tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125216642024-03-07T14:17:58.658-05:00Rantings Of The Lazy IguanaMy little island of wasted bandwidth in a vast sea of internet porn.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.comBlogger1380125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-37662424252915245032010-10-03T13:30:00.002-04:002010-10-03T13:37:51.565-04:00FallSo I was out last night, at a public telescope viewing put on by an astronomy club. And you know what? It was NOT hot and muggy!!<br /><br />The air was cool. Not cold, and not cool by your standards (I am assuming readers are north of the 30 degree parallel). But here at 25.45 degrees north, the night air had just a hint of coolness. <br /><br />And low humidity. Again not low for you if you are in an arid region - but for swampy South Florida it was "dry". <br /><br />So fall is here. It arrived on time this year! Usually it is late. It can be well into November before I notice anything. <br /><br />Well for this fall / winter I have a lot of things to plan for! I hope to be able to do a lot of things I usually want to do, but never get around to it. Outdoors types of things. Kayaking. Cycling. Maybe camping - or at least full day trips to Everglades National Park. All that kind of stuff. <br /><br />Yes, this is going to be a great winter season. Better than the last one, the one before that, and so on.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-26224760112012880242010-09-26T19:59:00.002-04:002010-09-26T20:41:38.066-04:00Back To Normal!The long night is over. Or so it seems. <br /><br />I was working at a two bit casino, doing security. And by "security" I mean chilling out in an office, watching over things left in my care by homeless people, bag ladies, and various other ancient people who did not speak any English. <br /><br />You see, the casino is across the street from a K-Mart. So people would come in with all sorts of shit - blenders, cheap shoes, even groceries. Company policy was for them to leave the stuff with security, so they could go upstairs to gamble away all their savings without trying to sell the shit they bought at K-Mart so they could just get five more dollars to lose. <br /><br />That would actually happen.<br /><br />Needless to say the job was mind numbing, depressing, and not really something I needed to keep doing. <br /><br />But there was nothing else. Really. There was NOTHING else. It is that shitty out there. <br /><br />But just as I was closing in on one year at the casino, I got delivered unto a new and better job. <br /><br />Actually an old job. Or at least a job I had sort of done before. The job title is different, but that is OK. <br /><br />So I am back to the exciting world of diplomatic stuff. I am a front line ambassador of sorts. Sure, it is only for a county (as opposed to being the Ambassador to Norway or something) - but you have to start somewhere. <br /><br />Things are back on track. And that is a very good thing.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-81634084457154824202010-05-02T16:04:00.002-04:002010-05-02T16:31:33.930-04:00Holy Shit!It seems I have been neglecting this blog. I have no good excuse, other than having nothing to say and being very busy. <br /><br />Work is a drag. And also a reason for staying anonymous! The cheap bastards I work for (and they are cheap bastards) have this Orwellian "thou shalt not talk shit on the internet" policy. So if they find out who I am, and that I am actually talking about them - bad shit can happen to me. <br /><br />And really this makes sense. You hear all the time about people getting in trouble for their blog. This is why I actually AM a giant lizard, and why I work for mumble mumble. Cough. In fact, it is ALWAYS a good idea to remain anonymous. You never know when something you say can get you fired later. <br /><br />But I have plans to move on anyway. It has become clear to me that the current employer is a dry hole. They are playing the "shit economy" game, and choosing to defer compensation and just risk losing people. That is fine with me - it is not my business. Once I leave I could give a shit less if they close or continue. The owners are rich anyway - so whatever happens they still own a bunch of other shit. In my view - they have a golden opportunity to build and keep a highly loyal and very sharp team - but they are pissing it away. Once the job market is back I estimate 75% (at least) of the people there now will bail out. What they will be left with are the people that do not speak English or that can not obtain any other job. The competition and/or other opportunities will take the rest.<br /><br />The bike thing is working out well enough. I can easily do 30 miles nonstop. I can hold an average speed of almost 15 mph - and maybe higher if I push myself. I really need to try to ride with a moderate pace group (say a 16 mph group) to see how long I can keep up. <br /><br />But after a 30 mile ride I feel like going on another 30 after a short rest. Of course I never do - but I feel like I can. <br /><br />I really need to find a weekend group going on a 50 mile ride, or even a metric century (meaning 100 kilometers). Just to see if I can hang. If I can hang then great. If I can not hang Ill get dropped, and just ride back to the vehicle and try again later. Not a big deal at all. <br /><br />Anyhow, that is about it. For now anyway :)The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-84642625662846564272010-02-22T16:51:00.003-05:002010-02-22T17:51:31.176-05:00Still Here!But you would not know that by the posting here. It is almost like I vanished!<br /><br />And I did. Sort of. I settled into a routine of working and then days off. The good thing is I get three full days off a week. The bad thing is that a work day is 12 hours. So between working, getting ready for work, driving to work, then getting food and whatnot after work - there is no time for anything else. On work days if I get 5 hours of sleep that is not unusual.<br /><br />But there are some cool things going!<br /><br />I might get temporary work with the Census. Apparently in my area there are a number of people who live on boats. These people need to be counted. And since you can not get mail delivered to a boat at anchor, the only way to count people is to go up to the boats and ask how many are on board.<br /><br />Which is where I come in. You see, the census people are looking at ways to count boat people - using other boats. Already they are hiring temporary workers at $15 per hour to beat the streets, but there is talk of paying people $35 per hour PLUS FUEL (a big plus for boats) to take a census worker out to count people living on boats.<br /><br />For that scratch, Ill take a leave of absence from my regular job - as the $35 per hour is more than I am getting now by a good deal.<br /><br />And finally - I got my tax return! And of course, I promptly squandered it. And what did I squander it on??<br /><br />A bicycle! Yes, a bicycle. A very nice bicycle. I have a nice aluminum frame mountain bike, but it was not really cutting it anymore. I have a friend that is also into bikes now. For years he was a smoker, then he quit and bought a road bike.<br /><br />Well with the mountain bike, keeping up is really hard. So if I wanted to do longer distance rides, I was going to need a road bike. Something with a more aggressive riding position (yet still comfortable), lighter weight, and more suited for longer distances on pavement than shorter runs off road.<br /><br />And partly because of the shit economy, I found a 2008 model bike that was still brand new. It has a full carbon frame, SRAM gears, Mavic wheels, and so on. All good shit. In 2008, this bike had an average retail price of $2300.<br /><br />I picked it up for a whole lot less. $1,000 less actually.<br /><br />Now I was not really looking for a full carbon bike. I did not think I could afford one. I was looking at bikes that had an aluminum frame with carbon forks, or carbon forks and rear stays - but then I found an all carbon bike for the price of an aluminum / carbon bike. And so I have it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.giant-bicycles.com/_upload_us/bikes/models/zooms/2008/OCR-C2-Orange-Composite.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 325px;" src="http://www.giant-bicycles.com/_upload_us/bikes/models/zooms/2008/OCR-C2-Orange-Composite.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A nicer bike than I was originally looking at. More than I thought I would get. so I should be good for a long time to come in the bike department.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com118tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-69585546877582406132010-01-11T15:05:00.002-05:002010-01-11T15:34:48.600-05:00Overdue PostApparently it has been a while since my last post.<br /><br />The holidays came and went. Nothing too exciting there, I had to work on December 24, 25, and 26. I also had to work on the 31st and January 1.<br /><br />The people I work for do not believe in holiday pay either. It was all straight time. Oh yea they also decided to send a bunch of people home on the 24th, without pay. So just about everyone got the "bonus" of a missing days pay.<br /><br />The company "party" consisted of leftover food that was going to be thrown away if nobody ate it. I arrived to the "party" about 30 minutes after it started (I had stuff to take care of in the office) and by the time I got there the leftovers were cold, and everyone was bailing out. I looked at the pathetic joke of a "party" and just left.<br /><br />And since I had to be at work early in the morning on January 1, there was nothing to do on New Years either. I had to come home, shower, grab some take out at Denny's, then crash. But I did manage to get some bike riding in. 15 miles in 1 hour and 8 minutes. That works out to an average speed of 13.5 mph.<br /><br />Oh yea, I got back into bike riding. I acthally have a fairly decent mountain bike. It is a Specialized Hardrock Sport. It has disk brakes and fairly decent components. It has indexed shifting, which makes gear hunting easy. It also shifts smooth.<br /><br />The problem is that there are not very many mountains here. The bike I have is nice - and I have a decent amount of money locked up in it - but as a road bike it sucks. It is too heavy and the riding position leaves much to be desired. Putting new tires on it that are better suited for the road than for the trail helped, but it is still brutal to fight a head wind for long distances. Even for distances of only a few miles a head wind is tough. So I need to get a road bike. I am looking at a Trek all carbon bike for around $1600 or so. A step down gives me a bike with carbon forks, rear stay, and seat post with an aluminum frame for about $1300 or so. A step down from there is aluminum everything except for the forks, and then a step down is aluminum everything.<br /><br />Carbon has some flex to it, and it is lighter. So the more carbon you have the softer the ride tends to be. And to complicate matters, each step up is about $250 - $300 up to the $2,500 mark then each step up is another grand.<br /><br />So lets say you want to spend no more than about $900 for a bike. Well there are some good options for you - but for another $200 you can go to the next step. Well if you have $900 to spend, you can just hold off and save up that extra $200. And then at $1100 the next step is another $200 or so away, and so on.<br /><br />And if you get something, then decide later that you want to upgrade, you eat a fairly decent loss when you trade in your old bike or try to sell it.<br /><br />In other news, it is cold as shit here. For two days in a row there was ICE on my windshield in the morning. ICE. Now this is just not right. This is South Florida, not Montana. The only ice that should be here is in frozen drinks and freezers - not car windshields.<br /><br />But this did not stop me from going out to the everglades last night. Sure it was frigid - but the skies were clear and there was no moon. So I lugged out the telescope and set it up. I saw Saturn and Mars. But it was so cold that I lost the ability to use my hands, so most of the time I was just looking at the sky without using the scope. Plus for some reason the scope does not track well. I have to research why and maybe even recalibrate it.<br /><br />On the plus side - there was not even ONE bug. No mosquitoes. For the everglades, this is uncommon. I think they all froze solid.<br /><br />There were also SNOW FLURRIES. Nothing lasted on the ground, but there was actual snow in the air.<br /><br />Now this cold weather always brings out stupidity. This time around the "King Dumb Ass" award goes to some idiot who decided to collect a bunch of large WILD iguanas that fell out of trees on account of the cold. He loaded them up in a station wagon. Well the heater in the car warmed up the lizards, and they became very agitated at the whole situation. And being wild animals, and lizards, they freaked out. One rather large lizard jumped on the guys head which caused him to lose control of the car - wrecking it.<br /><br />It must have been pretty funny to watch, unless it was your car or property that the guy crashed into.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com155tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-55898386768051343162009-12-15T13:38:00.002-05:002009-12-15T14:14:20.091-05:00Smoking The Mac CrackIt finally got me. This whole Apple Mania caught up with me.<br /><br />For a long time, I managed to resist. I never bought an I-Pod - I just bought cheaper MP3 players that did the same thing. Hell the MP3 player I bought is a 2 gig USB thumb drive that cost me a whole whopping $15. It plays MP3 files, it does not care where the MP3 files came from (there is no rights management on it, it will play anything without regards to the legality of the file in question), and even has a built in FM player. And it did not need any special software to be installed.<br /><br />The 2 gig ipod was selling for something like $150 at the same time. And you could not even use it as a USB thumb drive!<br /><br />But I had to smoke the mac crack eventually, so I got the iphone 3GS. The newest one. My old phone was OK - but it did get a little wet and stopped working for a day. During this time I accepted that the phone was dead, but at least the SIM card lived. So at least I still had all my contacts.