When all else fails, pain motivates more than any other tactic

ne·go·ti·ate: verb, 1 a: to deal with (some matter or affair that requires ability for its successful handling) : manage b: to arrange for or bring about through conference, discussion, and compromise
2 a: to transfer (as a bill of exchange) to another by delivery or endorsement b: to convert into cash or the equivalent value
3 a: to successfully travel along or over


That word has more uses than most people realize. The most obvious deals with negotiations on a financial model. You negotiate your interest rates, your auto loans, your business deals.

You can also negotiate an obstacle course, or a road map while driving, or you can choose to negotiate a conversation with your spouse. As in, avoiding words that might prolong something that she sees extremely important, to something you see as trivial, or even as more of a NOOOOO-SANCE (sp?=inside joke).

But when trying to install new waste lines for a hall room bath, "negotiate" is not a word I would use.

"Negotiate" has little quips attached to it. Like, "no one likes to negotiate, or "the best negotiations end with no one winning", or some shit like that.

So, when I am "negotiating", I tend to set a limit or stopping point. Now, this isn't always measured in time, but after certain things have been tried, and we still don't have a deal, I usually go to plan B, which entails some sort of "force". If that is not an option, or advisable, and the situation allows, then I walk away to gather more info, and fight another day.

So, when a friend explained to me yesterday, that he was trying to "negotiate" the joist that was in the way to install a new waste line, and I was above him in the hallway bathroom trying to guide the down pipe, all while losing my mind, I decided that force was in the cards. "NEGOTIATE?!?!?!, are you fucking kidding me?!?", was my reply. We all have our boiling points. The use of that word was it for me.

Obviously the "joist" was looking for a better deal. Obviously it thought that at this point (which was 4 days into a hall bath redo), it could hold out for better terms. I on the other hand had enough. There was no way an inanimate object was going to outplay me. Nor was it going to "have me by the balls", as this friend had stated over and over.

So I said, "hang on, Mother Fucker!!", and got up from my prone position, picked up the saw-zaw, ran, no, jumped down the flight of stairs into the basement, and headed right for the laundry room where my "friend" was on the ladder.

He looked at me with horror as I wielded the power tool flailing above my head with bright orange eyes (his words) and crazy hair, ripping the dryer out of the way so I could reach the outlet to provide power to my implement of destruction, and shoved him off the ladder. I made rather quick arragements to add support to the floor for the action I was about to take. I took that saw zaw and relocated about 3ft of that 12'' joist all the while my friend trying to calmly tell me that he didn't think this was necessary.

"Isn't that joist there for a reason?" asked the friend. "Of course it is you dope. But I will not stand by and waste another fucking minute to come to a conclusion that will ultimately end with this course of action anyway. This is how I negotiate." See, action is always better than presumption. Right or wrong, it's always better. The new section of pipe was istalled, a new joist was put in place and the temporary supports were taken down. I am happy to say that the bathroom redo is complete. Fuckers.

Al sent me a text last night about around 11pm asking if I was alive. I think I replied "fuck you" or something of that nature. I was salty and about an hour away from completion. I use this public forum to acknowledge my transgressions and apologize to the Reverend. Although I have the feeling that he was laughing and toasting with the locals at the pub after that little dialogue via text. He loves to see me all jammed up. Not in a bad way, but in the sense that it provides him massive amounts of entertainment. So in that regard, I'm glad I can be of service.


I have lost track of a lot this week. I have gotten behind in a lot of projects because of this one. Projects that pay me as opposed to ones I pay for. I don't know why I don't pay people to do these things. First thoughts are because I get so much "enjoyment" out of doing it myself. But the aggravation is becoming -EV.

At least now I can start writing about the Phils, the Eagles, Poker, Politics, and other stuff I actually enjoy. For now, its time to clean up. Maybe I'll take some pictures of the new bathroom and post them here. That will have to wait for the wife to do her part and purchase artwork that "matches" the new color.

Here is wishing everyone a calm and relaxing weekend. I plan to spend it on the new toilet.

Whoever stops fighting first always loses.

I haven't been online since friday for one reason. A clogged toilet. Isn't that peachy.

So how does a clogged toilet go from an easy snaking to a complete and total renovation of a hallway potty?

