Heavy Lifting

Kit Kat and I woke up at an early 8:00am this morning. We drove down the local Home Depot in search of day laborers. We found a bunch of guys standing by the street at the edge of the parking lot. I planned to drive right up to them. But they were too close to the road. We parked in the parking lot and walked up to them. They were definitely looking for work.

I explained the small job we had. I said we needed two strong guys to lift two pieces of furniture. My initial offer was $20 for each person. The guy who seemed like the leader said that three of them worked as a team. He inquired whether the third guy could work too. I said they could bring any number of people. But they would all have to split the $40 total I was willing to pay.

The guy discussed the offer. They were speaking in another language. I could tell that they were trying to figure if it was worth their while. They ended up accepting. Two of themm followed us in their own car. At home, I led them to the basement. Showed them the love seat. Walked them up out the back steps to the side entrance where I wanted them to move the furniture. Then I left Kit Kat with them.

I raced upstairs to prepare my rolltop desk for moving. Pulled out all the drawers. Took everything off the top and inside of the desk. It took the guys a while to move the love seat. They had to compress the cushions to get it out the back door. Then they lifted the desk to bring it down the stairs. They had trouble around the corners becuase of its size. I could hear them groaning because of the weight.

They also had trouble at the foot of the stairs on the main level. They had to lift the desk in the air to get it over the banister. Then I noticed I left one drawer in the desk. I apologized and pulled it out as they continued to move the thing. They got it down the stairs and into my new study. The boys were strong. But they were winded. It took a minute or two for them to catch their breath.

I paid them both a crisp $20 bill. They asked if I could give them an extra $5 for gas and the friend they left behind. I gave them a $10 spot for all the hard work they did. Before we met, Kit Kat and I decided that we could go as high as $100 total for this short but strenuous job. That's how much pain we figured it was worth to us. In retrospect, Kit Kat and I could have never brought the desk down the stairs. It was just too big and heavy.

The guys said they do painting and drywall as well. I told them we might be meeting again in the future for some more work. Normally I use a handyman I know and trust to do my drywall and paint work. But if I could verify that these boys could do as good a job for less money, maybe I should give them a try. They did kill themselves to move our furniture.

Day Laborers

We are in the middle of some furniture adjustments in the house. I still need to fully move into my study downstairs. We are repurposing our computer room on the main level to be a library. So a heavy desk needs to be moved into the basement. And a love seat needs to come up from the basement.

Normally Kit Kat and I do all the heavy lifting in the family because we are the most able. This time around, I thought we could try to hire somebody to carry the furniture. I want to keep costs reasonable. So I decided to maybe use some day laborers to do the job. I have seen them hanging around outside Home Depot. I told Kit Kat she would have to come with me to get them.

Today Kit Kat slept in late. Her graduation cermony yesterday wiped her out. The family went out to eat breakfast without her. After breakfast, Momoko needed Kit Kat to go with her to the bank. They also visited the school. By the time Kit Kat came back to get me, it was mid adternoon.

Kit Kat and I took a ride to Home Depot. There were no laborers in sight. We decided to pick up a few items at Home Depot so the trip would not be a total waste. I tried to find some nice flowers but failed. I did pick up some ant killer, as well as some top soil. A dude a the store was impressed with my confidence in ant killer choice. He followed suit and bought the brand I was loading up on.

Outside at the car, a Home Depot employee came to help us load up. He asked if everything went well. I told him we did not find the flowers we needed. He said I should have asked an employee to help with the flower selection. I did not waste any time informing him that we surveyed all the flower they have, and found them all lacking.

I told Kit Kat we would have to move the furniture outselves. She requested we try the day laborers tomorrow. After a short conference with Momoko, we decided to wake up early to get some help in the morning.

Fried Pickles

The family ate bagels for breakfast this morning. It left us hungry at lunch time. We wanted to go to our favorite mexican restaurant. However it was closed for the holidays. Instead I decided we should visit this chili joint that Momko likes. They serve up chili mac. The real reason we like it is that they have fried pickle appetizers.

To start, Little Kat and I tried to order Doctor Pepper. The dude who took our drinks said they only had home brewed root beer. Later we felt ripped off as we found there was no free refills for root beer. They did bring out the fried pickles quickly. They disappeared and we had to order another round of them. We learned also that you could order chili mac with different kinds of chili split up on your plate.

There were some other things that were disappoint in addition to the single glass root beer. Momoko had to ask them for some corn bread. Pop pop did not get any corn bread himself. His meal was also lacking in corn chips (frito chili pie). They did not keep our drinks filled. Service was not awful. But it was not good either. The waitress got a little more than a 10 percent tip. We were generous at that.

Kit Kat drove half of the family home. Momoko and I went back to the college to spy the site where Kit Kat graduates tomorrow. We identified the way to get to handicapped access for a drop off. We also surveyed the distant parking lots where I will park the car. Then we sped home to find that Kit Kat left us to swim with her friends at the local pool. Little Kat wanted to go, but he had too much work to do. I took a nap. Later I found that Little Kat did the same.

Printer Power

I took over the guest bedroom downstairs as my new study. I needed it because I work from home most of the time now. This allowed Momoko to take over the study upstairs that initially mine, then shared by us, and now is becoming hers. There is one problem working up in that study. You got to walk all the way downstairs to pick up your printouts on the printer.

