As I mentioned in a reply to a comment to the previous post, mine was acceptable.

A little background – about three weeks ago, a little piece of plastic and circuit board under the dash of the QX4 (my primary and paid for non-green transportation) decided that it would take the summer off. That little piece of electrical engineering wonder (let’s call it 27761N) is known as the Fan Speed Control Module Assembly. In a QX4 it’s job is to automatically control the speed of the fan to keep the interior of the vehicle at the pre-set temperature. Most new vehicles have either this or a similar system in it attached to the air conditioning and the heater. It also sends the signal from the manual fan control to the fan motor. Well, with 27761N on vacation, there is no way to make the fan blow. That means that there is no AC in my primary means of transportation. That means that I won’t go anywhere with MEG since I will not subject her to a 110 degree breeze from the windows.

Last Tuesday, TMBWitW’s work told her she would have a laptop to use from home, since the VPN had been shut off and our home computer would not support the new SSL. “Great,” I thought – “Now I can remove the VPN from our home computer and no longer have that annoying conflict that keeps me from printing and surfing at the same time.”

Boy, was I wrong. The VPN removal stalled out AND permanently conflicted the Internet connection – unless I boot up in safe mode. TMBWitW’s laptop works just fine on the same cable modem.

Friday evening the start/run capacitor on the house AC unit decided to join 27761N on vacation. I was driving cab, TMBWitW was spending time with MEG and our church family at the home of the Pastor, so didn’t know anything was wrong until she got home at 2130 and found the temp climbing. When I finished my 12 hour overnight shift, I fell into bed at about 0515 Saturday morning. MEG woke up at 0730, and TMBWitW got up to take care of her. She woke me up right after that to tell me the AC was STILL blowing hot air. $150 and five hours later, the issue was resolved. But, now I had to go to the cage on two hours of sleep and get in line to get in line for a cab for Saturday night. Friday had not been lucrative at all, and I was hoping I could make up for a little bit of that on Saturday. While I was waiting to get a cab, TMBWitW and MEG were with friends and church family at a BBQ and swim party. Saturday night was better for me, but still not as much as it has been in the past. Also, for the last week, the humidity levels have been bouncing everywhere and we had a little bit of rain Friday evening. I’m sure you all remember how that affects my body, plus, as a bonus, I have a sinus infection. Again. I did, however, get to spend about 45 minutes watching the fireworks show over Tempe Town Lake – I was in the East Valley most of the evening and spent a little time during the show (when no one was moving) playing spectator; once the show was over the streets were so jammed that it took me about an hour to get to a dispatched call that was only 3/4 of a mile from where I had sat for 45 minutes.

Sunday morning I got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep – which was an hour more than I needed if I wanted to get to church on time. I made it to church – but my body was hurting, my voice was not with me, and I must have looked like death warmed over, since everyone had a shocked look on their face when they saw me. TMBWitW and MEG overslept, too – I think we were all so exhausted that we slept through both alarms.

This morning I did some clean-up work at the church. My body was still not ready for hard labor, but it was stuff that needed to get done and I got it done. Now I can relax a bit and let my body recover and my sinuses unwind.

I hope your Fourth was patriotic and it reminded you why you are proud to be an American.

(quick note – the TEA party for my area was held on Friday at 1630, not the best time to get coverage since all the government offices were closed for the weekend and only mad dogs, englishmen and cab drivers were outside at that time…)

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I’m out driving around in my subtly shaded car:

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

The dispatch indicated the name was Mrs. H. (and since I don’t have her permission to use her name, I’ll stick with that). I pulled up to a modest, well-kept and neatly maintained bungalow in an older section of Phoenix. There was an American flag on a pole in the front yard.

Mrs. H. appeared to be in her mid to late sixties, but I wasn’t about to ask – momma didn’t raise no fools.

The address she gave me was pretty far out, on Cave Creek Road, and I couldn’t quite picture where the destination was. I asked her if it was near the National Memorial Cemetery, and she said it was the Cemetery. Now, I have been out there many times, mostly on Patriot Guard Rider missions, but never really knew the street address.

On the drive up, we chatted. She was on her way to visit her brother (Viet Nam vet), her husband (also Viet Nam) and her son (Iraq). I asked what branches they had served in; all three were Marines. Her brother and her husband had served together, and both had given their lives to that war – her brother while in country in 1965, and her husband to the cancer brought about by Agent Orange in 2003. Her son had been killed in Iraq in 2006. She usually drove herself, she said, but lately she didn’t feel safe driving and this was the first time she had only been able to get up to the Cemetery on Memorial Day.

It was late in the afternoon, and the day’s heat had had time to build up and settle in; it was around 104 when we arrived. I helped her out of the car, and started escorting her to the sites.

“Oh, young man, I’m OK. I don’t need your help, and besides, I can’t afford to pay your wait time.”

“Ma’am, you’re going to need a ride home. Don’t worry about the wait time. It would be my honor to accompany you on your walk.”

With that, we turned and headed down the path towards an older section of the Park. The first stop was at her brother’s site, and as she stepped close to talk to him, I held back and assumed a position of “at ease.” We moved on to her husband’s grave, and, finally, her son’s grave in the same manner – her taking a moment to speak to them, me allowing her privacy.

As I offered her my arm for the walk back to the cab, she again mentioned that I was being overly kind to an old bother like herself. I told her she wasn’t a bother, and that the honor was mine – after all that her family had given to this country, it was the least I could do.

The ride back to her home was pretty much silent.

When we pulled up, I hustled out and opened her door for her, helping her out once again.

“How much is the meter, Cary?”

“Seems to be broken, Mrs. H. You don’t owe anything.”

“Thank you, Cary. That is much too kind.”

“No, thank YOU for allowing your family to help keep this country as great as it is.”

I gave her my number, and told her that any time she wanted to go up and visit, I would drive her up in my own vehicle – so there wouldn’t be any issues about the meter. She looked up at me, and muttered something about stubborn Marines.

As I pulled away, I could see her waving to me, with a bigger smile on her face than when I picked her up.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Had an interesting time on Saturday night. Got a call to pick up passengers at a central Phoenix gaybar (won’t advertise for it. won’t even tell you what it rhymes with.). I had no sooner pulled onto Camelback than the two guys in the back seat started making out.

Besides my personal beliefs about this type of behavior, this was two guys. Eww.

I pulled over to the curb and told them they had two choices – knock off the tonsil hockey or get out.

“You wouldn’t say that if we were a guy and a girl,” said the less bright of the two.

“A guy and a girl are a normal and non-abominational relationship. Your choices just became one. Get out of my cab.”

“You can’t do that! We hired you to take us hooooome!” said the second, and now re-evaluated as the less bright of the two.

I got out, got around to the curbside door, yanked it open, and was reaching for the first one when they agreed to get out under their own power. “You can’t do this! This is discriminatory practice!”

“This is my car. I set the rules. Go away.”

I am thinking I need to add a “no gays” note on my account at the cab company. It would keep this from happening in the first place.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

For being without a for-real, honest-to-goodness job, I sure seem to be busy.

Friday and Saturday I drove cab (two twenty-four hour shifts), Sunday morning was church, and I caught a three-hour nap on Sunday afternoon. That pretty much wiped out the weekend. This morning, I have a chiropractor appointment (Hi, Dr. Powell!) and then it’s back over to the church – time for the flooring in the new “gameroom.” I know, I promised pictures of the light fixtures (I only helped hang two of the five; two Fridays ago a crew hung the rest and this last Friday some more volunteers hung the blinds and started the flooring), but I’ve been a bit busy. At any rate, I will get pictures up soon covering the latest developments in the “gameroom.”

Gotta get going now – MEG needs to get up and get dressed (she woke up earlier, but wasn’t ready to get up, if you know what I mean) and then we will be running for the day.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!