StainlessDeal

She'll make a fine wife and mother someday! My boy is fascinated by Christmas decorations. My folks have a very "Christmasy" house complete with a rotating tree with antiques to homemade (by my sister and me in gradeschool) ornaments, and a huge Santa collection. We've been saying,"Look with your eyes!" and "You can look, but you can't touch!" so much that I hear it in my dreams. lol I'll see if I can get a few pics to post tonight.

I saw the poster ID was bspressurewashing, and it seemed fitting. I didn't realize it was Briggs, I just figured it was the accepted meaning of BS. Odd that a manufacturer of that size wouldn't bother to contact end users with solid knowledge and experience before producing an instructional video. Makes you wonder who writes the owner's manuals, doesn't it? Sheesh!:lgbugeyes

Hey Jeff!...I mean Mike, we both know it's all in the wrist! Why would neatness count in an industry based on appearances? lol I'm sorry I missed this, as I was flying over on takeoff, I got a glimpse of guys in the parking lot, but didn't espy the victor. Now I finally know, Congratulations to him, ad thanks to all the RT participants. I had a blast, and it was great to meet so many people I've known for so long, it was a great experience, a great event! Thanks to Ron and Jeff for sharing so much, and for keeping everybody entertained.

Tricia says, "Nice gash you got there." I thought maybe your crocs finally decided to bite. (badumbump!) Here you spend all that time watching out for gators, and you get messed up by some crocs! Wakka-wakka! besure to tip your waitstaff, I'll be here all week!

Jinkies, Daphne! That's gotta hurt! We all need a reminder, once and again. I hope you put some alcohol on it. (Or at least piped some in! LOL) Heal up my man!

:lgangry::lgangry:NO NO NO!! Thad, you should have asked: "Did any of them wear spectacles, or require corrective lenses?" Let's try to be nice to one another here.

I'm sitting here online, messing about with the BBS world today because I have set today aside as a celebration. In 2005 on this date, the former Patricia Flahive, an educated, self-reliant, and beautiful woman took a walk with her father. At the end of that walk I was in wait, worried she might never appear, but she did. And there, in the presence of God and many of the people we love, we plighted our troth. Jumped the broom. Were married. I have no illusions: I have married well above my station. In my sometimes tumultuous life, I have always been humbled, grateful, and surprised at the amazing caliber of my many dear friends. Tricia is my best friend, and is orders of magnitude better than I deserve. I can't imagine any aspect of my life without her. Some of you have met my fair bride, others will one day. I can honestly say that her influence in my life has been the single most civilizing factor in my experience. Before I met her, I only had one method for problem-solving: ATTACK! It served me well, in its place, but was too often misplaced in the everyday world. Where my motto was once "Better Dead Than Mellow!" I have learned nuance, and empathy, and tact. She has taught me to listen with more than my ears, and to act with compassion. Three years ago today, Tricia and I made our vows and I have never regretted that for one instant, what's more, I have worked hard to see that she has no regrets of that day. I love my wife. I love being married, and having a family to cherish. Jeff says it best: Life is GOOD! Here is a couple a pics from that day. First T and I dancing to Sinatra, and second is probbly me singing either "Fly Me to the Moon" or some Pogues, or Chieftains. Maybe it was Lorelai or Whisky in the Jar. Hey, I don't know, I was singing, I know that. After all, my glass was full, and I had a fine Irish woman on my arm!

Thanks David, Kevin, Carlos, Matt, and Beth. I just got back from a great meal in our favorite italian restaurant-Portobelo ravioli with ragu and meatballs! Tricia had the speghetti aglio y olio. Way too stuffed to work tonight, but I'm fat and happy! It has been a great life so far, and it just keeps getting better. My son turned 1 on the second and we are going gangbusters here. We rally have nothing worth complaining about these days. Thanks for the well-wishes, I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you fine folks as possible in Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, my better half won't be able to attend this meet, she is more than a little disappointed. She attended Don Marler's excellent RT in St. Louis and enjoyed herself aplenty. What an industry I picked, should have done it years before I did! (OK, I can officially retire my exclmation point key, that had to be a year's worth above. lol)

I push snow, and do inside warehouse work, when I find it. I only do a few decks a year, was looking to grow it a while back, but have found lower-hanging fruit to pick. I've let the wood slide to mostly maintenance, and higher-end work only. I've hovered just under twenty decks these last few years. I also spend a considerable amount of winter time shivering and complaining, and that seems to fill the days. What time I have left I try to make up with my family for the long days and nights in the summer. Sometimes I find wierd little side business, but I've tried to focus more the last few. (Focus is trying for me, I like to find new stuff)

I'd go to Rome for a week, if I had the chance, but longer would be better for sure. The rest of Europe would definately take a few weeks. or months. Probably be best to set more time aside for your first trip. Len, a guy I used to work with was always talking about lobstering from a boat, in the shallows, with a ragmop. He said you just push the mophead down on them and their spines get tangled up in the strings. Of course he also claimed to be ex-special forces, and to have had Saddam in the scope, just waiting for clearance to shoot...but no go.:rolleyes: I just wondered if that was true at all. You ever heard of the mopping up system?

