I caught an ad on the radio the other day for a Buddy Miles event in Paradise CA...just about a 2 hour drive from me. This morning I went looking to see when the concert was...LAST NIGHT! But I did run into some of his stuff to share. Back in the day..I used to get to jam with this guy once in a while. A truely awsome drummer.
Here's some of his stuff.
If you get a chance to catch one of his shows you should do it! Especially if you like the Blues.
Ok, it's official...the dog is weird!
We were having leftover pizza for lunch today and Lexxy was sitting there looking like she wanted something. Dogs do this. I was getting ready to put some anchovies on my slices and gave her one.
She kind of chewed on it then dropped it on the floor like she didn't want it. Before I knew it she was rolling on top of it. I asked her what she thought she was doing and she went back to tasting it then rolling in it again. Eventually she ate it.
She's also supposed to like water and be an avid swimmer. Don't know how good of a fishing partner she would be but chances are I can cast farther than she would likely swim.
Now that I know she eats anchovies, I may not want to leave her alone with the fish I catch...at least until I have a picture to prove what I caught.
I was fixing a laptop down in Red Bluff for some people who do animal rescue for dogs. They live on a ranch and have plenty of room for plenty of dogs. They take dogs from the pound that can't be placed in homes and find people to adopt them.
Anyway, we have a new family member, her name is Lexxy.
I can't believe how loving and well-mannered she is. The paperwork from the vet says she's around 4 years old but I was told she just turned two from the lady I got her from. Haven't even heard a bark out of her yet.
One of the reasons to build a fence was to be able to get a dog "someday". Well the fences aren't built yet. Since I had a dalmation before when I was a Fireman, the fact that she was a dalmation, had shots, has been spayed, bearly looks twice at a cat, and seldom barks...how could I say no. Besides she absolutely insisted on giving me a big kiss while I'm trying to fix the laptop.
She had actually been with the people for about a year total. They did find the origional owners of her and returned her to them at one point. It wasn't long before they called her to take the dog back because all she did was whine since her return.
The lady gave me a leash, her bed and a bunch of food for her. You could tell she had actually become part of thier family. I'm going back there on Monday likely to continue fixing that laptop with additional parts that were needed.
I just picked her up last night on my way home from Willows. She seems to have adjusted fairly well to her new diggs overnight. The cat on the otherhand is still in shock. I don't think he feels threatened by her at this point other than her size and the fact that "IT"S A DOG IN MY HOUSE!". The cat's tail has already stopped swelling in fear when they are in the same room or proximity. Time will tell...anyone know what time that will be?
I just love "well planned" road trips. Before I left on Monday I ran my one and only call at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery". Coleman is the largest Fish hatchery in the nation. The local Salmon Festival is coming soon so I'll probably be blogging about that complete with a video. Anyway, after completing the call I went to Hayward. Got there too late to do any real work so I just grabbed a room a LaQuinta.
Both the District Manager and the supervisor for that area was supposed to be in the office at 8:00. I arrived at 8 AM and the doors were locked. So I went out to see If I could buy a map of Hayward...guess what they don't have a map of Hayward in Hayward. When I got back to the office, I saw a car driving away.
I called my supervisor and he gave me her cell phone number. Turns out she had forgot her keys and was going back home. Not sure how she planned on getting there since the San Mateo Bridge was closed since 7 AM and traffic was a mess. This same supervisor lost her company cell phone the next day.
I decided to have breakfast while I was waiting.
I got a basic I need you to work down in the South Bay area today but no list of calls yet so I went and checked out of the hotel. By 11:30 I finally got my print-outs for the day. Only so much you can do in the day when businesses close at 5. I did get 3 printers back in service and ordered extra parts for the 4th.
Since my day ended early I took a drive over to Santa Cruz and had dinner with some old friends in Capitola. We did Chinese at Chinese Village in thier new building near the Capitola Mall. It's been ages since I had been back to my old stomps. The food was better than ever.
Since it was getting late, I decided it was time to go grab a room somewhere and checked out the new hotel on 41st...$179 bucks! I said no way and drove back over to San Jose and grabbed a room at Day's Inn right next door to my last call.
Tuesday I ran 5 printer calls and ended up at 8PM in Redwood City. I drove home from there and got in around 12:30...Just in time for "damage control" in my area...half of which just turned out to be phone calls and getting the paperwork straightened out.
Made the mistake of asking for the day off. Only had one call today and talked the client into putting it off until tomorrow. Thinking it was a nice morning, I layed out where my next fence posts were going to go. Even dug 1 hole and poured concrete...then the boss called. He decided I should drive to Hayward. So here I am at la Quinta.
I hate the Bay Area traffic!
The city is supposed to be putting sidewalks down my side of the street in the spring. I haven't seen the plans yet but I should have my front fence done..or done enough by that time. I've got only 4 more post holes to dig and concrete in some posts. It seems most of the neighbors are aware of it and holding off on planting anything along the street until the project is complete.
If they do it right, cars will be able to park in front of the house, people will have a sidewalk, and posibly even small strips of planting areas for lawn or flowers or something.
Anyway it will be good for the property value. The picture below is looking south along my street. You can bearly see my roof top.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are the biggest sale days in my area. I probably should have one myself one of these days. It's amazing all the things you collect over the years. All the things you "really" need! yeah right!
