6-2-13 Sunday (Feminine Shapes)

A couple of weeks ago they started installing the sprinkler system.  They ran into lots of issues.  The ground is filled with rocks, stones and clay.  They needed to bring in some machinery to get into the ground.  First they called to have the utilities marked.  On Thursday, they had to bring on one of these.

The owner guy said that usually he doesn’t have these issues but our ground is tough.

Thursday night our cable, phone and internet didn’t work (all through Time Warner).  I’m sure they severed a line.  They said they didn’t but we’ll found out after Time Warner sends someone out Saturday (we’ll be in Augusta). 

On Friday, I came home to see this.

No workers present.  I emailed the photo to the sprinkler dude with “they left my yard like this?”  Tools and parts all over.  He emailed back an apology stating that a father and son team was working and the son fell ill, the father took him to the doctor.  I don’t know what happened.

I loaded up the RAV4 with the last minute stuff, grabbed Dasher, picked up Jim, we ate some Publix subs and made it to Augusta.

On Saturday we got up late. I have to tell you, that over the past few visits, we’ve been darkening the bedroom.  We bought truck size reflective sun visors to put in the bedroom windows.

Having it nice and dark and cold has been awesome.  Maybe too awesome.  We didn’t wake up till 11am.  I felt like a teenager.

We went to lunch with Jeff and Paul to Nacho Mamas.  This was one of the places that was closed last weekend.  Jim and I both has quesadillas.  Jim’s was a custom order veggie combo of mushrooms, spinach, and zucchini.  Mine was pork and black bean. We also all shared guacamole and a queso dip.  Both very good as well.  It was pretty good food, we’ll be back.

When we got back to the campground, we headed to the pool.  The water was much warmer than last week.  The sun was strong, the water cool, it made for a nice time.  Afterwards, it was nap time! 

I’m not sure how long we slept but when we woke up we lounged around, eventually got dressed and went to a Chinese restaurant, New Ming Wah.  We ate there last year.  We had a family platter and we took home 3 large containers of left overs.  It was tasty.

On Sunday, we readied the RV for it’s week without us. We close the blinds, vacuum/mop, empty the black and gray tanks, collect the towels, drain the ice maker, take out the trash and cut off the water supply.  We then went to the Boll Weevil for lunch.  We enjoyed our meal, returned to the RV to finish up last minute stuff, collect Dasher and then hit the road for the 3 hour drive.  That’s much different from a 3 hour tour. 

I need to catch up on some photos I had in my phone.  Ready?

Above: This was in the hallway of my office building.  I really wanted to cap it with an electrical wire nut and write, “there, I fixed it.”

Above: Really?  Are you too stupid to boil pasta and open a jar of sauce?  I can’t even imagine this tasting any good.

Above: Meanwhile at Walmart.  American Crown, made in China.  Face palm.

Above: Everyone at work got a Dixie cup with soil and wildflower seeds to support a slogan/program they had going on.  Mine sprouted in a day or two.  A coworker’s did not.  She just about obsessed about it.  One night (mine had several more sprouts by this time) after she left, I took mine and swapped it with hers.  She came in the next morning and was thrilled and told everyone all about how it came to life with a vengeance.  I never told her.  It’s kinda funny.

Above: Mmmmmm a 3.5oz steak for a dollar from the Dollar Tree will go nicely with your Hamburger Helper Spaghetti. 

Above: Ladies, this just in… also at the Dollar tree.  Keep in mind they create a more feminine shape… as opposed to ?

Above: A woodpecker screwing up our fence.

5-27-13 Monday (Girls Just Wanna Have… Makeup)

Having a long weekend was nice. Thursday night we packed up the car as much as possible. On Friday, after work, I went home, loaded up the remainder of things, grabbed the dog and went South to pickup Jim for work.  Pretty much our usual I guess. Jim leaves his car at work and we continue onto Augusta.  Our new norm is that Jim orders Publix subs via the internet and then we pick them up several miles down the interstate in Tega Cay, SC.  The store has a great outdoor table area that is always shaded at our time of arrival.  One of us goes inside to pick up the subs and the other waits with the dog.  We love their subs!  Yum!  Roast beef and cheese for Jim and the Italian for me.

We arrived at the campground at about 9ish, unpacked, relaxed and went to bed.  Saturday we shopped, socialized and went to a place in downtown Augusta called The Cotton Patch.  Cool building.  It may have been an old mill.  There’s so many old mills through the Carolinas.  I had a club that was quite tasty.  It’s actually hard to find a decent club sandwich!  We spotted a Saturday Market on the River event that we were going to walk through after lunch but by the time we finished… it was gone.  We found that it’s a weekly deal so we’ll go next weekend.  *unfortunately, I’m typing this post from August the following weekend and we’re not gonna make it there.  Maybe the next time?

