well, I guess I knew about our forum having a conversation side, but it looked pretty dead to me.

I have the window a/c running on the sun porch where two of my three parrots (the boys) live. This morning the dual thermometer (inside/outside) read 84 inside and 86 outside.
My recent glance revealed that inside is 86 and outside is 96--and that is in the shade. Officially it is supposed to be around 91 today.

I went out to pick squash, tomatos, peppers, okra, and it was like a sauna. Not a comfortable place to be.

When I came back inside, it felt really cool, and I keep the a/c set at 80 degrees these days. It is cool enough to keep me from stroking out, but not cool enough to raise goose bumps or wear out the air handling equipment.

I hope everyone else who is missing in action takes care in this weather, and do not overdo it.

Also, at night when I go to bed, I am reading this book of wisdom, CARROTS LOVE TOMATOES....same author who wrote ROSES LOVE GARLIC. Poor little veggie garden, it is cooked before I pick the veggies.

I'm just the opposite- I wake up at 4:30 AM, and reach my peak shortly after I get up. I read the paper and do all of the puzzles prior to heading out to work at 5:30. By this time of day (5 PM) I'm pretty much toast, although I can get a second wind if I stay up past 10 PM. I usually cruise through GW in the afternoon, and sometimes early in the AM.

This was a tough week- busy, busy, busy, and a few challenges that there really aren't good answers for. Luckily, one of my best skills is being able to leave it behind when I leave the office.

Yes I know how hard it can be to leave it behind. And when I bring half the office home with me to work on I am compelled to keep going. But if I do not bring it home with me I find myself heading out at 10 pm down to the office to get what I need. Because I an not sleep fretting over what needs to be done. The good thing with technology is all my work is backed up on a thumb drive to most of the time that is all I need.Just with this budget there is so much more involved. Still most of it is on the computer.

Chris

I know what Chris does for work. But Flgar...what do you do? Your routine is the same as when I worked. Now retired, I still get up by 5 in the morning. It started centuries ago when I needed some me time before the kids and husband got up. Then later to get into work before my employees to get some things done. Now I can't change it and love being able to see the sunrise.

Technically, I am a mold maker, a specialized type of tool and die work. I build steel molds that are used to make plastic parts. It's very precise work, as the plastic is injected at high temperatures and very high pressure. For the last 3 years, I've been the tool room manager, and I manage more than actually build stuff. Not my favorite position (I hate being 'The Boss') but the pay is good, and I know it's only temporary until we get started in SC.

As manager, I'm responsible for everything in my department, which is where the problems without good answers come from. I can only bring the office home 'in my head', since our equipment weighs tons! I never work at home; if I have catching up to do, I go in on a Saturday.

" pop in and read a little of the posts. Usually fell asleep doing that"

I've been doing that also mostly. too tired to type much. I just dozed off while reading with my hand still on the mouse. i was dreaming that there was a lump on the back of my leg when I woke up. it must have been the mouse under my hand - not that the mouse was on my leg anywhere -lol!

been really tired the last few days. sort of goes with the temp going up over 106 I think. that just zaps me. I go out about every hour to check on boy, make sure he has water, water down his dirt and him. he'll dump his pool out to wet down the dirt himself too...

Well, I have a bit of your background. CAD training to engineers, designers, etc. in a very broad and technical environment. Was just curious, always find it interesting what people have for careers.

I work a lot with CAD- Virtual Gibbs, which is a CAD/CAM program, and Solid Works. Now days, computers are involved in most steps of the process.

I'm so old that the original CAD systems were the size of my kitchen. Since the engineers knew nothing about the system I had to pry information out of them to know what they would use it for. And they hated the computer back then...."I have to let my pencil go away?" Also at the time our options for adding notes on a plan were limited and crude. Manuals were still from a typewriter. Love knowing how far we have gone. Do not love that I am old.

WOW you two are so totally over my head on CAD and so on. No clue. I think it is neat you both have some of the same background. Jay bringing the work home in your head could be harder then in hand. At least I can do some of my work from home in times I can not sleep because of it hanging over my head. I can but do not like to be down at city hall late at night. The deputy sheriff knows me and will just check to be sure all is ok if I am working really late. That is good to know.

Made it through the council meeting and did up the minutes last night with just finishing touches needed when I am back at the office. Errands to do today in town so will be a busy day. So Glad I am past the meeting and it went as well as it did. Finally starting to make progress cleaning up the city business. All is good. Midvale is having it's own tea party only it is happening from the inside out. LOL

Time to get a move on. Chores to do before going to town. Hope every one has a cool day.

Chris

Jeez, I'm just a boring old banker doing my best to get people up to their necks in debt. You know, the American dream!

