Topic: A Day In The Life of The Phat Kid

[Phatty]

So, I'm on vacation still until Thursday, and my intention was to put in a fence in part of my yard for the dogs.  I bought the materials, had them delivered Monday so I could begin and be done by Wednesday at the latest.  However, I found out Sunday night that you need a permit to build a fence (I thought you only needed a permit if it was over 6' tall or an enclosed structure), and so I applied for one Monday morning...only to find out it takes a few days to a week to get the permit back.  So now, all of the materials are just sitting in my garage, and the weather is simply gorgeous, and I can't do a freaking thing...

[Cimter]

Its always the case you get fired up for a project, then poop happens, great big pile of it usually.

[Clonehead]

They are pretty lenient about the permit thing around here. I think most of the neighbors built their fences without one and I didnt get one to build my deck 3 years ago. If I were to ever finish my basement, I would have to get one.

[Phatty]

The biggest thing I learned about the whole permit thing was...I'm not getting one again.  There was no point in it at all!

On another note, and a serious one at that, here is a public safety message: When visiting the beach, and the lifeguards tell you to stay out of the water, and the waves are 4'-6' high, STAY THE HELL OUT OF THE WATER, YOU WILL DIE!!!!  I'm not kidding either.  The taller the waves, the stronger the undertow, and stronger the riptide.  What happens is, sandbars travel parallel to the shore.  When strong currents exist, it creates a gap in a sandbar, where there is a strong undertow, taking things from the shore out into deeper waters.  Riptides travel parallel along the outside of the sandbar, so when the undertow takes you out past the sandbar, the riptide will take you and keep you underneath the sandbar.  You will drown.  It's not a question of if, but when.  Yesterday, I had to go out and look for the 2nd kid in a month who came to Indiana from Chicago, didn't know how to swim, and because the lifeguards told them to stay out of the water, they just went further down the beach where there were no lifeguards, and drowned.  The waves were so bad, we almost tipped our boat twice, rolled our waverunner multiple times, and were unable to put rescue divers in the water.  And when we have to call off the search because the wake is too bad, and it gets too dark, it's the families who yell and scream for us to do something.  So, in conclusion, listen to the lifeguards, they know what they're saying, and it's for your safety.

[Darth C]

Couldn't have said it better.  Riptides are nothing to mess around with, especially if you don't know how to swim.

[Tamer]

If those famalies had been watching their kids to begin with they would have nothing to gripe at you about. Who would let their kids go to the beach with 4 to 6 foot waves and a stay out of the water warning. Everyone knows that kids are drawn to water like we are the SW pegs.  You cant tell a kid to stay out of the water and have them listen unless their parents are supervising.

[Clonehead]

I have been swimming in several oceans in different parts of the planet and have always heard of the dangers of the undertow but i still have never experienced one.
   I feel for you buddy, I am glad that I place rebar for a living.

[Phatty]

Ah, to be me!  It looks again, in God's infinite wisdom, as though it's time to play the game, "Let's Crap on Pat!"  Besides both computers taking a crap on me in the past month, more fun things have occurred in Phatty's Household.  Friday, the dryer stopped drying.  So the wife called out a technician yesterday, who charged us $125 to fix it.  Apparently the sensor had gone out.  $95 to fix it and $28 for the part.  Lovely.  Then yesterday, or rather at 2am this morning, while I was at work running all over town in the firetruck to assist citizens during a horrendous storm, and when I returned from one of them, I was told to call my wife.  Report was, there was water coming in from the ceiling in the bedroom...the downstairs bedroom.  When asked if she had checked out the rest of the house, she hadn't, but then when she did, it was all dry...until I reminded her to check the basement.  Sump pump was out due to no electricity, and battery back-up pump was not working either...probably because it was not a battery back-up.  3"-4" deep.  Lucky, all of my SW stuff in the basement were in plastic tubs, and thus far looks like they were undamaged.  The power came on around 10am this morning, and the sump pumps took care of a lot of it.  Squeegeed the floor, put some fans down, and it's mostly dry already.  I'm going to have to figure out something for the musty smell, and also to be sure there isn't any mold going to grow.  On top of that, my car has now picked up another charming glitch!  Every now and then, the car decides it doesn't like the speed and gear the transmission is running at, so it kicks into a lower gear and the check engine comes on.  But when you put the car in park, shut it off, and turn it right back on, it's all reset, no problems.   Appears to be electrical instead of mechanical, as far as I can tell, but it's not making me happy.  My car is a 2001 with 115k miles on her, and has really run rather well up until lately.  She needs to be replaced soon, but the wife stakes claim to the next new car (hers is a 1998 with 57k original miles on it, but she's had it for 9 years and is ready for a new one!), so I'm not sure where we're going to get the money for 2 new cars.  I'm still hoping to be walking down the street and trip over a briefcase with $10 grand in it just for me!  Don't see that happening though.  Might have to get me a 2nd job afterall...

[Tamer]

Wow. I know we could be related. Your luck is exactly like mine. Poor guy.  Glad to hear your SW stuff wasn't damaged though. This would have been an unrecoverable story.  I know the basement flooding issue firsthand. I just used a dehumidifier for a few weeks and I am doing ok with mine.  I know the issue with the car stuff too.  If you trip over that briefcase, look for another will  ya?

[Darth Aussie]

You are not having a very good day bro, hope it gets better tomorrow!

[Phatty]

Ah, vacation time once again!  I'm on vacation today until October 23rd.  I do have to go back for 2 1/2 shifts, plus Dive Week, but that's not a big deal compared to the rest of those 2 months!  So, in my spare time, I have 3 goals...Finish up image guides for Gentle Giant and Sideshow Collectibles, finish LEGO Indiana Jones in time to play and complete The Force Unleashed before I go back to work, and NOT gain more weight!  Last year when I took 6 weeks off, I ended up gaining 15 pounds.  Gotta try and DROP that much this time! 

[Clonehead]

Off for 6 weeks? I would forget that I even had a job in that amount of time. I hear you on that force unleashed game, it's gonna rock!

[Phatty]

No, last year was 6 weeks, this year it's 8 weeks!  It's my longest stretch yet, so we'll see how it goes!

[Tamer]

Enjoy your time off. I know that FU game is gonna get my attention for a bit too. Man, I would love to have a few months this time of year off.  I love the sound of those image guides. I really like the look of em.

[Darth Aussie]

You gotta love that Lego Indiana Jones game though!..very entertaining