Stung! Stolen! Watch out for Data Safe Solutions!

This is really interesting and not yet resolved but we will be filling in the forms to get our money back later today. But this morning I discovered that Data Safe Solutions, a company that promises to protect the consumer from fraud and online theft, has in fact taken nearly $400 from our checking account overnight!

I've been to the credit union, they reviewed the electronic version of the check that was presented and paid and offered me the phone number, which I Googled to find this rip-off agency. I also discovered that I'm not the only one that this has happened to.

I have no idea how this company scored my account number but they did and I don't know yet if I'll get our money back or if I'll have to go through the hassle of changing our account number but I will soon.

My advice to you is to be on the watch for this company's illegal attack on your money by watching your accounts.

Ok, you have to watch this-

Obama's teleprompter has demands. Its hilarious!

Well this looks like an exciting ride!

Can I get a test ride on this? Apparently it is a Brudelli Leanster. Its a 645cc KTM powered, leaning 3-wheeler and it looks like a real blast to ride. Make sure to check out the galery of pictures!

So besides movies, what else have I been doing?

Well let's see. Friday the BSU took me shopping for new job clothes so that I'll look all spiffy when I report to work on Thursday. I've got new slacks and shirts and socks so I'll be as well dressed as its possible for me to be. We happened to see the owner of the body shop that repaired the truck when we rolled it a few years back and I mentioned that the truck needed some paint repair on the fender flange. He told me to bring it out to the shop and I did and tomorrow his shop is going to fix up my chipped paint.

Saturday I worked on the shop, putting things back inside that had been sitting outside the entire time. I hung a new security light outside and rehung the door illumination light. I've finished the raingutter on the back of the shop and just have 2 doors to build and hang to finish my closets. Then there are some trim boards to put back on so I can call the project finished outside.

Inside I still want to insulate my new roof, there are some hurricane straps to finish installing and probably some caulking to be squirted into cracks around the edges. And the never-ending sweep-up of the sawdust that has filled every nook and cranny continues.

Today I took the BSU to church and took my buddy Ben fishing for a bit. Both were really pleasant ways to spend a few hours.

A movie you should spend your money on-

Eagle Eye! This movie doesn't have all the pretensions of Miracle of St Anna, its just a great movie. Its an action adventure drama with two unwilling characters, brought together and trying to save their own skin by complying with a woman that contacts them through cell phones, blinking parking garage signs and can seemingly see their every move, no matter where they are.

This movie is fast paced, exciting and turns out to be related to another famous thriller movie but to tell you more would spoil it. This movie is as fast paced and thrilling as The Bourne Ultimatum and is worthy of your movie ticket and popcorn dollars.

Worst movie ever!

Let me save you 8 bucks and a bucket of popcorn right now- Miracle at St Anna sucks hind tit. Really. It may be the worst movie I've seen in a year or more.

I know this movie is Spike Lee's big movie that he hopes to score an Oscar with later in the year, but this movie is just horrible. First of all, its 2 hours and 40 minutes long and there are enough unrelated, disconnected and disjointed scenes included that should have been cut out that the movie could have been cut back to 2 hours easily. There are scenes- including scenes that include titties, that are completely unneccesary to the story and should have been left on the editing room floor.

Next, this is a war story, so there's violence on the screen, lots of violence. In some of the scenes it is as gritty as Saving Private Ryan. But there's lots more violence, scenes of women and children being slaughtered by the evil Nazis that are just gratuitious and ugly and unneccesary to the story. The tale could have been told just as easily without the very excess violence.

And this is a story about 4 black soldiers from the 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated unit. So the story is about the war from the point of view of these 4 soldiers, the good hearted but simple giant, the womanizing preacher and two more soldiers just trying to get out of Italy alive. There's lots of yakking about their fears and feelings and flashbacks to how they were mistreated back in the US in spite of their uniforms. And it seems to go on forever!

There's magic- a little Italian boy that one soldier rescues revives a broken radio just by touching it; there are ghosts and two soldiers fighting to have first chance to seduce the one attractive woman in the village and there is a back story of the Italian Partisan rebels and their tales of treachery and traitors.

There's also, (and finally) a modern day story about a marble head, missing for decades from a famous bridge that's found in the closet of a murderous postal employee that is supposed to tie all these strings together into a comprehensive story. It all fails quite miserably in my humble opinion. Finally, the movie is called Miracle at St Anne, but I couldn't find a miracle when only 2 people survived the inevitable Nazi overrun of the village. That's hardly a miracle in my book!

This story is overblown, over-acted and under edited, all for the sake of Spike Lee aiming for a big prize with the Academy. Its horrible, skip it!

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

I got an exciting phone call just a while ago, seems I'm the company's choice for the job I interviewed for on Monday! Nothing official yet- its in the hands of HR people someplace now, but I've been told to be expecting a call or email very soon.

I've already sent my resume to one company this AM and am about to send it to another as soon as I finish this post. But I have to go down to the Department of Workforce Services to use their computer. For some reason that I can't figure out, my computer does not cooperate with many online job loading web pages. So I'll get on Sleek Black Beauty here shortly and make the trip to DWS and upload it there.

But I'm excited!

[UPDATE} It's official! I'll be getting paperwork in the immediate future, I have to pass a drug screen and then I'll get the official offer paperwork after that. It looks like I'll be starting 1 October. Sweet!

I'm not dead-

just busy. And when I'm not busy, I'm tired. I'm still unemployed, with resumes out several places and not many people calling me back. I did have an interview yesterday that seemed to go well and I hope I get a return call on that job still this week.

I've rebuilt the closets on the front of the shop, finishing up this afternoon, with just the doors to rebuild and install. I still have a bunch of work to do- all the trim boards on the corners and the rain gutters on the back and putting everything back inside that belongs inside.

So, basically, I'm just uninspired to write right now and trying to take care of business that needs my attention.

My hummers have departed-

Without so much as a "thanks for the juice" departing note, the hummingbirds that I have fed and admired all summer have packed their teeny-tiny little luggage and headed south for the warmer climes of Mexico. I took down their last feeder just a few minutes ago.

I had a much smaller population of hummers this year, just 3 and sometimes 4 regulars unlike other years when I've fed 7 or 8. But I enjoyed their comapany and antics and hope they return next year with more of their friends.

Its fall. Time for a camping trip or 2. And ski season is just a few months away!

Shop pictures!

As promised, here are some pictures of the new shop roof.

First, a reminder of what the old roof looked like:


And now the new roof-


Here's the skylights on the west side. I'm really pleased with them.


Looks good, doesn't it? I'm amazed at how much work it was to get this done.

As always, click the thumbnail pictures to see the full size images.

The roof is finished!

Hurrah! I've finished the work on the roof! The last shingle and flashing and trim piece has been installed. It looks terrific. I am so worn out from all the ladder climbing and shingle lifting, but the roof is finished nd I'm happy with it.

I still have work to do before the entire task is completed- rebuilding the closets on the outside of the shop and putting a new roof on that, installing insulation on the inside of the roof, replacing one broken 8 foot flourescent light assembly and adding a 4th light and putting everything back in its place. That will take me a few more days but the work will all be easier than the roofing work I have been doing all weekend.

Somebody asked for updated pictures and I just remembered where I left the digital camera since I set down here. So I'll get some updated pictures posted a little later on.

Now to the Village Inn for some dinner!

Shop status update-

Well after a 7 AM dental check-up and cleaning- 7 o'clock? Yes, at 7 AM this morning I was sitting in the dental chair waiting to be scraped and scoped and polished. And I got a decent bill of health in spite of my efforts.

But as soon as I got home, I was working on the shop roof and waiting for the contractor to show up. Rex is the same guy that did our floors and kitchen work earlier this year and he came over today, with his helper to help me get the job wrapped up correctly.

We switched the OSB decking on the long side so that it was aligned correctly and got it much better squared up than before. We also reused some of the old 2X6 rafters for fascia on the ends of the rafters.

Tomorrow, we are putting up the drip guards and flashings on the edges and getting the shingling started. Rex is going to get me going and help with the flashing around the skylights then leave me to finish that job by myself.

So, its getting very close. There will be finish work to accomplish inside later- insulating the ends and roof and putting up some OSB on the ends. I still need to rebuild the 2 closets that sit outside the shop and put a roof over those and the doorway. The trim boards need to be reinstalled and finally it will need to be re-stained top to bottom.

I never thought it was going to be this tough!

Just 1 reason I won't be voting for Barrack Hussein Obama this November-

In response to Skinny Dan's comment about Behemoth just below, here is just 1 of the reasons I can't (and won't) vote for Barry for president.

Oh yeah, the Behemoth is toast...

I have a Genie brand shop vac, the biggest one that Home Depot had when I finally got fed up with not having one, sometime during all the work we did on our house in Louisiana- so before 1996. This shop vac is about the height & diameter of R2D2 and made enough noise to wake a drunken Wookie.

I was using it today, cleaning up in my shop and I noticed that the sound was fluctuating just a little bit. Not too much, just a little slow down every now & then.

And then the sparks began shooting out the top of the engine vent... Smoke too!

Yikes!

I think I'm going to have to buy a new shop vac...

Best iPhone case?

I can't say if this horizontal carrying case for my new Apple iPhone is the best case there is in the world but I can tell you this- for less than $7 delivered, this case is really nice.

Its all leather, smooth inside and textured outside with a magnetic catch, very tidy stitching and a look like a much more expensive bit of gear. I am impressed and surprised and tickled to get my phone out of my pocket where I just know it was going to get scratched up.

And I love my iPhone so far too. I still have lots of things to figure out but its pretty slick!

Dear Mr. Obama-

No doubt this will offend some of my liberal readers- both of you, but it won't be the first or last time I've offended someone. This is simple, powerful and direct. Watch all of it; its worth it.

A turd afloat in the gene pool-

I didn't make that up, Cranky Lit Prof wrote it describing a scruffy, pube-chinned, glasses wearing university student who she describes as hopelessly ignorant.

She's probably right. Click the link and read the story to find out why.

Where to start?

You might guess that I'd have more time for blogging due to my current circumstances but it seems that's just not the case. In fact, I've been busier 'n hell for the past several days. So how to tell the story?

Let's see- I've had 2 job interviews that both seemed to go very well. I'm hoping for a call back on one of them in particular but could be in the running for either one. I've also applied for a job that I heard about through a friend that I expect I will get asked to interview for next week. And in spite of all the activity so far that I'm expecting to turn into an offer, tomorrow I'll dig in again to see what other possibilities I can find.

The workshop remodel continues. Noah came home again this weekend and with his help the ends of the shop have been closed in. It was only 3 pieces of paneling on each end but each piece needed to be cut to match the roof line and then screwed into place, so it was a good day's work. We also installed the 2nd skylight this morning. I did the first one by myself and that was pretty tricky so having him to assist this morning made that a much easier task.

The contractor that did our kitchen work finally made it by on Saturday afternoon to inspect our work and to see what would be required to get finished up. He had several suggestions about how to finish up the job and so he will be back later this week to assist me with some improvements and to get all the flashings installed properly. He's going to get me started on the shingling part of the job and loan me the power nail gun for the task.

It hasn't been all work this week though, there's been a little time for recreation too. Friday night the BSU and I saw Traitor, a new suspense-thriller movie that stars Don Cheadle. This is an excellent movie that will leave you scratching your head afterwards as you consider the tricky situation that Cheadle's character plays as an "off-the-books" undercover agent and the twisted thought process of the Islamic terrorists that he has aligned himself with. It really is a terrific film and it gets 2 thumbs up from my house.

Saturday night was a perfect night for baseball and the BSU and I went to see probably our last Raptors game of the season. The team made the southern division playoffs this year but they have to play the arch rivals- the Orem Owlz. The Owlz have beaten the Raptors badly this year; they've beaten every team pretty badly actually, and last night was no different. It was Owlz 5, Raptors 1 at the end of last night's game. They are playing in Orem tonight- the score's tied 5-5 right now and the Raptors will have to beat the Owlz tonight and tomorrow night if they are to go to the Pioneer League championship series later in the week. So we will see what happens but chances are my baseball spectating is done for the summer.And even though the Raptors lost night, it was a beautiful night at Lindquist Field in downtown Ogden.

Today was even more excitement, as I took Sleek Black Beuty for the longest ride yet, out to Toole and Miller Motorsports Park to spectate some vintage motorcycle racing at the Bonneville Vintage GP. It was terrific getting up close to some neat vintage racing bikes and spectating from the elevated deck above the front straightaway. There was some really great racing by guys doing it just for the fun of going fast on old and interesting motorcycles. The road trip on Sleek Black Beauty was 134 miles round trip and most of that was on the highway so I got a pretty good buffeting since the windscreen really doesn't provide much any wind protection. But it was fun and Beauty performed perfectly.

So tomorrow I'm back to job hunting and working on the shop. I've got to get the skylights taped in to seal out the water. I've also got to purchase some more flashing for the roof edges in addition to the rain drip edge that I already have and there are more tasks to accomplish before the contractor shows up to help me finish. Then I can get busy putting everything back inside and (finally) removing all the sawdust and dirt that has collected. I've been doing cleanup nearly every day and it seems that I'll never get rid of all the wood chips that have collected.

So that's it. I'm not dead, just busy and enjoying the cooler temperatures that have occurring lately. Keep your fingers crossed for me and my employment circumstances over the next few days!

Job hunting is heating up!

I got a phone call today from a buddy, his sister is a contractor on base and a job in her section just opened up this week- a job I could do happily. Jim happened to know from others that I was out of work and he recommended me, then called me and told me to get busy and fix my resume for her consideration. Of course I did! I sent it off just a little while ago.

Today's interview went pretty well, I think, and I hope I get a call back from the CEO as soon as he is back in town. That job sounds like a great challenge and opportunity.

And I have another interview tomorrow!

I told you things were heating up!

On the job front-

Interviews tomorrow and Friday... Tomorrow will be 2 weeks I've been off work.

Seems long enough.

On the job front-

Cross your fingers...

I don't want to say very much right now- I don't want to jinx anything. But today has turned out to be very productive, with an interview arranged for later this week and a phone call from someone that knows someone else, and it turns out, they both know me, who called me tonight with an exciting possibility. The person that called me doesn't want me to fill up my schedule with other interviews until she can get my resume in front of her boss!

No more details until something firms up...

Ixnay on the tolerable weather!

Thunder, lightening, dumping, heavy rains and dark clouds outside my window this AM. I should be able to get out to the shop and get at least 1 light rehung but I won't be cutting any skylight holes today!

And I might delay hanging the other 2 lights because I think they would be in the way of the skylight marking and cutting operation.

For now, I'm drinking coffee and reading my Jonathan Kellerman paperback- Compulsion.