Bad Kitty

I'll refrain from posting a picture, but the cat actually brought in a dead rabbit last night. That's a new one.

I couldn't resist

Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring Ring

BANANA PHONE!

Sports Talk

I really enjoy baseball, just not how the league manages.

In the news right now, Yankee's 3rd baseman Alex Rodriguez is opting out the last 3 years of his 10 year $252 million dollar contract. Yankee management gave the following response to A-Rods choice to become a free agent, "If you don’t want to be a Yankee and paid what you’re being paid, we don’t want you, that’s the bottom line. You’d be hard-pressed to argue that point. If you don’t understand the magnitude of being a Yankee and understand what that means, and being the highest-paid player in baseball, I think it’s pretty obvious.” The article continues on, '“If we’re going to make you rich and we’re going to give you the privilege of being a Yankee,” Steinbrenner, “you’ve got to show us you want to be here.”

Perhaps capitalism at its finest? Something that I don't agree with is the MASSIVE difference in the MLB in salaries for teams. The NHL, NFL, and the NBA all use salary cap as a means of regulating the league. The MLB uses a luxury tax, when a team exceeds a predetermined payroll the team is taxed (fined) for the excess amount. This money in turn goes to a "industry growth fund."

At the top you have the Yankees for 2006 dishing out $200,000,000 for players on the roster and at the bottom is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with $25,000,000. What is even more annoying is that the Yankees are at the top of the list for their average fan cost per game and Tampa Bay being one of the cheapest on the list. Expect to pay $200 a game to see the Yankees and $120 for Tampa Bay. This assumption is based on purchasing: two adult average price tickets; two child average price tickets; four small soft drinks; two small beers; four hot dogs; two programs; parking; and two adult-size caps. Ticket prices for NBA, NFL, and the NHL are loosely based on a teams performance WITH a salary cap allowing for greater even flow within the league.

Which gets back to why I severely dislike the Yankees and Yankee fans, they are supposed to win. Their championships are bought. Thats is like going to the casino and cheering for the dealer, the casino is supposed to win! AHHH YEEAA! That blackjack dealer busted your ass! If you are going to cheer for someone, cheer for an underdog.

Halloween 2007! Round Two

Just a few more pics.

Halloween 2007!

I am still trying to get the black make-up from around my eyes. NOBODY! knew who I was trying to be, the closest anyone got was that I was a member of Insane Clown Posse. That it is a definite no. The host of the party that I went to dressed as the caveman from the Geico commercials and he looked f-ing hilarious and had an entourage, he is the one on the far left.

SUSHI

As you can tell we are NOT in Seminole. We found a Sushi bar near our hotel while we were in Houston. The meal that you see was a chef's seasonal special and it was DAMN good.

Jungle Kitty

Belinda's Aunt came over a while back and helped us trim our shrubs and bushes. Later that night when we were out in the back drinking with some friends, someone was spying on us.

Houston!

YES YES YES.

Finally Belinda and I have fine dining, real food with real service. Italian, Japanese, etc.

Seminole has Dairy Queen, Sonic, MCDonalds, Pizza Hut (doesn't deliver), and a slew of mom and pop diners. Not too mention 3 stoplights, more on that when I get back home.

In Seminole if Belinda and I want good food we have to cook it ourselves. She gets roughly $70 a day from Hess on business trips for food. We have the breakfast bar at the hotel, get a cheap lunch, then unload for dinner.

Our flight leaves thursday night and we don't plan on being in Seminole until roughly 11-12 p.m.

More rants and raves to come on friday, mostly because I forgot the connection to link the camera to the computer.

Insert explicative bleep

I have had great joy in the home improvement projects until yesterday. The entire house has beautiful hardwood floors. The previous owner had the hot water heater burst and destroyed the flooring in the bathroom. I was led to believe that the old lady that used to live in the house installed carpet and linoleum over the wood floors because of maintenance issues and the bursting of hot water heater. However the rest of the wood flooring is in great shape, then I tore the linoleum out of the kitchen...f$%#! This is S.O.P. for laying linoleum on top of wood floors. First thing to go down is tar paper as a moisture blocker, then another plywood backing, and then finally the ghastly linoleum. This shit does NOT want to come off of the hard wood floor.

Any suggestions other than recovering the floor or tearing out the original flooring is a last resort, is this what Papa Roach meant by Last Resort and Broken Home? Posers.

And speaking of pictures of the cat

I snapped the picture just as he looked up from sleeping in this position. If he isn't sleeping in funny positions/places he is like 'flies on shit' with our clean clothes.

Stealth Wall Heater

I have been taking pictures of the house as it gets remodeled. I was going to make a joke about having a 'stealth wall heater,' but the picture of the cat was WAY funnier.

West Texas Sky

These are some pictures of a cold front that came through a little over a week ago. The front moved through in about 30-45 minutes and then the sky was crystal clear later that day. Belinda called me from the gas plant 4 miles North, I would have missed it because I was gutting the bathroom.The clouds left just as fast as they came.

Just a list of crap that I have been working on.

For starters, there was a failure of disclosure on the house. The washing machine CAN NOT! be removed from the bathroom. The washing machine was installed during the bathroom being remodeled; door width 24 inches, washing machine width 27 inches. Other than the previous owners wanting $500 for their 'vintage' stove (I told them were to take the stove), the free washing machine has been the only problem I have had with the home thus far. The Dryer and Stove are gas, so there are no 240 Volt receptacles in entire home.

So far:
Replace bathroom door and move stud back 4 inches to accommodate washer and dryer
Replace door locks and add dead bolt
Policies change for mail, so new mail box and post
Install reverse osmosis unit
Add waterproof drywall and remove hideous plastic paneling in bathroom
Removed carpet and found water damaged in baseboards (decided to gut bathroom)
Removed cabinetry in bathroom to make room for dryer
Fixed water damaged by laying cement backerboard for future tile installation
Wired 240 Receptacle for electric dryer (hats off to electricians, attics are HOT HOT!)
Removed carpet in hallway and cleaned the wood flooring underneath (no damage)
Cut dryer vent because old dryer was in the garage

Don't get me wrong, I am REALLY enjoying the house. The house IS dated, however the plumbing is brand new (hence the water damage), along with the air conditioner and hot water heater. The yard has concrete flower beds and plenty of foliage including rose bushes, pecan trees, irises, and large shrubs, but that is a Spring time project.

So for now, its back to carpentry.

The Day Before the Move

The day before I was supposed to move I noticed that the rear axle (GM 10 Bolt) was leaking gear oil. Turns out that the wheel seal went bad some time after I had driven the truck back to Hobbs from Weatherford. The picture of the wheel seal was taken before I tore anything else up. I didn't have a slide hammer so I tore the seal out with a GIANT pair of pliers. Time was a factor, so this winter I will take my time and repair the seal and probably some bad bearings in my new kickass two car (truck) garage.

The Internet is back and he lost his keys.

The internet was finally turned back on today. The best part was the technician lost his keys to his van shortly after he arrived. Coming shortly will be ghastly photos of remodeling, weather, and my reserve application for DRAGON SLAYER'S CONQUEST, Torrent of FIRE!.