zornwil Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: The cranky thread There's 2 porn channels in the hotel. But 1 isn't working, it's "stuck", seems as if the broadcast was playing a DVD and froze, it shows the single frame of a woman performing an act and if you turn the volume up it makes that rapid-tick sort of sound that stuck audio does. I'd complain if it would matter, but this is Germany and bothering to point out a problem with a service is much like peeing in the wind. And of course there's the minor embarrassment of explaining such to the very pleasant staff, though I've been known not to worry about that. Speaking of customer service in Germany, when wireless internet doesn't work in this 5-star hotel, where the soccer team Bayern Munich stayed last night and apparently none of their laptops worked with it, the only support provided is a 9-5 Monday-Friday desk that may or may not call you back. That was as per my last stay here. Really annoying. I can stay at a mid-range, nothing-special hotel in America and get 24 hour support on the same. Even Germans, at least those who've been elsewhere, complain about customer service in Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted September 10, 2005 Report Share Posted September 10, 2005 Re: The cranky thread THere is a band of granite down there SOMEWHERE. If we hit it too soon, we may be basically bankrupt. If we can get by in sand with 80-100 feet 0f depth, we should be ok at only about $2500-3000. UGH. Ugh is right. I didn't always agree with the boss of my company, who ran the driller side of things, but one thing I'll give him... he pretty much charged a flat rate per foot without changing things based on the variables under the ground. Sometimes a hole went in easy, sometimes it went hard (we did one well that 90% of the shaft was through a huge quartz vein... THAT was a PITA), but he tried to set a fair median price and stick with it, even if it meant occasionally losing money on a contract when a particularily mean job burned through a drillhead faster than expected. It's a shame in your case too, because a good fracture in a granite layer might give you the kinda water you need. Or not. Wells are tetchy beeatches sometimes. Good luck again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Ugh is right. I didn't always agree with the boss of my company, who ran the driller side of things, but one thing I'll give him... he pretty much charged a flat rate per foot without changing things based on the variables under the ground. Sometimes a hole went in easy, sometimes it went hard (we did one well that 90% of the shaft was through a huge quartz vein... THAT was a PITA), but he tried to set a fair median price and stick with it, even if it meant occasionally losing money on a contract when a particularily mean job burned through a drillhead faster than expected. It's a shame in your case too, because a good fracture in a granite layer might give you the kinda water you need. Or not. Wells are tetchy beeatches sometimes. Good luck again. If we can get a 30-50 foot column of water and make up over 20 gallons a minute I'll be happy. They hit that granite band on another well before they got enough water. It ended up 345 feet deep, but a good well. WIthin about 5 miles I know someone who has a 1000 foot well, but on the other side of a valley. I have a book on home water systems or two, but anything else is useful. In the long run I was thinking about a 1-2000 gallon holding tank, probably concrete with the sealant materials added. It will have to be buried at least 6 feet deep due to winter conditions, and there have been winters where that would not be enough. There have been local winters that held -20-30 for an entire month. The 1000 gallon tank is about $650 sealed. They'll mold in 3 fittings, so I was thinking an in fitting from the well, an out fitting to the pressure tank, and one in the top that will allow me to connect a manual frost free pump in case of power outages. Realistically I should have some kind of access, but that might be hard to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread If we can get a 30-50 foot column of water and make up over 20 gallons a minute I'll be happy. They hit that granite band on another well before they got enough water. It ended up 345 feet deep, but a good well. WIthin about 5 miles I know someone who has a 1000 foot well, but on the other side of a valley. I have a book on home water systems or two, but anything else is useful. In the long run I was thinking about a 1-2000 gallon holding tank, probably concrete with the sealant materials added. It will have to be buried at least 6 feet deep due to winter conditions, and there have been winters where that would not be enough. There have been local winters that held -20-30 for an entire month. The 1000 gallon tank is about $650 sealed. They'll mold in 3 fittings, so I was thinking an in fitting from the well, an out fitting to the pressure tank, and one in the top that will allow me to connect a manual frost free pump in case of power outages. Realistically I should have some kind of access, but that might be hard to do. Most of the molded concrete underground storage tanks I put in came molded with an access lid, kinda like a big heavy concrete manhole cover. Frostline problems will be a pain to deal with, however. Hmmm. Short of insulating the tank and building a new pumphouse over the top, I don't see an easy workaround to that problem. Bear in mind that with a storage tank you are going to need a second pump to pressure up the system... I'm presuming you've got a submersible pump down the hole already... the good news is that with the sub pump feeding into a tank, you remove the strain of the pressure tank fromm the sub pump, getting a better flow from the pump, and whatever pump you use for the tank and pressure system won't have the weight of the water in the pipe fighting it. A manual pump is seldom a bad idea if you're far enough in the boonies to need a well, as winter power can be very off and on, tho its also not to hard to wire things so you can run your pumps from a generator. You might do a bit of number crunching and seriously look at cost comparisons between the concrete subsurface tank and an aboveground poly one with a well insulated pumphouse over it... the poly tanks are a LOT cheaper, and maintainance will be much easier, and you won't get killed with delivery charges, backhoe rental (unless you already have access to one) and all the other headaches associated with sinking a tank. Especially if you end up having to insulate a concrete tank anyway (not saying you will, but its worth doing the math). I figure if you're like a lot of us building the outbuildoing to house it woin't present too much difficulty for you As for pumps... IIRC, the Sears line of water pumps are manufactured by Sta-Rite Industries, who make good solid middle of the market pumps.... better than most of the DIY ones available, but the ones imprinted for Sears are cheaper than one with the actual Sta-Rite branding. Depending on your usage (for example... if you don't run sprinklers, landscaping water or farm lines other than for your horses off your well) you might look at a constant pressure system... 4 years ago the tech was fairly new and about half the time in a tank or other shallow application it worked out cheaper than a conventional system. I don't know how the market and tech has shifted in the subsequent years. A CP system can usally get by either no pressure tank or a tiny one (like 3 gallons) just to buffer against water hammer. I've dealt with 1000 foot wells before. The Gods of our various norse ancestors help you if you have to deal with something like that. You're looking at steel pipe, cranes, and a pump as tall as I am and weighing around 75 pounds for something like that. probably about a 15-20 grand total tab. My first day on the job was dealing with one of those. It was almost my last. Both because I almost quit, and because the damn system tried to kill me.... it was a dignosis and repair job... we thought it was a hole in the pipe. NOPE... the pipe hae come apart completely. I was the lucky sod reeling in the pump wire when 300 feet of 1 1/4" steel pipe with a 75 pound pump at the bottom was released and plummeted back towards the bottom of the hole. I came very very close to being yanked face first into a 6" wide hole. I wouln't have fit very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted September 11, 2005 Report Share Posted September 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread IIRC a 600 gallon above ground tank cost about the same as the 1000 gallon concrete. If I didn't worry about the cast in sealants, the concrete tank was 2/3 the cost. One problem with an insulated above ground building is that the county requires permits, 24 inch concrete footings, etc. Most of the molded concrete underground storage tanks I put in came molded with an access lid, kinda like a big heavy concrete manhole cover. Frostline problems will be a pain to deal with, however. Hmmm. Short of insulating the tank and building a new pumphouse over the top, I don't see an easy workaround to that problem. Bear in mind that with a storage tank you are going to need a second pump to pressure up the system... I'm presuming you've got a submersible pump down the hole already... the good news is that with the sub pump feeding into a tank, you remove the strain of the pressure tank fromm the sub pump, getting a better flow from the pump, and whatever pump you use for the tank and pressure system won't have the weight of the water in the pipe fighting it. A manual pump is seldom a bad idea if you're far enough in the boonies to need a well, as winter power can be very off and on, tho its also not to hard to wire things so you can run your pumps from a generator. You might do a bit of number crunching and seriously look at cost comparisons between the concrete subsurface tank and an aboveground poly one with a well insulated pumphouse over it... the poly tanks are a LOT cheaper, and maintainance will be much easier, and you won't get killed with delivery charges, backhoe rental (unless you already have access to one) and all the other headaches associated with sinking a tank. Especially if you end up having to insulate a concrete tank anyway (not saying you will, but its worth doing the math). I figure if you're like a lot of us building the outbuildoing to house it woin't present too much difficulty for you As for pumps... IIRC, the Sears line of water pumps are manufactured by Sta-Rite Industries, who make good solid middle of the market pumps.... better than most of the DIY ones available, but the ones imprinted for Sears are cheaper than one with the actual Sta-Rite branding. Depending on your usage (for example... if you don't run sprinklers, landscaping water or farm lines other than for your horses off your well) you might look at a constant pressure system... 