It's been almost a month since my last "confession"....
Anyway, the wife and I had the whole weekend to ourselves without the children... And, as we've been married for 10 years now, we had no clue what to do.. Our activities usually center around things to do as a family. Well, maybe not exactly, but we very seldom get to do any "grown-up
stuff..
We had a heck of a time coming up with something. We decided to go to Tunica, Mississippi. Neither of us have ever been to a casino before, and we've heard all kinds of stories about the kinds of people you can see there. I have a hard time fathoming how someone can honestly think that they can pay their mortgage by gambling away their mortgage money... It's like, "you just HAD the money in your hand!"
We booked a hotel room online for the night and left out on Friday afternoon for Tunica. It was about a two hour drive from our place, and it was a pleasant drive at that. The hotel was not the best in the world, but it was nice. A simple Best Western with the biggest bed I have ever seen in my life. We checked in, and headed for the casino.
I didn't want to spend much, so we went in armed with $40 that we could afford to lose. We planned to lose it... If we win, great... If not, great... We went to Resorts Casino. Took us about a half hour to figure out how the casino works... It's not very friendly to casino virgins, but we found a nice lady who explained how the whole place works, how you had to get a casino card to track your "comps" and such.. We were really there for the $1.00 buffet, but you had to play before you could get the special pricing. We played the slots, because that's all we understand completely. We played nickel slots and we played quarter slots. At some point, I actually made some money! I turned five dollars into $13.50. However, in the true gambling spirit, and against the wishes of my wife who kept telling me to just cash out, I played it away. I was there to play. And I lost...
So, after spending the forty dollars, which took about 15 minutes, I checked our cards to see if we were able to eat at the buffet yet. We had earned a whopping $0.08!!!
At this rate, the one dollar buffet would cost us a few hundred dollars, which I wasn't willing to spend just to eat a one dollar meal. This is how the casino stays in business, obviously, because there were people there who didn't understand basic math and apparently thought this was a good deal. I won't expand too much on the people we saw, but lets just say that Jeff Foxworthy has a goldmine of material to base his jokes on for years to come.
So, we left the casino and set out to find something to eat at a regular restaurant. The buffet, without enough comp points on your card, would have been over $20 per person, which I was unwilling to pay, since we don't eat much. Did you know that there are NO RESTAURANTS IN TUNICA???!!!! If you want to eat, you pretty much HAVE to go to the casino. We ended up spending our romantic evening eating chicken in a gas station.
This town SUCKS!!!
-myk
It's been a bit since my last post. A lot has happened since then. Let's go back a few days and peek in on our hero's latest exploits...
For the past week or so, it has been over 100 degrees every day with a heat index of somewhere around 110.. The HVAC unit on our home is about 6 or 7 years old, and the blower motor is less than one year old. I just put it in last December. Even so, it seems that our unit is just not very efficient. I have cleaned the coils and fins, replaced the filter, and done what little bit I know about HVAC to make it work right, but nothing seems to matter. Not too long ago, I had the kids under the house helping me run phone line and noticed a gap in one of the air ducts. I figured that may have a bit to do with the cooling difficulty. I need to preface this by saying that I do not like crawling under houses. This was my first time when I ran the phone lines.. It was not a happy time, it took about 30 minutes for my friend and family members to give me the pep talk to get me under there... This time was a little bit different. I had another friend come over who new a bit about duct repair, and did not have a problem going on the crawl. I figured with an experienced person with me, we could get this done..
So the crawl begins... We went to Lowe's Hardware and picked up a few rolls of duct tape (who knew this stuff could actually be used for duct repair!) and a few snacks and drinks in case we decide to stop for a meal under the house..... which we quickly ate and drank in the car before leaving the parking lot... We got back to my house and proceeded to crawl under the house. It went a lot better than my first time, i just opened the door and took off military style, flashlight in hand. We reached the first section of duct work which had about a 3 inch gap in a section. We lifted and secured the two section and put a healthy coating of duct tape around it, restoring the much needed air conditioning to the kitchen! This was encouraging! So, we decided to crawl the entire house and inspect the rest of the duct work. We found 3 more sections where the ductwork was either broken or totally separated from the main and repaired all of them.
