My water heater rusted out and my chiropractor mentioned they now have electric on-demand water heaters. I found one on the web that was reasonably priced (about twice the cost of a regular heater) and am now the owner of a Stiebel Eltron Tempra 29 tankless water heater. Notice the three power cables going into the bottom and the sub-panel behind my grand-daughter. When it's on it uses three 220 volt 50 amp circuits. When it's off it uses only the trickle of power necessary for the temperature readout LED.
It works great and it's nice to take a shower and not have to worry about running out of hot water. As you can see from the size, it also frees up all the space the tank took before. We gained another closet! That's always nice!
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Since I got sick and missed all but one day of school last week, I've kind of had the Christmas season sneak up on me. I'm still recovering but I've got to find something for my wife for Christmas. I'm at a loss. Usually I come up with something, but this year I'm drawing a blank.

I'll think of something--I guess.

I've taken to wearing a bracelet. It says "Just Say Merry Christmas." It's a response to the politically correct crowd who are afraid of offending those who aren't afraid of offending us!

You can get these at World Net Daily Store

(See picture above right.)

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Charlie, my youngest son, got his mission call last Friday. He’s going to Viña Del Mar, Chili. When he gets back that will leave me and my daughter as the only ones who don’t speak Spanish. It’s not like I’m not trying, but for some reason, I don’t seem to be making much progress. ¡Es tan duro para mi para aprender Español! Well okay, I’ve learned a little bit.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Several relatives like my fried turkey so I ended up frying 5 of them over the course of the holidays.

My daughter-in-law managed to acquire nine tickets to The Blue Man Group on Friday. We were sitting in $100 seats! The show was very entertaining, surprisingly enough.

Since my daughter-in-law is now on track break from school, I’ll be riding with my son for the next three weeks. That means advantages and disadvantages. Since he gets out before I do and I get out an hour before my daughter-in-law I’ll probably be getting home about an hour earlier than normal. But since my son starts an hour before I do I’ll be getting up earlier, not fun…

My second son has a phone interview with Sierra Vista. If he gets the job, it’s possible he’ll be riding with us too. This could get interesting!

We’ve been building a house for my in-laws. It’s almost finished. The main house is done, but we need to finish the two bedrooms and the master bath. I was trying to spray texture yesterday and it wasn’t going well. I did notice the air compressor was running too much but I couldn’t really check it, because I would have had to go through the living room and track wallboard compound on the carpet. It turns out the pressure regulator was leaking air which didn’t just cause the compressor to run too much, but also caused 80 psi instead of 20 to be fed to the texture gun. Well duh, no wonder it wasn’t working right!

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After a 3 month wait, I had the lasic surgery in my left eye redone. This time the trauma was much less and this time it worked! I now have what is called mono-vision. My right eye sees distance, (about 20-30 with a little astigmatism, they may still fix that, I haven’t decided) and the left is focused for reading. It took only a few hours after the surgery and I was reading with that eye. I had to pull my computer monitor closer, but I can function without any glasses at all for the first time since Jr. High. It is so liberating! I can even wear cool shades! Of course for the last 3 months, since the first surgery, my left eye has been worthless, but now I’ve decided it was worth it!

For the past few years, my wife and I have commuted to two different towns to go to work. Me to Las Vegas and she to Mesquite. We live about halfway in between. Since our gas bill has risen to about $600 a month, it’s been a challenge. She was just offered a job locally, so her drive will be 10 miles round trip instead of 75 so we’ll save considerable money on gas, and apparently she gets a raise too!

Now if I could just get a job locally…

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With the indictment of Tom DeLay and the accusations against Bob Bennett in the news, we once again see the dishonesty of the Democrat party and their accomplices, the news media. Tom DeLay was indicted for one reason, the Republican rule that an indicted leader must step down. The fact that they have such a rule and that the Democrats don’t, gives strong evidence that the Republicans are the more honest party.

The Bob Bennett fiasco shows the shrill nature of the Democrat party. Any sane person who listens to the exchange Mr. Bennett had with his caller would understand that nothing racist had occurred. So either the Democrats are dishonest or they are not sane. You decide…

More tee-shirts from Thoseshirts.com. Aren’t they fantastic? The shirts are great too.

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What is it with libs? Are they so arrogant that they really believe that all people--at least those that count--agree with them? I'm a teacher. A math teacher. The reason I mention the last is that those of us in the math department tend to be more conservative than those on the other side of the building, you know those English, history, and social studies types. However there are plenty of the lib type in the math department, too. I started at a new school this year, so I don't yet know who are the conservatives and who are the libs, except for one. This tattooed young lady, showing lots of cleavage, (I hope she dresses more conservatively next week when the students start) asks me my last name and when I tell her "Bush," she says, "I won't hold that against you!" I didn't know what to say, I should have a witty response for inane comments like that. Instead I just gave her my most disgusted look.

