The good morning, good night thread

[Ed]

Good ideas, all of them Perpetual motion, eh? Easy peasy...

Walker - thanks for the tips. I've only just started looking at the things with a view to buying something. We're having our lounge decorated sometime this month (hopefully) and when that's done we were planning to get a new TV. It was only when I started to look at them I realised I was out of the loop as far as understanding the technology went - what was best, lines of resolution and all that jazz. From what you say, the LCD sounds better than the plasma. I wasn't even looking at them, but I will now.

[Ed]

Heh, irony - Mrs Ed bought a Christmas Ule Log cake on friday. Today we notice it's best before date is the 26th of November Merrrrrry Christmas!

[Geoff_N]

Our dishwasher is over 15 years old. As such it's likely to be the least green one on the planet although there are some grimy green gunge in a corner I can't reach. Finally the other day the door refused to open. Luckily it is empty. A friend suggested I logged onto a High Street dealer clearance website -
http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/

There you can bid, E-bay-like, for returned household electrical goods that retain their warranties and many are brand new, albeit with the odd scratch and dent.

So I searched and found a Bosch full size dishwasher I thought might save my time washing up and bid a quid. The bidding ended today at 4pm. Funny thing is that the bidding kept going up to 80% of the full retail price at which it is silly to go on. By the time delivery is charged the auction final price exceeded the price of a new model! I think like e-bay some folk assume it will be cheaper and maybe sometimes it is, but not always if you let your mouse seek other options.

I hope one comes soon. I've run out of clean crockery and pans, and even the mice are leaving home.

Geoff

[SharonBell]

For all but fine dining events (say, with the family and boss) we have resorted to PAPER PLATES <GASP!!> Even then, my dishwasher gets filled with mugs, glasses, DOG DISHES, and assorted flatware. Damn this eating habit. Wish I could get a patch for it.  I'd put it on everyone in the friggin' house!

[Ed]

Yeah - it's ridiculous how people get jumble sale fever on these discount sites. My brother in law bought tons of junk off Ebay for sttupid money. And all that crap no doubt went from somebody else's garage to his, where it still moulders, unused.

Sharon - good idea, I reckon. I do the same thing when my wife's away. It's probably more environmentally friendly than firing up the dishwasher, especially if it's just for a few sandwich crumbs.

[Ed]

Well, it could be an interesting day today. One of the main companies I sub for currently owes me tens of thousands of pounds, which equates to three invoices they should have paid weeks ago. Last week, I found out they were 'holding the money back' until I finish a block of houses, which is against the terms of the contract. I thought I had sorted out the problem on Friday and was expecting a cheque on Monday, but it turned out the bosses went on a trip to Germany on Monday and wouldn't be back until today, and they left without signing my cheque

I don't know whether it was just an oversight or not, but I won't be doing any more work for them until I'm paid. I've been in situations like this before, where clients essentially blackmail you with the money they already owe, in order to get you to do more work and spend more of your own money, and then they fold up the company. I'm not getting caught like that again.

[starktheground]

What jerks! I hope you get your money, Ed. 

[SamLeeFreak]

Douchebags!

Here's an urban legend you might enjoy:

A contractor builds an elaborate fireplace for a fairly rich client. He does a fantastic job, but when the time comes for payment the rich wanker decides he doesn't like the price and refuses to give the contractor his money. Two days later he calls the contractor in a panic; he lit a fire in the fireplace and now the room is full of smoke! There's nothing stuck in the chimney and no one can figure out how to fix the problem.
The contractor agrees to fix it, but demands to be paid first. The rich asshole consents, and as soon as the money is in the bank the contractor comes over with nothing but a ladder and a brick. He climbs onto the rich guy's roof and drops the brick down the chimney where it promptly shatters the plane of glass he had installed earlier 

[Ed]

I got half of it, which is a start. All they've done is shot themselves in the foot, though - once I heard about them holding back the money, I cancelled all the material deliveries I had lined up, so now they're going to take another week to come than they would have if they'd paid me as they should have Twats.

Still, the three days we took off this week enabled us to get the heating working on another contract, ahead of schedule, which cheered up the client no end. I froze my arse off plumbing in the external oil fired boiler, but it felt good to be appreciated, for a change. We've had the first frosts of the year this week, and the temp tonight is meant to get down to -5C with light winds. She practically kissed our feet.

[Geoff_N]

At my local Writers' Circle tonight, I read out loud my Witch's Alien mild horror / sci fi story. Halfway through I realised I had a pronoun in the wrong place - or at least the preceding subject was wrong for the pronoun. Being a slick operator with 30 years of teaching experience, I continued reading but somehow my brain was disturbed by the discovery. So my eyes and mouth carried on reading aloud to the group while my brain thought - hang on - this story has been critiqued by at least 6 people including here, so why wasn't that error picked up? It was only when I had to turn the page that I thought I'd better refocus on the job at hand!

At the end of the reading they politely happyclapped, which reminded me why I hardly attend. But outside (Yes, Ed, already -1 here) one lady said to me: "Geoff, your story was horrible. It made me feel sick."
I said, "That's marvelous, Dilys, thanks."
Her friend looked puzzled so I continued. "Horror stories are meant to evoke a reaction. It would be a rubbish story if it was so bland you didn't feel ill. My challenge next time is to make you vomit!"

Hah!

Geoff

[SamLeeFreak]

We should all strive for such puke worthy perfection 

[Ed]

Sounds awful, Geoff Well done for keeping going. That sort of thing can make you stumble, can't it?

I hate reading things aloud to an audience, but it's a necessary part of being an author, I suppose.  

[JonP]

Strange things, Writers' Circles. I've been hearing a lot of comments about how bad they are on other forums lately. But I have to say that ours is great. You could read pretty much anything out to them and they wouldn't bat an eyelid.

[sylvrilyn]

Hm...I'd like to find some kind of writer's circle around here, but so far everyone I've heard of meets when I'm at work.  On the upside, I had a great time at our NaNoWriMo write-in this evening...lots of writing, no reading aloud, just random socializing and realizing we'd all met a bunch of the same people.  Small town.   

[Ed]

I've never been tempted to join one. TBH, it's never even occurred to me - it's only recently that I realised there are such things going on in real life. There's a poetry society in our village, but I had always supposed it was because of our links with TS Elliot. I doubt we have a writing one

BTW, I'm a bit wary of those 'no smoke without fire' glances when you're reading out your latest gory axe murderer piece