Month: March 2009

So for those of you who don’t know, me and Danielle have moved in together. She has moved into my house. My father came down from North Carolina, and added a new bedroom. My life has been getting more structured as I create my future. This past week, Danielle prepared for a trip to Oregon to visit her friend Misty. I dropped her off at the airport on Thursday morning (at 5am!) and will pick her up on Tuesday evening. Since that point, I have been in charge of Noah and Nora. I took them back home, gave them breakfast, then took them to school. Their father had them for the next two nights. I picked them up again on Saturday around noon. In a way, I actually missed them and looked forward to picking them up. So far, it’s been a great experience. Today at church, everyone asked where Danielle was, and as I told them, they felt sorry for me that I had the children all alone, and that I must be having a hard time. However, I told them that it has been the exact opposite. On Saturday, for the first few hours or so, they were whiny and yelling at each other, making demands, lying, etc. However, by around 5:30, I started my plan for structure. I called them back in the house as it was getting near dinner time, and they need to clean their rooms before dinner and prepare to eat. They both cleaned their rooms (well, sorta, I did point out a few things on the floor) while I cooked dinner. While still cooking, I put a movie on for Nora, and Noah quietly played with his mouse. I called them both to dinner, and they sat and quietly ate all of their dinner (they love Hamburger Helper, who doesn’t). After dinner, they took a bath, and we continued with the rest of the movie, all of us quietly sitting together on the couch. No fighting, no pushing, no climbing. When the movie was over, it was time for bed. Nora has been crying before bed lately, but not a peep. Noah went down easier than I had thought. They fell asleep shortly there after. This morning was just as good. Noah this morning was playing with his mouse without asking, and I told him to put it back, and he did right away. I put the mouse up high, and he appeared to realize the consequences of his actions and how he will not get to play with him today. During breakfast, they demanded a drink. “I want a drink,” they would say. I’d reply with, “Good for you.” It took Noah about 5 times before he realized he needed to ask without me saying anything. He’s been getting quicker as the day goes on. Nora is not quite understanding yet, but when she is corrected, she does ask, “May… I… have… *muffled by the cup*”. I take the cup off her face and correct her mumbling. During church, they of course got their fill of sweets as the older ladies pump them full of sugar. As we were leaving, Nora lost her doggie, and I told her as we were going in that if she brings it and loses it, we are not going to go find it. She didn’t cry as we were leaving. We get to Publix to find some lunch, and Noah asks if he can have a cookie (Danielle always gets them a cookie in Publix). I told them no, they already had donuts they weren’t supposed to have. They don’t whine. Both trips in the car were quiet. No fighting, in fact, barely any talking. Just the quiet hum of the car (ok, not so quiet, I’m still working on my shifting skills), and the sound of the wind blowing. Now, they are outside playing, and I hear no yelling and screaming. Of course, I just saw Noah running off with ashes, so I must go check on that and put out any necessary fires. It isn’t perfect, but it’s been a great experience.

I was driving (yeah, like I’d never be doing that) along side a Smart car the other day and was curious if it was electric or gas. It turns out it is fuel. However, the price starts at $12K. I’ve heard about Chevy coming out with an electric car (the Volt) that you can plug into a standard outlet to charge it up instead of relying on a fuel engine that charges the batteries (which apparently, it still has a fuel engine, but different from a hybrid). I found out that Chevy plans on releasing this car starting at $40K or so. Really? I did the math. You can buy a Kia for about $12K these days. So to get the Chevy Volt, you’d have to spend an extra $28K. One of the selling points of an electric/hybrid vehicle is the “mpg” fuel savings. Gas it currently going for $2 a gallon. Do you know how many fill ups $28K (how much more you’d be spending to get the Volt) translates into? At $2 a gallon, that is 14,000 gallons. Let’s assume the Kia has a 12 gallon tank. That is 1166 fillups. Let’s assume you fill up once a week (you don’t go far to work or something). That is 22 years (longer than the Kia OR the Volt would last) of fill ups at $2 a gallon. If it were up to $4 a gallon, well, just half everything, so 11 years of fillups at $4 a gallon.

So where am I saving on fuel? My electric car still needs fuel. It needs expensive batteries. I can’t just go about anywhere to get it serviced (in fact, is there even a place in Polk County that will service, or carry parts for the internals of a hybrid). I’ve heard there are subsidies, but only $7,500. Ok, so 16 years of fillups at $2 a gallon.

