Well $4it

Not the words I wanted to hear on 11-10-2010, after moving and while trying to sell a house almost 1200 miles away.

"Mr. Sharpe, I calling you because your neighbor noticed an unusally high electric bill. Mr Sharpe the water pump is going out."

Shit will I ever get a break.

Yea, this sucks.

I worked on my last post for about an 30 minutes only to lose it all somehow. This week is sucking big time. I redo the last post later.

Notes:

Business

Flood

Washington DC/Voip

Basement floods again. Typical Sharpe bad luck.

Sorry been a long time and forgot what everything was about.

Let me try to fill in blanks.

Business - I want my own. Did the one I looked at flood in the great Nashville 5-2 flood?

Flood - Funny how Nashville got 5 mins for this most destructive flood in it's history. OK so an oil well is still dumping oil into the ocean, that is important too. But please, only 5 minutes.

Washington DC/Voip - Last minute decision to take a trip to WDC for a conference.

Basement floods again - Daughter went to wash pants needed for trip, comes running upstairs to tell me the basement is flooded. Sump pump died. Because we have power outages all the time the backup alarm was turned off. Backup pump died.

Later.

April, now May.

Work for the man or fail by design.

"Individuals will also be subject by 2014 to a federal mandate to obtain health coverage by any means (via an employer or through an individual plan) or pay a tax penalty. "

http://www.kushnerco.com/blog/?p=125

Does this mean that the Amish and Mennonites will get subsidized insurance even though they don't participate in our economy? Probably not.

"The Amish believe that the Bible instructs them to care for church members who have special needs, including the elderly."

Some news articles say that Muslims, Amish, Mennonites, Sciencetologist and others may be exempt. Although young children not officially members of the church may have to join the program. How hard is it to get out after you get in?

School house bill Parody

That is what I found interesting today.

The weakest link will fail!

After replacing 70% or so of my trucks brake hydraulic system, I have now got a better understanding of the weakest link. While at a fast food joint ordering food I noticed the brake peddle drop to the floor.

Furious and in a bad mood for the rest of Saturday, I could not have been a good person to be around.

Originally the leak appeared to be at a new line I had installed 3 years ago. I had all brake hoses replaced with Stainless Steel Russell lines. Being braided SS these hoses should out last the truck. On inspection the Russell's hoses were not leaking. It appears that the hard-line from the ABS unit to the rear axle has become week and as a result the increased pressure in the system created a hole.

I hope this can be fixed today. Nothing scarier than a brake peddle dropping to the floor in a truck weighing over 6200 lbs.

How low can we go.

They suspended a 6 year old for making his hand into a gun.

Read about it HERE!

Maybe all six year olds should be of legal age, vote and buy beer. How do you hold a 6 year old accountable for this or any jester.

Tron Legacy -- Need I say more?

You know your getting old when they remake films you watched as a kid.

Tron Legacy is not a remake as much as a sequel. But after 20 or so years, the animation, look, and graphics should be intense. I hope the movie goer is not disappointed.

Tron Legacy Trailer

Sick

Twice in one month. I hate getting sick. In less than 30 days the fam and I have gotten 2 different illnesses. Everyone is getting better but it still sucks.

More snow! 2.0

Snow!

OMG. Really? Should I send my kids to school?

Not on your life. Welcome to the Nanny state.

http://boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html

Damn I hate slow internet.

My dad has just got service for internet that provides him with 20m/sec. In the mid to late 90's I had DSL as it was first deployed in Nashville. 1.5m/sec and 2 static ip's. I don't remember the cost, I'm guessing $30. It has been a decade and where I live now all I can get is an advertised 1.5m/sec with a reality of .75m/sec.

I am so tired of this problem. The above image is after 5 mins of buffering the video. At 10 mins worth of buffering the buffer bar was at 6:44. Looks like it will take me 30minutes to watch a 10 minute 32 second video. Frontier should be ashamed to call this "High Speed"

It's Friday!

I have got to get fed up with my job enough to do something about it. It is sad to be excited that it is the last day of the week and not the first. I need to either find the drive and satisfaction I once had or pack up, quit and do something else. I know that I will have to work doing something all my life. My retirement will mean that I don't have to work full time and can work just enough to get by. That being said I really need to find something I like so that the next 40 years are not so torturous. Let me die of old age, not boredom, frustration, and anger.

Birthdays and more.

I'm getting old. ;-( The first daughter turned 11 this week, I turned 39. The wife and I threatened not to allow her to turn 11, but the year and day came anyway. In just a few short years I will be helping her with a car, teaching her how to drive, and looking mincing to suitors that come to visit.

She is growing up so fast. Followed closely by her sisters.

Henry has been mimicking J for a few days now. Diana has been trying to explain to J just how important this is and how both A and H look up to her, and how J should set the best example she can.

No other real news. The stove works great. I replaced the water filter. I have not gotten to the drains, but will soon.

High points.

Wow been a long time. Any way here are the high points.

