GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

6ixString's Home Improvement and Mindless Ramblings Thread....

POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Sunday, May 8, 2016 14:48
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/xvd0uX
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Saturday, March 17, 2012 2:59 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Or "Anybody I Know Still Post Around Here (Part 2)"

JO753 asked me to post a new thread since the old one was taking ages to load on his netbook. I was thinking it would probably be a good idea before, but never bothered until somebody mentioned it. It does take quite a while to load a thread that big with that many pictures attached.

So, the original thread, which has had 305 replies and 5339 views since September 11th, 2011, has now been retired. Thanks for all the interest, witty banter, seeing old friends and new people stopping by to say hi, and thanks to FFF.net and everyone who commented for giving me a place to showcase some of my FINALLY finished jobs, to have an interactive journal to record what I did for the day and to hear other people's responses to the work being done, and a place to ask questions and get feedback on future projects I'm contemplating.

Jeez.... That almost sounds like a going away speech, doesn't it?

I'm not going anywhere....

I'm starting a new temp job next week, but it's only part time and my weekends are free. Rehab projects will definitely slow down, but they won't stop.

I hope this new thread makes what's going on more accessible to people and that more join in the fun.

Hopefully when the site is revamped, we have the ability to only see the last 10, 20, 50, or 100 posts like we have the option to at other forums so opening a new thread will not be necessary in the future.

Oh, and a special thanks to WISHIMAY for all of her comments and conversation. She had a lot of great ideas along the way when I was stumped or needed the opinion of the fairer sex when it came to how to put some final touches on things. Thanks to her hubby as well for a few things he gave some input on, since he's an actual professional at what he does, and I'm just a DIY'er that is learning new things everyday.

The old thread is here: http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=49651&m=888051#888051

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Saturday, March 17, 2012 5:36 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


i seeing you try to reply a lot to this thread JO753. Sorry about that :)

Hope it all gets ironed out.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:26 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


How about now?

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:27 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Hey! it workt!

Lets see if I can put my original reply here.

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Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:28 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Its like walking into a brand new house - all emty space and freshness.

Kool title!

Let me get the clutter started!

Yesterday morning I posted a new KoMIK: http://www.nooalf.com/JEZUSKRas.html

I'm not religious or a country muzik fan, but I watch American Idol so had the idea for that back wen the song 1st came out.

It seemz Jezus haz a sense uv humor also, kuz he played a little joke on me yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, I'm driving along wen a hum starts somewhere in the rolling hardware. It quickly turned to a buzz, then an angry buzz!

I keep going, hoping to at least get to my 1st destination, only a haf mile away. But the angry buzz changed to a krunchy thumping, so i had to slowly pull into the nearest parking lot & call AAA.



Thats wuts left uv the PSF outer weel bearing. If I'd tried to go any further, the weel woud hav fallen off & I woud be talking with cops.

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:08 AM

WISHIMAY


Glad you're ok Jo. We've had a wheel fall off, it's not fun. Well, it was for about 3 seconda until you realize that the wheel surrealistically rolling along with you is YOURS, then it's gets scary, hah.

New threads is good...

Jack- about sod...I was gonna say I don't think I'd sod, unless you are willing to put major money into a back yard, 'Cause they don't usually win you points re-sale wise unless you go big. Also, it's spring now, so you can have the grass pretty quick, and you might have to put more dirt down next year if it settles more... There are good vids around for detailing what to do to get nice grass, so that'd be my bet...

I feel leery saying that, I think you'll take it as a challange TO go big, hehehe...

Glad you got a temp job, it's good to get away and get perspective. I was worried about you sucking fumes for days on end, too... And no need for thanks, I'm just hanging out where I live and it's nice to have company


Floors look awesome!

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 11:24 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Where andor why did the weel break off?

I've seen vehiclz with missing weelz on the side uv the road and it alwayz looks like they forgot to tien the lug nuts.



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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:11 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Hey JO753,

I have to laugh at that Jesus pic just because of the sheer obsurdaty of it. I'm not up on the internets speak, so I probably wouldn't get the joke even if I watched American Idol and/or listened to Country music and/or went to church.

That being said, I don't know why it's funny, but I still had to laugh when I saw it.


WOW about the wheel though man. That looks pretty nasty. Makes me think I should start wearing a seatbelt in my 16 year old Camry. You can't beat buying a vehicle that was being repo-ed for less than 2/5 of what was still owed on it, especially one that gets the long engine life and great gas mileage that Camry's do, but..... It's 16 years old. I worry about freak accidents like that everytime I'm on the expressway with it.

Sucks going through that and having to pay for repairs, but at least you're alright.


As a side note, I find it very fitting that your signature quote is from Jubal Early. Not exactly sure why, but I'm just saying



Hey Wish,

I was reading the same thing you said about the sod. I also read that up north like we are, it's actually smarter to lay seed than sod for large projects anyhow. You can always get sod for bargain basement prices if you search, but it's usually more than a day old and will be much harder to maintain until it takes. TRUE and GOOD sod that has been freshly cut can cost .50 cents a square foot where you can seed the lawn for .01 cents a square foot.

I'm definately not looking for a challenge here lol. My limitless free time window is quickly coming to a close.

I don't think it should settle much either, since what's already down (about 85% of what I needed) didn't "settle" at all over the winter. Thsi was probably because after each of 6 layers of dirt I laid down and raked, I spent about 45 minutes walking on every square inch to push it all down with my body weight. Truth be told, I probably shot myself in the foot doing that because I think it's now more compact than it needs to be and that's why I have to order more dirt before seeding now.

All that being said, I'm 99% sure I'm going the seed route. My one question to you about seeding is this... If "settling" were not a factor, which at that point I really believe that it isn't at all, how high should the level of dirt all around be in relation to the existing grass before planting seed?

That's the one piece of information I'm having a lot of trouble finding the answer for either seed or sod. Of course, you'd need less dirt if you were sodding and more if you were seeding, but nobody mentions the level it should be at.....





Thanks about the floors. After two coats they really did look great. I blew the final coat though, and I have to do a lot of work now to fix it. The directions say to scuff sand before the final coat and then wash the floor down with either water or mineral spirits. I chose Mineral Spirits because they (I thought) evaporated much quicker than water. I didn't know until today that MS has oil in it.

Water based finishes are VERY finicky! My step dad HATES the fact that the federal government is looking to eliminate oil based finishes for the GREEN movement for this reason. He's an expert at getting a perfect finish on your furnature with oil based products, but water based finish may end up doing the same things my floors did simply because the water you drink and shower with in your own house is slightly tainted with a foreign material.

In the end, they don't look THAT bad after the 3rd coat settled and cured, but I didn't spend 600-700 bucks and 2 weeks plus of my life for "okay" looking floors.

So, on Tuesday I will be sanding the shit out of the high spots the 3rd coat created, and at my Step-Dad's suggestion I'll be washing the floors with rags and distilled water before putting the 4th coat down.

Who knows.... this could end up being a great mistake?

If I choose to rent a buffer to prep for the final coat, I would still have that buffer late enough in the next day to really give it a final polishing. After another 100 or so bucks for poly and the rental/pads, I might end up with a floor twice as shiny as I thought it would be




In better news... I had two great things happen electrically today when my stepdad was here.

1) I may have mentioned this before, but I HATED my ceiling fan in my kitchen in the winter because if I wanted the light on, it automatically turned the fan on at full blast too. Not cool when you keep the thermostat at 62 degrees.T

For whatever reason, there are no pull-chains on this unit. You have full fan power and lights, or you have darkness. We got that running on two separate switches today.

2) The ceiling fan in my 3-season room that I beilieved I fried in my little electric fire 4 or 5 months ago still works!

Don't ask me why....

I completely dismanteled it and just for shits and grins I plugged it into an extention cord we were using to test the other fan and it fired right up. When I checked the fixture box for power it worked perfect with the switch too.

At first, I wasn't too excited to be putting it back up because it looked horrific, but it really cleaned up wonderfully.

I thought because it was so black and dingy, especially on the blades, that the paint was worn through and the wood had been damaged...... nope.... that was just 20 years of neglect, dust accumulation, and likely 40,000 smokes lit up underneath it over the years.

It took FOREVER to clean those blades with 409 and paper towel, but the fan looks practially new now.

I'm entertaining people tomorrow, so it will be nice to have that fan working again and not looking like the dingy worn out piece of shit it looked like this morning.





I'm glad you're happy I got a job. That makes one of us It's only a 5 week security guard stint at a oil refinery, it pays only 2 bucks more than minimum wage, and I'm about 95% positive there's no way I'm going to meet any women there.

Oh well... I figure after income tax it will pay for my upcoming property tax bill, so there's that...

At least it's only 5 weeks long.

All I have to do is wake up at 4AM 4 days a week for 5 weeks, put on my cute little security guard uniform, drive 30 miles round trip, and put a fake smile on my face while doing my duties when people come in and show me their badge.

In down time, I strive to finally check off one of my "bucket list" items and become a master at Sudoku.



"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 4:08 PM

WISHIMAY


Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
Where andor why did the weel break off?

I've seen vehiclz with missing weelz on the side uv the road and it alwayz looks like they forgot to tien the lug nuts.



Wheel bearing seized and ate though the wheel axle... We were actually on the way to get it fixed, ironically...I didn't think it was much at the time, and we didn't have much $$$ at the time, so I put it off for a week. Week too much as it turned out...


Jack, just put good light dirt until it's a smidge higher than the rest of the ground...You can always wait until the grass is up and sprinkle more light layers of dirt down if you need to, the grass will grow through pretty much anything... I just did that in my backyard, and the built up spots look ok now.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 4:13 PM

WISHIMAY


^ posting just to see if I GET AN ERROR MESSAGE HERE TOO.... ALL CAPS, CRAP.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 4:46 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Undr the KoMIK therez a link to the American Idol episode in wich Carrie duz her song, just for people who dont get the joke, Jack.

Kind uv a bummer about the finishez, but I'd rather hav a clean envirment than a shiny floor.

I'v alwayz assumed that car paint stopped lasting very long bekuz uv dangerous chemicalz being fazed out rather than Detroit forgetting how to paint.

Ate thru the spindle! That must hav required sum serious radio crankage to drown out!

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 4:47 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Undr the KoMIK therez a link to the American Idol episode in wich Carrie duz her song, just for people who dont get the joke, Jack.

Kind uv a bummer about the finishez, but I'd rather hav a clean envirment than a shiny floor.

I'v alwayz assumed that car paint stopped lasting very long bekuz uv dangerous chemicalz being fazed out rather than Detroit forgetting how to paint.

Ate thru the spindle! That must hav required sum serious radio crankage to drown out!

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:20 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
I'v alwayz assumed that car paint stopped lasting very long bekuz uv dangerous chemicalz being fazed out rather than Detroit forgetting how to paint.


How very intuitive of you JO753...

That's EXACTLY what's happening.

In the end, I must admit that I belive that water based finishes as they're constructed today, are tougher than the oil based finished of yesterday.

You better be a pro if you put them down though..... and if you're not, you better be ready for fixing let-downs.

I think you've got a feel for how OCD I am about this. I can't imagine how many clueless DIY'ers have hat teh same problem but nowhere to post about it.

If a tree falls........... right?

f

I don't blame the product at all for this problem.

I blame the instructions for the problem.....

They recommended cleaning all coats beore spreading with mineral spirits, even the poly before the first coat, which would lighten the wood color significantly.




My review for this product, otherwiese, would be great. I will make it my mission to make them chan ge the steps to use "either mineral spirts or water and rags" to only use "water and rags".



Personally, I think I shouldn't have to drive 15 miles round trip to buy another gallon tomorrow.

When these awsome floors are done right, Minwax should pay me to be an example.



