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I'm so excited to finally be making it to Ireland this year!
I will be living on a boat :)
I am starting a camper and live aboard boat letting business so please message me if interested in either.

I'm used to getting lots of scam emails, but this week is very special. Someone has been creating a few fraudulent profiles of 20ish women from the New York area.
This scammer is promoting a webcam business and the emails I'm getting are IDENTICAL. They invite me to join their site to see her and her girlfriend.

Thanks, but no thanks!

I do give special thanks to the moderator(s) at CS for quickly deleting these parasite profiles.

Poof!! they're gone...

Inspired by a comment on the silver bullet blog, a company we get solid surface tops from has always used the 'template method' of manufacture. They send a technician to the jobsite right after base cabinets are installed. He brings 1/4" thick strips of wood that are 3" wide by 96" long and lays them over the cabinets to simulate the finished size of the countertop they are going to fabricate. With a hot melt glue gun, all the pieces are joined. He carries the finished template to his factory where they lay the templates on the slab(s) of stone to decide how they are to be fabricated. If there is a special grain or pattern in the stone slabs they may ask the client to visit the factory to 'map out' the cuts, especially if any of the pattern needs to be matched. An example would be a diagonal stripe in the slab could be continued into the backsplash. That often requires additional material and the customer would have to approve changes.
We recently updated one of our vignettes and the technician was there today to template for a new countertop. Instead of the normal template, he had a laser scanning device designed to replace the template. At the corners where the top was to go, he attached some brightly colored tabs that reflected back to the scanner and the image of the top appeared on the screen. Newly implemented less than a month ago, the technician checked and rechecked physical measurements against the scanned measurements.
It was a simple straight top with a farm sink cutout. It probably would have been 10 minutes with the strips. Today, it was easily 45 minutes with the laser scanner.
I researched the price of the scanner with software and it's $12,000. There are other modules needed control computerized cutting. Full implementation of a computerized scanning to cutting system could be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Obviously, they need to work on the details of being cost effective and replacing the archaic system of saws and templates. Especially in small to medium companies who don't have the volume to justify such large purchases.
Over the years I've heard success and horror stories about implementation of (emerging) technology. The same machinery in one factory makes them successful and in another factory go bankrupt.

So ends my counter blog...

My partner in crime just sent me a picture of a tattoo which in itself is not remarkable. What is though... is that it's a design that I created for our t-shirts and our 'brand'. It also wouldn't be remarkable if it was one of us that got it tattooed on our skin, but this is a customer who is now wearing it on his arm!

What started out as a somewhat whimsical venture has grown and evolved through persistent nurturing and an undying belief in its potential. That's on him though. I just draw what I find amusing and make it printable. He's the tenacious gardener.

I think we make a good team.

Of how the population is becoming smarter


NOT !

A deal for you...


Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Capt. SB Davies, of the Engineering Unit of the Artillery Regiment Division, a US Army division here in Damascus, Syria. I have good amount of Money which I want to move out of this Country at earliest although this may be hard for you to believe but we stand to share (Nineteen Million USD) between us in a matter of days.

Please grant me the benefit of doubt and hear me out. I want to inform you that I have in my possession right now the sum of (Nineteen Million USD) recovered from ISIS hideout and the United States Military will soon pull out completely from Syria , therefore, I have to act very fast before time runs out.

President Donald Trump Inauguration message were focused on letting us know that our mission in Syria is ending, and it is time to come home.  He said that by the end of this year, America’s role in combat will be over, and the war in Syria will come to a responsible end.

We acquired these funds during one of our normal Military raid in one of the Taliban’s hide out here and we decided to share the money among ourselves as our reward for all the sufferings we are going through in this evil land.  It is better to use this money to better ourselves, help our respective families and also helps the poor and less privileged in our societies than to leave it for these terrorist ISIS to use it to acquire more weapons to continue their atrocities and killing of innocent people. At least it’s better to use these funds to save poor women and children who are dying of Hunger on daily basis, than to allow these ISIS to use this money to sponsor their terrorist activities.

To escape military awareness, I decided and deposited the money in United Nations' Military Base Vault pending when I get a reliable Partner who will receive this Fund on my behalf. While depositing the money I declared the real content of the TRUNK BOX (Consignment) as Family Valuable Treasures. Everything is legal. I have made a concrete arrangement to move the funds out of Syria as a Family Treasures to your door step in your country. The most important Question is, Can I Trust you? I will offer you 35 percent for your assistance, then you have to find a safe place to keep my 65 percent share for me before my arrival to your country, I have a good diplomatic means to send it to you safely.

If you are interested, I will furnish you with more details upon receipt of your response and contact details. I need a straight answer; YES OR NO. If yes, then let's work, and let me have your contact details, because there is no time to waste. I must complete this before we the (US ARMY) complete pull out process from Syria. Already we have started pulling out slowly.

GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR COMPLETE INFORMATION:

1) FULL NAME :

2) AGE :

3) MARITAL STATUS :

4) MOBILE PHONE NUMBER :

5) OCCUPATION :

6) PHYSICAL ADDRESS :

7) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Your information is 100% secured and will be used exclusively for the purpose of this transaction only. If this Notification Email Letter hits your Junk/Spam folder, simply move the email from your Spam/Junk folder to your inbox for better viewing and easy accessibility.

I have confidence that you will give your consideration to this proposal and respond positively within a short period of time. I am available to discuss this proposal with you and to answer any questions you may have in regard to this deal. I will never let you down.

 Yours Sincerely,

Capt. SB Davies

From experience, I see there are usually three sides to every story...

1) He said
2) She said
3) The facts obtained when you do your own research.

Last week, I received an angry email (who copied the boss) from a contractor complaining we sent him the same drawings twice and no changes were made. Obviously, the owner doesn't like to see angry email and I had to followup with my people. After some fact finding, I see we visited his jobsite, made notes and submitted drawings showing what areas needed to be revised to fit the kitchen layout.

The contractor claimed to have revised our drawings, sent them back to our design department and we never made the changes. It appeared he didn't respond to our mail so it was sent again. Receiving the previous set with no changes annoyed him. His 'marked up set' of drawings didn't reach us. That happens as our mail server is on high alert status for spam and hackers. Could a phone call from either party have avoided this? Yes.

While I dislike 'being in the loop' for every communication through a staff of 10 or so, sometimes it's necessary. Between the emails, phone calls and playing diplomat, It can easily suck a few hours out of my day...

How does this work ?

I recently purchased a camera adaptor for $45 plus $7 postage from an online store...

I needed another and as the last one got lost in the mail and took over a week due to delivery problems to get to me I looked online on ebay

I can buy the same item(both generic no name brands)with free shipping direct from China for $1.45 each

Ok the delivery time may be 2 weeks but I have bought 4 adaptors for a total cost of $6 which is less than the postage cost here

Life has it's ups and downs and sometimes (on good days) I feel like the organ grinder where I'm orchestrating things to my tune.
There are days when my workload is too much, especially when I get BS calls like the guy who has water damaged kitchen cabinets and wants to salvage the doors and drawers and only buy new boxes. I told him it's not worth the labor uninstall the old boxes, take out all the old parts and inventory them, install new carcasses and install the old doors and drawers to the new boxes. It's faster at the same price to purchase new.
I'm trying not to be the monkey and getting involved.

He's stopping by the office to show me what the existing doors look like and explain his part in the inventory.

Some days I feel like the grinder... and some days...