The Rain Switch

I can see now where the all day session spent detailing the truck was just a rain switch. It has rained every day - the last 4 days - since that job was completed. I can see that there is interest generated from my ads, but nothing that appears to be a deal as yet. I also received the usual inquiries from dealers and brokers trying to "steal" the vehicle, but I can certainly see through those inquiries. Patience is the key through this process. If I can just see the rain disappear.

Speaking of the rain, it became worse in the afternoon when we had some thundershowers to go along with the winds that kicked up yesterday. Josie snapped a couple photos of a rainbow on her way home from work:

They are a couple different perspectives of the rainbow. I captured a third perspective of the rainbow over the resort just before she arrived home:

The rainbow looks like a boundary around the storm.

We got our final schedules yesterday for the football activities over the next couple weeks. I will work 8 days and Josie will work 6 days beginning on January 22 with our training night, and going through the Super Bowl on February 1. We will work together, but at different venues during that time period. We have a couple days at the Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix and the Convention Center in Phoenix where the NFL Experience is being provided. Of course, we will work the Stadium during Super Bowl in the Team Store. We're happy that Super Bowl day will not be spent as cashiers at a food concession, but in the store where lots of action will take place. It looks like we are set to go, and look forward to a fun time...

Another Unscheduled Work day

I was just getting settled in to do some computer work yesterday morning when at 8:30 I received a call from Sam's Club asking me if I could work from 10 AM to 3:30 PM. Of course, I try to accommodate when I can, so I went in to work and did the full shift. I am scheduled to have today off, but I never really know with this company.

We received our schedules from Aramark and the information is somewhat confusing at this point. It looks - initially, at least -that Josie and I will work about 5 days over the two or so weeks during the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. It looks like our assignment is the  NFL Experience which will be conducted at the Convention Center in town. Further review of the confusing and long email will confirm or not confirm those assignments. If we are forced to work at the Convention Center in downtown Phoenix the whole time, we will most likely pitch the whole project as we both have other jobs that we could work that are a lot more convenient. Plus, the whole purpose for getting involved anyway was to get a chance to go to the Super Bowl. We'll know after today.

We're entering a kind of stressful period now with all the Aramark activity, so we'll see how things go over the next week or so. We aren't going to have any stress to deal with in our lives if there is any way to eliminate it...

Great Football Games

All of the planned ads were completed yesterday for the truck sale. I added Craigslist and the local laundry room for ad placements. I see this morning where I have 133 views on eBay for the ad and 4 people watching. There are a couple other King Ranch F450's for sale, but they will expire in a few days or less, so I hope to get some interest soon. There aren't any available with the added equipment that ours has or a warranty as good as ours. I concluded that the one inquiry I had from Auto Trader was a fraudulent attempt to acquire the truck.

We had some more rain last night - of course, the truck was cleaned and waxed - but it hasn't really affected the nice job that the detailer did on Friday. The inside is still pristine, and the outside can be wiped very easily.

Along with preparing these ads, I watched some great football games over the weekend. Of course, the best one was the Seahawks' trouncing of the Carolina Panthers. It was a close game for three quarters, but Seattle ran away from them in the fourth quarter. Next up is the NFC Championship game next weekend against Green Bay who Seattle has already beaten this year by 20 points. Of course, it doesn't matter what they did early in the season but I don't see any team that can beat the Seahawks again this year. I hope I'm right.

We still haven't received our detailed schedules yet from Aramark, so this week should clear up some of the mystery of when we need to reserve days off from our other jobs. We're heading into some interesting times over the next several weeks...

Truck Listed

Almost my entire morning and early afternoon were spent taking photos of the newly detailed truck and preparing the ads for Auto Trader and eBay Motors. I finished everything by the time I had to leave for work at 2:15. There are still a couple of places I would like to advertise the truck - Craigslist and in our laundry room here at the resort - so those ads are on today's agenda. I already received one inquiry from the Auto Trader ad and I believe it looks suspicious. I have an email from Auto Trader which asks to send any suspicious emails to their fraud department for investigation, which I did this morning. While working last night I received a text from someone asking for another photo of the engine which I texted back. The same individual responded this morning with the suspicious email. In less than one day, I have had 64 views of the eBay ad and one person watching the ad. So, we're off and running with this experience that hopefully will be positive.

