Spending money like a drunken sailor

Snow is coming

I was in a business today and I heard a customer berating the receptionist (a veritable child) over the fact that she (the customer) SMELLED diesel as she walked by the snowplows that had been staged in the parking lot.

The customer really worked the receptionist over. Seeing another employee, I sauntered over and suggested they step over to the receptionist's desk and defuse the situation.

Fifteen minutes later I heard the vitriolic customer preening as she told another customer "I really care about the environment..."

Yeah. Right.

Am I evil if I pray that the Eaton County Road Commission's diesel trucks don't plow her road so she can shovel it by hand in the most environmentally gentle way?

Touching base with the receptionist afterward, I was told that they had been "coached-and-counseled" by their management. They were told "You aren't paid enough nor are you trained to deal with abusive customers. As soon as you know the interaction is going into the ditch CALL US or PAGE US." 

In my humble opinion, that is a pretty good solution. If the harpy goes after her on the way out the receptionist can imply that management already chewed her out. And then page management.

Physical activity

I walked three miles with the backpack. It was ballasted with 25% of my body-weight.

Do you see the deer trail?

Can you see two on the other side of the road and one on the closest side?

I also made it to the gym today and continued to work on my dead-lifts. I did ten-repetitions of 130 pounds without straps to warm up and work on my grip-strength.

Then I did 4 sets of six-repetitions of my body-weight. I used the straps and I gave myself five minutes of recovery between each set.

I finished with another set of 10 X 130 pounds without the straps. It was much harder as my hands were sweaty.

I expect that I will need a full two days off to recover.

How much is enough?

It is completely arbitrary but I decided that being able to execute four sets of ten-repetitions of my body-weight in dead-lifts will be my "plateau" and maintenance.

I would like to be able to do them without straps. Maybe I will get there. Maybe I will not.

Translating that to what that means in the real-world: It means that I could empty an overturned school bus filled with pudgy, North American 5th graders before it exploded into a fire-ball.

Its YOUR fault!

I got a call from my credit card. It was from Fraud Prevention.

It seems that I violated my historical profile by buying impact drivers and drill motors and batteries and multiple pairs of Asics Gel 8 Venture running shoes and...

For the record, the Asics Gel 8 Venture is a trail-running shoe similar to the New Balance 4XX series. The Gel 8 is discontinued and has been replaced by the Gel 9. Consequently, Gel 8s are "on clearance" through various outlets at about $50 a pair.

The soles of the Gel 8 are more aggressive than the New Balance shoes (less slipping but more mud tracked into the house). The uppers are slightly less substantial and the laces are shorter. But the "lasts" seem to be nearly identical to the New Balance 4XX shoes and you cannot beat the price. I bought another two pairs.

With regard to the impact-driver and drill, I went with DeWalt because it is the "high runner" which means that batteries and support should be available as long as I am alive. They also have a reputation for using high quality polymers and appropriately thick sections in their tool's cases. Tools get dropped. Sometimes the temperatures are low. When the chips are down, I don't want to have an egg-shell in my hands.

Computer upgrade

Mrs ERJ mentioned that the "House computer" was sluggish even after I purged cookies, defragged the hard-drive and tuned-up all of the usual suspects.

While staring at the screen waiting for CCleaner to do-its-thing, I noticed that we had icons on the desktop for four years' worth of taxes.

"Hey, Mrs ERJ, would it bother you if I bought you a new (used) computer?" I asked.

"For moi?" she responded, voice brimming with hope.

Landing on my feet..."Well, of course it would be for you!!!" I replied.

So maybe the call from the credit card company isn't ALL your fault.

For what it is worth, I purchased our new (used) computer from Discount Electronics. The unit tagged all of the bases that were important to me: Windows 11, solid state hard-drive, reasonable cost. My thinking is that a computer is a tool just like a drill motor is a tool used to turn drill-bits. If I have an old operating system then it will be difficult to find drill-bits that are compatible with the drill motor. Windows 11 has been around long enough that it should be fairly bug-free.

I don't need killer graphics or blinding speed. I want a machine that will last five more years and will not take five minutes to boot-up. I want a machine with an operating system that will still receive security updates.