In Lafayette for the week.

After work on Thursday, I took off for home. I went and rigged up and started driving. I stopped in Ardmore and drank two pots of coffee with Jerry, then tackled the DFW traffic. I made it all the way to Alexandria, LA. Actually, I was only 86 miles from home when I had to stop and crash at 4:30 in the morning. I just pulled into a truckstop, let the boys tinkle, crawled into bed and crashed for 7 hours. I got here on Friday afternoon.

Saturday I went to the Auto Parts store and spent $213.00 on parts: I bought plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor, PCV valve, heavy duty flasher, trailer brake module, four colors of wires, two 30 amp self-resetting breakers, bracket for my trailer wiring harness, gap tool, and I splurged on a pair of wire-pulling pliers. On Sunday, I tuned up the truck and installed the trailer brake module, and re-wired the trailer wiring harness. That took all day.

I'm proud it's all done, and now I don't have to worry about my stopping distance. Heavy traffic was scaring me to death with the extensive amount of distance it takes me to stop 9100 pounds of forward momentum with just the van's brakes. I feel so much better about hauling this thing around now.

Today, I am going to clean and reconnect the RV's battery leads, vacuum out the van, and re-organize my tools.
I suppose I should throw some laundry into the mix. I'd best be keeping up with that.

I switched the dogs first to Pedigree senior formula - it supposedly is easier to chew, and they snarfed that bag right up. I went back to the store to find some more and there wasn't any. So, I've switched them again - this time to Beneful. They really love that stuff. I've decided to stop buying Pedigree. The boys eat the Beneful much easier and seem to like it more. Meg is full of energy - he's the first one to bust out after a squirrel. If I'd have known that switching his food would have this kind of effect, I would have done it sooner.
So Rob... consider changing Brinka to Beneful if you think of it. It's kinda stinky, must be the salmon, but not excessively so.

Well, I'm going to get after my day. You have a great one.
MsAmber

El Reno. . . Again?!?!

Still here.
The job isn't going blazingly fast. The crew is out of Tulsa, and they schedule themselves pretty short.
I'm kinda in a quandary: I have a reputation for not liking the quality of work by subcontractors, so my bosses roll their eyes at me when I give disparaging reports of others' work. Fact is: I could do the entire job myself, but that's not the reason I have critical eyes towards their work. But I know that if I complain about yet another subcontractor, that it won't change anything and I will simply be reinforcing my reputation as a malcontent.

I see things like: Not showing up on time. Not staying as long as they should. Terminating cat6 without using the retaining clips. Not using the box connectors on the Valcom speakers. Taking 8 hours to terminate 48 cables. Not doing exactly what they said during the conference call. Not adhering to the schedule that they announced during the conference call. Pulling some cables too short. Labeling cables without underlining the numbers (is it 99 or 66? 81 or 18? etc.) If I didn't nag so much about labeling the jacks, I think they would bypass that step also.
My new boss wanted me to watch how THEY do things so that I can duplicate their quality during the next install. What a joke! I feel like my talents are wasted sometimes. The subcontractor is really hating having a babysitter (me) and is doing their best to keep their work away from me - they gave me the task of dressing-in the closet on Wednesday. That kept me busy in the closet all day - it looks real good, by the way.
They are a small-town company. The son works for the dad. Remind you of someone? (Ardmore Tel-Comm, Jerry and Terry Bateman! I love those guys!) Stubborn as all hell - "This is the way I've always done it!" (It took me forever to re-train Terry Bateman from stripping cat5 all the way back. Ah the memories!)

"Yeah? Well that doesn't mean you've been doing it right. Where did you learn to terminate Cat6?" (This is what I wish I'd said.) He says the cat6 clips get in his way. I think he just doesn't know how to use them - I thought they were a pain-in-the-ass the first time I used them, but then I got used to them and I find that they work beautifully and save a little time in a high-density panel. Besides: nowadays the cable sticks out straight from the panel, not bent to the side. I hope his cables pass, but I kinda doubt they will with that sharp bend. We'll see. Today we test! Unfortunately he won't be there. He is going to a wedding today, so they are sending a substitute technician to finish the punching-down.

Well, I've ranted enough. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about anyway.
Just smile, Amber. This job will be done, and nobody will care about retaining clips and box connectors when it's through.

Have a great day.
MsAmber

More El Reno

Well, we got the cabling roughed in. I installed the paging speakers and wiring. I tested that with a toner and everything appears to be working fine.
I'm off today, but I need to change out my air filter on the van, find a place to refill my propane (on a Sunday, no less) and do my laundry.

I was out of propane when I woke up this morning. Since I went to bed with wet hair, it was quite a mess and I thought I would take a quick shower to tame it down a little. Surprise! No hot water!
How... ummm. Invigorating!

I've repainted my nails this morning, and drank a gallon of coffee, so I think I'm ready to bundle up and head outdoors.

You have a great day!

MsAmber

Where the hell am I? Oh yeah, El Reno, OK.

