My mom just called me with a very nervous tone in her voice. She’s driving up to the hospital after calling 911 for my step-dad. He collapsed and according to her, was almost non-responsive.
Cross your fingers, pray, send positive mojo or whatever it is you do that things get better very soon.
This week has been hell. On sunday night, my step-dad went to the emergency room. After a couple catscans an ultrasound and about 11 hours they sent him home with a catheter and directed him to a urologist. Apparently there is a ‘mass’ in his bladder which is causing him lots of problems. He has to go back friday morning when the urologist is going to take a look at that mass to find out exactly what it is. We’re suspecting that he’ll be back in the hospital that day for surgery.
So that is bad.
Because he hasn’t been able to move much without pain it means no work for him (a potentially harmful thing for a family run inspection business). We’ve had another inspector for awhile now and another guy we could go to for some help when we needed it. He worked for us on Tuesday and all was great - except for the fact that I got bitched at because he didn’t take a full on bathroom tile photo. He was going to do another 10 inspections for us on Thursday. He called my mom at about 5:30pm today to say he couldn’t do it because he had to work (he works part time at Home Depot). Now, these inspections are pretty simple, only taking like 20-30 minutes each. For that, we pay $35. That’s $350 for the math inept of you out there. Who the hell turns down the chance to make $350 to go make $9/hr in a retail store???
Uh. oh. These 10 inspections NEED to be done tomorrow. The other inspector is already completely booked. Now, i’m no home inspector but i’ve worked for inspection companies going on almost 8 years. I’ve done 1 inspection on my own in the past and tomorrow I’ll have the opportunity to do 10 more. Such a blast! Not.
Bad to bad.
I can feel myself burning out. My fuse is getting shorter and people are pissing me off faster as the days drag on. A recent new client at work has almost doubled our business. Unfortunately this mortgage company also appears to be run by the most anal, “nit-picky” individuals we have ever encountered in the last 4 years of doing inspections.
Today I received a phone call from one of the people about a draw inspection we did complaining that we released too much money for the flooring. We released $3k out of $4100 available. I explained that we held out only to stain the hardwoods as the rest (bath & kitchen tile, and some carpet) were completed. To this he said we needed to provide proof (photos) showing the tile was done. Apparently the photos of the kitchen and the bathroom taken from the doorway showing the floors, cabinets, etc were not sufficient and they want a photo specifically showing JUST the tile.
Apparently an overview photo and our word as trained professionals with expertise in construction and renovation isn’t sufficient these days. It’s got me wondering why we even bother to do the draws and the mortgage company doesn’t just do them on their own.
So, yeah….it’s burning me out. I’ve been working 9am until at least 7pm for the last 2 weeks struggling to keep ahead of the constant flow of inspection requests and phone calls from this company complaining (it happens at least 3 times a week for over a month). Unless something changes I might just have to order an UZI of ebay…
Ran across this site the other day and it has caused me to want a blender. Not just any blender though, I want a blender that will make dust out of marbles or even an ipod. This site uses the ‘entry level’ home blender made by Blendtec - I can only imagine what the high end/commerical units can blend…A VW bus perhaps?
Check out this site’s mission videos. Kind of interesting.
I am sorry to say that James Kim’s body was found today around 12pm. The details are scarce currently but he was found about a 1/2 mile from the Rogue River. Brian Anderson, Undershariff of Josephine County said “He was very motivated…he traveled a long way,”
I held out hope until the end and am filled with sadness for James family and especially his daughters. I am not a religious person but hope that his last moments were filled with peace and that somehow he knew his family was safe.
Search and Rescue workers have found Kati, Penelope and Sabine and airlifted them to a local hospital. A helicopter involved in the search spotted a woman standing on a road waiving an umbrella. James left 2 days ago on snowshoe to find help. Currently a full scale search is still in effect for James.
“He’s a resourceful guy and we’re hoping for the best,”
said Mike Weinstein, a detective with the Portland
Police Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit.
I have my fingers crossed that he will be found shortly and will be reunited with his family.
I’ve enjoyed my geek/tech entertainment in the form of TechTV and several podcasts for quite a long time, of which James is a central figure. I feel compelled to blog about this story as I hope it comes to a happy conclusion. James, his wife and 2 kids left San Francisco on vacation for Thanksgiving up to the Pacific Northwest in their 2005 Saab 9-2x wagon. They were last spotted at a Denny’s in Roseburg, Ore. on Saturday evening.
