9-5-10 Sunday (Colorful Buildings and Clothing)

After a trip to Waffle house for breakfast, we decided to check out the Spa & Sauna Expo going on at the Metrolina.  We walked up to the gate and could tell it was a run down creepy kinda place.  The sign read tickets were 2 for $5.  We turned around and decided it wasn’t worth the money.  A door manager of sorts yelled over to us and gave us free tickets.  I think it was one of those situations where why’d take your money if you’d pay however they’d let you in for free.  Hmmmmm, we’ll need to remember that for the future.

We’d never been to the Metrolina and probably won’t be back very often.  It was more like a flea market with some buildings that could handle small conventions/expos.   The buildings housing the spas didn’t even deserve a photo.

We decided to check out several buildings and booths housing antiques.  Some was nice stuff and while others housed crap.

By the way, since I had to reinstall my blogging software after the laptop disaster of 2010, I wasn’t aware some setting were at their defaults.  I fixed it so that clicking on photos will open a new window (starting with this post) and won’t lose your current place.

2010-09-05 004Above: Jim spotted a throw rug out in the middle of nothingness and decided to wipe his feet.

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Above/below: More fleamarket.

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As we drive through the neighborhood departing the Metrolina:

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Purple and black clothing accessorized with a black glove.  Perhaps he was attending a Labor Day Michael Jackson themed party?  A close up:

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In keeping with our desire to modernize our RVing, Jim and I took off to Camping World in Statesville to look at some more travel trailers.  We looked at several and liked this one:

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The salesman has our trade info and will call us Monday with an offer!  We’re almost ready to accept however tomorrow we’d like to check out an auction/repo place first.  Stay tuned!

Jim has been monitoring the real estate for sales that are within our budget.  With both of our jobs in South Charlotte, that might just be the place to move to (we’re in North Charlotte now).  Every once in a while we go explore a for sale property’s neighborhood and see what the potential is. 

An interesting search yesterday turned up a 4 bedroom, 2000 sf home with a studio apartment attached for under $150,000.  We wonder what’s wrong with it too.  If we were a little closer to making a move, we’d jump right on it and investigate further.

So there you have it.  So much going on.  Check in tomorrow!

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9-4-10 Saturday (Vacation Homes)

TravelTrailerIcon Thanks for asking about the RV.  It’s still in the shop.  Jim was finally able to talk to a salesman (I was working).  They made us a consignment offer and we’re thinking about it.  Jim looked at 3 bumper-pull (aka travel trailer) trailers.  2 can be pulled with our current Jeep and the 3rd we’d need something larger to pull it with.  Naturally I wanted to see them so after work, Jim gave me the tour.  I didn’t take any pictures because we were there so close to closing time that they were starting to lock them up.  We think they’re used judging by the 2008 year however 1 looked like maybe it was new.  Not sure yet.  We liked the model that will need something large because it had a bunk room that would be great as a “guest room” or office/storage space.  Love it.   Here’s a link to it which has several photos.  Price is a concern as is having to get another vehicle.

15875A 2Above: Bunk house room with sofa, and a bunk that can be stored upward.

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Another one that we could tow had a bunk room but it couldn’t be used as anything else and it didn’t have ducted A/C. 

A smaller one that we could currently tow is below.  I can’t find photos right now.

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We’re not sure what to do.  The RV roof needs replaced which is about $5000.  It’s a rubber roof that has gotten chalky and the RV shop says a patch may not adhere.  We might take a chance on a patch for now.  We may trade it in.  Who knows. 

My cold took a turn for the worst and I kinda crashed and burned at about 8pm.  I felt so tired, I went to “lay down” which pretty much equated to me falling asleep on and off until at about 10:30 I got up, took my meds and then officially went to sleep.

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9-6-10 Monday (Famous People)

We went to the RV repo place and looked at all that they had.  Everything they had was in rough shape.  We’ll pass.  In the meantime, Camping World called to say they’d give us $13,000 for our RV.  That’s $7,000 less than Tom Johnson or NADA value.  Camping World can bite me.  I don’t know what we’ll do just yet.

In other bitchy news my “mild” cold is nasty at times and I’m sorry I called it “mild”.  There, I apologized.  Now go away.

We’ve been noticing some changing of the leaves in progress already.  It seems too soon – sheesh.

A spelling error at Walmart?

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The shelf label reads “garlic spread”.

We went to Doug and Bills for a Labor Day BBQ.  We had a  fantastic time.  We met some of their neighbors who worked to convince us to buy a house a few doors down.  The house needs a lot of work but the potential is fantastic.  I took photos but will skip those since I don’t think we’ll actually want the house since we’d like to be further South.

2010-09-06 011Above: Bill (Host)

2010-09-06 002 Above: Doug (Host) and friend Claire.

2010-09-06 003 Above: Doug and Bill’s fat cat, Moe.

2010-09-06 004 Above/below: Claire’s dog Mandi.2010-09-06 005 

2010-09-06 006 Above: Bill

2010-09-06 007 Above: Moe.

