I was just offered $700 for the drivetrain out of my parts car that I paid $1000 for
I was just offered $700 for the drivetrain out of my parts car that I paid $1000 for
After 5.5 years at the same dead end job working for the single most miserable douche I've ever come across... my last day is in two weeks. Then I get to go hang out in breweries for the same pay. Feels surreal, but I'm excited.
The license plate UPGRYDD has been taken in Ohio.
This gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling deep inside.
For the record, so has UPGRAYD. But that doesn't have two Ds for a double dose of pimpin'.
Also for the record, I saw DAS OTTO last night. It was on a Golf R. Heads would have exploded if it was on a TDI.
The long version.
We went to a pre-bid meeting at the largest hospital in the area this morning. They were accepting bids for the maintenance contract for all of their doors. About 10 thousand of them.
It's a hospital we used to serve, but when they went to a contract basis, we decided to not bid the contract, due to some ridiculous contract requirements we felt were beyond our capabilities. I told the engineering department at the time, I didn't think any company could provide what they wanted, because there weren't enough qualified techs in the state to satisfy the contract and the penalties for defaulting were extreme. The only contractor to bid was owned by a fishing buddy of the head of facilities management for the hospital. Naturally they got it. That was three years ago. It turns out I was right. There weren't enough people in the state. The contractor that won the bid did a poor job of servicing the contract. They were constantly behind schedule, and constantly failing to repair things properly. They ended up in a pissing match with the security company. The engineering department couldn't fire the contractor because they facilities manager protected them, and engineering works for facilities. The entire situation turned into corporate politics and cover your ass. I was glad we were out of it, there was enough mud slung that everyone ended up covered. Every time the contract came up for bid, engineering would call begging us to bid it. Every year we refused. Stale mate, with the hospital getting screwed.
Then the head facilities manager left for another job...
Three months ago, the contract came up for bid again, unchanged. And again, nobody bid it except the same contractor that everyone hated. We got a call from the new facilities manager asking us why, so we had a sit down meeting and discussed with them exactly what the problem was and why they weren't getting any bids.
We got a call last week asking if we would please review the new contract. They were putting it up for bid again. This time they rewrote the contract and removed all the requirements that were causing most companies to not bid. They set up a pre-bid meeting with a requirement that if you were going to bid, you had to be present for the meeting at 10am. We showed early as did two other companies. The contractor that has had the contract showed up 10 minutes late. They were kicked out of the meeting and are no longer allowed to bid. That may have been the happiest meeting I have ever had with hospital employees. I'm pretty sure every engineer and maintenance tech for the hospital, found a empty room and danced a jig.
One of the companies that was present, has elected to not bid. They are a supplier, not a service company.
The other company is a international outfit with one local tech. One of the requirement of the new contract is the ability to provide manpower for two separate after hours emergency calls with in 4 hours of dispatch. They can't do it. We can.
We might be in like Flynn and this will be a big one with a automatic renewal for 5 years. It will also give us all of the hospitals in town and half of them on this side of the state. 
The other meeting I had today was with Boeing. It was also a good meeting. They replaced a 20 something with a 50 something. We now have a process for tracking work orders that will work for everyone rather than just the 20 something. No more texting stuff. No more lost work orders.
Today was a good day.
TLDR:
Say no when it's required. Money isn't everything and sometimes the customer is wrong.
Bide your time, what goes around, comes back around.
Don't stoop to their level, even if it costs you. Corporate politics are just as vicious as the public version. When the E36 M3 flies, you want to be elsewhere, smelling like a rose.
Don't be late to a meeting that can be lucrative, it can cost you dearly.
Being right can be a wonderful feeling. My wife is gong to think I'm impossible for the next few days.
In reply to Toyman01 :
Word up! Have a great weekend!
My rave: we're full now at the building. No vacancies at all. All tenants are paying their rent on time. Each time I run me A/R report and it shows $0 due i feel a rush through me. It's surreal. We went through a few years with some delinquency prone tenants and man it feels good for that to be behind us. I am a Protestant though so I don't feel too comfortable with success. I always feel like something's lurking. But I'll continue to be the best most honest landlord I can be and hope that carries me through.
Work's over for the week. Back on Sunday tho'. Picked up the dry cleaning. Walked to TJs came home and popped one of the six packs in the freezer. Drove to WM and avoided being in a fender bender about 20 different times and that's just in the aisles. Now I'm home drinking the first beer. Does that count? Oh and listening to alt-rock on DC101. Yeah. I'm good. 
