Musings from “Life Is a Road” author–Daniel Meyer
Archive for October, 2008
Happy Halloween!
Oct 31st
It’s that time of year again! Happy Halloween!
I’m working tonight…so no new jack-o-lanterns etc…I’ll have to recycle an old one:
Y’all have fun! Pig out on chocolate! Feel up a French Maid! Grab a sexy cat-girl on the tail! All that sort of good stuff!
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Never a second thought…
Oct 30th
She was watching me with that quirky smile…that one that means she’s either up to something, or she thinks that I am.
I stopped what I was doing. “What?”
She smiled and walked over to give me a hug. “I was just wondering what it must be like to have a normal husband.”
That took me back a bit. I’m not normal? What’s she thinking?
I stopped what I was doing…paused, just to give me a chance to look at what I was currently about, just seeing with an outsider’s eyes. What could NOT be normal?
Hmmm…
I was about to leave for work.
I had tied my duffel bag on the back seat of my motorcycle.
I had picked up a couple bungee cords to strap my cane to the big machine.
Cane? Oh. Yeah. That.
Some of you may recall I tweaked my knee a few days ago, then made it worse with my activities on Monday.
So why was I loading up the bike, cane and all, to get to work today? Heck, I didn’t even think about it. It was 75 degrees, with only a low of 62 for tonight…no rider could take a cage today.
Of course, it could have been raining and near freezing too, and I’d have been doing the same. It was simply time to ride.
Sigh. Maybe she has a point.
“Well?” I asked her.
“Well what?”
“What do you think it would be like to have a normal husband?”
She grinned. “I can think of several possibilities.”
I waited a heartbeat before asking, “And what of them?”
She pulled up against me to give me a kiss…along with one of those very suggestive, full-body hugs. After a moment, she turned and headed into the house, laughing.
As the door closed, over her shoulder she replied, “All of them are boring. You come back to me safe!”
I’m sure there’s something to be said for being normal.
I’ve not the foggiest notion what that could be though.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Lessons
Oct 28th
So, I helped friends get their electric heat system wired up to full power yesterday.
They had a new ac/heat system put in last year and there wasn’t enough power (cable size/breaker) for the electric heat. The installer just flipped off the switch for half the heating elements so there was enough power to run the ac or some heat. We had to pull a new wire run and install new breaker etc so he could have full power for the heating system.
My friends gave me a “mostly dead” riding lawnmower. It looks to be easily repairable, and that will be handy for our (possible) new (old) house project (more on that later). It has nearly a half an acre lot and I don’t want to spend my time up there working on the lawn…I’d rather work on the house. A riding mower and a weedeater ought to knock that place out in half an hour or so.
I learned some lessons yesterday.
1) Helping friends is extremely satisfying.
2) The Mexican food place in Rusk still kicks ass! (Yum)
3) Tweaked knees take longer than 3 days to heal.
4) I can overcome pain and function with an act of sheer will and a handful of Ibuprohin.
5) That is not a wise thing to do.
6) When overcoming pain via an act of sheer will and a handful of Ibuprohin, there is a severe price to pay later (I can’t walk today).
I’m trying to stay off the leg today and tomorrow. If it doesn’t get better by then, I’ll head for the doctor and get to throw some money at them. This is actually highly annoying and a little worrysome. I’m deep in the process of purchasing a project that counts on my physical ability to work on it to be a success. Tweaking a knee is just a reminder how fragile our intents and plans can be.
I’m not supposed to be vulnerable see? My plans don’t tend to take that into account.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Wonky schedule (wonky being a technical term)
Oct 26th
Well, it’s time. The end of the year approach(ith)…and that means interesting things in the newspaper industry.
Let’s see, it means we’re busy. Lots of advertisers and sales and news to accompany it.
It means we’re frantically trying to get too many projects done. Some started due to the budgetary cycle (management suddenly deciding to spend money), some we’re just trying to get in shape enough to get us through the busy season.
And of course, it means everybody is trying to get the rest of their vacations and holidays in.
Since we’re supporting three newspapers with barely enough people to support one, and we work nights, weekends, and holidays, well, the schedule gets wonky.
Last year I worked 28 of 31 days in December, and worse, a mix of days and nights. Wonky can be bad.
Wonky can be good too. This year it’s working out in my favor.
I’ll be on nights most of the rest of the year. That’s normally four, ten hour days a week. Combined with the vacation and holidays I still have to take off…it looks like I can arrange it to have 3-day work weeks the rest of the year.
I’d worry because we’re not getting as much done as we need to, but it’s not like we’re slacking off. We’ve been working as best as we can with the resources we’re allowed (shrugs).
Some time off will be just the thing. I’ve got books to write, and apparently, a house to rennovate…well maybe anyway. Paperwork is still paperworking…or whatever it does when noone’s watching. More on that later.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Art show
Oct 24th
Just a reminder that the studio I’m attending, is having an art show Saturday, October 25th, 5 to 9 PM in Richardson, Texas.
I’ve a pencil sketch piece from the life drawing class in this show…
I also have a painting in this show as well
There’s a lot of talent represented in this show…most much better than mine LOL! Many of the pieces are for sale as well. Y’all come on out to see a working studio, to spend an enjoyable evening, and perhaps acquire some original art for your collection. There will be food, music, dancing, and of course, art for all tastes!
Click here for the show announcement, address, and directions..
Saturday, October 25th, 5 to 9 PM
The Bonny Studio
580 W. Arapaho suite #262
Richardson, Texas 75080
214-405-5993
bonnyfineart@aol.com
In the Camelot Shopping Center On Arapaho just west of Custer at the intersection of Hampshire and Arapaho
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Drove the truck in today…
Oct 23rd
I drove Big Iron, the 450 horsepower Dodge pick’em-up truck to work today.
Was it that I got rained on yesterday?
Nope.
Cold this morning?
Well, it was cold, but that wasn’t it either.
Apparently I’m getting old or something. Gad.
A couple days ago, on my way home, a step ladder fell out of the back of a contractor’s truck in front of me on the highway.
Note to contractors:
Ladders are bloody expensive, I’m pretty sure you can’t afford to throw them out at random intervals as you travel down the highway. A $1 bungee cord or a $3 ratchet strap would do wonders for your bottom line.
I also don’t appreciate that you saw the ladder fall and were pulling over to pick it up until you saw the near accident it caused for me and other vehicles and sped off. Had you stopped, I might have had harsh words for your lack of bungee cord operational skills, but not much else. Since you sped off, had I caught you, I’d have felt perfectly fine about stomping your cowardly butt into dust.
Anyway, the ladder bounced a couple times before sliding down the road. I could not avoid it due to other cars around me (also taking evasive action) and the proximity/speed etc.
Hard braking saved the day, I stopped just as the ladder did, front wheel touching the bottom rung.
The problem was that the bike gave a little bobble on stopping…the front tire hit the rung and as a result I wasn’t perfectly straight at that last moment of “at all costs” braking force, and so The Dragon tipped to the left. I caught her and kept her up, backed up a bit, and got the hell out of the center of the road. (I wanted to avoid any “unique opportunities” such as a close up view of the underside of a semi-truck or something).
Unfortunately I seem to have tweaked my left knee a bit. It “twinged” as I left the scene and put my feet on the pegs.
I rode yesterday (in the rain and the cold) and it bothered me a little more by the afternoon.
By late evening I was in agony. This morning it was several minutes after I got out of bed before I could actually walk. Thanks to Ibuprofen for making the day tolerable.
As I left for work this morning I looked at the heavy machine and decided I’d give my knee a break (heh heh) and skip the riding for a day or two. Unfortunately I still have to walk on it. Ah well.
Oh, and a side note…on the way to work this morning I spotted two different motorcycles with no tail-lights. Yep, it’s dark at 5:00am. Motorcycles don’t present much to see from the rear anyway, but no tail lights is a very bad thing. Those Dallas drives will run you smack over even when they CAN see you…when they can’t see you all bets are off, and the odds are even less in your favor than usual.
Y’all preflight those machines every now and then, okay?
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Guardian Angel
Oct 17th
We bikers have a saying, “Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly.”
A new watercolor.
— clicky clicky
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Anybody need some certified hepas?
Oct 15th
So, more air-conditioner work.
Ya’ll might recall late last year we had a bunch of air-condtioner work done. “A bunch” as in, “They ripped the entire mess out and installed everything from new.” I was happy, as the old system had basically announced that it needed to be torn out when it tried to burn the house down.
We went with the high-end, 16 seer, variable speed heat pump. Big wampum $$.
The cool (heh) thing about these units is that the compressing unit takes care of itself…it knows how fast to run based on the heating or cooling load actually being used in the house. Thus, they can adjust the air-handler for optimal performance without swapping out the outside unit. The air handlers are multiple speed as well, so they can be adjusted to do the perfect job for the space.
Now…the deal with air conditioning is that there are two major components to comfort; temperature and humidity. If the air conditioner is oversized, it cools the air too fast and can’t reduce the humidity effectively. If undersized, it won’t cool the house enough on those hottest days (Lots of those in Texas). The variable speed units are supposed to fix this. They can run slow when the demand is light, thus saving lots of energy and removing the humidity from the house, then they can ramp up when the demand is high.
Throughout the summer, the system did well, but when it cooled off a bit and the humidity went up, it got clammy in the house. A glass of tea would sweat so bad you could see the water running across the table.
Called the guys out to look at the unit. Had ‘em change the filter (once yearly for this filter) at the same time.
They found that the installer had left the air-handler on “over-enthusastic”. It was putting out 2000cfm when the appropriate setting was more on the order of 1200cfm for the “high” speed. The guy they sent was a troubleshooter and quite knowledgable. He measured and tweaked the air handler settings to perfection. What a difference! Quiet (we can’t hear it run now) and the humidity dropped from 78% to 50% in a matter of a couple hours (80% outside at the moment).
The house is SOOOO much better. Glad we bought from a company that stands behind their work. The tech was also on the phone to his boss and they were profusely apologizing. The unit was probably in its default settings instead of tuned for our installation. That makes it less efficient (it’s already cut our electric bill by about 20%). They usually don’t miss that.
Anyway, here’s the filter. It’s quite large…20″ x 25″ x 5″ thick. It’s also done it’s job and collected a pound or two of nastiness.
It’s a certified hepa filter, so it must be full of hepas, right? I figure I spent several thousand dollars on the equipment and nearly a year collecting them. Surely they’re bound to be good for something, yes?
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Economics…
Oct 13th
So, money’s tight…at least, that’s what the media and the prospective presidential candidates are striving to convince us of.
Many folks, including us, are tightening our belts a bit and doing our best to cut down. The news is downright scary. The stock market is down a bunch. Folks…GOOD folks, are getting laid off. 401 K’s are suffering. Prices are going up. Credit is tightening up. The dust-bowl is threatening. Bird flu is coming. Some are headed west in an old Hudson Super six truck…oh, wait…
BOOM! Up goes the DOW.
Maybe it’s not all that bad yet.
Scary stuff.
What to do?
My solution? I just drove around 250 miles round trip to give somebody $500 to see if they want to let me give them a whole bunch more money.
Yeah, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do…namely cower in fear and hope for a better tomorrow.
Heh, well, I never could color inside the lines anyway. I also know that better tomorrows come to those who dream of them…and actively pursue them.
Make no mistake…there are risks. Some of us that passionately pursue those better tomorrows sometimes fall…flat on our faces. Fast and hard. Splat. It sucks.
We know no other way.
Bottom line is I still have a job, and I’ve have kept my credit in okay shape. Cars? Trucks? Houses? With the proper down payment, it’s an excellent time to buy. Prices here in Texas for real estate are unlikely to creep much lower. Your market may vary. California? East coast? That real estate was never worth what folks were paying for it, and that’s really where the big crash in prices is and may continue.
For us? We found our retirement home. Prices have dropped. We can afford it.
So, we did it. We offered today. Now, it’s just a matter of an acceptance, a minor altercation with the bank (along the lines of, “Yo, dudes! Time to cut the check for the loan you promised you’d make.”)
And of course, (deep breath) all the other paperwork and survey and inspection and underwriting closing agents and insurance and titles and miscellaneous nonsense wrapped up in a standard real estate transaction (breathe again).
With any luck, we’ll have us a genuine certified money-pit by this time next month!
Lord I’m buying us a bunch of work. The sheer size of the thing alone is intimidating.
I’m not even sure quite where to start.
Perhaps at the beginning…
edit:
As of Tuesday morning, offer made, verbal counter-offers have gone back and forth, and we now have a verbal agreement. Now all we need is an updated contract and to get the bank started on the underwriting process.
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
Art Stuff
Oct 11th
Y’all might remember that I’m dabbling in the visual arts…
Part of that effort has been to take a life drawing class. The studio I’m attending is The Bonny Studio, and they are having an art show Saturday, October 25th, 5 to 9 PM in Richardson, Texas.
I’ve a pencil sketch piece from the life drawing class in this show…
I may have a painting in this show as well, provided I finish the durn thing before the actual show that is. It’s probably my most ambitious yet. Larger and more complicated than anything I’ve attempted…but of course, that’s usually when the terrified screaming starts!
There’s a lot of talent represented in this show…most much better than mine LOL! Y’all come on out to see a working studio, to spend an enjoyable evening, and perhaps acquire some original art for your collection. There will be food, dancing, and of course, art for all tastes!
Click here for the show announcement, address, and directions..
Saturday, October 25th, 5 to 9 PM
The Bonny Studio
580 W. Arapaho suite #262
Richardson, Texas 75080
214-405-5993
bonnyfineart@aol.com
In the Camelot Shopping Center On Arapaho just west of Custer at the intersection of Hampshire and Arapaho
CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer