What's annoying you today?

[Artemis]

It's so humid even my eyebrow hairs are frizzy.

[Hype]

The humidity is pretty bad, but I'm more annoyed that (maybe because of the heat/humidity?) allergy season has apparently gone into hyperdrive... I've been using Reactine all summer for the last 10 or so years, and recently ran out so I grabbed a box of generic stuff, which seemed to work ok until this morning. Now all day I've felt like shit... I'm hoping that doesn't mean the drug won't work as well for me anymore because apparently that's a risk... Hopefully it's just really, really bad pollen levels or something right now.

[Larry B.]

Having to deal with a couple of early-twenties bitchy sisters has been fucking annoying for the last couple of weeks.

[sinep]

Having to deal with a couple of early-twenties bitchy sisters has been fucking annoying for the last couple of weeks.

hook me up.

[Jasper]

I am fed up with this summer bullshit. Heat and humidity (the latter frequently hovering at or around 100%) are making it very difficult to get anything done.

I'm ready for a crisp fall and mild winter.

[Artemis]

I'm ready for a crisp fall and mild winter.

Same here!

33 more days until the first day of autumn.

[Angry Canine]

I am fed up with this summer bullshit. Heat and humidity (the latter frequently hovering at or around 100%) are making it very difficult to get anything done.

I'm ready for a crisp fall and mild winter.

We've had the most pleasant weather I can ever remember for a summer here. The normal 90's with oppressive humidity have been the exception rather than the rule. It's been almost all, lower 80's or even 70's without horrible humidity. All of my life we have hit 100° at least once or twice every summer, not the last two though. This year, I don't think we've made it over 90 but a couple of days, and I think only 91 then. Mid 90's is normally all of July, and August, and as late as into October. This year July and August each had days where I had a flannel on in the daytime. That's just crazy.

[thoreau]

My brother, unbeknownst to me, listed me as his secondary contact number for his Sallie Mae loans. His phone died a few days ago, and they've been trying to get ahold of him for something.

Now since they've had no success with his phone, those damn educational loan sharks (the same two people) have called me 8 times trying to get in touch with them.

I'm currently running out of ways to tell them that I've already sent him an e-mail regarding their calls and he lives 4 hours away from me.

[mockbee]

Shifty geotech engineers. When you're out on the market looking for a geotech, watch out.

They are shifty and potentially explosive!

More like an earthquake with a volcano on top, and not like a solid rock........

[Pandemonium]

I have the worst luck with contractors....





I'm in the long, drawn out process to install solar panels and part of the upgrade is that I needed to have a new, bigger electrical box installed as my original is from 1962 when the house was built and not up to current spec. The good news is that the solar company covers the new hardware which saved me about $4k. The bad news is they apparently use monkeys to do the work. I came home in the afternoon and discovered they somehow punched a large hole through the wall into the dining room from the outside and sloppily ran flexible conduit nailed to the outside wall for the twin grounds the new setup requires. Surprisingly, the city inspector says it's up to code and passed it. Still, it really looks like shit and now I'm going back and forth with the company to at least run the outside grounds inside steel tube conduit. On top of this, I'm having my entire exterior stuccoed and painted as well as new doors and windows in about a week and trying to juggle as this to minimize any problems getting it all done right.

[mockbee]

Wow.... that looks like third world craftsmanship there panda! They have your conduit zigzagging back and forth then stick your ground right into the slab......? Why couldn't they just run it straight (yeah, spend an additional $50 on galv conduit, gasp!) and then put the ground discretely behind the bush there?

Not looking forward to dealing with worker monkeys, right now it's just paper monkeys and, relatively, don't break the bank, just annoying......

I almost *almost* just want to do the entire thing myself, but inevitably there has to be morons involved somewhere along the way. I think the choice is between a dozen average sized morons or one big moron, getting a single general in charge......

[creep]

instead of just drilling a nice hole and fishing the wire through i guess they took the faster route and just took a hammer to make the holes and hit a bit too hard.

i have to replace my main panel and i could easily do it myself except for the part of hooking the main lead in to the panel. i'm sure i would fry myself. i will probably have to hire someone so they can get fried or take the correct steps and have the power cut off at the pole.

i may have asked you but did you buy or lease your solar? i am thinking about that too but i want to buy it and install it myself to save money. i also need to do solar for the pool.

[Pandemonium]

i may have asked you but did you buy or lease your solar? i am thinking about that too but i want to buy it and install it myself to save money. i also need to do solar for the pool.

I was pretty close to buying all the hardware myself but doing the math, looking at what it costs to buy, install, maintain and likely upgrade, it would have come close to about $35k short term and probably another $15k over 20 years. And if I wanted to go full tilt with battery storage, that would have added a lot more and I still couldn't go completely "off grid" thanks to local Edison regulations.

