Weekend Assembled

What a weekend! The weather wasn’t supposed to be that great, but it all seemed to work out for us. On Friday I left work early to come home and watch watch/play with kids. This allowed my mom to head back to Nanaimo and beat the Friday rush.

Saturday the sun was out, but poor Beet was under the weather. A slight fever and very lethargic, but otherwise ok. We walked down to our swimming lessons which was wonderful. The kids snacked while we got there in record time. The lessons went fine and after getting showered and dried we headed home for lunch.

Next up was a Home Depot run. As usual I could have spent a lot of money there, but I refrained. I had a list and I mostly stuck to it. We got a new light fixture for the bathroom, a new shower head, and a new garbage can to house more of the earthquake kit that is partially assembled. This can is slated for dog and cat food.

Beet napped when we got home, Sox went for a run with Yoshi, and Sprout played in the dirt with some cars. I was a little bored, so I set to work digging and making a new flower bed at the front of the house. After I got cleaned up I headed over to a friends house for an evening of poker.

Today Beet was still lethargic but her fever was gone. First thing I did was break out the weedeater and clean up the back yard. Once that was done, we all took Yoshi for a walk at Colquitz park which was awesome. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful spring day. We even went to a restaurant for lunch which was a nice treat. Back home Beet and Sox did some grocery shopping while I finished the flower bed. Sprout started off playing with cars, but soon switched to his TV fix.

Tonight we had an easy dinner and got the kids in bed at a reasonable time so we can get ready for the upcoming week.

Lots of fun, and lots of work got done. Gotta like it!

Leery Instinct

Yesterday it was a cold and rainy day. I had to work, so it wasn’t a total loss.

On my way home I was leery of other drivers (like normal really). I had passed a Mercedes doing 45 in the 50 zone along Esquimalt Ave.

As I approached Catherine St, I saw a Volvo come down Catherine to turn right onto Esquimalt (the same direction and lane I was in). The Volvo had a red light, and they stopped, but as I got close to the intersection, they suddenly started pulling out.

Suddenly this Volvo was halfway into my lane. I reacted instantly by hitting the horn, cranking the wheel in an emergency maneuver, and slamming on the brakes. Instinct. I felt the truck’s front wheels skid a bit with the hard turn.

I suddenly remembered that Mercedes and glanced in the rearview and was lucky to see it far enough behind me that I wasn’t going to sideswipe it. I recovered enough to end up in my lane, but my legs and arms were pretty jittery.

I couldn’t believe how close it was. Why do I attract the morons?

Silly Weather

One of the great things about being a Dad is playing. I get to play again, and boy is that a lot of fun. Being silly, playing with cars, riding bikes.

Just the other day Sprout and I were enjoying the warm weather and were riding bikes in the back yard.

Yes it was lots of fun. Sprout had a blast too. We took turns on the scooter and the push bike. This last pic is pretty funny. No I didn’t actually kick him, but it sure looks close.


Power Tempers

I wrote about my problems with my truck already. I thought I had the problem fixed, but I discovered I was wrong. Last weekend I lent my truck to a friend who was moving. He found out for me that there was no power steering fluid left in the truck and it had leaked out all over the driveway in his new house. Grrr.

I called the shop, told them what I knew, and asked what I should do. He said it had to be towed in, and said that if it was the pump or a certain seal he would cover it, and that if it was another issue I would cover the tow.

Immediately I was on edge. I had taken my truck to them to get it fixed and it wasn’t. Why should I have to cover a towing fee? I disagreed with him, and we ended up going back and forth a couple times on why each of us shouldn’t pay for the tow. Finally he said he didn’t want to get into it with me over the phone, and that he’d cover the tow. He gave the number of a company that he has dealt with many times.

Thursday my truck was towed in and fixed up. The shop owner called me and told me that it was the pressure hose leading out of the power steering pump that was the culprit. He then layed out the charges and I OK’ed the fixing. When he gave me the total though, it included the tow charge. Things is, I have a BCAA membership. I agreed to use his tow company since he said he was going to cover the towing fee. I hadn’t thought to mention that I had BCAA earlier since tempers on both sides had flared.

I rode down to the shop and after he showed me what was wrong, I mentioned I wanted to talk about the tow charge. I reminded him that he had said he was going to cover the fee. He backpedaled and said that he hadn’t said that, and had only said he was going to cover it if it was the pump or the seal. I was starting to get mad again, but I did my best to stay calm and work it through.

I had several points I wanted to make to him, including the BCAA bit. Once I mentioned BCAA he got quite angry and asked why I hadn’t brought that up before. I hadn’t since by that point he had already said he was going to cover the tow. He also reminded me that when the truck was fixed the first time, he had asked me to bring it back after a couple days. I actually don’t remember him asking me that, but I believe him when he said he did (I forget a lot of things). I then suggested to him that for future customers, it would be a good idea to include something on the invoice about follow up work. My invoice had nothing about coming back in a couple days, and that would have ensured I came back.

As I was trying to get across my points, he kept cutting me off and wasn’t listening to what I wanted to say. I ended up getting quite assertive and asked him to listen to what I wanted to say. He got to a point, where he just wanted me gone, and said he was going to eat the cost of the tow. I still had a couple things I wantd to bring up, and after I finished saying my mind, I offered to split the tow fee with him. He refused to do that. He mentioned something about not wanting to let me leave angry since he wanted me to come back. He doubted I every would.

I felt bad. I thought I was being quite fair in splitting the fee with him, but he wanted nothing to do with that. It’s too bad really. He is a small business owner, and I wouldn’t have offered to split it, if I hadn’t meant it. Eventually we split on good terms, but because of this experience, and my very first experience with them, I won’t be going back. Unless there is another problem with the power steering fluid leaking out of my truck.

Racing Today

I recently wrote about wanting to do some racing this year. A couple weeks ago that plan changed. I haven’t been getting in many training rides, so my fitness just isn’t ready for racing. Also, I haven’t spent any time on my mountain bike so I just don’t feel comfortable going all out for a race. My balance and jumping skills are a little rusty, and so is my timing. This just adds up to a bad combination.

I had contemplated just doing the Victoria race, but it would prove too expensive. A club membership is needed for insurance purposes, and that runs around $45. Add on races fees of $10-$20, and that is an insane amount of money for a 5 minute race run. I am going to pass on racing this year, and plan to get some racing in next year.

Of course I did get out for a nice ride today. It was a lot of fun, but it really reinforced in my mind that I made the right decision to not race. My fitness is nowhere close, and I was not showing the finesse I normally do. I had a great ride though, and my friend and I rode some excellent trails. I had a few good jumps, good log rides, and some good rock faces. I also had a few close calls, and a couple off-bike excursions.

I am a little disappointed about not racing this year, but after today’s great ride, I am more comfortable with my decision.

Company Slowed

I got a notice the other day that VMI had posted it’s latest financials. It was just last year at this time I posted about this very topic. I still keep in contact with some people from the company, so I sort of know what is going on. Rather I know what isn’t going on.

I checked out their latest statement.

Since inception through December 31, 2008, we incurred aggregate net losses of $50.2 million.

Not any better than last year, but perhaps they have slowed down the burn enough.

We have moved our focus from the development of our product and we are now in a position to focus on the sales of our product and we believe that we will continue to incur losses until we generate sufficient revenues to cover all of our operating expenses.

No new features. Hmm, stagnant product? After all those hours of effort, I still hold out some hope that they can make it. Unfortunately all the wrong people will benefit if VMI makes a few sales.