On Thursday, October 15th, I was headed to work at the VA in Billings and the electrical system in the van died. I called the replacement technician and told him I would be a little late and started troubleshooting the electrical problem by the side of the road at 7:15 a.m. I tore apart the dash, I took out the fuse block, I chased the wires down, I pulled the stereo out. I found that my ignition wire was a dead short to ground - but WHERE? By 11:30 I couldn't solve the puzzle so I called a tow truck and had it towed to Speedo & Electric in Billings. Guess what he found? Mice! Yep, I had mice chewing all over my wiring harness under the doghouse. The ignition wire was absolutely shorted to the block. At least we found the problem(s) and fixed them before I hit the road. I was leaving Montana on Friday, so the timing was perfect. That was $260 bucks. Then I rented a car-dolly and towed the Nissan all the way to Shreveport. I stopped off in Norman to unload some equipment and picked up Megabyte. Dropped off the Nissan in Shreveport, returned the car dolly to U-Haul in Shreveport, dropped off a KVM switch to the VA in Shreveport then drove home to Lafayette.
It rained nearly every day that I was in Lafayette. The yard was so full of water that the van got stuck in the driveway. I just knew I wouldn't be able to pull the RV out.
Friday, October 30th was my 39th birthday. It rained all day. When Chad got off work, I cooked dinner for everyone and he baked me a pumpkin pie. I didn't want to call it a night - being as it was my birthday and all, so I waited for my friend Nicky to get off work, she showed up finally around midnight and we sat around and got drunk and talked until 2:30 in the morning. Then the next morning I whipped together a couple of caveman costumes for Chad and myself, painted up and fixed up his youngest daughter, and we all went trick-or-treating. I may have been a little on the grumpy side - tad bit o' hangover and all...
It didn't rain at all on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday; so I thought maybe I could get the camper out of the yard after all. I packed up, hitched up, wired up a trailer harness, and Tuesday morning I pulled it right out. I drove the 631 miles yesterday. The transmission is real weak, but it pulled it just fine - I just took it easy. I got here in El Reno last night (well, this morning), found a camping spot, set up the camper, took a shower, and went to bed. I got up this morning, drank my coffee, walked the dogs, checked my emails, and went to work.
I'm done now - and I don't have to work tomorrow except to sit-in on a conference call at 1:00.
Whew.
I just opened a beer - say goodnight Amber.
Goodnight Amber.

(Grin)
MsAmber

1995 Dodge Ram 2500 PowerWagon

...with the Magnum V8.
I bought it! It's mine.
I'll be spending the next few days loading my stuff into it and getting it ready to roll. I have to wire up the trailer wiring harness, unbolt the toolbox from the back of the Nissan and move it into the van. Remove the back seats. Get a power inverter so that I can charge my cellphone and laptop. This is going to keep me excited for the next 4 days.
Gotta go. Worky worky, busy busy.

MsAmber (grinning)

It's Snowing!!!!

I woke up this morning, it didn't seem like an extraordinary day. I got dressed and brushed my teeth. Then I stepped outside...
There is an inch of snow on my truck and it's still snowing. It's a peaceful snow - didn't hear a thing, the wind is not blowing, just a silent blanketing over everything. It's warm snow. Slushy and wet.
I'm at work now, facing a window watching as everything turns white.
It's cool. I'm enjoying it. Except for the whole "my feet and pants-cuffs are wet" thing.

You have a great day!

MsAmber

Counting down the days...

I put a Dodge Ram 2500 van on layaway. I've already paid $1800 on it, I just owe $1700 more. It just came out of the shop - I made a deal with the guy to have a tow-hitch installed. I'm counting down the days before I can pay it off and start packing up to get the hell outta here. I'm free to leave on the 15th, but I don't get my paycheck until the 16th, so I'll pick it up then and rent a car-dolly to tow the Nissan back to Louisiana. I'm starting to get excited and impatient about leaving, that'll make the days drag on...
I can't wait to see Chad again. He hitched up my trailer and moved it to his place to re-pack my wheel bearings and fix the mushy spot on the floor. The prognosis is good, he found the source of the water that damaged the floor and the wall - it was a bad assembly problem. I'm so glad he's a carpenter!

I slept in until 7:00 this morning, and I'm feeling a little strange today. Kinda light-headed, shaky and unsteady. I don't know what that's all about. Maybe too many cigarettes and too much coffee and not really being acclimated to this elevation? I did sequester myself to my room this weekend instead of getting out and walking around. The weather is turning cold, threatening snow, according to the weather reports. I just don't like to be out in the cold wind. (wimp!)

I usually have my laundry done by now - I've been making it to the laundromat by 7:30 on Sundays to beat the rush. It's now 9:30. Now I'll be fighting for a dryer. I may just wait until this afternoon since I'm not feeling all that energetic right now anyway.

I bought a subscription to "unclaimed money" and I've been searching names of everyone I know and relatives. It's kept me busy for a day now... What shall I do next? I'm tired of reading books, don't want a nap... I know, maybe I'll paint my toenails? That'll take up all of 20 minutes.

Man, the waiting is KILLING me!

MsAmber