<br /><br />Anyhow, the old phone dried out and started working again. But I never really liked that thing. The battery life sucked, the web browser sucked, the alarm clock program sucked, and so on.<br /><br />So now I have the 32 gig Iphone 3Gs. I was able to get the promotion price because I had the old phone for 2 years. Now Itunes is installed on my computer.<br /><br />The Mac invasion has begun.<br /><br />But the phone is really cool. I has a much better Google Maps application. The old phone had Google Maps, but the Iphone Google Maps is better. I also have a You Tube application - which the old phone lacked. I could not really even watch You Tube clips (at work) on the old phone.<br /><br />I can watch the clips now. And the I.T. snoops will not even know! HA! A whole new era of clock killing at work has begun!<br /><br />But really the apps are where it is at. I have a cool carpenters tool kit app that includes a plumb bob, a surface level, a spirit level, a ruler, and a protractor! Cool huh? I thought so.<br /><br />Now I can see how level my desk at work really is - and harass the mainentence guy if I find it is off. Can't have my pens rolling all over the place you know!<br /><br />I also have a Sirius/XM app, so I can listen to my satellite radio over the phone. I also have the free Pandora and Slacker music apps.<br /><br />And I even have something called "active sonar"! This cool (and probably useless) app uses sound to measure distances! It was also free, so if it does not work no big deal.<br /><br />I also got a bar code scanner, so now I can scan something in the store and use the internet to price check it. I can buy movie tickets with the Fandango app, or use the movietickets.com website I usually purchase through.<br /><br />I even have the classic arcade game Dragon's Lair.<br /><br />But the coolest thing so far is the Navionics app. My phone now has marine charts from Maine to Florida's West Coast, including a good part of The Bahamas and all of The Keys out to the Dry Tortugas.<br /><br />As far as phones go, the iphone is the one to get.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-75106338828856548732009-12-14T01:13:00.008-05:002009-12-14T01:36:33.338-05:00Winterfest PhotosI did manage to get some pictures from Saturday. And I said I would post them, so here it goes!<br /><br />There were big ass cruise ships. The true size is not very apparent from this photo, but it is big.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGtggp-riLWAcx7QGV45eF0iBI87VrjhkgxbDfjAydGxh3uylv7RQtlWrHJjdk6Z-_PBGXKcTTVUlGx5C6Yg4UG3US4pwAc1IrakFBobw8Gv-O8ss9bs2NWUdNNS4PnanQP-iOA/s1600-h/Oasis.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxGtggp-riLWAcx7QGV45eF0iBI87VrjhkgxbDfjAydGxh3uylv7RQtlWrHJjdk6Z-_PBGXKcTTVUlGx5C6Yg4UG3US4pwAc1IrakFBobw8Gv-O8ss9bs2NWUdNNS4PnanQP-iOA/s400/Oasis.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414973047769832130" border="0" /></a><br />And there were fake owls! Apparently, they keep real birds away. They must work, because the docks were not all covered in bird shit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGe-9I7XIhvC7joPYGemRF0ZLDrsks0VdXhEvbro1JqK8XyPtUhdLrGAPODqoM2wW32YL9pkNO8CeXzU4uqnQjkDpNsv5bC0znfxBhIpDociPEnCpz6TUQTl-lBMDYKeodkLRk-Q/s1600-h/owl.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGe-9I7XIhvC7joPYGemRF0ZLDrsks0VdXhEvbro1JqK8XyPtUhdLrGAPODqoM2wW32YL9pkNO8CeXzU4uqnQjkDpNsv5bC0znfxBhIpDociPEnCpz6TUQTl-lBMDYKeodkLRk-Q/s400/owl.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414973900970365170" border="0" /></a><br />There was also....RAIN! Yes, lots of rain. And on my open boat there is not really anyplace to hide from said rain. So you just get wet. Nothing much you can do. So my ass was wet for most of the day. Literally. Pants and underwear were wet. Here is the "oh shit" moment captured on a data card. Nobody uses film anymore.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTz9jHUcBl8i6ZCUcaYEDPdj7Im6vezo_Vl0l6Lj7CdE7AocQeN_hmMe7rZV7t8X8BtnDDgRVw8RLp0WvT1ZPXtzYePbMujLexlpRZfq-Qnju-eRVfR5g9WlDLbqDx4Vku4641Cw/s1600-h/rain.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTz9jHUcBl8i6ZCUcaYEDPdj7Im6vezo_Vl0l6Lj7CdE7AocQeN_hmMe7rZV7t8X8BtnDDgRVw8RLp0WvT1ZPXtzYePbMujLexlpRZfq-Qnju-eRVfR5g9WlDLbqDx4Vku4641Cw/s400/rain.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414974860635370706" border="0" /></a><br />But when it was not raining, it was pretty nice. Here is a cool house I saw.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERJO24LMEQEAenm3SGnTcXDz1prsGJy8JgALmS3j18r8TUyLI20V6ZMFKaKO5HSEfsn5Xqt_gqQZlDoa9I_DvgkU4fc80MIFm8Wb0uj0C8whrRbSLOa_7wtI7Ag0_SXuV1xkpFA/s1600-h/house.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERJO24LMEQEAenm3SGnTcXDz1prsGJy8JgALmS3j18r8TUyLI20V6ZMFKaKO5HSEfsn5Xqt_gqQZlDoa9I_DvgkU4fc80MIFm8Wb0uj0C8whrRbSLOa_7wtI7Ag0_SXuV1xkpFA/s400/house.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414974284916650978" border="0" /></a><br />And here is one I think is for sale. You know, housing crisis and all. Lots of stuff for sale. In the rain.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOWE-2ualn-IuhFlZ9g7aBRKsUUkPSWyBXhx6Yx7Ixyr6qvgtW3resyw7qo_G0DH1IGGl3-NNUGLr9mX3nl8CAqPx2U7h1If8hFQNx7VFsVXc5DesRsG_aVfgl4RAPD8A-24sRw/s1600-h/for+sale.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOWE-2ualn-IuhFlZ9g7aBRKsUUkPSWyBXhx6Yx7Ixyr6qvgtW3resyw7qo_G0DH1IGGl3-NNUGLr9mX3nl8CAqPx2U7h1If8hFQNx7VFsVXc5DesRsG_aVfgl4RAPD8A-24sRw/s400/for+sale.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414974424097485746" border="0" /></a>More photos will be posted soon!The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-31853208610735555932009-12-13T09:14:00.002-05:002009-12-13T09:15:06.743-05:00Back And DryPhotos from the Winterfest Boat Parade will be here soon! I have things to do today so Ill have em up by Monday.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-73100934043803657932009-12-11T16:53:00.002-05:002009-12-11T17:54:40.082-05:005 Day Weekend!I managed to score a 5 day weekend. I managed this through an elaborate series of complicated swaps. It really all started the week after Thanksgiving, when I worked a Sunday and Monday for someone else - and traded them my Thursday and Friday. Since I did not ask for that trade, I was able to score this Saturday off, by agreeing to work this past Tuesday.<br /><br />With me so far? Good.<br /><br />Then Monday - which was a scheduled day off - someone got sick, so I worked on Monday and traded for today. So now I have today, tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. Wednesday work starts at 1 PM.<br /><br />And what was the point in all this? Well it seems to have confused the boss slightly.<br /><br />But in reality, the plan for Saturday is....THE WINTERFEST BOAT PARADE! Yes, it seems it is that time again.<br /><br />I have yet to assemble a crew. I might not have a crew. And it might rain. Forecast calls for a 60% chance. So I have that much going for me. Did I ever mention there is not really a good place on the boat to hide from the rain? Yea. Well there isn't.<br /><br />But there is one cool thing. The Oasis Of The Seas is in port! This is currently the largest passenger ship at sea. She is 5 times the overall length of the ill fated Titanic, at 1,181 feet. This can also be expressed as .223 miles. Her beam (width) is 154 feet at the waterline and 198 feet at the widest point. She has 16 passenger decks and looms 236 feet over the water.<br /><br />In relation to my boat, Oasis Of The Seas is 59 times longer, 23 times wider, and some 30 times taller.<br /><br />I still have to get everything ready. I am hoping I know where the orange flashing light I need is. I have everything else.<br /><br />Except a crew.<br /><br />Sunday is another boat mission - on a friend's boat. So that is less work. No trailering and stuff. Monday and Tuesday are more like real days off.<br /><br />Then Wednesday starts a regular week.<br /><br />Ill be sure to see such a large ship when I am in Port Everglades. Ill attempt to get pictures of it, if the lens on my camera is wide enough!The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-45879369202131609152009-12-03T12:42:00.002-05:002009-12-03T13:42:29.247-05:00Black Froday, Cyber MondayWell I survived the madness of Black Friday.<br /><br />This is mainly because I had to work. Thursday too. And Saturday. So being safely away from all sources of retail craziness, I was not really worried about being <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html">trampled to death at a Wal-Mart</a>.<br /><br />So as a result, I really do not know how Black Friday went. Sure - there were stores that had long lines of idiots standing around for 6 - 8 hours waiting for the doors to open. And I assume the mobs were orderly, as I did not hear any reports of a trampling death this year.<br /><br />I have heard various "news" reports however. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoOJpX1NYxY8&pos=7">Bloomberg</a> reports that sales "may have" advanced 2.4% over last year. Of course last year there was a slump of some 8% over the year before. But the retail industry forecast of a 1% slump in spending seems to have held true also - so who knows.<br /><br />I think the actual numbers are WORSE than what is reported. For one, nobody was trampled to death. Compare this to the 90s when multiple people would get trampled to death. And not just at Wal-Mart! Oh no, you were taking your life into your hands every time a new shipment of Tickle Me Elmo hit a store. And even if you were just driving within 50 miles of that store - you were at a greatly increased risk of harm. People had lost their mind.<br /><br />When the economic shit hit the fan in 2007, it was close to the holiday season. Sales were down from what they were, but since many people did not realize just how shitty things were to become stores were still hopeful. It took the sales figures AFTER the entire holiday season was over to make that clear. As the season went on, things got shittier and shittier.<br /><br />But still - people were trampled to death on Black Froday.<br /><br />Last year we all knew what was up. We were firmly into the shit. No question about it. Anyone who said "oh, this economic thing is not so bad" was clearly smoking crack.<br /><br />And still, on Black Froday there was one trampling death.<br /><br />So I have developed an index. The more people who get stampeeded, the better the season is. Pretty simple really.<br /><br />This year, by my accounts - nobody was killed. Nobody even so much as tripped and fell down. It all seemed to be rather calm and controled - which is not a good sign really. Chaos and madness is a better indicator.<br /><br />Saturday, after work, I did make a spy mission to a Best Buy. The store was full of stuff. Much of it was Black Froday sale items that had not sold out. There was one Garmin GPS for $99 that was sold out - but from what I could see everything else was still there. Even the $25 DVD players.<br /><br />So either the Best Buy stocked up and built up sufficient inventory (unlikely in my opinion, given the poor sales forecast) or else stuff did not sell as anticipated.<br /><br />Also -there were not any people in the check-out line. I did see some people walking out with stuff - but there were no check-out lines.<br /><br />Now Cyber Monday is more my speed. This is the day when people spend time at work looking for online deals. I did this. I ordered a Garmin Nuvi 550 GPS for $199, a universal mount for the GPS ($20), and a LED light ($8). That concluded my Cyber Monday shopping extravaganca. Not very exciting, but now the Waverunner has a primary GPS, and the boat has a secondary backup GPS. I can also use the 550 in the truck, on foot, or on a bike. It has car mode, boat mode, foot mode, and bicycle mode. Plus it is waterproof. Pretty cool.<br /><br />I wonder if there is a measure of productivity lost on Cyber Monday. I bet that the sales boost minus the productivity loss would make for an interesting topic for an economics class.<br /><br />And today - the universal GPS mount arrived. Just now. Really. West Marine apparently ships shit out fast. So today, on my traded day off - I have something to install on the Waverunner! Now if I can just get that GPS in all will be good.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-7706660086780748732009-11-26T20:37:00.002-05:002009-11-26T20:58:54.272-05:00Thanksgiving AdeventureAt work. Thursdays are not one of my days off, so I had to work.<br /><br />But all is not so bad. Sort of. It was not a very busy day. It was actually quiet. So it was a chill out day.<br /><br />I brought rum cake. So at least there was rum cake. It was a pretty big hit.<br /><br />There is a rumor that there will be holiday pay - but I am not really holding my breath over that. Whatever.<br /><br />Lets see what else......well nothing really. It was a workday, but a very low key workday.<br /><br />After work I had my dinner.<br /><br />And that, so far, is it. Well there is the beer I am about to open. Maybe watch some TV. And so on.<br /><br />Hope everyone had a good day!The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-42170922691286893482009-11-18T09:19:00.002-05:002009-11-18T09:26:08.196-05:001/2 day offToday is my 1/2 day off. I do not have to be at work till 1300 (1 PM). Now normally I would be tempted to sleep till at least 11:00, but not today! I have two missions to accomplish!<br /><br />1. Get my teeth cleaned<br /><br />AND<br /><br />2. Refuel the boat.<br /><br />The dentist office called the other day and reminded me that according to their records, I have not been there in a while. This is true. I had an appointment in January that I just bailed out on - on account of limited funds and whatnot. Well I decided that teeth are important so I scheduled another cleaning for today.<br /><br />As for the boat, I actually got to use it for a couple of hours Sunday. It needs to be topped off. Nothing major, probably 6 gallons or less per tank. So Ill get that done.<br /><br />Then after that Ill put the boat away, lock it up, and go to work.<br /><br />I should have enough time to get it all done and still not be late! Work days that start at 1300 rule.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-28897294264623606352009-11-17T13:51:00.002-05:002009-11-17T14:21:07.614-05:00Insurance And StuffOne of the things I have done (so far) with my days off is kick on the TV. It seems I have not missed much when it comes to the great health care fiasco.<br /><br />Now I have one of these full time jobs that the right likes to talk so much about. You know, the kind that comes with benefits and options and all that other happy horse shit. So therefore, I must be set!