All posts by Duf

Well I went back to the ortho today. As I expected, they decided we needed to redo the aligners. So what that meant was I had to endure them popping off the metal button that was attached, grinding off the 8 attachments I had to various teeth with a drill and then having reproximation done on about a half dozen different spots. Needless to say it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. This redo will retard my treatment at least another month and a half. Invisalign definitely has overpromised and undelivered so far for both myself and Alison.

I placed an ad in the paper to sell the Murray and was excited to get two calls on it already. I am heading home at lunch to show it to one and possibly both of the guys that called. That would be sweet to unload it right away. It also would be nice to get what I asked for it to help take the sting out of buying the Cub Cadet.

The rain this week has been pretty nasty. I bought a pump to move some of the standing water to the back of our property. Everytime it makes headway it pours again and I am back to walking through a lake. I think in the past week or so we may have gotten close to a foot of a rain. Tomorrow I play volleyball on the east coast so I am hoping the rain will hold off. Otherwise it could make for a miserable tourney.

In a related story, I still have been on the case with determining the source of the trunk leak in the Sentra and I think I finally am getting somewhere. After various experiments I think I have determined that the leak actually isn’t the trunk but in the rear wheel well. I left it out in pouring rain and the trunk stayed dry. I drove on wet roads and the water appeared. So I have to locate the exact spot where it is leaking and then return it to the dealer for them to fix it and replace my warped trunk floor. Nothing like doing the mechanics job for him.

I was on the xbox last night playing tennis. It seems that most of the people you play have voice communication turned off because either they don’t want to be bothered with it or they don’t want to expose themselves as morons. Well during one match I was playing some guy that appeared to have his voice disabled. I had mine on. It was frustrating match where I kept making unforced errors. I was yelling very loud at my mistakes, swearing and basically ranting and raving. Well after he beat me, I heard a click and he says “good game”. Evidently he was muted the entire time but was listening to me the entire match. Doh! He was laughing and was good about it. He was from Nebraska. Later I played a guy from the UK that was a much better player than me but let me win anyway and offered me all sorts of tips. He was incredibly polite. Congratulating me on good shots constantly. He told me a bunch of stuff about his job, life in England, stuff like that. He mentioned during our conversation that he was black which amazed me because I couldn’t tell at all by the way he spoke. He was real cool and is now on my “friends” list on xbox live. Some brits may be snobs but we sure could learn a thing about manners from them.

Alison’s plane was delayed until 2:30 am. I took the dog with and picked her up. We probably didn’t get to bed until close to 4. You know it was a late night when you wake up at 10:30 and feel exhausted.

I sprung the tractor on Ali. She was very surprised and likes it a lot. It really is nice. However I kept thinking all day how I could have gotten most of the stuff I need to make the interior of the Vette look decent for the extra I spent on the tractor.
🙁

Speaking of the Vette, I did a quick mini-project , installing a cover for the wires in the footwell of the passenger side.

I still have one more day off from work but thought I would drop in a recap while I had a few minutes to do so. My wife has been gone since Friday so I have had free reign. I enjoyed my time alone but am ready for her to come home.

On Saturday I had my to do list all ready to go, it wasn’t pages long but enough to keep me busy. I cleaned up the house which took me the morning. Then in the afternoon I had some things I wanted to pick up. I got a replacement XBOX and a new UPS for my office PC at home. I was absolutely sick and tired of the old broken UPS giving me .5 seconds of battery runtime before the unit would die. The XBOX served two purposes. My old one while functional, was one of the earlier units that has an older DVD drive that doesn’t read all the DVD formats the newer ones do. Second, I wanted to give my old XBOX to Keener so he could hop on XBoX live and do some gaming with me. He isn’t motivated enough to go out and get one on his own.

On Saturday night I decided to go to the Firecats Arena football game solo. I had asked a few buddies but they either weren’t interested or were busy. So what the heck I’d go myself. I had a stroke of luck when as I was approaching the box office, an older guy stopped me and asked if I needed a ticket. I immediately thought to myself how I couldn’t believe someone would be trying to scalp for this game, the Firecats are lucky to fill half the building. To my surprise he was offering the ticket to me for free! Evidently someone else had given him 2 free ones and he only needed one. So I triumphantly entered the arena without paying a cent (except 5 bucks for parking) I grabbed my first 20 oz draft beer and headed up the aisle towards my section. The guy that had given me the ticket was standing there so I just hung out and gabbed with him for awhile. He is a retired guy that loves sports. He goes to sporting events by himself often as his wife doesn’t want to be bothered by it. We talked a lot, mostly about sports. We talked long enough that I finished my 20 oz beer and got a second. By the time we found our seats I had almost finished that one. I was drinking all of this on barren, empty stomach. I was feeling it. But that didn’t stop me from going for number 3. The game started and I had that one gone before halfway through the first quarter. So I had pounded 60 oz of beer on an empty stomach. I wasn’t stupid drunk, but I could tell I was starting to run words together a bit when I talked with the old guy. I knew I had enough beer as another 20 ouncer would have flattened me. This was reenforced when I tried to get up to go get some food. As I stood, I wobbled and half fell into the row in front of me! I was embarrassed and said something like “Woops, I lost my balance…” When I came back with my diet coke I admitted that it was enough beer for me. The old guy smiled. The game itself was ok. AF2 football is rather lame in comparison to the NFL. There is very little defense. In fact, other than a fumble, the Firecats did not stop the other team from scoring the entire game. The final score was 76-60, Firecats lose. Oh well. By the time the game was over I had drank the 60 oz of beer and eaten a big slice of pizza, a hot dog, a soft pretzel and a cup of ice cream. What a pig, plus I bet it cost me at least 35 bucks. At least all the food helped sober me up and I got home without incident.

I didn’t get home till after 11 so I took a shower and then instead of going to sleep like I should have, I decided to throw on the Van Damme movie IN HELL which was on the Tivo. This movie was only released in 2003 and it was on broadcast TV already so you know it couldn’t have been popular. It actually wasn’t bad. It followed the same plot as all Van Damme movies, kick ass for revenge. It also had Lawrence Taylor in it. Claude is looking a bit beat down after all of this years but he still is in decent shape. The movie had enough action in it to keep me awake until the end. So I didn’t click off the TV till almost 1 am.

Yesterday I got up early and mowed the grass. It was my first time mowing the grass on the new mower and it was not fun. It works fine but using the 6 speed is cumbersome beyond belief on a property like ours. We use only the tractor and a weed whacker to mow everything. So we need to manuever around, change directions and speeds constantly on our yard. Well anytime you need to do a speed change or direction change you have to engage the clutch/brake which jerks you to a stop, change gears and then jerk to a start. I now understand what Ali meant when she said mowing wasn’t fun. Mowing actually really sucked. It is enough of a pain in the ass to have to spend 2 hours on the tractor every week without having to fight it to do what you used to be able to do so easily with the hydro static transmission. So I started running ideas through my head. Before you knew it I was down at the Home Depot and Lowes in the afternoon comparing my options. I thought this would be a huge surprise for Ali when she gets back. So I found one that was impressive, a Cub Cadet at Lowe’s. If a Murray is a Chevy Cavalier the Cub Cadet is a Cadillac. It is much heavier duty and is sure to last much longer. However I wanted to get a deal. I knew that Home Depot and Lowes routinely hand out 10% off anything coupons to new home owners. On a big ticket item like a mower the savings could be well worth it. When I got home I jumped on the internet and did some research on how to get these coupons. I found out that all I had to do is go on Lowe’s web site, tell them I was moving and they would send me a link to print a coupon! I signed up last night and hoped I would get the coupon quick so I could surprise Ali.

The coupon didn’t arrive as of this morning so I proceded with my plans for today. First I took Nicki to the dog beach. She had a great time running around, chasing birds, and swimming in the gulf. When we first got there, there was only one other couple there so she had pretty much free reign of the place. Shortly afterward others started to show so she got a bit timid as she normally does but she still had a fun time. I got back late morning and checked my email again. Cool, there was the coupon! So I had to make one more decision if I really wanted to do it or not and I decided I would. The plan was to get the new mower, sell the one I just got to help offset the costs and all would be well. Plus just imagine the look of surprise on Ali’s face when she realizes mowing can be fun again.

