Day off? What Day off??
Today was supposed to be my "Labour Day" day off, since I had to work the previous Saturday thus pushing my 3-day weekend head one day. I spent the morning working on paper-work so that I could bill Sears for fixing that garden-tractor, and also tracking down the parts that I had ordered three weeks ago for a customer's Kawasaki engine. The parts-dealer had told me that it would take a couple of weeks to get the parts up from the US warehouse, but it had been three weeks by now. I called them to enquire about the status of my order, but it wasn't in the computer and no-one could remember even taking it! Grrrrrrrrr!!!!! Fortunately, I still had the part numbers written down, so I was able to give them the order again. This time, "Ed" made sure that it was properly entered into the computer, and took my CC information to ensure that it was paid for and shipped in a timely manner. Fortunately the customer has another machine that he can use, so he's not in huge hurry to get this one back.
Trixstir and I headed into town at 1pm to get some work done at the bowing alley. She needed to do some cleaning up and organizing before we officially re-open for the 2010-2011 season, and I needed to meet with the Sears customer to get him to sign off on the paperwork. Also, there was a tree growing against the side of the bowling-alley in the rear, much like the one that's growing against the house. In the same manner, it seems to have sprouted from a seed that fell into a crack between the foundation and the sidewalk, and unless removed it will eventually crack the foundation. It wasn't as large of a tree as the one at the house, so armed with a pruning saw, I set about to cut it down. It was larger than I remembered it being, and it filled most of the back of my pickup truck. In my haste to get the bowling alley, I had forgotten to put a broom in the truck so there's still a lot of dirt and debris left behind that I'll have to sweep up at a later date (but soon!) Fotunately, this is all at the back lane, so it's not something that's easily visible nor an eye-sore.
Once the tree was felled, Trixstir and I did more work inside; We reorganized some of the storage cabinets, moved a few things around, and generally tidied up and made the place more open. I still need to enlist the help of some strong friends to help me load the big popcorn machine onto the truck and get it out of there; It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but popcorn is just too messy to be served at a bowling-alley. My plan for it now is to crate it up, and try to sell it on Ebay (or Craig's List, or Kijiji.) A new machine of this make and model sells for over $4,000.00 US$, and this one is in pristine condition.
Time flies when you're hard at work, and before we knew it, it was past 5pm! We wanted to be home and have all the chores done before 7pm, as we've been watching America's Got Talent for the last several weeks and we really wanted to see how the Semi-Finalists are going to perform. The show certainly wasn't dissappointing, and it's a shame that only four of them will proceed to the Finals. As Canadians, we're not able to vote for any of the acts, but we have our favourites; Prince Poppycock, Jackie Evancho, and Michael Grasso. There are so many other great acts that we can't decide who we'd like to see in that fourth spot, but those three are the ones we really want to see go "All The Way." No-One who gets this far in the competition is going to go home empty-handed; talent-agents from all around the world (let alone the US itself) will be snapping these people up. Of all of the acts, Poppycock is my personal favourite and I'd really like to see him win it. I guess we'll find out tomorrow night how America voted.
I'm rather concerned about a nagging cough and raspy throat that I've developed. The kidling was sick most of the weekend, and he's still hacking like a 3-pack-a-day smoker; I'm concerned that he may have brought something home from school, and it will only be a matter of time before we're all down with something. :P