Rome. The best food I've ever eaten was in Rome. Just to wake up and see the sun rising over buildings renowned the world over, to cool my feet in the fountain below the Spanish Steps, to listen to the ages echo against the tombs of Popes gone a thousand years in the catacombs beneath St, Peter's, to feel the weight of the faith of millions lying on the stone floor before the High Altar...this is food for the eternal part of us. Even to a non-Catholic such as myself, the contact with the ageless is mind-bending. For more than 2500 years the civilised world has looked to Rome as its mother. Few characters that have influenced the course of history have not at least had deputies walk the streets of this ancient seat of empire and faith. None of us lives without the mark the people of this city stamped on our languages, customs, religions, and philosophies. What's more, the very buildings and fortresses, parks and monuments frequented by those forgers of the unified Western expression of culture, polity, and reason are still there, many performing exactly the functions for which their foundations were laid. This city was ancient when Michealangelo carved and painted the finest art worked by human hands half a millenium ago, and the art that influenced him as a young man was still on public display in the streets then, as it is now, and as some of those pieces have been since hundreds of years before Jesus walked the Earth. I remember the moment when I was listening to a guide describing the memorial speech Marc Antony gave in Ceaser's honor and to shame his assassins, and the guide pointed right at me as I leaned against a wall. "Marc Antony stood upon the Rostrum behind me, and Ceasar's corpse was burned right there." I was standing on the spot where Julius Caesar was burned after he had changed the course of history by making the Empire a Dictatorship rather than a Democracy. What's more, the English word dictator comes from the Latin word of the same meaning, a word that was an obscure legal title in his day, has become a commonplace term in our world, precisely because of this one man's actions. I ate a Gelato standing opposite the Milvian Bridge, the place where in 312, Constantine's legionaires defeated the pretender to the Roman throne as the result of divine intervention. This allowed him to enter Rome on the Flaminian way (a road already over a thousand years old) and inspiring Constantine to credit the Christian God with his victory. This was the beginning of Christianity's ascendance in Europe, this was the site where the Empire became a Christian entity, and the place where the doom of polytheistic western thought was writ large upon history...and there I was eating an extraordinary chocolate ice, as people that lived and worked nearby went about their daily activities with hardly a thought. I love Rome because almost every square foot is historically significant to more than half the world's poulation. Having been there, I realize how impoverished my life would have been, had I never seen the Eternal City. I'd go back at the drop of a hat, any day or season, without a second thought.

1969 Nova SS, factory 396 car, Fairbanks 2900rpm stall converter between the Rat and the 400 turbo, 12 bolt with 3-series gears, probably 3.33's. Deep third scratch into second, hard chirp into third, 12.9 or so if I was on the money that day. Not bad for a carburated daily driver and a 16 year old in the pilot's seat. Oh, and that was on poly-glass G-60's pushing radials on the front-end. Stolen, stripped, and burned three days before I turned 18. The thieves got my tires and rims, shifter and tach, stereo and speakers, engine and tranny, but left $180 worth of Stewart/ Warner guages in it to burn. And they drank the case of Old Style in the trunk while doing it! It cost me 130 bucks to get it out of impound, and between the time I paid, and when they towed it up front, the cop watching the impound lot liberated my SS emblems, which with the rear-end was all I could salvage. Let's just say I know why they hanged horse thieves. I sometimes dream that it shows up and is returned to me, I'll wake up all excited, and then realize... I miss that ride, there had to have been a couple hundred square feet of my knuckle hide scraped off under that hood.

Have you ever heard a siren in the distance, and then thought you could just barely hear it in the distance...for the rest of the day? Drives me bonkers in traffic sometimes. How about the phantom cellphone ring?

Anytime I drive by a "House for rent" sign I get: Trailer for sale or rent Rooms to let...fifty cents. No phone, no pool, no pets I ain't got no cigarettes Ah, but..two hours of pushin' broom Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room I'm a man of means by no means King of the road. Third boxcar, midnight train Destination...Bangor, Maine. Old worn out clothes and shoes, I don't pay no union dues, I smoke old stogies I have found Short, but not too big around I'm a man of means by no means King of the road. I know every engineer on every train All of their children, and all of their names And every handout in every town And every lock that ain't locked When no one's around. I sing, Trailers for sale or rent Rooms to let, fifty cents No phone, no pool, no pets I ain't got no cigarettes Ah, but, two hours of pushin' broom Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room I'm a man of means by no means King of the road. Which is bad enough, even though I love that song, but then I will soon have: Love is a burning thing And it makes a fiery ring Bound by one's desire I fell down into a ring of fire Chorus: I fell into a burning ring of fire Went down down down and the flames went higher It burns burns burns that ring of fire that ring of fire The taste of love is sweet When hearts like ours meet I fell for you like a child Ohhh but the fire went wild Chorus: I fell into a burning ring of fire Went down down down and the flames went higher It burns burns burns that ring of fire that ring of fire and it burns Chrous: I fell into a burning ring of fire Went down down down and the flames went higher It burns burns burns that ring or fire that ring of fire The taste of love is sweet When hearts like ours meet I hide before you like a child Ohhh but the fire went wild Chorus: I fell into a burning ring of fire Went down down down and the flames went higher It burns burns burns that ring of fire that ring of fire (One more time) Chorus: I fell into a burning ring of fire Went down down down and the flames went higher It burns burns burns that ring of fire that ring of fire That ring of fire That ring of fire I'm not sure why those two songs are linked in my mind, but there is a third that gets in my skull, and then I know the attack will soon be over: Rollin', rollin', rollin'. Rollin', rollin', rollin'. Rollin', rollin', rollin'. Rollin', rollin', rollin'. Rawhide! Hah! Hah! Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', Though the streams are swollen, Keep them dogies rollin', rawhide. Through rain and wind and weather, Hell bent for leather, Wishin' my gal was by my side. All the things I'm missin', Good vittles, love, and kissin', Are waiting at the end of my ride. Move 'em out, head 'em up, Head 'em up, move 'em on. Move 'em out, head 'em up: Rawhide. Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, Ride 'em in, cut 'em out, Cut 'em out, ride 'em in: Rawhide! Hah! Hah! Movin', movin', movin', Though they're disapprovin', Keep them dogies movin', rawhide. Don't try to understand 'em, Just rope an' throw an' brand 'em. Soon we'll be living high and wide. My heart's calculatin', My true love will be waitin': Waitin' at the end of my ride. Move 'em out, head 'em up, Head 'em up, move 'em on. Move 'em out, head 'em up: Rawhide. Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, Ride 'em in, cut 'em out, Cut 'em out, ride 'em in: Rawhide! (Rollin', rollin', rollin'.) (Rollin', rollin', rollin'.) Hah! (Rollin', rollin', rollin'.) Hah! (Rollin', rollin', rollin'.) Rawhide. Hah! Rawhide! Did you ever notice that if you just read the lyric of a song that you well know, you can get the earworm?:lgangry: Sorry about that. :lolsign:

Carlos worked at Old Navy in the days before the snazzy headsets. I'll bet he can still fluff your sweater faster than Rosie O'Donnell can scarf a bon-bon!:lgsideway I kid! I kid!:banana::rainbow::banana:

I like the way you think. When I was a kid, my dad motocrossed on Bultaco Persangs and later had the first YZ-125 uncrated in the midwest (this side of rockies and Mississippi). FWIW, there are few things to worry about from any of the big manyfacturers these days, but KTM is the shizzy they say. Alan, are you thinking motocrossers, or trailbikes? For a family ride a torquey trailer might be better than a peaky motocrosser, especially if you might be out when the sun has set. In mountains and woods, lights are a plus. I'm just saying.

I can agree to that, Kevin. Getting the shingle seen is three quarters of the battle.:lgmoneyey

Sorry Kevin, I certainly didn't intend to slight anybody I left off my post above. Jim and Celeste jump to mind quickly because when I was a brand newly minted PWer, and green as a gourd, they were there to gently nudge me back on track more times than either could know. Anyway, I see you have more than shown up with good info in this thread, and I thank you for the contribution. You always have something to add

Yeah, like these: Delta Containers - New and Reconditioned IBC supplier and services

As near as I can tell, curing seal is a waxy compound that stretches cure time by sealing moisture and heat in during the process. I'm no expert, but it seems to me that it would be pointless to spray it on cured concrete, it would be like buying a pot at a pottery store, and going home to put it in a kiln: That train has already departed the station. Kevin is right though, color in concrete is really about the shade of the cementous component, the aggregate, and any tinctures included in the mix. Concrete can be stained just like wood is, and there are members here that are experts at it. Jim Carroll and Celeste (CPW) are two that leap to mind. When I first got started, a customer site was next-door to a concrete outfit that handled jobs from resi to heavy-highway to bridgework, and they had hundreds of empty IBC's they were trying to get rid of. Unfortunately, they had been filled with curing seal, and the banjo fittings and interiors were caked with wax build-up that I wasn't too hip on trying to remove. That is my total experience with curing seal.