"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:20 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
I'v alwayz assumed that car paint stopped lasting very long bekuz uv dangerous chemicalz being fazed out rather than Detroit forgetting how to paint.


How very intuitive of you JO753...

That's EXACTLY what's happening.

In the end, I must admit that I belive that water based finishes as they're constructed today, are tougher than the oil based finished of yesterday.

You better be a pro if you put them down though..... and if you're not, you better be ready for fixing let-downs.

I think you've got a feel for how OCD I am about this. I can't imagine how many clueless DIY'ers have hat teh same problem but nowhere to post about it.

If a tree falls........... right?

f

I don't blame the product at all for this problem.

I blame the instructions for the problem.....

They recommended cleaning all coats beore spreading with mineral spirits, even the poly before the first coat, which would lighten the wood color significantly.




My review for this product, otherwiese, would be great. I will make it my mission to make them chan ge the steps to use "either mineral spirts or water and rags" to only use "water and rags".



Personally, I think I shouldn't have to drive 15 miles round trip to buy another gallon tomorrow.

When these awsome floors are done right, Minwax should pay me to be an example.



"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Monday, March 19, 2012 10:46 AM

WISHIMAY


Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:

Ate thru the spindle! That must hav required sum serious radio crankage to drown out!

Well, I weren't the one driving it ... And it was only a light noise for a week, and then a little grind-y for a couple days...

I like to stay on top of things... OTHER people, no names here, like to wait until things break and THEN fix 'em...

Got lotsa siding today...going to be busier than a puppy with two tails this summer, yay!....and ....arghhh.

No vacay 'till next year for us...

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Monday, March 19, 2012 11:10 AM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


I personally am glad you started a new thread since that old one has been around for a long time. But I don't think I'd only want recent posts on a thread to show up, maybe if you could choose for yourself with settings, but not by default.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, March 19, 2012 7:30 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


All the modern forum software limits the number uv posts per page & starts another page for the topic. The Skeptic's Society, for example goes to 40. I put the 'Active Topics' page in my favez. This makes it eazy to get to the latest posts.

My fave forum in termz uv the software, or platform I think its called, iz The Infinity Program. They recently swicht to xenforo, and its like an expensive luxery car vs a Chevette compared to this.

A few yirz ago sumwun started a Firefly topic there: http://theinfinityprogram.com/index.php?threads/best-tv-show-ever.4000/

Sumwun frum here, I suspect?

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Monday, March 19, 2012 7:47 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Ye, thats you, Wishy!

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012 3:06 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by RionaEire:
I personally am glad you started a new thread since that old one has been around for a long time. But I don't think I'd only want recent posts on a thread to show up, maybe if you could choose for yourself with settings, but not by default.


Hey Riona,

I agree completely with the ability to choose.

I don't want to name the site, because I don't want the heavy involvement I had in a 4 year project to overlap with what's going on here, but the site I had allowed the user the choice.

The thread could theoretically go on forever, and we tested that with thousands of posts and over 1/2 a million views, but there you had the ability to view 10, 25, 50 or 100 posts. If you clicked on the thread itself, you'd see the first 100 and could move forward, and if you clicked on the last post you'd see the last 100 and move backward. (There wasn't an option to view ALL posts, but then again, rarely did a thread there ever have more than 100 posts so it was mostly a non-issue for everybody else).

I'd be in the minority there to complain about it, but because I had so much on my plate and some nights I would remember an idea somebody mentioned 6 months back that I finally had time to try to implement I either had to post a question to repeat the full idea, or I'd have to use the search feature over and over again on each page of 100 posts while I went back and forth around the time I believed the post was made.

Anyway, I'm glad there's a new thread now too. The old one was taking ages to load with all of those pictures that were posted.

(Note to anyone interested, they can look at the first post of this thread and see the link for the original thread :))






In home improvement news, things have been going GREAT the last two days!

I scuff sanded the contaminated 3rd coat, much more vigorously than I would have a good coat, and washed the floor twice with water and a Quickie dry mop. After giving it 15 minutes to truly dry, I wasn't happy with the overall results (I sanded so much poly off this time, that even two rounds with the mop left marks that needed to be remedied).

I took two old socks and wore them inside-out on my hands and, on my hands and knees for every inch of the floor I did the "Mr. Miagi wax-on, wax-off" technique to make everything sparkle. (That's a special note to money saving apprentices there. I could have used the $5.00 set of 2 microfiber rags to do the same thing, but used socks inside out are the exact same idea, and you get the benefit of being able to "wear" them on your hands so they don't slide around).

So.... I put on my 4th coat of Minwax Water Based Polyurethane for Floors today and saw NO separation as I was laying it down.

5 hours later I was able to walk on it with socks and there are only two small spots where it was originally the worst that you can still see some minor divots. Otherwise the floor is PERFECT! Thankfully, these spots are in the very middle of both bedrooms where you'd most likely have an area rug anyhow.


I had my bro and his wife, and my Dad and Stepmom over last night and they didn't even know why I wanted to re-do the floor one final coat. I guess to the casual person they were already perfect.... Me, with my OCD about this stuff, and my Stepdad with his woodworking trade thought it was absolutely necessary to fix it.

When I told my Dad it cost me about double to fix it on my own, not to mention all the days of work (at a $650 price tag), he said that the Pergo (fake, unfixable wood flooring) he had installed (just)in his kitchen alone cost $3,000 (about 10 years ago). And I got my cheapness (ahem.... frugality), from him.

Meesa smiles!



It was so cool having them over last night for pizza. I finished the enclosed porch by finally cutting the carpet that used to be in the Master Bedroom to size and securing it around the door thresholds, and I fixed the ceiling fan and spent about 1 1/2 hours cleaning all the dirt, grime and nicotine off of it until it looked new. I've got a few tables and a lot of chairs out there now and everyone loved how I added another large room to my house for entertaining during good weather.

Cost for that: $0.00 USD!



I've also ripped out the hideous "Chef's" ceiling border wallpaper in my kitchen and mudded the walls for the first time after prepping them. It will be a LONG time before I actually gut and rehab the entire kitchen, but when I show ya'all the before and after pictures of this relatively small project, you'll see just how awesome some minor repairs and 4 days of your time can really change the entire look of a room without making a month long project and dumping hundreds or thousands of dollars into it.

When my kitchen work is done, which will COMPLETELY change the feel of the entire house, the final cost will be.....

$0.00 USD

I had a quarter pail of mud, 3 gallons of primer, and 3/4 gallons of Benjamin Moore Semi-Gloss white paint left over from the upstairs work.

Oh, yeah...

I also got my lawn mowed today (which sounds totally weird to HAVE to do at my Latitude in mid-march), and I removed half of the tree stump by my driveway which has been plaguing my mind since I moved in.

Not bad for 2 days of work.... and entertaining for 4-5 hours in between.

Soon, I'm going to have to throw a party for all my friends. Firepit outside with plenty of fuel, and the Texas Hold'em table set up in the garage. It will be just like old times, except we're all 30+ now and almost everyone is married. Hopefully the wives bring their single friends/sisters/cousins and they're mildly attractive. Sane isn't a requirement.... most of my exes weren't sane. Likely, I'm not entirely sane either.... that's probably why I attract insane women and/or are only attracted to insane women.


I'll have before/after pics of the enclosed porch and the kitchen changes this weekend hopefully.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:45 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Ugggghhhh.....

Weird thing happened today on the job front. My supposed 28 hr/wk, 5 week temp job may actually be an 87.5 hr/wk, 5 week temp job. Instead of working 5:30AM to 12:30PM, Mon-Thurs, it may be 5:30AM to 6:30PM, 7 days a week.

I found it funny that when the client was asking us if we had any questions that I was the only one to ask about the drastic change of hours, given that our temp manager was there. LOL... I don't think this drastic change even dawned on him until I spoke up about it. (He was making quite a few cell phone calls for the next 15 minutes on the DL after this new information presented itself).

At first I thought this was a deal breaker if they didn't honor my original scheduled hours, but I didn't say anything. After going home and doing the math, I've decided that I will agree to work 13 hours a day, 7 days a week, minus lunches, as long as overtime is 150%. Hell... that's nearly $5,400 after 5 weeks, even making this meager hourly wage with no benefits. I could put 3 months extra work into the house with an 800 dollar budget on home improvement a month without even tapping the reserves when that is done

Geeze....

Give me a job like this 4 times a year, and I could have 32 weeks a year doing home improvement and still watching my bank account grow.....



Two more things I plan on getting done tomorrow. I will be putting a 5th and FINAL coat of poly on the hardwood upstairs to make it perfect (No reason not to now, since I won't be moving furniture back upstairs for the next 5 weeks, and I still have 3/4 a gallon that would otherwise go to waste). I will also be primering the kitchen walls which should be completely prepped for primer by the time I'm done putting the poly down.

(Hehe wish..... Guess you can drink again, I said "primer")

Then, on Saturday and Sunday, before 455 hours of work and 24 hours of round trip driving time in 5 weeks, Jack finally rested.....

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Thursday, March 22, 2012 4:11 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


I've alwayz considered overtime to be evidence for management nincompoopery. Especially exesive overtime.

Sumtimez circumstancez arize, so overtime iz not proof that the boss iz an idiot, but wen its happening all the time, DU! Hire more peeple, gorramit!

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
http://www.nooalf.com

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Thursday, March 22, 2012 4:38 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Sure thing Jubal....

if I was somebody else with obligations or dates to meet, I'd likely tell them to "F" off like most of the other 9 candidates will.

I'm going to try to not only get the OT tomorrow, but get a few bucks more an hour to save their face.

They're "F-to-the-U-to-the-C-to-the-K'd" here.....

Maybe I can make an extra 2 grand here for being a reliable team player here?


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Thursday, March 22, 2012 11:58 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


If you want the money, I gess its not so bad.

Maybe thats part uv the reazon I'm alwayz poor. I'd rather keep my time than sell it.

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Friday, March 23, 2012 12:55 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I'm with you completely on the selling your time bit, J. I've worked really hard to get myself into a position where I don't have to work a job I don't want to. I'm not there quite yet, but when the house is rehabbed to my liking, I could probably work 20 hours a week at Family Video if I wanted to. (I'd like to think that when the house is finally done though, that I could transfer some of that ambition to more fruitful pursuits than that).

The life of a minimalist is pretty damn sweet, once you've set yourself up in a way where you can enjoy it. I'm almost there.


It's not as if I'd be working that crazy schedule for long, it would have only been 4 to 5 weeks, and all that insane overtime pay would have freed up easily another 3 or 4 months of working for myself on the house...

But, alas... I got too excited too early. They had it all figured out. I guess we had enough people where it only took adding two others who will go through orientation next week and we will all be working 40 hours or less, except for the two people who will be "rewarded" with a few hours overtime by being "floaters" that have a few nights and a few days every week. I have bad enough insomnia as it is. No way I'm doing that to myself for a few extra bucks.

I got a better schedule than I had originally though, so it's not all bad news. Instead of the 4 day a week 28 hour job, it's become a 3 day a week 36 hour job. I just secured a painting gig that I can do on my off days starting on the 11th too, so it will be nice to finally be adding funds to the accounts for the first of nearly 8 months living here.



It was too wet outside to try to do any floor stuff today. I needed to mud a 3rd coat on a lot of spots in the kitchen too, so no primer today. So... not a lot got done, but that's okay because I felt like crap. This colder rainy weather really brought out the joint pain, and it didn't help that I've been beating myself up trying to remove a tree stump from my yard. I easily spent 2 1/2 hours on it yesterday, using a hand axe as a chisel and hitting it with a hand-held mini-sledge hammer. Sometimes I forget that I'm going on 33 and that even though it doesn't hurt while I'm doing it, it KILLS when I wake up in the morning.