So in conclusion, I will not be spending anywhere near $40,000 for an electric vehicle. A $12,000 Kia would be fine for me. If you’d like to play with the numbers, here is the spreadsheet (Excel XLS/OpenOffice ODS) I created to do the math.

My father is a carpenter/contractor, so he has a lot of tools. He taught me respect for his tools. Sure, I lapse from time to time, and take a tool of his and don’t put it back right away. Recently, I was on a job site running some ethernet wire, and I discovered I had left my cutters at my house (I was in the middle of doing some electrical work there). Around me, I had electricians doing their thing. I could have asked to “borrow” their cutters, but I know better. I don’t like it when people use my tools, and I don’t want to use other peoples tools in return. So I MacGyvered some cutters and got the job done. On this same job site, in four seperate occasions, my “tools” were disrespected.

The first was with my aluminum ladder. It’s a great ladder. It’s only five feet tall, so it fits in my truck. It’s expandable to 20 feet. I had left the ladder the night before in another room in the construction area. When I came in that day, I found the electricians using my nice ladder to unroll their wire. They had gone and gotten my ladder, opened it up, and set it up for their use. As if it was their ladder! Funny, it was set somewhere else, and labeled with my name, and my company name. I walked up, and said “Uh. No.” The electrician quickly removed his stuff and apologized.

The second was an extension cord. I had left it there while doing work as it was coming through the ceiling from the finished side of the building. I’d try to put it back up in the ceiling when I was done. Apparently, the drywall guys though that it was a cord meant for their use and wired up lights to it. I am working there one night, and decide to take my extension cord back (I had needed on several occasions and didn’t have it). Apparently, the drywallers were in an uproar because someone had taken the extension cord. It was never theirs to begin with.

The third was with my six foot ladder. A particular friend whom I know at the job site decided to use the ladder (which I had left in a closet so that the construction workers would not use it). I am normally perfectly fine with him using it. However, when he was done, he did not return my ladder to where he found it. As the drywallers sprayed on their texture, my ladder lay on the floor. My ladder is now covered in drywall texture.

The fourth was with my same six foot ladder, and partially my fault. I had left the ladder in the construction area. Apparently, they painted. My ladder now has a fine yellow mist on it in addition to the drywall texture. However, interestingly enough, the ladder was not in the same place I left it. In fact, it appears to be in an area where it looks as though someone was using it. If I was in their position, I would have removed all items that shouldn’t be getting paint on it, knowing, as a painter, that the mist would go everywhere. This is also where I noticed that my name and company name written on the ladder appear to be a lot lighter than I last remembered it. I would be willing to bet that if I hadn’t taken my ladder tonight, it would have disappeared with the contractors, thinking it was “their” ladder.

It not so much that other people are using my tools. It’s that other people are using my tools, and have NO respect for them. I’ve spent the last decade building up my own supply of tools. Thousands of dollars of tools. My father had most of his tools stolen once while at work, and it devastated him. I’d be the same way if my tools suddenly disappeared.

Needless to say, I will no longer leave any tools behind to make things easier. I will drive out of my way to go get a ladder at my house every night for a job before leaving a single tool on the job site. I will relabel all of my tools, with a permanent marker, and etched where needed.

Camping

Yes, I am done camping. It was a blast, and I want to do it again. My backpack weighed over 50lbs. I need to trim it down next time. Next place may be the Appalachian mountains.

House

My house has been getting some renovations, and they are almost done. My father has graciously provided his help in building a second bedroom, installing a tub, and replacing the kitchen floor. I would like to note that while performing these renovations, an important discovery was made. I poked my head in the recently unsealed ceiling and I could see the light. A flashlight to be exact. It was a flash light that has probably been missing for almost 8 to 10 years now. Funny thing is, I was blamed for losing it… question is, what would I have been doing in the ceiling? My father was the one making the repairs to the house all those years ago…

Danielle

She has moved in with me… hence the installing of new bedrooms. It’s been quite a process that I have enjoyed doing with her with all the painting and deciding of where things go.

Blog

I found out today that it seriously needs to be upgraded. I am using a very old version of WordPress, and it appears to have been hacked in some way on two of my posts. I’ve since cleared it up, but still need to upgrade. I’ve got a new server started, and will need to get that finished this week. The look of the site will probably not change however, so don’t expect much in that department.