Sitting here at the shore with the night breezes and crickets keeping me company feels so good. The grass is cool under my feet and the dog is finally worn out and napping. Great ending to a really good week.
Spent the night with my best friend and his family. We got 2 miatas put back together, and some good spiritual/mental health time together. Best my head has been in months.
I let a friend borrow the xB today so he wouldn't be stranded at the car dealer all day. When I was dropped off this evening to pick it up (it's not far from my house) he had filled the tank and put air in the tires.
Yesterday was pretty miserable for the girlfriend and myself, so I engaged in a little retail therapy and brought home pizza and one of those new Super Nintendo classic things.
Spending time laughing over old video games and relaxing with the pups while it absolutely poured down rain outside was really nice.
1/2 an hour till I start my winter vacation! I'll return to work on January 2nd, until then it'll be relaxing on the couch, holiday celebrations, wine/beer/bourbon, and a few hours wrenching on the Monster.
May everyone get a break and take a few minutes to recharge their mental batteries.
Sold one of my most annoying failed projects so It's no longer something I have to think about. Right after the new owner handed me the cash I got a text from my boss saying I get to take the night off.
Enjoying some eggnog with spiced rum while I wrap the last 3 gifts. Got the next 4 days off to relax and unwind. Feels good.
I am pissed off for a multitude of reasons. But this evening, I *may* have hit the Advanced button on the dash (I wish I could re-screen it to read "A**hole Mode") and accelerated very smartly from a stop through a left hand turn at an intersection in a way that, quite frankly, defied physics as far as I was concerned. And the exhaust note was absolutely glorious as I did so.
Some guy in a Florida-plated BR-Z zoomed up at the next light to see WTF just did that.
Okay, I am pissed off ten ways from Sunday about a lot of things, but this car makes me giggle.
I bought a car for $400 today. And it actually might be too nice to rally (this may be a minor rant).
Christmas shopping is all done, presents are all wrapped and im just sitting at the table smiling and waiting for monday.
Since we had yesterday as the Christmas Eve holiday at work I only ended up working 7 hours and left at 1:30pm to mess around at home. Normally I go in to work early on Saturday to catch up on work.
It feels good to hang out at home, drink coffee, play some music, and process the mail stack on my desk all while the family sleeps in.
I feel a million percent better, my shop is cleaned for the first time in ages, and the duster moved 100 yards under its own power.
I got to deliver my first secret Santa gift this morning. The target actually walked out of their house when I was 30 feet away. I hid behind a tree until they drove off. Next delivery is at 12:30 today and final will be around 11pm. This is what gets me into the holiday spirit.
Last week my wife's grandmother (Grammy) had a massive, unexpected stroke. Grammy is a bit more than a grandmother to my wife. She and her husband (Papaw) helped raise my wife after her mother died when she was two. Naturally, we rushed south through a snowstorm to visit her in the hospital.
Over the past week we've gone from the neuroscience ICU to hospice. It has been an especially stressful journey. The most stressful was making the decision to remove life support and switch to comfort care. She died earlier this afternoon. Next week we have to go to the funeral home and cemetery.
Obviously, none of the above has put me in a damn good mood. What has though is the massive amount of support we've gotten from friends, family, coworkers, and strangers to us who knew Grammy. For the past week we have been surrounded by love and support. Everything from a meal, to a hug, to a conversation that brought us away from the situation for a moment. It's good to know there are people that nice in the world and that many of them surround me. Damn good mood indeed.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
I’m so sorry for your loss :(
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
I'm sorry also. Take advantage of everything that hospice offers to help in the grieving. They are wonderful people.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
Very sorry for your loss.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
I know im halfway across the country, but what can we do? Anything y'all need?
Good mood: gutters cleaned and just watched suicide sqad. Im having a good evening.
In reply :
Thank you all for you sympathies. Grammy will be remembered and missed for a long time to come. And yes, the people of hospice are very wonderful.
To Michael and anyone else that wants to do something I ask two things of you:
As I said above, we have a wonderful support network surrounding us.
To get the good mood thread back on topic: my father in law met a woman earlier this summer and had proposed to her in the fall. We've been able to spend a lot of time with them both over the past week. They are a great match for each other. I don't think I've ever seen my father in law so happy. I'm excited to have yet another wonderful person join our family.
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