After 427,000 miles, the motor in my truck is kaput. I was shown the evidence (I didn't have to ask to see it), and although I don't like this kind of news, things could have been much worse. I might have been stranded in Wikieup and having to take unpaid leave to get this taken care of.
I discussed this at length with Sheila (she is really a *great* wife!), and we're going to see if we can get a remanufactured motor located and installed. It's going to run me a few grand, and it's cheaper than a replacement vehicle, which we both know sooner or later we're going to have to get. We are having the mechanic give it a thorough inspection to make sure the rest of the truck is in good order. The body is in fine shape though it could use a paint job, and I know that the ball joints aren't going to be going out any time soon. The present clutch has 30K miles on it and should be good for 50K more.
This will be, however, the last major repair I'm willing to do. We may re-arrange some finances after next year's tax return........we're thinking of a re-finance, and I may borrow against the house to put in a new stove and fix the hot tub.
This could have been a lot worse for me than it was.
And........I got my money's worth out of it.
* * * * * * *
One thing I am grateful for here in Las Vegas is a friendship with a co-worker who started here six weeks after I did. We're both in the Test Engineering Department and like me, his wife is in another state, Florida. He lived in Titusville for 34 years, of all places. We've gone on a lot of lunchtime walks and we meet Downtown for a beer, which we did yesterday.
That one table that was set up to raise funds for child sex trafficking has been long gone, (they weren't there the following Saturday when I checked), so either they've succeeded in ending this trafficking or they've skipped town.
* * * * * * *
I was Downtown last Saturday, not knowing or intending that I'd be Downtown again the following Saturday, which was yesterday. While conversing with the cashier cage personnel at that Plaza Hotel-Casino eight days ago, I noticed several trays of Eisenhower dollars ("Ikes") and I thought OK, someone must have cashed in their hoard.
Ron and I went in there yesterday, to check out John Gotti's Jaguar which is on display not too far from the cashier cage. We drifted over to the slot machines that were nearby, and Ron played a few hands of video poker. He cashed out and got a collection of shiny new nickels. Most Vegas slots are TITO, ticket in ticket out, though coin slots can be found if you know where to go (La Bayou Casino has several of them).
Before walking away, I noticed a dollar video poker machine that had a coin slot (as well as a dollar bill reader). I also noticed a stack of coin buckets to carry your winnings (or more accurately, what you have left). I got to thinking about those Ike dollars that I saw last week, so I said to Ron, "I need to check out something".
I fed a dollar bill into the machine, cashed out, and a shiny new Ike dollar fell into the coin tray. Well, it was certainly shiny, but not new, since it was dated 1972, but I got a kick out of getting that. I've got 100 or so of these things in my safe back in Tucson, but it's fun to have one here to look at. Ron also got himself one in the same way.
Five years ago, I would order Ikes at a Wells Fargo branch, and sell most of them to a friend of mine in Tucson who's the manager of a Quik Trip. He was always asking me for two dollar bills and Ikes, so that he could hand them out to his customers.....most of whom would get a kick out of getting some novelty money back in change. More were sold to a long time friend of mine who runs a business at the Tanque Verde Swap Meet.
Unfortunately, Wells Fargo down there hasn't been able to get them for me for some time, and I haven't tried to get any at the banks here. I have thought about it, because these coins did circulate in Nevada during their day.
I'm tempted to get $20 or $40 worth of Ikes on my next visit to the Plaza and to spend them.
Using "unusual" money is fun.
* * * * * * *
A few rare words about my job.
I have now been with this employer for a year. It's been something of a ride. I was hired into Systems Engineering, transferred into Test Engineering, working closely with some very brilliant people in a group I'll call "Life Sciences", and the company is willing to let me spend a few weeks coming up to speed on a software package called Solid Works.
I am an electrical engineer by degree, a test engineer by practice, and I now get to learn Solid Works, which is really in the realm of mechanical engineering. The first tutorial was something of a bear, and the succeeding tutorials are either better written, or I'm getting the hang of things.
This is something that my previous employer would not have allowed me to do. I was forced to do software systems engineering, which really wasn't my forte, though that work was "righteous" (I'm stealing a term from a former supervisor here). That employer and the one before it didn't really allow me to practice electrical engineering which is what I studied, but I'm not complaining. I did get to work on satellites and circuit card assemblies, and I've long considered that to be satisfying work.
I struggle sometimes with the why I had to come to Nevada while my wife is in Arizona question. I struggled with that this weekend.
The only answer that I can come up with, is that the Good Lord wants me here for reasons that have not been passed along to me, and they may never be passed along to me.
I have to say this.........the work that I'm doing is the greatest that I've ever done in my life.
And.......I'm living in a most unusual state.........legalized gambling.........24/7 availability of liquor......and an opportunity to people watch Downtown.
I frequently tell myself that I need to make the most of this opportunity, and to write about what I see when I venture into the casinos or walk along Fremont Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment