Monday, August 01, 2016

Dare I say, it's too much of a good thing in the SUN room........

 At casa de McBride, I have a back room that I usually hang out in because it has lots of windows and I have direct access to get WIFI that my neighbor's have and gave me the password to!!! WOO HOO!!!! FREE RULES!! Here is what it was and I placed 'bullet points' for each thing I and others did.


  •  March 1, 2016 The first thing I did was replace the ceiling fan. My friend Scott S. helped do that. 

  • March 1, 2016 Then we also started taking the stupid 'popcorn' off the ceiling. I think EVERY house built in the 80s and 90s, mine was built in 1997, had this CRAP.

  •  May 1, 2016 After consulting with many females, I painted it GRAY, it's actually called 'DARK ASH'. My cousin Chris calls it 'boiler room gray' HA!!
  •  May 9th, 2016 Ripped out the carpet.

  •  May 12, 2016 Secured a mount for the where a TV will go eventually.

  •  May 15, 2016 My neighbor Jimmy came over and showed me how to make sure the ceiling is all smooth to paint.

  • May 15, 2016 He helped cut a hole in the ceiling so I could add some heat barrier to it.

  • May 19, 2016 Tiled a section and used some tile left over from casa Mike and Liz also some that I picked up from the parking lot of the old tile factory in Olean, NY.

 
  • May 27, 2016 Jimmy helped cover the hole we made in the ceiling and I finished painting it...
  • May 27, 2016 Placed wall tile where an old wood stove will go eventually.
  • May 28, 2016 Installed brand new hardwood floors, well actually they are lament flooring but YOU would have never know if I did not tell you.
Day 1
Day 2

  • July 5th, 2016 Hung some 'nostalgic' stuff around it and made it all pretty. 
And now it's time to show off the final result.


 I also went on my annual tour to see people and go some places I have NOT been in a long time:
  • First stop was Boone, NC, where I went to college. I just walked around the campus and reminisced and thought that there is NO WAY I could EVER get into this fine establishment today!
       
           He took me to a FREE concert that night too!!! I consider Joe Walsh one of the most
          'unappreciated' guitarist EVER!!

  •  The next day I drove up to Mansfield, OH to spend a day with my grandma McBride, YES! She is STILL alive!!! In her 90's and still pretty darn feisty!!! I also hung out with my cousin Chris! He and I are kindred souls! We both like doing the same stuff.
  •  The day after that, I drove up to Erie, PA and stayed at casa de Kaye for TACO NIGHT! Her daughter SHAY SHAY, showed me the WONDERFUL world of 'walking tacos'! WOO HOO!!!! I have SEEN the top of the mountain, AND it is GOOOOOOOOOOD! Anyways, Kaye is an old friend and her and I just hang out on the back porch and busted out old photo albums and we reminisce about stuff and laughed. She has 4 teenagers so it's needless to say that the house is ALWAYS busy. She also gave me a gift for the back room. 
  •  
     It's an old pot belly stove that needs some TLC and will look AWESOME in the back room I just redid.
 FYI- They use to have POT BELLY wood stoves in railroad stations and cabooses. I thought it would be PERFECT for keeping the room warm on those few days it gets cold here. FYI- whenever you are placing something REAL heavy in your house, you have to support the beams under it. So I went and did just that a few months ago.... SORRY but I took no pictures because the LAST thing I want to do in a wet, dark, dirty and cramped space is stop what I am doing and take a picture. So just 'image' it in your mind.....
  •  The next day I drove to Allegany, NY but made a stop at the R.R museum in Salamanca. I went 20+ YEARS ago but I needed to go again for a refresher. Got a thing or two for the back room I just did. Hung out with Steve and Lynda K. I know I was a special guest because Lynda put on a bra for me. HA!
  •  Went to a wedding on Saturday, saw some relatives that are ALWAYS great to see at my cousin Karen's 'getting hitched' day
  •  Took my morning walk with an uncle of mine and I was SOOOOOOOOOO excited when he asked me if he could go with me! We just solved a few of the world's problems and talked about life! It was GREAT! AHHHHHH the simple things are the most precious!
  •  Monday: I hung out with an old friend who is sick BUT we still had a blast just hanging out and talking. I'm all about 'free will' but I will say that smoking= a very yucky and slow death...
  •  Tuesday: Evan K. (E-Train) and I went hiking at Rock City. We had fun hiking around and exploring. E-Train just turned 16 and is learning to drive, so I had him drive us to lunch. GOOD LORD! Teaching someone to drive through a 4 way stop sign and round about can be really stressful BUT he did a great job.
  •  Went up to Buffalo and had lunch with an old friend and checked out the Bills and Sabres stores. OH and the new Harbor Center is SWEEEEEEEEET!
  •  Another uncle along with his buddies took me canoeing on the Alleghany river

       And I reminisced about when I was a kid and my buddies and I made 'Molotov cocktails' and would throw them against this old bridge. AHHHHH the stupid stuff we ALL did as kids!! If I did
that today, I would so be getting a knock on the door from 'homeland security'.