Momoko asked if she could have a peronal printer up there in her study. That sounded reasonable. I looked around. But I could not find our current printer on sale anywhere. The retail price is too high for just giving Momoko her own computer. So I was about to shut down the idea of a second printer.

I did find a newer model printer deeply discounted online. The only trouble was that it takes different toner. I wanted to have the same printer so we could just stock one time of printer toner. We go through toner quite frequently. In the end, we bought the newer printer. It has the benefit of being a copier and scanner as well.

I had quite a chore unpacking and setting up the new printer. Everything was taped down initially when they shipped it to me. I had to install some software on my computer to set up the printer to work wirelessly. The install of that software took forever. I was happy when I verified I could make copies and scan documents with the printer.

Now I had to order some replacement toner for the new printer. The original toner cartridges from the manufacturer cost almost as much as the printer. So I am going to start by trying a knock off branch of toner. Let's hope it works.

Cheap Drinks

McDonalds has had a promotion this past month. You can get a large soft drink for a dollar. No coupon is required. I have been loving it. Normally large drinks go for $1.79. The promotion was set to expire tomorrow. This was a crazy day at work. Did not have much time for lunch. So I decided to head to McDonalds.

I noticed that the big sign showing the one dollar drinks was gone. Sure enough the large drinks went back to original price. Luckily I had been saving some free drinks coupons for when the sale ended. I pulled out my coupon and got one on the house. The funny thing is that I still believe McDonalds is making money off me. Pay a few bucks for a burger. Add some fries. They make money in the end whether or not you pay for the drink.

When I got home, the first thing I did was cut another free drink coupon and put it in my wallet. McDonald's is doing good here for themselves. They provide the discounted or free drinks with coupons. Now when I need a quick burger, I go straight to McDonald's. I truly cannot remember the last time I went to Burger King or Wendy's. No wonder McDonald's owns 90% of the fast food burger market.

Fed Ex Fail

I have been busy with work this month. My team lead was on vacation for a few weeks. I took over his job when he was gone. We also have a big software delivery due at the end of the month. It is extra tough since I am taking the last week off from work for Kit Kat's graduation. Today I had to make some copies of forms I needed to send in to the main office. Since I work at home, I headed over to Fed-Ex to make the copies.

I also had to make a copy of our new shed permit. One of the pages was a larger size paper. So I asked for some help. The guy came over and got me started on the copier, but left before he could show me how to choose the larger paper. He said he would be right back. He lied. That's okay. I figured it out on my own.

The Fed-Ex employee returned and said I could copy a bunch of other paper using the automatic feeder. I said I wanted to separate one page that I needed double sided. He said the copier could handle that. That seemed odd. I put the paper stack in the feeder along with the one double sided page. Maybe this guy knew a trick to make the last sheet go double sided. Nope. He made the copier do my whole stack double sided. I get charged for each side that gets copied. He just doubled my cost for the run.

Normally I would complain and get a schmuck like this to reverse the charges due to his error. Instead I just told him to reset the copier to single sided mode. He struggled with that. Then I told him, "I got this." And I shooed him away. Luckily I did not have a huge stack of papers. I finished up my copying and went on my way to do some shopping at Home Depot. They say it is hard to get good help these days. This is the truth.

Did I mention that we got a permit for our huge shed? The county requires some extra support for the roof that will raise the cost. That's okay. The shed vendor needs special anchors placed on my concrete slab. That is driving up the cost a bit too. I think these cost overruns are within my budget. We all can't wait until this shed is installed and ready for use. It is going to be this summer. Finally.

Lawn Maintenance

I am very busy with work on the weekdays. Don't get a chance to do any yard work Monday through Friday. Saturday is my rest day. If any yard work is to be done, it must happen on Sunday. We got a late start yesterday. Then we held our weekly family meeting. It was 4pm before I got outside to do any work.

I was busy the past Sunday. So the tasks had piled up. I cut the grass in our front yard. Did the whole nine yards. Weed wacked the edges. Used the leaf blower to blow away clippings. Then I headed to the back yard. Had to pick up a bunch of branches and sticks that fell down. Then I cut the entire lawn. It was getting a little high. Finished up trying to move the dreaded steep hill. Only got a part of the way down. My right boot is broke down (shoelace is toast). So I don't have traction to work the hill.

Instead I went to the bottom of the hill and worked my way up with the weed wacker. It was still tough work. Easier than doing it with the lawn mower. What makes it harder is that the new lawn mower broke down. That is the lighter one. I have been forced to use the old heavy duty (and heavy) lawn mower for mowing. After mowing I tried to clean out the trash can. We put a dead goldfish in the trash, and it made the can stink.

After all this work, I was ready to pass out. It only lasted 3 or 4 hours. But it was hard work. I was scheduled to move some furniture with Kit Kat too. That just had to be postponed. Even after a short nap, I did not have the energy for moving furniture. Besides, my joints hurt. I only mowed the lawn. But I was broken. I even felt a small fever coming on me. I knew what to do. Get to bed and let the body recouperate.

There will be other times this week to move furniture. I might even hire some day laborers to come in and move the furniture for us. I am sure Kit Kat will be down with that plan.