Friday my mom was down looking after the kids, and she stayed Friday night. This allowed Sox and I to get out for a bit on Friday evening.

We were wanting to go see the new Star Trek movie since it came out, so that was our choice. After buying out tickets we headed to Kelsey’s for a drink. We didn’t watch the clock close enough, and ended up having to down the drinks pretty quick.

The movie itself was awesome. If you have any inclination, I would recommend going to see it, even if you weren’t a Star Trek fan.

I was actually glad I got to see the previews too. The trailers for both GI Joe and Transformers 2 looked awesome. I can’t wait for those ones to come out.

Sunday after the dog walk, we also broke ground on a sandbox for my son and daughter. We are kind of winging it, but we outlined the general size, cut out the grass, and started digging out the dirt. The plan is to line with gardening fabric, fill with sand, then ring with garden ties. The ties might be one or two high, not sure on that. Then I am also planning on building some kind of cat deterrent. I’m thinking a screened lid, or maybe a tarp based lid. I’m not concerned about keeping water out, just cats.

Here are a couple pictures of our progress so far. Sprout helped get the bigger rocks out of the hole.

Sunday was such a nice, warm sunny day. We managed to spend a lot of time outside, and part of that was at the Citizen Canine, Everybody and Their Dog Walk. We looked at the booths, checked out some of the tricks, watched some face painting, ate some hot dogs, and thoroughly enjoyed the weather.

Yoshi and Digger enjoyed the setting too. They got a bit of a romp in the field and both spent a little time in the water cooling down.

For our walk, my son Sprout sported a blue tail. He insisted on walking quite a way like this. It was pretty cute.

It is pouring rain right now and I am sitting in my living room. The way this house is designed means I can hear the rain beating down. It sounds really cool and I hope I never tire of that noise.

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.

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.

A nice birthday celebration today, despite working. I opened some presents from Sox and the kids this morning. I got a wonderful set of framed pictures of our family, and some new hiking shoes.

Then tonight we went out to Pluto’s for dinner.

Now it is cake time!