Coffee Pot #3 March 2012 5+ years and going strong and its for all to chat. Plenty of coffee and sweet ice tea for all. Come and join us and chat. GRITS for the Yankees.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning.

So far the sun is still shining..and he is doing a bit better this morning. Still have to phone up a few more of his family...they lost phone service to their home last night..some wonderful nincumpoop went and drove their car through a telephone pole and knocked service out. DUI...

Have some things to get done this afternoon..one is to get some stuff down to Goodwill and get some more pink foam...the stuff disappears quicker around here sometimes...

Have a good day people!!

[sir james I]

55 with sun. 60s today.

I'm taking granny out this morning, she has an appointment at an office on a very wide busy road. And although she could get there on her own she likes that I take her. We will be listening to a sales pitch this afternoon on replacing the last 3 old windows(alum frames) in our house. We did it this way so we could pay  as we bought..I've been thinking we might need to change the name of the pot to the Knitting Society if we are going to be censored for having opinion's.  I had a post deleted yesterday that had absolutely nothing to do with politics...S.J.

[KRM]

 

 

Good morning guys,

44 and sunny, going up to the 70s today. Must be nice the cat wanted out. 

Work from home today after two days setting up the laptop it seem all is well.

Well it didn’t take long for the bureaucratic

infighting to start on this job. It seems everyone wants to get it done but no one wants to do any work in Fargo. Go figure.   Well I am not going to be the Loan Ranger on this project so they better figure something out and find some worker bees.

There is a whole generation out there that only talks and thinks in ME, MINE, & I. They have no idea what WE, OURS, & US, means. Problem is the people my age raised them. And they call us THE ENTITLEMENT GENERATION.

8n, I like those 21’ flat screens. I had one at my old desk but the one I have at home is the same as the one you just got rid of.

Darren, Those fires are all over the news. Hope you stay out of harms way.

Rich,

 

"Was it Jefferson that said the the people shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of the people? Seems to me that the masses are afraid of their government.....and too stupid to know otherwise

(or lazy)" 

 

So true!

SJ, Knitting Society Humm…… has a nice ring to it.

Prayers to those in need.

Have a good day all.

Kev.

 

[anjdevil2]

Kev - AGREE!

Mornin' gents

My day off....running the Princess off to college at 12ish, she has a free pass to the tanning salon, so we'll be going there first then college.

Supposed to hit 70 today, tis a bit breezy again, but if it works out I may take a trip on the Hog ...or work on the Nissan (exhaust leak).

Seems to me that if there is a post deletion, a note/e-mail should be sent stating why....since we are (mostly) all civil....those that complain must not be part of the "mainstream" in MY opinion.  I'll go out on a limb and say that the bulk of us "regulars" are like minded citizens.  Juuuuust sayin'.....

Greenburgs in Edison this weekend, I may see if I can make the trip, being its Palm Sunday and all....have to check my schedule, cuz I really want to go look.  Hudson & AF...Youse giz goin'?

That's all from here ... for now...see ya inna bit!

 

[dwiemer]

Good morning.  Getting ready to head in.  Finished watching the episode on the long branch route from Jersey.  Lots of memories in the area.  

Joe, we have the equipment for doing the "mini bypass", and they make lots of noise about doing them, truth be told, it is quite limited in the patients that you do it on.  Several years ago, they had lots of publicity about doing "off pump" bypass.  Now there are fewer places doing it.  One issue is a big learning curve, and who wants to be on the front side of the curve?  More importantly, they have found that the stroke incidence is higher, as is early graft closure and mortality.  Unfortunately, many folks try to use a gimmick to sell the service.  Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

Time to get heading out.  We have plenty to get to, so I hope to check in later.

Dennis

[jeffrey-wimberly]

anjdevil2

Was it Jefferson that said the the people shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of the people?

Thomas Jefferson. Smart guy.

The actual quote is "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

A variation of this was used in the V for Vendetta movie in 2005. The quote in this was: "People should not fear their government. Government should fear their people."

[Stourbridge Lion]

Good Morning CTTFans!

*Cough*      *Cough*      *Cough*

News from the fire, it's still 0% contained but has only grow to 4,500 acres.  We have three large bombers attacking this from the air plus other small aircraft making drops.  Homes lost is currently listed at 23 with 2 fatalities and 1 missing.  The two lost are identified as Sam Lamar Lucas, 77, and his wife Linda M. Lucas, 76; they were found inside/near a home.

Here are some photos from Day #2

[wrmcclellan]

Good morning all!

Taking a quick break. Cloudy here and should be 80 again today.

Jeffrey - how did you do the interior on that building? Looks great!