• Worked OT - didn't get home till 2:30-3am
• Got warning for no headlight - Trooper needed a reason to pull me over the see if I was drunk. It was like 2:30 am after all. Note, I admit that if he hadn't I would not have noticed until inspection time. I was a little cocky when he first came to the car. I got to get better at not being so confrontational.
• "Fixed" headlight only to find both High Beams not working. - Had spare in garage, was supposed to be good. Why would I keep a bad bulb?
• Fretted over what it meant that both high beams were non functional. Was it a relay, wiring, wrong bulb, what.
• Bought 2 new bulbs - success. Seems that the old bulb I had and the other bulb both blew the high beam at the same time.
• Took Children to skating rink. They had a blast. So did I. Rink is for sale. I actually considered checking into purchasing it. I see real potential in the rink. I could be doing real well in this area.
• Worked from home today. Most roads from Genesee washed out or flooded.
• Genesee/Bingham Twp Area – ODonnel Road near PA/NY line
• Route 244 from Main Street to Ridge Road
• Route 244/449 Commercial Street by Reeds
• Route 449 two miles South of Genesee – water across eastbound lane
• Jackson Road – T1011/T1012 closed

• Getting ready for taxes.

It's Friday.

Wow, this week kinda went by fast.

My classes started again. I'm taking statistics now. So far so good. Had a little problem understanding how to total columns on a Row % tabulated table. That sounds like a mouth full but it really was not that bad. I think I will like this class. The textbook seems to be well written and the training system is nice to navigate.

Yea!!! It is Friday, success, I made it to work yet again. We got plenty of snow at home but the roads finally have just a small coating. I think it is going to be warm today. I might actually be able to go home and not get the car nasty.

Speaking of the car, I washed it yesterday. Looked really clean. Today it looks like I have been rally racing but it will clean up again.

Wow, what a difference the winter fuel makes on MPG. Before winter I got 2-5 MPG more. Maybe I have 500-600 pounds of ice on the car. UNLIKELY. Check up my MPG on Fuelly.

Some people say I have a heavy foot. I still get better MPG than the EPA estimates. My foot can't be that heavy.

How does this ST look? Now all I need is a Focus ST.

Till next post!

Wow, I'm so glad the weekend is here. This week has been quite stressful.

I'll be glad when I get some of these bills and debts taken care of. I finally got the bill for the Well. The well and the propane will eat a Glover Cleveland Bill.

Why don't we have the larger denomination bills in America anymore? I think someone like Dave Ramsey should have a campaign to bring back larger denomination bills. Think about it. You got a $10 bill in your pocket, you see a 5 dollar magazine, you don't think twice about breaking the $10. You got a $100 bill in your pocket, you see a 5 dollar magazine, now that is a different story. Imagine, you save 1000 dollars for emergencies in 1 bill. Your not gonna use it for a dinner. However, you have 10 100 dollar bills, you might pull one out to go to dinner and thinking, I can easily replace this next payday. Just a thought.

You know what pisses me off more than anything else. Lies to fit an agenda. It happens with every president, not just the current one. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't vote for and I don't like our current presidents ideas on several items. But honestly, I haven't like every idea of any of the presidents I have voted for or not voted for. But I am so tired of seeing the out right lies that are passed about the different people. What is worse is that some of the lies are recycled from past presidents, only the years and names are changed. How sad is that. Most all emails you get can be verified with Snopes.com. Even I have been mistaken, but my most recent one was just out and never reported before, 1 day later it was proven wrong. But I did search before I passed it on. Some people don't even bother. Take the last email I read titled "President Obama just completed an ANTI-AMERICAN TRIFECTA:" A quick trip to Snope would have shown all three Anti things as true, but Obama was not the first. My favorite of the 3 Anti American things it said he did. "1st president in 110 years to miss the annual Army-Navy Football Game." What a joke. Several Presidents not only mist 1 but never went to a single Army-Navy game. I think Bush 1 is included in that list. From Grand Valley State University, "1996:President William J. Clinton became the first president to attend the game in 22 years. Army won 28-24." So if Clinton was the first in 22 years to attend the game. Obama can not be the 1st in 110 years to miss a game. If you don't like Obama, list your reasons, I'm sure there are many legitimate ones, but don't make shit up. If you don't like the Republicans or the Democrats, list real reasons, don't make up lies hoping to appeal to the hearts of trusting or less educated people. That is just wrong.

OK, I guess I'm done with that rant. The wife is out shopping for the groceries, me and the crew are working on the cleaning the house.

Work, Focus, stuff.

Work today was painful. I try really hard to make sure the customers experience is the best I can make it. That get's ruined by others who don't follow through. Customers are needed, but they don't always know what they need to do, to get what they want to do. Sales people for any service or product have to be more persistent and follow up. They can't say great, the customer signed, goodbye and expect the factory to fill in the blanks.

The Focus is doing great now. I drove on some pretty nasty roads today and the car kept going.

I bought some carrots today, cut them up for snacks while at work. I hope this helps my sweet tooth.

Not much else going on.

Buffalo trip

Saturday we took the children to Buffalo so they could spend their Christmas money. All day it was COLD. Real cold. Leaving Genesee, it was 8 degrees. Arriving in Buffalo it was 12 degrees. The girls had a good time though. They got to go to Build-a-Bear, and Borders, they had fun running around the mall. They all tried Sushi again. They did not like the Sushi as much this time. Diana loved hers. I did not try the Sushi. We all went to La Gourmet Chef and looked at all the neat tools. We finally got home around 9pm. It was 8 degrees and fell to 3.9 overnight.

I got to visit the Hydroponics store and started developing a "wish list". I didn't like this store as much as others I have visited. The people were friendly but not overly helpful. Some of the prices were way too much over what I would pay online. Normally I can justify paying more in person if I get helpful people. When the people are not helpful I could careless if I spend any money in the store.

Diana and I have been interested in Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) events for a long time. I know it will be a while before we can really enjoy the events but I have been getting more and more interested. Recently I started looking into making chainmail. Both protective clothing and jewelry. Wow so much stuff to learn and do.