When they would let you...I was one of the people who would bring back almost as much stuff from the dumps as I would take sometimes. There is something to be said for getting a good deal on something. Not being rich, many of my home furnishings over the years were from the early garage sale era. The plain fact of the matter is that I'm a tightwad sometimes and a good deal for something I really need can only be found at a decent garage sale.
Garage sale days are also a cheap source of entertainment. When I was much younger, we used to drive around following garage sale signs and look for the best deals. Then turn around and resell some of the things for a profit at the flea market or at a garage sale of our own. Even though I no longer frequent garage sales, I do keep my eyes peeled driving past them at warp speed in my daily travels. Yesterday being no exception.
I was on my way to Chico down Highway 99 yesterday afternoon at about 55+ mph and had to make a quick Uee to see if I had seen what I thought I had seen....among all the other crap I spied a boat motor. The guy said it was a 20HP and only wanted $150 bucks for it. He hauled his stuff there on a boat trailer so I had no reason to not believe the fact he also had a 25 horse motor and didn't need this one.
He pointed out the new plugs he had just put in it and told me He had just had it in the river a few weeks prior making sure it ran ok. The only thing wrong with it is the choke linkage/bracket is missing. Supposedly you can pop the cover and operate the choke manually to get it started...which is also supposedly on the first pull. Considering the fact that I currently had only a 6hp motor that runs and a 1956 15hp that needs work, I figured what the heck! So I gave him my number and told him to hold it. I would be back with the cash in 2 hours after I completed my mission in Chico.
I did a little research by serial number on the web when I got it home and it is actually an 1966 18hp Evinrude. The age doesn't really bother me because many people don't take thier boat out over 3-4 times a year. It's not like a car that is driven like hell. Most boat people take care of thier motors to avoid getting stranded up shit creek without a paddle so to speak. So a 41 year old motor is no big deal. I also understand him not knowing it wasn't a 20hp motor as the 15, 18, and 25hp models are almost the same. Lot's of parts are interchangable.
So anyway, I figure it won't be long before I'm able to fish for salmon like the rest of the guys if things work out...and get there and back 3 times faster.
A few weeks ago I was sent to fix a computer that the lady was having trouble "turning it on". She of course was gone but her husband was there. I couldn't find anything wrong...everything including the Internet was working.
While I was there I noticed a bunch of Issac Asimov books on the shelf. Even me not being an avid reader have read many of his books.He was a great SCI-Fi author. It turns out that the husband had read them all. He is a retired electrical engineer who used to design cockpits for the airline industry. Unfortunately, he's now suffering from Alzheimers,
A few years ago, I had purchaced a 7-cdrom Issac Azimov software program about astronomy that I never used. So I offered it to him. Well he's not much of a computer user so he didn't know if he'd want it or not. I told hom I'd stop by and drop it off for him one of these days.
Last friday, the wife called me stating that she still was having problems "turning on the computer" and asked me to come over and look at it...she's 80. I thought this would be a good excuse to bring over the software for her husband. She was also stating that pictures on the screen would go black and white and then miraculously turn to full color again.
Wednesday evening I stopped by.
It turns out that her interpretation of "can't turn on the computer" is that she couldn't get into her emails because the DSL Internet was down. Apparently she had told Dell support the same thing as they sent me out with enough parts to rebuild the system when I was there the first time. Her color problem I found out was "after the computer had been sitting a while". I told her it was probably the screensaver or one of the effects that Vista has.
After getting her Internet working and straightening her out on what "I can't turn my computer on" means to the rest of the world, she asked me If I could come by some time and see what's going on with her husbands old computer.and they would pay me for my time.
No time like the present right?
I was a little suprised to find a DOS machine when I sat down at it. The husband had forgot how to get into his medical record and financial programs that he had been working on for 20 years.
I poked around awhile and discovered a menu program. A little more poking yielded a bunch of files written in Basic. Of course what I was seeing wasn't looking familiar to him so I was confused as he was. And my limited knowledge of Basic didn't help either but I did know how to load his files which was probably the biggest help.
It turns out that he had written a few programs in Basic that automated a lot of his record keeping. They would print out blank forms for him to keep manual ongoing data about his meds and Diabetic readings. Then he could go back in and input the data and produce the final copy for printing.
From what I understand is that when they got the new system they had moved his system and he has had problems ever since. The computer was in a different place, Not sure what that had to do with his memory problem but that didn't really matter.
Anyway, by the time I left he was sitting at the computer checking his records in the computer against what he had already printed and could turn on the computer and get back into his stuff. I don't know what they will do when the computer goes down. GWBasic won't easily run on Vista I assume and the system has been rebuilt 3 times already. the main thing is that he was happy again.
They offered to pay me for my time which I refused. It's not always about the money...but next time I will charge them when they need help. They were lucky that I still posess my DOS skills...few do these days.
Got done a little early today so I stopped a MickyD's and ordered a couple burgers and a fry.
The guy in the speaker said "thanks that will be $4.29".
I drive up to the window 1 and nobody was there and almost went to window 2 when this young redheaded kid shows up and takes my money. I drive up to window 2.
My food arrives and it's the redhead again so I asked him if he had a twin brother. He say "yeah he's working window 1" and wanted to know if he was being rude today or anything.
It makes you wonder how many smartasses there is in the world. My hat's off to the kid for being so prepared to deal with this one.