Lest I forget, the reason I have a deep aversion to house crawls... I don't like spiders... I'm not terrified of them, but I know that there are thousands of them under the typical house. And given the amount of space underneath the house, I fully understand why it is called a crawlspace. So, in the event that one wanders into a nest of spiders or something, there is very little he can do besides take the spider bites and hope he can make it back to the entry point before the poison paralyzes him... I saw tons of spiders, and for the most part, they kept to themselves... However, i DID run into the largest family of "spider-hoppers" i have ever seen! I believe they are called "cave crickets" or "camel crickets", but we call them spider-hoppers. There must have been about a thousand or more, and they all came right at me! I don't know if you know this or not, but those things spray out some kind of nasty juice when you crush them, similar to the acid-like blood from the creatures in those Aliens movies with Sigourney Weaver. Also, it seems that when they're encountered in large numbers, spraying this "juice" only excites the remaining ones and whips them into some sort of bloodthirsty frenzy, causing them to launch a coordinated effort against whoever or whatever crushed the first wave of insects..
It was a long hard fight back to the entrance. I have never crawled so fast in my life! Sometimes its best just to turn off the flashlight and crawl with everything you've got. I'm not sure if I broke anymore ductwork trying to get out of there, but it feels better in the house now... Seems like after coming out from under there, no matter how many showers you take, you just never feel clean again...
Needless to say, I survived... That was quite the experience, and I now understand why people charge so much to do anything under a house. The repair itself was not difficult. I think they just charge what they want because they know we're too scared to crawl under there ourselves...
In retrospect, though, I think next time I'll just pay someone..
God bless,
-myk
Got a new game for the Wii today.. First, I picked up Resident Evil 4. Never got to play it, the Mrs. decided it was too gory to have in the house, considering we have children and try to run a pretty "clean" home. Not sure why I got it, really. Never liked the first one.. I guess I was just in the mood for a mindless, violent shooter, and the price was right... $29.99.. I took it back to the store. I was unable to just return it for my money, since it was opened. Even though I never played it.. However, they were running a special.. "Trade in 2 Wii games, get 1 free." I had a copy of Elebits that no one plays anymore. Normally, this game only receives a $9.00 trade in credit.. So, I traded in Elebits and my $29.99 two hour old copy of Resident Evil 4 in exchange for a $49.99 Mario Party 8 that the whole family can enjoy!
So far, it is pretty enjoyable. At its most basic level, it is nothing more than a video board game with a few twists. On the down side, you will need a Wii remote for each player, unlike Wii Sports, where my entire family of five can play even though we only have two Wii remotes. No worries, though, we just choose a short 10 turn game, which lasts about 15-25 minutes or so, then shift the remotes on to the next players. Lots of characters to choose from and lots of mini-games will keep the excitement level up for a bit. The game has the potential to get boring kind of fast, but the real fun is in playing with other people. I guess the game just acts more or less as a centerpiece for conversation, laughs, and interaction.. Like I said, its a good, clean, family game that even the adults can enjoy.
This will go great along with some of our other board game favorites, like "Life", "Chutes & Ladders", and "Guess Who". I wish I had at least gotten to shoot one zombie, though.. Oh, well, there are more shooter titles coming out for the Wii that don't involve blood, guts, and the devil.
-myk
Man, he looks just like Peter Griffin from family guy! My wife and I saw Michael Moore's "Sicko" this past weekend.. Now, before the political types go for their shotguns, hear me out.. I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, nor am I a staunch conservative... I typically just go with the guy who seems to be the better candidate at the time, regardless of party affiliation.. But we'll save that discussion for another day.. This was my very first Michael Moore film, and we went into it not looking for a purely factual account, but merely as entertainment.. About the same way one goes to a wrestling event, not to watch any real fighting, but to see a soap opera for men, more or less.. Its only entertainment.. With that in mind, I really liked the film. It made some interesting points, although I cannot confirm the validity of any of it...
Looking at some of the things in the film made me wonder about our health care system. I have never had the privilege of visiting any other countries. But the film definitely made me wonder if we'd be better off moving to Canada! don't get me wrong, I enjoy living in the states. But, I work a full time job, and I run a part time computer repair business (which I hope to make full time within the next year) to take care of my family of five, self included.. Yet I cannot afford health insurance... My employer offers it, but the premiums for family coverage are higher than we can pay for and still keep electricity on in the house and food on the table.. At present, we have gone several years without health insurance and have done well.. But at the back of my mind, I often play "what if".. Sure we can afford to pay cash for an occasional office visit.. We very seldom visit the doctor.. But if something were to happen, I'm not sure what I'd do. We have lived on faith for quite a while.. Its quite a scary journey. I'm not perfect, sometimes its hard to trust God, to believe in what we have in our hearts versus what we see right in front of us. You know, though, even after we get insurance, we should STILL rely on God to keep us healthy. I mean, he has done a great job so far, and it hasn't cost us any monthly premiums! Maybe I can afford more than I think I can.. I mean, His plan is already paid for, Jesus took care of that for me already!
Something to think about.. Where is our trust really? Is it in insurance companies whose primary interest is making money? I mean, they are a business, after all. Is our trust in money? In the health care system? In people? Hopefully not, because each of these have proven to us time and time again that they will fail us at some point. Yet God is always there.. Things may not happen when we want and the way we want, but He is always on time. And he may not provide what we want all the time, but we get what we need.. Perhaps learning the difference between want and need is a good starter.... Sounds a bit like a previous post..
God bless,
-myk
It has been a while... but, it IS called 'occasional' ramblings..... Not a whole lot has been going on.. I am very grateful that God has kept everyone in my family in excellent health, we have a roof over our heads, and no one here goes to bed hungry.. Which is more than I can say for millions more in America. It is really something to sit for a moment and think about how much you really do have, instead of always worrying about what you don't have, or what someone else does have... A friend of mine was telling us a story of some very wise things his father said to him. One thing that really stuck with me was when his father asked him how much room does he need to sleep, how many clothes can he wear at one time, and ho much food can he eat.. He answered with some dimensions for sleep which were roughly equivalent to his body size plus another foot or so for sprawling space, enough clothes to cover his back, and enough food to fill his stomach. His father replied, "then that is all you need, and everything else is a luxury."
Those are some staggering words! Really makes one reconsider his prayer life.. We spend so much time asking God for stuff that we often forget how much He has truly blessed us with... For anyone who actually bothers to read this, assuming you are one who prays, take a few minutes to talk to God... not to ask Him for anything, but simply to thank Him for all He has done for you and your family. I believe that if we begin to do this daily, we will find that we soon stop asking God for much of anything.. That our prayer time will no longer be a shopping list, but instead will be a time of thanksgiving and praise for what has already been done, which is most likely what He meant it to be.. We will also begin to realize that things are already in place to provide the things that we actually need, and that everything else truly is a luxury...
Now, lest I end a post without being comical....
Two fish are swimming upstream and run into a huge concrete wall.. One fish looks to the other and says, DAM!
God bless,
-myk
My daughters have really been enjoying some of the shows my wife and i watched as kids... We catch them watching "Nick at Nite" when they should be sleeping all the time... They really like old episodes of "Fresh Prince", but i'm pretty sure their all time favorite is currently "Full House."
We have a subscription to Blockbuster Online, which is great, because even though we have about a thousand channels through our local cable company, its hard to find anything good on TV anymore.. We got "Degrassi Junior High, Season 1 Disk 1" today.. Our son is staying at a friend's tonight, so we decided to give the girls the full eighties experience! We sat down and fired up the dvd player with excitement! It's been years since i last watched this show.. My sister and i used to watch it every Sunday on PBS.. Where we lived, there was no cable, so all we had was a handful of local channels, the best of which was typically whatever was on public television..
Needless to say, our girls loved the show. I didn't remember how much material was covered on this show! Everything from cheating on schoolwork and lying to parents, all the way up to drinking and drug use. Amazing how "back in my day," this kind of subject matter was presented in a way that showed it as something negative.. Yes, some of the kids did some bad things in the show, but it was always resolved the very same episode and was never glorified... Man, this was REALLY a good show!
I think i'm gonna go and get me some skin tight acid washed blue jeans , put 'em on and tight roll the bottoms until i can no longer feel my feet, rummage through the attic and find my old "Members Only" jacket, put on some 80's music, and dance to the beat of the rhythm of the night right now!
...and if you actually have any clue what i just said, you must be old too....
later,
-myk
Never saw the movie.. Don't really know much about it at all, really... But I had an interesting experience with my own left foot over the past few days.. We were in Kenpo class this past Thursday and were working on a new evasion that involves hooking the attacker's leg while performing a forward outside evasion. While hooking with the inside arm, you simultaneously execute a knifehand strike to the opponent's neck, following up with a deep grip on the opposing lapel. Finally, while still maintaining the hooked leg, you finish the technique by pulling the lapel down and outside while lifting the leg upward and inside, quickly and forcefully placing the opponent on the ground, leaving you in a wide kibadache (horse stance) over him, leg still hooked. If the opponent attempts to resist from there, either a quick knifehand strike to the head/neck or a knee strike to the abdomen is usually sufficient..
