The new Arthur Ravenel Bridge that will be open soon... 

My best friend gave me a new M&M dude for the antenna on my car. He made the maiden voyage to Rock Hill SC and here you see him waving at you...  

Flat tire anyone? You could put my car in that tire.... 

On our way back from Rock Hill SC we drove through some thunderstorms and I saw this cloud formation that looked unique... 

back end shot of truck 

On our trip to Rock Hill NC for one of Katy's many interviews this month we saw this rolling advertisement for Independence air.  

Back end shot of Stingray 

1967 Corvette Stingray. During my evening shift at Piggly Wiggly on James Island the owner of this car drove up and I thought it was worth a couple of pictures.  

The search is finally over!!

I am so excited that Katy's dream is finally realized. I am SO PROUD of you GIZMO!!! This is the e-mail announcement that Katy sent out to her e-mail distribution list and I wanted to share it with YOU...
The search is over WOO HOO! I got the job with the Special Day School Program that is part of Charleston County School District. (which means we don't have to move!) It is a treatment program/school that works with children that have emotional problems. I am now officially an ED teacher and in the alternative certification program to get my teaching certificate. I am so excited! This is something I have been wanting to have for a long time...my own classroom. I will be in the elementary section of the school. School starts Aug. 22 and I go for new teacher orientation the week of August 15th. Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Katy Moffitt

Here comes Hurricane Dennis. JOY.....  

ABC News: Nebraska Man Has Lost 573 Pounds in a Year

ABC News: Nebraska Man Has Lost 573 Pounds in a Year

A dear friend of mine sent me this today. OH MY GOSH.... CAN you even imagine weighing 499lbs?? HOLY COW, I think that this guy had to eat a whole herd of cows to get to his top weight. Sigh... Actually this article is sort of depressing for me EVEN if I can actually still feel my ribs. There are days that I feel like this guy even though I am no where near his weight. Ok, I guess I am closer to 499 lbs than I would care to admit BUT I am not that close to it and for that I am proud. LOL... Anyway, this is a good article and I am hopeful that this fellow manages to lose a bunch more weight. Then again, this fat boy would like to lose some weight too. Does anyone have some wire and a pair of plyers so I can tie my jaws together please?? LOL... Hey, I have to laugh about this or I might cry. KWIM??

Lots and lots of wet stuff coming out of the sky here in the LowCountry 

How to detect and clean spyware off your system for FREE

BEFORE you click on a LINK in this BLOG be sure to skip down to the bottom paragraph and READ what I am saying FIRST. Once you know you have a good backup of your registry and your data then feel free to click on the House Call and CWShredder link that Trend Micro provides to the public for free.

http://www.trendmicro.com/spyware-scan/
We utilize Trend Micro on our network and we are a partner with Trend Micro and sell their products to all of our customers. So, with that in mind I would recommend that you point your computer to the URL above and see if the FREE online scan finds any spyware on your computer. If it does this FREE online scan will help you to remove the garbage from your computer.
http://www.trendmicro.com/cwshredder/
Go to the "Cwshredder" link and download the FREE spyware removal tool for "Coolwebsearch" which is a well known web browser hijacker that is very difficult to remove. Run this tool and see if you have this hijacker and if you do this tool will remove it for you.
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/trial/trial-pcc.asp
This link will allow you to download a 30 day trial of PcCillin Internet Security suite to your computer and you can use the full featured version for 30 days. If you like it after 30 days you go online and buy it.
I hope that this information is useful to you. If you have any questions feel free to email me at jcmoffitt@gmail.com OR leave a comment.

Here is the general rule of thumb with regards to downloading Freeware from the Internet. Nothing in life is free. If they say it is free that means that there is spyware, adware or malware included in that little goodie that will gum up your windows registry and eventually bog down your system.
It goes without saying that you should ALWAYS have a recent backup of your system BEFORE you start deleting registry entries etc..
Follow the following link that explains how to use "System Restore" to restore your system to where it was before you ran House Call IF you just have to have something put back.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx
This link takes you to the Microsoft FAQ that tells you how to use system restore. If you are running a different Microsoft Operating System such as ME etc just do a google search on "System Restore ME" or whatever OS you are running.