<br /><br />Well not exactly. You see, my employer is somewhat cheap. The plan offered is really not a plan. It is a supplemental plan. The way it works is that I get paid directly if I need care, then I use that money to pay bills. So I can go anywhere and see any doctor. It does not matter.<br /><br />Well here is the problem with the plan. Without real insurance to back it up it is WORTHLESS. Lets just take emergency care for example. If I were to end up in intensive care the "plan" offered would pay a whole whopping $750 per day. The problem is that intensive care costs somewhat more than $750 per day.<br /><br />They will pay $25,000 if I need an organ transplant. Hey great - better than nothing but I would still be in the hole by a couple of hundred grand.<br /><br />So I opted to not sign up for the plan. I did my cost benefit analysis and determined that the plan was not worth the cost.<br /><br />So what about routine care? Well it turns out I can do things like see the dentist or eye doctor and they will also pay me directly. Problem is the amount they will pay me is less than what I would have to pay anyway. They will give me $80 for a routine eye exam for example - but for me a routine exam is closer to $125 - $150.<br /><br />Now why the hell do I want to pay someone about $7 per pay period so that they can give me back $80 later? Keep in mind the premiums I would pay would total more than what I would get back in routine care reimbursement. Here is $100 - you can give me back $75 later! What a great deal that is.<br /><br />The "plan" was also fragmented. There was the emergency plan that only covers emergency care, the routine plan, the dental plan, the eye plan, the cancer plan, and so on.<br /><br />To get them all would equal the premiums for a real plan.<br /><br />So what good is the plan offered? Well lets say that a real plan was also offered (which it is not). I could buy into the supplemental plan and it would more than cover the deductibles for the real plan.<br /><br />But offering only the supplemental plan is just a joke. People who buy into it think they are covered - but guess what? If you need anything beyond routine care (which you will have to pay roughly 1/2 the cost for anyway - on top of the premiums paid to get back less than what you paid in - which in effect just makes your routine care MORE expensive) you will end up bankrupt.<br /><br />Well to hell with that. If I am going to end up bankrupt, I am going to keep the $7 every 2 weeks premium payment. That will at least pay for a six pack. I will get more benefit out of the beer than the plan anyway.<br /><br />So there you go. More reason why we NEED more options. There are those of us out there working 40 hour weeks, in what appears to be a real company with some 400 employees (with plans to hire another 600 upon planned expansion) - but we have no real insurance.<br /><br />And I am not really being paid enough to buy my own private plan. As it is now a decent place to live (as in not an apartment in Crack City) will cost me more than 1/2 of my income. At the very best, with the move in specials because the economy sucks I might be able to find a decent place to live for 1/2 of my income. This leaves me another 1/2 for everything else.<br /><br />In other words - nothing for health insurance.<br /><br />I also do not see wages going up anytime soon. At least not till the economy recovers. Right now it is not like there are a lot of other jobs I can just take. And as long as there is a shortage of jobs, employers can offer lower wages and people will take them.<br /><br />I know of people with many years of experience, and graduate degrees - working for $10 - $12 per hour. So that is the reality of today.<br /><br />But as it stands now - we need more choices when it comes to health plans. I would like to be insured - but I can not afford to buy into a private non-group rate plan, and the garbage plan offered at work is not worth the premiums I would pay.<br /><br />I suppose some radio clowns would just call me a cheap bastard who thinks everything should be free. Someone who probably supports labor unions, and who is just lazy and really hates capitalism. Why I might even be a communist! Or at least a socialist.<br /><br />I just do not want to be horribly in debt should I get sick. I suppose that is too much to ask for.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-75471764850270640482009-11-16T17:31:00.002-05:002009-11-16T17:57:26.291-05:00Good News, Bad NewsIt seems I have been really extra super busy! And the updates here reflect this.<br /><br />Which reminds me of the good news. There will be more updates. I get days off again! I was working twelve hour shifts 6 days a week. This works out to 72 hours a week. Now if you consider that there are only 168 hours in a week, I was spending 42.85% of my time at work. At least. A 12 hour shift is really longer than that. You have to count the time spent getting ready for work (which I have worked out to 20 minutes in the morning), time spent driving to work, and then the 10 - 15 minutes reserve time so you are never late. And after the shift I have been getting out anywhere from 15 - 30 minutes late.<br /><br />Add in this reserve time and I was easily up to 44.64% of my time spent at work, on the clock.<br /><br />Well all that is over for now. I always knew it would not last. The bean counters looked at operating expense and wondered why myself and others were getting so much time on the clock. I was easily at 35 hours a week overtime.<br /><br />So the shoe dropped, overtime is discouraged, and I get three days off as a result.<br /><br />The BAD NEWS is that I got used to the overtime income. I was pulling in some serious jack. Over a year, I was set to make anywhere from $52,000 - $58,000. Now for Miami this is a decent living, but you are not exactly rich or anything. If you want to live outside Crack City you need at least a grand a month for rent, plus electricity and water and all that other shit. So the money is spent rather quick.<br /><br />But I was doing OK. Sure I was always at work, but work is not that hard. When work is not really that hard I do not mind it. I have an office job WITHOUT having an office job. There is no filing and schedule keeping and all that other shit - but I have a desk and a chair. At my job there are only two or three slots per shift that are sitting - the rest are all standing. So I have that going for me.<br /><br />But my job is special. I have to keep track of EVERYTHING going on. I have a radio, and I handle all the radio traffic. If something is going on - I know about it first then direct the response team. There is a lot to keep track of.<br /><br />I suppose it could be stressful - but to me it is not. I can deal with it.<br /><br />But still - having more time is going to hurt. My income is going to go way down. WAY down. I was making more in OT than I was straight time. Now that I am back down to just straight time, checks are going to suck.<br /><br />So there it is. The good and bad. I have time to have a life - but no money to afford that life.<br /><br />Honestly, I would rather be at work. On the clock. Where I have something to do, and I am paid to do it.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-36708815610523273582009-11-02T20:28:00.003-05:002009-11-02T20:43:49.776-05:00The WeekIt seems I finally got a week with more than one day off. For the past couple of weeks all I had off was Sunday. Every other day was a work day. Not so bad really - but having only Sunday off every week presents interesting problems.<br /><br />Like the nasty gram I got from Florida. Something about my license being up for suspension on the 17th unless I do something. So this means going to another county, going to a court house, producing some documents proving the computer records the state already has are true, paying $60, and then going home.<br /><br />All to prove some computer records are true. Amazing huh?<br /><br />But that is not so bad. Ill have time to get it done tomorrow.<br /><br />That is if this does not happen again.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1avoB0vn_CWLlqHNxiVxhuo8ZnPkgPQojjlD3-fSOdRS8K2nfpiq2eB7xiDiN88O57cdDhKSH0Yu7yKGXbafd8EemDdSsysxtzqe_cgr_gYafIWgY6hb0CRY2_mYypylJmPbNw/s1600-h/IMAG0123.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm1avoB0vn_CWLlqHNxiVxhuo8ZnPkgPQojjlD3-fSOdRS8K2nfpiq2eB7xiDiN88O57cdDhKSH0Yu7yKGXbafd8EemDdSsysxtzqe_cgr_gYafIWgY6hb0CRY2_mYypylJmPbNw/s400/IMAG0123.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399685389177714626" border="0" /></a><br />So here I was, driving home minding my own business. And then I hit something. Maybe I kissed a concrete construction barrier, maybe there was something in the road. To be honest I am not sure. But the end result was a massive and sudden tire failure. The people at the Sears auto center said it could not be patched.<br /><br />And the rim is apparently bent. So right now the spare tire rim is in use on the drivers side front side. There also seems to be damage to the drivers side rear rim, but the truck seems to be driving OK. No shakes. I still have to get to a tire place and have the other wheel put on a balance machine. Ill be able to get that done tomorrow too.<br /><br />The good thing here is that there is no other damage to the vehicle. Or anything else.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com170tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-2330646339519018132009-10-22T20:34:00.002-04:002009-10-22T20:52:47.034-04:00Week Almost OverThings are still going fairly well. The long work weeks do not seem to be having much of an effect. At least I do not feel like they are having an effect. I just show up, hang out for however many hours, then go home. But not directly home. I go hang out first.<br /><br />As a result, I spend less time at home than anywhere else. And more time at work than anywhere else.<br /><br />But no matter. It is all good. Work is not exactly difficult.<br /><br />And now for the good part. The "health plan". Work offers a "plan" that pays me directly. Sounds good on the surface - but it really sucks. It is not much of a plan at all. If you happen to already have insurance, then it would be cool. You would get paid more than enough to cover most out of pocket expenses.<br /><br />But if all you can afford is the work plan, it sucks. You see - if you need treatment you have to go to a hospital as a self pay patient. Meaning you are charged the highest rates. So the $750 per day you get paid for intensive care will pay maybe 1/2 of the cost - which means you pay the rest. But if you have existing insurance where your co-payment is say $500 per day for intensive care, you will get enough from the other plan to cover that.<br /><br />On what I am being paid - there is not really a good way to afford an actual insurance plan.<br /><br />So I do not know what I will do. I am thinking of taking some of the coverage - but not all of it. I can pick and choose what I want. I am still calculating the cost/benefit thing.<br /><br />Other than that - this weekend is another sailboat race. I think I will be involved in this somehow. So that is how most of my day off will be squandered. Either on the power boat or on the Waverunner - doing sailboat race support stuff.<br /><br />Not a bad way to end the week really.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-17030650505865112652009-10-21T10:14:00.003-04:002009-10-21T10:44:10.022-04:001/2 Day OffSo today is my 1/2 day off. Meaning of course that I only have to show up for 6 hours, as opposed to 12.<br /><br />It is not so bad really. I have time to do shit. I do not have to be anywhere till after noon. So I can squander my 1/2 day by sleeping, or I can arise at the usual time and really get shit done.<br /><br />Or I can split the difference. Sleep in a little bit then still do something.<br /><br />Today I was supposed to pay a ticket. But this involves driving all the way to Broward County. I can not do this shit over the phone, the bastards in Broward County are too stone age to manage that. They are so stone age they make Fred Flintstone's record player seem like a blu-ray DVD player.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d815Ame16fg&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d815Ame16fg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />You see, the ticket is for not having a "valid registration". Which is bullshit. There are these things called "computers". Using one of these devices, one can easily run a vehicle tag and drivers license info and the magical device will tell you things. Like if the tag is in fact valid, if the tag belongs to the vehicle, if the tag is stolen, and if the tag tax sticker (and vehicle registration) is valid.<br /><br />It was.<br /><br />But I still have to go in person and show them the stone age slip of paper to prove what is in the computer is correct.<br /><br />And now pay a late fine. Because I sort of forgot about the whole mess.<br /><br />I was to take care of that today - but screw it. Since I already owe the late fine I might as well just milk it. Hell I can put it off till I have to renew my registration - in January.<br /><br />TAKE THAT BROWARD COUNTY!! Wait in line for your money. Trust me, you at the bottom of a long list. Well really the list is not so long, but you are still at the bottom of it. You will be the LAST to get the money. If there is any left after all the higher priorties are taken care of, then consider yourself lucky.<br /><br />Your gestapo like force can not touch me here. I am safely outside the limits of Broward County. SO THERE! HA! Patrol your streets all you want - I shall not be there. I will taunt you from the Dade County side of the border however. Whats the matter?? Cop cant cross the street to arrest me without mommys premission?? AWWWWW! Aint that sweet!<br /><br />Any nightsticks you throw will be kept by me. Ill sell them on e-bay and the proceedes will go to pay the fine. OH WAIT! That was a lie! Any proceedes will be used to pay off things higher up on the list! Like for example going to see a movie!<br /><br />Yes Broward County, movies are higher on the list. When I said you were at the bottom - I meant it. I will put this off for as long as possible.<br /><br />As for my schedule - I have expenses. And I assumed more expenses. So I will need to keep working extra overtime. 