Mercury in retrograde?

So the shit has been hitting the fan lately. I see from some posts that it's hitting the fan for some others too.

Last week the power kept going out, and I thought that was bad enough.

The the transmission in the barge started slipping more and more. Fuck! Maybe it can last through the week. It didn't. It wouldn't move through an intersection on the way to work, so AAA got the call. An hour later.... the car is loaded up on a flat bed. Freaking AAA service is always lame in the south end of King County. While the car is being unloaded in the back of the transmission shop, I'm waiting at the counter. The counter guy tells the guy in front of me it's gonna be about an hour, so I'm thinking they will have my car on a rack soon and know what needs to be done real soon now™.

Nope. So since I figure I'm able bodied, I'll just walk home. I grab my lunch box out of my car and start walking. I thought I was making good time, and estimated I'd be home in a hour or so. Maybe they can give it the once over twice today(Friday). Tragically they are closed on the weekends, so no work will be done then.

When I'm about half a mile from home, I get the call. Twelve just for the labor(fourteen hours), three hundred for the torque convertor, another three for assorted parts/fluid, plus whatever else turns up during the inspection. So the baseline estimate is eighteen hundred bucks. So much for escaping from my ex. What can I say, that bitch Visa is always there for me. Why would I want to break up with her?

Oh, and it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before they get it done.

I was thinking about Enterprise, with that whole 'pick you up' thing, but some Googl-age showed that Enterprise would be a pretty risky deal. And some Hertz shops pick you up! So now I have a Hertz Chevy Cobalt in the driveway.

Not that I'm a fan of GM design, but if there was a way that a car could be more poorly designed than my Lincoln, the guys at Chevy figured it out. The mirrors are the second worst design that I have ever seen, and the pillars are so thick that they prevent good wraparound view. The rest of the car is ok, but not really interesting. It has the Eco engine, and it goes into cruise almost right after taking the foot off of the throttle, so I'm hoping for some good economy for the next day or three.

I did find a cool radio station on the way home though. Check out http://kgrg.com/index.php if you are into a mix of rock and punk.

So I hope this Mercury Retrograde isn't hammering anyone else to harshly!

SC

ps - The walk ended up being just over two hours.

Posted by Smithcraft @ 6:23 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Rants and Observations

So, I'm driving to work this morning with all the other peeps on the freeway, and there is an accident in the left lane. I see the lights in my mirrors and try to move to the right. Well I tried to move to the right but the ditz in the SUV to my right doesn't understand what to do when you have flashing lights and sirens coming up. So after the incident response vehicle goes by, and the ambulance goes by, there, right behind the ambulance-Right behind the ambulance-is a fucker trying to pass everyone as we get back into the lane! I've been feeling the use of my horns more and more, so I talked to the dick in the Volkswagon with my horns. I really want to put airhorns in my car. Fuck the next bastard that cuts me off! Anyway I figure putting an airhorn in is better than trying to rig up a class four laser to slice the tires of the vehicle infront of my car.
At my previous job a driver(ie trucker) came in waiting for his trailer, and while I was talking to him, he said his airhorns didn't really wake people up on the freeways. So he put train horns in. He said he never has problems after the train horns blow!

Anyway, I turn on the teevee and the Replay and look to see what's on. I see that there is a show with Christina Applegate. So I figured I'd see how see looks these days, and tuned it in. There she is in a restaurant talking to some black guy, and the camera comes around and it's Tuvok(Tim Russ)! Listening to him talk and watching him act, it's like watching Tuvok. His character makes Al Gore look like a Bart Simpson. So, other than paying the rent, why take the same character that he has already done?

Well, that's enough of my rambling for now.

SC

Posted by Smithcraft @ 2:39 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

Score!

I was over at ChumpUSA, looting what I could from their blowout, and I picked up a 12 month Live package(12 month card/200 MS points/free arcade game/360 headset) for 10% off, among other things.

Then I stopped by at my PMB place and picked up my 360, which UPS was kind enough to get to me a day early. Or they are just making up for taking 7 days to get it to Texas. Three-Day-Select my arse!

So I get home and start opening up my bags of loot. I get the Live box out, and notice that the tape that is supposed to seal the box was broken. I though, just my luck, I bet it's empty. Well everything was in there, including a second 12 month card! Woohoo! Now my Live account is paid for till January of 2010!

Just a side note, Apples old iMac style USB keyboard works great with a 360, but the cord is pretty short.

So I'm sure you are asking, Smitty, did they fix your XBox? No they didn't! What a crock of shit. I guess I'll think about getting a nice DVD player, since I can't watch DVDs on my 360 anymore.

SC

Posted by Smithcraft @ 8:54 pm EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

300 IMAX = 200 miles?

Some cockbite at the Pacific Science Center decides to not show 300 on their IMAX screen but is kind enough to post that you only have to go two freaking hundred miles to see it.

Oh, and make sure that you have your passport to get back into the US!

SC

ps - My 360 is coming home!

Posted by Smithcraft @ 5:00 pm EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments

Too stupid to die!

So I work in the transportation industry, and I deal with truck drivers on a daily basis as part of my job.

These drivers are not like the guys on Comedy Central, or even truck driving movies from the late seventies. Nope, not even like BJ and the Bear. No, the majority of port drivers are immigrants. Now don't get me wrong. I have nothing against any particular race, creed, color, or personal deal, and I don't have anything against people coming to the US to get a better life - No, I hate everyone equally! Anyway, there was this company coming in to get their containers direct from the train.

So I'm sitting there with a container in the air, and the driver moving forward and backward, wondering why I'm not giving them the container.

Now if you do an image search at Google on shipping containers, you'll see plenty of cans. And all from the back. Where the doors are. The doors that are in the back. Now in the front, there is a channel for the gooseneck on the chassis. So the front of the can has a notch in the bottom of the front.

So we have a notch cut out in the front of the can, and doors in the back of the can. If you understand this concept and can some how acquire a Commercial Drivers License, you are fully qualified to be a port truck driver! How you acquired your CDL doesn't matter!

Now back to the story.

So I point to their chassis, and at the container. They look at the container, and then they look at their chassis. I make a hand gesture, and it wasn't the one I wanted to make, mimicking the doors, and then I point at the back of their chassis. They look at the can again, and look at the chassis again. Then they back up, and then they pull forward some more. As if their moving is going to get me to give them the can that they want.

What they fail to grasp, is that they are facing the wrong way. You would figure that their buddy watching them would get on the radio/phone/signaling device and tell them, right? Nope. Not a clue. 'Cuz that buddy will be doing the same thing.

I found this from this particular companies website, and I thought it was pretty god damn funny! All of our drivers are screened, trained and safety tested continuously.

So yes ladies and gentlemen, the people behind the wheel of eighty thousand pounds of freight, speeding down the highway, while talking to their dispatcher on their cell phone, really don't know what the fuck they are doing!

SC
[edit] Just to make sure it's understood, I know that there are many mighty fine drivers out there, it just seems like none of them want anything to do with container freight, and I can't blame them one bit!

Posted by Smithcraft @ 1:25 am EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments