ID10T Part 3

It seems that I am living in a vacuum. Despite the reports to the contrary, it appears that no one is really interested in giving me a bid on my upcoming bathroom remodeling job.  

You've heard all about my run-in with the first wanna-be contractor.  Well, a few days after I got all my frustrations off my chest by opening blogging about my troubles, wanna-be contractor #2 called.  I wasn't sure this person would ever materialize because they weren't hounding us seconds after we returned from the home improvement show.  But they finally called and I spoke to a very pleasant woman on the phone.  

Given that I was getting ready to leave for a business trip, and the fact that they like to talk to both buying parties at the same time, we scheduled the appointment for this past weekend.  I have this 'thing' (ok, it is a compulsion) to make sure that things are neat and tidy when someone comes over.  Well, last week was a bear at work so I was too exhausted to clean when I finally got home every night from work.  My plan was to leave early - or earlier than normal - on Friday and clean up the house. I did leave around the time I had planned but was too wiped out to even think about cleaning on Friday night.  Since Sales Guy #2 was supposed to show up at 10 am on Saturday, I was forced to do the unthinkable - set my alarm on a weekend!  

I got up and scrambled to clean the house as much as possible before the expected arrival time.  I managed to get almost everything cleaned up, which was a challenge with Coal running around making a mess behind me.  He would steal the paper towels and shred them all over the carpet I just vacuumed or jump on a counter or window that I just cleaned.  Nevertheless, I finished up with about 15 minutes to spare and we waited patiently for the knock on the door.

And we waited.  And waited. And waited.  Eighty minutes after our scheduled appointment time, we decided the guy was never going to show.  I can't call them because I honestly can't recall the name of the company. I figure that if he didn't call to confirm the appointment or call to cancel then he doesn't really want or deserve my business.

I got a referral from a friend whose Mom had someone who does awesome work, so we will give them a try.  If all else fails, this may end up being a DIY project which I really don't want to do.  This one is way over my head!

Hooshetto Central

Last night Mr. Monkeygirl and I stumbled across the breeding ground for Hooshettos.  We weren't looking for it and we didn't really think it was located so close to our home.  

What exactly is "hooshetto", you ask?  It is more than an attitude, it is a way of life.  In order to become 'hooshetto' you have to remain committed for a very, very long time.  It isn't something that you can easily turn on or off.

'Hooshetto' is a delightful combination of a Hoosier (and not the Indiana kind) and a ghetto lifestyle.  Words can not accurately describe the horror of what we witnessed last night. Alcohol was involved but, seriously, these people need to get a life.

Things started out normal as we met our friends at a local bar. Then the freak show started.  Girls in matching outfits. I mean identical outfits.  I haven't wanted to wear the same thing as my friend since I was about 12 years old. There were couples groping and making out in the corner.  Not just towards the end of the night, but all night long and every chance they got. And apparently it was contagious.  It was isolated to one couple at one table at first.  Then it spread to the other couple at the table.  From there is just got worse, spreading from table to table like the swine flu. It was disgusting to watch but like someone said - it is kind of like a train wreck, you just have to watch. 

The floor show was even better. We also got treated to an excellent imitation of a vintage Anthony Kiedis hair swinging, rockin' it dance.  Some  - ahem - gentleman's clubs hold amateur hours and I think some of the girls thought they were trying out for a permanent position.  I applaud their ability to let go and enjoy themselves but this one girl was out of control!  She started off early in evening with a solo dance.  Dancing by yourself is okay, but generally, it is more acceptable to do this while the band is actually on stage.  Her sexy (and I use the term loosely) move - put your hair in and out of a ponytail. Did I mention that she appeared to be badly in need of a bath and a decent haircut?  She had a little too much too drink (duh!) and many of her 'patented' moves caused her to fall on her @$$ on the dance floor.  She acted like it was part of the show and just went right on back to her own little world.

The drama in this place was a little too surreal.  I seriously can't make this stuff up. The high school dance-like groping was just part of the fun.  The conversations in the women's room were priceless.  Something about someone's half-brothers half-sister doing something was a little too much to try to comprehend.

The band rocked (as usual) and we had fun, but I will always be on the lookout for hotbeds of hooshetto activity in our area.  If this keeps up, we might have to move!

Do Fence Me In

If you haven't been following this blog very closely, you might not know that we have a psychotic dog in our house.  He is craaaaaazy with a capital C!  

