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Messages - cruizng
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901
« on: January 04, 2017, 11:42:25 AM »
I have a few trucks...none have such fancy things. I stop at the scale every time I drive past it *why would I do that*
The above description seems to really only apply to large companies around here. I know a lot of bull wagons, and chicken wagons, and logging and grain haulers as example, that still largely do it the old way. It's still DOT vs the driver for many.....again I ask...who drives past a scale intentionally? My stuff is all perfectly legal, and I'd never drive past a scale.
Not driving past as much as driving around or waiting for them to close. In your area, maybe the bull and chicken wagons and the log trucks. If you are hauling farm stuff local, do you even need a CDL driver
EOBR will be mandated for commercial truck drivers on December 31st of this year unless they punt it down the road again. So if you haul anything commercial you will have to have electronic logs tied into your ECM on your truck. And of course... Farmers will still be SPECIAL... and not have to follow any of the rules..  One other major development over the years has been the Standardization of the CDL and reciprocity nationwide. You used to be able to have several Commercial Driver Licenses in different states. If you got pulled over in Wyoming you would just produce your license from a State you knew didn't have reciprocity with Wyoming, pay the fine which then was fairly minimal and go along your merry way. Now if you get pulled over and tickets it is recorded for all to see and if you lose your CDL you lose your livelihood. That in of itself has modified a lot of behavior or they have exited the profession. Since road damage seems to be an issue I will try to pull stats on the enormous amount of money that is extracted from carriers to pay for roads that is then typically diverted by politicians for other uses. RN. It appears that no Mexican Domicile carriers are included in the data set but Canada carriers are which is odd. I will see if I can find them.
902
« on: January 04, 2017, 10:55:06 AM »
Not to be dismissive of your data set but have the amount of collisions been reduced or just the safety factor of vehicles in accidents increased to reduce fatalities?
My other thought is that you now have pickups that fall into that spreadsheet.
I am referring to commercial transportation. Heavily regulated and tons of data from Gov. I think it is a combination of things that reduce fatalities. Safety equipment has improved. Speed of trucks has been reduced. Oversight has improved. etc.. Incidents have decreased relative to million miles driven and severity has decreased as well. "Large Trucks" are defined being commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds. If a dually has a goose neck trailer and is for hire it would be included in the FMCSA stats. Normal pickups wouldn't be in the data set. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2014The tables in this chapter present crash statistics for large trucks and buses over time. Fatal crash statistics generally are available from 1975, the first year of FARS data, through 2014. In some cases, such as for roadway function class or alcohol involvement, data are available only from 1981 or 1982 through 2014. Nonfatal crash statistics are presented for 1994 through 2014. The statistics shown in this chapter represent crashes, vehicles, drivers, fatalities, and injuries in crashes. Below is a summary of some of the trend information in this section: In 2014, 3,978 large trucks and buses were involved in fatal crashes, a 5-percent decrease from 2013. From 2013 to 2014, large truck and bus fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by all motor vehicles decreased by 4 percent, from 0.143 to 0.138. There was a 33-percent decrease in the number of fatal crashes involving large trucks or buses between 2004 and 2009, followed by an increase of 20 percent between 2009 and 2013. From 2013 to 2014, the number of fatal crashes involving large trucks or buses decreased by 4.5 percent. The number of injury crashes involving large trucks or buses decreased steadily from 95,000 in 2004 to 60,000 in 2009 (a decline of 37 percent). This decline was followed by an increase of 55 percent from 2009 to 2014. On average, from 2004 to 2014, intercity buses accounted for 13 percent, and school buses and transit buses accounted for 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of all buses involved in fatal crashes. Over the past year (from 2013 to 2014): The number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes decreased by 5 percent, from 3,921 to 3,744, and the large truck involvement rate (large trucks involved in fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled by large trucks) declined by 6 percent, from 1.43 to 1.34. The number of large trucks involved in injury crashes increased by 21 percent, from 73,000 to 88,000, and the large truck involvement rate in injury crashes increased by 21 percent. The number of large trucks involved in property damage only crashes increased by 31 percent, from 265,000 to 346,000, and the large truck involvement rate in property damage only crashes increased by 29 percent. The number of buses involved in fatal crashes decreased from 282 to 234, a decrease of 17 percent, and the bus involvement rate in fatal crashes decreased by 21 percent. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by large trucks increased by 1.5 percent, and bus VMT increased by 5.5 percent.
903
« on: January 03, 2017, 09:50:51 AM »
Sorry but I see it from a different direction. Years ago and many sets of log books, had the drivers and/or companies been more inclined to follow the rules than skirt them just maybe the DOT rules in place now would not be so harsh. No matter how much a driver was paid, they were always looking for ways to cheat the system. Running multiple sets of books, running the scales by detour or waiting at the truck stop for them to close etc. Running with known defects or bad brakes, driving anything but safely and without sleep. Now with so many more trucks on the road the problems are much worse, safety and road damage just to name a couple. Yes the interstate system was built for moving freight but we are well beyond that now. More trains instead of fewer, and truck only routes are needed to keep the trucks away from the normal traffic flows.
Bob, I appreciate your point of view and it is true that back in the cowboy days truckers ran multiple log books and overweight. One of the better things that have happened in the industry is EOBR. Electronic Logs that are required. This has leveled the playing field and has help mostly eliminated the pressure on the driver to run illegal so they can make more money. Now the driver just has to change their 4 duty statuses when they occur. On Duty Driving, On duty not driving, Sleeper Berth, and Off Duty. We know exactly when the driver has changed statuses. We get an alert in Operations when the drivers moves the truck while not in On Duty Driving status. We get alerts if the driver is approaching their maximum on duty hours for the day and can call them and have them pull over. We can tell when the driver hard brakes and we know the Latitude and Longitude of the truck when it occurs and can map it. We immediately call the driver and ask him to find a safe pull over location and call us. We have actually modified drivers behavior with these systems making them safer. They now have road and driver cams. We get alerts for lane departures and roll over telemetry data. Almost every aspect of the truck operation is monitored now. Honestly as far as over weight it would be much easier to run an illegal load now due to weigh station bypass transponders like PrePass. When was the last time you saw a line of trucks waiting to go through a weigh station? It just isn't worth it to run overweight now because if you do get caught the fines are huge and it affects your company safety rating. Now it is all about keeping a stellar safety rating. Which is good because again it levels the playing field with all truckers. 1 - 40,000 fleet size. all the same rules now. Below is a good guide for stats. http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59100/59189/2016_Pocket_Guide_to_Large_Truck_and_Bus_Statistics.pdfHere is just one page that I think is interesting. From 1975 to 2014 we have double the trucks on the road to almost 11milion. But total fatalities with trucks have reduced from 1980 high of 5971 fatalities to 3903 in 2014. You look at the rates per 100 million miles column and you see an even bigger reduction. 5.51 to 1.40. The trucking industry has spent billions of $$$ to get safer because at the end of the day it saves them money.
904
« on: January 02, 2017, 02:48:41 PM »
Yep. I have been in Trucking/Transportation/Logisitics or whatever they call it now since 1981. Everything from dispatch,terminal manager,ops manager, sales, to now Info Sys. It is still basically picking something up and delivering somewhere else. So much gov regulations from fuel at terminal to now responsibility for a drivers sleep apnea and what they eat. Now the DOT will audit electronic logs and every location data point you have.
Then you have all of the litigation just based on being in the vicinity of an accident and being a big target for $$$. We spend a ton of money to settle out of court due to stupid awards that set precedent. All of that money could be used to pay the drivers more.
Our driver base is getting aged and there will be a shortage so hopefully the pay will go up or they will be replace by autonomous vehicles.
Tough business.
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905
« on: January 02, 2017, 02:35:40 PM »
Anyone know what this is?
Wall art?? Like those Nascar hoods?  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
906
« on: January 02, 2017, 02:20:25 PM »
HC. It's great to hear everyone is doing well and moving forward.
Be safe. Support the Blue!
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907
« on: January 01, 2017, 12:48:20 AM »
For truck drivers trying to pass it normally isn't their fault. They would love to have the top end open so they could pass quick and then get back in the right lane. All company trucks are shut down to 55 or 58 due to safety or fuel mileage restrictions. The Ecm on the engine controls it all and feeds all of the data directly to company via satellite. It's all about the dollar.
It would be frustrating to be a driver in this day and age. No respect. Low wages. Dealing with weather and bad 4 wheel drivers. Basically work 24x7 when out on the road. Bad food. Overcrowded truck stops so you have to fight for a parking spot so you can pull in and shower and sleep. People mad at you if you show up too early or late for pickup or delivery. Then the DOT or every part of your life regulated. Etc..etc.. lol. I'll stop.
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908
« on: January 01, 2017, 12:35:14 AM »
Congrats Nate! Hope everything turns out great for you.
Happy New Year everyone. I have 14 x 15 year olds over tonight for a party. Holy cow they have a lot of energy. Lol
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910
« on: December 30, 2016, 08:21:13 AM »
Kyle, Great story. Like Don said with many of our guns it is the memories they link to while using them. I still have the Rem 700 30.06 that my Grandfather gave me many many years ago. I still remember sighting it in and the hunts we went on together.
My grandfather made a couple of hand made (out of heavy plywood mind you) gun cabinets that he kept his guns and supplies in. We were always amazed as young kids when he would open them up and show us what he had locked up. I can still remember the smell of Hoppes. When we grand kids got old enough he made a gun cabinet for us. I still have mine and still have the original key to it. It doesn't have any guns in it but still cool to have.
When my Dad passed away many years ago I had the unenviable task of separating his guns and shipping them to us kids and step kids. He only had one thing in his will and that was an old shotgun that his dad had given him that he wanted to go to me. The rest he wanted doled out equally. I tried to separate them equally by value but there were several that my Grandfather wanted to go to specific Grandkids because he had given them to my Dad. So a Remy .243 went to my brother and a sporterized Springfield 30.06 went to my sister etc.. So yeah... guns a SPECIAL.. :D
911
« on: December 25, 2016, 03:18:50 PM »
Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you and families are safe and happy.
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912
« on: December 21, 2016, 08:31:42 AM »
My two cents.. I have a 18 year old girl and 15 year old boy. Both have have smartphones for several years. What I have beat into their heads is similar to what others have said that nothing is private that you put or say on the thing. My acid test has always been with them that if they weren't comfortable putting that picture or information up on the family noteboard for all to see it shouldn't be on the device.
I have also beat the "why would you give someone that control over you" speech over and over. Why would you allow someone else to control your destiny by giving them pictures or speech that they could then use against you. (Like sexting or bullying txt) My daughter seems to be very thoughtful about it and has only had a couple of times over the years we had issues. She joined in a group chat that was derogatory to another girl. She knew it was wrong and didn't do anything about it. So she lost her phone privileges for several months and haven't seen anything like that for years afterwards.
My son, we have to keep a closer eye but still haven't seen anything yet.
They both are very busy with school, work and activities so I think that is the key. My wife is always home so she can monitor what they have been doing. Their friends always want to come to our house because my wife feeds them very well so we get to see what kind of kids are their friends up close. So that has helped a ton.
We always reinforced that the device was ours and it could be taken away at a moments notice and they could go old school communication. (not a bad idea by the way). We tried several different software and monitoring solutions. Some were real expensive and you had to sift through a lot of info to find something maybe inappropriate. So we canned all of that. I use OpenDNS for blocking the bad stuff on our home network but that is very basic at best plus they can use their cell phones data if they want to bypass the WiFi block.
The best thing we have always done is set down the simple rules. They can't install or sign up for any account without our permission. They have their own email accounts for very specific things but we know all of the user id's and passwords.
The main thing is we have their screen lock codes and can open the phones and check the txt's, applications, pictures, etc... at anytime. We will randomly ask to see their phone and just cruise through it and ask them questions. Not an interrogation but more from a hey.. see we can look at anytime, and if we see you have violated the rules you lose the "luxury" of having a phone.
That seems to have the biggest impact on them.
913
« on: December 20, 2016, 08:41:39 AM »
This has made my Christmas Special. Thank you for running point on this one Don.
Merry Christmas.
914
« on: December 20, 2016, 08:35:34 AM »
Sounds great Norm. I look forward to seeing what you do with her. :)
915
« on: December 18, 2016, 05:04:47 PM »
Glad to see your kicking Duane Get better soon.
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916
« on: December 18, 2016, 11:13:14 AM »
 Nice and balmy up here in the great north! Lol. I was out plowing yesterday morning and it was 6 so a 30 degree swing in one day. I'll need to pull out the bunny boats today.  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
917
« on: December 15, 2016, 08:58:58 AM »
Had a little accident yesterday. I always tug test before raising the landing gear but I was on snow and the wheels just spun. So I raised them up and pulled ahead on dry ground. Better to drop it in the yard than on the road. I even visually inspected the jaws to see if they were closed on the king pin. This truck sat out in the last snow storm turn out there was ice in the 5th wheel preventing it form locking all the way. 20 years with a CDL and never dropped a trailer. First time for everything.