       I am ashamed to say this BUT I had NEVER seen a bald eagle, OUR national bird, until that
      day! I know, HELLO COMMUNIST!


  • Then went to my BFF's house in Virginia. We hung out with some other friends, Mo and Travis.
        
        The next day we went to the Manasses Battle field park. Pretty cool stuff but VERY bloody!
     That's it for McBride Tour '16, see y'all next time! And to everyone I saw on my trip, THANKS
     for putting up with me! After a 6 month 'sabbatical' and a 1730 mile road trip, it's time for me to
     look for a job... FYI- I am bored! Talk to y'all next month.


Friday, July 01, 2016

A little nugget of information for ya....

 I, Andy McBride, used to work at a machine shop named PMI when I lived in WI. 1999-2001, with the Haver brothers.

Andy H., me and Scott H..


 They taught me how to weld and all kinds of stuff that involved MACHINING! Y'all, I know the difference between welders and proper machining maintenance (use some sort of oil when drilling so the bit doesn't dull so fast...)

A step I made for when I was climbing in the back, usually in a tent.

Just a front trailer hitch to make it easier to move stuff around without trying to steer and move around stuff like my boat while looking in my mirrors. 

In WI and other states, you HAVE to have license plate in the front, So I made a holder that I could just put in my hitch.

So after about 13 years, the last time I was up there was 2003, I went and saw them... Here are some highlights and a couple lowlights.

  • I LOVE the Havers (Andy and Deanna). They were VERY good to me in some rough years.
  • I am soooooo glad to have seen how much PMI has grown... I saw it first- KRIPES just look where I stayed!

Spa De Haver
  • Scott H. is SUPER cool to hang out with in his office and just talk to!
  • The Haver kids Holly, Natalie, Heidi and Mitchell are pretty funny and ALL grown up! MY GOD!
Holly, Natalie, Heidi and Mitchell
  • Holly is getting her freakin' DOCTORATE in Bio Chemistry! The kid is gonna cure cancer!!!! I asked to cure spinal cerebellum ataxia too! I'm sick of falling and moving around like I am an 80 year old man.
  • Natalie just graduated 'beautician school' and gave me one of the best haircuts EVER! I can so tell people that she cut my hair after they see her on CNN's news segment about her whooping sweet business 'HAIR-PA-LOOZA' and the empire she has created!! GUYS, I think she will be the hair stylist to the RICH and FAMOUS in under 10 years.
  • Heidi is your typical teenager who is on snap chat ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME, 'borrows' her sister's cloths that she deems are cool and ALWAYS has some DRAMA she is dealing with in her life. She has like 1500 friends too!!! HELLO SOCIAL BUTTERFLY! She also has a great loud laugh like I do. FYI- people, a mile away, can tell when she laughs.
  • Mitchell is my buddy because my humor is very immature and he laughs at the stupid stuff I say and I SAY A LOT!!! Oh and DUDE, I KNOW 'pizza-pa-looza 2016' was a huge success, who cares if the whole house smelled like a camp fire.
  • Spent some time with Kathy K. (my ex girlfriend's mom) and she was so happy I came by to say hi. She is such a sweet heart. We sat around and chatted for a few hours.
  • Andy H. was going to fly me to St. Cloud, MN but you know that one person we all work with that needs their hand held ALL THE TIME? WELL that person decided to have an EMERGENCY meeting with Andy. SO he was not able to fly me. Instead I drove to MN. and I had a Jeep and I was NOT impressed with it.... The list of things wrong with it could go on for a few hours but I will spare you. All I will say is, NO WONDER Consumer Reports has it on their 'DO NOT BUY' list. The only thing kinda cool about it was that when you stopped at a light or something, the engine would stop and start right back up when you pressed the gas pedal.
  • Was stopped by the PO PO for suspected DUI. Thank GOD I had a note from my DR. telling of my condition. I had to do a sobriety test and THANK GOD it is the same stuff my DR. has me do when he examines me. They also had me blow into a breathalyzer, which read 0.0... They had nothing on me after I blew zero so after an hour, they let me go. ANYWAYS, the whole thing really upset me because I LOATH what I am becoming! UGH! BUT Deanna H said something that she tells her son after a bad inning "Shake it off".
  • Stayed with the Dan and Melissa clan in St. Cloud, MN. They are so COOL!!! Sure we may not agree on EVERYTHING but I don't care because I LOVE hanging out with them. And for the 2nd straight year, their friend John, made me almost pee my pants with the funny stuff he would say.