These arrogant, petty haters of Bush (and America, yes I do question their patriotism) are attempting to destroy our nation. They tried before during the war in Vietnam, you know the one we won over there but lost here on our own soil. Now they're doing it again because they're angry, bitter, and they lost the last two elections. The liberals haven't been out of power since FDR and they don't like it! So they lie about Bush, lie about the war on terror, and refuse to face their own hypocrisy! Good! That means they shouldn't win anymore elections!

I wish I could believe that, but after all, we voted for Clinton in this nation—twice! I hope the nation has wised up, but I won't hold my breath.

You can get the shirt (but not the model) at http://www.thoseshirts.com/cat.html

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The following story is from This is True dated 17 July 2005. It is
Copyright 2005 Randy Cassingham, all rights reserved, and reprinted here
with
permission:

"Ethical" Defined

After more than 100 dead dogs were dumped in a trash dumpster over
four weeks, police in Ahoskie, N.C., kept an eye on the trash receptacle
behind a supermarket. Sure enough, a van drove up and officers watched
the occupants throw in heavy plastic bags. They detained the two people
in the van and found 18 dead dogs in plastic bags in the dumpster,
including puppies; 13 more dead dogs were still in the van. Police say
the van is registered to the headquarters of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, and the two occupants, Andrew B. Cook, 24, and
Adria Joy Hinkle, 27, identified themselves as PETA employees. An autopsy
performed on one of the dogs found it was healthy before it was killed.
Police say PETA has been picking up the animals -- alive -- from North
Carolina animal shelters, promising to find them good homes. Cook and
Hinkle have been charged with 62 felony counts of animal cruelty. In
response to the arrests PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said it's against
the group's policy for employees to dump animals in the trash, but "that
for some animals in North Carolina, there is no kinder option than
euthanasia." (Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald) ...Oops, my mistake: that's
"Playing God" Defined.

In his author's notes section, Cassingham had more to say about this
story:

The more I learn about PETA, the less I think of
them. The story of them killing animals isn't even unusual. According to
PETA's own filings, in 2004 PETA killed 86.3 percent of the
animals entrusted to its care -- a number that's rising, not falling.
Meanwhile, the SPCA in PETA's home town (Norfolk, Va.) was able to find
loving homes for 73 percent of the animals put in its care. A shortage of
funds? Nope: last year PETA took in $29 million in tax-exempt donations.
It simply has other priorities for the funds, like funding terrorism
(yes, really). But don't take my word for it: I got my figures from
http://www.PETAkillsAnimals.com
-- and they have copies of PETA's state and federal filings to back it
up. The bottom line: if you donate money to PETA because you think they
care for and about animals, you need to think some more. PETA literally
yells and screams about how others "kill animals" but this is how
they operate? Pathetic.

And you know what I wonder? PETA's official count of animals
they kill is 86.3 percent. But if they're going around picking up
animals, killing them while they drive around and not even giving them a
chance to be adopted, and then destroying the evidence by dumping
the bodies in the trash, are those deaths being reported? My
guess: no. While 86.3 percent is awful, the actual number is probably
much, much higher. How dare they lecture anyone
about the "ethical" treatment of animals!

(This is True is a weekly column featuring
weird-but-true news
stories from around the world, and has been published since 1994. Click
the link for info about free subscriptions.)

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I've been thinking about having my eyes fixed with lasik for some time now. My eyesight has always been quite bad, and as I've aged it's only gotten worse. I've always been very nearsighted with a lot of astigmatism, too—especially in the left eye. My near vision has always been excellent. It was in fifth grade that I finally discovered that my eyes were not normal and I was thrilled to be able to see well for the first time in my life. I've worn glasses religiously ever since, except for a brief time twenty-five years ago when I wore contacts, but had nothing but trouble with them.

A few years ago, I found that it was necessary to take off my glasses for near work and the last few pairs I've worn have been bi-focal. Unfortunately that only took care of reading and distance. I also had to get a special pair of glasses for computer work. Bi-focals work for reading, but not for other close up work so if I was doing work (like plumbing) in a tight spot I would often take off my glasses since I couldn't get the lower part of the bi-focals in the right place. Finally I'd had enough.

The lasik place suggested mono-vision and to see if I could handle it, they put contact lenses in my eyes, one with the prescription for distance and the other for reading. This wasn't perfect because they didn't correct for the astigmatism, but I was thrilled with how I saw. Even at the computer it worked, since I guess I averaged the two eyes and could still see the screen well enough to work. I was also amazed at how comfortable the contact lenses were. I had almost no problems at all, unlike before. I guess they've come a long way in the last quarter century. I should have stayed with the contacts.

It turns out I am one of the 8% who don't have successful surgery. My left eye, which was supposed to be my reading eye, sees nothing but a blur at any distance. In fact the right eye, the distance eye, sees up close better than the reading eye. Now for distance it's a little better than it used to be, but I've lost the near vision I used to have. So my left eye is worthless. The right eye does see well enough that I can drive—in the daytime—and even watch a little TV, but it's not yet good enough to go without glasses for night driving or serious TV watching. So I had to buy a new pair of bi-focal glasses, since my old ones no longer work, and a new pair of computer glasses. Now if I need to see something up close I can't take off my glasses, because I no longer have uncorrected near vision. What a pain!

