Classification Intro #2

I’ve been on the night shift for over five years now, I don’t mind the hours at all aside from driving home over thirty miles at 12 A.M. or later. I have had my share of close calls on some of those nights though. Speed racers flying along at ninety miles per hour nearly sending you into the ditch as they cut you off or jumping the shit out of you cause you didn’t see them coming. Thursdays and Fridays seem to be the worst for drunk drivers, they are easy to pick out once you’ve followed one a few times. I was nearly killed by one of them once or twice, one particular time comes to mind. Just another ride home and some drunken asshole coming the other way must have fallen asleep (passed out) behind the wheel. His truck started veering into my lane, and he was headed right for me. The only way I avoided him was cutting into a long parking lot that ran parallel to the road. He also came into that same empty lot but kept rolling and drove his truck into the ditch behind me. I didn’t stick around. I started thinking there are way too many nuts out here to be doing this every day un-protected. That’s when I started looking into getting a concealed weapons permit. One small (or large) problem was I didn’t have a gun that could be easily hidden, especially on my 5’10” 145 pound body. My full size 45 ACP 1911 left quite a bulge wherever it was and the idea is to “conceal” it. I started shopping around for a small yet reliable carry sidearm and was rather overwhelmed at the choices out there. I was able to narrow it down into a few categories. The first are small “snub-nosed” revolvers, compact and rugged, and available in a wide range of calibers. Second are the small, all steel semi autos. They are heavy but equally as rugged as some of the small framed revolvers out there, however only a small range of calibers to chose from. The third and final practical choice was a small, polymer framed semi auto. They prove to be the most popular among concealed carry permit holders, offering light weight, a wide range of calibers, and potentially lifesaving options such as light rails or even built in laser sights if you’re willing to pay the price.

Classification Intro #1

About a year or so after I started working second shift, I became interested in getting a concealed firearms permit. In that first year I was nearly killed by a drunk driver on the way home. This guy was all over the road as I approached him, back and forth from shoulder to shoulder. I slowed down as I came closer and his truck started veering into my lane, he was headed right for me. The only way I avoided him was cutting into a long parking lot that ran parallel to the road. He also came into that same empty lot but kept rolling and drove his truck into the ditch behind me. I wasn’t sticking around to watch him fall out of the truck or get angry at his truck for driving into the ditch, instead I left in a hurry. As I continued driving home I got thinking about what if he had hit me? What if he thought it was my fault? What if he had a gun and wanted to shoot me for ‘Running him off the road’? And what about all the other nuts out here on the road at 1 A.M.? I decided then that I didn’t want to be a victim out here. I started looking into getting a concealed carry permit, and found it wasn’t that hard, or expensive to do if you had a clean record. Even if I got the permit though, I didn’t have a gun that could be easily hidden, especially on my 5’10” 145 pound body. My full size 45 ACP 1911 left quite a bulge wherever it was and the idea is to “conceal” it. I started shopping around for a small yet reliable carry sidearm and was rather overwhelmed at the choices out there. I was able to narrow it down into a few categories. The first are small “snub-nosed” revolvers, compact and rugged, and available in a wide range of calibers. Second are the small, all steel semi autos. Heavy but equally as rugged as some of the small framed revolvers out there, however only a small range of calibers to chose from. The third and final practical choice was a small, polymer framed semi auto. They prove to be the most popular among CC permit holders, offering light weight, a wide range of calibers, and potentially lifesaving options such as light rails or even built in laser sights if you’re willing to pay the price.

Graf#9. Metagraf

I decided to write about the pellet stove because it has been on my mind lately. I just installed two of them last weekend and I’m still working the bugs out. I was mad as hell the first time I turned mine on. A heat shield inside was not hooked up right and every time the auger motor turned on it made a horrible racket. I fixed that by taking it out, bending it to the correct shape, and putting it back in with some high temp silicone around it to deaden the sound. It is quiet now. The four tons of pellets I bought suck even though they say premium on the bag. They smolder and smoke, plus they don’t through the heat like some of the other good hardwood pellets do. No use bitchin’ about them though, after all I’m stuck with them, and they do burn.