We were working in pairs, alternating between who would give and who would receive.. It was my turn to receive.. It all started off fine, we were very careful not to perform the throw with much force or speed... Don't know what got into my partner, but I'm pretty sure he put everything he had into this throw.. He outweighs me by probably 40-50 pounds, maybe more... Not sure if it was me hitting the floor or me kicking him after the fact from the floor, but I thought I broke my foot! I was unable to move any of my toes, couldn't put any weight on it, couldn't do much of anything besides do my very best to control my tongue.. I walked it off best I could and did my best to complete the class. I like to think I'm pretty agile, so I was able to finish up the class, including the body conditioning portion, all while hopping around to keep any pressure off that foot... It still hurt like the dickens, but i figured I'd manage...
Until the next day.... It had gotten bigger overnight, even though I kept it on ice and elevated... My walk was even funnier that the previous day, kind of a cross between George Jefferson, Skinny Pimp, and any random person with one leg and no crutches... Go figure.. I was finally convinced to go to the doctor, where they took some X-rays. Come to find out, the foot wasn't broken, although the ball of the foot forward was somehow turned upward at a 45-degree angle and rotated heavily to the left to the point where I could not put the front of my foot down as long as heel was still on the ground... Don't have a clue what the doctor said except for it is not broken, should be fine in a few days, and "Here, wear this special boot for a few days."
Needless to say, I refuse to keep that silly looking shoe on.... 3 days later, I'm still walking a bit funny, but it is nowhere near the walk I had earlier, which is best described as the same walk the main character is the movie Misery had shortly after being hobbled with a sledgehammer.....
good times.....
-myk
Working on a client's laptop today.. He called me initially because he was unable to completely load into Windows on his Compaq Presario V2405US. I went to his place and took a look at the laptop, and sure enough, it wouldn't finish booting. He had some other work for me to do on his desktop, so I finished that up on the spot and took the laptop with me to do further testing and hopefully repair it. Windows complained that and entire system folder was missing. No problem.. I booted from a Windows XP cd and went into the recovery console with hopes of transferring fresh copies of the required system files over to the hard drive. Problem is, it wouldn't let me log into the installation even in the recovery console, leading me to suspect hard drive problems.. I ran diagnostics from the BIOS, and my suspicions were confirmed.. A cryptic hard drive failure code was given. I called the client back to advise him that the hard drive was faulty and would need to be replaced. He then reminded me that I had just installed that hard drive for him on 05/31/07!! I checked my records, and indeed he was correct.. I removed the hard drive, went to the local Best Buy where the drive was purchased, and attempted to get an in-store replacement, as 40 days is well within warranty. They advised that they are unable to exchange computer components because their POS system would not allow it. No problem, I will go to the manufacturer, which is Hitachi. Hitachi provided more diagnostics tools to tell them exactly what the problem is. Their software reported the hard drive failure was due to excessive shock, suggesting the user has thrown the laptop, dropped it, or sent it on a long ride on the back of a donkey... Or, what I just like to call abuse... However, Hitachi issued an RMA to send the drive back to them for replacement under warranty. I contacted the client to advise of my findings, stating the reason for the failure so he could instruct his son to take much better care of his equipment, and providing him with the information he needed to get the replacement warranty. After all, the warranty is through Hitachi, not me, as the failure is due in no part to my installation of the drive...
Here's where it gets funny.. Compaq's tag line used to be "The 'Q' stands for Quality." I don't know if this is due to the merger with HP or just the fact that they have a bunch of goons working for them now, but quality is nowhere to be found in this leg of my story. I open an online chat with a technician this morning to get a part number and availability for recovery software for this laptop, as Hitachi will simply return a new blank hard drive, and the customer will be able to install the operating system, drivers, and software himself with these CDs, saving him the expense of paying me to do everything manually.. Sometimes I have too much of a heart and cost myself a good deal of money for the sake of being honest :) Anyway, I explain to the "technician" in explicit detail what has transpired, ending with "I simply need to get pricing and availability for recovery cd for a Presario V2405US laptop, serial number ##########.." The technician then begins to diagnose my problem... I then tell her my problem is already diagnosed, i have a faulty hard drive that I am going to replace, I just need the Cds. She then tries, not once, not twice, but 3 times to sell me a new hard drive with the information preinstalled. I tell her again a somewhat shortened and angry version of the story I had already told her a few lines up the chat window, stressing that she should seriously consider reading the customer's comments before posting some obviously pre-written answers to just spit out in the chat window, as obviously she had not read my concerns... She tries again to sell me the hard drive.. God must have been smiling on me at this point, because for a moment, something finally clicked with her, and she proceeds to give me information about the cd set. She gives me a link that should contain information to purchase the discs. I copy and paste the link into the browser, only to find that the link is invalid, and I quickly told her this. She then wants to help me by "troubleshooting" and question my copy and pasting skills. Mind you, I am a computer technician, and am pretty sure I have a firm grip on copying and pasting text.... I took a screenshot and showed her the webpage I had tried to access, at which point she posts the same link again!!! I once again asked her if she was even reading my comments..