On the bright side, I have the best tan I've ever had in mid-March in my life.



Anybody here know about removing tree stumps?

I used the stump killer, but apparently I didn't wait long enough since a lot of that stump is still alive. The dead stuff comes right out but the live stuff is murder. Originally the stump was probably 6"-7" out of the ground. The hole is now about 5"-6" deep. I'm just wondering if I can fill the hole with clay and put some top-soil on it, seed it, and call it a day.

I REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYY hope I don't have to spend another two days trying to remove everything before I soil over it.

Plus, since I have a corner lot, people like to cut across my lawn. The hole is pretty damn invisible until you're right by it, and the last thing I need at the moment is a lawsuit because somebody broke their ankle falling into it.

THANKS!!!!

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Friday, March 23, 2012 1:28 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Anybody here know about removing tree stumps?

Actually yes, but I don't think you'd want me to do it for ya...



Mind you it wouldn't be that extreme, more of a loud thump cause I'd use distributed low order to chunk it into easily removable (via shovel and hand) pieces in place rather than blow it clean, or barring that just blow under it to clear the roots and then wrench her out with a tow chain and a truck...

But yeah folks get snippy when you do that in an urban area, and rightfully so mosta the time cause less-professional folks tend not to account for stuff which might also be down there like plumbing, electrical or gas lines - which I'd have mapped out and specced before so much as even taking hand to a shovel.

-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, March 23, 2012 1:43 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


That looks like the eazy way to do it! Literally blows away my tweezerz & nail-file method!

That soundz like a way better skedual, 6. Less commutes and more owrz.

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Friday, March 23, 2012 4:20 PM

WISHIMAY


We cut strips out with a chainsaw verticaly,(hollow in da middle) then put a steel fire ring over pieces and had a three day long cookout... But we can do that here...

I've been told the new guys on the police force come by here every once a decade to tell people not to burn leaves or whatnot, and they just laugh and say "Soon as you tell me where I should take 'em, officer."

Nearest dump like that is in the next county...

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Saturday, March 24, 2012 2:14 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Holy shit Frem, that video was AWESOME!

I think I'd probably be arrested for doing that on my property in these parts, even if there wasn't a large easement on my land for the gas pipes underneath (Why I'm not getting paid monthly for mowing their grass is a mystery that doesn't need solving).

I got it as deep as I'm going to get it (about 5") and I just filled it in today rather than risk a lawsuit for a broken ankle. I'll plant some seed soon and when it inevitably becomes a sinkhole I'll deal with it then.

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
We cut strips out with a chainsaw verticaly,(hollow in da middle) then put a steel fire ring over pieces and had a three day long cookout... But we can do that here...

I've been told the new guys on the police force come by here every once a decade to tell people not to burn leaves or whatnot, and they just laugh and say "Soon as you tell me where I should take 'em, officer."

Nearest dump like that is in the next county...


Hey Wish,

Yeah... I don't have a chainsaw, but that would be nice. I wanted to use my Skilsaw, but I don't have any electric close to the hole and when I tried to use my jumper box for my car it fried the A/C component of it. (SHIT!)

It seemed like a good idea at the time.....

I'd seen that somebody else recommened the burning as well online, but that it might take 3 or so days for it to go out. I didn't think it would be safe and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't allow that here. It's Indiana, yes, but aside from all the awesome tax benefits being an Indiana resident brings, I may as well be living in the Chicago suburbs otherwise. I've got a White Castle, Pizza Hut, Wendy's and Little Caesar's all within walking distance of me.




NEW PICS!!!!!

Kitchen upgrade..... not a full rehab, mind you, as I'm perfectly happy with everything about the kitchen at the moment besides what NEEDED to be done. The only other thing I'd love to do soon would be to put ceramic tile on the floor, but since I plan on making the 3 season porch behind the door a full diningroom with insulation and ductwork down the road, I don't want to lay tile down in case I want to extend the same tile into the dining room down the road.... so I'm stuck with that for the moment.



Hideous! Right?

I couldn't believe my luck when I figured out that those white/orange/black stripes were actually painted on and not wallpaper. I can't imagine that anyone would have ever gone to the trouble it took to do that horrible design, but I have to give them credit for the effort put into it.



Honestly, why would ANYONE think this border was a good idea? It wasn't a "moment of passion" thing either.... given the extensive work on the wall painting and the diagonal chessboard floors, this was without a doubt pre-meditated.

These creepy chefs had been eyeballing me for 7 months until I ripped them all down last week.



A view of the walls and soffit without the Chefs, and seeing that the color only went about 4" under the ceiling line, more proof that this was all premeditated.



Interesting pic here. Not only to you get to see the hideous wall painting, but an almost equally hideous wrought iron segway into my mold-free basement with it's sparkly white painted studs and the ceramic tiles which are in perfect condition, and the single cosmetic upgrade to the basement that withstood the floods from the previous owners.




AFTER TWO COATS OF PRIMER:



Still got a little bit of visible bleedthrough going on, but nothing a coat of BM can't cover.



It's amazing how much you finally notice just what a hap-hazard painting job the previous owners did in inconspicuous spots when you're trying your best not to paint things that shouldn't be painted. If you look at the original pic, a lot of that paint on the cabinet was already there, but I do admit that some of it was my doing as well. I usually wipe mistakes off like that, but I figured why the hell take the time? I never noticed their botches before with the fridge right up there, and I plan on making my own solid oak cabinets from scratch in the next few years anyhow....



Actually, the wrought iron doesn't look half bad in a black tone with the white walls and the chessboard tiles.

In the end it's got to go though. I HATE wrought iron anything. Nothing but beautiful, unpainted wood for banisters and whatever you would classify this decorative piece as.



Here's hoping that the weather cooperates with my plans tomorrow. I wanted that 5th and final coat of poly down today, but there was still fog in the streets at 9AM this morning. Even at 5PM we still had humidity at 94%, which would mean that I'd have to wait at least 24 hours to even step on it with socks.

Damn weather....

I've never before been in a situation where I was at the mercy of the weather outside to determine if I could do work inside before.

If all goes well, I'll have my last coat of poly down tomorrow as well as the kitchen walls painted and not a trace of those ugly walls that were there before.

Total cost for tomorrow, if things go as planned....?

$0.00 :)

It's all excess material I bought already and would likely go to waste before I'd get a chance to use it.

It's so nice to get a few really big things done without bleeding money doing it.



"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Sunday, March 25, 2012 5:44 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Okay, random ramblings time...

You mentioned elsewhere the Princess Maker series, which everyone seems to have a slightly warped concept of, prolly due to folk deliberately trying to push buttons or take things out of context, in fact they're more parenting sim than anything else, and not shy about dropping the guilt trip on the player for screwing up, neither.

That said, next time you've got some time on your hands you might check out SynthOrange's deliberate attempts to "create a monster" via Princess Maker2 - there WAS an english beta of that one about 95% complete before being abandoned and anyone who understands the code can patch the rest up themselves and have a mostly complete game, so one of the GoonSwarm/SomethingAwful folks, that being SynthOrange, decided to do a lets-play walkthrough AIMING to create an epic disaster...

The unofficial slang for this is pulling a "boatmurdered" (google it) after a truly, truly, go-down-in-history/infamy lets-play gone so horribly wrong of Dwarf Fortress.

Anyhow, here is - for your twisted amusement, SynthOranges wacked out lets-play of Princess Maker 2.
http://lparchive.org/Princess-Maker-2/
Save this for a boring day when you're waiting for paint to dry or something, it's lengthy but quite entertaining...

What's ironic about it is that while there was a discussion/review at another now-defunct site I used to do game/anime reviews for - in which some of them were whinging about the supposed difficulty of the game and the gauntlet was thrown - "Let's see YOU do any better!"
Mind you said site operators were unaware of my advocacy work, so this falls under askin-for-it, really.
So - from get, a no-save, no-research playthrough, and what happens ?

General of the Realm.
(I even still have the proof!)

Molly "Ironhands" Khallinenda.
Seriously, you think I'd not START with self-defense ? *laugh*

Of course, that particular site imploded soon after, not only was there a certain lack of objectivity amongst some of the reviewers, one of which we highly suspected was a corporate shill all along, it all came to hell when I caught some of them out throwing bad reviews at, and flaming, a series they DIDN'T EVEN read/watch - it's a very controversial one I'll not name, but instead of being objective they chose to follow the crowd and flame - something that seriously pissed me off cause it was a delicate and problematic topic, and yet despite the publisher trying to spin it one way, it really did address certain social problems and more importantly WHY THEY HAPPEN, which no one else did.
The resulting fallout more or less obliterated the site, alas.

Anyhows, it's always worth asking someone who's actually seen-read-played something before accepting the word of folks who'll flame something just cause someone else flamed it.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, March 26, 2012 1:39 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Hey Frem,

Your girl certainly turned out to be a lot more respectable than most pictures I've seen of the series or stories I've heard about it. I didn't realize that there was actually a "good" way to play the game before. Until you posted otherwise, I just thought it was soft-core Hentai for hard-core sexually deranged guys where were way too old to be playing a game with that theme. (Yes, I admit, I was influenced by other people talking about it online entirely, since I've never played it and I've never personally known anyone who has played it).

On the darker side of the game, I suppose it's good that there are things like this out there to keep the creeps busy with their virtual girls, rather than try any of what they would there in real life. Who am I to judge? When I play GTA I kill a bagillion cops.... I hijacked a tank once and drove around for about two hours smashing through fed vehicles.

When I played Fable the first time, I probably spent way too much time beating up the other kids and kicking chickens as far as I could in the very first part because the NPC's character's reactions were so funny. I'd never played a game before that where the AI's reaction to idiocy was as spot on. By the end of the game, I had more "Guard" kills than any other person or beast killable in the game. My bro had to laugh at that, since although many times that and the stealing and breaking and entering made the game tons easier for me than his playthrough, he had exactly 0 kills on guards the entire time he played. (In the end, I would up winning the game as a saint anyhow, because I had so much money that I bribed the hell out of the church and bought my way into heaven even though you could call my playthru genocide)

Negative reinforcement is what you need in games not to be a bad guy. I learned my lesson in Oblivion. After putting about 60 hours into that game there was a lot of great stuff I wasn't ever privy to because of my evil deeds along the way. I assume Skyrim took that to the next level, but I swear to NEVER play that, because I hear that it's an OCD'ers wet dream. I could probably lose 3 straight months of my life if I ever put that disk in the machine.


As for some quotes in the site you provided....

I don't know what's funnier......

"Ow, GODDAMN! Did you just stab me in the face for no reason? I was just going shopping!

In full armour?

Because shit like this keeps happening all the time.

In retrospect, stabbing little girls might not be such a viable career path."

OR

"Hello, little girl. Want to come over to my place?

I dunno... you're really kind of creepy.

I'll give you money.

Yippee!"

I know there is a lot more context to those conversations, but you can see Frem, how it would be very easy to use a few "sound bytes" to crush the rep of any otherwise upstanding citizen who played such a potentially controversial game.




I got the kitchen totally painted today. It looks clean and no more evidence of the stripes anymore. AWESOME.

Here's hoping that tomorrow I can finally get the last coat of poly on the 2nd floor hardwood. It should FINALLY be a low enough humidity level for me to mess with it.




The security firm called me today and left me a voicemail asking if I'd come to their place and pick up a badge with my ID number before starting work on Friday (for a part time job that only lasts a month). I won't call them back on it. If they call me again tomorrow, I will give them an ultimatum. I'll drive there to pick up the badge if they give me 2 hours pay to do it. I was there JUST THREE DAYS AGO to pick up the hard-hat and goggles they weren't aware we needed. It's a 25 mile round trip and over an hour of my time whenever I have to needlessly drive there. They're SOOOOOOOO clueless and unorganized.

Short of that solution, they could just give my badge to one of the other morons who actually drive back there to get their badge and they can leave it at the client's site for me to pick up on my first day.

Part of me is really hoping that either of these options are unacceptable to them, so I can tell them where to stick their underpaid and completely unappreciated employment.



I need a REAL job......

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Monday, March 26, 2012 3:32 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


Stumps: When my granddad was a little boy in the 30s, they had a stump on their property that they needed to get rid of. So he wandered down to the corner store to pick up some dynamite to use, yes you could do that back then and it wasn't a big thing. So his dad lit it etc. and BOOM! The stump flew up in the air and landed on the roof of their little house. :) So now they had to figure out what to do with a stump on the roof instead of a stump in the ground.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise

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Monday, March 26, 2012 4:47 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Feh, most gamers are perverse, at least in spirit, like we don't know this ?
Hell, I think most PEOPLE are, witness the unholy glory of the internet, and just how much of it is devoted to porn - not that there's anything wrong with that, but people as a rule are all about the humpin, whether they admit it or not...

That said - yeah they deliberately spin it all out of context to make it look worse than it is too, there's a lot of "artistic license" goin on in SynthOranges LP, obviously.

And yeah I know where you're coming from, why you think I didn't actually name the series those morons flamed without actually reading or watching ?
It doesn't help that the publisher more or less tries to market it in that kinda context either.
*eyeroll*
That said, it does delve into a critical social problem, and what the root causes and damaging pyschological, social, and legal impacts are, but that's often left by the wayside - why is it nobody ever wonders WHY young girls become sexually aggressive, they ain't born that way, and without SOME example of a Male/Authority who's approval is NOT linked to sexual conduct, what do people think they're gonna learn from society - over here, OR over there - and it sure ain't helped by fathers being afraid to so much as hug their kid for fear of being accused of something, which just feeds the damn cycle.
*sigh*
But, of course, no one wants to talk about it...
Ain't the first time I've handled THAT problem, believe it - all in good time.

Annnnyhows,
Of course I am quite, quite fond of GTA: San Andreas - my primary stress relief is to load it up, go downtown and perform seriously EPIC sprees of carnage and destruction, you know, those days when ya just wanna kill evvvverybody, and it's nice to get it out of your system before the rage spills over onto some poor schmuck in the real world who may or may not have it coming...

I could never much get into Fable, but I did rather enjoy that townsfolk would scream and flee from my very presence, as a villain by nature for me that's positive reinforcement!
*laughs*

Yeah, Skyrim - too much to DO, and that whole real-life thing to handle, I liked Fallout3 better though.
Just something about blasting someone with an AK suits me better than hackin em up with an axe, I guess.

Of course, something fun that DOESN'T take up a huge amount of time is Overlord - it's available on all three major consoles and PC, and it's a fun enough game, with a script written by Terry Pratchets daughter, all the fun of being a big bad, hilarious evil minions, emo hippy elves, and hey, a mistress - what's not to like ?


Far as real employment goes - ever think of contract security ?
It's what I do, and one dubious benefit is that as the economy tanks we become MORE valuable and in demand - if you pick your contracts right it's a slackers dream too, since doin the job right is easy so long as you have the self-discipline to not bollocks it completely, which you do, and after a while once you develop the reflexes and feel for it you can actually do the whole job on a sort of mental autopilot, so it's almost like free money, and (depending on the contract) a bit of useful exercise as well.
Plus, I suspect that much like me, that 2-5% of the time you DO actually have to do anything, you'll cope well enough if not actually enjoy the challenge - most of the folks who fail at that are buck passers with no initiative who aren't willing or able to adapt to the situation and sit around waiting for someone to tell em what to do...

-Frem

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Monday, March 26, 2012 5:49 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht


Hi Frem, don't you reckon that some girls, or boys, are sexually aggressive by nature/its just how their physicality works, because I do reckon it. But I think our society allowing it and not functioning well makes the problem more common and worse.

I think if someone's killing on videogames meets a need they have and they're thus able to behave reasonably in real life then by all means they can shoot 'em up on videogames. Because I'd rather they do that then harm anyone real.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise

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Monday, March 26, 2012 11:17 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Looks like there wuz a real artist living there befor!



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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
http://www.nooalf.com

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012 4:38 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Hey Frem,

"Most gamers are perverse"

LOL.... True Dat!

I remember playing mini-golf with my GF and some friends back in 1999-2000 and we played some arcades afterward. I pretty much just played whatever Kim wanted to play. She decided that "Killer Instinct" would be a fun time, and I swear the thought of letting her character "B Orchid" kick my ass was more arousing than letting Kim beat my ass....

We had a LOT of fun later that night, but I was mostly fantasizing her with big B Orchid boobs and wearing that green/yellow outfit the whole time. Don't get me wrong, she was a beautiful girl, especially if you're into the Kate Moss type.




But anyways, I think you hit the nail on the head more precise when you said "most PEOPLE are".... although I can only speak from the Male point of view.

In general, I think that's why it will hit Women the hardest when 3D TVs and computers and whatever other stimulating things come down the pipe in the next 15 years become the norm. Women definitely have much more of a need of emotional attachment than men do to survive.

It's really scary for all of us when you think about the potential ramifications of that fact and the fact that technology is making such huge leaps and bounds. Hell... half of the things that were "Science Fiction" when I was a kid in the early 80s have become "Science Fact" today.

Anyway, thanks for opening my mind about PM. I probably still won't have the urge to play it, especially since I've been way to busy to play any games of late (and I still am only halfway through Fallout 3 before my XBox 360 died by some miracle). I prefer to keep an open mind about things, and your endorsement of the game as something other than I've always seen it painted as makes me not believe the Hype.




Short points.....

GTA - Awesome! Get out all of your frustrations on game AI so you can better deal with real life assholes after the fact.

Fable - Practically soft-core porn for old school Final Fantasy fans who love GTA. Complete freedom. Be as evil as you want to be 99% of the game, and before the end of the game because of all of those evil deeds you'll have more money than God, so it's easy to buy your way into heaven and finish the game with a halo and butterflies surrounding your bald dome instead of horns and flies if you want to be the good guy at last minute.

Skyrim - Nope.... never going to play it.......

I swore I'd never play WOW because it was "neverending" and it's kind of scary that even non-online games are starting to seem that they can become that way when you consider downloadable content after the fact.

I'm SSSSSSOOOOOO glad the XBox 360 my bro gave me broke. I'm stuck now with a PS2, XBOX1 and everything before it. None of them tempt me like the new games do. As long as I don't buy the system, I don't know what I'm missing





About employment, what do you mean by "contract security"?

I'm actually working at a security firm that is giving me a temp job for 4-5 weeks. So far IT SUCKS!!! I've put over 150 miles on my car between going to their office 4 times and going to a client site one time (all for minimum wage, not the slightly above minimum wage they'll be paying for the actual security work and I'm not including driving time or payment for gas driving). Also, my schedule has been changed 4 times in the last two weeks before my work starts on Friday as well. They're a freaking joke.

Totally not intending to sound racist here, but I'm the ONLY white guy there, out of 12 hire-es... but on top of that, 3 of them are old enough to retire. Everyone is older to MUCH-older than me, a majority of them are women, and only of of them is even remotely close to me in age and physical shape.

When I asked a representative of the client that if we were on detail to check lunchboxes and tool boxes to make sure that nobody was stealing any tools this simple question "how do we differentiate the tools they brought on site from the company's tools", he was baffled. All he could say was "That's a good question" and "don't worry about it... we're all friends here".

Good to know.... I have ZERO job responsibility.

They may as well be paying a ceiling tile to do my job.




What am I doing here?

(I don't want to name the firm here, but please email me with ideas. Maybe I'm just with a bunch of idiots when there is actually good choices out there)





In happier news... got the 5th and DEFINITELY FINAL coat of poly on the floor today! It's a mirror finish! The 5th coat dry looks as shiny and good as the 1st coat looked wet.

I was so afraid to try one more coat since the 4th coat looked pretty damn good, and I didn't want to mess anything up, but I really focused and made it as close to perfect as I could.

I wish I could hover over them and never step on them.

It may have taken me 2 more coats to get her done than a pro you paid for would have taken, but I'm going on record stating that these are the prettiest hardwood floors that anyone has ever seen.




Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
Looks like there wuz a real artist living there befor!



LOL.... please tell me that you're being facetious Jubal.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012 7:34 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


No! I'm serious!

Not that I like the cozy local diner style, but matching the floor with detailz in the border, drunk french chefs, a floor level opening to the basement with a wrought iron fence?! Thats not your typical cookie cutter kichen decor there, thats the product uv true inspiration! John Waters woud despize you for removing it.



-------------------------------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
http://www.nooalf.com

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:46 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Quote:
We had a LOT of fun later that night, but I was mostly fantasizing her with big B Orchid boobs and wearing that green/yellow outfit the whole time. Don't get me wrong, she was a beautiful girl, especially if you're into the Kate Moss type.

Oh that's HI-larious... see, I used to play Killer Instinct, and got so good at it NOBODY but Alec (who mostly played Glacius) would even try to take me on, and what char did I play ?
B Orchid.

Even funnier you mentioned the boobs - she can KILL you with them, you know.
Seriously.



Now THAT is a lethal set of "guns", heh.
Saved that for easier fights though, it's tricky to pull off and usually they went down via the 36-41 hit Ultra Combo - that sound bite still makes me chuckle "ULTRA, ultra, ultra....".

Quote:
It's really scary for all of us when you think about the potential ramifications of that fact and the fact that technology is making such huge leaps and bounds. Hell... half of the things that were "Science Fiction" when I was a kid in the early 80s have become "Science Fact" today.

Yeah, kinda cool and scary at the same time - I still want a McNugget tree, hehehe.
When I think of where Tech and Society is goin, more and more I start thinkin Transmetropolitan.

Quote:
Anyway, thanks for opening my mind about PM. I probably still won't have the urge to play it, especially since I've been way to busy to play any games of late (and I still am only halfway through Fallout 3 before my XBox 360 died by some miracle). I prefer to keep an open mind about things, and your endorsement of the game as something other than I've always seen it painted as makes me not believe the Hype.

Actually it'd prolly bore you half to death, hell *I* found it boring, not my kinda game, but I had a point to prove...
I do have a recommendation for your XBOX1 though, Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. - it's a VERY cornball, old school racing game based around Demo Derbies, Smash Racing, and the lunatic stuff (chain races, gauntlet runs) that they do at the Smashfests out in hillbilly country.



Bear in mind I used to do this stuff once in a while for real - so did my mom, who back in her youth was the county demo derby champion for three years straight, hell, I even ran a derby once in a friggin YUGO, and scored top-ten!
(Eighth Place, but still, with a Yugo!)

As for online games, I play some off and on, when I have time - I am quite fond of World of Tanks, and extremely deadly with the german beginner tank, like, wax half the other TEAM kind of deadly.
The big tanks are nice but mostly the players in those matches are gutless cause of the big repair bills, so that kills a lot of the fun factor.


As for Contract Security, well - the quality of the work and the people doing it varies greatly, and believe me from your description you're scraping the bottom of the barrel there, some company on their last legs who'll take any contract they can get, and throw untrained bodies at it, yeah, that's bad.
And as is typical they're real halfass about it too ain't they ?

Stay AWAY FROM: Wackenhut now known as Group4Securicor aka G4S, and Pinkertons, who are complete scum.
But there's a bunch to choose from, and one cool thing is that if you can find a contract they're servicing in your area, even if their office is far away you only have to go there maybe once or twice, and can handle the rest via fax and phone.

I went back into security after Engler killed the local cab business by handing the scummiest company in the state a no-bid exclusive airport contract on his way out as part of his epic sabotage when he was pitched out on his ear and threw a temper tantrum in response - by the time the legalities were sorted and that was undone, between that and fuel prices the local cab biz was obliterated.

And last year some of my people got fed up with my refusal to take contracts with or work for DepHomeSec or TSA, cause that's where all the money is, and staged something like a pocket coup - so I gave em the company and it's name, and split off under the realty company which owns most of the properties we service in order to combine forces for leverage against the healthcare providers, bleh.
Anyways, so technically I am the commander of a realty corporations private muscle, but in fact we protect their sites, and the people and property within, most of whom adore us cause I have high standards and we leave well enough ALONE, I won't hire anyone with pysch issues or bad attitudes.

Not to mention I mostly patrol site three, where I happen to live, my own self - it's across the street from the rough part of town here, but in comparison to southwest baltimore, well...
There ain't no comparison - the local yahoos are pathetic, really.
Plus it's also a "turf" issue since I LIVE here, and what's the point of locking horns with me in the dark when there's nothin worth the hassle of stealing here anyways - ergo as I long as I am out there to wave the flag once in a while nobody will touch this place except the occasional dimwitted kid who didn't get word, and they usually leave this place at a high rate of speed and needin a change of underwear.
Plus it's nice to be able to suit up and step out the door - saves a bundle on fuel and insurance it does.

Oh, and those assholes that went and "took the kings shilling"? - they thought I was full of it about the stuff that DepHomeSec and TSA might order em to do, and they took the money, and then balked or bailed when confronted with the ugly realities of it all, which makes them what we call in the business a "shaved ape" - security person who has transgressed their own employer, bailed on or sold out a contract, more or less blackballed.
Which means you CAN'T hire them, not that I would have anyway when they came crawling back cause no doubt at least one of em was prolly still takin the money and hoping to spy on us while getting paid here too for a double-dip, and I don't play that game.

I am very careful about who I will work for, and even more so about who I will take money from - but with DepHomeSec and TSA and the Security State soaking up most folk interested in the work (often for nefarious reasons, which is why they get all those bullys and ego-strokers and authority-complex geeks) the ACTUAL security firms are kind of hurting for people, and often get the leftovers...
So having no criminal record, a brain, and any kind of discipline at all would allow you to more or less name your price and contract if you play it right, even with no actual experience in the work.

Just some thoughts on it...

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, March 28, 2012 1:41 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Interesting glimpse into a world I know nothing about, Frem.

Everything I knew about security work befor that wuz frum Walter Sobchak & the guy who fell asleeep kuz George Castanza gave him a chair!

How old are thoze gamez you guyz are talking about? Looks like early 90z.

My 2 fave gamez are Asteroidz Deluxe and Simpsonz Hit & Run. I've also played alot uv Gravitar and Unreal.

Back in the 80z me & my brother used to get 10 buks in quarterz at the 7-11 and play Asteroidz Deluxe for an hour or 2.

Sum yirz later we'd play at arcadez, then we found a place called Empire that sold used gamez that woud let you play for free.

Eventually, we had Asteroids Deluxe and Gravitar in our basement and played till our fingerz hurt.

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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012 6:47 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Haha.....

B Orchid's Boobs are definitely Lethal :)

I loved how KI2 came out she looked suspiciously like Paula Abdul, who I had a hard crush on when I was 11-12 in Jr. High.

I was never any good at fighting games though. I could beat the 1 player stuff just fine, but if I ever went to the arcades and played my friend Doug at any of the Mortal Kombat games he would whoop my ass every single time no matter who he played with. By that time, I had spent too many years on "the bench" playing console and PC RPGs that dull your senses. When I was a little kid standing on a milk crate to play games, the teenagers would crowd around and watch me play Pac-Man, Centipede, and later Pyros (aka Wardner) and Pac-Land. I was like the "Pinball Wizard" of arcade games when I was 3 feet tall.




Haha.... McNugget tree....

I'm still waiting for the Tendercrisp Bacon Chedder Ranch Breast tree that Hootie promised us.






Not a big racer fan though. The last good racing game I played and enjoyed was Rock n Roll Racing....



Awesome soundtrack for the 16 bit era, yes, but the game play was spot on. Back then, the only 4-player SNES game that could compete with it for a pizza and mountain dew filled sleep over was Bomberman.




As far as security Frem... I was wondering if you could tell me your top 5 best and worst firms. I'll let you know in a PM if I'm in the worst, which I can only assume I'm in.

The 3 you mentioned I've never heard of, although I laughed at the Pinkertons, just because they were the only A-Holes that Al Swearengen from Deadwood was scared of.

Of course, I'm not looking to sell my soul here. I'll work at Cousin's subs for minimum wage and still pay the bills if it came to that. :)

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Wednesday, March 28, 2012 7:05 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by JO753:
No! I'm serious!

Not that I like the cozy local diner style, but matching the floor with detailz in the border, drunk french chefs, a floor level opening to the basement with a wrought iron fence?! Thats not your typical cookie cutter kichen decor there, thats the product uv true inspiration! John Waters woud despize you for removing it.


LOL... not sure who John Waters is, but if he would have loved it so much I should have looked him up to sell him the house as-is after I got the mold out

I do agree that a kitchen should be something special, and I hope to turn my 3-season porch into a full fledged extra room in the house to have a dining room and a full double-wide entry between the two that has no door. This will probably be WAY down the road though. I just HAD to get that beat up nasty wall out of my kitchen. Sorry man. Blank white for me right now is so much better than what they did. I said I respected their vision and the effort, but the kitchen looks twice as big now when I don't see "bars" everywhere.... so much black and orange and bars.... every trip into the kitchen was like watching an episode of Oz on Showtime. Yes, the episodes where guys lovingly kissed one another.



Haha! George gave him the chair! I always love a Seinfeld reference. It's even funnier when you think about how it was probably his second job and that once his wife found out he was fired he wished that he was literally given the chair instead of figuratively....


Yup... most of those games are early 90's

Good call

I never played Asteroids Deluxe or Simpson's Hit and Run. I played Blasteroids on the arcade, which was like the 1992 awesome update to the franchise, and I played the shit of out the Nintendo Bart Simpson vs the Space Mutants.

Awesome on you for having two arcades in your basement!!!

My first project after all the necessary house stuff is done is to build my own M.A.M.E. Cabinet.

M.A.M.E. (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator)

I have an XBox now with over 5,000 arcades from 1972 (yes, they actually went back that far) to the early 1990s (yes, the Turtles and Simpson's games are included).

It also plays about 10,000 other console games spanning from Odyssey 2 and Atari 2600, all the way up to SNES, Genesis and PS1. Not to mention all the hand-held games in between, as well as loads of PC games.

My goal is to build my own cabinet, with my own tools, and put in several monitors so if 4 people were playing a game like X-Men on arcade, it would be as badass as it was when I was 13 and there was 4 monitors covering the fun!



That will be a thread of it's own though, at another time and date :)

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Wednesday, March 28, 2012 8:11 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


WOW!

Soundz like you plan on sitting down in frunt uv your console at about 35y.o. & get up to take a leek wen youre 90!

I blew about a year on Simpsonz H&R. My old pal Tim woud come over & we'd compete to see who coud elude the cops the most timez in a row. An entire Saturday GON!

John Waters iz the guy who makes thoze weird low bujet bad taste moviez. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000691/bio



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DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
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Thursday, March 29, 2012 7:43 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Actually Jo - you should get yourself a copy of MAME32 - it's an arcade motherboard emulator which runs on PC, I have it, and I have something like six hundred original arcade ROMS for it, some downloaded straight off the chips of wrecked or discarded machines.
And I have ALL the old-school games, from Asteriods to Zaxxon, man if you liked Asteroids Deluxe you'd get a big charge out of Space Duel.
Gyruss is awesome too, always was.

And yes, I remember the "Glory Days" of Arcade Gaming, when a good player would draw a crowd and there was a certain respect for those virtual gunslingers, unlike today - back then they'd give you room, shut the hell up, yanno ?

Gotta remember I been playin the bloody things since they were invented, even consoles, starting with the Coleco Telstar, then grammas channel-F, and finally the Sears model Atari 2600... and on from there.
My gramma was about the only one who COULD whup my ass, man she had the physics of COMBAT on the 2600 down pat and could nail you from any freaking angle in one shot.

One of my favorite taunts is "I been doin this longer than you been alive, kid!" - that was especially galling to a certain pair of brats when I beat BOTH their AREA51 High Scores simultaneously, being ambidextrous, I used to pump a dollar in the machine and play both guns, one in each hand, heheh.

And Rock-N-Roll Racing ?
HELL. FREAKIN. YES!

That's STILL my favorite SNES game, hands down, I tore hell up with Kat - not only could I pull off corner-shorting jumps, I could use the shoulder buttons to snap-slide and fire missle salvos at you from anywhere on the track - I usually stuck with the Battletrax to the very end cause of that, since the Hovercrafts beam weapon kinda sucked.


As for companies, there's so many I couldn't really tell ya, but ole Crackenhut is and always has been the bottom of the barrel, and the other baddies, DynCorp, Triple Canopy and Blackwater went paramilitary, and then ya got Pinkertons...

There's a SPECIAL kinda hate between me and them - see my ancestors was UMWA and IWW, original old-school union legbreakers back when being union was near a death sentence, and Baldwin-Felts and Pinkertons were WHY that was the case, hired goon strikebreakers and infiltrators, not to mention downright dirty murdering bastards, the lot of em.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_spies

Seriously, real scum of the worst order, and here's a bit of history you may not know - the US Dept of Justice was originally so understaffed and funded that the Gov contracted it out to the Pinkertons, who continued their reign of terror from under Government auspices (since the Gov has pretty much always been suckin Corporate schlong..) and this continued till EVERYONE got fed up and eventually passed the Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893.
Quote:
The Anti-Pinkerton Act of 1893 (5 USC 3108) prohibited the US Government from using employees of the Pinkerton Detective Agency or similar companies as strikebreakers. In 1977, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted this statute to prohibit the U.S. Government's employment of companies that offer "mercenary, quasi-military forces as strikebreakers and armed guards" for hire. United States ex rel. Weinberger v. Equifax, 557 F.2d 456, 462 (5th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1035 (1978). A DoD interim rule effective 16 June 2006 revises DoD Instruction 3020.41 to authorize contractor personnel other than private security contractor personnel to use deadly force against enemy armed forces only in self-defense.

Bear in mind that Blackwater, Triple Canopy and DynCorp, as well as all the other PMC goons, are in violation of this in both spirit and fact, but nobody else seems to care.

Of course, ya don't have to worry about Baldwin-Felts no more, thanks in great part to one of my ancestors by the name of Sid Hatfield.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan
He was outright murdered on the courthouse steps in retaliation for this, with nary a blink nor a shrug from the forces of law and order, which eventually lead to the Battle of Blair Mountain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
(I have one quibble with this account - it wasn't Chafins planes which started bombing the miners, since none of them had the capacity to carry or drop them, it was US Army-Airforce Martins - some apologist has apparently "revised" this article, again...)

And this finally put paid to the idea that Unions could fight Corporations, cause EVERY SINGLE TIME it went badly for the Corpies they'd call for Martial Law to "restore order" and the US Military would back them up without question - meaning that in order to successfully fight Corporations the Unions would have to fight both their goons, AND the entire weight of the US Military, and if they could do THAT, might as well just take over, yes ?
But that's why Unions other than IWW are in the state they're in, Jack - they're not ALLOWED to win anything real, just employee pacification tricks and often run by the Corpies themselves, or might as well be, that being one of Carnegies ideas, run their Union FOR them, and run them into the ground with it.

