Mike Williamson

That WAS a higher grade stainless steel unit that came with my machine, wasn't it?? :lgkick:

I can understand if you're using a much lower pressure tip like a soap tip for rinsing, etc. I use a size 15 (on the 5.6gpm machine) for all my rinsing, including plants. If they're really delicate plants, I just step back a ways, and that works great. The 15 won't draw chems. I use either a size 30 or a soap tip to downstream. If I need to get the chems higher, I use a size 40 zero degree tip (or a 1/4 hose barb screwed into a 1/4" plug for the 8gpm machine). Just did a screened enclosure that was every bit of 30' high at the peak, and had no problem at all getting chems up that high. I use an adjustable downstreamer, so if for some reason I need to use a lower pressure tip but not draw chems, I just shut off the downstreamer. Pulling the hose won't work, because then I'm sucking air. I've also got a ball valve on the chem tank, so I can shut it off there if I need to. The occasional trip back to the trailer still doesn't compare to the time I'd spend mixing a couple buckets of housewash, pulling out the Xjet setup, getting everything placed where I need it, and moving the bucket around. I'm not saying anyone shouldn't use the Xjet, if that's what works for you. I'm just saying if you haven't given a good downstreamer a try, you may be missing a great tool.

You ought to go spend a day with Roger and Celeste (providing, of course, that they're willing!) one day when they're doing housewashing and see what a good downstreamer can do! I know, I was a die-hard Xjet fan too, until someone convinced me to try downstreaming. If you look back at my posts a year or more ago, I was one of the guys telling people to ditch that lousy downstreamer and get an Xjet! Don't get me wrong, the Xjet does have its uses, it's just not the best tool for every job. If I need a strong concetration of chlorine, and the shur-flo isn't convenient, I'll Xjet. But why add water to chlorine and then Xjet when you can downstream straight and still get the job done? No bucket, no extra hose, no refilling the mix bucket... Have you ever spent 20 minutes watering the customer's lawn because you tipped over 1/2 a bucket of housewash in the grass? I have...

If you're using chems that you can mix stronger, why not just mix it a little stronger and downstream? Save all that hassle with the Xjet?

I think it is related to the evening meal. Just avoid the dining room that night.

LOL! There are quite a few imitations, but none of them measure up to the Xjet. Though I downstream whenever I can, the Xjet does have its uses, and when it is needed, it is nice to know it can deliver.

I'm getting confused now...I thought the idea of the Xjet was to be able to deliver a higher concentration of chems to the surface being cleaned...Which is defeated by using 1/4 hose and lowering that concentration. Why not just downstream if you're going to go that route? Personally, I love downstreaming, haven't used the Xjet in months. I've also had this happen to aluminum fascia wrap. I HATE cleaning gutterless houses!!

But how do we access those easter eggs?

Hope you didn't take offense at my post, just messing with you, man......Lighten up!!! :lgbonk::lgjump::lgbounces

If you average $200.00 per job, all you'd have to do is lose 5 jobs that you'd normally have gotten, and you've lost everything you though you made on estimates. Likely you'd lose more than 5 jobs over a fee based estimate, but maybe not.

I use mine for 3d CAD programs for complex design work, and also for fluid dynamics analysis. Actually, no. What I'm using it for takes even more power than you need for 3d CAD programs for complex design work, and also for fluid dynamics analysis..... I use it to play things like Call of Duty 2 and Need For Speed Most Wanted, and other games at maximum resolution and detail level. :) I also want to be able to do so for at least the next year or two, before games become so resource hungry that I have to start lowering the graphics resolution and detail levels. I'm also using it's vast computing ability to try to figure out how to work in the word "heuristics" into this thread..... :rolleyes: Had I really wanted a powerhouse, I'd have gotten the 840 extreme edition processor and installed the full 4GB of DDR2 memory. :)

I think the more specialized your service is (such as with wood restoration) the more likely it is that customers will accept an estimate fee. If you have a reputation as a top notch wood care company, people will be more willing to pay a fee to get you to come look. Granted, I don't think anyone is going to pay a fee for me to come look at their housewash and driveway cleaning job, and for me it really isn't an issue most of the time...any given job is no more than 10 or 15 minutes away at any given time, and can easily be worked into my normal travels around town.

Wow, looks like you went with the full tower case! Looks good! Mine is a mid-tower, but I may change that at some point down the road.

Here's my FAVORITE birthday song! Just click on this link... " Arrogant Worms - The Happy Happy Birthday Song.wav " or try this... http://www.ilovewavs.com/Holidays/Bday/Arrogant%20Worms%20-%20The%20Happy%20Happy%20Birthday%20Song.wav

In my experience, Outlook is a slow, resource hungry monster. I don't use it for that reason. Outlook express does a great job for email and newsgroups, and if you don't like that, Mozilla has one very similar without, of course, the common security issues. Come on, Tony, chime in here! You're the computer expert among us!! I think part of the reason they're so security vulnerable is simply that they're the primary OS out there. If you're a hacker and want to affect the most people you can, you go after windows. Any OS is going to be vulnerable in some way, I don't care how much time you spend testing and making sure you didn't miss anything. Hackers are always going to come up with new ways to attack you, spy on you, etc etc...At least MS has done a fairly good job of keeping up with security updates, and XP does a MUCH better job of security than 98 did. --------------- I know there are settings that you can change that aren't easily found without a third party program, or with Microsoft's Tweak UI program. As far as other things in Windows, I don't know, other than the hidden files that IE uses, which is another reason I won't use IE. Most games have cheat codes that will bring out hidden features in the game.

It was right at about $1650, including the video card. That of course didn't include the monitor. I just used the same monitor (19" Samsung 930B...I love it. 8ms refresh rate, 160 degree viewable). That price also includes a few little bells and whistles, like a combo floppy drive/card reader, a front 3.5" media center with usb and firewire ports and audio jacks, and variable speed 120" fans. The case kinda looks cool too, with blue LED lights in the front, and all the fans are blue LED fans. I'm just parital to Intel, no reason in particular, just never had a problem with their boards or chips, so why change now? The differences in speed is minimal, and for what I use the computer for, not that important. This machine will run every game out there at full graphics settings, so no worries there. The whole new computer thing started when I needed to upgrade the 120GB hard drive I had in the other computer (P4 2Ghz machine). I had run out of space mainly due to the number of digital pictures we take since we've had the baby!! It just snowballed from there. This video card will run dual output if I want to. The new version of windows coming out this year is geared towards two monitors, and of course 64 bit software. DVDs are another good choice, just a pain if you have a lot of data, or if you back up frequently. The drives really aren't that expensive.

Defrag definitely does NOT need to be run every few days, unless you're doing a huge amount of downloading, moving, and deleting data. For most of us, defreagging once every month or two should be more than sufficient.

Firefox opens very fast for me, at least as fast or faster than IE. I love it. I just put together my new system too. Intel D955XBKLKR motherboard with a Pentium D 840 3.2Mhz processor. 2 gigs of DDR2 Ram, ATI X700Pro 256mb in the PCI Express slot, 1 300gb SATA drive and 1 150bg SATA drive, and two Sony DVD dual layer burners. I bought a copy of WinXP x64, but some hardward developers have yet to develop drivers for it, so I haven't installed that yet. I'm still running WinXP Pro. The only processer faster than this one was the Pentium D 840 3.2Mhz Extreme edition, but that was $1000.00 just for the chip. This one was $570.00. You won't lose info if the OS drive crashes, b ut you WILL lose info if the secondary drive crashes! Better to have some sort of backup system in place. I have a 300MB external one-touch drive. I love it. I used Spybot before the new computer, and never had problems with it. I used that, Ad Aware, and norton, as well as the previously suggested CCleaner. All worked great! I don't use the spybot now because both Norton and Ad Aware have incorporated spyware features into their products.

I absolutely HATE zone alarm...Have tried it more than once, and always wind up with problems. I do use Ad Aware Pro, Norton antivirus 2006, and keep my windows and norton up to date.

Thanks! Yep, it was good. Didn't do much but sit around with family, play with the baby, eat good food, and watched Seattle beat Washington. And not one smoke...a few urges but nothing bad...Monday will be the test.

Actually, it was me who didn't read your answer carefully enough!!! I never got past the first part of the first sentence!

How do potential customers handle having to pay for an estimate?

Well, had the last one this afternoon...here we go. Funny thing is, at first, I was saying "Oh jeez, what've I gotten myself into" and was dreading today. As the week progressed, I started looking forward to it, and even today I was thinking "God I stink...I can't wait until I can walk around and not stink like stale smoke". How're you doing, Lance??

LOL, me too! They also want to know what that "jet engine thing" is in the back of the trailer. I think sometimes people may come up and ask "do you do pressure washing" or whatever it is that we're doing, just as a way to start a conversation. Of course they know you do pressure washing, that's what you're doing. I have had people ask me what I'm doing when I'm cleaning a roofe....I have always answered politely and professionally, with one exception...this lady just caught me on a bad day, so I told her I was painting the roof with a new shingle colored paint. I think she believed me. :)

What caliber?