One of the biggest problems we have is that we don't have a fence and so we don't really have a good place for Coal to run of some of this excess energy.  We tried going to the local dog park but did I mention that the dog is psychotic? Living on a cul-de-sac that backs up to another cul-de-sac means we end up with a very odd shaped lot that does not easily lend itself to fencing. Running our property line with regular fencing would be extremely expensive as well as butt-ugly!  The only real solution we could come up with was live with the chain untangling and digging or invest in an underground fencing system.  I have heard mixed reviews about these things but we decided to give it a shot.  We could have installed it ourselves, but that seemed like a ton of work (with iffy results) so we hired an expert to install our system.

Nate came out on Wednesday and installed the fencing in no time flat.  If you don't know how these things work, they bury a cable underground and then mark the boundaries with bright red flags.  Coal loves to chew on flags, so he quickly learned that maybe this was no longer a good idea!  He tried to bite the first flag and got his warning signal and he was not happy about this at all!

Yesterday, for the first time ever, we played a wicked game of fetch with Coal in the backyard.  He was untethered and ran and ran for almost an hour.  And when his mommy threw the stick over the boundary line (on accident), he didn't even try to go after it.  This morning, a tasty looking piece of trash was blowing towards him.  He ran right up the flags and laid down and patiently waited for it to blow over the line so he could destroy it.  

So my review after 4 days?  It was worth every penny that we paid for this system.  I can see a huge difference in Coal already.  I'm not ready to let him out without supervision yet, but we are getting closer. What can I do?  I can let him out with a leash and he doesn't bolt.  He will happily lay down on the patio with us and just enjoy the fresh air.  He will actually play and run - fetch, soccer, or just crazy, excess energy running!  The other benefit, I haven't heard him sit on top of the hill and bark incessantly at the bunnies in the neighbors yard. 

He is really good about the boundaries in the back, but for some reason, he is completely freaked out by the front yard.  We can't get him to cross the line even if he doesn't have the receiver collar on.  This makes taking him for a walk a little difficult!  We might have to resort to putting him in the car to take him off our property for walks.  That works fine except for the days that Dr. Evil and his family have a party (which is like every other day).  We will keep working with him and hopefully soon, we can let him go without a leash and he will stay put!

Random Thoughts

• Have you ever seen a 70 lb. dog pout?  Coal is giving me the cold shoulder.  He literally will sit down and turn his back to me.  Sweet talk gets me nowhere, in fact, he will turn his head away from me and stick his nose in the air.  You know the look, the "I'm mad at you and I'm going to pretend that you don't exist" look.  All because we installed an underground fence yesterday.  Someday he will understand that this will give him way more room to run and it will be a much better thing.  For now, I will have to put up with the pouting.
• You should be careful what you put on the back window of your car - it might send the wrong message.  Or maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor.  While in KC, I was following a guy in a huge SUV who was obviously into hunting.  In one cycle of a light, I figured out that he liked to hunt ducks, pheasants, deer, turkey, and dogs.  I know that wasn't the message he was trying to convey, but the way he had the stickers arranged, it kind of looked that way.
• STL to KC isn't very far apart and it is not really worth going through the airport shuffle, so I drove.  Company policy won't allow me to drive my own car so I rented a car.  I'm not a huge fan of rental cars - people like to drive the snot out of them and most of the time it shows.  I picked what I thought was the best looking car in the row and headed west.  This car was different from most.  I really liked this one and I want to own one of my own.  I'm not saying I'm going to buy one, well not yet!
• Welcome back to the blogisphere, MonkeyMamma (aka Sewwhat?)!!!!  We missed you the last few weeks!  Your costumes look awesome.
• I honestly have been thinking about starting a second blog (work related issues).  Does anyone out there have more than one blog  that they maintain and do you have any advice?  Or can you try to talk me out of this? (And to my boss who will read this, I'm not going to write about you but some of the challenges that I am facing trying to change "the process" that I stole the towels about!)

Happy Birthday Mr. Monkeygirl!

Today is Mr. Monkeygirl's birthday.  He doesn't demand much from me and he could really care less if anyone even mentioned his birthday much less makes a big deal out of it.

In a complete rip-off of Ann, here are just some of the reasons why I love him more than he could ever know....

