Would you just quit costing yourself money already?

So I get a call today on the biggest of the pending contracts.  They already broke the project down into Version 1 and Version 2, which means I get paid twice on the same project do redo part of what’s already done.  I don’t mind the money, but inefficency in a situation always bugs me just a bit.  It probably (from the looks of things) will end up netting me an extra $2k on the project because they broke it into pieces without a solid enough plan up front.

Skip the rant, back to the phone call… after splitting the project in half, the broke it into another piece – PRE Version 1.  Part of PreV1 gets reused for V1, then for V2.  So the existing quotes for V1 stands (V2 is not yet quoted, and won’t be until towards the end of V1 based on the current plan), and Pre V1 throws an quote in there.  Not BIG money, but, still more cash in pocket (and of course the lead generator on this one is happy, since she keeps getting more money just for making a few phone calls :-).  Oh, and the wrinkle was:  I got the phonecall at 10 AM, the email with the specs at 10:30 AM, and the quote was due at 1AM.  Yeah…. how about a little lead time on things?  (My typical process requires 24 hours – 2 hours to quote it, 21 hours to sleep on it, 1 hour to relook at it again and see what I missed)

Then I got a phone call about 15 minutes ago:  PreV1 and V1 are now a go.  They’ll be sending the first check shortly, and the content and layouts they have in mind.

Ohhh yeahhhh… about time 🙂

Next Monday I meet with a different customer to start looking at a complete redo of his website too, along with a couple other “pending” projects out there.  Hm – good money, but, I’m going to end up with 18 hour days for a while.

Doc and I’s “agreement” on living arrangements is for 6 months, and well… time is getting near to that agreement expiring.  So we chatted about it, and it’s extended for another 6 months.  We get along good, and neither one of us is really looking forward to living completely alone at the moment.

The only tweak to it – I need a bit more space, and Doc was all good with that.  FINALLY – I’ll finally have someplace to put the last bit of my crap that’s lurking in the corner of Lance and Meredith’s basement!!! (All of it is stuff I really don’t want to put in a shed somewhere to get ruined, though let’s see… I had planned on having that out of there fucking 4 months ago or more, and ran out of room to put things.  I managed to collect two more boxes the last time I was over there, but, my room is floor too ceiling storage at the moment, including having blocked the sun-side window with stuff.)

So on Saturday a customer payed me enough I could put gas in the car and pick up some car parts (fuel filter and Haynes guide) for Erin’s car, and head out there.  Unluckly they payed me via check and $20 bill – which does jack shit on Saturday afternoon, since the bank is closed.  On Sunday I went ahead and grabbed the parts and a tank of gas with what little cash I had left, and headed for Cheney.

The lug bolts on the rear drivers side tire took almost 45 minutes to break loose, then another hour to get the fuel filter out.  Good god.

Finally I get ready to pump out the gas tank (using the fuel pump – the gas that was in the fuel filter wasn’t gas anymore.  It was reddish stuff that vaguely smelled like gas.  I also needed to test the fuel pump, which was part of the reason for pulling the fuel filter.)

NO fucking keys.  There’s two sets – Erin has one set, and I have the other to work on it in case Carol (Erin’s grandmother) isn’t there at the house.  And those are on my key hook.  At the house.  30 minute drive away.  Fuck.

I reached under the dashboard, grabbed the wiring for the steering column,the Haynes guide wiring section, and my volt meter.  I set about testing everything for about an hour, isolating the Run position, and the Start position.  Grabbed a piece of spare wire and made two jumpers (the stupidity you see on TV only sort of works – You have to have power to the run signal, and then “bump” power on the start signal.  Somehow on TV they only have to wires and they just bump them.  I always snicker a bit.)

With the jumper in one hand, I stopped – this is a 1988 Chevy Celebrity.  Around the mid to late 80’s is where theft deterrent systems started to go in place.  If it was a 1970’s car, it would have been a done deal (though the steering column would have still been locked, but I wasn’t planning on driving it much of anywhere).  But there was JUST enough doubt that something could end up screwed that I just put the jumper down, packed up my tools, and went back home.  *SIGH*  Haynes guides almost always avoid telling you how any theft deterrent works – any replacement of parts is just “remove piece A, replace with replacement part A”.  When I bypassed the Caddy’s key security system, it was based on info found online- the only thing I found on the Celebrity was to break the steering column on the left hand side, and reach in there.  Hmmmm… yeah, not an option.

So I’m headed back out there again today to finish what I started.  This time, I’ve already got keys in my pocket, even though I won’t be going until around 5 PM 🙂

Back to work – I’ve got a bunch ‘a little things to do to prep for the big mad crunch of work coming.