The doctor says they can operate again in a few months. Again I have a 94% chance of it working. I worry that since I was in the 8% last time I could be in that 8% this time too. We'll see (pun intended!)

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Since I spent a lot of time redesigning my site, I decided to post here just so I could rewrite the blog to my site. Check out the site at the link below.

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I'm a bit surprised I haven't kept this up for two months!

I've got a new job at Canyon Springs High School for next year, unless I can convince Ms. Davies to hire me at Moapa Valley High, which would be nice since she does have an opening. She has a Spanish position also. My son Rick would like that one.

Last week I was a chaperone on a trip for the newly graduated seniors to visit the church history sites for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We actually did the trip in reverse. We left Las Vegas and flew to Kansas City where we boarded a bus and followed the path of the Saints moving east on the route they used to move west during the early years of the church. We traveled through Missouri; Illinois (see the pictures of my wife, Jane, and youngest son, Charlie, in Nauvoo, ILL. That's the Mississippi behind them.), Ohio, and New York, visiting various historical sites of the early church, and ending at the farm of Joseph Smith where it all started with the first vision.

We did take a few side trips. We visited Hannibal MO where Mark Twain was raised and Niagara Falls. On our last day we took a canoe trip on the old Erie Canal, where we got tipped over and I dunked my digital camera. It's dead, Jim! Oh well, I got an excuse to buy a new one. An Olympus with a 12X optical zoom and 5 mega pixels, sweet!

The kids were great. There were times that some chaperones had to sit out in the hall at the hotels until their charges realized they weren't going to get away with anything. Our kids (including my son) knew that we wouldn’t put up with anything and they didn't give us any problems at all.

It was a great trip and we and the kids learned a lot. There are apparently other youth groups that make this trim, because I ran into my niece who was traveling with another group in two separate states!

It's nice to be back though, since I was averaging about six hours of sleep a night. I'm still catching up on back sleep.

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Another great cartoon from Cox and Forkum 

This thing is not fun anymore! It's become an obligation that I feel guilty about when I don't do it. Except when I do it then it becomes fun... Well actually, what is fun is not doing it, but having done it! Now that probably made no sense!

Okay, I had an interview today. I've got another planned Monday morning, another Monday afternoon, and the last (for now) Tuesday. The goal is to get a position as close to home as possible. I'm still tied up with all the many responsibilities I have, school (as teacher), school (as student), editing the newsletter, and keeping up with chores around the yard. If I can get a position near home next year, I'll have about three more hours of time each day. That would be wonderful!

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I've been extremely busy trying to get my apartment ready for tenants, so I haven't written anything in a while. I've been waiting for two weeks for the carpet morons to finish my carpet in the apartment. They left a section without tack board and did some really horrible seams. After a week I got the boss to come and look and he promised it would be done on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday... Today they wouldn't even answer the phone! I guess I'll tell them I'm not paying the rest of the money and I'll hire someone else to finish the install.

Talk about another run of bad luck! Monday we were rear-ended in North Las Vegas as we were making a right turn. Tuesday, we were rear-ended again a block south of the first accident! Unbelievable!

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When my tenants moved out of the guest house, I went in to fix the flood damage. I ended up tearing out all the cupboards and basically stripping the place down to bare walls. I've been spending all my free time trying to get the place ready for renters again.

Of course every time it starts to dry up a little around here, it rains again and re-wets the mud.

My mother's house is in need of a lot of work too, and I just don’t have time to do it all!

So far we've had two cars damaged by the flood—three if you count Rick and Jessie's car.

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Cox and Forkum have another good cartoon. 

We got flooded again! This was the worst flood we've ever had. Despite sandbagging our guest house still got flooded, and my mother had water seeping into her yard through gopher holes! I don't know what more we could have done. We double sandbagged at her house yet it did no good at all. She had at least eight inches of water in the house. Everytime a firetruck went by, the waves went right over the top of the sandbags. My son parked his car inside her yard so it would hold the gate and sandbags against the force of the water, so his car got filled with water. It runs but he has no instruments, nor seat adjustment (which is electric).

The neighborhood and the LDS church came through again and within a few hours had everything out of her downstairs including the carpet. Below are a couple of pictures from my house and a couple of the cleanup at my mom's.

I'm planning on suing the county, again. They are responsible for flood control and it's been 24 years since the first flood. This is the fourth flood and the third caused by the refusal of the county to clean out the river channel! I guess the last time I sued I didn't get enough money out of them, since they did nothing to fix the problem. This time we go for more! Since they settled the last lawsuit, this one will be even easier.

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Mucking out my Mother's driveway 

My Mother's carpet. 

Looking South from our house 

Looking East from our house