Any damage?
All it did was pull the wires out of the pig tail plug. Im really impressed with them plastic fenders. We were told you could drop a trailer on them in the middle of winter and they wouldn't break. They were right.
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That's impressive and good news. Plastics have come a long way from back in the day.
Not sure what I'm into/done with the cruise, not sure about trapped on a boat...
I have no issues with boat, just the trapped bit.
We've always talked about doing one to see.
I did get the drink and I think food upgrades au gratis.
Don, that's funny your luck and blessing.
My problem with cruises is that I hate people. I hate crowds actually. Because inevitably there are a handful of people who believe they are better, superior, more entitled than every other human in the crowd. On a tightly packed boat with hoards of human rejects, there is an exponentially high likelihood that I would eject a few from the balcony of the boat.
TRN .. I'm with you... I hate crowds as well. I have taken two cruises. One on my honeymoon out of San Juan PR where I played golf on 5 different islands and then a couple of years ago during Christmas out of Miami. The things you do for family. It was just the 4 of us but we actually had a good time. It is a target rich environment for watching people in their habitat. For breakfast we found a downstairs lounge at the very back of the ship that was virtually empty every day. It was all glass windows and you could sit and drink your morning coffee while watching the sights of the day. Really nice. I would go down early and catch up on email and news before the family was up. Very peaceful. Then they would come down and find me and we would grab our food. Funny thing is that no one want to be more than 6 feet away from the food trough so around the actually food delivery it was crowded. But it you walked a bit and went downstairs, no one or very limited people. We also didn't do much of the crowded "excursions". In the Bahama's we walked into town, took the city bus and asked the driver to take us to a public beach someone recommended. After a little confusion we ended up on a beautiful beach with about 3 other people. Right next to a Sandles resort. The bus ride was an experience in itself both there and back. LOL People.. going out of Miami you attract a lot of East Coasters... Think Jersey Shore "Pauly and The Situation". Way too many of them and the women that are attracted to them. But to be honest the ship was so big you could always find a spot away from everyone to relax and take in the sun. I found a spot back behind the basketball court where no one was. Had a great view and I would drag two chairs back there so the wife and kids knew where to find me. The food was great and what surprised me was my Son enjoyed going to the comedy clubs and watching Blue Man type of shows. So something for everyone. Plenty of Euro people so he had someone to play soccer with as well. We had two rooms. One for kids and one for wife and I. I do wish I would have spent the extra money and got the outside balcony room for us so you could go out on it if you wanted to just get away. So use the hand SANITIZER and you should be good.
918
« on: December 14, 2016, 09:19:36 AM »
Getting back into the USofA is fun also depending on who you get to inspect. We were coming back from Edmonton and the owner of a trucking company gave us some of his homemade jerky. We had it in a zip lock on a seat in the plane.
They found it when they were inspecting the plane and you would have thought we had nukes on board. It was ridiculous. Oh and I hadn't signed my new passport so I was an object of their attention for quiet a while. Thought I was going to have to turn and cough for a moment.
They kept our jerky and finally let us fly out an hour later.
Warms your heart that they are so vigilant against old Americans coming home but not so much on the southern inbound. LOL
919
« on: December 14, 2016, 08:36:12 AM »
LoL.. after this thread, I will never see pink foam board the same way again.
And to defend myself here.... I was on a ladder fighting with some petrified Fir my home is built with and the crow bar was hanging on the ladder when I climbed up there. After 15 minutes of trying to remove said petrified lumber the correct way and getting no joy...I asked for the crow bar and large mall to be handed up. The four people in the room all looked for the crowbar...it just vanished. I recently confirmed...it is not in the walls LoL
So still a mystery. Maybe this place is haunted like my wife and kids claim?
Who knows....
Don't get on the haunted thing
Bad subject in my home right now
Note: DOTin' up my own thread)
It started the other day when I come home to find the garage doors open, and it's cold and windy outside
So I come in and place my boys on restriction, problem solved
I come home yesterday and guess what? Yup, the garage doors are open again!
So I restrict the boys again and they come to me and swear, up and down that they didn't do it. So I give them grace (Because I told them that they are not allowed to lie...ever)
I come in the house and the thermostat is on 73 and the red light of death (Aux heat is running) is on. This unit burns five dollar bills to produce heat!
So I call the boys in and again they say...swear, cry, that they did not do it.
So I set the temp to 70 and lock the thing down. Normal heat, 70F, done.
I go in and tell Kathy about all these strange occurrences and she says, it's the ghost. I jokingly comment, "Oh we now have a poltergeist?" ...And she answers, "Yes we do!"
What? A real live (or dead???) Ghost?!
Questioning the boys, the little guy tells me of the several times he has seen a man in the doorway of the closet. Hmmm, little boy imaginations. Well, the other much more mature one says, yes, its true, he is here. Great! Everyone things we're haunted! Then later on in bed, Kat tells me that on the nights I am gone to the farm, someone plays the piano in the basement. I explain that it is just the cat. She asks, "You mean the cat that sleeps with me in the bed?"
I didn't know that kat slept with kat in my bed!
Note: the kat is now in the last days of its life.
So I was a bit perplexed as I drifted off to sleep. Then around 2 AM I wake up freezing. I walked over and checked the thermostat and guess what? It is now set to Air conditioning mode and to sixty something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, this is not funny...
I think it's the Russian's.... ;D Dialed into your IoT (Internet of Things) NEST thermostat and are messing with you...
920
« on: December 12, 2016, 11:45:46 AM »
Well Winter is now here... This is what I did yesterday a couple times even though it was only about 5 or 6" of snow.
And this was the temp driving in this morning. Brrrrrrrr ::)
922
« on: December 12, 2016, 11:09:42 AM »
So at this point I am slowly remodeling this old place. She's happy and I am confused, so situation about normal.
Norm, I'm in the same boat. She is Happy and I am confused... but hey.. it works. :D
923
« on: December 09, 2016, 01:53:58 PM »
As long as you open the main breaker connecting you to the utility, you are good.
Open all non essential, or even all breakers until you're ready.
Then it's close in to the generator, and add the circuits you need.
The problem with the welder plug is no neutral, if it's a straight 220 plug, without going into details too much it may be hard on the generator. Yes ground and neutral at tied in the panel, just not sure how the generator would like operating sans neutral. It may depend on generator winding arrangement. And that's where the 'details' part gets deep.
Best bets, dryer 40/50amp, range same , even a sub panel or main panel of you had a circuit.
I have done this for years as well. In Tacoma WA the trees were killer on overhead electrical. Our house has a woodshed/compressor covered area attached to the back and I would back feed from a plug I wired into it. We had pellet stove inside but electric hot water heater. So I basically used two colors of adhesive dots for my main panel for day and then night operation. If it was purple (day) it ran the refrigerators, pellet stove, TV, lights, etc.... then the black (night) dots turned off most of the daytime breakers and then turned on water heater and a few lights and main Frig. In the morning we had full tank of hot water and could take showers and do dishes. WE lived like that for 12 days while the power was out. No real inconvenience. Burned 10 gallons of gas a day. In New Jersey I wired up to a 50amp circuit that went to my Pool Heater and Pumps. We had an outage within the first couple of weeks I was there so had to scramble to get generator and then wire up. Everything worked fine except the well pump wouldn't run. 220v. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time and then later in the day I noticed that one of the little white push button circuit breakers was popped. I pushed that in and poof! the well came right on. Perfect. I have a similar setup here in MN with a 40amp Welding Circuit I put in not too long ago. Like other have said it is not code and frowned upon but as long as you don't have the main hot and it doesn't back feed the grid it works good in an emergency.
924
« on: December 09, 2016, 12:32:01 PM »
Mikey,
we just transitioned the entire company over to a completely new version of greatplains. I have hated my life since thanksgiving and still dealing w/ bugs, but I'm on the user side so I can only wonder what the IT guys are going through on the daily.
Us guys in IT call it "Great Pains" ;D
^^ what he said! ^^... LOL yeah.. and now everyone is only developing "CLOUD" versions (hosted servers instead of on premise servers) so they can extract more monthly cash from you and sell you the same generic version they resell to everyone else. IT is a racket. ::)
925
« on: December 07, 2016, 04:58:02 PM »
I got a few more donations.
Just glance over the donations topic and you'll see what we got and what is spent.
