I'm going to be home for Thanksgiving. Melissa and I will be heading to Dad's house this afternoon and staying there for feasting, socializing, airsoft wars, more feasting, and such. Hopefully there will be plenty of pie to go around. :)
This week has gone by pretty quickly. I did some much needed filing over the weekend. Oh, which reminds me...I got an M&T Bank checking account when I moved up here, but over the past year, I have been disappointed that some of the services that I had become quite used to were not free anymore. These include Web Bill Pay, No fee for using your debit card as a debit card at the store, and the ability to download your transactions into Quicken on my home computer. M&T's policy is to charge fees for all of these things...all of which I want to be able to use without the fees. Well, a few weeks ago, I did some checking into a more local bank..."Community Bank NA" exactly. I found out that they offer all of these services free, and because I have my car insurance taken out automatically, I was even eligible for the 'VIP checking' that yielded a tiny bit of interest. So, I switched checking accounts and have been pretty pleased with Community Bank so far.
Web Bill Pay is amazing. You can send a payment to virtually anyone. It all is done through the Banks website and they will even determine if the payment can be sent electronically or not. If not, have no fear, they will mail a check...free of charge! :) I pay all of my bills this way. For instance, i have my rent payment set up so at the same time every month, they send a check to my landlord. It's nice. And it saves stamps and checks and envelopes and time. :) I've even noticed that my Chase credit card has the option of sending payments much in this same way only it charges your credit card instead. Interesting.
Interesting that it has become SO easy to spend money. It's also interesting that statistics show that people spend approximately 12% more when they use a card versus Cash. The internet can be a great thing, but it can also help you spend WAY more than you have, only this way, you don't even have to leave your home to do so. Ebay, Amazon, iTunes, and countless other online stores will suck you dry if you don't have the self control to...well...say NO to yourself. lol.
I had my car in the garage yesterday. It needed an idler pulley, a tensioner assembly, and a new serpentine belt. The idler pulley would randomly make this pretty loud noise. It has been doing it on and off for the past year almost, but i figured i should get it taken care of before it left me sitting somewhere. I especially didn't want to get left sitting somewhere between here and Ohio this weekend. That WOULD be inconvenient.
I got a new landlord and this winter, she is willing to let me keep my motorcycle in the shed that is on the property. That will be nice...last winter, the snow came so fast and so hard that I didn't really get to put it away where I had intended to keep it. Seein' as I had a storage unit down the road, but the roads were too nasty to get it there. Anyway, I will put it away next week and take the battery out and bring it inside where it will be nice and cozy warm. I might even put the battery tender on it for a little while.
One thing about snow not coming quite as fast as i thought it would this year is that I have had my snow tires on for almost three weeks now and still no real sign of snow. BUT the roads haven't been hot or anything so i probably haven't put too much undue wear on them yet. Never the less, i would like to have snow soon so as not to waste my wonderful snow tires :) And so I can snowboard too.
Ok. I should get going.
Hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving.
-Till Next Time
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Quickly becoming a Significant Other in my life :)
For those of you who don't know, or that don't know much:
I have a girlfriend. :) Her name is Melissa. She graduated this past spring from Geneva College with a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering (yes, just like me). lol. Melissa and I spent two years roaming the Geneva Campus at the same time while not really noticing each other, but November of last year (1.5 years after i graduated, moved to Cleveland, OH and then moved again to NY) I found out that she was on the Student Steel Bridge Team (which interested me). I quickly found out that Melissa interested me more than steel bridges.....and well, it's pretty much history from there. We have been dating for 7 months now, and we have really been enjoying each other's company and such.
