You grab the work where you can get it.

That seems to be the theme of my life. Guess that's one of the reasons I have so many skill sets. Well that and the fact that I am the eternal student, constantly trying to learn something new in life.

Today was framing.

Tomorrow is some demolition and duct work.

Still viewing R.V.'s and Campers. Won't be long now in the grand scheme of things.

Little new in the political world that isn't already up in arms at this point. I see internal conflicts growing on the hill that encourage me. Palin is opening up the gates on a sea of independents with her open backing of an indy in Upstate New York. Things come 2010 election cycle could be rather interesting to say the least. Heck, I would rather a congress and senate so full of parties that nothing gets accomplished than the mess we are witnessing now. Things should move slow when it comes to the lives of 300+ million people(especially when the decision today reflects upon even more in the future.) IF we can fill the seats with 5 or 6 broad parties we would have to re-examine the infrastructure of things like majority and minority seats, yet that could be a good thing. I think it would more correctly represent the divisions that I am seeing within the country. Having a Hockey mom in the presidential seat would also more correctly represent the country too(my opinion and fully capable of being shot down in flames I know.) To date within my life I haven't really seen ONE person in that position that represents AMERICAN LIFE on average. Reagan was the closest in his values but even he was not so middle classed as the majority of the rest of the nation. The current head of state may be from a simple background but he sure didn't stay there NOR does he seem to remember his roots that much. Look at how he is absorbing taxpayer money for living expenses and jerking around more than actually doing his job. (how many games of golf has he played since taking office? Yet we still are waiting on word of what to do in Afghanistan?)
I think I am going to leave it at that for now before I start going down a road that only keeps me up all night.

Different note though, Caleb (whom I will meet one of these days, among others) had a little incident with some Starbucks. Glad to hear that the worst of it was some spilled coffee. Made me do some thinking about work environments more though. Guess My little .22 should be enough in a pinch but You can bet that I will carry more than one mag for it "just in case".

Couldn't say it better myself.

Side note. I am quite busy right now salvaging a truck from bits and pieces. Managed to grab onto a similar vehicle so that I can try to get another 60 or 70 thousand miles out of my redneck work truck. Rag on GM all you want they managed to get it right every once in awhile. My Little S10 is one of them. It towed a dead in the water SUV across town to the tune of 18 miles up and down hills. I didn't exceed 30mph but I also know the limits of my control while towing that kind of weight. The 2.8 is a great little V6 that in this case, has nearly 200,000 miles on it and just keeps going and going and going.

The next few weekends will be replacing the rear axle with the correct ratio one(the original owner changed it out for a higher ratio axle and that screws me up for the 4X4 part) swapping doors (ones bashed in and the other is falling apart) among many other little (mostly cosmetic) repairs. She has been a great little truck to me and I figure its time to return the favor some. (a bit more than basic maintenance)

Dealing with Leviathan.

Working as a sub-contractor in a building Rehab you run into all kinds of quirks that can slow a job up.

In this case its partly Electrical and partly Building standards.

We are rewiring the third floor of the house so that it is on its own service line. it was combined with the second floor and had passed the initial electrical inspection. Due to the layout of the house though the owner felt that it would be better to have each level of the house as an individual apartment. Now we find out that Ohio recently adopted the NBC2008 code book and things are getting a bit silly.
First and foremost is trying to find a copy of that Code. It seems that unless you are a licensed contractor you are S.O.L. in getting a copy for anything less than $180. I have surfed and surfed for what I need and I can't find anything but links back to he NEC page and the occasional 'questionable' information posted via response on a forum somewhere.

Second off, we found that while demolishing a few surfaces for Lead Abatement we now have to modify the original structure for Fire code.

I don't have a problem bringing a building up to a better standard but some of the things we are required to do smell of political encroachment. Standards that were set up to discourage property owners to actually upkeep buildings. Some of these things reek of Union interference in the way they are set up.

What really ticks me off is the lack of information available to the general public. Thats really where all of this falls. If you aren't able to access the correct information you are forced to use sources (that in some cases may be beyond the means of the owner) that do have the information. I know that are local Electricians union charges $40/hr just to come in and 'estimate' a job. Then once on sight the rate goes up. The inspectors don't care if the union did the job but it has to be to code, yet where do you find that code? You find it through the union or by shelling out a lot of money for something that you will only need once before the version is rewritten and you have to 'upgrade'.

One thing that I am truly happy about with the eventual move to my Dad's neck of the woods. The only inspections they require are for the Septic system. They then sign off on the build and you are allowed an electric feed. From that point, no permits, no inspections, no one telling you that you HAVE TO use 2X6 instead of 2X8 for the Ceiling joists. They trust that you are wanting to build a house that is safe: not tell you how to build a house that is safe. Thats the way it should be in my opinion.