6 day weeks may become normal for me. I may even have to see what 7 day weeks are like. Burnout risk is minimal, as it turns out the job is not really that difficult. boring sometimes - but not difficult. And on top of that I have to do what I have to do in order to make various financial situations work out.<br /><br />The problem is that right now overtime is free for the taking. I can get as much as I want. So what happens when I get used to the overtime bonus and then the overtime dries up because more staff are brought in? Well Ill cross that bridge when I get there.<br /><br />Ill have to either inquire about getting paid more or else seriously consider packing up and moving on to somewhere else that offers more. Various things are happening here, and they will happen rather quickly. Using newly accuired experience in the right manner could work out nicely. But if I screw up and choose the wrong path - well I could screw myself.<br /><br />So like the giant squid, I shall reach my tenticles out into the inky blackness. Feeling around for stuff. Plotting. Calculating.<br /><br />But for now the 1/2 day off is only about 1/2 over.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-20083245153997517162009-10-15T21:03:00.002-04:002009-10-15T21:24:46.573-04:00Master Of OvertimeI am the master of overtime. Next week I nabbed 24 more hours. And there will be more. It all depends on what I want to do.<br /><br />Which is not really a bad deal. The extra money is good I suppose. And by working so long, in theory there is less time to spend money.<br /><br />Of course that is pure theory. And not exactly true.<br /><br />And really I have nothing else better to do.<br /><br />But the week after next week will be different! I have better things to do. Something about using the Waverunner Sunday, to kick off my three day weekend.<br /><br />Yes three day weekend. Every week is a three day weekend, assuming I do not get greedy and exchange a day off for money. Which I have been doing.<br /><br />And this is a bit strange. You will notice I scored high on "greed" and very high on "sloth" on the seven deadly sins test. But it seems to me that the two sins are in conflict. Sloth makes me not really want to work the overtime. Too much effort. To hell with it, just sleep in late.<br /><br />But the greed gives me motivation to work extra time.<br /><br />There will be much time for sloth later however. Right now I need the greed a lot more.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-3914123128480152572009-10-12T23:20:00.001-04:002009-10-12T23:36:20.013-04:00Not My Job<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgeXCXpnR0NFeF6P9NwSk525zz_nmNbW_h319JjtPfuqUGzGH_QpI09PKWtOCKd7oXXMk76-X8-ePnq-GHhLPaXfzdYp7TmIFbEHA9Ly1t9Q91BU0qMN7wgt7waDrUFTr_XOdxA/s1600-h/IMAG0121.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgeXCXpnR0NFeF6P9NwSk525zz_nmNbW_h319JjtPfuqUGzGH_QpI09PKWtOCKd7oXXMk76-X8-ePnq-GHhLPaXfzdYp7TmIFbEHA9Ly1t9Q91BU0qMN7wgt7waDrUFTr_XOdxA/s400/IMAG0121.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391922741209665346" border="0" /></a><br />This is an actual photo from work.<br /><br />It is not my job to do anything about it.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-82089269227997117832009-10-11T22:20:00.002-04:002009-10-11T22:35:22.655-04:0072Seventy two. The number of the week.<br /><br />It is the number of hours I am scheduled for at work this week. This works out to six shifts, each one lasting for twelve hours.<br /><br />My normal week consists of a 42 hour week. One six hour stint, then three twelve hour shifts. So the 72 hour schedule is really not so bad all things considered. Two days off become days on, and then my 1/2 day becomes a full day. That is all it takes.<br /><br />And I also get an extra 30 hours of overtime. This is nice.<br /><br />Things at work are starting to come together. Operations are still not at 100%, but they will be soon. There will be more opportunities for overtime. I do not know for how much longer, but they will be there at least for the short term. So I suppose Ill grab it while I can get it. Strike while the iron is hot. And so on.<br /><br />It will be a long week, but a good week.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-90185562020333296302009-10-06T23:58:00.002-04:002009-10-07T00:12:25.220-04:00Alleged Days OffThis week I had one actual day off and two alleged days off.<br /><br />But how is this possible? It is only Wednesday! And this is true. But you see I never have a normal job schedule. Never happens. So my day off was Sunday! Monday and Tuesday were also days off.<br /><br />Only I was called in Monday and Tuesday. Hey no big deal. I was just going to piss the days off anyway. So might as well get called in for extra money.<br /><br />But I made the best of the deal. I was out on the bay Sunday. On the Waverunner. That was nice.<br /><br />Today is my first regular day on. And I have to go in early. You know what that means! MORE OVERTIME!!<br /><br />Hey like I said - works for me. I am making myself useful as part of the team. Helping out the department. And so on.<br /><br />And making some extra money as a side benefit.<br /><br />All things considered, it is all working out OK.<br /><br />In a side note, I have to HAVE TO get a ticket cleared up. I must remember to do this. It is of a very high level of importance.<br /><br />But first I need a weekday off.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-68921785311491195212009-10-04T20:06:00.002-04:002009-10-04T20:34:01.954-04:00What To DoWork has me fairly busy. There are 12 hour shifts. Well one shift is only 6 hours, but there are three 12 hour shifts in a week. It is only 42 hours total - not so bad really. But the distribution is a little non-standard. Three days back to back of 12 on 12 off, then one day with 6 hours.<br /><br />The nice thing is the three days off.<br /><br />When there are three days off. Right now things are slightly frantic so I have to go in for 2 of my days off. No big deal, it is just more overtime. I am sure I can find something to do with the extra money. I have a couple of ideas already.<br /><br />The extra days on will only be 1/2 days, so I will get out in the early afternoon. Ill be able to get things done, because I will not be able to get lazy and sleep in late.<br /><br />Oh yea, one more thing about the 12 on 12 off thing. It is a little bit strange. When I get ready to leave, certain people show up to start work. This is normal when you do shift work.<br /><br />But when the same people are still there when you are showing up, it throws you off. It feels like you never really left for long. Almost like you just left for lunch or something.<br /><br />And then there is the time warp thing. You have to really budget your time well. You have 12 hours before you have to be at work again. OK - what now?<br /><br />Well lets say you want 6 hours of sleep. OK now you have 6 hours left. But at least 1.5 of those hours are for waking up, getting dressed, teeth brushing, and driving to work. Lets throw in another .5 hours for a shower (it does not take that long but whatever).<br /><br />Now we are down to 4 hours.<br /><br />What if you want more time? Well you have to take away from somewhere else.