Thanks

Last picture of Lego church 

Another view of the Lego Church 

Another view of the Lego Church 

Lego Church with detials How long to build it? It was about a year and a half of planning, building and photographing.

How many pieces of LEGO to build it? more than 75,000

How big is it? About 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches (2.2 m x 1.7 m x .76 m)

How many LEGO people does it seat? 1372

How many windows? 3976


It features a balcony, a Narthex, stairs to the balcony, restrooms, coat rooms, several mosaics a nave, a baptistry, an altar, a crucifix, a pulpit and an elaborate pipe organ.


 

iMac (Macnsmac) computer from Apple that has a problem with the Network Card. Unfortunately the nic is integrated into the motherboard which means you have to replace the mb. That is only 630.00 plus two hours of labor.  

Front shot of Lotus 

Left side shot of Lotus 

Lotus parked in parking garage. An older model but in excellent shape.  

Back end shot of G6 

Left side shot of G6 

Grand Prix G6 front shot. This is a very nice upgrade to the Grand Prix 2003 model that I am driving.  

My friend Gerald Pack whom I used to work with 3pm to 11 pm down at the COB. Gerald has since gone to a different company and I met up with him the other night to play cards at his job. The hardest part of Gerald's post is to stay awake so I guess I helped him do this with our card game.  

The Tumbler from Batman Begins going through some water. This thing is a rocket on wheels with enough toys on the inside to make you drool....  

The Tumbler from Batman Begins. This thing is awesome. Honey, can I have one of these for Christmas please?? 

We all live in a Yellow Submarine

The only time I appreciate driving a sports utility vehicle when it raining is when I am driving it. I left Duck Ditch USA this afternoon at 2 pm and headed into downtown where it was obvious that it was raining quite hard. Sure enough the closer I got to downtown the harder the rain drops fell. I think that Charleston is 4 or 6 feet below sea level so when it rains for longer than 5 minutes the water starts to rise. It seems that when the water starts to rise the people who are driving in it have to find ways to drive even faster. The folks who own SUV's find great joy at speeding up and trying to completely engulf your vehicle in sheets and sheets of water as they plough through the standing water. I remember last year when I made the mistake of driving my caddilac with the windows open after it had rained because I got drenched when the SUV next to me hit 2 feet of water and went through it throwing a nice bunch of water into the right side of my head and the seat next to me. LOL... Despite the flood today I arrived safely at my destination and parked my baby in the parking garage where it is safe and sound.
Katy and I went to see Batman Begins yesterday. OH MY GOSH people. Just wait until you see the vehicle that he drives that is called The Tumbler. I want one of these for Christmas.

Printer Hell Concluded

It just occured to me that I have left the Printer Hell story hanging without telling you what happened in the end. How did this story end? I wound up taking the printer to another local company to a man who has been working on them specifically for the last 23 years. Well, anyway that is the story he gave me and since his shop had nothing but printers and printer parts strewn all over the place it was a good enough story for me assuming he could get me out of this jam. Sure enough, 3 days later I called this man back and he found out what the problem was. I did a very good job of pulling the printer apart but I did not do a very good job of putting the wiring harnesses back where they go. These printers have more screws, wires, relays, sensors and flags than you can imagine. Apparently when I put the printer back together the last time one of the wiring harnesses did not have the wires routed through the plastic housing correctly and when I used the screws to put things back together some of the wires got pinched to the point that the signal that was supposed to go through them never made the trip therefore the printer was blind to its components and therefore thought that since it could not see itself that there must be a paper jam. So, the printer was fixed and has been back home at the law firm all safe and secure. I am also finding out that the Laserjet 4200 printers seem to go through the fuser assemblies faster than they should. It is not a fault with the printer however it seems that HP has manufactured some faulty fuser roller plastic. The fuser assembly "fuses" image toner to the paper through a series of two rollers that the paper passes through which melts the toner to the paper. What happens is the plastic coating on the rollers starts to wear off on the ends or even peel completely off the roller causing the toner in that area of the roller not to get fused to the paper and creates a streak down that side of the page.

