Day 6 - back to this again

Didn't show. Didn't phone. I didn't bother to call.

Day 5 - finally

For those of you keeping score, that is 4 non-productive work days. Write this down folks. You can keep between 10% and 15% up to 30 days after completion of the job. The theory is that in that month, anything that you notice wrong will be fixed by the company if they know you still have some of their money. Once you have paid the total bill, they may disappear. At least if they do disappear, you have some of your money. I recommend 15%.

So the roofers did show up today and they set to work. I was pretty sure I could sort of block out the pounding but then they turned on a stereo blaring hard rock. That ended my sleep at about 1 PM. And I was pissed. One because the job should have been done by now and two because they screwed up my sleep.

They do good work once they show up. It is a more difficult job than most. There are two layers of shingles and then cedar shakes underneath. The west side of the house is basically done. So it was worth not getting any sleep.

Day 4 - no new roof

I wake up again today to silence. No one is walking or pounding on my roof. And I lose it. I do notice that there are packages of shingles on my roof but I think they put those there to keep me hanging on for another couple of days. I go over to the guy's house and give it to him with both barrels. Buddy's ankle is still sore. And now it is my fault nothing has been done because I didn't want one of their workers anywhere near my home but of course he is readily available to work.

But they will be here first thing tomorrow. Well great. I go back to work tomorrow - midnights. So if they arrive - yeah right - they will be banging around while I am trying to sleep. The roofers comment to me "isn't there somewhere else you can sleep". Are you kidding me, really. I resist the urge to punch him the throat and just leave.

I am hooped because I gave him half the amount as a deposit because I felt I could trust him. Take a lesson kids. You are only obligated to give 10% to 15% as a deposit. If the company you are dealing with demands more, something is wrong, go with someone else. I don't think buddy has enough money to buy the materials and pay the roofers so he is stringing me along until he can afford to finish the job.

If I had known that at the beginning, I would have paid for the materials myself and just hired them to do the work. Lesson learned.

Day 3 - no roof

Third day, roofers didn't show. Company didn't phone to tell me what was going on. I phoned and the injured guy's ankle is still sore and another roofer feels it is going to rain. Now the roofer is a f****** meteorologist. But they will be here first thing tomorrow.

Day 2 - no new roof

So second day, roofers didn't show. Company didn't phone to tell me what was going on. I phoned and apparently one guy twisted his ankle. But they will be here first thing tomorrow.

One More Day

The roof was supposed to start today but because of all the rain we have been having they are a day behind on the job before me which pushes me back a day. Crap, I was all excited about getting this started.

It's Done!

So I chose to redo my mortgage early to lock in at a low rate. I locked in at 5.55% for 10 years. I wanted the longest time period possible because when the rates do start to creep up, I don't think they will be coming down for a long time. I also took out a line of credit based on home value to get some work around here done. This summer I want to get the roof done, it isn't a want, it's a need. There is a hole and I have a little water damage on my living room ceiling. The range of estimates for the roof is from $4250 to $8300. Crazy huh?! I am going with a long time established company that gave me a very detailed quote of $6300.

I also want to get the soffit, fascia and eaves done. The eaves are also a necessity. It is like having none - they are so old and holey and I think redoing them will ease up some dampness issues in the basement.

I also want to get the three windows done upstairs. The cost will surely offset the decrease in hydro costs in the winter.

I am debating on replacing the super inefficient window in the back addition with a patio door in anticipation of the deck that will be out there. That door would also ease some hydro costs.

I am also going to replace and slightly increase the size of the little deck in the back. I have been buying the essentials piece by piece but for the wood, I will have to borrow someone's truck. Eventually a bigger deck will be adjoined to it (hence the back door). This I plan on doing myself. I have never built a deck but I think it is pretty straight forward. I will post before and after pictures once it is done.

Review LG DVR Model RH387-M

One of the blogs that I look forward to reading is One Project Closer. Their recent blog of a review of an LG dishwasher that they bought moved me to comment about an LG product that I bought and now regret.

I bought an LG DVR in July 2008. The DVR I had then had died after 5 years and the repair would have cost more than the price of a new machine ($400) so I upgraded. I had s choice of 3 models and I chose the LG because I thought made reliable products. It was also the mid priced machine.

I instantly hated it. I assumed that this machine would be heads and tails better than the old one - you know technological advancements and all. But it wasn't. So fine, I got used to it and then in July 2009- about 10 days after the warranty was up, it started acting up. Now if I want to record something onto a disc, i have to waste about 4 or 5 discs first.

This product is crap and I will never buy another LG product ever.

I have also learned to get model numbers and then Google forums to get the opinion of others BEFORE I spend money on a product. I found on an electronics forum that the recording problem is common to this particular model. If that is the case then LG should know. I think that if LG was a good company, they would recognize this problem and either change whatever the issue is and/or make it right for customers whose machines are affected.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have paid the $400 to fix my other machine.

Hell yeah for automation!

I was just reading a post by No Credit Needed entitled Automated And It Feels So Good and it excited me. I have had my finances automated for really for as long as I have been working which is just over 20 years. Back then, there was no online banking. I used to use a service called TelPay and I had to pay a small fee for every payment that I made. It wasn't very popular, no one I knew used the service. As a matter of fact, not many of my peers even knew what it was before I mentioned it. But for me this was a little slice of heaven for two reasons - I am not the most organized person in the world (but I am working one it) and I am a huge procrastinator (that I am not working on as much). The result is that I used to receive bills, put them aside to pay at a later date and then lose them or mistakenly throw them away. As I result, I used to waste hundreds of dollars a year in late fees and similar penalties. TelPay didn't cover ALL my bills but it was a better system than what I was using at the time.

Then I discovered mBanx and it revolutionized my life. I have always been a shift worker so my hours of work, sleep etc. have always been different the rest of the regular working world. With mBanx, it released me from the bonds of having to bank from 10 am to 3 pm like the rest of society. I could now do my banking at 3 am whenever I felt like it and I really never needed to physically go to a bank. I could pay a bill when it was received or at the very least, I could set up a later payment for when payday rolled around and file the bill right away. (For a while there I felt really organized but have since slipped).

Like No Credit Needed I also receive as many of my bills as I can online. I have also in the last year set up my pay stubs from work to be viewable online only. It is unfortunate that every one doesn't have this option. For 3 years I just received the stubs in my mailbox at work, looked at it and then threw it in the backseat of my car. Eventually, I got tired of the mound of envelopes and then recycled them. But sometimes you need a current stub for bank stuff, so that was not the best system. Now I send myself a PDF copy every two weeks and if I ever need a copy, I can print it anytime - at home or at work.

I was explaining my system to my 64 year old mother who still waits for bills to arrive and then sends cheques. I tried to convince her to set up some automated payments for bills where the amounts don't vary much from month to month but she won't even hear of it. She only trusts her cheque system. And that is her choice and she is happy with it. Her main concern is that there will be a difference and they will have more of her money than the amount of the bill and similarly that she will underpay.

I basically take the amoung of a bill, cut it in half and then pay that every two weeks. For example hydro is roughly $300 a month so every two weeks, I pay $150. Some months like this month have three paydays so I will be $150 ahead. I am sure that some where through the year, I will need that $150 and will adjust that weeks payments so that no payment will be made and I will no longer be $150 ahead. When I exlained this to my mom, she was appalled that I would let them "hold" my money like that. Really, it is not ideal. But for me as someone that has a credit past of late payments for no other reason than that I'm stupid, it is a small price to pay to make payments in good time.

So for the extremely organized and for those of us that are just not that motivated. Automating your banking life is the way to go for sure!

Really!

I tell you, there is one thing that chaps my a$$ more than anything. People who when driving, put on their brakes before they indicate why they are braking. Don't these idiots realize that the turn signal is the indicator to the car(s) behind them to slow down or to change lanes if they so desire. When you brake first without warning, it ruins my smooth driving because now I wonder, is there an animal in the road? Am I not hearing an emergency vehicle; is the driver in front of me in some kind of distress? No, the vehicle ahead of me is being piloted by an imbecile who doesn't know how to drive and shouldn't be allowed on the road. Aaaargh!