Sundafu Recycling

My dad is in the roofing trade and does a lot of sheet metal work. He does a lot of copper roofs and frequently brings home scrap copper, both No. 1 and No. 2. He’ll save aluminum if the price is right. Usually it’s not worth the hassle to save aluminum because it is so light. Scrap yards are like gold mines these days. In the past years copper has shot up tremendously in value. At one point some scrap yards were giving $3 a pound for No. 1 copper. We go to Sundafu Recycling in Conshohocken, formerly Giamo’s. When we went about a week ago the prices were $2.30 for No. 1 copper and $1.90 for No. 2 copper. We had a trash can full of No. 1 and a trash can full of No. 2 and raked in $315 cash. That was about a month and a half’s worth of scrap. That’s pretty good income for scrap metal. It is unbelievable how much they are giving for scrap metal. So, if you have metal laying around, cash it in.

Carrabba's Willow Grove

I decided to take my girlfriend to Carrabba’s for a birthday dinner. Now I have beenI went to the Carrabba’s on Maryland Rd. in Willow Grove. We walk in and the hostess seats us and all. Then the hostess comes over and takes drink orders. I figured the waitress was busy and the hostess covered for her, which is understandable. Then our waitress finally comes and gives us settings and tells us our bread will be out shortly. Two other families get seated at our waitress' tables. They all get bread and settings before she even takes our order. So we're waiting and waiting and she finally comes and take our orders. I order the Sirloin Marsala with garlic mashed potatoes and Pasta Fagiolo soup as a side. My girlfriend ordered the chicken parm. with spaghetti on the side. A few minutes pass by and another waitress brings out my soup, still no bread. That's when I said, "No bread?, no tip." I was craving baked italian bread with olive oil. My soup began to taste like it. I'm eating my soup and my poor girlfriend watched and starved. I offered her some but she doesn't like beans. She said, "It would be nice if we had some bread." All the other tables with large families got served bread (I guess they would tip better). I finish my soup and our meals come out. The food was delicious and very warm. My girlfriend finished her drink and I started the clock, (yes, that's how shitty this waitress was). I strategically placed the empty glass where the waitress would trip over it. I gave my soda to my girlfriend, that's how bad it got. The waitress was too busy singing happy birthday and serving dessert to the other tables that would bring in more tip revenue, rather than worrying about out drinks. It took her 8 minutes to finally acknowledge we needed drinks. She noticed the empty glass before she tripped over it and said "Oh, did you guys wants refills." Of course I want a refill dingbat, my mouths on friggin' fire. The entire time we ate she didn't even ask how the food was. The check came and the bill was like $45. I pulled out my sharpie and wrote on a dollar bill, "Bread." I gave her four dollars. I still think I overtipped. My girlfriend, of all people, asked why I gave so much. I was a victim of pre-judgement and I knew it. She saw a young couple and thought she wouldn't get any tip. I usually tip 20+ percent at any restaurant, but when I get service like that, I don't tip at all. I was about to give the hostess the tip, he served me better than the waitress did.

Other than the service, the food was excellent as always. The sirloin marsala was to die for. The garlic mashed potatoes were excellent, as well as the soup. I love Carrabba’s food, but now I fear going back and getting the same service and having my food contaminated with mucus because of the tip I left. The service is usually outstanding. Just because she thought she was getting a bad tip, is no excuse for bad service. You treat every customer with the same level of respect. My money isn't purple. She'll learn.

Beef and Beer

I like the whole idea of a beef and beer. It's a time for eveyone to have fun and drink. I went to a beef and beer saturday night at St. Dominic's on Frankford Ave. The cause was for a 14 year old kid who died from a brain tumor. The proceeds went towards the parents medical bills. The cost of the beef and beer was $20 and it covered all the food you can eat and all the beer/soda you can drink. It's a lot better than going to a bar and spending $50 for a few drinks, and the money doesn't even go towards a good cause. Beef and beers usually have good raffle prizes too. I paid $20 for 25 tickets. Prizes included autographed an autographed football and puck, spa packages, weekend pocono resort, basket of cheer and many other great prizes. My dad won the autographed football. Bon Jovi and Ron Jaworski (former Eagles quarterback and part owner of the Philadelphia Soul) both signed an AFL ball. The 50/50 ticket was a $420 pot. It was a good time. There was a DJ, dance floor, beer and tons of food.

Red Light Cameras

I hate these cameras. I understand it reduces the amount of accidents and that it is for safety reasons, but these cameras are a pain. If I'm cruising at about 45-55 mph on the Boulevard, I don't want to slam my brakes on and risk getting hit in the rear just to avoid a ticket when the light turns yellow. I don't intentionally blow red lights. Accidents don't happen because people go through the yellow light a tad late on the Boulevard, because no one is turning left. The accidents happen on the cross streets, where the traffic is making left turns onto the Boulevard. Camera's on the cross streets are fine because the posted speed limits are low enough that you can pretty much stop on the dime. I have not gotten a ticket from these cameras yet because I have used my brakes like they were made out of porcelain (airplane brakes), in order to stop in time.

I have done some research though on products that fool the red light camera system. You can roll the James Bond way and have flip down license plates, which are pretty pricy and very illegal. A company named Phantom Plate has two products that reflect the flsh of the camera so it blurs your tag in the photo. One is a reflective cover that you have to fasten, which is illegal and you can receive a fine if caught. The other is a clear spray on product that comes in a spray can. You simply spray the substance over your license plate and it supposedly provides a reflective coating on your plate to reflect the camera flash. From what I have researched, the spray product is only illegal in Illinois and New York. But even so, the spray is completely clear and no one will ever know it is on your plates. I don't know how long the coating stays on the plate though. It probably states so on the spray can itself. I haven't tried the product yet to see if it works, but tests have proven that it is in fact effective. The spray costs about $30.
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/06/07/04/camera.html
http://www.phantomplate.com/

The Addiction

I know this post is completely off topic, but I have been become addicted to this guitar hero thing. My girlfriend's brother received Guitar Hero III for Christmas. I thought this game was the most lamest and stupidest game known to man; everyone is jamming on a plastic guitar looking like a retard. I thought to myself, "I will never look like that." I was wrong. I was peer pressured into playing the game. They were passing the guitar like it was a blunt, "Two songs and pass." So it became, "My turn." "Come on man you gotta try it," they all shouted. So I said fine and acted uninterested in the game. I took the guitar, positioned my fingers and hit play. I believe it was Barracuda, by Heart on easy mode. So the notes come up and I hit like every note and all of a sudden I have a 50 note streak. I said, "I told you guys this game is too easy." They were amazed that I was better than all of them and I had never even played guitar hero before. So I was getting into this song, holding the guitar straight up and down and pushing the whammy bar. I completed the song, 90%. "My turn, my turn!" I was like, "Ya right, 2 songs and pass kids." It was like heroin. 1 song and I was addicted. This game is amazing. The only thing bad about it is that after you play a song and look around the room, it looks like the room is floating. I know this can't be good for your eyes. My birthday is coming up, and the rumor is my girlfriend is getting me guitar hero 3. Rookie mistake. I found the picture above pretty amusing.

Horses for Public Transportation

An IM conversation between "The Kid" (Me) and "The Man" (a co-worker).

The Man <2:10:24>: where would you park your horse?
The Kid <2:10:26>: just use horse and buggy
The Kid <2:10:35>: in my shed
The Man <2:10:42>: you have a shed at the mall?
The Kid <2:11:07>: i'd park next to your car,, tie him to the bumber and let it shit all over your hood
The Kid <2:11:15>: bumper*
The Man <2:12:29>: too bad i don;t have bumpers to tie it to
The Kid <2:12:35>: smart ass
The Kid <2:12:43>: ill tie it to the door handle
The Man <2:13:20>: you'd have better luck tieing it to a 40'x40' brick wall...there's NOTHING to tie onto
The Man <2:13:35>: i don;t have ford door handles
The Kid <2:13:40>: punch out the side window
The Kid <2:13:46>: punch out the windshield
The Kid <2:13:55>: tie to the door frame
The Man <2:14:43>: i rarely spend more than an hour in the mall..by that time i would have come across you in your act of vandalism
The Kid <2:15:10>: then ill hop on the horse and mow you down croquet style
The Kid <2:15:24>: hit your knee caps with the mallet
The Man <2:15:25>: it would take yuo 5 minutes to un-harness him
The Man <2:15:38>: at that point, i'd have already tasered you and the horse
The Kid <2:15:40>: ya right son..switch blade
The Kid <2:15:43>: giddy up
The Man <2:15:49>: zap
The Kid <2:16:00>: .38 special
The Man <2:16:06>: i'd get you witha net gun
The Kid <2:16:50>: *pulls out match*

My Eye Hurts

I was out estimating a job with my dad Sunday morning and on the way back I saw the most ugliest thing. We were driving down Willow Grove Ave. in the Wyndmoor area, and all of a sudden I got this sharp pain in my eye. On a side street off of Willow Grove Ave. there was this beautiful home, about 2000 sf, and atop there were these hideous solar panels attached to the roof. Now for me to be concentrating on driving, looking straight ahead and see these panels extending from the roof on a side street, you know it's pretty bad. They weren't installed flat to the roof either, they were raised at like a 45 degree angle from the roof like the picture shows. I understand that the solar panels have to be installed at the proper angles to maximize efficiency, but why would anyone in their right mind have solar panels installed on their home in the first place.

I thought to myself, maybe these things have a large payoff. So I did some research to find out that these things are USELESS. I read an article of a pro-solar panel advocate who used to install the panels for a living, and read some interesting points. This is the article( http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2008/01/04/ask-the-sietch-adding-solar-panels-to-your-home/ ). He states that it can take up to 25 years for this system to pay off. He brings up a good point that non-renewable energy systems never pay off. This is true, but who is staying in the same household for more than 25 years to see this payback! The chances are if you have solar panels installed you will never see the payback. The average homebuyer moves about every eight years. That brings up my next point, who the hell is going to buy a home with those ugly pieces of crap on the roof, who's going to buy a house next door? They'll need to see an eye surgeon every 3 months because their eye will be bleeding from the ugliness. What if you need a new roof? A roofing contractor is going to bid that job through the roof, he isn't going to want any parts of that mess. I understand that utilizing solar power is great from an environmental standpoint, but use them at power plants, not on my roof.