Issues

I have issues. LOL.. Like I am the only one with issues right? I had to leave Duck Ditch USA this afternoon where the sun was FINALLY poking its rays through the clouds to drive downtown into ANOTHER rain storm. It has been raining here for the last 7 days and guess what the forecast is for the NEXT 7 days folks? You got it, MORE rain. I need to find some used pontoons to put on the doublewide and some floaties for the dogs so that when the water continues to rise the pooches will rise with the rest of the mosquito ponds around them. Oh yeah, back to the issues concerning my travels to work today.

I called downtown to the security desk and spoke to both people who were currently on duty and told them that I had two distinct problems that were causing me to hesitate coming to work. Issue number 1 is that my car would get DIRTY again after I already washed it for the first time in 7 days. I washed it because a cat (identity witheld for the time being certainly not to protect it) waltzed all over my hood with its dirty muddy paws. That meant that my car would both get wet and dirty all over again. Why risk that by driving downtown? The second issue and more importantly the most traumatic of the two is that I would certainly MELT if I got wet. Must I say anything else? Well, I did make it downtown and yes my car did get wet and thanks to the wax that is on the clear coat of the paint job I had thousands of little bubbles all over my car that will inadvertently turn into little splotches of dirt when they dry. I did NOT get wet and was able to convince someone to open one of the doors leading into the garage that has a cover over it so I am still a semi solid carbon based entity otherwise this blog would not be happening.

I have decided today that I am tired of working in a dead end job(s) with no benefits and very little pay. I am so tired of it in fact that I am going to try and do something (anything) about it. Yes, I am thankful to God (and my employers) that I am employed and that my nose is 10 mm above the proverbial flood that is constantly trying to drown me like a rat. I know that I know that there are folks in this world (other carbon based life forms) that make less money than me and have it much worse. Somehow that does not make me feel better (for me or them) nor does it help me with my contentment meter. If the meter with a reading of 1 means I am very discontent and the 10 were to signify that I am so content that I can not stand myself then I have broken the glass out of the meter as the needle has slammed PAST the 1 indicator to zoom into negative numbers. I have tried to be content and have been searching high and low and all around for a better job here in the Charleston market. Guess what, the two jobs I did find paid the same or LESS than what I am making now. How badly does that suck Wilbur? I have no clue who Wilbur is since I dont have a talking horse and you need to understand that I have those issues still.

Today Katy and I decided two things are going to happen if it hair lips the governor. ( I guess the one in SC but if yours needs some hair on his/her lip then imagine them ok?) Katy is going to FINALLY become a fully certified teacher in SC (because that is where we have been for the last four years and we are not moving again) and James ole boy is going to find a BETTER I.T. job even if it means going to Soeul South Korea. Well, ok, maybe I will confine my job search to the US of A for now. LOL.. I really do not care to get a passport and go through all the hooey of working overseas. The bottom line is this, we are not getting any younger and in fact we are getting a tad bit OLDER (gasp) and we need to be moving FORWARD instead of moving BACKWARDS. I figure the next step backwards will be to move into the swamp behind us. LOL... My friend Jorge who just got back from Hardees told me about a funny bumper sticker and it made me laugh. "I am spending my kids inheritance" LOL What inheritance?? Get the picture folks? The only thing(s) my children are going to inherit from me at this stage of the game is the dogs and their fleas if they are lucky. LOL... Well, I guess that children inherit much more from their parents other than the tangible or intangible things in their estate.

Did I tell you about the issues that cropped up after I landed on my knees Wed night? I think I told you that I have been partially crippled as I have been healing from the experience. LOL. I am much better today than I was Thursday afternoon however I am not at 100% just yet. Have you ever tried to get off the floor without touching your knees? It is almost impossible folks. LOL... Well, anyway, so much for my issues, onward and upward and FORWARD we shall go.