2010-09-06 008 Above: Chloe.

2010-09-06 009 Above: Doug.

2010-09-06 010 Above: Doug & Jim.

2010-09-06 030 Above: Bill.

2010-09-06 031 Above: Doug.

2010-09-06 032 Above: Bill serves up coffee.

2010-09-06 029 Above: A piece of everything please.

One of the neighbors is a realtor.  She (Donna Guyton) showed all of us that house up the block.   Donna has an Italian Greyhound named Jester.  We met him later in the evening.

image Above: Donna

It’s right next door to this cool author woman, Ella Bell.  We hung out, ate dinner with her at Doug and Bills and even got to tour her home.

image Above: Ella Bell

I didn’t snap any pics of Donna or Ella.  Ella brought over her dog.  I liked both of these women.  Great women to socialize with and be neighbors with.

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9-3-10 Friday (Criminal Activities)

Anyone who’s been reading the blog or knows us personally, knows that we love a good deal.  We subscribe to several coupon, deals and specials websites that deliver daily savings to our email box.  A deal on livingsocial.com came up for a Crave Dessert Bar savings certificate.  We spent $20 on a $40 certificate.  We bought 2.  That place rocks – what can I say.  I’ve mentioned it several times in the past here and here.   On a side note, Livingsocial.com isn’t just for Charlotte.  You can customize the city.

In the prior entry I mentioned I left work early because I had a new employee to help out.  Well, not any more.  I went into work the next day and had an email waiting for me:

“… background check results did not pass due to criminal history

Informart did not get all the results before posting yesterday. I apologize but he did not pass his background and lied on his application.  Please terminate him immediately for falsification of paperwork...”

Yeah.  True story.  So my newest (been with the company 2 weeks) boss came to my store to interview several applicants.   He spoke with several people.  Some applicants were for positions elsewhere in the company but he did manage to speak with a potential advisor I had met with earlier in the week just as we had hired Paul.  Angela starts after the holiday, on Tuesday.  I like her personality and I think we’ll enjoy working with her.

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I’ve gotten a cold.  Fortunately it’s the mildest cold I think I’ve ever had.  Minor aches, sore throat and mild stuffiness.  It’s come just in time so that I don’t inconvenience those fine employers I have.  I can be sick on the holiday weekend!  I wouldn’t want to put them out or anything.  After all, I’m a company man.

Speaking of the holiday, there’s a good point and bad point to it.  Apparently what ever your weekday day off is will be null and void.  Sunday’s everyone is off and then Monday for the holiday.  The pro is that they can’t screw me into working 6 days.  The con is that there’s no “extra day” for the holiday. 

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9-2-10 Thursday (Restitution)

Today is my typical the-day-I-should-have-off-but-had-to-work-instead-day.  Keeping in the back of my mind that my boss has said many-a-time to run the shop like it’s my business, I decided to go in late today.  Well, an hour late.  I then left at 2.  I have Bob, the advisor there and a new guy, Paul, that I’ve been training since Tuesday.  We got very slow so I figured, why not?

So here’s what else is been going on: My mom has been in the hospital for several days.  She had a mild heart attack and on top of that is having kidney issues.  Her blood pressure was too high to perform some procedure for the heart whereas they enter through the groin.  The next day her pressure was too low.  Now they’re trying to figure out what to do since the dye used for the procedure could damage her kidneys even more.  On the end of this story, be sure to add a big ole “or something like that” since I’m trying to remember the details.

On our Verizon bill, they charged me $6 for an overage on text messaging.  My package provides me with 250, they say I used an additional 60 for a total of 310.  Really?  That’s like 10 a day.  I don’t think so.  I pulled up the itemized bill online and it sure didn’t look like 310.  I called.  The lady said it was 2 pages and the first page was 122.  I said well then if you double that, it would be 244.  She said since she was counting on the screen maybe she lost her place.  I hung up with her and printed the 6 page list.  I counted 166.  I called back.  The guy I spoke with credited me back AND just for the hell of it is giving me 10% off for the next 6 months since they “value my business”.  Hmmmmm. I wasn’t fishing for anything more than what I was owed.  I was impressed.  I wonder if there’s a motive?

One of my lube techs made a pretty big mistake.  He confused 2 similar oil filter part numbers and installed the incorrect one.  It fell off the customers car, the oil drained out and the engine seized.  Replacement of the engine along with labor and rental was over $3000.  Today my boss’s boss emailed me this form to print out and have the employee sign. 

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I feel bad for the guy.  With 20 years in the car business, I’ve never seen a company actually deduct from the employee for a mistake.  Isn’t that what “garage insurance” is for?  I hope in the end it was all a scare tactic for the employee and that they never deduct anything for him.   The amount owed is some sort of formula they have for restitution.  The worst?  I had to be the one to have him sign it. 

Thanks to Charlotteonthecheap.com for posting this awesome coupon for Waffle House.  A free waffle!

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That’s all I got!

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