 That's all I got for ya this month, This month, I will do my annual tour. I will tell you all about it next month along with a project I have been working on. SO STAY TUNED!



Oh and ALL employees of my former employer were given this book in 2008.... Coincidence???

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Going on a trip....

 Sure I have done quite a few things around casa de McBride but I am not finished with them so I will NOT talk about them until. AHHHHH HELL! OKIE DOKIE just a hint of the few things I have been doing or done:


 Instead I will devote this entry to Wisconsin. After a 13 year hiatus, I'm going to see some friends up there. A little nervous and excited all in one. A TON of emotions going through my head...To say it was NOT a huge factor in my life, is such an understatement. Sorry this is soooooooooooooooooo short but between making sure the TSA doesn't give me a cavity search and hoping Andy H. (who is gonna fly me in his plane over to MN.) really has a pilot's license, I'm a little occupied.


Sunday, May 01, 2016

Neighbors!

 I am VERY fortunate to ,so far, have great neighbors... I would say that 98% of my time with past and present ones have been great!!!! My current ones Jimmy and Lynn ROCK like Van Halen at Rich Stadium in 1988, I know, because I was THERE!!!! They have introduced me to so pretty cool people and he has showed me how to do a few things around casa de McBride. He works for the natural gas company in the next county and he has some great 'toys' at his disposal. LIKE this!!!! A freaking backhoe!!! WOO HOO!!!!

 The guys is 'OBI WAN' on the thing.... He knows what to do and what it's capable of doing..


I, on the other hand, am very clumsy with it but with some more practice, I will be okie dokie.


 I helped him remove a tree and make a driveway to his workshop. He also removed some old tree stumps around his house. Next time he will bring it home and do the same around casa de McBride.

And in the 'hey I have no job so I have plenty of time to do (INSERT PROJECT HERE)'. One day, I decided to fix my borders in my front yard.


And this is the result after spending a few hours...


I also was bored one day and painted some of the floor in the garage.


"I went to the doctor today, guess what he told me"1 Shout out to Prince RIP! Anyways, Mrs. Boike and I went up to Duke earlier this month for a Dr. appointment and.... AH HELL, this is why I love Mrs. Boike, She explains stuff so much better then me...
" Kate, Andy’s summation below is pretty accurate.  The MD however did explain some more detail that I wanted to share with you.  When he looked @ the MRI, he said that pictures show the atrophy (or decrease in size of the cerebellum) and that the space that is lost is replaced by fluid (as opposed to nothing or air) & we could see that clearly on the pictures of Andy’s brain.  He was, as Andy mentioned, very impressed with no alcohol consumption and Andy being so compliant with doing all of the PT exercises.  Both of these efforts on his part have led to Andy’s status being very stable and also slightly improved.  Dr. Scott says that the progress of the disease shows different rates for different people, but it is not a rapid progress.  What is most important is how Andy is functioning.  Good nutrition, taking multivitamins, exercising, getting adequate rest are very important and will help make deterioration slow.  Andy is doing a great job @ all these things.

PT—he didn’t feel it necessary to go back to PT @ this time, but PT is advised every once in a while, just to make sure that Andy’s techniques and habits are continuing to go in the right direction.  I actually think that Andy’s diagnosis is shrinking cerebellum.  The ataxia is just a symptom of the shrinking cerebellum. 

I’m very proud of how Andy is handling all of this and being so very proactive with the way he has addressed the issues and problems, as I know you are.

Hope all is well with you and Ron.
Pat"

 As you can see, I'm doing A LOT of stuff around casa de McBride. I decided, while painting the garage floor, to wait to look for a job AFTER I go on two trips, one next month and then another in July for a wedding. THEN I will start the search. If you are really bored and want to hear my rational on this. CLICK HERE.

AND FINALLY, in the 'deuce' department. KRIPES just let the picture do the talkin'...