The Pinkertons being a large part of the CAUSE of a lotta social ills and injustices in this country makes them absolutely despicable, especially since their conduct ain't improved ANY in the years between, cause these days they're suckin up to DepHomeSec and spying on, framing, harrassing protestors and activists - just the sight of one of em makes me foam with rage, and I certainly wouldn't mind catchin one or a couple of em all by themselves in a dark alley somewhere.

Your best bet is some mid-grade "nobody" company with a few properties but good intentions, but trust your instincts, if they seem slimy, crooked or incompetent - they probably are.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Thursday, March 29, 2012 11:01 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Lots uv amazing info!

I played Space Duel alot at Empire, but didnt like it az much az Asteroidz D and Gravitar.

I'm the only person I know who finished Gravitar - past invizable ground negative gravity! My hi score wuz over 850,000, wich iz sumwer near the end uv the game for the second time.

I have the Atari Annaversary Edtion game pack for PC, but never really played any uv the other gamez.

Anybody who callz themself a libertarian iz an idealistic ignoramus. Therez a mountain uv history that provez corporationz run amok wen given too much freedom. The union busting storiez are evidence enuff, but therez also the persistent tendency to attack the environment, injure & poizon their employeez and cheat the customerz any way they can.

Ron Paul soundz good for about 30 secondz, but hiz schtick fallz apart with a few 'wut if' or 'wut about wen' questionz. The only reazon he'z still able to stay in the race at all iz bekuz the other contenderz are clownz that keep tripping over their own contradictionz and hypocrisy.

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Friday, March 30, 2012 3:28 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I NEED ADVICE!!!!

I just got wind last night that the casino security gig I applied for (a $9.50/hr with limited benefits job) is apparently too much for me to handle.

Thank you for your interest in the Security Officer position. ****** takes great pride in matching each candidate's background and interests with available opportunities and we are continually impressed by the caliber of our candidates.

Unfortunately, after careful consideration of your qualifications, you were not selected for this position at this property.

WTF?????? Really?

Without even giving me a job interview?

I know my previous employment history, spanning many other types of work, doesn't show any security history... but I worked my first 12 hour security gig today. How hard is it to stand around doing nothing but wearing a uniform while trying not to drool on yourself or fall asleep??????

Of all of my denials so far, this one particularly bothers me, because there was no cover letter or pre-screening test involved. The only three things involved of any relevance were my resume, previous salaries, and ticking off those fatal boxes saying that I'm a "white" "male".

At least give me an interview before you tell me that you don't like me. Short of that, please tell me what the hell I'm doing wrong that I'm vetted out constantly before even being invited for an interview. I can't help that I'm a white male, but maybe there is a 3rd thing that is keeping me from being hireable.



My only other thought is because I've been honest about my previous salary, and my lack of college experience. I won't go into how much I made when I was laid off after 5 years, but let's just say that after 2 promotions and some of the higest "merit" raises every year, I was making about 250% more than anybody without a degree would be making out of the gates.



Here's what I'm thinking.... In all future resumes I put out, I'm just going to say I made 20k a year there when I got laid off. If I'm right that this figure is what is making these "less than 10 dollar an hour" jobs even ask me for an interview, then I shouldn't be denied that early in the future. I mean... who lies on their resume to downplay their past????? They'd probably never even bother checking to see if I was lying about my previous pay after an interview.

Any thoughts on this tactic?



I don't mind hustling part time security gigs that are as boring as watching paint dry and scrounging my own home improvement gigs for a while, but I want a job making at least 10 bucks an hour, full time, with health insurance and a 401k plan with a meager company match that would at least cover the 10% penalty when I withdraw it early.

I don't need much to live on at this point, but I don't want to hustle for income forever. There has to be somebody out there willing to pay me a steady 16k a year with benefits so I can do that and just have fun on my off time instead of worrying about the future constantly.....





I sure do miss 1999. I could have gotten an office temp job within days making 12 bucks an hour back then. (Not to mention gas was a buck a gallon back then) Given inflation, the same should be true today of office temp jobs, only the number should be more like 15-16 bucks an hour. Yeah right... good luck with that salary requirement on your resume.











Hey Frem,

Haha...

Frem, if you could only see what I've got here. All based off of Mame32, and just MAME before it.... It's really awesome! Probably 4,000 more games here than I'd ever even care to play by far, but you can sort them a numerous amount of ways, and favorite the ones you want to play on a separate list so that's all you see in the future if you desire.

All the old school games are accounted for. I actually learned that the original arcade novelty machines dated back to at least 1972. It blew my mind when I found out that people where playing black and white games at bars that could afford the machines, some of which were very reminiscent of Atari 2600's "Combat"

I always believed I was born at the age of conception of the video game as we now know it. To know that this stuff dates back almost to the 60's is mind boggling.

I'd like to think of my rig as a museum to video games' history. I'd be willing to bet any casual audience 100 bucks at a party that whatever game they named between 1972 and 1996 they could play on it without any glitches. (I might be a little more leery of that bet with somebody like you at the party )

Oh... and the machine plays Karaoke too!

I've got two mics, just for that purpose

The only two things it doesn't do that I'd like to see is play flash games and open PDF files, but who knows, it may happen some day.



And, hells yeah..... Rock'nRoll Racing.... one of the best games ever! Twisted Metal Black for PS2 was the first racing/carnage game to come after it that dethroned it in my mind.

I still have to give the win to R&R Racing though because, like TMB it was so innovative for it's time, but I don't have a system that could possibly emulate TMB. I still have to actually get up, put the disc in the machine, power it on, wait through credits I can't fast-forward through, and then start the game.

BOOOOORING!



I will have to do some reading on the Pinkertons when I have time. Since you didn't reply at all to my comment on the Pinkertons and their role in Deadwood, I gather you've never watched the show. I don't know exactly what time Deadwood was supposed to take place, but 1893 seems as legit a time as any.

As awesome a talent that Timothy Olephant is, that cutthroat Irish MF Al Swerengin was the best character in the series. ALL BLACK, or ALL WHITE characters in any story are boring. Some love the totally evil, and some love the totally good... I get it... but a great story, especially played out through years of shows on TV, for me, has some dynamic characters that you really HATE for a long time, and then you come to LOVE them.

It's not that Al ever changed during the series at all, but it's that external influences completely changed the game for everyone involved. Tough times make for tough decisions, and Al was the guy to get them done.

There was actually a two episode arc where real political shit was going down and he was putting on his best face when humanly possible while trying to pass bladder stones that would likely have killed any mere mortal in the 1800 when they'd just put leaches on your body as a "fix". Though I'm grateful that you never "saw" any of the "medical" particulars to what he was going through..... if you didn't like Al after that arc and how he soldiered through it, you've proven yourself to have zero empathy and I question if you're even human.




As for security firms, you still haven't named mine. That's probably a good thing. They, of course, boast about how prominent they are in their "training" videos, but I know what they really are. A thousand offices full of people who in a perfect world I'd be supervising.

They're not shady. They're not slimy. They're just moderately competent. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm still way too good for this job, and they're lucky to have me. But I won't speak any ill about them beyond that.













Haha J... not with the beer intake I've got... unless they make it so we can just loaf on our couch and pee freely into a tube like in Idiocracy (Citizen Kane ain't got SHIT on Idiocracy as the most important movie ever made)

Never played Simpsons HR, but sounds like my days with friends playing Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64. Online gaming is cool and whatever, but it will never beat the feeling of having 6 people in the same room trying to come in 1st or 2nd and never giving up the controller to the other two that didn't play last round.

I got so good at Mario Kart 64 that I could snipe newbies from the 3rd floor of block fortress with a green shell and I could take a timed running leap off the 3rd floor with a star and land on them on the 1st floor.

Silly newbs... why were you hanging around on the 1st floor at all when I've already made 20 green shells bounce around aimlessly down there. :)

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Friday, March 30, 2012 7:36 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Jack, in respect to that position I'd all but celebrate the rejection!

Casino security comes in three types.
1. Covert - this wasn't it, they get paid WAY more and generally require both some casino experience (not neccesarily security) and mil/intel or PMC background, serious hardcase hunter types.

2. Operational - the guys who make sure no one messes with the cars in the parking lot, who show drunks to the door, basic stuff, only payrate average is around $13-14, CCW or not, and experience is certainly required, also that's usually a BONDED position, which means unless you got family money or serious assets (something to hold over your head as a leash, see?) you can forget it.

3. Goons - these are the guys they send to throw people out for winning at nickle slots, or for sleazier casinos, to commit "muggings" against people leaving the property with the casinos money, while the operational guys convineniently go to the restroom or look the other way, generally they're lookin for someone with bar-bouncing experience and maybe a couple brushes with the law, no morals and unlikely to ask questions.

At $9.50 they're lookin to fill that third type, dude - and seriously, I think you'd prefer a job where you could sleep at night and look yourself in the mirror, right ?

Bank Security and Armored Car is right out too, shit pay, too much risk, and that whole cooperate with the robbery shit would grate your nerves forever, especially if policy forced you to hand over your piece to some punk with an obvious capgun or replica, who then shot someone with the piece you handed em - I know a dude from Ohio who all but imploded his life over something similar, and you wouldn't wanna go down that road.

The two gigs you want are either industrial, or common residential (not gated communities).

The former is as much safety patrol in many cases as it is anything else, and especially suited in most cases to folks who ain't fond of other people - the pay ain't too hot, but ain't like you DO much for it neither, mostly you're a warm body in place cause it's cheaper to hire you than pay extra insurance.
That's where I got my start, way back when, and I enjoyed the work even if it was for some bastards.

The other, well the gated places go for the cop-wannabe, pretend-blackwater punks who talk a good game, but ain't gonna DO shit but call the cops while they run and hide, pays good but they're lookin for former police or military goons, especially large intimidating ones. *eyeroll*

What you're looking for is some podunk apartment complex that isn't in-da-hood and overrun with druglords already, maybe some place which has just changed management and is looking to go a little more upscale, or in a slowly declining neighborhood and wants to hold the line.
Good work, initial pay ain't so hot and the first year in kind of sucks, but once word gets around and you manage to impress the locals a bit it gets better, a lot better - especially if you're not a jackboot or cop wannabe and know when to look the other way versus what you REALLY need to address.

Also worth a look - storage facilities, auto dealers and if yer okay with a little morbid, the occasional cemetary.
Note they're all jobs where you generally work ALONE, with minimal supervision (i.e. hassle and nitpick) and generally done overnight or in the darkest hours, stuff folks with more interesting social lives than yours do not WANT to do, you see ?
You could also start out as a floater guard - filling in for folks who have called off or gotten sick, but that requires a reliable set of wheels and willingness to travel a bit.
So long as you set your limits with em in advance, say - "I ain't driving no 90 miles for a four hour shift, dude.." - it's usually a good "in" with a company till you get something regular.

Worth a note, you can also mention you have a mentor, and comes to it I could prolly crank out a letter of reccommendation.
Also, race and sex doesn't mean so much in the security biz, age does a little bit, but only cause you dun wanna stick some old retired geezer out in the boonies in mid-winter, or bore some fresh-faced kid to death logging trucks - only time race or sex might come into it is when the neighborhood is such that being a particular ethnicity either way might cause a problem, or when you have an unsupervised contract in the middle of nowhere that you'd rather not risk the liability of leaving a female guard out there at night... the firm that handles one of the complexes down the road from here made that mistake, tossed a lone, untrained female guard onto a really rough contract and she almost immediately got pounded into the ground and nearly assaulted worse by the local yahoos after making a few bonehead rookie mistakes.
And yes, she sued em and they shipped ownership to a family member and changed the corp name to dodge the bullet there - needless to say that company ain't on my happy list.

