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Okay, this really isn't going to be much of a "Halloween" themed update, but it's on Halloween so close enough. Since it IS Halloween, though, I'm going all slasher with LJ cuts. Eh, it's more a product of my need to be verbose rather than trying to be slasher, really. Just taking advantage of a pun.
Okay, my post is sounding like one commercial after another, so let's try to get something in here that doesn't involve plugging something for sale.
I don't really have any Halloween plans. I'm just not really into holidays anymore period. I don't know what it is, but as far as I'm concerned a day is a day is a day and I'm just happy to be amused or depressed or social or distant or whatever I want to be whenever I want to be, content to give any day an equal opportunity to be a holiday or not.
Kathy and I have been spending a lot of time hanging out with Melanie. She really has come a long way since we first met her. She's become more comfortable around people, more open about her feelings and much less reserved and distant in general. Now if we could just get her to stop apologizing for everything! :P
I'm up far too early. I was up far too late last night. I had a good breakfast at the diner. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining. I feel good and no one's gonna stop me now. Oh yeah.
Sorry Freddy. I just needed to borrow that one for a moment. Props go out to Hemingway, too.
Things are going well. The budget is VERY tight now that we have a car payment and insurance payment, but that will sort itself out. It just means its time for me to get a second job or perhaps a new job altogether. There's an access center in Vermont looking for a Production Manager but to be honest, I'm not about to relocate to southern Vermont for $24,000 a year even if they are offering benefits. Besides, I'd rather hold out for a good access job here in New Hampshire. There's still a possibility that another NH town may be hiring me part-time, which would at least suffice until one or the other hires full-time or I find something more suitable full-time with benefits.
The pickup is great! Aside from its fuel innefficiency, I'm quite happy with it. The pickup aspect has been very useful for transporting equipment for work. The four-wheel drive has already proven very useful with the wind and snow we got in Ellsworth a week-and-a-half ago. We had some accumulation and several branches and trees down.
I had a problem less than a week off the lot. The Service Engine Soon light came on and the engine was bucking under a load. I brought it in to Benson Auto for service. They gave me a free loaner (only had to fill the tank back up before I returned it) and fixed the problem free of charge. It turned out to be a bad vent valve and ed spark plug. The truck runs great now. I've been really impressed with Benson Auto. They worked hard to get me financed with a prime lender and good terms when I had crappy credit; gave me a six-month/6,000-mile powertrain warranty with the vehicle; sent me a thank you package with cookies, coffee, a Benson Auto mug, a card and a balloon; sent me a thank you letter and because they took so long getting it ready (and had to replace the passkey system before I could drive it off the lot) they threw in some free lube service coupons for the inconvenience in addition to the couple of "buy four get the fifth lube change free" keychain coupons that normally come with a purchase.
I had a problem less than a week off the lot. The Service Engine Soon light came on and the engine was bucking under a load. I brought it in to Benson Auto for service. They gave me a free loaner (only had to fill the tank back up before I returned it) and fixed the problem free of charge. It turned out to be a bad vent valve and ed spark plug. The truck runs great now. I've been really impressed with Benson Auto. They worked hard to get me financed with a prime lender and good terms when I had crappy credit; gave me a six-month/6,000-mile powertrain warranty with the vehicle; sent me a thank you package with cookies, coffee, a Benson Auto mug, a card and a balloon; sent me a thank you letter and because they took so long getting it ready (and had to replace the passkey system before I could drive it off the lot) they threw in some free lube service coupons for the inconvenience in addition to the couple of "buy four get the fifth lube change free" keychain coupons that normally come with a purchase.
I've been playing a lot of games lately. Ray just had the monthly big game day at Geeks and Gamers and we played Antiquity. It's an excellent game and was quite easy to pick up considering the other games produced by Splotter (namely Roads & Boats and Indonesia). I actually won, which surprised me. We all made the mistake of buying the dump too early in the game, which led to us all having to buy a second city just to mitigate all the graves produced by our own pollution and to get a process going to prevent and even reduce our pollution. We all very nearly lost to the game. Joe eventually felt he ws too far gone to stay in the game, but Ray, Jim and I kept playing. Had I not won, Ray and Jim were both poised to win the following turn, so in all it was a very close game. What I really enjoyed most about Antiquity was the sense that everyone was playing against each other, but also the game. There are also five paths to victory and each player picks a saint (not mutually exclusive) to signify the particular goal. This is a more epic game in the realm that I enjoy: simpler rules with several paths to victory and very strategy-rich. It's a very robust game.
November is Days of Wonder month at Geeks and Gamers so I'll be playing A LOT of games next month, too. Ray actually managed to get a copy of BattleLore for demo about a month before its being released so we'll be playing that over the next month. For those who don't know what BattleLore is, it's essentially a fantasy version of the Days of Wonder game Memoir '44 with some added features and rules. It looks very pretty and is apparently a really good game to play. I have yet to play it but hope to play it soon (possibly tomorrow). If you're interested and can make it up to Meredith, stop in some weekend in November (except this weekend) and try it out. It's very easy to learn and doesn't take long to play.