• I understand the concept of cooking and cleaning, but not how they really apply to me.  And you are ok with that!
• No matter how horrible your day was, you are always glad to see me and stops to give me a kiss before you do anything else - and I do mean anything!
• I love the fact that even though you can practice it with the best of 'em, you can not say the word 'empathy'.  
• I love the fact that our brains seem to work on the same wavelength more often than not - especially when it comes to what's for dinner.
• While I love Coal, I think it is sweet that you make sure the dog isn't bothering me even though you might have to get up every 15 seconds to see what the beast theived, is barking at, or whatever other mischief he is currently up to.
• It is amazing how quiet you can be in the mornings when you get up at the crack of dawn, you are so careful not to disturb sleeping beauty.  I try to be that quiet, but it always seems like I do something stupid to wake you up!
• It makes me happy that you absolutely love my chocolate cake.  The suggestion for more frosting has made it even better than Grandma's original!
• You overlook my freakish obsession with high heels and don't complain when they take over the entire closet floor.
• You are so cool that you said it was ok for me to leave you on your birthday to go to some silly training class on the complete opposite side of the state.  I would have had a cow about that!

Love ya, Mr. M.  I will see you soon and promise to bake you your own cake really soon!

Here we go again

After our recent run in with ID10T salesmen trying to get our bathroom remodeling business, and since we "are not - nor will we ever be, professional bathroom renovators" (according to ID10T himself), we are going to attempt round 2.  I hope that this round goes much better than the last one.

At the same show that we found the ID10T's, we also talked to anther guy about out remodeling plans.  He said he worked out of his home and had been in business for 30+ years.  When I didn't hear from him right away, I kind of wrote him off.  But this afternoon, I got a call and we have an appointment set for a week or two out. Based on a short 5 minute call, I think this experience is going to be much better. 

As a follow-up to ID10T- Part 2:

I was relating my story to my friends over lunch on Friday, when my BFF asked, "What is ID10T's real name?"  I told her and she immediately started laughing.  Apparently, she has run into ID10T before.  He used to work for the huge local rip-off remodeler and they dealt with him there.  Then they decided to use someone different and apparently, he was working for them at the time.  She said that during their dealings with him, he continually took personal calls on his cell phone until she warned him that he needed to stop or they were done. Her sister also used ID10T's middle company and had similar bad experiences with him.  

So maybe ID10T's company is ok, but unfortunately, his crap-@ss attitude has turned me off forever to their business.

ID10T Part 2

Blogging about the Idiot Salesman the other day made me feel so much better.  I wasn't the only one who thought he was a big jerk and acted like a 4 year old who was told he couldn't have his toys.  I was even prepared to commit my experience in writing to the owner to make sure that he was at least aware of the way we were treated.

Earlier tonight my phone rang, and I immediately recognized the number.  I hesitantly answered the phone and it was my buddy K - the king of scheduling/confirming/rescheduling appointments.  K started off my saying that his records showed that newbie sales guy had been out to see us.  Uhm, no - we never saw newbie guy, I calmly replied.  K started to panic, because he knew I wasn't very happy about the whole rescheduling thing.  I explained that we didn't see newbie guy, instead ID10T sales guy came out to visit.  

K tried this whole spiel about their records indicated we didn't buy because of price and the owner wanted to "get in our area" and that they were willing to work with us on the numbers.  Ha!  I don't think K was expecting what he got next from me. I explained that under 'normal' circumstances I would have been happy to get his call and talk to him about this.  However, given the fact that ID10T guy basically told me I was stupid and that I wouldn't call him again, I'm not really sure I was comfortable dealing with them as a company.  K stuttered and stammered trying to get his bearings.  "Are you sure it was ID10T that was at your house?  I've rarely heard this kind of thing about him."  Yes, I was positive who was there and it wasn't the newbie.  I explained a little more about my conversation with ID10T and again explained that if ID10T was the head of the division and the trainer, I didn't have a lot of confidence that in what the rest of the employees were like.

K was furiously jotting down notes so he could talk to the owner or someone in the morning.  He wants to call back in about a month to see if we are past the strike issue and maybe they could earn our business then.  They can call me until the cows come home, I doubt they can change my mind unless they come up with some incredible deal (i.e. they pay me for the pleasure of remodeling my bathroom and not spreading their name all over the internet)!

I suspect that sometime tomorrow afternoon, my phone is going to ring again and I will see that all too familiar number once again.  I kind of hope it is ID10T calling personally - I have a few things I would LOVE to share with him!!