Have a GRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT month everyone...


1. From the song "Nothing compares 2 U" that was written by Prince and performed by Sinead O'Connor

Friday, April 01, 2016

I need to learn the word 'PACE'.....

 With ALL this free time, I am getting a bunch of stuff at casa de McBride done BUT I need to realize that I don't need to do EVERYTHING in a few weeks...  KRIPES! I have almost 8 months to do it!!!!

 Here is my daily routine:
  • Get up at 6-7am... Sorry folks, I can't sleep past then...
  • Stretch and do some yoga OH AND some ball exercises I learned in REHAB.
  • Go for a 1.2 mile walk while listening to my P.T.I podcast
  • Eat my bagel and a bowl of Cheerios
  • Read some stuff on the W.W.W., usually it's news and sports stuff, with my cup of coffee.
  • While doing all of this, I ponder what I want to get into that day.
  • Depending on the weather, I dress accordingly.
  • Work on whatever I think I need to work on that day
  • Make some lunch and 'marinate' in front of the computer and read some ,usually, pretty funny statuses on Twitter.
  • Go back to what I was working on.
  • Take my afternoon nap around 2ish.
  • wake up and do some more on what I am working on. 
  • make some dinner.
  • ponder 'what will I do the next day?'
  • Go to bed...
 Even with this routine, I STILL get down about not having a job to go to BUT Boike put it all in perspective for me. "How exactly does it 'stink' you're getting paid, you don't have to work, and you did not even LIKE your job! You just hit the win trifecta here feller!" LET me add that I LOATHED my 'plastic' (FAKE) boss as well..... So I am 'Kool And The Gang' with it all!!!

 I kinda just 'piddle' around and do stuff like paint the brick around my patio


unless Scott S. an ol' buddy from A-TOWN (Allegany),


 who is currently jobless too, comes down and helps me do stuff like cut trees down, scrape the dang 'popcorn' off my ceilings, put up a new fan (I'm redoing the back room), paint or just anything!!! We work on stuff, take a coffee break and talk about old times then do some more work. It's like we are UNION WORKERS!!! HA!!!!

THANKS and CHEERS DUDEZILLA!!!
 I also helped my dad with a project.

Is that a 'PLEDGE PIN' on your uniform???

 If you don't get that, then click here..... HA!!!! ANYWAYS!!! He and I tend to 'disagree' on how projects we are working on together go.... I know this will make 95% of you say that I am going to hell for what I do, but I kinda like saying stuff that will set him off..... We feed off on each other and eventually get the job done. Not gonna lie to ya, I have been looking forward to 'yell-pa-looza 2016' since he sent me an email asking if I wanted to help him.

 This is what we worked on. A pathway to a bench in the back yard that my father says is "a place no one sits but your mother bought these pavers for me to put in" HA!!!!! TOO FUNNY!!!!! Well, we did it and there were things that came up that we disagreed on BUT as a good son, I just did what he said and kept my mouth shut.... BUT if you see him ask why he didn't put any sand down FIRST before putting the pavers in.....

STUBBORN, STUBBORN and STUBBORN!!!

  After a few hours of 'discussing' how to do it, this is the final result...


 Don't get me wrong about BIG Ron and I. WE come to the same conclusion eventually, but in between, we sort of butt heads. He has taught me quite a few things. Heck just a few weeks ago, Scott S. and I were putting up that ceiling fan I was telling you about earlier and I started to wire it. He asked me a bunch of questions about the wires. I told him what the colors mean. He asked me how I knew that and I said that "POPS told me that and always showed me what went where." I can give you thousands of times that I have said "I learned that from my dad".

 And in the 'AH HELL, WHY NOT?" department, I decided the day of the concert to go see Joe Satriani. It's been almost 30 years since I saw this album cover in Dave Donavan's (RIP) room.


I think it's ABOUT time I finally went and saw him, DON'T YOU THINK?

 Finally, I will no get 'political' too much on ya, HECK, I will leave that up to the rest of the INTERNET... I will only leave you with this....


 Have a great month you knuckle heads...






    Tuesday, March 01, 2016

    Not going Brazilian BUT.....

     I am trimming and cleaning up the side woods on the right of the house and after finally taking 'my tree guy's', Thompson, advise, I took down the two Bradford Pear trees in the front yard. Any good arborist will tell you that the smaller 'crappy' trees that are growing around bigger ones, steal the water from the bigger, healthy, ones. I'm also taking two more trees that were pretty much randomly planted in areas of the yard by the previous owners.
     ATTENTION!!! 

     This was NOT just a 'weekend thing'!!! I have been working on this for years. The saying 'Rome was NOT built in a day' rings in my head every time I am out working outside. The picture below shows a car of my previous neighbor and he hasn't lived there for almost two years...


     I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wish I had these two little toys to show all the crappy trees around casa de McBride who is boss, ME DANG NABBIT but I don't. So I do a little bit at a time. I have been stung by fire ants, yellow jacket wasps, burned, destroyed a cell phone, damaged tools and basically been riddled with nagging pulled muscles while doing this. As you know, I have a SWEET chainsaw that I named Marvella BUT I am kinda nervous to use it with this CRAP that's going on with my brain BUT that doesn't mean that Boike can't use it!!! WOO HOO!!!! He uses that and I use my sawz all. Say hello to my little friend, NO it's not that big of a deal. it's just a sawz all with CHEAP pruning blades I get at one of those stores that sell really cheap stuff. There's a shocker huh? Cutting or chopping up trees is VERY therapeutic!!! I pretend the tree is a boss or someone that has pissed me off currently or in the past...





     As I have previously mentioned, Boike has come over a couple times and he and my big @$$ chain saw have also 'takin care of business' to some of the big trees that I can't do by myself... We also took out some of the 'CRAPPY' ones too!!! Words cannot express how much I loath holly trees that are on the property.
     

    This is all that's left of that stupid maple tree. HA!!!! Being laid off ROCKS because I have all day to just add wood to the fire so it burns ALL DAY and NIGHT!!!

    This is all that is left of the maple tree.

     I have created a system of cutting the crappy trees down,
    How the 'other' half live- casa de Mike and Liz
    • the other half I just cut up and burn in DA ODE TO BOOB (my fire pit)
    • The rest of the wood is donated to some guys that my neighbor 'suggested' I have come out to take some wood! They are a couple of boys from the 'back woods', the really far ones!!! They have a few teeth and really strong accents! They don't care what kind of wood it is because to quote one "it ALL burns".....
     This was just one side, the other side will get done, but not now.  Barb, my elderly neighbor, has 'HINTED' and kinda said that she likes the trees, no matter how crappy they are. She has said that she would 'HAUNT ME' if I took the holly trees down because she thinks they are so beautiful. Well I guess I am going to have a ghost because I am taking them down and I am very happy to. I DON'T have the heart to tell her that they are all on my property and I can do what the flip I want to do. So I will not work on that side for a while. I will act like she is my Grandma Cawley


    And just smile and 'DEAL WITH IT' plus I am kinda sick of smelling like a fire...

     Being that I have cleared out crappy trees for the past couple of years, I have plenty of wood for 'DA ODE' AKA fire pit. So if you come over to chill, I will have a BITCHIN' fire for ya, it's how I roll!!!

    Here it is:



     The picture on right was taken in the WINTER!!!! That is why everything looks brown!!! HELLO!!!


     In other news, I, and the rest of my department, got laid off last month..... Before you ask "WHAT are you going to do now?" I need to say that I have been planning/ expecting this to happen for a few years now, so I have saved some money AND THEY have to pay me (14 years of service) until DEC!!! GOD BLESS those silly bean counters in San Francisco or where ever the bank has them... So I will be okie dokie!!!!! Just to make sure I had my friend Carb look it over and advise me if there is something missing. The only thing that kinda upset me that day was seeing some people with the  'WHAT DO I DO NOW?' look on their face... POOR FOLKS! I just don't know what to do with all my spare time! I need to learn the word 'pace' so I don't do everything I want in a few days....  Basically I get paid to not come to work and just do projects on MY HOUSE!!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! I'm on VACATION until December BEEEEEOOOOTTTCHES!!!! I have quite a few reasons that you should NOT do business with ANY MONSTER MEGA BANK but being a 'Fortune 500' company, I know they have just a department solely full of attorneys whose only job is to sue people for slander, so I will save all of the fun stuff for a future blog post... I will only give you this link. Oh and it's not IF a monster mega bank screws ya, it's WHEN!! I DO have one story that happened there BUT it doesn't involve my former employer, BUT about a WHACKY couple that WELL, JUST READ IT!

     This is the way it went down and ‘others’ might have different versions and that’s OK. There will be NO NAMES because I do not feel like getting sued so I will refer to them as ‘person A’ and ‘B’.

     I’m pretty sure this happened in 2010, it was a Saturday morning and I was doing something around the house and I get a text from person A. Now I NEVER got messages from her because she was ABOVE me! She didn’t like other people knowing I had her # because she felt she was better then me. You see, we exchanged phone #s when we started working together so we all could stay in contact if one of us was out or something like that. ANYWAYS, the text was something to the fact of ‘if person B tries to contact you DO NOT reply’. I looked at it and said to myself OK but I had NEVER met person B before so he didn't even have my #..... So I went back to what I was doing. Well Monday came and person A came to my desk and started telling me stuff that went on with person B and how the cops got involved too. She also started showing me some bruises…. I was like, “WHOW WHOW WHOW!!!! Don’t show me anymore!” I was kinda freaked out. I have NEVER seen bruises caused by domestic abuse…. So she stopped but ‘emphasized’ to me again NOT to have any contact with person B. She is CUCKOO for CO CO Puffs so I really didn’t want to rile her up….. So a few weeks go by and I know there is ALWAYS two sides to the story and she is WHACKED and her version might be a little 'construed', also I feel sorta bad for person B because NO ONE will talk to him. So I decide to reach out to him because I’m a guy too and we all need to stick together…… I proceed to email him and tell him that when he is in a heated argument with a lady that he needs to just walk away and say, “we will talk about this later when we are both calmer” And other stuff, basically what an older guy would say to a young one…… He emails me back and says THANKS and he wants to show his appreciation by buying me a beer, WOO HOO!!!! As a red blooded American man, I could NOT say no to that. We met at a local ‘watering hole’ and he just starts from the beginning. He stated that 95% of the time things were great between them but there were times that ‘in his words’ “it was like a light switch” she would be fine but the next second she would start yelling and getting violent. She would claw him and grab him by the ears and get into his face and yell. He stated that he was sick of having to try to explain/lie to his parents where the scratch marks on his face came from. He would usually say they came from a construction project he was on. The night in question started out with a fight but QUICKLY went out of control. Like a forest fire started by a camp fire and quickly engulfing a couple 1000 acres. He is not sure how it started but it involved her slamming a door shut and him following her to the next room to confront her on why she just slammed a door. They start yelling at each other and she hit him or something that was physical. He looked me straight in the eye and said he “had enough of being a punching bag” and so he hit her back. Now if you saw him, he’s short BUT built…. Like Rocky… So I’m sure with one hit he knocked her down pretty good. She wouldn’t give it up, she kept on putting fuel on the fire. This lasted for a few hours and he finally had to call the cops to get HER out of his house. HA! When she was trying to tell me about what happened, she made it out that SHE had to call the cops on him. He told me that this is a ‘trend’ with her and that an older boyfriend that she had when she lived in CT. actually got so pissed that he cold cocked her and broke her nose. He then told me that her mom is whacked and has been married at least 4 times and her latest husband is a REAL ‘push over’ and does EVERYTHING she says. Kripes! He even said that person ‘A’ lived with her aunt and uncle for awhile because her mom and her did not get along too well, so looking at the situation, Person ‘A’ has some family issues. He begged that I don’t tell her that we met. I said “TRUST ME! I really don’t want to feel the wrath of her either so I WON’T say anything." He stated that he goes to see a therapist so he can manage his anger. I say to him “DUDE!!! I would have punched her too! There have been plenty of times where I wanted to ‘knock her into next Tuesday.” ANYWAYS, Steven (I use to work with him) will remember this; He decided to send her flowers at work!! He told me a week before that he was going to do it and asked what I thought. I told him to give it up and just 'WALK ON’ but NO!!!! He still sent them…..She proceeded to give them out to all the ladies on the floor. Steven and I saw the whole thing and then person B texted me asking how it went. I said NOT TOO WELL!!!! She gave them out to all the ladies on the floor. IDIOT!!! I made the HUGE mistake and mentioned that I talked to person ‘B’ and told him what a bonehead move the flower thing was. She didn’t say anything about it BUT 5 minutes later she comes to my desk and proceeds to REEM me out saying that she told me NOT to have any contact with him…. “Oh darlin’ the last thing I am worried about is you and your issues with an old ex.” CRAZY CHICK!!!" I think he was, and still is, hung up on her. Whenever we would talk he would ALWAYS ask about her. It got old quick! I would say MOVE ON MAN but there was something about her that he will ALWAYS be attracted too. After dealing with those two, I can see why they were together. CRAZY loves CRAZY! I knew right away that he was only using me because I talked to her daily and he wanted to know what she was up to. So I decided to use him by showing me how to tile my floor. You will see how that turned out later on in the story.