Let a 2 year old get a hold of it. That's right. A two year old. Somehow he found a bag of those plastic easter eggs that you put money and candy into at Easter time for the kiddies.

He thought playing basketball in the toilet was a good idea. Only he picked the one that still had money in it. This was enough to allow it to sink through the drain enough to get passed the first bend in the trap, but also lodge permanently.

So when the 6 year old went in to do her business, there was no sign of any obstruction. Not that it would stop her if she could see anything, but I digress.

So snaking doesn't work. I get confirmation from the two year old of what he threw down there, by going to his now hidden stash of easter eggs, and showing me.

So snaking isn't working and a plumber will cost me $300 bucks to undo the blockage. I can buy a new toilet for less than $200 and install it myself. Something I have done before. So there's the plan of action. New toilet, done and done. It's a 3 hour job tops.

The first issue is emptying the toilet. So I buy a wet vac with the total assumption of it being disposable. After sucking up what was in the bowl (what comes out of a 6 year old is completely mind boggling), there was no way I was going to be reusing that thing. So the night before I pour a little bleach into the bowl so it doesn't stink up the joint. Which works like a charm btw...

Saturday morning I go to the local home store and purchase a brand new toilet, shop vac, and all the incidentals that I believe I am going to need.

Skip to the extraction of the toilet...

Toilet is drained, and the tank is off. As I undo the bolts to the bowl on the floor, I notice problem number one. the idiot who installed THIS toilet (previous home owner), never put the flooring completely around the drain pipe. He sort of cut around the bowl. This is a no-no. There were some uncovered parts of subfloor because of this and he had caulked around the bowl to compensate. The issue here is that the floor is hardwood, and the caulk seeped under alot of the adjacent boards.

So when I tried to pull the bowl off of the floor, the caulking he had used was stuck to the surrounding floor boards acting like glue, ripping them up with the bowl. I cut around the caulk and disposed of the bowl.

Issue number two becomes evident when I place the new bowl on the floor. The profile is much smaller than the previous one leaving about 6 inches of subfloor exposed. Now I need to find replacement flooring, and try to cut it in to the old floor.

Back to the home store and of course, because I run so good, they don't have it. Not even anything close. I make the decision right there to redo the whole floor.

The bathroom is 28sqft. in total so it shouldn't be that hard of a a job, nor that exspensive. I purchase some nice cherry hardwood flooring that was on sale and head back home. As I pull up the old floor I notice that the subfloor is shot around the toilet. That has to come up as well. Then the wife says, since we are doing all of this, why don't we paint as well, since, you know, everything is exposed.

Fast forward to today. Sunday was spent at my parents for birthdays and anniversary's so that was a lost work day. A full day of work on Saturday, and yesterday and I have the new subfloor installed, a new drain pipe, the walls all spackled sanded and primed. I am waiting for the primer to dry right now. Once that is dry, I can paint the new color the wife picked (coral peach), and install the new toilet. Everything should be done by 5pm if I allow 2 hours of dry time on the new paint.

I was so looking forward to posting about the phils, and the eagles (The NFC East to be more specific), and some poker stuff, but I guess that will all wait. I did make it to the Phils game last night towards the 5th inning. Spectacular game no matter how it finished. The Dodgers are really putting themselves out there, and this has proven to be a worthy series to watch even if you don't like baseball.

Everyteam in the NFC lost this weekend. With the exception of the Eagles, which puts them right back in the race. I'll have more on that and the implications later.

For now, I'm back to being Riggs the builder...

Friggin' Waffles

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

I have nipples Gregg, can you milk me?

Spent the day in New York City yesterday at the Madarin Oriental near Columbus circle for a meeting with the hotel and the folks at Childrens Hospital. We are holding a Charity event for them there on Nov. 12th and had to scope out the room and discuss other particulars.

I love the city. I often wonder what would have came of me accepting any of the offers I had early in my career to work and live there. With the family starting out, it was almost impossible to do so at the time, but still, I wonder.

New York is truely a unique place. There is nothing comparable. I can't imagine anyone not having been there before, and it is definately a place that someone who has never seen a city before can be overwhelmed by.

For some reason, the place wreaks of distrust. The people, places, the architecture. But as you persuse around, and talk to people and experience the life, it gets a little intoxicating. What a town.