4 years ago the tech was fairly new and about half the time in a tank or other shallow application it worked out cheaper than a conventional system. I don't know how the market and tech has shifted in the subsequent years. A CP system can usally get by either no pressure tank or a tiny one (like 3 gallons) just to buffer against water hammer. I've dealt with 1000 foot wells before. The Gods of our various norse ancestors help you if you have to deal with something like that. You're looking at steel pipe, cranes, and a pump as tall as I am and weighing around 75 pounds for something like that. probably about a 15-20 grand total tab. My first day on the job was dealing with one of those. It was almost my last. Both because I almost quit, and because the damn system tried to kill me.... it was a dignosis and repair job... we thought it was a hole in the pipe. NOPE... the pipe hae come apart completely. I was the lucky sod reeling in the pump wire when 300 feet of 1 1/4" steel pipe with a 75 pound pump at the bottom was released and plummeted back towards the bottom of the hole. I came very very close to being yanked face first into a 6" wide hole. I wouln't have fit very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread If more people don't get sweet, loving, and humble soon I'm going to have to repeatedly knock their heads together, over and over and over, until that thunking sound begins to switch into a cracking sound, then finally a MULCH as the skull,having broken away, protects the gray matter within no more, and I mash them together like goey cantaloupes. Doesn't matter much, they weren't using those brains anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread If more people don't get sweet, loving, and humble soon I'm going to have to repeatedly knock their heads together, over and over and over, until that thunking sound begins to switch into a cracking sound, then finally a MULCH as the skull,having broken away, protects the gray matter within no more, and I mash them together like goey cantaloupes. Doesn't matter much, they weren't using those brains anyways. Okay, okay. so do you want the loving sweet or humble? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Both, darn it. I already gave up on the sun god robes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread What about the picklegirls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted October 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread That's still being decided in comittee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 Re: The cranky thread THANK you for bumping this thread. NOW to start my rant. On Thursday I told the driller I couldn't have the hole to access the pitless adapter ready on Friday. He said that if he did another job in between, he might not be able to get to me until Tuesday. I said that was fine, I was off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The WELL driller finally showed up on Tuesday afternoon, about 1500. He knocked on the door, and told my wife "We are out of pipe, we need to go get more, we'll be back tomorrow morning." At about 0900 on Wednesday, they showed up. The welded up the old hole for the pitless adaptor, then filled in my excavation. I would have helped with that, but I was having sinus trouble, and the benadryl I took knocked me out. They could have knocked at the door, though... They fought all day with their "screen puller." Apparently it broke a couple times, and they had to go get more parts. at about 1545 I talked to them, they had JUST managed to get the screen out of the well. They would be back about 0800 the next day and done by noon... about 0830 they showed up. By 1130-1145 when I had to leave for work, they were down 86 feet (an extra 40) and were in water, they were trying to get the sand out of it, then they would install the screen and find out what the static water level was... At 1645 I called their boss to find out what the $$ damage was. He hadn't calculated it yet. Then he told me that he needed the hole dug out again so they could cut a new hole for the pitless adaptor... THey left again with out it finished. So I went home after work, got there about 0115, and dug the hole out AGAIN. I finished about 0230, the hole isn't as big as the previous one, but deep enough, and probably enough foot room. Hell it was 0230!!! At 0800 I woke up, and called to notify them that I had the hole dug, and it would be nice to have the well hooked up again... him "Yeah, that would be really nice, but I don't know if we'll be able to get to it today. We'll try, but..." me "oooookkkkaaayyyy. I'm going back to sleep." click. Attempting to keep from screaming at him... I called him about 1330, he didn't answer. I left a message, it has been almost an hour and I haven't heard from him. If I have to wait ANOTHER 4 DAYS to have water because he started another Goddamned job before he bothered to finish mine, I SWEAR I am going to the Better Business Bureau and Probably the editorial column of the local paper. Or maybe I'll charge him $10/hr for the time he is keeping me and my PREGNANT WIFE from having running water. Nothing compared to his $75/hr rates..