It's looking good my friends. I think we will definitely be able to close the loop on this one and make those girls and their daddy's very happy!
Any suggestions like Bobby had concerning this? I'd like to hear your opinions. I'll just ignore everything and go off and do whatever I want (I'm a Warrant Officer after all!) ;) but to make you feel good about it, let's hear if there is something I should do or include!
If you had extra $$ I think Bobby's is right but if you have specific $$ to spend and if I was their Dad I would want it all to go to them. My gift would be their faces on Christmas morning. :)
926
« on: December 07, 2016, 04:53:30 PM »
Catching up here. Let's see:
Snow? No comprende. Texans deal better with zombie apocalypse. It will get down to 26 up in east texas where my weekend/hide is in Thursday night. Had to blow the water out of the irrigation system.
Also put the 5 inch blocks back in theBus and cranked the t bars 3 turns to get it back to where it was when it was aligned. I'm back to the 2 inch rake. I've been hauling stuff and tired of the sagging arse.
Headed hunting on a friends 6000 acre lease Thursday through Sunday for my 50th.
And Tate. I did the entire suspension on the Bus on stands. But....we don't have rust in texas.
And yes. Service is dead. It's dead because we don't demand it and aren't willing to pay for it. We gravitate to the lowest price and deal with poor service. That's true pretty much across the board.
Hope everyone is well.
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Good luck on hunt and Happy !
927
« on: December 06, 2016, 05:23:46 PM »
Well... I'm on hour 28 of what should have been a 10 to 12 hour Cisco phone system upgrade. Probably have 3 or 4 more to go. Restoring from backup.
Have I mentioned I hate computers!! :(
That's Cisco for ya... supposedly "creme de la creme"... until it breaks.
It really is incredible. We pay over $180,000.00 a year for Cisco Smartnet support for our equipment. That is just support. It is not counting the $500,000.00 plus we spent on new equipment and licensing. Then on Sunday morning at 4am when you are trying to get out of the ditch and escalate to an engineer that actually knows what they are doing, they tell you there is no one else available. We are stuck with Juanita in Costa Rica that has to keep relaying our questions to someone else that we can't get on the phone. I finally got a local Cisco person to call me back at 11am but they were pretty much useless getting help other than apologizing all over the place. Then they didn't even follow up all day long. I get a call Monday morning from one of the regional managers asking how it was going.
Rolls Royce prices at Yugo support.
Plan for 2017 is how to get rid of them.
I assisted on a job a couple years ago with Cisco UCS blades, EMC SAN and fancy Nexus 3000 (I think) switches - I was there for the VM side of things, another firm was there for the physical hardware. Shut it down Friday PM, moved it to their new office (that was fun - no elevator - put it on the forks of a boom and lifted it through a second story doorway) and re-rack on Saturday, and then we spent all night Saturday troubleshooting why stuff wouldn't come back up or communicate. Sometime about 2am I made a comment "Maybe this software version has a bug in it" to which I was told "Nah, this is a solid build"... About 4am I lay down on the floor and fall asleep, 6 or 7am I go back to the hotel. Meanwhile those guys are still there working with DumbNet. About 11am I get a call "Hey we got it back up, need you now". I go back over there, spend a few hours booting up the network, verifying the Exchange server and Terminal/Citrix server farm are operational and I'm done. I asked the guys "so, what was it?" -- their response... "Oh, that version had a bug in it. We had to upgrade the switch." I just rolled my eyes.
I feel ya. On Sunday we rebuilt the Publisher and Sub servers from scratch. Then went to restore from backup. 5 minutes into it it errors out with Error message X2s4Wfa2f3oim2$rsaa95..... you get the idea. No intelligible info in the error message... So call Dumbnet :) around 4pm. It took them until 7pm to determine that the previous server that was installed with a different security password 3 years ago and the restore security password had to match that old one. So another hour later of extracting that old password off of the server we could finally restore the two servers. Grrr... Now on the other side of the Vendor Spectrum we have IBM AIX and XIV SAN boxes.... if a card or anything goes wrong with them they "call home" automatically to IBM and I'll get phone call... (normally between 1am and 3am.. they never have an issue during the day) The IBM tech will tell me what the problem is with which machine and ask me what I would like to be done. Normally if not critical just have a CE meet me at the office at 6am and we can hot swap whatever needs to be done. And you know what.. the IBM CE (normally an older guy in his 50's or 60's) is there at 6am with the actual part that is needed... He fixes it in a few minutes. Brings it back on line and we are back in business. Poof... no waiting on Dumbnet :) for hours for someone in Costa Rica or India. I have been a VP or CIO since 1993 and I can tell you right now is the worst I have ever seen for customer service or competency in vendors in my lifetime. Rant off.. :P
928
« on: December 06, 2016, 04:56:05 PM »
Was surprised when you sold your Don, so many uses for it on the farm.
