some people

So, the first day I decide to run with my "SOME PEOPLE" idea & what do you know? I spot some of the most ridiculous car & ATV modifications on 2800 S State Street in Salt Lake. The car mainly because the owner told me they have just over $100,000 invested in it (hence the dollar sign in the title below). That's a Chrysler 300 folks! This thing was loaded with the best of the best stereo equipment. I counted 6 TV's (those were the visible ones). Bur the clincher . . . Lamborghini-style front doors AND suicide rear ones: impressive! I will admit, it's damn cool!

$OME PEOPLE

The ATV definitely has been taken too far, simply because it's not meant to have 24" rims and street tires on it. I remember several years ago seeing a photo on the web of a similar ATV modification, so this is not a new concept. I just never thought I would see one in real life.

some people

Ok, i have been thinking long & hard about what I could do in this blog to promote comments, participation and to offer something somewhat entertaining that would bring readers back for more. So spread the word.

Introducing . . . . "SOME PEOPLE"

What is it? Well, "SOME PEOPLE" is my way of putting the humor, weirdness, or events that simply make you scratch your head out there for everyone. Email your observations, overheard comments and pictures. I will then do something amazing (giving credit where it's due) and post on this humble little blog.

Yes, I'm asking for your help with providing things to post.

To kick off "SOME PEOPLE" I stumbled upon this tidbit the other night. (Future posts will be more eye pleasing.)

How would you pronounce this child's name:
"Le-a" ???

Leah?? NO
Lee - A?? NOPE
Lay - a?? NO
Lei?? Guess Again.





It's pronounced "Ledasha" Oh yes...you read it right.
This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, LA. Her mother is
irate because everyone is getting her name wrong. When asked, her mother stated, "the dash don't be silent!"

"i'm a good see-er"

Those were exact words out of my wife's mouth the other night. They made me laugh.

For those that didn't know, S had lasik vision corrective surgery a few weeks ago. Now after a lifetime of relying on glasses & contacts to see, she has better eyesight than I do! I'm happy for her and also proud. S has no pain tolerance and just the thought of having a procedure that could cause great discomfort and possibly pain is a tough decision for her to make.

I'm glad she's a good see-er, but now i can't make faces at her or mouth things when her glasses aren't on. I have to be careful.

everyone out of the building! . . .

Last Friday at work the fire alarm was set off which was the second time in a week. The first was on Tuesday and had been triggered by a construction crew that's preparing the way for a new Trax line from 2100 S in Salt Lake to the E-Center. Usually we know when a fire drill is happening, but the first time was a surprise. Communications went out that no matter what, the fire alarm sounds, you get out!

Friday's alarm caused us all to evacuate the two buildings into the back parking lot (our designated meeting place). Well this time there really was a fire. This wasn't in either of the buildings, it was in the back parking lot exactly where we all evacuated to.

A garbage truck driver realizing the contents of his truck were smoking dumped the entire load of flaming garbage right onto the parking lot tarmac. Four fire trucks came & the firefighters were busily fighting the blaze, attempting to reload their pump trucks from a hydrant in the lot where 1,000 people that had been evacuated were right in the way. You could see the frustration on the firefighters faces as they had to move 100 people away from the hydrant they were accessing. I wish i had my camera to capture the chaos on "film".

Now if you ask me, I would have thought it better that the facilities management group would have told everyone to remain in their buildings out of the way. The fire was more than 100 yards away from endangering any of us while still inside, but as soon as we got out to our rendezvous points, we became contributors to the hazard.

No injuries occurred, a few cars came close to being singed, the garbage was cleaned up after a good soaking & by quitting time it was all forgotten. Moral of the story, don't evacuate people from safety placing them right in the line of fire. Now I'm curious what caused the garbage to catch fire. Thankfully the driver was quick to act & saved not only his truck, but his life and an appearance on the 10 o'clock news. The headline could have been: "Garbage truck launches into orbit on I-15, commuters bombarded with flaming banana peels & miscellaneous office trash."

At least our work day wasn't boring last Friday.

we are not afraid of the yard anymore!

Well here it is all done . . . for now. We are missing around 2/3 of the plantings. The patio really looks good. Funny that when I see it in photos, I see a giant word balloon, but in real life it's not like that at all. We had polymeric sand swept in the joints and after applying a sealer it turned hard like concrete.
This project wasn't without it's challenges.

Using your clients house exterior as your own personal urinal . . . $$$ (still negotiating with the contractor)

Breaking your clients brand new RV pad with a skid steer that had no business being there and after repeated promises no heavy equipment will be driven across it . . . $$$ (also in negotiation)

Not having to do all the work myself . . . PRICELESS!
The above that's still in negotiation obviously will go in our favor with regards to the bottom line. I wonder when they will come to collect. So far not a single cent has been paid to the contractor.

yard project . . . another day, another step in the right direction

I thought I would post what one week of watching someone else do hard labor in the blistering heat in our yard has resulted in. The plants were put in the ground shortly after these pictures were taken. Also, notice the patio? It's slightly larger than my attempt and when it's finished it should not fall victim to weed infestation. There are just a few things left for the crew to do (patio joints, mulch, sod and possibly a few more plants that will fill in some more holes. When everything is planted, it's going to look really good. I think there's roughly 300 shrubs, flowers & trees that total our landscape design. We also have a cool wall that's been stopping neighbors and sparked a lot of questions about where we found such a cool product to build the wall.

callouses, blisters & sweat . . . not mine!

We did it! . . . Actually broke down and decided to finish one of the biggest projects since moving into our house over 6 years ago.

The backyard is being transformed, and boy am I sore. My butt hurts from sitting on the couch all the while 5 hard working men are out in the 100 degree heat hacking down weeds. Oh yeah, the thermostat is set at 74 so it's even harder to go outside and provide motivation. I guess I could go in the basement, dig out one of the lounge chairs Eric & Tash gave us and drink a slurpee while yelling "you missed one! . . . No that's not it! O.k., you just showed me you missed two! Be more careful. I see, you thought that by putting that giant pile of other weeds on top of it you thought I wouldn't notice." The language barrier would make this whole interaction absolutely counter-productive, because the worker I'm yelling at would just rattle off something in mach speed Spanish and the other 4 would be on the ground laughing and peeing themselves. But boy would they all be sorry when I use my Spanish eloquence and shout at them to shut up! ¡cállate! yep that's all i know, or at least that's all I'm letting on to knowing.

Here's some pics after day 1 of operation weed-b-gone! Now use your imagination, picture every exposed area of dirt in the pics actually covered in armpit high weeds so thick if you were 6 inches tall, you would have gotten lost and mistaken my yard for the rain forest. It's hard to tell in the pics but there are MANY piles of weeds that met their maker at the hands of Paco, Jose I, Luiz, Jose II & the big man Steve . . . I mean Manuel.




Please just ignore the weed infested patio. I really made an effort! I don't need to hear it.