Starting out 2012 (Good or Bad?)

[Tom Winship]

Wife lost her key ring on Monday. Decided we were not going to find it yesterday after looking in clothes, calling places we had gone, etc., so off to dealers to get her a new car key (encoded so I knew it was going to be a house payment). Paid $212 for the key and having it programmed, things back to norm.

Went to have a key made for front door today. Got home and it didn't work. Before going back to get another one, she hollered across the house, "How much do you love me?" I replied "Where did you find them?" "In a jacket I had alread looked in".

So, all that being said, is this going to be a good year or not? (Hint: Not many people have 3 keys to one car.)

[Jim Rimmer]

It can only get better for you now.

A few years ago my wife had her purse stolen. She left it in a restroom at a restaurant, sat down at the table and noticed it, went back immediately and it was gone. We canceled credit cards and bank accounts, etc immediately so the crook only got about $40 cash. It cost us about $800. New prescription sunglasses, changed all the locks on the house, other odds and ends. She had her calendar in the purse so the crook had a calendar telling him when we would be gone, where we lived and keys to the house. Fortunately we discovered it quickly enough nothing happened but we were still out a lot of $$$ in preventive/replacement actions.

[Matt Meiser]

Let's see. I discovered late on New Years Eve that the sump pump in my shop was bad. No damage but pumps are getting expensive. Went out and got one New Years Day and came home to find the design of what was in the box didn't match the display so it wasnt going to fit my tiny sump. While out there found the hard drive on my computer was dead so went back out for a different pump and hard drive. Went to mom and dads for dinner and spent the whole time trying to get their printer to work. Came home and installed the new pump and drive and started the restore (thank goodness for Windows Home Server). Wife reports blue screen of death on her computer apparently caused by a network driver so I spend a bunch of time on that. Meanwhile mom calls to say her computer just shut off and won't turn on so I had to deal with that--turned out to be a thermal shutdown since there is no airflow due to the piles of junk around it. Went back to work...

[Tom Winship]

Jim, is this a Texas thing?

[Matt Meiser]

By the way for at least some cars if you have 2 keys you can get a third cut for about $40-50 and program it yourself. Lose one and only have one left and it will cost a lot more as you learned.

[Belinda Barfield]

Okay, so this happened before the new year. On the 28th the SO and I rode to work together, one of the guys borrowed the other company truck over the Christmas holiday. The SO goes to HD in the one vehicle . . . locks his keys in truck (fourth or fifth time this year) . . . calls me to bring him another set of keys. I remind him I have keys but no vehicle. Make a call to AAA and five minutes before locksmith arrives he discovers a key in his back pocket. I advised him to go buy one of those key hider things.

The year has started out like gangbusters. I'm looking at three gotta' have it yesterday jobs, with three more pending. All of this means 50 to 60 hour weeks for all involved. I'm salaried but at least the shop guys are getting some much needed (for them, not me) overtime. Morale is pretty good and we're going to be hiring some new employees and doubling our shop space in the next two months. At that point we'll have 14,000 sq feet and I'm going to be getting plenty of exercise walking around trying to find whichever employee I happen to be looking for at that moment in time.

[Jerome Stanek]

Just ordered new glasses last week for wife and me. I thought we did good as they were about $100 cheaper than anywhere else. Today I see that they are running a special for about $100 cheaper a pair than what I paid.

[Belinda Barfield]

Just ordered new glasses last week for wife and me. I thought we did good as they were about $100 cheaper than anywhere else. Today I see that they are running a special for about $100 cheaper a pair than what I paid.

A lot of places will honor sales prices if you purchased within a certain time period. I'd check to see if they would honor the sale price and refund your money.

[Tom Winship]

I knew the answer before I tried it, but I did call the dealer to see if he would refund the money for the key.

Belinda, it was always my luck in business after you got the building framed, but not dried in, business slowed down. (had to dry it in, at least before stopping the job. Won't happen in your case though.)

[Van Huskey]

Malfunctioning Chinese fireworks got me about a nano-second after midnight. No pain just blisters by the morning but for the couple more hours I was up it was NOT fun. The earliest a new year has ever "bitten" me, and a record I can't beat. The best thing so far was my wife telling me she hoped this year would be nearly as good as the last, although it wasn't a perfect year (never had a perfect day much less a year) it was really good and it makes me beam knowing she enjoyed another year with me!

[Jim Matthews]

You're one up on your wife, already?

You're covered for every family event you don't want to attend, at least until the next wedding.
Every time your memory is called into question, just ask her to "check your pockets" first...

My wife is infallible, just ask her.

[Larry Whitlow]

For me 2012 is fantastic. Effective 1/1/2012 I am officially retired after 36 years with my last job. So far, so good -- except today the tensioning post on my band saw went south (threads are a goner).

[Jim Matthews]

For me 2012 is fantastic. Effective 1/1/2012 I am officially retired after 36 years with my last job. -- except today the tensioning post went south
I hate it when I can't keep tension in my post...

[Belinda Barfield]

Monday I received our annual Georgia Department of Labor statement advising our Unemployment contribution rate for the year. We went from less than 1% to 8.9%. :eek: We had to lay off two employees in late December 2010 and their unemployment insurance put us in a shortfall with the DOL. So, anyone we bring on board will be a sub contractor. I'm sure I'll take some heat from some of you for this, but as a small business owner I don't have much other choice.

[Jim Creech]

You'll get no heat from me Belinda! I am a self employed sub-contractor for the past 4 years and I love it. Yes there are disadvantages such as no vacation or paid holidays. I pay 100% of health insurance and social security but I get paid enough to compensate. My biggest thing is the element of freedom I never had as a full time "employee". I doubt if any business large or small is offering any sort of long term job security these days anyway.
Regarding New Years, I went sailing New Years day. The wind was much stronger than forecast and I blew out the mainsail then a mile from the marina the engine quit so I had to tack against tide and wind in an 80 ft wide channel to get back. Got home to find out the washing machine was leaking (still haven't found out where). Last week my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Generally not a good start to 2012. On a high note however, my daughter-in law gave us a shiny new grandaughter this morning. That pretty much makes up for everything else (almost). All one can do is hope for the best and plan for the worst.

[Belinda Barfield]

Sorry to hear your bad news, and glad to hear your good news. Congrats on the new grandaughter. :)

[Warren Johnson]

Just be sure they qualify as "subs" under IRS guidelines. You don't want any problems there.