Thad

I fixded your post.

T-Day+3 chat, anyone? LIVE: serious.business.talk.only

You already named it. :lol:

If anyone is tired of turkey. VIP only. Request it. LIVE: serious.business.talk.only

+100.

I wonder if a court date has been set yet? You know that's where it's gonna end up. :( Customers like that are the reason that a contractor I know used his company's line of credit to build houses- no customer draws. He built really nice homes for the area and only required a deposit to build it. They paid for it when it was finished. He had a customer start nit-picking a house like this guy and after trying for while finally told the guy, "Get the @##$ out of MY house." Big argument until the customer understood who owned the house. As he turned to walk away the nutball hit him with a 2X4. Customer is a big ex-jock and builder is a little Italian guy. He turned back around, took away the board and punched the guy out then had his workers drag him out and put him in his car for the wife to drive him home. The customer showed up at the office 3 days later (wife had a figurative gun to his back) and asked, "Mr. Builder, would you please allow me to buy your house from you? It's perfect." :lol:

How did I miss this? :(

Rockin' the JB Player!

Turkey sushi is the best- thin slices of raw, chilled breast meat rolled with Nori and sprinkled with uni. Some like it with gobo, but I prefer it without. Don't skimp on the wasabi.

I know it was only a mis-type but it made me larf. :lol:

Well, we all survived the First (Maybe Last?) Annual New Orleans Networking Event! First I want to sincerely thank almost everyone who took time out of their busy lives to come and share with fellow contractors. I told you in my opening comments that this event was “For Contractors, By Contractors” and I'm very pleased to say that every single person in attendance contributed to the topics on hand. I want to give a special thanks to Michael Kreisle and Jason Nailen for leading the discussions on Internet Marketing and Package Selling. We had some great discussions before, during, and after the scheduled meetings and I agree with the comment that was made to me, “This is always how I pictured Round Tables would be.” That was a huge compliment and really touched my heart. Was it perfect? Hahahahahahaahahahaa! Between my lack of preparation and experience, a keynote speaker getting in an accident, delays with lunch, and a bunch of big-mouth contractors who wanted to talk business all day :) the schedule was blown all to heck. Did we have a good time and learn a lot! Yeah, you right! I would like to thank Russ Johnson of Southside Equipment for giving away a $100 gift certificate, Carlos of New Look Power Wash for donating sets of his Management Guidelines for all attendees, the ***** for making this event their first scheduled appearance, and Power Wash Stencils for their support (and the Tic Tacs). I also want to thank the anonymous donors who made a lot of this weekend possible, including the other giveaways and also the use of the Party Room all three days. Thank you so much, guys. I couldn't have done it without you and your giving spirit should be an example to us all. So once again, I would like to thank all the attendees, because all of you were an integral part of making this event work. Everyone pitched in, shared information, and made the most of our time together. It really was a special weekend.

I don't think that particular place is big enough, Carlos. ;) Awesome waffles and cheeseburgers, though. I'm still a little up in the air about it. I guess a lot will depend on how much interest there is in having another one. There has been a lot of talk, so that part looks OK. The best options rate-wise are June, July, August, September and December. If I do it it will be much more involved- a lot closer to my original plan for a 'business' RT.

Remind me when it gets closer. If I can make it down I'll buy you some lunch. I heard there's a couple of good restaurants down there. If someone else is having one that would be great. I would much rather just show up than to have to plan it. Sure you're not going to make it? Bellowing 'PWM in da HOUUUUUUUUUUUSE!' basso profundo was the perfect background vocal for that song. :lol: We'll bring our own Louis Armstrong cd next time.

Thanks for the encouragement, Matt and Carlos. Ron, are you going to make it if I have one next year?

Thanks everybody. Meeting went well. Something like Larry's house in post 3 was what I was looking for, a view of the whole house and driveway. I have pictures of houses and pictures of concrete but the next time I do a house like the one attached with a really dirty driveway I'm going to get a road view pic just to highlight the difference that driveway cleaning can make.

Somebody on here offered Quickbooks training. Who was it?

There used to be one but she's going home for two weeks.

You're just fixated on strippers lately, aren't you? :lol:

Watching rain blow sideways and listening to the wind.

I'm slow on the uptake, I know. I have no idea what Scott was referring to but I laughed anyway. :-/

Like I told you, Ant- Don't judge New Orleans by Bourbon St. That's just where they keep the stupid tourists. Oops!

Oh, I get blamed for everything. :) I guess my point is that there is no easy answer. Parts of the city are 300 years old and some are relatively new and only habitable because the swamps were drained. The coastal marshes are deteriorating rapidly and they were the main buffers for hurricanes. It will take decades and billions to rebuild the marshes, assuming that we can even stop the erosion. The port is crucial for imports and oil and if the marsh goes, the port goes. The levees are a band-aid fix for a much larger problem. We can spend the money on levees that will still fail at some point as saltwater intrusion destroys the protective marshlands. Where do we start?

One point that keeps being ignored is that Katrina did NOT hit New Orleans. It hit the MS coast. New Orleans was inundated the next day when the Army Corps of Engineers- built levees failed. It was a man-made disaster. Also the original settlement, what is referred to as the French Quarter and Algiers, were relatively unaffected. The French built there because it was high and dry. The areas that flooded were reclaimed swamps for the most part.