Fear of Success

Last weekend I went up to the cabin for some R&R. I needed the break. But the only thing that really got a break was my well pump. It worked well Friday night when I got everything up and running but somewhere between going to sleep and waking up to pee at 6:30 the pump decided to give up the ghost.

It was too early to make any phone calls so I waited until around 8, then called Francis Tully, the guy who drilled the well 20 years ago. The recording said he was newly retired and would call back when he got into the office. I figured that being retired meant one would not go to the office on Saturdays so I considered my options.

I went to Rooney's to see if he did wells. He has a plumbing supply business and I remember hearing a while back that he did service calls. No, he said, he doesn't do that. But he did have the names of 3 other plumbers. One lived in Poynelle. I got home and gave him a call.

When I called I explained that I didn't have any money with me and he'd have to wait until I returned to NJ to pay him. Not a problem, he said. Pay me when you get it. And so I met him at the 4-corners to direct him to the cabin. I'll be the cabin was only about a mile away as the crow flies but about 5 miles away by road.

He and his helper looked it over, did some continuity checks and pronounced that it wasn't something simple like a bad relay but the pump was bad and had to be replaced. The pump was about 176 feet down and I'd never seen how any of that work was done. He had a cool machine of three small, pneumatic tires that clamped around the PVC pipe and drew them up. Each section was 20-feet long and he separated them at each joint. The machine also had a long pipe with a basketball hoop on top that guided the sections and secured them so they wouldn't snap.

So, after about 6 hours of being on the job (including about 2 hours of purchasing a new pump) I had water.

He trusted me to pay him when I could. I did, three days later. He trusted me, and that trust was rewarded.

If you ever need a good person to work on your well, I recommend Nobel's Plumbing and Heating, Poyntelle, Pa. (570) 448-2762. And you can tell him I sent you.

Kind of defeats the purpose

Riding from The Bronx Party in Manchester to The Battle of the Bands in Lavallette last week, I had the misfortune of taking Rt. 37 Westbound around noontime. I was prepared to be stuck in beach bound traffic for a good long time but was surprised. Sure, there was traffic. But even with the great weather the traffic was very light. I'm glad because it gave me the chance to people watch at 45 mph.
The yuppies were out. How could I tell? Let me set the scene. It is drop-dead gorgeous outside. The sun is shining. The temps are in the 80s. The convertibles are out sporting labels like Audi, Mercedes, BMW with two occupants beach bound. And what do you do with a convertible on a beautiful day? Ride with the top down, right? NOT! Each one of these yuppy-mobiles had the tops up and the air conditioners going. Excuse me, but doesn't that kind of defeat the reason why you have a convertible?
What perchance do they do once they reach the white sands of Seaside Heights? Probably dash into the Aztec for the air conditioning and umbrella drinks.
Ah, maybe they're just conscious of the harmful effects of UV rays. But then, why go to the beach?
Maybe it's just me.

Curses! Foiled again!

Oh well, the deadline has come and gone and alas, I did not get to finish in time. Not a problem.

Old Polish Proverb

There's an old Polish proverb that my mother taught me: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Doesn't look like I'm going to get that Wii thing. Not a problem, I don't even know what one of them is (or is it are? Isn't a singular form of it Wi and the plural is Wii?) Anyway, I'm learning something new with this and that's what's important. Maybe that should be the 8th habit: people learn for self enrichment.

Getting there

My Web Things is a bit out of order. Not a problem. I'm doing this for myself more than for any reward or renumeration, anyway.

Web Thing 2 involved life long learning and presented both the 7 1/2 habits as well as the framework for creating a work plan. It is nothing new. I've seen them at various times in my life. but it was one of the first times I've seen it all gathered in a single presentation.

One of the things I would like to accomplish is creation of a blog site that I can parlay into earning extra income. I can do that by combining it with my writing and photography skills. I need to learn how to market the idea. And I need the time to do all this.

The Learning Contract will enable me to work on all that.

photo of a missed friend

This is a photo of a friend who died a couple of weeks ago. Dith Pran was the person the movie "The Killing Fields" was about. I got to know Pran a couple of years ago when he was a NY Times photographer and I was a reporter for the Ocean County Observer. We worked a couple of the same stories and helped each other out. He was a decent person who suffered much, but you'd never have known it from talking with him. Here's an idea - borrow the video from the library and watch it.