exiledbear

madkiwi @ 11:24 pm: Black Friday sales
So the Brother HL-2170W I purchased for $125 in March is going to be $89 at Staples on Black Friday.

I will be buying one and putting it into storage. You see, all laser printers have a drum that has a life of (in the Brother printer's case) 12,000 pages. A replacement drum costs $88 from Amazon. Plus the new printer comes with a starter toner cartridge that will last at least 800 pages.

It has now reached the point where it is cheaper for me to throw away a perfectly functional printer than buy consumables for it. Un-freaking-believable.

Also they are selling an Acer 23" widescreen LCD monitor for $139. I'll be getting one of those too.

madkiwi @ 11:16 am: Daily Reckoning
As a public service I syndicated The Daily Reckoning which is a great source of insight into the crazy hybrid capitalist/government system the world is now running under.

I encourage you to start following it- this is what got me started in gold and silver investing 9 years ago.

x-posted everywhere

Tags: economy

messy_hair_girl @ 10:02 am: Hilary Duff Repurposes Depeche Mode. Remember, if you choose to look at this train wreck, you can never unsee it.

sofahead @ 05:24 pm: POPOIOIOJIO
It's been a crazy week at the restaurant. We've gotten a lot done, and plenty of work added on, but the griping from EVERY contractor about not yet being paid became simply too loud to ignore. I needed my deposit cheque for TODAY so I could run the week's payroll, and although it was issued to me 9 days ago, when I checked at the issuer's bank this morning, there were no funds to back it up.

Luckily the owner had given me the eventual investor's direct cell number as an assurance that I would be paid, considering that I'd voiced my concerns before signing our contract for the job. It was this connection that saved my ass. I'd been keeping him informed all week, letting him know I needed my deposit to make payroll by this Friday at the absolute latest. At 4PM I met him at the bar where he spends his afternoons. At 4:15 I was at my home bank branch depositing the cheque. Cutting it close there, SOFAHEAD.

Despite all my wrangles, I got approved for a pretty sizeable unsecured line of credit. It's at a floating rate of prime + 2.75% but it will take care of the credit card debt I racked up on capital expenditures and main window cleaning company work issues.

I finished the day up $5420.

sofahead @ 03:18 pm: DENY DENY DENY DENY DENY DENY ADMIT
I fired BLUTE. I recorded our conversation-- I did most of the talking. She didn't admit to what she did until I was describing every detail of what happened. She was very meek and accepting about it. I don't think there will be any further repercussions.

messy_hair_girl @ 10:48 pm: I have had the best day. I never did get to the Goodwill, but instead added to the pile of things to go. I have a hard time getting rid of things and will look at a shirt that I've not worn in a year and think, "but it's so nice, I should keep it..." Instead today I thought of how happy someone else would be to find a shirt at the Goodwill that was still nice and would work so much better for them than for me.

I listed to This American Life and heard <a href="http://doableevangelism.com/> this guy </a>say, "It's about teaching Christians not to be jerks." He was being funny, but his point was that preaching to people or challenging people only alienates them, and I couldn't agree more. The very devout Christians that have had an impact on me are the ones who never talk about it, but who are happy, kind and acceptig of everyone. After that I buckled down for five hours and wrote a 30 stanza (five lines instead of four) end rhymed ballad featuring none other that Horatio Hornblower! It was a tremendous amount of work, and if it weren't for the very supportive boyfriend, and my equally supportive poetry group, I'd never have done it. I'd have started, gotten tired, and put it aside about half-way through. My poetry group needs a better name though... More than a workshop and cooler than a group, maybe we should be a team? It's just three of us and every two weeks we bring a poem to workshop. And we also talk about boys, Doctor Who, Horatio, books, candy, and about a million other silly things. We really giggle far more than is generally accepted for poets. I had a brief chat with KOJ before meeting the girls at the Hopkins Barnes and Noble (because of course I didn't write my ballad until the day it was "due"). Haribo Peaches were in stock and I had wonderful cappucino. We did our poems, shopped for books, and had a lovely time all the way around. And to cap off this wonderful day, I'll now take up "Emma", as I can't remember if I've even ever read it before. Fantastic.

messy_hair_girl @ 09:31 am: Anyone have a particular position on ex-boyfriend stuff? About a year ago my friend convinced me that if I wanted to meet someone to share my life with, I had to make room for them and that started me on a clean out binge. I got rid of half my shoes and emptied half my closet so someone else could have room to move in. Around the same time, someone done me wrong and I made a very quick purge of anything related to him. From there, it's escalated.

Getting rid of the dishwasher that Chair dumped at my house made me feel like a new woman. As I've started peeling these items away, the ones that are left almost seem to radiate with malevolence, so today there will be another purge.

Sorry Chair, I had every intention of returning your Black Adder DVD's, but when you suggested that you'd leave my things on your porch where I could get them and leave behind your stuff while you were home and hiding from from me, well... Pah! I ain't got time for that drama. If you'd like them back, I suggest you get to the Eastern Ave Goodwill over the next few days. I'm sure you have them on DVD now, so no loss.

There are two things that are sort of a dilmea for me. I have a silver heart necklace that an ex gave me, and a pair of diamond earings from another. I like these things, and don't have any special dislike of the persons at this point, but can't decide if I'd just feel freer if I let them go. Any thoughts? Wonder if I could get anything from my tiny Zales diamonds... Do I dare visit a pawn shop??

I've worn those diamonds everyday for years now, and I have no idea what I'd do to replace them. I'm the sort of girl who leaves her earrings in day and night, until there's some kind of x-ray required and I have to take them all out. The diamonds are nice and I got them before I understood the evils of diamond industry, but does it make sense to wear a gift from someone who cheated on you and generally turned out to be an ass?

Phoo. I think they gots to go.

sofahead @ 12:23 am: IOUWEHGHV
I didn't fire BLUTE yet-- didn't have time. I will tomorrow.

RB, the owner of the restaurant, signed my contract and handed me a cheque dated for today-- but told me not to cash it until next week when his investor's funding comes through. This was the exact story that the previous contractor has been strung along with for the preceding month, or so he's told me so far. However, RB gave me the investor's cell phone number. The investor owns 400+ rental units (apartments, businesses, warehouses, etc.) and is expecting my call as reassurance that money is there for me. RB assured me that no matter what, funds would be released so that I'd make my weekly payroll, which is all I care about at this point in time: keeping my crew working.

I will call the investor and tell him I need some work to tide us over and boost my cash flow in case the payments from the restaurant are delayed. If I can bargain this inroad into being the guy's full-time painter he has annual work that would keep a crew of two busy all year.

No risk, no reward.

RB asked me to pull my crew together to expedite the drywall finishing so we can start painting on Monday. I've already given them the weekend off so I may go in to do a little myself.

Meanwhile I have to manage how much I tell the general contractor who's owed five figures on the job and who is lagging its completion as a bargaining chip until he gets paid. RB told me to keep it absolutely confidential that I was paid a deposit. A cheque I was told not to cash is not a deposit whatsoever. So I can keep my bond with the contractor, who also has a cheque he's supposed to wait to cash. He doesn't have to know that unlike his cheque, mine is dated and probably cashable.

I have a lot of running around to do tomorrow.

I finished the day up $290.

sofahead @ 08:43 pm: IUOFJ
What a horrible day.

The restaurant wasn't ready to go. The drywallers started patching at around 1PM-- my painters did what they could in that time, which wasn't much.

I couldn't stick around long enough to meet with the owner, sign the work contract, and cash the deposit cheque-- I went to Toronto for my uncle's funeral. He was a brilliant accountant, and very well known-- to say more would expose his identity which for the sake of my grieving family I will not do. Sadly his daughter was in labour at the time of his death and his wife kept this secret from their daughter until the baby was delivered safely.

There were about 60 cars in the procession and well over a hundred people shoveling dirt on the coffin. It was the second time in four months I've been a pallbearer.

I returned to the restaurant to find BLUTE already gone and WIX and LADY sharing a drink at the pub below it. We talked over the day and decided to give the contractors three days to finish up the drywalling such that we can work without spinning our wheels like we did today. Thus, a day off tomorrow.

I could not stick around to sign contracts with the restaurant owner as I had to return to BLUTE's bathroom to touch up, so I rebooked our meeting for tomorrow morning. I was kind of at a loss for what to do if he doesn't have a cheque or if the cheque bounces, but I resolved to deal with that problem if it arises.

As I got to BLUTE's job, the client stopped her car in the driveway. She asked me how well I knew BLUTE, and I told her BLUTE has been employed with me for a week, but she's passed my side-by-side test and that this was her first job working unsupervised. My client then regaled me with an interesting story.