Keep in mind you will add armor and a few tools to it, can't see it stock at all.
Yea, well right about now the missesses is sort of rememberin' my decision to sell it as well
Sore subject
Gonna cost me some coin
But in the end, I'll be poor, she'll be happy, and my excavator will be that much further down the road..
Don, Maybe you can buy 1 or 3 of these not too far down the road from you and save some coin and keep an eyeball out for an excavator. https://www.proxibid.com/aspr/ABSOLUTE-2011-POLARIS-RANGER-XP-800-EFI/33578778/LotDetail.asp?lid=33578778&scrollLocationOnCatalog=805They have many for sale. :o
929
« on: December 06, 2016, 08:00:55 AM »
Well... I'm on hour 28 of what should have been a 10 to 12 hour Cisco phone system upgrade. Probably have 3 or 4 more to go. Restoring from backup.
Have I mentioned I hate computers!! :(
That's Cisco for ya... supposedly "creme de la creme"... until it breaks.
It really is incredible. We pay over $180,000.00 a year for Cisco Smartnet support for our equipment. That is just support. It is not counting the $500,000.00 plus we spent on new equipment and licensing. Then on Sunday morning at 4am when you are trying to get out of the ditch and escalate to an engineer that actually knows what they are doing, they tell you there is no one else available. We are stuck with Juanita in Costa Rica that has to keep relaying our questions to someone else that we can't get on the phone. I finally got a local Cisco person to call me back at 11am but they were pretty much useless getting help other than apologizing all over the place. Then they didn't even follow up all day long. I get a call Monday morning from one of the regional managers asking how it was going. Rolls Royce prices at Yugo support. Plan for 2017 is how to get rid of them.
930
« on: December 04, 2016, 11:00:50 PM »
Don,
That does bring a lump in your throat and you are right... most of us have much more than we could ask for.
The other end of that spectrum is where I was last night. A black tie "Holly Ball" fund raiser for the local hospital hospice program. Very worthwhile program and so touching what they do for end of life and their family's. Almost 4000 people and they raised over $880,000.00 during the evening with other donations still coming in. I spoke to one of the people that have been involved for a long time and they have raised so much money over the years they had to expand to other areas beside hospice.
All good... but when you hear of the family in your story it raises the question as to how to get support to them.
Thanks for bringing this family to our attention.
God Bless
931
« on: December 04, 2016, 10:49:03 PM »
Well... I'm on hour 28 of what should have been a 10 to 12 hour Cisco phone system upgrade. Probably have 3 or 4 more to go. Restoring from backup.
Have I mentioned I hate computers!! :(
932
« on: December 02, 2016, 10:34:10 AM »
Couple thoughts, use a shovel & bucket to clean out wood stove. If ash falls on floor or exterior crevices of stove then use that vacuum.
Knee pads, since you're fond of Duluth buy the pants with the double knee area that has an insert for their knee pads. No stupid straps to not function properly or make the back of your leg sweat and or rub raw.
Go buy the gasket seal for the door on the wood stove too & I always leave the door cracked open until you get the fire going good. Mo oxygen good for fire (caveman voice).
Edit: Other thought I just had, is that wood actually dry? Reason I ask is because once upon a time Ashley tried telling me they burn "green" wood in TX. Long story but he doesn't burn "green" wood any longer & has no issues because he has very dry wood and can tell the difference.
Fix that & carry on! ;D
^^ I concur with the Duluth pants or bibs. I have a pair of firehose bibs that have the knee pad inserts and they work great. No adjusting or having to worry about the straps. The only thing I noticed was the fireshose cloth rubs your knees caps a little raw if you are up and down a lot. But that rarely happened to me.
933
« on: December 02, 2016, 10:26:13 AM »
I did run into a problem, though. With the wind picking up, the stove is kicking all manner of smoke out everywhere. I picked up some stove pipe RTV to seal the joints, and I plan to install a flap valve in there to control the heat loss. That will be completed pretty quick due to the need for heat in the shop during the long cold workdays. But I will need to solve the kickback of smoke. It only does that when first starting, up until it gets to a good running temp, above 500F.