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted October 10, 2005 Report Share Posted October 10, 2005 Re: The cranky thread THANK you for bumping this thread. NOW to start my rant. On Thursday I told the driller I couldn't have the hole to access the pitless adapter ready on Friday. He said that if he did another job in between, he might not be able to get to me until Tuesday. I said that was fine, I was off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The WELL driller finally showed up on Tuesday afternoon, about 1500. He knocked on the door, and told my wife "We are out of pipe, we need to go get more, we'll be back tomorrow morning." At about 0900 on Wednesday, they showed up. The welded up the old hole for the pitless adaptor, then filled in my excavation. I would have helped with that, but I was having sinus trouble, and the benadryl I took knocked me out. They could have knocked at the door, though... They fought all day with their "screen puller." Apparently it broke a couple times, and they had to go get more parts. at about 1545 I talked to them, they had JUST managed to get the screen out of the well. They would be back about 0800 the next day and done by noon... about 0830 they showed up. By 1130-1145 when I had to leave for work, they were down 86 feet (an extra 40) and were in water, they were trying to get the sand out of it, then they would install the screen and find out what the static water level was... At 1645 I called their boss to find out what the $$ damage was. He hadn't calculated it yet. Then he told me that he needed the hole dug out again so they could cut a new hole for the pitless adaptor... THey left again with out it finished. So I went home after work, got there about 0115, and dug the hole out AGAIN. I finished about 0230, the hole isn't as big as the previous one, but deep enough, and probably enough foot room. Hell it was 0230!!! At 0800 I woke up, and called to notify them that I had the hole dug, and it would be nice to have the well hooked up again... him "Yeah, that would be really nice, but I don't know if we'll be able to get to it today. We'll try, but..." me "oooookkkkaaayyyy. I'm going back to sleep." click. Attempting to keep from screaming at him... I called him about 1330, he didn't answer. I left a message, it has been almost an hour and I haven't heard from him. If I have to wait ANOTHER 4 DAYS to have water because he started another Goddamned job before he bothered to finish mine, I SWEAR I am going to the Better Business Bureau and Probably the editorial column of the local paper. Or maybe I'll charge him $10/hr for the time he is keeping me and my PREGNANT WIFE from having running water. Nothing compared to his $75/hr rates..... Dude that sucks. If I had slightly more reliable transportation I'd offer to come up and do the job for you, but with my Jeep in its current state I'd probably blow something before I ever got up there. You could potentially look into another pump installer.. they're more common than drillers 'cause they don't need the massively expensive drill rig. Even if you signed a preliminary contract for the pump install, you have an adequate "pressing need" case to break the inital contract, as they aren't keeping to the timeline you specified as a requirement to employ them to perform the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Dude that sucks. If I had slightly more reliable transportation I'd offer to come up and do the job for you, but with my Jeep in its current state I'd probably blow something before I ever got up there. You could potentially look into another pump installer.. they're more common than drillers 'cause they don't need the massively expensive drill rig. Even if you signed a preliminary contract for the pump install, you have an adequate "pressing need" case to break the inital contract, as they aren't keeping to the timeline you specified as a requirement to employ them to perform the job. HE SHOWED UP THIS AFTERNOON!!! The birthday wake for my 40th is Back ON!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Are you almost 40?! Man, that's old!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread HE SHOWED UP THIS AFTERNOON!!! The birthday wake for my 40th is Back ON!!!!! wOOhOO!!!!! Good news my man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Great news. you're still a young punk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread . . . If he's a punk, then what am I? Pink? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread VERY cranky this week. Not saying why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Someone here has a potted plant with an infestation of irritating little black flies. They are tiny, with bodies smaller than the working sphere of a ball-point pen, and silent. If they stayed with the plant, I wouldn't care, but they spend altogether too much time around my face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread The shipping/receiving guy likes to prop the door open at my work, and we have some wooded area behind our building. We've gotten millipedes, mosquitoes, gnats, a TON of flies, spiders, and some things I can't identify. The fruit flies are the ones I hate the most. I eat an apple amost every day at my desk, and the tossed-out core attracts the buggers, who then hover around me, because I smell like apple, too. Some days, it's infuriating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Do like I do: Eat the apple whole, core and all. Fibres are good for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Ew! I can hardly stand the idea that, after eating a peach, you just have the pit. And I've eaten apple seeds before. Yick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Archer Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Get assigned a job. Objective, reduce the time it takes to complete said job. Discover the average time required the do said job over the last few years was 118 days. Put together a team, set goals and accomplish said job in 29 days and saving something like 192 manhours. Take the same job, and each is very much an individual job, none being the exactly the same, and accomplish the job in 25 days and save 892 manhours. What do you hear? You saved too much money. WTF? I know I work for the government but WTF?!?!? Now do the same job a third time, still haven't gotten the final results, but we did it again in 25 days. Now the fourth job comes along. Everyone above me is singing the praises of the system, mind you the SYSTEM, not the 13 people that are doing the work. Everyone above me is claiming other teams need to learn to do their work this way. YA THINK!?! So when another team becomes available to take the next job, my team figures we get a break. Um . . . WRONG! Those above me can't trust the other teams to do the same work as my team. Huh?!? I have 12 working for me. The other two teams are 15 and 18. Somebody check that math and e-mail it to 'those in power'. Must be government thinking. BTW, this fourth job is at least 80% larger than the previous three. My team's new job. Set up a time line for this new, larger, job. Okay . . . we set the time line last Tuesday. This morning they dropped a huge increase in the work package on us. Okay, government . . . oh . . . we don't get ANY increase the the time allowed to accomplish this job. We have, get this, 35 days. A ten day increase in time for a job that is probably TWICE the size of the last package. So I figure we are being set up to fail because 'top men' aren't comfortable with this system, even after three successes. Two levels above me is an idiot without a spine that doesn't have the brass to tell HIS boss it ain't gonna happen. I don't have that problem so I have been banned from any meeting involving upper management. It sucks when no one has the guts to tell the truth. So, my little team is going to struggle along under intense pressure and blow the schedule out of our collective a$$e$. The other nuggle of crap is that I have been acting as a supervisor for the last 18 months, acting because the way the government figures pay scales, I would have to take about a $600.00 per month pay cut to be 'promoted' to supervisor. Now they tell me they have changed how they figure pay and that if I take the job, it will be a pay raise. About 70 cents an hour. Well, I am a GS worker and in January I get probably 80 cents an hour anyway. Oh, and in April, I am supposed to get a promotion up two grades. That works out to something like $3 per hour within the next six months. So their 70 cents looks pretty tiny. The trouble is, I like what I am doing. I like the people that work for me. We are a great team and I would hate to see my people screwed by a new supervisor that doesn't have any idea what's going on. And if I come to the end of my supervisor position, they have no idea what to do with me. I hate not knowing what I'll be doing from day to day. I had enough of that when I was younger. SOOOOO, I am cranky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted October 11, 2005 Report Share Posted October 11, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Ew! I can hardly stand the idea that, after eating a peach, you just have the pit. And I've eaten apple seeds before. Yick. The problem of earwax-tasting appleseeds has a simple solution: Don't chew'em, just swallow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zornwil Posted October 12, 2005 Report Share Posted October 12, 2005 Re: The cranky thread Sorry, Ghost Archer. Maybe a management change somewhere on the chain will occur to make things better. Either way, best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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