Cause Essay

I recently purchased a wood pellet stove, if you go out and try to buy one today, most likely it’s not showing up until next spring. So many people are looking for alternatives because the markets are so volatile. If you walk into any shop that sells pellet stoves there is always a crowd of people standing around staring at them, this includes home depot too. I noticed it to be more difficult to get a clerk’s attention if you weren’t asking about a stove, and that was at my local lumber yard. I too became one of those people mindlessly gazing at them, thinking where I could put it, and that I could save money this winter. I’ve got oil fired forced hot water heat in my house and after last winter I decided that I wasn’t going to go broke over heating oil. A pellet stove was the answer, I still have to use oil to heat my hot water for now but if I can lower my heating bill I’ll be happy. The main reason for going with a pellet stove was cost, even though I’ve invested nearly the total of last year’s oil bill in this project. Second was the ease of use, I grew up with wood heat and spent my time cutting, splitting, and stacking, with pellets I just open the bag and pour them in. Third was safety, I have curious little fingers wandering around my house and most pellet stoves are slightly warm to the touch. As I learned when I was a kid, you only touch a hot wood stove once.
A cheap and effective way to heat the house this winter had been on my mind since last winter. I was really struggling to stay warm and keep gas in my tank. Going to the grocery store would use half of the funds after oil. I wasn’t going to be in that position again. Record high gas, heating oil prices, and a drive nearly seventy miles to work and back every day didn’t help at all either. I knew that gas and oil would most likely not be cheaper in the upcoming winter so I started shopping around. I found a nice pellet stove, a Harman Advance, this stove has all kinds of bells and whistles that I probably don’t need but wanted anyway. It wasn’t cheep listing at $3’200, over half of last year’s oil expense, but I bought it anyway. The stove is a onetime expense, it will sit in my living room for ever as far as I’m concerned and all I have to do is buy pellets. Pellets average around $250 a ton for standard pellets. Availability is the only problem with pellets now. Fortunately, several new pellet plants are opening up in central Maine and I already have four tons sitting in my garage.
I also have no room for my car in the garage due to four tons of pellets standing in its place. I’d rather deal with that though than work on splitting nine or more cord right around now. Carrying in a forty pound bag every day is fine. Not loading the furnace before bed and raking coals first thing in the morning is fine too. I have to be honest though, I haven’t dealt with that in three years. My wood furnace and oil furnace both went through the same flue and I had to take out the wood furnace for insurance reasons. I am still insured to burn wood and this new stove has its own separate flue so I’m all set. Cleaning the new stove is a breeze too. Every other day all I need to do is shut it down for a half an hour, plug in the shopvac, and give it a good once over. After a ton of pellets I pull out the heat exchangers and clean them also. Supposedly you can burn a ton of pellets in the Advance without emptying the ash pan, I don’t believe it but maybe I’ll be proved wrong.
I installed it myself, which was quite the learning experience. I learned, because my house is a pre-fabricated, there are two half inch sheets of plywood, spaced an inch apart in the wall running down the middle of my house. Getting through them proved to be interesting. Once I was through though, hooking up the double wall vent pipe was easy. I’ve only run the stove a few times, and most of that was testing it out. When it was running though, my nine month old boy Ryan was wide eyed looking at it. I think he likes watching the fire dance around inside. I could tell all he wanted to do was go over and pull himself up on it. The glass on the front gets pretty hot but not bad enough to bun yourself, not unless you held your hand there for five seconds or so. Even when it’s not on and he’s headed for it, my wife and tell him “That’s a no no!!”. He just smiles a big happy grin and keeps on going. I hope he has learned not to touch buy the time I have it running full blast.
At the very least, I know I’m doing my part to keep some of my spent money here in the U.S. I already send enough money to the Saudi’s at the gas pump. Even if I’ve spent more than I can afford on this whole project I can sleep easier knowing that the money I spent on the stove went to the people who manufactured it in Pennsylvania. The pellets that I bought were made right here in Maine, and I saved a bunch of cash doing a lot of it myself. My back may be sore but, it’s not from splitting wood.

Cause Outro

At the very least, I know I’m doing my part to keep some of my spent money here in the U.S. I already send enough money to the Saudi’s at the gas pump. Even if I’ve spent more than I can afford on this whole project I can sleep easier knowing that the money I spent on the stove went to the people who manufactured it in Pennsylvania. The pellets that I bought were made right here in Maine, and I saved a bunch of cash doing a lot of it myself. My back may be sore but, it’s not from splitting wood.

Intro 2

I recently purchased a wood pellet stove, if you go out and try to buy one today, most likely it’s not showing up until next spring. So many people are looking for alternatives because the markets are so volatile. If you walk into any shop that sells pellet stoves there is always a crowd of people standing around staring at them, this includes home depot too. I noticed it to be more difficult to get a clerk’s attention if you weren’t asking about a stove, and that was at my local lumber yard. I too became one of those people mindlessly gazing at them, thinking where I could put it, and that I could save money this winter. I’ve got oil fired forced hot water heat in my house and after last winter I decided that I wasn’t going to go broke over heating oil. A pellet stove was the answer, I still have to use oil to heat my hot water for now but if I can lower my heating bill I’ll be happy. The main reason for going with a pellet stove was cost, even though I’ve invested nearly the total of last year’s oil bill in this project. The stove is a onetime expense, and pellets average around $250 a ton for standard pellets. Availability is the only problem with pellets now. Second was the ease of use, I grew up with wood heat and spent my time cutting, splitting, and stacking, with pellets I just open the bag and pour them in. I also have no room for my car in the garage due to four tons of pellets standing in its place. Third was safety, I have curious little fingers wandering around my house and most pellet stoves are slightly warm to the touch. The baby is already interested in the pellet stove, he likes watching the fire dance around inside. As I learned when I was a kid, you only touch a hot wood stove once.

Intro 1

I recently purchased a wood pellet stove, if you go out and try to buy one today, most likely it’s not showing up until next spring. So many people are looking for alternatives because the markets are so volatile. I’ve got oil fired forced hot water heat in my house and after last winter I decided that I wasn’t going to go broke over heating oil. The pellet stove was the answer, I still have to use oil to heat my hot water for now but if it lowers my heating bill I’ll be happy. My main reason for going with a pellet stove was cost, even though I’ve invested nearly the total of last year’s oil bill in this project. Second was the ease of use, I grew up with wood heat and spent my time cutting, splitting, and stacking, with pellets I just open the bag and pour them in. And third was safety, I have curious little fingers wandering around my house and most pellet stoves are slightly warm to the touch. As I learned when I was a kid, you only touch a hot wood stove once.

Graf#8 re-write

After reading a few of the sample cause essays, I have to say the Red Sox one is the best in my opinion. Very good description of Boston and the Fenway experience. I love how the author refers to the rivalry with the Yankees and some of the Sox’s big mistakes, tracing it all back to Babe Ruth. I remember watching the ball roll between Buckner’s legs and then my grandfather yelling at the television. He waited all his life to see the Sox’s win a World Series and it never happened in his lifetime. At least I’ve seen it happen, even if I never see it again I know I’m more fortunate than some.

Graf#8

Interesting… I think I’ll attack this one head on and go on about my love of firearms. With the arrival of autumn my favorite targets are growing all over, pumpkins. After all, living out here in the sticks guns play a prominent role. Right off I’ll tell you I’m a proud NRA member, a concealed firearms permit holder, and a defender of the second amendment of the constitution. All of the biased liberals out there will tell you (and anyone else that will listen), that a handgun serves no role in society other than killing people. Not true, behind that gun is a person, they may be someone defending their family, or they may be a nut case with nothing else in mind other than killing the innocent. I’ll be the one defending, I hope that day never comes but if it does, at the least I know that I will be prepared.

Graf#7

A few years ago at work I had an itch, not just any itch, one that I just couldn’t scratch. His name was Ben, a complete idiot who just wouldn’t listen to me. I was supposed to be training him. That meant my ass was on the line for his performance. I’m sorry but you can’t train stupid, and that is exactly what he was. Arrogant, completely oblivious to anything I had to say, which didn’t matter because he knew it all anyway. After his first few days of training he should have been all set to go. “Now Ben, if you have any problems, any what so ever, call me over and we’ll work through it together”, I said. Maybe a half hour later I hear his call bell ring, I’m trained (like a good dog) to come running over when I hear it and see what the problem is. When I arrive, all that is left are shattered remains off what used to be a thousand bucks worth of carbon drills, and this idiot saying “huh huh, I guess I hit the wrong button.” This is now my problem and I’m supposed to explain it. Plain and simple, he hit the wrong button. I went to my boss, told him what happened, and also said that if Ben wasn’t going to listen to me that I didn’t want him in my area. My boss went straight over, investigated the situation, and immediately decided the only place this guy was going in the company was the exit, which he was promptly escorted to. I had no intent to get him fired, I simply didn’t want to be responsible for him. Although I will admit, I’m glad he is not still there destroying things and making my life more difficult. I never did scratch that itch, instead someone else did it for me.

Graf#6

It took me a while to come up with this topic. I kept thinking about this paper from the wrong angle, not incorporating “I” into it. Years back when I was in High school, My English teacher for the last two years was one of those “NEVER USE I” types. After being brainwashed to think that way it was tuff to break away from it. I finally came up with the basement project because it has been a thought in the back of my mind recently and I have nothing more than ideas to go by. I think this will help me when the time comes to do it in the spring of 09’. What do think?, good or at least worthwhile topic?