November is Days of Wonder month at Geeks and Gamers so I'll be playing A LOT of games next month, too. Ray actually managed to get a copy of BattleLore for demo about a month before its being released so we'll be playing that over the next month. For those who don't know what BattleLore is, it's essentially a fantasy version of the Days of Wonder game Memoir '44 with some added features and rules. It looks very pretty and is apparently a really good game to play. I have yet to play it but hope to play it soon (possibly tomorrow). If you're interested and can make it up to Meredith, stop in some weekend in November (except this weekend) and try it out. It's very easy to learn and doesn't take long to play.
Okay, my post is sounding like one commercial after another, so let's try to get something in here that doesn't involve plugging something for sale.
I don't really have any Halloween plans. I'm just not really into holidays anymore period. I don't know what it is, but as far as I'm concerned a day is a day is a day and I'm just happy to be amused or depressed or social or distant or whatever I want to be whenever I want to be, content to give any day an equal opportunity to be a holiday or not.
Politics. Elections are coming so I suppose I ought to talk about my political inclinations. First: yes I am dissatisfied with the Republicans' performance in general but I hardly see that as license to vote straight-ticket Democrat. I feel one of the reasons G.W. was so successful in getting re-elected was due to the very weak effort on the Democrats' part to say "vote Democrat regardless of who because its anyone but Bush!" Beyond that, I also have fundamental issues with straight-ticket voting because it leads to bad candidates getting elected that no one knows or notices (Tom Alciere, former NH State Rep for Nashua comes to mind). Having both of those thoughts in mind I can't in good conscience as a responsible voter think it acceptable to simply vote Democrat in the upcoming elections. I have problems with both parties, and both have good candidates. I'm just disappointed there aren't many good third-party candidates running in New Hampshire. Sadly the Green Party has fizzled out here (despite efforts on my part and the part of others to keep it alive) and the Libertarians seem to be headed in the same direction.
For Governor I feel Lynch has done an excellent job (although I strongly disagree with a couple of his decisions) and should be re-elected. I am all about kicking Bass out of office. I was very pleased with the televised debate between Bass and Hodes on WMUR recently. Hodes was very calm and collected, stayed on task with the question posed and while taking jabs at Bass did so respectfully and with dignity. Bass was very noticebly frustrated and agitated, took half his response time on many questions staying a step behind and trying to offer an additional rebuttal to the previous question instead of giving due diligence to the question posed. There were even moments when Bass didn't even answer the question posed at all and simply used the time to continue debate on a previous point. To be perfectly honest, Bass' demeanor reminded me an awful lot of G.W. and that was even more souring of my disposition toward Bass. I think the debate exemplified why Bass is such a poor candidate that currently serves in a way that is off-target, distracted and focused on simply saving face and trying to look like a good person instead of doing his damned job. I won't go further into my personal dealings with Bass through correspondence and in-person meetings as I've brought all that up before. The man does not listen to his constituents and does not serve us. He only serves his political and corporate masters. His voting record and PAC contributions make that point quite obvious to anyone with a few minutes to spare looking it up on any number of reliable websites.
For Governor I feel Lynch has done an excellent job (although I strongly disagree with a couple of his decisions) and should be re-elected. I am all about kicking Bass out of office. I was very pleased with the televised debate between Bass and Hodes on WMUR recently. Hodes was very calm and collected, stayed on task with the question posed and while taking jabs at Bass did so respectfully and with dignity. Bass was very noticebly frustrated and agitated, took half his response time on many questions staying a step behind and trying to offer an additional rebuttal to the previous question instead of giving due diligence to the question posed. There were even moments when Bass didn't even answer the question posed at all and simply used the time to continue debate on a previous point. To be perfectly honest, Bass' demeanor reminded me an awful lot of G.W. and that was even more souring of my disposition toward Bass. I think the debate exemplified why Bass is such a poor candidate that currently serves in a way that is off-target, distracted and focused on simply saving face and trying to look like a good person instead of doing his damned job. I won't go further into my personal dealings with Bass through correspondence and in-person meetings as I've brought all that up before. The man does not listen to his constituents and does not serve us. He only serves his political and corporate masters. His voting record and PAC contributions make that point quite obvious to anyone with a few minutes to spare looking it up on any number of reliable websites.
We were without a phone for a week. For some reason, the phone line went (not even a dial tone) and whenever someone called us they got a busy signal. For anyone that knows anything about phone wiring, this usually indicates a short in the line somewhere. Lonewolf and I went so far as to disconnect the whole house from the demarcation point and plugged a phone into the test jack. Nothing. Same problem. The Verizon tech came out the next day and determined the same thing: the problem was on Verizon's end. And they proceeded to blow us off for a week. We were without the ability to even call 911 for a whole week. We're considering filing a formal complaint with the State of New Hampshire or perhaps the federal government because we've been advised that Verizon's lack of action on this is a federal offense. We're just glad to have the phone back finally. Still I think we should hold them accountable, but the phone line isn't in my name so I don't get to decide the course of action. Eh, worse things happen at sea.
Kathy and I have been spending a lot of time hanging out with Melanie. She really has come a long way since we first met her. She's become more comfortable around people, more open about her feelings and much less reserved and distant in general. Now if we could just get her to stop apologizing for everything! :P
I'm up far too early. I was up far too late last night. I had a good breakfast at the diner. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining. I feel good and no one's gonna stop me now. Oh yeah.
Sorry Freddy. I just needed to borrow that one for a moment. Props go out to Hemingway, too.