     Let's move ahead a few month shall we, NOW person ‘B’ is/ was a contractor and I was doing some stuff to my kitchen. He always told me that if I needed any help that he would help me out. Well I took him up on that offer when I was going to tile the floor of my kitchen. I never did that and I needed him to help/show me how to do it. During this time we had a very bad hail storm and it DESTROYED my roof. Well he came over to lay tile and said that he really needed the money from the roofing job, I SOOOOOOO have the email where he said that too, and wanted me to give it to him. So being the nice guy I am, I told him to send me a quote and he could start on it. WELL!!!!! The @$$ CLOWN ripped my whole roof off on a Thursday and DIDN’T install a new one until Monday! As you know, it’s ALWAYS a pretty good chance that we will get a thunderstorm in the afternoon during the summer. SO!!!! I was kinda freakin out and watching Doppler radar EVERY minute! He did a very half @$$ed job in ‘tarping’ the thing until a new roof was installed. Kripes! I had to go up there to adjust tarps that he didn’t secure enough and had moved. One time I freakin fell off my roof!!!! Just a lot of bruises! I was getting PISSED and he knew it because I was very short with him….. He acted surprised that I was upset. I said, “HELL YEAH I’M UPSET!!!! I don’t have an EFFing roof!!!!” I was sooooooo upset that I couldn’t eat until it was all done. FINALLY, the Tuesday it was FINALLY done. I paid him with the insurance $ I had and I think it’s the end of him. I pretty much decided to NEVER have any contact with the idiot again BUT. The jerk doesn’t PAY the roofing company so they put a freakin’ lien on my house! I email him and he says he will take care of it…. Let me tell ya, him’ taking care of it’ was simply him filing for bankruptcy! CLOWN!!! I KNEW he was thinking about moving to CA. because some of his ‘friends’ told him about growing medicinal dope. It’s legal out there. Very SHADY but legal. I think the whole roofing job was his way to declare BK and then move out there. Sure hope ya don’t get shot out there buddy (rolling my eyes). SO YOU KNOW, There is NOT any lien on my title!!! THANK GOD!!!!

     I have learned that through all of this, person ‘A’ and ‘B’ are all ABOUT their image! KRIPES!!! Person 'B' made sure that I saw him in a Mercedes rag top one time when we went out for beers...They are VERY concerned about how other look at them and are VERY materialistic.

     Oh and if you are wondering, Wells Fargo made $23 billion last year, AND FINALLY, somethings in your life are better when they are in your rear view mirror!

    Monday, February 01, 2016

    The man/boy we all affectionately call YETTI, Sasquatch or just plain old BIGFOOT!!!!!

     YETTI, I mean Dalton, one of my neighbor's son, who is like 19 and HUGE!!!!! Hence the name Yetti, was walking between mine and casa de Trull (my neighbors) house to get to DA BOOB (fire pit) where we all were.


     He casually said, "DUDE, you need to make a path between the houses to make it easier to get to DA BOOB..." Usually I would mumble to myself "HOW DARE that damn 'millennial' tell me what I should do." BUT, you know, that kid is right. So I did just that!!! I will call it 'the a good ol' cop a feel' path.... It's like being with a girl and unsnapping her bra and you SEE "the top of the mountain" FYI- And it's GOOOOOOOOD!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!


     I think he mentioned that he got a DRONE for baby Jesus's birthday... So we might have to do a drone-pa-looza 2016 photo shoot of casa de McBride in the future!! HOT DAAAAAAWG! You will be able to see DA BOOB in all of its GLORY!!!!

     Sorry this is so short but I DID give ya two freakin posts 1/19, 13 days ago, soooooo not to sound like a smart @$$ but, GET OVER IT!!! R.I.P Glenn, you were part of the soundtrack on every trip we made to and from Ohio in the 70s, 'New Kid in town', 'Tequila Sunrise', 'Heartache Tonight, 'Lyin' Eyes', 'Take It Easy', 'Already gone', ' Peaceful, easy feeling". Don't think these and other Eagles songs are not on my iTouch. AND I will never forget the sweet time you were on the best TV show EVER!!!!


     FINALLY, with very mixed emotions, I want to say happy trails to my uncle Dick.....