It makes sense that since I had the truck detailed that it would rain yesterday. We probably get five or six days of rain in the winters here - between October and May - and one of them (or more) have occurred following the detail work. Oh, well, the pictures don't lie. It also makes sense that since I decided to sell the truck because it is a gas hog that diesel fuel prices would drop to almost where they are affordable. It's too bad that the best mileage I can get from the truck is about 13 mpg.

I got home in time last night to watch the final few minutes of the Seahawks/Panthers game and was happy to see the Seahawks destroy that team 31-17. They were the first Super Bowl winning  team to win a playoff game in their first season following the Super Bowl win since 2005. I don't see any team that can beat them, so I see them repeating as Super Bowl Champs again this year. I hope I'm right...

Truck Detailed

I spent my day off having the truck detailed while Josie was at work. He (Bill) arrived at our space a few minutes before 8 AM and didn't finish up until 3:30 in the afternoon. I've never seen such attention to detail or ever had such a thorough detailing of any vehicle I've ever owned. This guy was downsized from his IT Sales job in September and he indicated that he had always done some detailing for friends and while on vacations, so he decided to make it his full time occupation. He said he couldn't have any people working for or with him because he is so demanding on the details. The name of his company is Crystal Clear Auto Detailing in case anybody wants to know. He charged $275 for the detailing, and it is worth every penny. The truck looks as good as it did the day I picked it up from the dealership.

Here is a shot of him working on the detailing:

and the finished product:

The truck is now ready to be advertised for sale. With any kind of luck, it will sell quickly.

Our weekend will be spent mostly together as Josie has both days off and I work today from 3 PM until 8:30 PM. We have some shopping to do for groceries but, other than that, nothing else is planned at this point...

Just Another Work day

Both of us worked yesterday but my schedule was the later shift once again so I didn't get home until 9 PM last night. This year is very different from last year with our increased work schedule and I'm not sure yet how it all is going to work out. There were no noteworthy events at either of our workplaces except the gas prices dropped again at Sam's Club. I won't put the picture in that shows the new price at $1.84 per gallon as it seems that almost every day now there is a drop in the price. The big questions are: how low will it go before it begins rising again, and how high will the price go again when it rises? It is a nice situation for now.

Josie ends her work week today and I have off until tomorrow. The main activity for today is to get the truck detailed so I can get some shots of it for the ads I will prepare. I'm hoping that I get a good response to the ad and can get it sold quickly. The implication here is that the fifth wheel is going to remain on site at Lake Pleasant for the foreseeable future. We are looking at other options for Jackson but have to see how the next couple months go before making any firm plans for the summer. There are lots of questions still to be answered, and we hope to know the answers before too long.

The training for the Super Bowl activity and Pro Bowl activity will begin soon, so that is another distraction. At least our employers are both aware that we have those commitments and there shouldn't be any problem getting the required time off to participate. It is going smoothly right now...

Unscheduled Work Day

My day wasn't too far along when I received a call from Sam's Club to ask if I could work yesterday. It was before 8 AM and they asked if I could work from 9 to 6.  Evidently, one of our Greeter's called in sick and they had to have coverage. I agreed to come in, but from 9:30 to 3 PM. That was OK as they had another person scheduled for 3 to 8:30 which is closing time. I don't mind covering for somebody on my day off, but I don't relish working beyond the time I'm needed. It's not like I'm getting $20 per hour.

We set a record high temperature for this date yesterday (sorry, Patty). We reached 81 in Phoenix to break the old record of 79 for this date. I know that Chicago is still in the freezer as their high was barely in the plus figures for the day. With the wind chill, I saw that they were around -20. That is definitely dangerously cold, and the kids - and everybody else, for that matter - have to stay inside.

Josie and I both have work scheduled today. My day doesn't begin until 3 PM while she works her usual 8 to 4:30. It's another day where we only see each other briefly in the AM and at night before bedtime. There still is no word yet from Aramark on our schedules for the last two weeks in January...