring(s) for the Prius to replace the one I cracked through careless driving on the road trip.  I only needed one but wound up buying 5.  When I tried to buy a single ring I was in the passenger seat on my laptop using a hotspot.  The signal was dropping out and I thought I had not actually completed the transaction so I bought a box of 4 later.  Well both the set of four and the set of one showed up.  I was quite annoyed when I opened up the single ring and saw it was cracked.  Although the seller packed the ring in tons of bubble wrap, she enclosed it in a plastic bag.  The crack was obviously the end result from someone placing something heavy on the bag or even stepping on it.  Grrr.  At least they were cheap.  I was able to replace the damaged ring in all of 60 seconds.

Yesterday’s Eagles game was EPIC and made me so happy that Nick Foles could potentially be our QB for the next decade.  Not only is the guy cool under pressure, accurate, and likeable.  He is tough  too.  He took a hell of a beating in yesterday’s game, the worst of which was a horrible cheap shot by a fat assed Redskins lineman after an incompletion that was first ruled an interception.  Foles was totally blind sided as the 300+ pounder took him off his feet. As soon as I saw it I was screaming obscenities at the tv.  I was glad Jason Peters rushed the lineman and took a swing at him, even if it did get him ejected as well.  Despite all the beatings Foles lead the team to yet another come from behind win, the third of the season.  To put up 37 points with LeSean McCoy having what possibly was the worst day of his career puts an even bigger exclamation point on how good Foles is.

Now it may seem out of place to make any negative commentary after a great win and a 3-0 start but here goes anyway.  The Eagles have been winning mostly in spite of their defense.  Once again yesterday they came up big when they had to but over the course of the season they just need to do a much better job.  In particular they are not getting consistent pressure on opposing teams quarterbacks.  As a result they are giving up yards by the mile through the air.

LeSean McCoy may be one of the best running backs in the NFL but damn it was frustrating watching him trying to run yesterday.  There just appeared to be way too much dancing and not nearly enough moving forward.  I think his yards per carry average yesterday was 1, beyond horrible.  They need to either get him hitting holes more directly or find a way to get him the ball more out in open space where his elusiveness is more effective.

Finally, I am worried about injuries, especially on the offensive line.  After Peters was ejected they had NO reserve lineman left.  The rag tag line is surely part of the reason Foles got pummeled so badly.  I can only hope they get some guys back healthy soon.  Even with these negatives, as a whole the team has shown some amazing resilience so far this year and I am looking more forward to this season than any in recent memory.

Oh and I have to say I was incredibly disappointed to see that cocky, take every other play off, punk DeSean Jackson get an 80 yard td reception.  Throughout the entire game he was trash talking and being an asshole, his specialty.  It made getting the win in the end even more satisfying.  Fck you DeSean. I’m glad the fans booed you all game long.

I had a very aggravating day in Fantasy football.  I had a small lead that looked secure .  My opponent had Marshawn Lynch and Percy Harvin on the Seahwawks.  If time expired normally I was going to win.  Well leave it to Peyton Manning to prolong the game by driving the length of the field in 41 seconds AND completing a two point conversion to extend the game.  With the extra overtime period both Lynch and Harvin were able to accumulate additional points.  When Lynch scored the game winning touchdown it resulted in a tie score in my game.  I believe the tie breaker in our league is bench points which I had less of.  Losing a game in this manner was maddening, especially considering I may also have the high point total of the week in the league.

I was very sad last to night to hear that Eric the Actor, a long time “whack packer” on the Stern show had died.  Eric was a dwarf with a lot of physical problems, him making it to the age of 39 actually exceeded doctor’s predictions.  If you aren’t a Stern fan this news means nothing to you but if you are, whether you loved or hated Eric’s calls into the show, you are feeling some of the same sorrow I am.

If it seems this blog has been filled with a lot of ranting, that is because it is.  I have one final story, an appropriately irritating way to start my return to work.  My normal route to work was backlogged horribly by presumably an accident.  I and many others wound up taking an obtuse shortcut to get around it, basically we went 5 or 6 miles out of the way to progress a mile in a straight line.

Well this detour was on two way streets, the first one had a speed limit of 25 mph and another had a speed limit of 45 mph.  As I mentioned, there were several dozen cars all in single file making this same detour.  Well when got on the 45 mph road I felt no urgency to go very fast since there was a line of cars way ahead of me.  I may have been going only 40 mph when I Cadillac whipped out into the other lane and flew by me with his hand and middle finger outstretched the driver side window.  Apparently he was enraged I was not very close to the vehicle in front of me.   He passed both me and the vehicle behind me, gaining exactly two car lengths before he became ensnared again in the single file traffic.

Now of course this instantly enraged me.  Sure, if I was going less than the speed limit on an open road I can understand his frustration although I still would not tolerate the one finger salute. But to do it where you had no tangible benefit by passing was ludicrous.  So of course I did whatever any logical male would, I accelerated and got behind him.  The Cadillac had very dark tinted windows, something I find to be very common with asshole drivers.  They somehow think that window tint makes them immune to retribution.  The dark tint made it impossible to see if he was looking in his rear view mirror but surely he had to.

Finally we returned to the normal route and approached an intersection with multiple lanes.  The Cadillac stayed in the middle lane.  I saw less cars in the right lane so it was opportunity to return the favor.  I saw he had his passenger side window rolled down partially.  As I rolled by I saw what appeared to be a bearded guy perhaps in his 30’s.  He continued looking straight ahead as I rolled past with my window down.  I greeted him with “Hey asshole!”.  My salutation was not returned. Idiot.