Speakin of "training" - 99% of it is usually a half-hour 'orientation' video telling you the bloody obvious, and then you're on your own, but you can always ask me, just not realtime, ehe ?

So, there's your advice, and mind that it's prolly worth about what ya paid for it.


I never liked Twisted Metal, I crave something where driving skill plays more of a factor, even Split Second (PS3) and Blood Drive (PS3) don't do it for me, although Motor Mayhem (PS2) was passable.
What dethroned R&R Racing for me, was CARMAGEDDON - man, that was some seriously henious brutality right there, I love that game, was just about to re-install it via DOSBOX today, matter of fact.
Quote:
Silly newbs... why were you hanging around on the 1st floor at all when I've already made 20 green shells bounce around aimlessly down there. :)

Oh that's just evil.

I prefer online games without the whinging bastards in the same room with me cause of the pathetic immaturity most of em display - it kinda ruins a netgame fragfest when someone throws a controller at your head and tries to bust your console/TV as an act of petty revenge and you need to hand out a physical curb stomping and pitch em out the door... so yeah, I prefer them critters elsewhere.
That said, what I used to do in Need For Speed II: Underground was kinda cruel.
I tend to choose ambiguous names, some of which get taken for female quite often...
For example: Them that don't know "Cassade" means rake, rogue, sleazy bastard in French might think that's a femme, yes ?

So I decided to kinda roll with it on NFSU, and built this Peugeot 206 which was just plain adorable, kitted it out in cotton candy PINK with butterfly decals and glitter and rainbows, played up the headlights to look like eyes, I mean this car just screamed someones-kid-sister...
You see where I am goin with this, right ?
Cue: absolute ownage followed by (usually) some punkass throwing an epic temper tantrum.
(Extra squicky was how many tried to come on to me.. ewwww! )


And yes, I watched Deadwood, a good chunk of it anyway - barring a bit of artistic license with the language and a few minor quibbles, it was pretty accurate both in a historical sense, and in it's brutality - Al was the best of a piss-poor lot, but he WAS the best of it, you just didn't get to see the rest of it till later, plus... the devil you know, right ?
Hell, I play off that HERE.

Oh, and you really, really wouldn't want me to sing Karakoe - it'd wind up something like this.



I think the machine surrendered.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Saturday, March 31, 2012 5:56 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Thanks for all that security input Frem.

I'm definately not a jackboot thug. Actually, I'm working at a *** plant now, and it was funny.... my first day, during my first smoke break in 5 hours, I had some guy who was in the Carpenter's union tell me that he didn't have his safety goggles on because one of his co-workers accidentally took his (as he asked me for a light). It didn't even dawn on me at first that he was just saying that because he was afraid I might rat him out.... lol.

It wasn't until he was talking about another topic and then realized, he shouldn't be talking about this to "Mr Security Guard" that I figured out his game......

It's cool man. I have broken several of the Cardinal rules myself on the first day I was there. I'm not looking to bust BS shit. I'm paid only to watch the gate and make sure that only qualified people are coming and going. In my down time, I will read books and do Sudoko puzzles.

Until it's light out, I smoke in my car, which is not a designated smoking area.

I sit at a location so far away from everything that's dangerous that I look completely ridiculous with my hard-hat, goggles, and fire resistant 1-piece "April Oneil" jumpsuit. If you REALLY work in the trades there and want to needlessly risk sacrificing your own eyes, telling you better is way beyond my pay grade.



Sounds like I'd hate Casino security even more.....

What I want is the security gig that the guys had at my old job. They just sat at the front door, friendly as ever, and said hi to us as familiar faces used their RFID cards for the door. If my GF or my brother's wife wanted in, they called in to the command center to verify they were legit.

They did a few rounds here and there to make sure every thing was "kosher".

Up until the 2nd buyout when they put a camera directly on them the entire time they were working, I bet it was a pretty awesome job for a few bucks over minimum wage.





I'm not too far from you Frem. If you could have any direct input at a legit firm, I'd love to speak to you about it in a PM.






Twisted Metal is only as good as the opponents you have.

Why play Chess (or basketball, for that matter) if you only play those who are undoubtedly inferior to you?

Sure, there is no "racing" aspect, but the only multi-player "shooter" without cars back in the day that held a candle to what TMB on the PS2 brought was Goldeneye for the N64.

The single player campaign is alright if you don't have anyone around to play, but a 2-4 person multi player experience is bliss.



I always liked playing live more, but back in the day, we were all drunk and high. There was no controller in the face action going on.

The only thing that pissed me off is that even with all of my taunting I could never get most of them to team up against me. They'd try for a while, but like human nature usually dictates, it's much easier to fire with guns blazing at the weakest link. I get the logic.... It's better to be 2nd place than 3rd or 4th when only the top two spots get to play the next round.





Haha on the video man...

I'm the MF Karaoke King!

My friends used to say that I could sing Tom Petty better than Tom Petty could.

I'm a little too out of shape to survive a whole song now, but I used to whail a baddass Metallica Enter Sandman and a Kid Rock Bawitaba too!

My favorites though, are songs like Edwin McCain's "I'll Be". I remember bringing a picture of beer back to my table and spilling half of it one night when a girl I didn't even know came up and started making out with me after I sang the song.

She said it was her favorite song.

Man I wish I was 25 again without the crow's feet and the grey hairs popping out on my sideburns!

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Sunday, April 1, 2012 12:41 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr


Spilled a picture uv beer? That takes sum serious effort! I coud do it with Fotoshop in about an hour.

I never played, but I luvd that TM commercial:



You gotta play Simpsonz H&R! If for nothing else, to kick Growndzkeeper Willy around to hear all hiz complaints. I got all the way to the Halloween level at the end.

-------------------------------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early
http://www.nooalf.com

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Sunday, April 1, 2012 2:00 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Hahaha, I try to picture you as a jackboot and it just makes me laugh.
Of course, I actively foster the perception to a degee, but most of my associates bust my chops about, and Wendy nailed it prettmuch on the money, not that I'd ever ADMIT it to her.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleDemon
Quote:
It's cool man. I have broken several of the Cardinal rules myself on the first day I was there. I'm not looking to bust BS shit. I'm paid only to watch the gate and make sure that only qualified people are coming and going. In my down time, I will read books and do Sudoko puzzles.

Until it's light out, I smoke in my car, which is not a designated smoking area.

Yep, that's prettymuch what I did - I am kinda funny about it, for all my rabidity about kickin people in the can for giving me crap about smoking, or trying to force me to quit, I don't smoke ON the job (at least not where anyone can see me, I use my office) cause it looks unprofessional, occupies one of your hands, and gives away your position.
Speakin of, I have a one-hand-free policy.. besides the fact that the more gear a guard is carrying the less their mind is on the job, there's also that trying to juggle a clipboard, light and watchclock LOOKS stupid and clumsy and renders the guard all but helpless while they do so - perception is a very important thing in the biz.

Quote:
I sit at a location so far away from everything that's dangerous that I look completely ridiculous with my hard-hat, goggles, and fire resistant 1-piece "April Oneil" jumpsuit. If you REALLY work in the trades there and want to needlessly risk sacrificing your own eyes, telling you better is way beyond my pay grade.

Ayep, especially when they just admitted they know better, so what's harpin on em gonna buy you?
As for uniforms, this is one place I tend to be a bit strict about - now mind you I do *NOT* issue crummy polyester shit you have to beat half to death with an iron for an hour just so it looks good the first twenty minutes of your shift, not only does it always look sloppy but it's too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter and has no freakin durability.
I issue one set of dickies 874 flat-front uniform work pants (black), and a dickies work shit with patches sewn on (grey), and they're welcome to buy extras on our account for bulk prices, and I'll throw in the patches, but you'll hafta have em stitched on yourself.
It's a good uniform, tough, durable, stain resistant, holds its shape without ironing and is comfortable in most temperature ranges while still looking professional and non-intimidating.

Thing about uniforms is - initially a gaurd has no actual authority beyond what people are willing to give them, and that is very much dependant on their appearance, demeanor and professional conduct.
Now over time as you develop contacts, relationships, reputation, that'll change - and it can go either way depending on your own behavior, nobody likes a puffed up authoritarian prick, but someone who knows when NOT to swing the big stick is generally an asset, AND someone who keeps confidences will wind up with better information networks than most police departments.

And yes, your old security job is exactly what I was suggesting, here at Site Three we don't have a kiosk or gated entrance, so I just wander the rounds out there, but I know the engine/exhaust note of prettymuch all the residents cars, and really have an almost precognitive recognition of anything suspicious anyway - every place has a natural ebb and flow, stuff that breaks the pattern is what you watch for, basic situational awareness.
Good work, other than me, the pay is crap, but it's a solid, reliable gig - and since it's easy to do RIGHT, doing so allows you massive amounts of slackerhood, so long as you do it in the right places...
If you take forty some minutes to do a fifteen minute round, that's fine, more time out in place, more visibility and deterrent, you know ?
I do try to play it off as something of a slacker but nobody here buys it cause most of em have been here long enough to see what HAPPENS when some local yahoo does try me - from lazy goofy hillbilly to imperial stormtrooper in nothing flat, in fact one of my little jokes is that when some guest or persistent sales jerk/religious freak won't take the hint and LEAVE, and the resident feels the need to call me... I make my approach in good order (you never wanna charge headfirst, winded, into an unknown situation) while humming the Imperial March, loudly, as a really blatant "hint" of what's coming.
THAT "hint" they know to take, cause the next thing what happens is them hauling ass our of here.

Anyhow, I dunno about the legalities of your state, whether you can cut out the middleman and work directly for a property, but it's well worth looking into since a lotta places wouldn't mind an in-house guy who was a little more accountable, given the behavior of some firms.
I can look into that for you, if you like.

The guy who owns the realty company and the properties, he's quite fond of me cause all he has to do is cut the orders and sign the check, and it GETS DONE, guar-an-friggin-teed, he was a bit dubious originally and tried to check up on me, only to never manage to spot me, while I spotted HIM and logged him in and out on my report - he's referred to me as "our pet ninja" ever since, meheheh.

Anyhow, you want a reccommendation, you got it - I can't recieve PM's but I'll slip an email addy in one to you or something.

Quote:
My favorites though, are songs like Edwin McCain's "I'll Be". I remember bringing a picture of beer back to my table and spilling half of it one night when a girl I didn't even know came up and started making out with me after I sang the song.

For me it was Pink Floyd: The Gunners Dream (which is a personal favorite of mine) and she didn't JUST start making out with me, it... err, went ro-de-Ooooo, since this was a buddys house rather than a club and she more or less outright assaulted me on my way back from the bathroom, not that I was complaining any - being a poly-anarchist hedonist type my reaction was like "Wait, what, ohh, OH HELLYEAH!" more than anything else.
I am a very, very bad little man.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, April 2, 2012 4:27 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Hey Frem,

My second day on the job wasn't so bad. It was 13.5 hours instead of the 12 on Friday, but after getting over the first day jitters and having a good book to occupy my time, it seemed to be a much shorter day. I'm actually there nearly 14 though, because when I show up earlier than the actual staff does, and nearly 30 minutes before 2 of my co-workers do, I can just claim ignorance and take the "East Gate" position which is the easiest of the 3 by far. I lucked into that position with my own management, but from doing a little social engineering :), I've discovered that I'm probably the only security employee that hasn't been told to man a different position to learn all of them. I intend to keep it that way.... to be able to read a book all day and only have to really do about 30 minutes of work on a 13 hour shift while reading a great book at the only position held that is 10 times as far away from the administrative building than the other two, well, it seems like a fair trade off to me.

