John T

Hey Phillip, Then move to Amsterdam..cya...J/K I'm just making points and I know you never said legalize murder. Yes the war on drugs is a losing one and there should be some alternatives but to legalize them in MHO is a death sentence to this country. Where not built on the drug trade like a Columbia country is but if we do what you want and since this is such a capitalistic country it would be a short period of time where this country becomes the leader in selling the recreational drugs...that kill!!! I'm talking recreational drugs such as Crack Cocaine. Is this really what you want?? I don't. As for me living in a fictious world I guess you can say that to throw a jab at me. Yea I've seen underage girls living in squater under an abandon building shooting up thru there private parts who had lesions larger then any scab you most likely ever had(This was in the 80's when I was NYPD). Yea I seen a drug induce father blow half his head off in front of his 8 yr old son and there puppy dog licking up the brains(actually got there right after the father did this). If you want to call that a fictitous world..ok..rather it be fake then reality. Drugs kill and cause people to kill. In a perfect world yes they should legalize drugs so the country can keep them as clean as possible but this is not a perfect world and this country will be go right down the crapper if they ever legalize recreational hadcore drugs.

Phillip, I hear your points and disagree with just about all of them. When you make Drugs legal you make it a hundred times easier for people to get them hence alot more drug addicts . Yes we do have some vices that are legal and NO no one is expecting this country to be perfect. You want a lawless society then keep it in your town where people can by drugs, Hang out with prostitutes, smoke crack cocaine on every street corner and maybe commit some murders since there wont be any laws on that..in your town. Thats what you want then run for something and see what you can do to make all of that legal. Lets see how many people in your area support your ticket of legalizing Heroin and crack cocaine etc. Good luck to you and if it ever becomes legal in your town I'll do my best to keep my family far far away from that lawless society. Why don't you take it a step futher and start a Militia so you don't have to listen to "OUR" Goven't and get rid of all the Cops in your area..Make it a I can do anything I want in my town kind of place. Yes Rapes and Murders along with many other crimes will skyrocket in your town..but so what..just smoke some Crack and not give a rats ass because You'll be so dam high. As for my town I will always do my best to keep drugs off the streets and to never legalize them where kids(OK 18 yr olds but you get my point) will never have the luxury to go to the local Deli to buy a soda pop and a bag of china white heroin..like in your town. If you ever ran on these beliefs if you got 1 percent of your towns votes I'd be shocked. Still even though I think your beliefs are way way out there...it doesn't make you a bad guy. Look at River Phoenix the actor who came from a commune where his parents had *** in front of them and some kids were also invited to join in. Do I believe that is right..Hell no. Still I loved River the actor and if I knew him personally I could have been tight with a guy like that..besides the way he was brought up.

Phillip---I stood corrected a few post back before you pointed it out.I'm just waiting to see if Ryan can answer my yes or no question like the way one is asked in court..RYAN?????????????????

Ryan your views are cynical and I won't debate that because we are humans and we do alot of crazy things but once again your above quote is inaccurate. There's thousands of child molesters in this country. What your saying above is that you'll never pass a law that limits a mans thought and desires. Well....Should child molesters be aloud to run free?? No of course not. Laws are usually made because someone has done something bad and got caught.,,hence a law is now on the books. Drinking and driving was not always against the law but when people start to screw that up....it now becomes law. What your alluding to is to have a lawless society. Just answer this question and I'm going to give it to you as if your in court as I have been many times in the past. You can't elaborate and give your opinion you must answer yes or no....Remember yes or no and no bending changing muttering your answer or tying to change this question that was asked of you in the court of law.. So here is the question: Would you Ryan support legalizing drugs in your town..Yes or no.(any other answer will and can put you in contempt)..Judge now says MR. Ryan answer the question.....so?????????????????????????

Ryan you and I are on a course where will have to agree to disagree. Your probably to young right now and maybe if you have kids they are also to young to be effected..yet. You can't legalize drugs. If you legalize them alot more people will take them. There will be drug shops opening up all over the place. If you allow this to happen then its as if you sold your soul. Yes people will do drugs thats a given but if you make it easily available to them with ZERO repercussions then you just killed this country. Don't forget that people have the right to bear arms in this country..now your going to legalize drugs..I accept your opinion but if I was your campaign manager I'd tell you to keep those thoughts to yourself. No one is going to back a guy that wants to legalizes vices in this country..Maybe in Argentina they would but not in the USA where most of the time the people here try to do the right thing and who also work harder then most countries to support there families. Yes alot of Parents are irresponsible in this country but to give them access to legalize drugs then you know what kids tend to do...emulate there parents. One more thing to legalize Crack Cocain which is a very violent nasty drug stuff like this would bring this country to its knees and most likely destroy it. Could you imagine a future president of this country that is a crack addict and is aloud to be because he/she is not breaking any laws. We will have to agree to disagree but I can tell you this I would fight in my neck of the woods to keep drugs illegal. I would not want that element in my area.

Thats right. When I use to work in an "A" house which is about as bad as you can get nobody brought in Misdemeanor drug collars. They had to be felony ones because there all around you. Is the war on drugs winning..is the war on IRaq winning.NO. But the first one is a much bigger killer and because of that the war on it should never end. Toughen some of the laws and maybe make some others less stringent. If you legalize Drugs and your child becomes a drug addict because of it then you have no recourse..its there right to be a "Heroin Addick"..TERRIBLE and not in my country. I would never ever support that and 99% of law enforcement wouldnt either. The Christian coalition and many many other groups would not either. If your going to go down that path then we will be like the Roman dynasty where everything became legal and that..dynasty went to hell. Prostitution is another story but not nearly as improtant as Drug dealing drug taking. Ryan how would you like to live in an area where just down the road from your house you family and friends can buy Heroin at the local Stationary store. As for drugs being legal at one time such as cocaine..yes I stand corrected but when drugs became a recreational drug such as Heroin it was somewhere in that time that they became illegal.(I'm not a history major so I don't know the answer when). Now if you have some interesting idea's on changing some drug laws then I'm all ears but for legalization..never!! Can't have my kids and people I know go to the local candy store when there of age and buy a bag of cocaine..Not in this country...Go to columbia if you want that Now if your looking to change the laws in a different way to deal with drugs then that I'm all ears but to

Would it be worth it to have that trailer's axels and tires changed to support 5000lbs? If so then thats one of the ways to go. I have an 18 ft enclosed trailer that has two 3500 axels on it. My problem is somewhat similiar to what his is that when my tank is empty the trailer is at its Max which is 7000lbs and when the tank is full its at 9000lbs+. I've been towing my trailer around like this and its just a matter of time before the axels bend/snap. I'm most likely am going to have the axels and tires changed out to 5500lb axels so my trailer can carry 10,000+lbs. I already had this priced out at about $1900 but it worth it since my trailer is so neatly laid out where everything is bolted in and all space is used up. Just another thought to consider.

Yes I think thats aloud...Kind of like can Hillary make Bill her VP..I think the answer is yes and what a scary day that would be just like if Chaney made Bush his VP. The safe thing there is that Chaney is so uncharasmatic that he would be lucky if anyone voted for the guy who shot his supposed friend in the face.

Ryan--me being a police officer with what your saying above would alienate you from just about all Police officers. Your thinking there is way way off base. What your forgetting is that Alchohol was a legal drug before Prohibition came about...as far as I know Crack and Heroin where never a legal drug(Not counting anything that a doctor has prescribed such as canabus) and once you legalize them there is no turning back...like alchohol..and when your kids get older because you wanted to implement making drugs legal and if that came to fruition then your kids when they become adults have every right to smoke crack cocaine and you would have to live with the guilt of making this stuff legal. Most of your past political points where good ones, but this one is an embarassment. Take it from me...Cops do not want drugs legalize because now when they go to family disputes they can now be dealing with people high on heroin and since it would be legal for them to be like this...now you put all cops and civilain lives in danger. You'd be clobbered on this if you ever ran with this on your ticket. I would grant you this that Marijuana should be the one drug that possibly should be legalized but if you know alot about that drug the bet here is to keep that one illegal also except under doctors care.