<br /><br />But I am not complaining. Far from it. I seem to be doing OK with things the way they are now. At least as far as the complexities of shift work go.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-6451693085670528872009-09-29T00:52:00.002-04:002009-09-29T01:05:44.668-04:00Things I Will NOT DoTwitter. Or Tweet. Or whatever the hell the act of posting a minute by minute account of your entire day on Twitter is called.<br /><br />I will not do it.<br /><br />It really amazes me what people will post on that site. They will even use their real photo! A really bad idea.<br /><br />Really. If you are a hot chick, this is a BAD idea. You are aware there are these things called "stalkers" out there right? And if you say "I am at the bar on 5th and Main" guess what a stalker can do?<br /><br />Plus, my life is really not that interesting. Here would be a typical Twitter day for me.<br /><br />I am awake.<br />I am taking my morning dump<br />I am taking a shower<br />I am driving to work.<br />I am at work<br />I am on break at work<br />I am leaving work<br />I am home<br />I am taking my after work dump<br /><br />Wow! A really exciting day there huh? I am sure millions of people worldwide care.<br /><br />But aside from that, I just do not care to post constant updates. I fail to see the point. Now maybe I am missing the point - this is possible. Maybe you think Twitter is great. If so then it is great - for you.<br /><br />But it is not for me.<br /><br />What cracks me up the most are the obvious attempts by some to use Twitter to make themselves seem cool, hip, or "in touch". Please - stop this attempt. Nobody is buying it. You look like a clown. So if you are some old fuddy-duddy Congress Critter, just stop it. Tell the staffer that convinced you this was a good idea to come up with another idea. You are not appearing any more "in touch" or "hip" or "cool".<br /><br />But there is at least one good use for Twitter. I know this girl who has stalker problems. I suggested to her that she sign up for Twitter, and somehow let the stalker(s) know this. Then when she wants to go to club A she can Twitter that she is going to bar X somewhere far away from club A.<br /><br />Brilliant huh? I thought so!The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-82893402747492115212009-09-28T03:25:00.003-04:002009-09-28T03:29:56.733-04:00Cat Poem MondayThis is Skipper.<br />He is not at the vet.<br />But he is still pissed off,<br />Because he is stuck in a net!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlrHqR35M4DjJWK5uECfOxh7MNnVyCstro3my5BcFdDqtHIKHwjUDnYmHYkQ89cGd7lW5W4yCjsmo-k2ib8dDHJnZ4AUudf8LqvIKLh8pPlG3MLLFuGktdMSKrVXCC0DZv6GqwQ/s1600-h/P9270071.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlrHqR35M4DjJWK5uECfOxh7MNnVyCstro3my5BcFdDqtHIKHwjUDnYmHYkQ89cGd7lW5W4yCjsmo-k2ib8dDHJnZ4AUudf8LqvIKLh8pPlG3MLLFuGktdMSKrVXCC0DZv6GqwQ/s400/P9270071.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386416715940823314" border="0" /></a><br />UPDATE - Skipper did escape from the net. He was only stuck in it for a little bit.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12521664.post-5545668788405813682009-09-27T00:11:00.003-04:002009-09-27T00:58:45.590-04:00ProjectsToday will be a productive day.<br /><br />I think. The boat needs some work done to it. And there is no time like the present! This is mainly because the new job situation is probably going to result in a screwy and unpredictable schedule. For now anyway. So while I have the time I should use it to get some shit done!<br /><br />First up is resolving the fuel alarm. Last time I was out the port tank was running low, so I opened the valve for the starboard fuel tank. Then a couple of minutes later I get an alarm. A fuel alarm. Attached to the engine is a water separating fuel filter. This is the source of said alarm. There is a float switch in the filter, and when water gets in it the float switch trips sounding the alarm. I was able to keep doing my thing, but I do need to figure out what the hell is going on. I have the new filter. I am hoping that the problem is NOT phase separation! That would be bad. But I think the gas I have in the boat is not that E-10 shit, so I should be OK. Remove the fuel filter on the engine, dump the contents into a jar for a visual inspection, hope there is not signs of ethanol phase separation going on, put the new filter on, then dump the contents of the external fuel filter into a jar, visually inspect it, hope there is no signs of phase separation going on, then haul the boat off to ye ole filling station to top off the tanks. And while I am at it add the usual fuel treatments I use.<br /><br />Keeping the tanks full is the best way to prevent water in the fuel. I know this - but I got lazy.<br /><br />And then there is problem 2. This is my cool custom made cooler rack that is installed in the splash well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lazyiguana.org/FCB/seagull/tunnel/PA230042.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://www.lazyiguana.org/FCB/seagull/tunnel/PA230042.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Pretty nifty huh? Notice how it holds the cooler. I like this set up because the cooler is never in the way.<br /><br />Well this is what the cooler rack looks like now.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3pQlmyE9cu5wVWedYOvgnCVGk88BE72uQwiUvEMg8VbfdDlWiEEAtAgfods3SXaOfW5KqxHcsucm43Q3mhApbhSNVnqHc7ZmwEkRQRdoCtlaK0a4inJnuQbbqjJ3Q1o9OUrrgA/s1600-h/cooler-rack1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif3pQlmyE9cu5wVWedYOvgnCVGk88BE72uQwiUvEMg8VbfdDlWiEEAtAgfods3SXaOfW5KqxHcsucm43Q3mhApbhSNVnqHc7ZmwEkRQRdoCtlaK0a4inJnuQbbqjJ3Q1o9OUrrgA/s320/cooler-rack1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386004444086620546" border="0" /></a>Notice the slight difference. What happened was a little bit of shitty engineering. The previous owner designed and built the cooler rack. That was pure genius. The splash well is wasted space, so it was put to excellent use. The cooler lives back there, leaving the deck 100% free and clear.<br /><br />But as cool as the idea was, and as good as the design was - the guy used screws to hold it in place. This was not the best idea in the world. A cooler, loaded with ice and beer and whatever else is in it, is heavy. The boat rides well but it still pounds a little bit in waves. Well the last time I was out I hit some wake and landed a bit hard. The screws pulled out of the fiberglass and the cooler rack was down. Nothing was really damaged, but it needs to be fixed anyway.<br /><br />My solution is going to be BOLTS! Not screws. I will use stainless steel bolts, large washers, and self locking nuts. I might even put in a backing plate and washers - but I do not think the backing plate will be needed.<br /><br />What the washers and/or backing plate will do is distribute the force exerted by the weight of the cooler over a larger area of fiberglass. The end result will be much stronger than screws.<br /><br />In addition, the tarp over the boat got ripped up in a rain storm a few weeks ago. It needs to be replaced too. I have the tarp, I just need to get it strung up.<br /><br />Then the project will be over, and the boat will be ready for use again.The Lazy Iguanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12826083852416577162noreply@blogger.com3