Haha... Noble Demon. Yep, that sounds like Frem to a tee. Not me though.... I'm more the live-and-let-live type. I've had plenty of battles, for sure, and I lost more than one good job because I'm not the best at choosing my battles. But when I do dig my heels in, I make sure there are PLENTY of witnesses, for better or for worse. (Usually at my own expense).

It's really a question of ethics though, I think. What makes somebody more ethical than somebody else? Is the guy who always tows the company line (or on a grander scale, the line of socially accepted legality), for better or for worse.... Is that person more ethical than the guy who has been successful against all odds while staying true to his own code of ethics which may often times eclipse the standard code of ethics, sometimes with disastrous results to one's self?

I may not play the way that most other people play, and I certainly don't ever want to be in a position of being in charge of other people who likely would not stand still on my sinking ship when things went wrong, but when I do feel something is wrong for me or any one of my peers, I'm the first to speak up about it, regardless of the personal consequences. I'm confident that this is the main reason that after leaving my work family of 5 years when I was laid off, that I'm probably one of the only laid off guys that still has relations with many of them... even people who weren't on my shift.

If only they weren't 170 miles away and could hook me up with a job :)



Smoking for me, usually isn't a problem. I'm very aware of my surroundings and I have a nearly 180degree line of peripheral sight. The first few hours of work it's dark out and only the lights are on and nobody is really around much, so it's a breeze. Later in the day when it's light out, I'll usually just take 3 puffs and call it quits until I can get an actual break. I can almost guarantee that I'm the guard of the group that takes the least amount of breaks. Lisa told me today "you have a great system". I laughed later when I realized she was talking about my "pipes" and how long I can sit in my car without calling her to cover to go to the bathroom. I thought she just meant how I break up my day by waiting 5-6 hours for my first break and then go 3 hours and then 2 and then 1.5

I guess the other guards take her up on every offer to cover when she makes her rounds, which is usually ever 1.5 hours or so.

This job is really great though, now that I'm used to it. I don't have to really carry anything, and I get to sit in my car for most of the day. I don't write incident reports. I simply have a sign-out sheet for non-certified personnel and I wave the certified personnel through. The rest of my 13 hour shift is simply fighting the battle to not sleep, which is made much easier because I can alternately listen to talk radio and read a great novel.

I'm reading a Sci-Fi Novel from 1951 from Hugo Award Winning Albert Bester called "The Demolished Man", BTW, which is FREAKING AWESOME. Think "Minority Report", by Phillp K Dick, but with equal "screen time" for the protagonist and antagonist, and the antagonist gets the first 3 chapters. He's totally the bad guy, but knowing you, you'd be rooting for him as much as I did (although, this late in the book I may change my mind about that........ but isn't that what makes a great story??????? John Locke was my favorite character on LOST until the last season when he was "reincarnated").





My "FRE" uniform is stupid man... plain and simple. Even after losing most of my excess weight in the last year, I look like a big baby blue Stay-Puff Marshmellow man with a yellow reflective vest. One of the employees, today was smiling as I walked by, I said "what's up man" and he said "man... you got to get a better uniform...." I just laughed and told him that if he'd buy me one I'd be grateful.

My 12 year old Jr. High self would have been totally self conscious about it. Today, I could give two shits.... I'm just here to punch a clock and sit back and get paid.






Otherwise, as for appearance, they might just be as nice as I think them to be, but I'm always being praised on my work there (although I really don't do any "work" at all...)

I remember names really well after reading Dale Carnagie's How to Win Friends and Influence People as well as Memory Makes Money by Henry Lorayne. (Note to anybody else reading this, these are two of the most important books you will ever read.... do it.... you'll thank me later )

Their coffee machine actually makes LEGIT Starbucks coffee. STARBUCKS COFFEE FOR FREE!!!! I've only had it on two occasions in my life before, both when I helped my late uncle buy a new computer. He went there every day when times were good. I could never pay 4 bucks for a cup of black coffee, but DAMN is it good coffee!!!!

I don't know if anything will come of it, but I have 3-4 more weeks to plant the seed. I'd actually like an entry level job outside of security at this place if anything is available. I've been joking with my contacts that I need to find a job here, even mopping up floors, and I'd work just for the coffee. :)

I know all about 40 minutes for a 15 minute round these days. This isn't my first rodeo. The only thing that the guy who does a 15 minute round in 10 minutes gets is a pat on the back and maybe a $.05/hr "merit" raise when that time of year comes. Big Corps feed off the gullible people who are willing to put 110% into their paid job, but are incapable of making their own way without that paycheck.

I'm actually not sure of any of the legalities of my state, regarding security type jobs. I can't imagine that we'd have to have a middleman though. Maybe I'm wrong about Indiana since I've been here, but so far, this state seems to be much more like the America envisioned by our founding fathers than Crook County Illinois ever was, let alone Wisconsin's seeming desire to fall in line with whatever BS Illinois cooks up.

I would LOVE it if you'd look into that Frem!

In a perfect world, I'd be Mr. Rodgers patroling the complex (sans cardigan )... making the good people feel safe... leaving them to their own social escapes if they didn't hurt anyone... and protecting them from any bad apples either within the complex or external forces. I don't want to ever manhandle people, even if the situation called for it... it's just not my nature. I wouldn't be armed, and I wouldn't be paid anywhere near what it took to do that anyways. I like the idea of just being an Andy Griffith type guy who the residents love to have around (and they know that they can smoke the shit out of that MJ and I won't tell nobody as long as they're not partying till 3AM and their guests aren't pissing on the neighbors garden).

Haha......

"Pet Ninja"

That could have probably been my moniker between 6th and 8th grade when all i wanted to do was blend in. It's not fun, the ridicule you get as a 6th grader when you wear glasses, you wear braces, and you're invited to take the SAT's 6 years before most folk ever take them....



My biggest regret in life.....???

I could have aced that bitch when I was 10....


Instead, I let the "blob" pull me down and I didn't study at all and I'm sure I was a let down to anyone who thought it would be a good idea to have me there with my 740 score.

My youngest bro is my hero. Not only did he skip two grades, spend the time he had to in public school doing plays, and get a full ride to a college that Warren Buffett chairs, but he just doesn't give a "F" about anybody's opinion that he feels is inferior to his, which 90% of his teachers fall into that category, let alone 99% of his peers.

Here's to you bro.....

You're so smart, although you're not "street" smart enough to really know how smart you are just yet. When I was your age, I was out on my own making 11 bucks an hour thinking I was king shit being the only one of my friends with my own place. When you're my age, you'll own a major company!



The best part about that though, Frem, is that he's one of the best people I know. When he's running things, he'll have only the best people working under him and he will respect them because he hand picked the people he wanted to work with.




Send me your info any way you'd like man. Anything you could do would be much appreciated.

"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book

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Monday, April 2, 2012 8:04 PM

FREMDFIRMA



Damn Jack, sometimes it scares me just how much we're alike.

Back when I worked for Advance, at the SCM Chem Plant, (they make Titanium Dioxide there, but IMHO what they mostly make is friggin pollution!) I took the Chloride Gate for the exact same reasons, to a nicety.
And yeah, 95% of the work is essentially nothing, but it's being able to do that 5% without losing your edge or becoming an undisciplined shlep, which won't happen to neither of us cause we're too damn OCD and have too much professional pride to do a job badly - once the money has crossed our palm, the job you paid us for is gonna get done come hell or high water, cause we're LIKE that.

As for ethics and reading material, you really, really, REALLY *WANT* to read Matthew Stovers three books, Heros Die, Blade of Tyshalle, Caine Black Knife, I cannot stress that reccommendation hard enough, although I'd recommend finding the second book in electronic format cause even a USED copy will set you back twenty five bucks, and a new one a hundred-plus, it's THAT much a cult-classic, and it delves into the themes of free will, personal morality, and concepts that you and I know intimately but don't really have the words for - the last book appeals a bit more to me cause I am oh-so-really KNOWING what it's like to get old having once been a holy terror... as I point out to folk around here, yes, I was a piece o work in my glory days, but them glory days were twenty and more YEARS ago!

My breaks come at the end of each round, I either sit in my office or at one of the picnic tables in the park and do minor stuff like check my e-mail, local crime reports, or just skim over FFNet or what have you - but I run on coffee, and like beer, you don't buy it, you just kinda rent it...
I simply empty the tanks before heading out, cause the last thing you want is the distraction of biological needs while you're out there in the darkness handling a potential "situation" before it becomes one, and for long shifts like yours I reccommend a small snack before punching in, cause you don't wanna be too fat-n-happy, but you also don't wanna run out of fuel and be nodding or starving.
My coffee certainly ain't Starbucks, more end of day truckstop sludge, but I like it that way.

Also, when doing rounds I reccommend brachs peppermint candy, saves you from getting cottonmouth, less worry if you have to talk to anyone since you're not like to be bombin them with halitosis, and the peppermint not only helps keep you lively and sharp, unknown to many it's also a mood stabilizer and helps you keep your cool as well - bonus points that it clears your sinuses during allergy season or cold weather, straight up, I keep a five gallon BUCKET of the damn things in my office, so gaurds can grab a handful and pocket it before heading out.

Stay-Puft jack, bwahahaha, oh that's good - my usual uniform is pretty strack, but I tellya if it gets as HOT here THIS summer as last, imma get a freakin utility kilt!
Not goin commando or regimental though, I'll prolly buy some ridiculous smiley-face briefs to go under it in case of high wind or curious femmes, meh heh heh.... seriously, it was 102F out there one night at MIDNIGHT, here, in Michigan!
I was doin rounds with a freezy-pop stuffed up either sleeve and they were mush before I was even a quarter of the way through - heat is hard on someone with lots of prosthetics, since you don't have as much area to lose it, conversely I can handle temps so cold most folk can't even function.
For really cold days I have an awesome armored-insulated coverall/jumpsuit with tool hooks and pockets galore, and slip-on snow chains for my boots, I've been out there as low as -40F and in up to three feet of snow, not so much worried about crooks at that point as the older residents, cause you fall down or get stuck out there in the depths of night, I am prettymuch the only rescue they're likely to get, yanno ?

Oh, and any company who'd reward a gaurd for short-timing a round needs a kick in the junk - gaurds and companies get so focused on DOIN the round, that they forget the PURPOSE of the damn thing, which isn't to punch the bloody keys, it's to be out there walking around, observing, handy in case of need... I've seen (and reprimanded) gaurds for ignoring real problems cause it would require skipping the keys or going off-round, and that's always a face-palm moment for me cause I am like, I gave em a clip board and a report sheet for more than decoration, right ?
Companies are just as bad, gettin on the case of a gaurd who DOES do the job cause they skipped a key or went off-round to do it, and that kinda stupidity is serious head-desk material, honestly, WHAT do they think they're gettin paid for?

Oh, and your perfect-world description is more or less flat out EXACTLY what it is I *do* around here, mind you, as if that was any kind of unexpected, yes ?

Gonna be a bit before I get round to info sweeping or whatnot, cause I gotta wrangle a mechanic I can trust to do the workover on Sophie - a 1985 BMW 325e which I all but outright stole (given what I paid for it and it's garage-kept condition) off a lot where they sold donated cars, ain't the money so much as a matter of trust cause none of the "official" mechanics around here are *competent* enough for me to trust them with my car, the guys who put the exhaust on for me managed to do $280.00 worth of damage on a $140.00 job, so you can imagine they ain't never touchin my wheels again, especially since most shops won't take responsibility for their own screwups...
Whereas if I hire someone direct, they'll be well aware the consequences of blowing the job might be something a little more, err.. personal, than a lawsuit.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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