Continuing with digging out the excess soil around where we had the pool deck rebuilt last fall. Cannot get a land scape company to even give us a quote. Went through 5 and they would not even return our followup call. Yet they are constantly in the news complaining about lack of work

Have a great day all!

[Stourbridge Lion]

dwiemer

Darren, did they establish cause of death?  I know they were not fire or ems personnel, but they did not know further at the time.  I was in Golden this past week, beautiful area.

Dennis 

I understand that official cause it is still under investigation and I believe these are the first civilian deaths in a wild fire since at least 1999 if not longer here.  The odds are they stayed behind to try to save their house and lost their lives from the heat / smoke overtaking them as the fire closed in on them.

[Anonymous]

Mornin' Fellas

SJ - maybe since I quoted your post they deleted both of them because of my response? Who knows... or maybe they don't want us interacting any more? [ handshake ]

What drives me nuts about gas prices is that many of the stations around here are charging more when you pay by CC instead of Cash. I've seen as little as 5 cents more to as much as 10 cents more (per gallon). There is NO reason for that at all.

BTW - on a non-political matter - the sky was blue this morning, the grass green, and the Sun a nice shade of whitish yellow.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

wrmcclellan

Jeffrey - how did you do the interior on that building? Looks great!

It's just a simple piece of printed paper placed behind the windows and backlit by the light in the building.

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps near 70.  Finally a quiet night at home.  Got the yard mowed.  Watched "Ringer".  For once a TV program that I enjoyed. 

Quote from Dennis W.  " Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."  Wish my neighbor had followed that advice concerning some trees between us. 

Darren, be careful around that fire.  Nasty looking.  I had bacon and biscuits on the dining car for breakfast before sending it on to "Points East".  TBIL and I can depart early tonight for an extended run.  Make sure we have lots of banilla and the "saucy wench" will have lots of zucchini bread, my favorite non-chocolate food.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Stourbridge Lion]

8ntruck

Stourbridge Lion - are those auxilary jet engines on the large firefighting aircraft?

I don't know.  What I do know is these are old Submarine Hunter military planes that were retired and converted into fire fighting aircraft.  It's amazing to watch these old planes in action and when they drop their loads you would think the wings would come off at times depending on how hard they have to lift to get back out of the canyon after making each pass...

UPDATE:  I have found out these are "Lockheed P-2E Neptune" aircraft's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_P-2_Neptune

Development began early in World War II, but compared to other aircraft in development at the time, it was considered a low priority. It was not until 1944 that the program went into full swing. A major factor in the design was ease of manufacture and maintenance, and this may have been a major factor in the type's long life and worldwide success. The first aircraft flew in 1945. Production began in 1946, and the aircraft was accepted into service in 1947.

It was one of the first aircraft to be fitted in operational service with both piston and jet engines. The Convair B-36, several Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter, Fairchild C-123 Provider, and Avro Shackleton aircraft were also so equipped. The jet engines were fitted with intake doors that could be closed for economical piston-engine only searching operations. The jet engines could be employed for sprint or short field take-off, but were seldom used in typical operations.

Normal crew access was via a ladder on the aft bulkhead of the nose wheel well to a hatch on the left side of the wheel well, then forward to the observer nose or up through another hatch to the main deck. There was also a hatch in the floor of the after fuselage, near the sonobuoy chutes.

[KRM]

Hey guys,

I don’t often ask for things but we are a good group of guys.

I got a call from the daughter and after a year of working for a law firm with the promise of full time employment she has been laid off. Needless to say she is very upset trying to get a start in her and the granddaughter’s life. On top of that her and Dan are just getting ready to move into their first house.. I knew something was up when they kept putting off her review that they said they would do in December. Seems they took on someone else for the full time position. Someone in the in crowd I bet.

Anyway any Prayers would be appreciated.

Thanks ,

Kev

[RockIsland52]

lionroar88

..........Fife - I wear the pants... I just have to get permission on which ones! TheQ wants me to get the layout finished and she is fully aware that means I have to have time down in the trainroom to git er done. She wants me to get the layout finished because she wants the bins out of the basement and the only place for the bins is under the layout and I can't work on the layout if the bins are under it... so... you now have the rest of the story.

Brent......clever, dangerous stalemate, but clever. 

Jack

[jeffrey-wimberly]

KRM

I got a call from the daughter and after a year of working for a law firm with the promise of full time employment she has been laid off.

Boy, things like that really$1****$2me off! Here she goes and works for them with the promise of going full-time and what do they do? Probably give the job to the bosses favorite secretary or something of that sort. They've got my prayers and wishes for a good outcome to this. I hope she got the promise in writing. I learned a long time ago get everything in writing, witnessed and notarized.

[RockIsland52]

lionroar88

Mornin' Fellas

........What drives me nuts about gas prices is that many of the stations around here are charging more when you pay by CC instead of Cash. I've seen as little as 5 cents more to as much as 10 cents more (per gallon). There is NO reason for that at all.

Brent.........the reason is the bank fee charged to the vendor by the bank for accepting the credit card.  The fees can vary depending on the contract, 3.5%-6% over the charged amount per transaction.  The vendor (gas station) can offer its customers the lower cash price or the higher "charge" price.  Otherwise, that is quite the chunk of gross profit the vendor loses by doing nothing.

I like having options if I can save on the purchase by paying cash.  Like most of us I have gotten used to carrying very little cash on me and using the card for virtually everything.  And yes, it is a lot easier and convenient using a debit or credit card.  But the banks keep taking it to us with the fees like never before. 

My bank announced last September that as of 1/1/12 they were going to start charging me/their customers a transaction fee on each transaction for me to use my debit card.  Other national banks had announced the same.  When the hue and cry from customers became great, and folks started to pull their money out of those national banks, the banks ALL withdrew their new fee plan and slunk away.  I expect that we have nor heard the end of this transaction fee proposal, and the banks will be back at it in short order. 

Me?  I was ready to bail on my bank of 23 years, enough already.  I have what they need, $$$.  They have nothing I can't get somewhere else for less.  If they want to keep me as a customer they had better stop bleeding me.  I have options.  I will switch to a privately-owned local bank in a heartbeat when that comes to pass.

Jack 

[RockIsland52]

KRM

Hey guys,

I don’t often ask for things but we are a good group of guys.

I got a call from the daughter and after a year of working for a law firm with the promise of full time employment she has been laid off. Needless to say she is very upset trying to get a start in her and the granddaughter’s life. On top of that her and Dan are just getting ready to move into their first house.. I knew something was up when they kept putting off her review that they said they would do in December. Seems they took on someone else for the full time position. Someone in the in crowd I bet.

Anyway any Prayers would be appreciated.

Thanks ,

Kev

Well, I don't care about the sayings "business is business" and "may the best person win." 

Situations like this reinforce the trend of the past 25 years, a lack of loyalty from employees toward their employers.  And the employers have EARNED this lack of loyalty. 

This firm could have, and should have, conducted quarterly reviews of your daughter, shot straight with her regarding her performance, provided a list of what they perceived to be her strengths and weakness, her developmental needs, her progress, and provided some mentorship towards these ends.  Morally and ethically, they also should have told her months ago she was not the leading candidate for the full time position.

BUT........ironically she now she needs these very same people for a solid recommendation moving forward in her quest for a position.  She is going to have to stuff this severe disappointment down inside.

You have my prayers for your daughter.  

Complaining and commiserating don't help here.

I would suggest she request a face-to-face with one of the partners toward this end, asking if he/she could personally recommend her to someone they know, preferably someone with an opening. 

Hard as it is to do, she has to, for her own sake.  She can't let her pride and hurt feelings and the sense of unfairness interfere  She now has some experience that puts her ahead of the herd.  With this form of networking, she very well could land on her feet with another opportunity faster than she might think.

Jack

[Hudson#685]

Lunchtime,

Rich: 70? it is only 57 and windy. My son and I are thinking about going to the Greenburg Show on Sunday. My wife told me that he may have to work on his inlaws house this Sunday. We are doing more looking than buying this time. Saving for York. The last major Forrest Fire that I can think of was the "Jake's Branch" Fire in 2002, when it jumped the Parkway and took out the houses. We were there for a week.

Kevin: Me, Mine and I, get used to it. I hear it all of the time. Prayers for your Daughter that she may find a Great Job and career.

8n: 2 new screens from IT. WOW, you must rate. Mine is the same vintage as your old ones.

Darren, Prayers for the fire victims and their families. Also for the firefighters safety and the home owners.

Thoughts and Prayers for all in need. Right now we have plenty.

John

[Hudson#685]

Rich,

Interrupted while typing. My Brother in Law, AF53, Ray may have to work on his inlaws house on Sunday and he may not make the show.

John

[sir james I]

Brent I don't think either of us posted anything that was against forum rules so some form of censorship was involved here. We should not have to be subjected to someone else's likes or dislikes because he can push the button.This will probably disappear too.

[KRM]

sir james I

Brent I don't think either of us posted anything that was against forum rules so some form of censorship was involved here. We should not have to be subjected to someone else's likes or dislikes because he can push the button.This will probably disappear too.

Just don't melt away SJ.

[LawsonFarmsRR]

Jack, I must be missing something. What is the advantage of a debt card other than you are using your  own money. If it is lost or stolen and used you are out the money. With a credit card you are not liable and no fees.