Ryan has some good idea's and just because he never served that shouldn't stop him from running for any type of office. Bill Clinton never served and he protested against us in a foreign country when he was young. G W Bush didn't really serve either with his crap about all of his missed time as a National Guards men reservist. The problem with Ryan's plan is taxing drugs. It sounds like a good idea but basically what your doing there is you have to legalize it to tax it. Now what they do is they take all of your earnings if your selling drugs and throw you in jail. Besides legalizing drugs which is so morally wrong why make it easier for kids and young adults to have easier access to drugs because there legal. The war on drugs should never end. If Ryan could ever run where his ticket was that he was running as a "Regular Joe" who has normal everyday problems like most Americans do and what his plans were to fix some of those problems..I'd vote for him. The unfortunate thing here is that you really have to be a politician to win. You have to be a great salesman and you have to please so many with money to get there support. Why does anyone suppose Hillary Clinton has a 100 million in her campaign fund. She didn't get it from most of the regular Joe's that I know. It's a cynical view I have on politicians and how there system works. I hope in my lifetime a regular guy or gal makes it all the way to the White House.

Hey Jon---I like your title there "The Fife Plan" and actually got a kick out of reading it but..it would never work and if you tried to debate it somewhere you'd be laughed off the stage. That would be an easy debate for anyone to crush you and its because of your views about ladies voting and also the other problems that will arise from this strange view point. Since you are stating that people must make a certain amount of money to vote and if a lady is home raising children where really that is one of the toughest and most rewarding jobs to do but doesn't pay in monetary value she has no right to vote...boy that would get you chased off of a debate team an ran right out of the building..and not just for that. What you are also eliminating here is many other people's right to vote...such as the disabled who may not have the ability to make a decent earning. Here's a morbid example for you that should put this to bed. What about some hero serving in the military who might have got his leg shot off there and is now home..and let's say because of this he is having a hard time making money besides his disability check he is recieving and to compound all of this he now is suffering from depression. You have to really root for this guy/gal to pull thru...but according to your plan since they are not earning enough they will now lose there right to vote. The "Fife Plan" needs to be alot more thought out because where it is now anybody would love to be debating the "Fife Plan" because of all the potential problems with it. That would be an easy debate...It was funny reading it though.

Those people pay those prices because they..can. It's just like the ones who buy paintings for millions..because they can. Is it worth it?? I guess if you have a ton of money to burn then it probably is. The problem would be a guy like me who if I had all that money to buy those cars I'd drive them which would bring down there value considerably. That 67 vette is a beaut!! The 63-67 I think it was that had that style shape I always thought was the best vette by far. The 63 vette with the split rear window was a good collector car. If I had the dough I would buy a 63-67 vette but it would have to be a convertible. Another beautiful car from those days is the Shelby Cobra Roadsters. They could have been had back new back then for about $5000 which was expensive but today if you had an original it would be worth hundred of thousands..Even the roadster kit cars are expensive and there nice to. Here's a picture of one http://images.webkrafters.com/trinity/27800/65cobra27812-4.jpg

Nice post Ken. I agree that franchising can work in this industry if it is done right where you do get the continuing support from the "Franchiser". The only foreseeable problem that I could see with franchising in this industry has to do with Residential wood restoration. Most commercial work and residential Power washing I could see Franchises working but in the wood restoration market its such an expertise thing to do this type of work that unless you have it and your employees have it the franchising won't be to successful. I'm probably being a little bias here since I do wood restoration along with many other types of cleaning and from my experiences no matter who I hire nobody as of yet has came close to me in doing this type of work and doing it well and doing it pretty fast. Its like an art. I'm sure there are some here that can do this type of work better and faster then I do but to find workers that care as much as you do and are passionate enough as you are to do this type of work is slim to none. As for house washing, concrete cleaning etc..washing in general I had past guys that did that well because its so much easier. I'd be most impress if there was ever a franchise that was out there that has a rock solid reputation in the wood restoration business.

I'm wishing you the best of luck in your family's time of need.

If its just one thing from the list above that is all your asking for us to answer..of course assuming you already have a Powerwasher...the one thing I would pick is "or other" I would get the x-jet with the M-5 my first choice. Look at the sponsors of this bulletin board and give them a call. They all have excellent prices on this and many other pieces of equipment that you may and will need for your future in this business.