Ice Pack's to the rescue

I went to work this morning hoping that I could hobble around and still get some work done. That lasted until about 12:20 pm when my right knee told me it had enough exercise for the day. So, here I sit on my recliner with my leg elevated and the ice packs hopefully reducing the swelling which is causing some pain and discomfort. Thanks to broadband and a wireless laptop I can sit here in my living room and still talk to customers and do some things. i am hopeful that by Monday I will be all better.

Ooopsie daisey.....

Our family took a walk with the dogs again tonight. We do this on a fairly regular basis. It is a desperate effort to get away from the TV, Internet and find the time to be together as a family. It also serves the purpose of giving the mutts and opportunity to do their business and give us some much needed exercise. Well, the walk went good up until the point where we were headed down the hill to go home. You know the saying, you must be a redneck if instructions to your house include "turn off the paved road". Instructions to our house includes pass the old oak tree at the top of the hill, drop off the pavement and go to the bottom of the hill and look for 159 Mapleridge Dr on the left. On the way down the hill I noticed the beautiful wolf type dog that is always tied up and does not get paid any attention. My intention was to steer my two clodhoppers over in his general direction when my left foot hit a hole or whatever and down I went. OUCHIE.... Gosh how embarrasing was that. Fall flat on my face in front of the DOGS, wife and kids. Luckily it was dark outside and I think most folks were not noticing my accidental spill. LOL... I guess that the next time that I decide to go for a walk I will do it when it is still daylight so I can see where I am putting my clumsy feet. For now it looks like I hobbled away from this experience with two banged up knees and two twisted ankles.

Where did the AC go?

I love it that the powers to be turned the AC off where I work on the weekends. I know that electricity does not come for FREE and that they are trying to save money, however, I wish that they would have been a little more considerate of their employees and contractors and left the AC on so that we could have been moderately comfortable. LOL...

The other day I noticed that I could not insert a picture in my "myblogsite" blog and wondered what was going on with that. I figured that they were having some sort of glitch with the interface and did not give it another thought. Today I tried to post to my blog there and noticed that the post was not going through because it kept timing out and I still could not insert a picture nor could I upload a file. I was getting the "out of space" error for your blog. Please delete some files and try again. My blog is using a whopping 5.1 mb in space on their hard drive. Whew, that is tough folks, you only get 5 mb of space for your blog. I ran through that in about 5 days with all the pictures I have inserted in my blogs. I guess that is what you get for FREE huh?

In 35 minutes I will be getting off of work and heading home. I will actually have tomorrow off from my week day job even though I wont get paid for it. you have to be an employee there for a year before you get paid for any holidays or get any vacation time. So, that means if Thanksgiving and Christmas actually fall on a weekday this year that I will get the time off with pay. Until then I will just have to enjoy actually having a day off to spend with my family doing whatever might be fun to do. I plan on spending part of the day watching Steven Segal movies at a friends house. We are dog/house sitting for a friend of us who is spending this 3 day weekend in Florida with her boyfriend and during that time we will enjoy the cable TV along with the AC that is running. Our light bills have been running between 190 and OVER for the last several months so we have been trying to leave the central air and heat off as much as possible. I came home the other day and it was 78 degrees outside and 89 degrees inside. OMG... I just could not deal with it so here I go turning on the darn electrical vortex that is going to consume what is left of my paycheck. LOL... SOB... LOL.... SOB. Banging head on my desk now.... It is amazing to me that the cost of living just continues to rise but our paychecks either remain the same or get smaller. Full time employees lose their jobs to outsourcing to India, China and other areas of the world that have cheap labor and/or lose their benefits and get thrown into a part time staff pool. I spoke to an employee of a large corporation that had been employed there for 10 or more years that just experienced that. So much for loyalty and longevity huh?

Are we still lost? I will post a story about this picture in a moment.