We went back and forth for a good twenty minutes. Every part number she gave me was not listed in the online parts store. Her only answer was I needed to call customer service. I explained to her that my whole reason for starting the chat session was to avoid draining most of my morning sitting on the phone with some moron who would undoubltedly speak to me like I am a kindergartener with no computer experience whatsoever... But she had already taken care of the drain, so it could only get better from here.. I told her I see no point in calling them to sit and hold and have them tell me all my part numbers were incorrect.
I finally terminated the session and promptly sent an email to the president of HP/Compaq along with a full transcript of our lengthy conversation. I sure hope to get a callback or some sort of correspondence out of this...
I can't think of too many words with a negative connotation that begin with the letter "Q", but Compaq seriously needs to rethink this whole quality statement... All things considered, that kid needs a nice bag with some semblance of shock protection to keep that laptop in....
God bless,
-myk
Not sure why I keep trying this, but here goes my third attempt. I have tried to blog before.. Did it consistently for a while... Always ended up quitting for one reason or another.. But here I sit, going again.. My wife and kids have been out of town for the past four days, which is probably why I am blogging at midnight even though I have to get up in five hours to get to work, but boredom does strange things to a man...
For example, a few days ago, I decided to surprise my wife by refinishing the bath tub in the master bathroom. Our house is over a hundred years old. Sometimes I wonder if the bathtub is too... It was the strangest tint of 1970's sea foam green when I started. Really should have taken some before/after pictures, but my wife seems to have taken the digital camera with her to Dallas.
So, I bought this kit from Lowe's hardware. Looks simple enough. Should make an old tub look like brand new for only $29.99.. People locally charge over $1000 to refinish a tub. Installing a new one is not an option, as I can't afford to tear out a wall to get a new tub in there. I figure for $29.99, its worth a shot. I read the instructions as well as any man would, and embarked on this exciting adventure. I had already cleaned the tub in anticipation of this glorious event. Next, I used the included trisodium phosphate to further clean the tub, wearing the also included rubber gloves to keep my hands from getting blistered beyond belief. Next, I used the supplied 100-grit fine steel wool to help remove any nicks or burrs from the surface of the tub. After rinsing and drying, it was time to apply the tub paint. The instructions say to wear gloves, but at this point, I am not comfortable using the gloves with the TSP on them. besides, who wears gloves while painting? Typically, you just wash your hands when your done, or, worst case scenario, use some paint thinner to clean them. I painted on the first coast with the precision of a surgeon, but the speed of a jack rabbit. This paint has some sort of self-leveling, non-streaking formula. Even though I was using the recommend old-fashioned paint brush (not sponge), the finish of the first coat was nice and even, and, as advertised, streak free. I could not see a single brush stroke. Now, while painting the outside of the tub, I used a drop cloth to protect the floor. I spilled a little on the cloth, which eventually migrated to my left hand. "No problem, I'll just wash it off, take a break while the first coat dries, and go get some dinner." Boy, was I in for a surprise! I go to the sink of the bathroom to clean the brush first.. the paint wasn't coming off, so I figured I'd just use some thinner in a bucket outside, but for now, I was ready to get those hands clean.. I put my hands into the scalding hot running water with a good portion of soap, and, much to my chagrin, the water was beading up on my hands! About this time, my mother who was at my house helping me with some cleaning advises that the paint is not paint at all.. According to the instructions and the cannister of "paint" it self, it is actually TINTED EPOXY, which is quickly beginning to harden all over my left hand, leaving me looking like a younger, darker, gloved Michael Jackson...
Fortunately, two hours, a trip to Lowe's, and several chemicals later, my hand is pretty close to normal... Moral of this story? When something says to wear protective equipment, those directions are most likely there for a reason. I guess its not really renouncing your manhood to wear gloves.... Sure hope the misses likes it when she gets home. The newly finished tub still has one more day to dry, but it is beautiful! Well worth the effort, and I highly recommend this kit to anyone with a similar situation regarding and old bathtub.. Just be sure to read the directions thoroughly before proceeding.
Later and God bless,
-myk
It's been almost a month since my last "confession"....