She is currently going to The University of New Hampshire (UNH). She is pursuing her masters in Environmental Engineering. Yes. New Hampshire is far away from Buffalo, NY. 543 miles to be exact. Even so, we have managed to see each other probably once every 2 to 3 weeks on average. We have gotten quite good at using lots of forms of communication including: email, IM, letters, phone, and even Video Chat. Personally, i think the 'In Person' form is the best. :)
Melissa's sister and brother-in-law (Michelle and Brad) live in Owego, NY which is like 3 hours from where i work in Ellicottville. They have been super nice in letting us hang out there on various weekends. It works out pretty well since it is somewhere in between where we both live....not really half way, but it definitely makes the drive for both of us better than the full 10.5 hours would be if we had to drive the whole way just to see each other. Brad and Michelle have 2 daughters. One (Alison) is like two years and a few months and the other (Kaylee) is something like 6 months. They are both QUITE cute and sometimes we get to 'babysit' them when we are there. :) I am really glad that God has blessed Melissa and me in this way. We have gotten to feel kind of at home there for the most part. To the extent that we will cook meals sometimes (mostly for fun, but i imagine that it helps out some too). Brad and Michelle are currently expecting their third child as well, so their house will be even busier come spring time.
Occasionally, airplane tickets are available from Buffalo to Boston for reasonable fares. For instance, I got a round trip, non-stop ticket for $130 for Labor Day weekend. Melissa's family is in Limington, ME and I got to spend the weekend with her and her family. They are very nice. Melissa has 6 siblings. She is the 3rd oldest, and the most recent to be 'out of the house'. So, there are 4 still at home. It was a nice weekend...We went wind surfing for the first time. I guess a guy from their church invited us all to go, so we went out to one of the bigger lakes in Maine and tried that out for an afternoon...harder than i thought, but still very fun.
Ok...until Next time.....
Friday, November 13, 2009
Introduction Continued:
So, it has been a few weeks, but what can i say? I'm a busy guy: I have been to Owego, NY to see my girlfriend once since i was on here last, and we also went to a wedding in Cattaraugus since then. We decided to start letterboxing, not like hardcore obsessive, but more as a thing to do if we can't think of anything else :) There are letterboxes all over and since we kinda get to see each other in different places: Ohio, Western NY, Maine, NH, we should be able to find a letterbox to...well, find, just about anywhere we find ourselves. Plus, it gets us out and about hiking and stuff, which we both enjoy, but need some extra motivation to do so. (ok, so reading over those last two sentences....and i'm not sure the punctuation is all right, but it's there. oh well) If you don't know what letterboxing is, you can google it. it's like a scavenger hunt of sorts.
I also let myself wish a little recently. I created an Amazon wish list. Sort of for christmas, but it was fun to look at some stuff that is out there. :) I seem to have interests in John Deere and Milwaukee tools and stuff. Last year, i got a Milwaukee 12 volt Li-Ion driver. It has a 1/4" speed chuck on it, much like a cordless impact driver, but the drill itself is not an impact driver. It is small and quite handy. It has amazing battery life and it is pretty strong. It would be ideal for cabinetry work and mounting doors and stuff. Anyway, I ended up getting the Impact driver that takes the same battery. It's quite tough. much heavier than the drill i have. It will drive Lots of 2-3 inch deck screws and stuff. Here's a pic of them if your interested:
They are the same size in real lif. ANYWAYS, the reason i bring this up is because, it seems like the impact drivers are becoming the way of the future...except a lot of the bits aren't up to the 'impact' part. I have been noticing that more and more companies are producing driver bits that are made for Impact Drivers...Including adapters that will drive 1/4 and 3/8 inch sockets too...real handy for mechanical work. So, i've been kind of fascinated with the different driver bits available now and kind of find this urge to try lots of them out. lol.
Speaking of Mechanical work, I put new brakes on my car a couple of weekends ago. I was going to just get it done somewhere, because i don't seem to have a lot of time and i didn't think i had the facilities, but it would have cost about 360 dollars. That motivated me to look at prices of just the parts. I ended up getting ceramic lifetime pads and rotors with a 3 year warranty for around 180 dollars. The rotors were painted everywhere except the wearing surface and they said that they had a higher nickel content in them which helped keep them from rusting as bad. I figure if they last even close to 3 years, it was probably a pretty good deal. As long as they don't warp on me...... SO, when i changed them i noticed that one of the sliders on the caliper on the right side was stuck. Fortunately, I was prepared with PB blaster and Anti-Seize compound. I got it freed up and lubed up before i put them back together. The old pads on that side were obviously worn at an angle because of the stuck caliper. So, after a couple of hours, i had good brakes again. The brakes seem about twice as strong as they were before i did the work. Ah, a good feeling.
Monday, i got snow tires, an oil change, and an alignment. My all seasons were not worn out so i kept them. This place will switch them back and forth in the spring and fall for free because i bought the tires there. At other places i checked it would cost around 30 dollars for all four tires each time...so, this turns out to be a savings of about 150 dollars. Makes me happy.
Work has been going pretty well. I have been getting more and more involved in projects and my position has become much more interactive with the clients. I like that. I attend Village board meetings sometimes, do inspections on our projects sometimes, and make a ton of phone calls throughout the day.
Ok. I will conclude for now. Maybe if i have time, i will write another one soon.
I also let myself wish a little recently. I created an Amazon wish list. Sort of for christmas, but it was fun to look at some stuff that is out there. :) I seem to have interests in John Deere and Milwaukee tools and stuff. Last year, i got a Milwaukee 12 volt Li-Ion driver. It has a 1/4" speed chuck on it, much like a cordless impact driver, but the drill itself is not an impact driver. It is small and quite handy. It has amazing battery life and it is pretty strong. It would be ideal for cabinetry work and mounting doors and stuff. Anyway, I ended up getting the Impact driver that takes the same battery. It's quite tough. much heavier than the drill i have. It will drive Lots of 2-3 inch deck screws and stuff. Here's a pic of them if your interested:
They are the same size in real lif. ANYWAYS, the reason i bring this up is because, it seems like the impact drivers are becoming the way of the future...except a lot of the bits aren't up to the 'impact' part. I have been noticing that more and more companies are producing driver bits that are made for Impact Drivers...Including adapters that will drive 1/4 and 3/8 inch sockets too...real handy for mechanical work. So, i've been kind of fascinated with the different driver bits available now and kind of find this urge to try lots of them out. lol.
Speaking of Mechanical work, I put new brakes on my car a couple of weekends ago. I was going to just get it done somewhere, because i don't seem to have a lot of time and i didn't think i had the facilities, but it would have cost about 360 dollars. That motivated me to look at prices of just the parts. I ended up getting ceramic lifetime pads and rotors with a 3 year warranty for around 180 dollars. The rotors were painted everywhere except the wearing surface and they said that they had a higher nickel content in them which helped keep them from rusting as bad. I figure if they last even close to 3 years, it was probably a pretty good deal. As long as they don't warp on me...... SO, when i changed them i noticed that one of the sliders on the caliper on the right side was stuck. Fortunately, I was prepared with PB blaster and Anti-Seize compound. I got it freed up and lubed up before i put them back together. The old pads on that side were obviously worn at an angle because of the stuck caliper. So, after a couple of hours, i had good brakes again. The brakes seem about twice as strong as they were before i did the work. Ah, a good feeling.
Monday, i got snow tires, an oil change, and an alignment. My all seasons were not worn out so i kept them. This place will switch them back and forth in the spring and fall for free because i bought the tires there. At other places i checked it would cost around 30 dollars for all four tires each time...so, this turns out to be a savings of about 150 dollars. Makes me happy.
Work has been going pretty well. I have been getting more and more involved in projects and my position has become much more interactive with the clients. I like that. I attend Village board meetings sometimes, do inspections on our projects sometimes, and make a ton of phone calls throughout the day.
Ok. I will conclude for now. Maybe if i have time, i will write another one soon.
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