We went to Walmart.  I spotted a Walmartian.

She reminded me of an old Cyndi Lauper groupie.  She had lots of things strapped to herself, gobs of excessively applied makeup, and luggage that she wheeled around.  Homeless?  I wouldn’t think so with all that makeup on so perhaps just a sick woman.  As they say in the South, bless her heart.

Saturday night dinner was at Joe’s Underground Pub.  The place was empty.  I guess it was a little early for their bar business?  We went in with a Groupon.  We both ordered chicken salad sandwiches.  The chicken salad is made in house and was pretty good.

When we’re at the RV, Dasher sits in the booth with us.  He could barely fit up there with the cone on.  We couldn’t really lift him because he had stitches everywhere we’d normally brace our hands under to lift him.  His cone isn’t a good fit because he’s small with a long snout so the vet always has to tape the cone closed rather than the snaps that are provided.  We decided to buy Velcro and attach that to the cone so that we could take it off and reinstall easily.  Unfortunately he’ll have to wear it in bed so that he doesn’t lick at his wounds while we’re sleeping.  Unfortunately while Jim was showering I wasn’t watching Dasher and he removed the stitches from a wound.  Luckily it was healed enough to not bleed but still look raw.  I’m a bad parent.

Sunday afternoon I went to the pool while Jim finished up a project at the RV. There were absolutely no available chairs.  No one was in the pool, and with one dip of my foot, I could tell why.  It was too cold.  The thing about the chairs was that way too many of them had towels on them with no people.  If they weren’t in the pool then where the hell were they?  That really pissed me off.  It’s very inconsiderate.  In just about a tizzy, I turned around and walked back to the RV.  Jim had just gotten ready to come meet me so why nixed the pool idea and went to lunch instead.

We grabbed our campground friend, Paul, and headed to lunch at The Garlic Clove.  This is our second visit to this yummy Italian eatery.  I think we finally found a non-Olive Garden yum yum spot.  The night before we went there just for take out of cake.  On Facebook, they posted this:

It was a peanut butter cake and unbelievable moist.  Social media worked.

For dinner, one of the residents in the campground hosted a BBQ.  It was huge.  There were more people than their huge tent and site could handle so we spilled out onto some of the other sites.  It was a great time, great food.  We brought spinach dip. 

Monday it was time to depart, but first lunch!  We attempted to eat at a few local restaurants in downtown but our first and second choice place were closed for the holiday.  We settled on Mellow Mushroom pizza.  It’s yummy but it’s a chain and we wanted to eat local.  Oh well.

When we got back to Charlotte, we traded Jim’s 2005 BMW in on a RAV4.  He’d been eyeballing this vehicle on the internet.  Years ago we had a 2002 Toyota RAV4.  It was a 4 cylinder but we liked it.  This is a 2010 RAV4 with a 6 cylinder and an incredibly powerful engine.  It only has 15,000 miles on it.  It was several thousand dollars cheaper at Parks Chevrolet than Jim had seen elsewhere.  We negotiated a little more but they wouldn’t come down on the price.  The best we could do is negotiate on the trade in value.  We did and arrived at a fair deal.

I will tell you that I received an email from our insurance agent:

James & Garret,

The dealership called to day to change out the '05 BMW with the '10 Rav 4.

I have attached a temporary id card to use until you receive the original in the mail.

I have never had a dealership do that.  How awesome!  Now that’s great service.

5-19-13 Sunday (They Did)

What a busy weekend!

Thursday night we had Ruby and Jamie’s wedding rehearsal followed by a pizza party at their house.  For their wedding (Friday), I took 4 hours PTO.  The pizza party was fun, alcohol was flowing and I time marched on.  I had to call out sick for the 4 hours I didn’t have scheduled. 

On Friday afternoon, Jim and I got ready for the wedding.  Jim was a groomsman and the limo was to pick us up at about 4ish.  When the limo arrived, it was smaller than anticipated and so one of the groomsman was going to have to sit up front with the driver.  Since I wasn’t in the wedding party, I opted to stay home and ride to the venue later myself.  In the meantime, I was given the task of picking up some stuff from the bride’s house.  It all worked out.  Now Jim and I had a car available so we didn’t have to wait on others.

The wedding was awesome.  The venue was an old bank.  The lobby, where the ceremony and reception was held was so ornate and pretty.  The original vault was cool looking.  It can be seen in a few rehearsal photos I took but was covered during the actual wedding.

Above: Jim was a Groomsman.

Above: Jamie and Ruby.

Above: Jim and our friend Beth.

Above: Jim, Ruby, Garret

Above/Below: Me and Angie

Saturday morning, like way too early, we dragged ourselves out of bed and dropped Dasher off to the vet to have surgery.  Once again, he’s got “growths” that needed to be removed.