Hey Carlos--sweet ride!! Your wife is a lucky lady. When my girls get older I'm going to look to get my wife a nice ride like that. Untill then she has her Gas Guzzler Chevy Tahoo...with leather interior. Thats if for luxury for now with young kids. Enjoy the ride...and keep it under a 100 mph:)

When I held a PWNA sanctioned roundtable I asked all the speakers about there credentials so I could introduce them. If Don doesnt want to do that its his choice because its his roundtable and he knows some of the people teaching there so with that he probably already knows what there credentials are. The PWNA is a big believer in Roundtables as I'm sure the ***** is. We even do roundtables during breakfast most mornings at the conventions(I always had problems getting up for these cause I'm not an early riser..yet!! Roundtables no matter if ther affiliated with on org, a bb or just on its own there all good. Maybe one day TGS can organize a bunch of roundtable right on this site..I would love to one day see to roundtables meet together..and guees what...if you can get them all to meet you can have your very own roundtable convention..

Celeste, Before you answer this read my private message to you please

Celeste, I dont have whatever that thing your talking about "brick Certification" never even heard of it. No I did not take a building cleaning course..Don't know where you got that from. What Matt does..Matt does. As for what your thinking when you say sq. footage I have no idea what your thinking. Give back to the industry no one is telling you not to. I've been doing it for years. I don't know what your so angry about that causes it to spill into this post. No check that I know what your mad about but it should not spill over to this post. This is not an us vs them post. This is a TGS post thats it. If one guy feels that he wants someone with at least 10 yrs teaching why are you so mad at that. Tony has at least 15 yrs in this business so if this is what he wants..so what. You see Celeste this is the problem. Your mad about some past history and its spilling right into this post. Can we talk about this post or any post for that matter without the other stuff always being and underlining thing?? I can do it and will continuously do so..can you??

Boy thats a great way to look at it. I remember a few yrs ago when I had this strip Mall to clean once a Month for an easy Grand..Well maybe not to easy cause it took me 8 straight hours to clean it from 10pm-6am. I lost it a couple of months later because the whole darn Mall was sold..I was bummed.

This is a good post but don't make it into my org is better then your org. The GRE this and the PWNA that yada yada yada. Its all old news. I don't think Tony is here to bring up that forever broken record. I think I just told someone here that what makes one qualified can be debated forever. I mean forever. Its like Certifications. Many think there a waste of time and they can debate that forever. I'm looking at this commercial contract and they want to know all about your business such as how many years have you been in business, What type of Insurances do you have, What experience and training does your company have with this type work etc. So with that even though some doesnt think it means squat to say you have an XXXXXXXXXXXX certification that can be verified do you think then that a certification may matter?? Skip the "Well I can make up a certification certificate myself on the net" because thats not the answer that the serious ones in this business or at least me want to hear. Tony would like to see someone with at least 10 yrs experience on there resume to teach. OK can't argue with that because that would be nice. Me I would like to see that the person teaching has at least 5 yrs in this industry(Mainly because most businesses fail in the first 5 yrs) and they are or were fulltime in this industry. I dont want a cop like myself who is pretty successful in this industry to be teaching any fulltimers anything because to me thats disrespectfull to them because this is there livelyhood. I would only teach for free if they wanted it..thats it. Like at a roundtable which I held in the past.PS-I hate public speaking. Celeste wants someone that has large accounts or tons of square footage that they clean to be a teacher. OK I can't argue that. If someone is cleaning multiple stadiums for example and only have a few years under there belt..yea I would love to go that class. I guess it depends on your company and what there needs are. If your a company that employes about 40 people do you want them to be trained at a cost by a start-up company..maybe not. If your a one man operation that started yesterday you may want anyone who is willing and able to teach you anything no matter what there experience is then thats fine. It all depends on what you want but hopefully whatever it is in the end your satisfied:) One quick note..everyone I mean everyone I ever talked to love Roundtables...I think all here can agree to that...right???? Right.

