State of the Xev

[Xev]

First off, sorry for the off-topic, but, after posting right here since not long after CoH went away... you guys are fam. Internet fam. It counts, I live on the Internet too. Brou has the repost crown, you know mine.. *buffs off-topic crown*

What I want to say is....................  I AM A FRIGGIN' GARDENER!

After 20ish years a tech, some life and lifestyle changes, a couple years of community college and an AG professor that still returns my e-mails, and 5 years of busting my butt with JOKE tools under extreeemely ... uncool conditions  ... my Disney Touch (tm) is finally undeniable.

I have TWO, count'em TWO families lined up trying to figure out how to afford a Dedicated gardener - ME. They hit me up toooootally out of the blue and on the very same day. One of them is a good karma job with lots of work and the other is an unraveling mystery at a palace that pays obscene wages and has come with the most nourishing conversation I've had since years.

Honestly, I was about to give up for the first time since I got this new dream. It's been really, really, really, not good.

The people and the work have been great. Dreamlike.

It still hasn't hit me yet. I feel exactly the same. Just a lot lighter.

[Kaos Arcanna]

Grats, Xev!

[Xev]

I will take that grats and run with it, tyvm : )

I've been at it since sunup and so far, things just get better and better. It's a complete and total change from what I've gotten used to. Not only are people taking my extraordinarily amazing advice.. I can't stop giving it. It just kinda blurts out on it's own to be taken or reeled back in and more often than not it's not only being listened to... it's acknowledged AND taken. Wow.

Did I mention I'm also getting paid...?

It's techy goodness all over again except this time when I go home at the end of the day I can sit on my behind and play not only guilt-free, but, it's healthy.. Gotta rest, ya know! Gooootta do it.

The plan is finally working!

*mastermindy laugh*


Thank you Kaos for gratsessing. I know LA would have got me already, too.... but is busy critiquing the code from some new game he's playing. Or something like this.

[Xev]

No LA....? No BROU.....?

Geez guys, three years.. Or has it been more already.

I'm headed out again this morning. I've gone from no work to more than I can handle. I believe they call that feast or famine. Thank you, best Spring we've had here since I moved back to the States. *romanorgyfeasts*

Meanwhile I still carry 30 pound or so backpacks of food on my bicycle 6 miles home on grocery day and use the same toy tools as ever to maintain the acre I'm on to pay for rent.

No problemo  : ) The end is near... I can see the light.

TRAIN!!!!

hehe

[Brou]

Well done, well done.

[Xev]

Well.... Better late than never.....

And so heartfelt.

Thannnnks Brou.

[ATyger]

You don't know me, and I don't know you...

but if you want us to join you in your celebrations of good fortune, I certainly will.

Vivat! (Means "long live".)

You've been nothing but nice to me since I joined the forums, and I wish you many and all good fortunes in present and future endeavors.

[Xev]

Ty AT.

[Xev]

Soooo I'm finally getting my own power tools and look what happened to the price of gas while I've been "away"...

Excerpt from e-mail reply from local Ag dealer..

"We do sell ethanol free 50:1 pre-mixed fuel. The price is $7.99 per quart or $31.99 per gallon. If you need more, we also have 5 gallon pails."

Yes, you read that right. It says people slaving around outside trying to scrape up a buck in the landscaping trade are getting raped, here.

Thirty...two...dollars...a gallon...to... CHOP WEEDS.

Where am I.. How did I get here.

[Xev]

I know this is totally off topic an no one cares about anything OUTDOORS.. but.. Did no one find $30 a gallon gas to be one of the biggest rip-offs they ever saw?

People pay this, here, too. Because they are told it will void their warranty and ruin their equipment otherwise. Usually they pay it in the form of spending $6 for a quart of (not jet, not rocket - WEEDWHACKER) fuel so they can stomach only spending $6 and because that is the cheapest price in town for gas for your weedwhacker or mower or chainsaw and whatever other 2 cycle engine unless you buy by the gallon.

That gas is crap, too. My $300 commercial quality weedwhacker wouldn't even idle with the evaporated half full cans of it I bought. Then, after checking the manufacturers website first and seeing a statement specifically saying it is OK to use gas with 10% or less ethanol I went and got some Quickie Mart gas and tossed in some oil treatment and now I'm ripping up the neighborhood @ < 3 bucks a gallon.

I see empty cans of that fuel everywhere. People actually buy it.. Unreal.

.

[Shenku]

Belated congrats!

And no, I'm not too surprised by the price of such a specialty fuel, or that people actually buy it. Having worked at a gas station previously for about 7.5 non-consecutive years though, I got the impression that plenty of landscapers and whatnot simply use regular gas instead, or mix their own. Sure it's probably not the best or easiest way to refuel stuff, but it's cheap, and people like cheap.

[Xev]

Well, here's the deal here. Hardware/Ag stores are telling people buying lawn equipment that if they buy pump gas it will void their warranty due to it all has ethanol in it now. And... they conveniently have ethanol free fuel for sale for $22 - $30 a gallon that they will sell you ... to keep you safe....

If you are just busting into the business like me, and someone tells you that, and you are plunking down more money than you've seen in years for tools, you are going to believe them. It's called... (a scam) peer pressure. Eeeeeveryone else is doing it, sooo, it MUST be right.

Nope.

Wrong.

Just check the Stihl website and their statement on fuel with Ethanol in it.

Plus, my Stihl runs better than it ever did now that I put Quckie Mart premium gas + 1 pre-measured bottle of oil treatment in it. I couldn't even get it to idle on that half evaporated canned fuel they have on the shelves for $8 a quart in the stores.

Thanks much for the grats! It's been a long, hard, road. I was pretty sure the light at the end of the tunnel was not a train, but, it was. Just been too many obstacles at home..... and logistically and I had problems with tools as well as the whole fuel thing.

There's still time and possibility to make something out of all the opportunity surrounding me. It could have been a lot better year so far, but, it's already been a lot better than it has been in the last few years and more so I'm grateful for that. Had paying work not finally presented itself this year I probably would have given up on this dream even though I poured my all into it and I think I am very good at it , and, I am finding, other people think so too.

Anyway, thanks again.. it was nice to come here with good news after years with nothing but bad going on.