Yesterday my client caught BLUTE red-handed in front of her liquor cabinet, with the top off a bottle of Crown Royal! BLUTE was so surprised she dropped the cap on the floor. My client was too stunned and embarrassed for BLUTE's sake to do anything but smile in confusion. BLUTE quickly picked up the cap, said something about "Things keep falling off the shelves" and calmly went about her day. AWKWARRRRRDDD!!!!!!!!!!1111

Ironically, when I was driving BLUTE home after the incident, I was telling her about how other painters had been fired that summer, as if she'd made the cut and was now privy to that information. She divulged that she's suffering from bipolar disorder, and that she'd be taking January to March off for an extended treatment.

I am SO LUCKY my clients are easygoing and cool enough to alert me to such a crazy problem without going ballistic; I've worked for plenty of other clients this year who'd flip out and get their neighbours to cancel on me too. Instead I was forthcoming about everything I knew about BLUTE thus far, and we discussed a way to handle the situation so that nobody would suffer any blowback. They were happy with my professionalism and assured me they'd refer me as well as ask me back again to work on their home this winter! I promised them BLUTE would not be present and would most likely not be working for me, either.

BLUTE's work was shoddy and needed fixing. Her wall paint was unevenly applied; she didn't tape anything and thus got green paint everywhere on the white trim; her patchwork needed to be redone; she got paint on the towel bar, the faucet, the brand new white melamine cabinets; the trim she painted was overly thin. I worked there for almost two hours and I'll have to return tomorrow for another 90 minutes or so. This alone would be enough to fire her.

My next touchup was for the current client's mom! She'd already heard from her daughter about what happened with BLUTE and was quite shocked compared to her wonderful experience with WIX and LADY. I finished the work; she paid me. No problems there.

I'm not sure what to do about BLUTE. I'm a little paranoid about what kind of backlash I can expect from firing someone who's got bipolar disorder. Is she going to sabotage the restaurant job if I fire her? Would she be suicidal? Would she do something evil like returning to my client's place and threatening them? Would she threaten ME somehow (stalking, constant calling, a false harassment charge, anything)? I need to ask a professional about this. Psychiatrist, doctor, lawyer, I dunno.

Ideally I'd like to meet with her in a public place OR record our phone conversation where I ask her how things went at the bathroom job. I guess the phone option would be best. I'd have to start with itemizing the things she needed improvement on, painting-wise. Then I'd ask her if there was anything else that happened on the job that she thought I should know about. If she came forth and told me, that would be a step in the right direction-- but I'd probably have to ask her about the specific situation and drag it out of her.

Anyways, I've got three days to decide about this. There also exists an alternative where I lay her off solely on the basis of her poor work on the bathroom job, but that doesn't address the biggest problem, nor is it fair to my clients.

The ONLY way I could give her a second chance would be this. I would need a letter from her doctor explaining that this behaviour is common to sufferers of bipolar disorder (if indeed she is bipolar and not just a lying alcoholic). I'd want a copy of it for my records, and I'd want her to submit one to my client along with an apology in person. I'd need a signed contract from her wherein she'd swear not to drink on the job or steal from a client's house, lest she face immediate termination. I'd also have to cut her pay to minimum wage for a 6-month probationary period whereupon she would not be allowed to be on a job by herself, nor work unsupervised.

All that is not really worth it, now that I type it all out. That would be the only form her second chance would take, though.

Sometimes I hate running a business.

I finished the day up $650.

sofahead @ 06:07 am: HKKBHJ
We start the restaurant today. I have to go to my uncle's funeral so WIX is taking charge as foreman. He also has to get the contract signed and collect the cheque. I will cash it this afternoon when I get back from Toronto. Not the ideal way to start a high-profile job!

Two of three small scramble jobs didn't get finished. BLUTE's cutting and patching needs work and her job needs a third coat anyway which wasn't her fault. There was a forgotten patch in the bathroom at WIX's place too. Only LADY's job was 100% perfect, although it was the easiest and simplest task, but noted anyway.

I finished the day up $300.

jonathankaplan @ 11:28 am: they can see clearly now.
I just joined facebook.
I've resisted because there was no real need, I prefer privacy, but then I see a couple of favorite cousins there and I figure this is the best way to communicate with them.
So, I added most of my family that I can find, and a few long lost friends. What a great tool!
Except, now, people are starting to come out of the woodwork, and I don't really want much of that, so trying to find criteria for accepting "friends".
And even worse, facebook admin (and other faceless people) now have access to my history of connections. They are developing a database unheard of before, one that gives its owner extreme power, should it choose to exercise that. A few years of facebook, less privacy, a trend towards fascism, and then a bad president will be able to make himself dictator.
How worrisome is this?

Tags: facebook, fascism, politics