Also on Saturday, work begins on our sprinkler system install.  It’s a cheap way of doing it since the guy basically connects lines to the hose bib and runs a special hose with sprinkler heads underground.  If it were done the expensive way, we’d have to get a special water meter, permit, license to do this, a degree in that, and all the other bullshit the county does to collect an extra $2k. Naturally, they had issues.  In most places the ground is too hard so he’s going to have to rent a trench digger.  First he had to call and get the utilities marked.  It’s a work in progress.

Continuing the story of Budget and their Priceline scam, a refresher.  When we arrived in FL and went to the Budget counter to pick up our car per the Priceline reservation, we made no changes.  No upgrades, no deletions.  We were asked if we wanted to upgrade from the Hyundai Accent to the Elantra.  We declined.  We ended up getting an Elantra anyway which I suspect was all they had left.  Funny how that worked.  We were presented with an $11.63 balance.  We questioned it, she said it was what Priceline doesn’t cover.  Meanwhile, the next agent over had presented another customer with the exact same scenario.  We just signed.  It was after 10pm.  Upon return of the car, I questioned it.  She said it was a fee Priceline charges.  I told her that wasn’t true since Budget was collecting the monies.  She said we’d have to call corporate.   We did.

Here’s some excerpts of emails back and forth.  It’s in purple (we) blue (they) so feel free to skip over the email stuff if you don’t really give a crap:

I made this reservation via Priceline.  Per Priceline when you accepted this reservation, ALL fees and charges were to be covered.  There were to be NO additional charges.  Why was I charged this fee at the counter. When can I expect the refund I am due?

Typically, at the time of every Budget reservation, we ask renters to provide us with important information that can affect your rate. These details include expected duration of your rental, dates, times and locations. This information is gathered through our reservation centers, rental counters, from a web site, or from a travel agent. Your rental fee was calculated based on this data, with the understanding that if any of your rental parameters changed at any point, it could affect your quoted rate.

After reviewing our records carefully, we have determined that this is what happened in your case. When your rental circumstances changed, a different rate (that accurately met your new rental parameters) was applied to your contract. I am sorry for any miscommunication or inconvenience.

Because we value your business, we have adjusted the rental agreement in the amount of 11.63 USD. As the final charges for the rental have not processed yet, the hold on your credit card in the amount of 11.63 USD will simply expire and be returned to your available use. To confirm how long the authorization will hold, please contact your financial institution for their hold time.

Thank you for the refund but I'm not satisfied with the explanation.  I made no changes to the rental.  Please provide me with an explanation of what changed causing fees to be added.  At the time I picked up this reservation, another customer was charged the same thing.  It sounds to me as though you are doing this to all of your customers.  What changes were made?

The reservation was booked for pick up and return at 10:00 PM. When the rental was returned at 12:00 PM, the rate value changed.

Something still isn't right.  My plane got in at 10pm, I picked up at 10ishpm.  The charge was billed to me upon PICKUP.  So how was a $10.63 charge calculated then.  The terms did not change. Incidentally, I returned the car Monday 1/13/13 before noon.  Again, my return info shouldn't matter since this charge was created at the time I picked up my rental.

They ended the banter by thanking me for my feedback.  Jim filed a complaint with the FL state attorney’s office and we’re working on getting the info to Priceline.  Scum bags.

That’s all I got!

5-13-13 Monday (COD)

With my lending authority comes Saturday rotations.  One a month.  I also pulled regular overtime throughout the week so I ended with 11 point something in overtime hours.  I love my job but prefer not to do Saturdays.  On Saturday night Jim and our friend Angie went to Columbia for a Kenny Chesney concert.  I don’t like country and I don’t like concerts.  After work, Jim and I grabbed some lunch before he and Angie hit the road.  I went on to do the grocery shopping and buy another Roomba at Bed, Bath and Beyond.  20% off coupon and a bunch of Discover card points we redeemed kept the out of pocket expense to a minimum. 

Jim said he and Angie enjoyed the concert.  They wanted $60 to park.  They found some parking at a Shriners place for $20.  Shit like that makes me mad. 

Forward a week later and I’m now continuing this blog post from Fort Myers, FL.  I have not one photo as proof.  You’ll have to trust me.