The Phils start their NLCS tonight, and I'm hoping to be treated to 5 games of pure baseball bliss. I say 5 because thats the standard number of games that everyone thinks their team will win in a 7 game playoff. Why buck the trend now?

What I want to point out however, is the assumption that Phils fans are worst fans in the world. Here is why we get that distinction from outsiders.

I just made the statement that the Phils will win in 5 games. Gung ho, bring it on, lock it up. IF they lose game 1, you will see from the media, HALF of the city/ fans proclaiming that they blew it, and that we are doomed to failure.

Thats not just bad phillies fans. Thats the whole northeastern part of the country. That is the breed of this area. Everyone is just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I hear it from Mets fans, Celtics fans, Devils fans, etc... The Philly media just does a better job of pimping that attitude.

Once you get passed the longitudinal line that runs somewhere near Harrisburg, that attitude dissipates. It's another reason why the people from this part of the country are go go go all the time. We know we have to get it done before something bad happens. We play beat the clock. It is inherited.

Now, I'm not saying that there aren't people like that all over the country. There are. They are called transplants. But this is the overall attitude and way of life, if you will, of the folks that have been born to this part of the country. And it seeps into their casual lives, such as team affiliation and so on.

It's not a bad way. That's not my point. It certainly is not a curse, although it has been called that at times. It's just a different way of living. Just like people who live in the midwest are way laid back. Thats not to say they are less productive, they just do things differently and value time and other things differently.

I got a phone call from a friend just now. I answered, and he says, "The fucking phillies better win tonight!". I know what he means. The average guy puts a lot on the line every season. Time, money, emotion. They feel invested. If they lose, it's all for naught. But they will come back every year to do the same thing.

Me personally, I'm looking forward more to the baseball than the wins. The wins would be nice, but the baseball will always take precedent for me. I will celebrate just as hard as the next guy if they do win, and I will take pride in being a fan if they do, as well as if they don't.

But as long as the games are entertaining, the baseball is skillful, and the players leave nothing on the field, I will be content as a rock star, sitting at the bar, with his name placarded on the back of his seat, with a redbull, SOCO, and water back.

Friday Night Lights

Friday at the Bash was reserved for the Poker Tourney to help raise funds for Boobs.


I headed over to the Pub late because I had some field hockey duties to attend to. I was ride dad. I had my daughter and three other girls in the truck taking them from the school to the field. That converstation alone could fill a post, but I will save that for another day. Some of the topics that were covered... (10 year old girls mind you) Politics, boys, Honors Math. The boys part took about 13 seconds before I shut it down, the words "dumb math" was uttered to describe other students, and apparetly, 10 year old girls vote for McCain, and no one else, because Obama is "Stupid". Yay Parents!

Anywho... I head over to the pub to act as yet another shuttle and bring people to the location where we would be holding the torn-a-mint. Apparently I have an accent.

7 people piled into the beast and we headed over. I got to meet everyone who I hadn't yet, and we sat down and started to play. Our table, Falstaff, Al, CK, Drizz, to name a few was definately the table to be at. I think we had the most re-buys of any table as Al shoved blind the first 3 hands.

I know I had rebought at least 5 times, probably more. Of course they were double rebuys, so it was a whole lot more when multiplied by two. I had the hammer dropped on me by CK, and I fluctuated between super aggro and super tight. When the rebuy period was over I shoved on a raise and a call with 66 as shorty. The raiser folded and the caller called. With JJ. After tanking.

I took the canadien boys over to the sign in table and (re)taught them Skat and Heart Hand Diamond. That was fun for a bit, then we all got jammed up with the time.

We all ended up at the Diner with the Rooster in tow. I explained to everyone that they needed to try scrapple. Rooster said he knew what it was and ordered it. The only one to do so. I didn't, and that jammed him up a bit. I only ordered a blt, and scrapple doesn't go well. Plus the waitress informed us that she had "bleached" her hand. There was a make shift bandage around a wound she had on her hand, and when I said, "no worries", and rolled my eyes, she replied.. "well you ever know with diseases that go around today". The Rooster hit on her after that.

We finished up and headed back to the hotel. I dropped everyone off and headed back to the house. Alone. I was sad. and fell asleep about 4 times on the way back.