Don, I ran into a similar problem with a wood stove when I lived in the Pac NW. I installed a WeatherVane type of chimney top and it worked really well. It basically spins around with the wind and creates low pressure side of the open vane. Something like this. http://www.luxurymetals.com/wind_directional_caps.html
934
« on: November 29, 2016, 10:19:17 AM »
Congrats Bobby! How did you work out the Half Days schedule? ::)
Looks like 8.5 hours to me. 1/2 lunch and a solid 8.
I like 4/10's. Did that for years on graves when 20 and loved it, weekends off.
That would be a joke... LOL. doesn't everyone work 16 hour days now? I.E googly eyes icon..
935
« on: November 29, 2016, 09:46:44 AM »
Congrats Bobby! How did you work out the Half Days schedule? ::)
936
« on: November 25, 2016, 02:12:40 PM »
FWIW I have a older Stihl Farmboss I bought used in Texas about 9 years. It was in pretty good shape then and has ran like a striped ape whenever I grab it. We have Oak Wilt up here so most of my cutting is on dead Oak. It will rip right through them as long as I keep a sharp chain on. Never hardly bogs down unless I really lean into it hard.
What I like is that it starts up on a couple pulls no matter how long it has set. I use good gas and stabilizer but never have had to put it in the shop.
937
« on: November 25, 2016, 07:48:45 AM »
Don, I hope you and everyone on this site had a great Thanksgiving. We do have a lot to be thankful for.
We had a great time with our daughter home from college. Then she went to work at Nike for her 8pm to 5am Black Friday shift. At 9:30am we got a txt from her after my wife ask her how it was going. She said the registers had an hour long wait line to check out!! :o
Crazy people!
938
« on: November 23, 2016, 07:50:25 AM »
JR, That does look like fun. We are getting another 5 inches of the white stuff last night and this morning.
I grew up in Colorado and then eventually moved to Los Angeles. Living there was the first time I ever heard the phrase "Go To The Snow" LOL.. it always came to us! :)
940
« on: November 22, 2016, 08:46:48 AM »
Just type in Cult of Hillary in the search that is below on the 404 message page.
HA! The profanity filter is changing b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t to bullshoot. Just fix it when you paste the like into your browser, before hitting 'enter'
That is funny. It must change it at a little bit later time. I checked it right after I posted and it was correct. :o
941
« on: November 21, 2016, 08:43:31 AM »
942
« on: November 20, 2016, 11:40:58 AM »
Well we got our first snow Friday. This was the drive home.   I did get the plow on the Kubota and took the front bucket and backhoe off. Works like a charm plowing. :) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
943
« on: November 18, 2016, 08:15:32 AM »
I can't get a hole dug to save my butt!
Tried to get Duane down there since spring to get it dug...he struck out. Then actually had a hoe on property and asked him. He had to leave for another job and I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since. Asked a concrete guy to punch a hole, put a 36" pipe in it and top it with a nice concrete pad. He must have fallen into a parallel universe cause I haven't heard from him either.
Now, I can't hand dig it because of all the big rocks. I don't own a back hoe or excavator (yet) so I can't do it. No one wants to work for money. I was thinking of waiting for lightening to strike and burn a hole...
Duane won't loan you his Kubota BX25? is he afraid of your normal carnage? ::)
946
« on: November 07, 2016, 12:13:40 PM »
Sean, Very sorry to hear about you and your family's loss.
947
« on: October 29, 2016, 10:16:25 AM »
I really like that wheel. Nice set!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
948
« on: October 20, 2016, 08:23:14 AM »
Very sweet build. Thumbs up! :)
949
« on: October 13, 2016, 08:55:40 PM »
 Let's see some more action!  Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
950
« on: September 28, 2016, 07:50:50 AM »
The target was either 100 yards or 20 feet... one of those is true.. :)
I grew up a hunter so we never really needed a handgun. Now late in life I would actually like to be able to hit what I would like with a hand gun. I would prefer not to "spray and Pray". LOL.. For that I'll just use my Mossberg and hip shoot!
I probably should switch to my Browning .22 until I learn how to get a good sight picture and quit burning expensive .45 ammo.
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