Seriously, you wouldn't believe the stuff I see on a daily basis. I run the mortgage department so we get them into the really big debt but sooo many people are up to their ears in debt. $400 car payments are now considered moderate, $500 is mid-range and $800 isn't shocking anymore. Let's not even talk about the credit card debt. It's amazing. And it's all I can do to keep up with my little house payment and child support. My Toyota Tundra truck has 250,000 miles on it and I dread the day I have to replace it. Great truck! I have a 2001, the "smaller" Tundra before they changed the body style and made it the size of a small tractor trailer. What is it about us 'Mericans? Do we really want everything supersized? Look around. Virtually every model of car and truck on the road today that was around 5 or more years ago is now almost twice the size it started out as. Tundra, Rav4, Highlander, Accord, Civic, they've all gotten big and bloated. And let's not even get started on soft drinks. I keep waiting for someone to come out with the full one gallon soda. I loved my 1992 Honda Accord. Now, the Civic is larger than my '92 Accord. Our 1995 Honda Odessey, the first style with the four doors that opened like a car....one of the best multi-use vehicles I ever owned. Gone. Replaced by a gargantuan "Mini" Van with electric everything. Is it really an inconvenience to close your own darn tailgate? I love my 2001 Tundra, but the new one is at least 25% larger. No wonder everyone jumped on board the McMansion bandwagon. I love this Country but as my granpa used to say, "we got some come-upan's heading our way".

Have I graduated to grumpy old man?

Scott

WE used to have a Odessey. Do not remember the year. We really liked it. Had to sell it for a Jeep liberty when we bought a place with 1/4 mile long driveway and the Odessey would not make it up the drive if we got more than a few inches of snow. Was too low to the ground. Needed that four wheel drive.

Now we have a 2009 Ford Focus. Paid for too. First new car we have bought it a long time. We really like it. Long drives it gets 40 MPG.

GADS I can not even begin to imagine getting into debt like some people do. WE retired and left California 24 years ago yesterday debt free other then the usual monthly utility bills. Hope to stay that way. Course we have always worked at odd ball jobs since but if we had to make a living here in Idaho we never would have made it on the pay we have earned.I feel so sorry for the people that do not learn the value of making money and saving it up before buying something they want. Pay cash for the item and do not buy it until you have the cash. You can buy so much more this way not paying interest. Course then Scott you might be out of a job.

Cities get a check from the state from liquor sales. So in the spirit of things the Mayor tells every one at the meetings to Drink Up. After the meetings of course. So for you Scott I will tell every one to spend spend spend. :^)

Chris

No you are not a grumpy old man Scott. If you were, we both would hold the same.

There was a TV segment on retirement savings yesterday and what the percentages are of being without in 10 years. I'm in the 47%. That number is huge, so it is easy to see being part of it. It had very little to do with investments, far more to do with lifestyle and stuck with what we started. Especially not planning for cost of living, which SS sure didn't give us this year. At least what cost of living increase we did get with SS paid for the increase in Health Insurance premiums. No one will bail us out but us individually.

I'm numbers illiterate, apologize if the above is all I got out of the segment.

We don't fit the norm, I guess. Our only debt is our mortgage, and it's pretty modest. We pay cash for decent used cars; even paid in advance for our son's college (what a deal that turned out to be!). Credit card gets paid off every month. Right now, we're saving to build our house in SC, so about half of our take-home goes straight in the bank. Since our home in FL took such an equity hit, we need to put money aside to build. We will have NO mortgage in SC!

I'm no saint; I've been down the debt highway with credit cards and new cars, but we're done with it now. I'm hoping our son is paying attention to what is happening around us, and avoids those pitfalls completely. So far, he's been very practical in that regard.

Jay, we use your approach to debt. Sometimes it catches up with us, though--we recently had to sink almost $4000 into three of our used vehicles. In the long run, I think we are still ahead of the game.

My husband loves the convenience of credit cards and on-line shopping. I call his Mastercard his 'Magic-card'--he gives the number to someone, and a few days later, things magically appear at our door. I keep threatening to make him pay the bills, so that he'll see the balance due. What really bugs me is that even though I've been paying off the balances every month for years, after the big 'Bail Out', the companies arbitrarily raised the rates and instated a minimum balance due. I do like the convenience of having a gas credit card--you just pump and go.

emagineer, I saw that report. Makes me thankful for the life style I live, and have taught my children. (Not that they always listen :-)

Just realized the date of this thread. I've been mia, too...did you get your grouting finished?

Sorry I have not been posting much Missing all of you. Been swamped with work again. Soon to be over and calmed down after this week. I hope.

Chris