Graf#5 my home

Sometimes, if I sit at my kitchen table and close my eyes, I still can see what it looked like in here twenty or more years ago. This is my grandparent’s house, but I live here now, along with my wife and two children. It’s still there house though, at least I’ll always think of it that way, I spent a lot of time here as a kid, mostly on the weekends, playing with my grandmother. I called her Nanny. I always did, something my mother started I assume. We would always have fun. Sometimes we would dig out old curtains and string them across doorways. I remember making what is now my bedroom into a curtain maze with a little of Grampy’s old fishing line. If you walk down my basement stairs to your left is an old shelf made out of pine boards and 2x4’s, my grandfather built it. On it there is a piece of wood tacked up that reads “ONLY OPEN ON MONDAYS (next line) THE SHOP AHEAD (next line) THE ONE YOU SEE. It is in her hand writing. We used to rig up the basement too. When I was a kid it was one of my favorite pass times to come over here, Nanny and I always had something to do. I lived next door; I can see the house I grew up in anytime I look out the window.

They were simple people, farmers that came up to Maine from Rhode Island when it was starting to get over run with new people. Long before I came around, my parents lived in the house next door. This house went up for sale, my grandparents bought it, and moved up here and immediately started farming the surrounding fields. I remember being awakened at 5:00 A.M. to the sound of the old Bolens yard tractor. I’d look out the window and see my poor old grandmother weeding, hunched over from years of gardening, working away with a hoe. Gramp would be right there with her weeding and driving along as they made their way across the garden. They made their living off hard work, everything they grew they sold at their road side stand. Down in the basement are some of the old signs, POTATOES 50#’s $4.00. Another is a big strawberry that reads “Spencer’s” across it, my mother made both signs for them. Now they sit tucked away, covered in dust. My grandparents are both long gone, lost to cancer. When I get to thinking about them sometimes memories come flooding back and something as simple as closing my eyes sends me right back in time. When I open them, I’ll back in my kitchen with nothing more than faint traces to remind me.

Graf#4

I can tell you right now, I am one of the world’s worst procrastinators. I have my house as example A. Never ending piles of crap tucked away and out of sight, you never know what you’ll find hidden in the darkest corners. I tell myself “You need to take care of that”, every time I glance in that direction, but there it sits, untouched and awaiting attention.
I don’t know where I got his terrible affliction; my folks are some of the most organized people you could ever meet. Without any thought at all, they could point you in the exact direction of something and either one of them would be right at any time. Instead, look at my workbench in the basement, example B, I had thought of using that for the inventory assignment but figured I didn’t want to spend a week on it. I have to constantly remind myself to do things. It’s easy for me to forget about stuff though; my job and home life keep me very busy.
Spending time with my family is my favorite thing to do, even though I don’t do it enough. I work in the evenings (3:00-11:00PM) so I don’t see much of my oldest boy during the week, he’s in school. On the weekends we try to do as much as possible together but lately I’ve been working on the house when I’m not at work. Every summer we go on vacation for at least a few days but not this year, no this year it was a “staycation” filled with home improvement projects. Not having our usual little getaway has really increased stress around here.
As far as what makes me unique, that’s a good question. I’m sure there are thousands if not millions of people out there that can fit what’s listed above. Maybe what sets me apart from the rest is my constant over thinking. I spend more time thinking about how to do something than actually doing it. This Graf is a perfect example; I’m breaking the rules and thinking, not writing. The judge in my mind is being ever so critical of every last word but I can’t get it to stop. I think acknowledging this problem may be what sets me apart.

graf#3

This is an inventory of the west wall of the kitchen/dining room. Everything is on the floor and piled between two doorways. Moving from the south end, (where I’m sitting) toward the north.
A Craftsman 18V drill and flashlight set in a black case.
A Crescent tool set that was given to me by my employer three years ago for x-mas.
A new, 44 Qt. flip top trash can that is full of new switches and outlets, not trash.
An old Wal-Mart bag full of new and used outlets.
A baby’s toy with different beads on rails to push around.
A baby’s toy piano that only plays four notes.
A car seat made for a child up to one year old.
Sitting in the car seat is a package of cheap size four diapers.
A large stuffed tigger from Winnie the pooh.
A”busy box” complete with pop-up animals.
A stand up walker for learning one foot in front of the other.
A Ridged 3.5 HP shop vacuum.
On top of the shopvac is a pair of rubber reinforced knee pads.

The people that live in this house are either very busy or very lazy, maybe both. Kids obviously tie up most of their time along with never-ending home improvement projects. Why would he have old power outlets mixed in with baby toys? How easy would it be for the baby to get one confused with a rattle? The next thing you know it’s in his mouth, not a good combination. Put the shopvac away, you’re not even using it any more, remember to clean it out first. Use the trash can for its intended purpose, trash, not new stuff that you’re going to use. He’ll probably open it up and find old banana peels mixed in with the switches, yummy. Bottom line, take care of your crap before you’re wife does or else it will never be found again.