This week once again starts with events from last week. Our kia had been making some noises when you turned the wheel so we took it into the mechanics to have them do an oil change and find out what the noise was. They heard the engine "knocking" and called us right away and said whatever was causing the knocking was going to cost more than the car was currently worth and to not put ANY money into it, not even the oil change. So we were down 1 car, just like that. The mechanic told us not to take it on any long drives either, so that meant we didn't go to church that Sabbath as it is an hour away and is mostly highway, so it's highspeed. Nothing will ruin a good Sabbath like having your engine blowup while your traveling 75mph (120kph), hahahahaa.
I did briefly consider getting a new car but almost immediately threw that option away for two reasons. One, I had it pounded into my head that making payments on a car is one of the most irresponsible fiscal decisions one can make (and while most americans do that, well, look at the state of our personal credit as a nation, it is horrible) and it will simply drain you like a vampire bat. Second, even if we did scrimp and pay for one outright, it would leave our savings in such disrepair that if another emergency happened (like our furnace breaking down, or something like that), we would be sunk financially. So the new car option was out.
That left the used option. I began scouring Craigslist for used subarus and found a 2015 impreza with only 126K miles that seemed to be in good shape. It was being sold by a company that exclusively works on and sells Subarus. I called the place Monday to set up an appointment on Tuesday to test drive it and have the paperwork filled out.
Tuesday for work we were only 20minutes from the car place, so we took our lunch by driving over. I called the place, hoping that maybe I could pick the car up then and there, but the lady who does all the legal paperwork was out of the office until 1pm. But I saw it and got to drive it. Seemed just fine. So that evening Mrs B and I drove back up, signed the paperwork, paid our blood money and drove it home.
Wednesday was a ballbuster of a day. We had been doing what is called an "Asbuilt" of a new apartment complex. An asbuilt is when you locate everything on the property so the town has a complete record. This particular town needed a level of detail that is insane. We had to get all the parking lines where the cars park and all the decorative planted shrubs and trees. That part was actually all done several weeks or months ago. But what was left was pulling catch basins and sewer manholes and measuring all the inverts. A catchbasin is a square grate that water runs into and inside of that are pipes that channel the water to appropriate drainage areas. We had to measure the size of the pipes and how far they were from the top of the grate to make sure that the water was draining in the correct direction.
That was the nice part. Then we had to measure the sewer manholes and essentially do the same thing. We had to measure the size of the pipes and the distance from the top of the manhole to the inflow and the outflow to confirm that it had been built as it was supposed to be and that the crap was flowing in the right direction. What I'm going to show you is the cover itself that we have to remove (it weighs about 80lbs/36kg) and then a nice new sewer so you can see how the pipes go and then, a real life sewer.
There were about 50'ish structures in total, so that made for a very exhausting day. I was glad, on so many levels, when Wednesday was over. Mrs B meanwhile took care of registering the new car and getting license plates for it.
Thursday and Friday I was with yet another new guy. Tall Guy, the one I had worked with before and who was a whole foot taller than me, had quit during the two months I was gone due to my eye. Nobody missed him because he did such pisspoor work. But that does mean we don't have 3 full field crews and we have enough work that we NEED 3 full field crews. So one of the guys from the engineering department, who is working on getting his engineering degree, is being transferred over to the Survey department for the rest of the summer and the fall and he'll be working with me. He has zero experience with working in the field, so I'm teaching him everything from the ground up. The good part is that he has no bad habits I need to break him of, as the only way he will know to do everything is the way I show him (hahahahaha!) but the downside is that for the first month or so our productivity will be at turtlespeed as he learns. I should be happy that the head of survey feels confident enough to keep putting the new guys with me to train, but it is mentally, emotionally and physically exhausting. But eventually Friday was over and I was done work, at 3pm. I was happy about that!
Because that meant Mrs B and I were heading down south to go to the Cheesecake Factory! We go there once a year to celebrate our wedding anniversary (not on the day, but sometime during the month. And this year was our 17th, whooohooo). It is calorie laden food (I ordered the shepherds pie and I think it alone was 1200 calories) and we always take leftovers home. We also always order 4 slices of cheesecake to go. This year, we decided to just order whatever we wanted and to blazes with the calories.
Bookstooge ordered:
- diet coke (watching my waist line after all, hahahahaah)
- Cheeseburger spring rolls
- Shepherds pie
- side order of mashed potatoes
Mrs B ordered:
- water
- Sweet corn tamale cakes
- honey glazed carrots
- vegan cobb salad (that thing was the size of my head)
For cheesecake, we ordered a slice of the regular plain, 2 slices of the pumpkin cheesecake and 1 slice of the banana cream cheesecake. We ate enough of our regular food until we were comfortably full and then had them box it up along with the cheesecake to go. We were satiated and it was a great ride home. I feel asleep at 10pm sharp :-D
If you are interested in what any of the items looks like, they can be found at:
https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/menu
Of course, I ended up waking up at 4am this morning, sigh. But I ate the rest of my shepherds pie (it was just as good as last night) and had the slice of regular cheesecake. That's the way to start a day! Then I went to the men's meeting that our sunday church has each saturday morning and then Mrs B and I went to church at the SDA church. Drove the new impreza there and back with nary a hitch. I took a nap at 2pm and at 3pm we went on a nice leisurely stroll around a local park to perk us back up. Once home, I began banging out this missive and that brings us to now.
What a week! But today has been good and it is sunny and warm and we have a car that is safe and cheesecake slices sitting in our fridge. What better way to end the week!
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