I went down and picked it up with little fuss. I knew the woman in the department because she runs our neighborhood crime watch and lives right down the road. We loaded it up and I proudly transported my new Cub Cadet home and pulled up into the driveway. Then I did something stupid. I have ramps to load and unload things into the truck. I had the truck pulled up close to the garage which is a bit of an INCLINE. I put the ramps on the truck tailgate and lined them up with the tractor wheels. I remember thinking to myself for a brief moment how it may not be a smart move to unload it with the rear of the truck facing downhill a bit. I thought, wouldn’t it suck if it somehow fell off the ramps? I dismissed the thought quickly. I mean I had already cheated the injury gods last week by pressure washing the shed roof in flip flops, surely I would be fine. Wrong. I start the tractor up and start to inch it back onto the ramps. As I do I can feel one of the ramps move a bit. I take a second to think of what would be a good course of action since I am alone. I decide to try to slowly pull forward again. It was a bad move. The wheels turning forward served to push the one ramp totally off the tailgate! What happened next was blur. Basically The tractor fell off the tailgate, rear first, with me in the drivers seat. All I remember is me going down hard and then having the tractor more or less laying on me. I lay there for a second trying to understand if this really just happened to me. If my stupidity indeed did catch up to me this time. Well it definitely did. I was on my back with my legs in a weird position while the tractor was on 2 wheels on top of me. I was able to push it over and have it go back on all 4 wheels with a bang. My next series of concerns went like this, FIRST I hurriedly looked across the street to make sure our next door neighbor who had gotten home a few minutes earlier did not view my act of extreme stupidity. SECOND I quickly surveyed the mower, I immediately feared that I had just wrecked the equipment that I didn’t even cut a blade of grass with yet. It appeared to be intact other than some paint that was scratched off the rear fender where it had rolled onto. FINALLY I remembered that I basically cushioned the tractors fall and hadn’t even thought about what I did to myself. Everything still moved but I had some cuts on my elbows as well as some bad bruises on my lower back. I even felt some tingling in my one leg for a bit but that subsided. Once these three things were addressed I could turn to being angry at myself for being such a dipshit. I picked up the ramps and threw them with disgust. I hopped on the tractor and turned the key, praying it would start up. It did. I did a quick mow test and everything appeared to work, whew. So I drove it around a bit, it is impressive by tractor standards. It rides well, cuts with authority and makes the Murray seem like it should have pedals. So I parked it in the shed and I plan to spring it on Ali when she gets home tonight. Then once she knows I can explain to her why I have these bruises on my back. Every once in awhile when I start to feel invincible I always manage to give myself a cold slap in the face somehow. I was a lucky man today, I could have been one bad angle of impact away from being in a wheel chair or worse.

Ali’s flight isn’t scheduled to come in ntil 11 pm. There is a strong possibility of further delays because of the bad weather around here as well as the heightened security alerts causing additinal delays. Going to be another late night, yawn….

I have had problems with a-holes blog spamming for quite a while but it was never more than 10-15 at a shot so I just went in and cleaned them up. I really don’t understand the point of it. Basically they would add comments to entries that promoted porn, penis growth, cheap drugs and so on. Well today I got blasted, when I got home I had over 500 spam comments that were posted on the blog! I did some quick research and found a plug-in that not only will block known spammers with a blacklist, if some jerk does manage to get through, I can clean up his garbage in a matter of seconds. So to any and all blog spammers EAT SHIT and DIE!! The ride here is over. That is all.

Could Jack be ready for round 2 or could this simply be a hoax by someone looking to find humor in my unfortunate neighbor arrangements? You decide. 🙂

All entries in the “Imitate Jack” contest are welcome!

I feel bad. Last night on my way home from doing some side work I decided to stop and get gas and grab a couple burgers from McD’s for supper. As I was waiting in the drive thru line I noticed there was a bigger woman in an early 90’s mustang backed into a parking space with the car running. As I sat there I saw white smoke start to trickle from under the hood. Soon the smoke was heavy and I could see coolant dripping from underneath it. More than likely a radiator hose broke. She did not even notice the problem until it was steaming like a locomotive. Just as I got my order she had gotten out of the car and observed the mess and was just kind of standing there looking pissed off. At that moment I had to decide if I was going to stop and assist or not. On the con side I just got my food, I was already late for being home, and we were in a crowded parking lot so there was a good chance someone else could at the very least let her use their cell phone to call for assistance. I also have to be honest and admit if the woman was attractive I probably would have ignored the cons and came to the rescue. So in the space of 10 seconds I weighed everything and decided to head out of the parking lot. I felt guilty about my decision and the reality that her looks affected my decision making process. Now if it was an emergency, like her car was on fire or she was in a threatening situation there is no question I would have jumped to her aid even if she looked like the elephant woman. Still, I feel bad about it. I’m sure other then the inconvenience it caused her, everything worked out fine. Hell when my Buick was burning it took a dozen cars ignoring my frantic waves for assistance until someone actually stopped. I guess normally I would expect better of myself so it will bother me for awhile.

Ali flew out for PA this morning for a visit with her family. The trip is basically because she wants to see her Pop Pop. He is 91 and although he still is kicking and has his wits about him, you never know when that could change at his age. So I am solo for 3 days. I have no huge plans other than busting my ass on Saturday getting the house related work done so I have the other 3 days to do as I please.

I am a bit tired this morning because I stayed up and watch the Kerry acceptance speech. I thought he came off well. The speech was a bit corny in spots but overall I think he addressed the issues very well and attacked Bush without resorting to name calling. He also had a demeanor that made me feel like I can imagine him as president. That is a feeling that I never had about W. Kerry delivered the speech without sounding like he never heard some of the words before. I can only pray there will be debates between him and W. However when Gore ran against W, Gore mauled him in the debates and made W look like a dumb ass and W still won. (kind of) I’m sure a lot of what Kerry said made the rich cringe like 200k plus a year people getting tax breaks rolled back. It’s tough to go against the big money since they have so much influence but hopefully that influence can be beat down by sheer numbers of people coming out to vote against Bush. Did I mention am a registered republican? I can never remember there being such anger regarding a sitting president. Has any other sitting pres had a movie made about the deception going on throughout his administration? If he manages to win despite it all there really is little hope for progress for our country for the next 4 years.

Mr Ricci was the woodshop teacher I had in 7th grade. Mr Ricci had quite the reputation. He had been at the school forever, my dad even had him. His nickname was the “CHeese” I believe the nickname came about because he sort of looked like a mouse in the face with his pudgy disposition along with a bushy moustache. The reason he was famous was because he had a bad temper and used to yell and even sometimes assault students. If someone was out of line it wasn’t unusual for Mr Ricci to “chop” the offender. What he would do is put his fingers together so his hand looked sort of like a spatula and then he would deliver a short blow to the sternum with the end of his fingers. It left no mark but was painful enough to make you remember it. Of course this sort of behavior would be outlawed nowadays in our politically correct world. However. although I feared getting the chop, when I compare that to the general disregard students have for their teachers today I think exisiting under the threat of mild physical punishment was a better option. Kids behaved in Mr Ricci’s class and by the end of the year, most actually came to like him.

Long weekend = long entry. I am using up left over vaca time before my year rolls over in mid-august. On Saturday it was a workfest, we cleaned up the house because Alison’s friend was coming down for the weekend. After the indoor work concluded we moved to the outside. Alison took to the tractor while I tackled weeding, pruning, pool maintenace and various other tasks.

On Friday the pool looked like hell, it was all cloudy from algea that I had been battling for awhile. Since company was coming down I was desperate to clear it up. So I dumped a shitload of shock into it, brushed the sides down and left the pool cleaner running in it all night to keep the algea from settling on the bottom. To my surprise, when I woke up Saturday morning it looked tons better, very cool.

Alison admitted that mowing the grass isn’t as much “fun” on the new tractor since she has to change gears now. I offered the “fun” of operating the weed whacker instead, I think she will stay on the tractor. I tackled a few jobs that have been on my mind forever but for whatever reason I had been putting off. I had the pressure washer out and finally blasted the stone and sand out of the bed of my truck that had been sitting there for months. Then I went crazy and got up on the one side of the shed roof and blasted away the mildew that was on the non-sunny side. The interesting/stupid part of it was I was too lazy to put on appropriate footwear to do this so I was up on the wet vinyl siding roof with flip flops. I was constantly aware that I was one slip away from surely breaking something. I was even thinking about how I would explain why I would be dumb enough to tackle this job in flip flops. Luckily my balance remained steady and I finished the job without a 12 foot fall. So much for not worrying about things that noone else will notice but me, huh? Roof looks better though.

Saturday evening we watched a funny movie, think it was called About Polly or something like that. It had Ben Stiller, the chick from Will & Grace and Jennifer Aniston in it. Lots of laugh out loud moments in it. I got my high capacity cell phone battery(s) from a seller on ebay from Hong Kong. It took about a week to get it. As a bonus, the seller accidentally sent me 2 batteries even though I only paid for one. It was funny seeing something from Hong Kong show up in the mail. I kept the envelope to show Ali. If the guy wants his 2nd battery pack he can fly over from HK to get it. 🙂

On Sunday, the girls were going shopping so it was my day to do whatever. First I went out early to Wal-mart and Sam’s club with the intention of picking up the supplies needed to perform the maintenance that was suggested by Nissan as well as some tools and supplies for the other vehicles as well. I also intended to pick up a DVD/VCR combo player at Sam’s since our VCR died. When I hit Sam’s club I got a bit side tracked and also purchased a “SkeeterVac” to replace our broken “MOsquito Magnet” The SkeeterVac is different as it uses more lures and is cordless. It uses the propane to do more than generate heat, it also operates the fan unit.

So I took all my toys home, set up the SkeeterVac and then got ready for part two of Shawn’s day of fun, a trip to the dog track! Well it turned out to be anything but fun. On Sundays, there is no live racing, only simulcasting. The clubhouse level where I always go is closed and instead you have to go to the grandstand area. The grandstand level isn’t nearly as nice. I waited to eat until I got there, a big mistake. Unlike upstairs where they serve good food, downstairs my only option was food from a one person food stand run by an old lady that didn’t care much about sanitary food practices. She would work the register, handle money, prepare the food and take smoke breaks without ever washing her hands in between. I got a shitty burger, shitty fries and bad tasting diet coke from her and tried to balance everything with my simulcast book as I looked for an open place to sit. It was extrememly annoying as I looked for a spot and realized that many people where spreading their books over 2 desks to artificially create the illusion that someone was sitting there. After seeing no open spaces and getting increasingly annoyed, I finally asked one of the guys with such a setup if there was anyone actually sitting there and he reluctantly admitted that noone was. Yay, I sat down and piled my food and betting info into my small workspace.

I decided to keep it simple and just bet the dog races at one remote track to keep my betting regulated and to avoid having to scramble and make picks without thinking. As I started eating my bad food, I also realized that it was hot in there and where I was sitting there was no hint of any moving air, making me feel cramped and uncomfortable. The guy on my right was maybe 50, with his young kid on his right. This guy was one of those guys that said everything he was thinking. At first I thought he was actually speaking to me, I soon realized that he was just talking out loud. He was very verbal as his races were running. He would snap his fingers, encouraging his horses to move up, he would curse the horses that he didn’t have money on that were ahead and generally was just annoying. I didn’t think it was very cool for him to be dropping the f bomb regularly with his 10 or 11 year old son sitting there. To my left was an inidian man that said nothing and simply stared at the betting books and his tv, I could never tell if he was winning or losing his bets. Behind me where some funny sounding koreans. It was amusing hearing them cheer their horses on with their accent.

So as I was trying to throw down my crappy lunch I looked over the lineup at the track I was betting at. I did my normal analysis and placed my bets. Loser! In total I bet 9 races and lost everyone but 1. It was a bad day. By the end I was in a pissy mood. Pissy enough that I didn’t even bother cashing the $1.40 credit slip I had left, I just threw it out and walked out. In total I lost about 45 bucks, a mild hit but losing so consistently really sucked the fun out of it. I doubt I will ever do the simulcast only days again, it was miserable.