    Tuesday, January 19, 2016

    I bet those poor bastards out in CA. WISH they had this problem/ "I can't complain but sometimes I still do." Joe Walsh 1978...

     BEFORE I get into the stuff I did to casa de McBride, I want to apologize for being a moody, self centered, @$$ hole to my parents, my brother and his wife. I just remember what Christmas used to be to me and I can't forget that.... I hate what I am becoming, a bitter hermit, but I think that is what life is directing me towards. I really do live a very undramatic life but I STILL get very depressed on, mostly Sundays.... I think it boils down to the fact that I worry about EVERYTHING that is my my life on that day AND I REALLY don't like this time of the year (READ THE SENTENCE IN RED AGAIN). Also I know that I have to 'deal' with stuff whether my job, the house, my life as of now and what I could have done in the past to change certain parts of it. Also the world lost one of the best teachers EVER!!!! His name was Mr. Mansour  and he was a HUGE influence on me!!! He taught my older brother and was going to retire the year before I was to have him but he told me, not sure if it's ALL true, that he wanted to teach me and then retire...  He was a great man and someone I think of at least weekly.... I could commit a whole blog entry to him but I will not now, MAYBE in the future.  Plus the world lost another great person last month.....Lemmy was not 'so polised' looking but he was a very smart guy with some great stuff to say. Oh and some might say that his band, 'Motorhead' was just a dirty 'garage band' BUT I totally disagree with that!!!!! Now for the record, I LOVE milk but apparently Lemmy did not.



     One last thing while I am on the 'Andy's COMPLAIN-PA-LOOZA 2016', I LOATH and HATE to say this but I can only do on major thing at a time and I have to take breaks OFTEN because I loose my balance more often when I am tired. So that is another reason this blog entry is so late....

      SORRY to be such a 'downer' today and for posting this later than usual (It has rained A LOT the past month and I am not a big fan of having to work in the mud......) GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!! Enough of me whining!!!! Sorry AGAIN about that 'poor old me' moment. LET'S get to the 'meat and potatoes' of this entry. When it rains, it pretty much runs down the side of my house. With the fact that I am trying to ACTUALLY grow grass back there and make it presentable, I built a wall to TRY to prevent all the grass seed and soil from running off into the abyss!



    DANG NABBIT!!!! The battery died while I was out running some errands!!!! FYI- this was the first time that I used the 'time lapse' feature on my iTouch so LESSON learned!!! Plug it in at all times!!!

    WOO HOO!!!! I know how to operate my iTouch so here is what I did the following weekend.


      CURSES!!!! The dang sun wreaked havoc on the process, so there are parts of the movie you can't see because the sun light is soooooooooooooooooooooo strong.... SORRY but here is what I did on the 2nd day.



    Here is the final result:


     I also had to make my run off (I guess that's what you call it) wider. So after SEVERAL Saturdays, one in a freaking rain storm, I was soaking wet and thank God I didn't wear white like this girl did, it's done!!! UGH! Working in the mud soooooo suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!!! I spent ALL of the MLK holiday weekend working on this just so I could FINALLY post this entry.....


     HA!!! ANYWAYS, Here is the result and I am very proud to say that the rocks in it are from:

     Now on to other projects like redoing the back room...
    HA!!!! This is soooooooooooooooooo going to be me when 'I kick the bucket'....

    Oh and remember kids "You don't owe anyone ANYTHING except your GD mom who brought you into this world". I need to remember this the next time I think it's a good idea to push my mom's buttons about something....

     


    DA BOOK!!!!!!

     This was the first blog entry that I DID NOT use DA BOOK (FaceBook) to announce that I posted a new blog entry. The last few years I have (slowly but surly) weened myself off of it. This is my thinking on it, as if anyone cares. DA BOOK is GREAT to get info to and from people ASAP because let's face it, EVERYONE is on it, BUT, it can soooooooooooooo cause 'issues' for ME!!! You see, I tend to say stuff on there that some may not appreciate. It's like crack cocaine to me!!! I can't just NOT say something if I deem your statues DUMB then I will say that and I have a few people that I have riled up and they have complained about it to others who then tell my mom about it and she then has a little chat with me.... ALSO I have been know to say stuff to old friends that are females that their husbands, fiances or boyfriends don't find too funny. So it's better if I go 'cold turkey' on it and use it ONLY when I need to communicate with someone and I don't have any other way to talk to them... 

    WALKER!

     The other night, I spent drinking my N/A beer with an old friend. Scott Fasse! We spent most of the night rehashing stories of times and fr...