I got home between 5:30 - 6:00am and stayed up because the boy was awake when I got there. We took an impromptu nap at noon, and I didn't wake up until after 2. I knew I was going to be late to the pub to ready for the "bash" part of the bash, and was resided in the fact that I got some sleep, that would probably be the last until the next day. I was bummed about missing the Pub Olympics, but also knew that Team Al would be in fine shape. Even without my Big Buck Hunter prowess.

Everyone was there and ready for what was about to become an historic night....

Memories of the Bash

I am soooo jammed up with stuff, and no real time to post. But I heard this song and had to put it up. It will definately be the defining song of the Bash... for me at least.

Two more stories coming soon!

Sorry CK (Final countdown is reserved for Eh Vegas)

The Controversial Survey

Waffles put up a Meme and I told him I would answer as well....

1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?

obviously

2. Would you do meth if it was legal?

I won't do prescription drugs and they are legal

3. Abortion: for or against it?

I'm certainly not for it. But I don't believe its anyone else's business to intervien with another persons moral decisions. On the legal aspect of it, I am for it.

4. Do you think the world would fail with a female president?

No. That chic from Germany seems to be doing ok

5. Do you believe in the death penalty?

Absolutely. Only I would grant a pass to the persons who were affected most to hunt the offender down and do as they wish. Total anarchy is my credo

6. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

Let me be clear in stating that I don't use it. But I do think it should be legal. It's retarded that it's not.

7. Are you for or against premarital sex?

I have 3 daughters, so I am against it. But what does that mean anyway? Have at it people.

8. Do you believe in God?

I can say that I believe that there is a God. But I can't say that I believe in a God as portrayed by mainstream religions. I don't belive in creationism. I belive in evolution. I also believe however that there has to be one thing, or God that oversees what the hell is going on. If God does exist, he/she/it is there for one thing. And that is to provide purpose to all of ths madness.

9. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?

Absolutely. There is no reason to tell someone that they're ot recognized by the laws of the land they live in because of a few nits.

10. Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?

Illegally yes. But there needs to be something done about the reasons why they feel the need to come to te US in the numbers that they do.

11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?

How do you tell anyone that they are not allowed to keep a child that came out of their ow hoo hoo, after carrying it for nine months, regardless of age?


12. Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?

There should be no legal age for kids to drink. There should be legal ages where kids can go and drink. They shouldn't be allowed in pubs before 18. But there should be no legal restriction on alcohol. Kids drink early anyway, and do it secretively because they know its illegal. That fact alone makes it cool to do so. It's not about getting high, or liking the actual taste. Its about showing off or being part of the crowd, breaking the law, etc.


13. Should the war in Iraq be called off?

Called off? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. The perception that the only reason we are there, or went there, is because of WMD's is the most naive and retarded thing I ever heard of. And makes me want to kick the shit out of someone. No, it shouldn't be called off. It should be finished.

14. Should assisted suicide be legal?

Again, personal moral desires should not be fucked with by any legal system. I'll never understand the people that scream for abortion rights and then get all jammed up over this one. You want to die? Have at it.

15. Do you believe in spanking your children?

I believe in discipline. The way that works for each individual child needs to be figured out. I won't judge another parent for spanking their children.


16. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?

Yet again, another retarded question. I would burn my house down for a million dollars. Assuming the house and all of its contents are worth considerably less. But if you are asking me if I am patriotic, I will tell you this... If I were to see some hippie dancing on an American Flag, or burning it in protest that is advertised via their words, or posters, or whatever, well, lets just say you don't want o be that guy. If you tell me I can't have it both ways, and that burning the flag would have to be combined with a formal denouncement of the country and its values that it was built on, and the men and women who fight to defend those values, then no. I wouldn't take the million. But I'd choke you out to make up for the tease.


17. Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?

Unfortunately this year, I don't think either of the cadidates will be capable of being presidential. Officially, I am on the fence. Each day I sway more to either side. I like politics, but I hate the deception. I am a republican, but have voted democrat. I post things on this sight that show that I may be a bit partisan to the Republican party. But I honestly have not made up my mind yet.

18. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

I'm not afraid of being judged. We are all judged day in and day out. I have enough friends that take me as I am, and Family that do the same, day in and out. They all know where I stand. Probably why the friends are still friends.