Sunday evening I felt like crap from eating that junk at the track, so much so that I begged out of going to dinner with Ali and her friend, so they went by themselves. I used the time to play a new game I got for the XBOX, Top Spin Tennis. The game is awesome. The graphics are so realistic it is scary. Plus you can create a player from scratch, having total control of their appearance. My first character I made insanely ugly as well as huge. He was 6’9″ and 288 pounds. An impressive physical specimen, but I soon learned that his body type didn’t work too well on a tennis court. So I recreated my character this time making him much smaller but just as ugly. The game even allows you to taunt, encourage and even throw temper tantrums as you see fit. I usually only used the temper tantrum option, I enjoyed watching my guy slam his racket on the court in disgust and then kick it. I went online a little bit and played a handful matches and got destroyed in every match except one. Evidently before you go on XBOX Live you need to train your player so he has the maximum skill possible in the game, otherwise you have no shot of being remotely competitive online. I’m working on it.

Monday I played auto mechanic in the morning. I did all the maintenance that the Nissan dealer recommended for the Sentra. What probably would have cost me well over 100 bucks at the dealer was accomplished for 10 bucks in parts and about 45 minutes of my time. Then I tackled replacing the passenger side door lock motor on the Vette. It was a bit of a challenge but I got it in and working. As a bonus, when I put it back together, I took some time and actually got the door panel installed correctly so it doesn’t sound like your are rattling a tin can full of screws when you close the door anymore. So far I have fixed at least a dozen little things on the Vette and it feels like I have only put a small dent in what needs to be done. The rest of Monday I spent a lot of tennis time, and cursing my UPS’s that have bad batteries that kept clicking off during play, causing me to lose my progress. That is on the short list to get fixed.

We had a lot of rain this weekend, we have standing water all over the property again. I took some pictures of recent projects/purchases that I will be adding soon. I didn’t shave all weekend so I had some considerable facial hair action. I decided to go with a modified goatee/ beard thing for this week for fun. Alison said I look like Abe Lincoln, haha.

It’s somewhat ironic that I would hate the profession that employed me for 14 months in my early 20’s but I just can’t help it. I bought my first new car back in 96-97 and have replaced it with another new car ever since. I can’t recall one of these dealers that I had a pleasant experience with. The upfront process of actually buying the car is filled with so many half truths, deception and outright lies it is sickening. However today my thoughts aim at the other half of the rip off, dealer service. When I first started with new cars I used to take it to the dealer religiously for service. Since I never had new cars before, I wanted nothing but the best and only the dealer could provide that, right? Dumb. Well after one sour experience after another mostly related to the obscenely high labor and part prices they charge, I wised up. The other part is the BS the service employees pull on you, trying to sell you additional maintenance at ridiculously inflated prices and then acting as if you are ignorant for not wanting to pay them this ransom for their service.

So, I am at the point that I will only take the car to the dealer if I need to and it is warranty work that shouldn’t cost me anything. Well I have had an issue with the Sentra now for awhile that I had been ignoring, the trunk leaks. I already bought one replacement trunk floor because it was warped from the leak, the replacement is also warped so I had enough. I took it in today, I also asked if they could change the oil while it was there. So I get call late in the morning, “We can’t find the leak” I wasn’t surprised to hear this but still a bit annoyed. My annoyance grew as the girl continued telling me there was lots of maintenance that should be done to the car. We got no further than her first recommendation. Your tires are starting to show feather wear, they should be rotated. “How much does that cost?” I ask, “50 dollars” she replies. WHAT? Hehe “No thanks” I replied. 50 dollars for what may take 15 minutes if the guy works slowly. What a f’in ripoff. So we went back to the leak issue. She said that the guys were spraying it with a hose but couldn’t find the leak. She said maybe I could bring it in on days where it is supposed to rain and they could check it out. “That’s not very convenient” I replied. So I asked her if they pulled back the carpet that lines the sides of the trunk and looked there? I explained that the water seems to be seeping in around the edges and it makes sense that it is running down behind the carpet liner. She wasn’t sure if they checked that so she said she would get back to me. Haven’t heard back yet but I am 90% sure I will get a call later saying they couldn’t find anything. Dealers just suck. I have no plans to ever buy another new car again. They depreciate like they fell off a cliff and the hassle a dealer provides outweighs the fleeting joy I get from driving something brand spanking new.