Pat

[RockIsland52]

Hudson#685

Lunchtime,

 8n: 2 new screens from IT. WOW, you must rate. Mine is the same vintage as your old ones.

Darren, Prayers for the fire victims and their families. Also for the firefighters safety and the home owners.

Thoughts and Prayers for all in need. Right now we have plenty.

John

8n and KEV and HudsonJohn........at her place of work, about 15 months ago my wife got verbal approval and then a signed/approved requisition for a budgeted new laptop since she had previously  "inherited" an ancient one someone else had already given up on  After she dropped the approved and budgeted requisition off on the IT guy's desk (in charge of that stuff), it took him 5 months just to order it!!!!  This despite her following up with the guy time and again.  In the interim, she had to continue to work that 5 months, at the office and at home (evenings and weekends), with the snail laptop.  Figure the lost productivity to the company was alone worth 10 times what the laptop cost.  My wife works far above and beyond the call of duty, but at times she can be too polite.

What follows is a true story:

Toward the latter stages of this debacle, I finally observed to my wife that this unacceptable delay was interfering with our personal life and my time with her.  My stated solution:  I was going to go into her place of work unnanounced, sit myself down in the IT guy's office, and refuse to move or let him work until the order was placed by phone as I sat there, that I was not going to tolerate this one more minute. 

If I got any lip from him, I was going to raise up my cell phone (on speaker) with the Corporate IT VP's phone number on speed dial, then let him listen to what came next.  I felt this was a far more civil and professional way of handling things versus my first idea, which was to run him over in the parking lot with my car, twice just to make sure. 

My wife finally reacted.  She stormed back into work the next day and filled in for me, doing a credible job to boot.  She got her laptop with less effort than just one of our 50 conversations we had at home over the matter.  Why?  She confronted the guy head on, face-to-face, and told him her wait was over, one way or the other.  She had her new laptop in less than a week.

Fast forward......when the time came a couple of weeks ago for her to receive a new company cell phone (same guy in charge of that ), that process took a week for her to get her new phone.

Jack.    

[RockIsland52]

LawsonFarmsRR

Jack, I must be missing something. What is the advantage of a debt card other than you are using your  own money. If it is lost or stolen and used you are out the money. With a credit card you are not liable and no fees.

Pat

Pat......my single card works as both a debit card (not a cash advance) and a credit card, with a revolving line of credit (and overdraft protection), whichever way I choose to use it at that moment, with the same protections as you state.  The wife and I moved off credit cards a few years back and have been operating on a cash basis (pure debit) ever since.  Wifey had to go through some temporary withdrawal pains when the cards, especially her store cards, were collected and stored in the bank vault. 

Each of us now carry just one card, each with its own card number to separate transactions between what is hers and what is mine, the bank card that does it all. 

And we don't miss the credit cards a lick!!!!  The simplification on our lives has been a true bonus because each/all of our transactions funnel on to one single statement, info accessible up to the minute on-line or by phone 24/7/365.  On line you can page back a whole bunch of months, plus you can tap archived stuff that is even older.  You can also add notes to each of the debit transactions to remind yourself just what it was you bought.  That is handy for the tax deductible stuff and the big ticket items.

Jack

[rtraincollector]

LawsonFarmsRR

Jack, I must be missing something. What is the advantage of a debt card other than you are using your  own money. If it is lost or stolen and used you are out the money. With a credit card you are not liable and no fees.

Pat

All depends who the card is with. Mine I have basiclly the same benifits of a credit card as you say. I have no fees infact as long as I use mine 10 times a month and have one direct deposite a month to my account I earn 3% intrest no minum balance required.

I can get money back for unauthorised use as long as I notifie them with in 24 hrs.

[ChiefEagles]

Home again.  Been Mayoring since I arrived early this AM.  Will chat later.

[Anonymous]

Kev and SJ,

                      

Kev,

           I can certainly relate to how you daughter feels right now.  It angers me to no end.

Rich,

           I nicked the end of the camshaft slightly, but I think I have it polished out enough...I hope.

Pat,

        I am also a debit card user.  Just have my own $$ to play with and can't go into debt that way. 

[RockIsland52]

ChiefEagles

Home again.  Been Mayoring shmoozing and eating since I arrived early this AM.  Will chat reclinerize later.

Jack

[Anonymous]

Kev - I understand where you are coming from and your frustration... however... I was once an intern and I too did not receive an offer from the company I worked for. I was told when I asked, "a full-time position is not a gaurantee, only the chance that you may receive an offer. Feel free to use us as a reference if you need."

I'll say a prayer for her to find a job... it is tough out there!