I took Friday off of work.  I went to the podiatrist in the morning to have some foot pain looked at.  I was told to wear inserts I have from 2004 or at least generic inserts or he can customer make new orthotics.  I was kinda impressed with his honesty.  I saw the kit used to made customer orthotics in his office and he didn’t push them on me.  The office was pretty old and antiquated.  I don’t even think I saw a computer there.  When I checked out, the receptionist said the copay was $25.  I asked if they took Discover.  She said “cash or check only.”  I said, “I wish I would have known that, since I don’t have much cash.”  She went onto say how she told me, she tells everyone.  I told her she didn’t, she said she wasn’t going to argue.  I gave her $19 of the $25 told her to bill me and left with a crappy receipt out of one of those Office Depot generic receipt books.  I was mad.  I was particularly mad when I had that moment of “I wish I would have said…”  I would have said, “I think I’d remember if you told me something so rare as “I only take checks or cash.”  That’s shocking to me.  I’d remember that.  I also wish I would have said “you already did” when she said she wasn’t going to argue with me.  I had decided I’d be writing a $6 check and a personal note to the doctor and I’d say this and I’d say that but after cooling down, I’m not sure I’ll bother.  But I do think her reply should have been, “I’m sorry, I say it all the time maybe I let one slip by.  Let’s resolve this.” 

I spent the remainder of the day vacuuming, mopping, dusting, etc.  Angie was coming to spend the weekend caring for Dasher.  Jim worked a half day.

We flew out Friday evening out of Greenville, SC.  Jim got a hell of a deal. $230 roundtrip for 2 of us. We had to drive 1.5 hours to Greenville but it was worth it.  We paid like $13 each to pick our seats for an emergency row.  It was only an hour and half flight but the leg room was nice.  There was some unnerving turbulence and a rough landing but otherwise OK. 

We landed in Punta Gorda and went to the Budget Rental car line.  It was a short line compared to Enterprise and the others.  It was already 10pm.  Even though I paid via Priceline I was told I had to pay $12 for taxes/fees that weren’t covered.  We didn’t argue but we will. 

We met up at Perkins with Mike, Dave and David.  We had a short yet great visit.  We Pricelined a one night stay at the same hotel we were in last month.  This time we weren’t in a 2 bedroom suite but that’s just fine.  The other 2 nights we stayed with Jim’s mom and Morgan.  It was a low key weekend.  Jim visited his Dad and Julie on Saturday and visited with his Mom on Sunday.  I spent Saturday and Sunday with my Mom and Dad as well as seeing my cousin and Aunt. 

It was a short visit but it was a good one.

Pets from the trip:

Above: Jim and Rusty

Above: Cookie

Above: Oreo laying on a pile of cat toys.

Above/Below: I can’t remember my Mom’s bird’s names.

A couple of inflight photos:

Above: No stretchy pouches!  That made it very annoying not to be able to store drink bottles or trash!

Above: Jim admires the engine and is pretty sure in the event of an emergency, we’ll go quick.

Above: Just making sure there’s no one out on the wing.

4-29-13 Monday (Captain Penis)

Now to catch you up on work stuff.  I love my job, have I mentioned that before?  I love the critical thinking. Ummmmm, I don’t necessarily love the mandatory overtime of 4 hours a week that came with my lending authority.  There’s already a 10% chance that Dasher can’t hold it in before I get home.  Using our neighborhood watch email, Jim put out an email in search of someone who can let Dasher out.  We found an 18 year old across the street.  $20 a week.  According to door lock entry codes in and out of the house, she spends about 6 minutes letting Dasher into the backyard to do his thing.  Now I can work overtime and not worry about Dasher’s urinary needs.

We were leery about supplying someone with a key.  The key can be copied.  A friend or someone could take her key and other neurotic thoughts.  We bought an electronic door lock that links to the computer where we can set up codes and such.  We can use our smartphone to remotely unlock the door or see who has come/gone using a unique code assigned to them.  It’s a $300 investment between the computer hub and the lock itself from a Lowes and Schlage partnership of sorts.  It’s totally expandable with thermostats, alarms, sensors, etc.  The software and controller hub Lowes uses is called Iris.  It’s really cool but not quite as powerful as we want.  We were expecting to be able to create one time use codes or limit a code to specific times or days of the week.  It just isn’t that advanced.  I called the support desk to see if I was missing something, and I’m not.  Then there’s levels to the software. For free you get this, that or the other thing and for premium ($9 a month) you get this, that and the other thing.  Even with premium, it still won’t do exactly what we want.  So with further research, days of it, I found other hubs (controllers) that will work with the door lock (Z-Wave).  I’m going with Mi Casa Verde’s VeraLite.  It’s $80 more than our previous setup but there’s no monthly fee.  It will do what we want.

We made another trip to Augusta this weekend.  That’s 3 weekends in a row.  We won’t be back for a few weeks.  We’ve got a trip to Florida coming up, Ruby and Jamie’s wedding and a weekend I have to work  a Saturday. 

On Saturday night, we went into downtown Augusta for dinner.  Afterwards, we walked around hoping we’d leave weighing less than when when we arrived.  That didn’t happen.  Walking past a store front, I spotted this:

I exclaimed, “Is that a penis complete with balls?” Indeed it was.  The device it holds in its hands was on a shelf behind it.  I could barely make out that it was some device of sorts.  The front door told the story:

You never know what you’ll see in downtown Augusta.