KEN FENNER-- Don't take this personal because I don't see anyone hear saying that you can't teach. You may very well be a great teacher. I guess when the day comes that you do this if your not doing it already only your students will know how good you are and with that your reputation will grow. You know the type guys that Tony is talking about. The ones that come on the net and tell everyone how they get 25 cents a sq ft for the tons of commerical work they have and they preach about this to all and get newbies excited about this then puff that big mouth is gone and the poor newbies find out there lucky if they can get 4cents per sq and then boom there out of business. Nobody is pointing fingers at you. Scott Stone is another one that could be a very good teacher in this field if his heart went that direction. I read some of his articles in the past and I would feel comfortable to take a class that he would teach. Besides possibly being an excellent teacher at everything or just a great talker I would have a problem taking this type of guys class if I knew he was not successful in this business. I would also have a problem taking any class from anyone who's only intention was to push there products no matter how successful they are. Still it doesnt mean that a company like Cabots can't bring in a guy that never ever did any field work and happens to be a great teacher. Because this company is successful I could attend that class. You want reputable and credible people teaching classes thats all. If a Ken Fenner is a reputable and credible guy and he wants to be a teacher then you want him to teach. If Joe shmo who has no crediblity and is advertising on the Net how you can make $100,000's of thousands Powerwashing in your first year and take my class for $500 to learn this..well that guy is the one that kills it for the newbies. I should know. I bought that book yrs ago called "The Lazy man's way to make a Million" yrs for $10 and read the 60 page book cover to cover and then read a few yrs later how the author ended up in Jail because of all these con artist books he wrote..Lesson besides me being a dumb ass at the time..You want a REPUTABLE/CREDIBLE Teacher. In NY teachers need so many yrs to get there master degree's or there gone..I like that! I want my kids taught by people with higher education and considering the fact that teachers make over a $100,000 here they standards should be raised.

HEY TONYYYYY, Happy new year to you and yours..you know me stuck at work somewhere. Hey family first like we discuss last week. Talked to my wife after that call and..whooooshh my life has taken a major and dramatic turn including buying another business(3 jobs now). My whole outlook has changed about many many things with one of them is of me stepping down in 2 weeks my PBA presidency position on this job and may retire here as soon as this June. Still trying to stay one more year here of unlimited OT with this racket but will see about that. The burnout with me in my many involvments is..comming to an end on my terms which is always a good thing. Burning no bridges and completed most task that I have taken on. Looking to build my 2 businesses that are related and to have alot more quality time with my wife and girls.....sound familiar:)

Jarrod, Yes thats the company. I may not use some of there products but I would be interested in some of there teachings. I would like to be taught by some of these very successful companies where they teach you how things are done. The product pushing or endorsement should come at the end of the class or after the class. This was one of the things that the PWNA's rules where at the the Conventions. When one is teaching a class they were not there to push a product yet the goal was to have the teachers teach the students on the "How to's". They where not allowed to push any products in these classes and you had many BOD's dropping into these classes to make sure these rules where followed. After the class they could talk about there products to anyone that wanted to know about them but not during. Classes are there for people to learn and to learn from the companies like Tony I believe is expressing that are very successful is a plus for all. I would love to get a company like Cabots commit to teach a generic class on wood restoration and for them to use all the research they had done with there money and pass it on to us in a classroom atmosphere would be great. Once the class is over then they can do the upsell of there products or better yet they can rent a booth at the big dances and sell there products there. This is I believe what Tony point is along with the point of beware of the one's who come unto the bb's and act like they know everything then next thing there trying to sell the newbies on idea;s that are false. What Tony is not saying and either am I is that there isn't anyone on the bb;s that are worthy of teaching. That is simply not true. Example of this is Tom Vogle who has been on this bb and a few others. He can teach pump/equipment classes with his eyes close. Beth can teach Marketing and wood classes since she has many years of exeprience in both. She won the Marketing contest at the Dallas PWNA/IWCA convention and some of the companies she beat where some window washing companies who gross in the millions along with some powerwashing companies. Ron ********** can teach Flatwork cleaning also with his eyes close and his feet up on the desk and these are just 3 bb to name a few. The reality is its nice to know that your getting and education by some successful people..

I agree with most of what Tony is saying but just because someone has a ton of years under there belt as a contractor it doesnt necessarily make them a good teacher. On the other hand there are so many out there with hardly any experience and they right away think there qualified to be a teacher in this industry. If I had a choice I would rather have my company be taught by a person that comes from a very successful company such as a Flood, Benjamin Moore, V-seal, Prosoco etc. Still on a smaller scale if there is someone that is just great at being a teacher and has studied up on this field and knows most of what they need to know to teach I would attend that also. Preferably though I still want the most successful ones to teach me and my employee's first. As for bb's I do believe in them but you have to siff thru them to figure out who the phonies are which for a newbie is hard for them to do. This is where some of the biggest problems are and I think with an aggressive aproach to this in the future thru the net alot of this can...and will be corrected if the ones can find where to go for this. They will have to search this out themselves down the road when they do there due dillegence. In case if anyone is wondering if there is that place down the road yet..as far as I know its not. Doesn't mean that it wont or cant be.