So I went with the lease option which is zero money for the hardware, installation and ongoing maintenance and I pay them directly for the power the panels provide at (hopefully) about 40% or less of what I'm currently shelling out to Edison on a 20 year contract that they can only up the rate by 3% a year. Doing the math, I should have enough panel coverage to handle 100% of my home's needs during the worst of Summer when we're running the AC all the time and in Winter I should be getting credit for the excess power going back into the grid that I won't be using. If I somehow exceed my allocation for the year, I get a one time annual bill from Edison to pay the overage.

It's certainly a leap of faith that this will work out as planned, and the contractor issues make me nervous but after the last few years with monthly electric bills during the Summer hitting $400+, I needed to look at options.

[nausearockpig]

sigh.. got an email today from work saying "Our scans indicate you have Dropbox installed on your computer. This is not compliant. But fear not, you can install the company sanctioned version of Dropbox which is A-OK... Just install and drop your files in our box". Fuck off fucking fuckers...

[Jasper]

We've enjoyed a brief respite, but a new heatwave approaches. Summer is not content to quit the scene without one final kick to the nuts.

[mockbee]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

[Hype]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

Alright, I'll do it. But I'll need you to supply 40 day-labourers, 40 shovels, and a 50' ladder.

[mockbee]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

Alright, I'll do it. But I'll need you to supply 40 day-labourers, 40 shovels, and a 50' ladder.

You sound like an experienced contractor.

(Albeit a compassionate one, allowing for the 40 laborers to get out of the hole.... )

I don't trust you.

[nausearockpig]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

I can do you 40 one inch holes if you like.. cost of a flight, a hot meal and a place to sleep.

[mockbee]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

I can do you 40 one inch holes if you like.. cost of a flight, a hot meal and a place to sleep.

Excellent.

Here is the flight info I found for you:

Depart: Wed Sep 16 2015
Return: Tue Sep 29 2015 Trip spans 14 days
$40
Frontier Air
DEN→PDX
http://www.kayak.com/flight-routes/Unit ... rtland-PDX

$40 ticket what a deal!


There is a McDonalds down the road for your one meal and the bushes are mighty comfy for some nights under the stars.

Here I will even throw in these Wii game pads you can sleep on.



Just to confirm, no real need to, this is already way more clear than my communications with previous contractors.

You can drill the 40' hole, in 41 inch increments, and put the dirt back when you are done.


I will consider this an active contract and look forward to seeing you on the 16th. Good luck getting to Denver.

[Pandemonium]

For the right price, I can drill a 40 year old ho.

[nausearockpig]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

I can do you 40 one inch holes if you like.. cost of a flight, a hot meal and a place to sleep.

Excellent.

Here is the flight info I found for you:

Depart: Wed Sep 16 2015
Return: Tue Sep 29 2015 Trip spans 14 days
$40
Frontier Air
DEN→PDX
http://www.kayak.com/flight-routes/Unit ... rtland-PDX

$40 ticket what a deal!


There is a McDonalds down the road for your one meal and the bushes are mighty comfy for some nights under the stars.

Here I will even throw in these Wii game pads you can sleep on.



Just to confirm, no real need to, this is already way more clear than my communications with previous contractors.

You can drill the 40' hole, in 41 inch increments, and put the dirt back when you are done.


I will consider this an active contract and look forward to seeing you on the 16th. Good luck getting to Denver.

Thanks but I think you misunderstood my intentions and the terms of my offer and your subsequent agreement to my offer. I'll help clear up this silly little thing so we can get on with the business of drilling your 40 X 1" holes wherever you need them!

The airline ticket will need to cover local interstate and then international flights and I only fly first class, so make sure you book that correctly. I'll need to stay in a five star hotel that will of course be paid for by you, and the meal is more of a banquet that goes on for as long as I need it to.. I prefer three Michelin stars but will slum it at two if I have to, but only cos I'm giving you mates rates.

Thanks matey! See you soon!

[MYXYLPLYX]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

drilled piers? Or well?

[mockbee]

If anyone is able to drill a 40' hole in the ground for less than 10K, please let me know.....

ty

drilled piers? Or well?

None of the above. No need for piers probably.......hopefully

Just a test pit to try to see where bedrock is, 8 feet of beach sand was found in the bottom of an 18' hole with a backhoe. Geotech wants deeper investigations even though he already "approved" a mat slab for distributed loads. He is being an ass and won't talk with the city, but at the same time I don't feel good putting 4-500K on a possibly iffy foundation if he is backtracking.

[Artemis]

Wasps!

I had a little freak- out while waiting for the bus earlier. There was a wasp that wouldn't leave me alone. I kept moving away from it but it kept following me.

It's that time of summer when the wasps seem to be drunk and flying low, I think it's because winter is coming and they're going to die off soon.