Dentists use it in your mouth to sterilize root canals, and other places where it is essential to be sure there is no recurrent problem with bacteria. It is on every restaurant table and buffet line in the nation.

Except that it kills the algaes and fungi that pollute our environment. You wouldn't complain about rat poison being used to kill rats, especially if a customer said he wanted you to kill them with high-cholesterol feed instead, because it is a more environmentally friendly method. Here is a link to the MSDS: http://www.northerntool.com/downloads/msds/222161.pdf It contains at least 1% sodium hydroxide, a caustic stripper we all have used as a degreaser or stripper. This is lye. At least as caustic as 1% sodium hypochlorite, also a water-based solution, but not technically biodegradable since sodium hypochlorite is so unstable that heat and sunlight break it down so fast. I would remind people that sodium hypochlorite is a very green solution, since it is harmless saltwater in a matter of hours. Plain old hot water is deadly to plant and fungus life, but certainly is green, nobody will claim hot water is eco-unfriendly. The anti-bleach advertising of some unscrupulous suppliers is an educational hurdle we all must clear in order to use our own best methods and tools. Dom't let your customers dictate your methodology, use tried and true systems, allay their fears in your presentation, and be the profeessional they hired to know better. If they want to dictate the methods, with homeowner knowledge, why not just use homeowner-grade tools and materials. Which is what this probably is. This site is populated with a crowd of pros that have refined their methods to a fine point over the last decades, the methods here conmtained are effective, and safe when correctly applied. Reinventing the wheel isn't the way to go, refining your sales skills to overcome bad info (specifically the idea that there is something ungreen about sodium hypochlorite) is the best choice. Otherwise you willhave to stock every solutionout there, and just ask your customer how they want their house cleaned. What would you tell a customer that told you he heard that the only way to clean a house safely was to scrub it with a toothbrush, and then to polish it with a dremel tool? If you do decide to use methods recommended by the customer, at least charge a premium for the service. Let us know how the test goes, but my instict says you will find this product more expensive and less effective in the long run.

Here is a link to something I find interesting, maybe some of you will too. Six-Word Memoirs at SMITH Magazine There is a story about Erneast Hemingway being challenged to write a story in six words or less. His contribution? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Interesting, huh? Smith Magazine has been doing a related project for some time. The object is to write a six word memoirs, a story that illustrates you or your life in just six words. I think it would be cool to hear what we as PWers can come up with. I think there are a great many strong minds in this business, and some powerful stories as well. I also think there are some hilarious wits here that may contribute. Anybody want to write a biography in six words of somebody else from here or the wider world? Here is the contribution I sent to Smith: Irretrievably broken fighter learns to listen. Any takers? I'll post this elsewhere so that we can get the widest possible sample.

This changes from time to time, but presently I am terribly frustrated by my physical limits. This year has been a bad one for my body. A few years back I was in a pretty serious crash, and broke a lot of bones, and had some steel implanted to shore up the structure, I know I've written about it here and elsewhere. This year I have worked more than ever before (which is good) but the physicality of the work is harder on me as the body settles into a new routine. I expected that and can deal with it. What is so frustrating is the storms this year have caused an explosion of mold in the air that irritates my allergies, causing congestion and sneezing that really puts me through the ringer. Coughing and sneezing aggravates the dameged nerve ganglia in my chest and back, which is excruciating, but also lead to tenseness that can trigger migraine headaches. Definately nothing I had planned for, and very painful halfway through a physical job. Over the season since late march I'm averaging almost two full working days lost to migraine headaches a week! I'm taking a very active approach to dealing with this, but my business has sufferred. That is my biggest frustration these days. Interestingly, I have found that increasing my volunteer time in my community has been a great help in mitigating the damage. Sometimes helping people less fortunate can have an unexpected benefit in our own lives. I'm interested to hear how others are dealing with their frustrations. Any volunteers?