"If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to what others think, you will never be rich." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
The schedule I work (as I've noted a couple of times previously) jumps back and forth between day shifts and night shifts for three weeks, with very brief breaks between. At the end of that, there is a full week off. To my mind, it's something to look forward to - a week where you don't have to worry about momentarily resuming a set of days or nights.
We've been short-handed at work for quite a long time, and the newer hires are not yet qualified to work in the control room. This means that when anyone takes vacation who is able to run the control room, another control room qualified guy has to cover it - and fewer are able to cover. As a result, I've not had a "week off" in so long that I can't remember the last time it happened. It's been at least a year, and probably much longer than that.
In any event, for the first time in memory, I had the entire scheduled week off without having to cover any shifts. It's a good thing too - there was quite a bit going on.
We had to make a run into town to get flowers - none of the florists deliver to smaller towns out in the hinterlands. The flowers were for a funeral service for my mother-in-law on the following day. Sadly, the service was not well-attended by her family - it was mostly her church family who came to say goodbye. It was a lovely service, and it was good to see everyone again - I've been really spotty getting to church as a result of having to cover so many empty shifts - typically on weekends.
I've always scheduled our tax appointment for the first week in February, when all the required paperwork has typically arrived. I like to get it done early - before some fraudster files on my behalf and gets the refund. So we got that taken care of during the week off.
Then we had to make a run over to Spokane to pick up the mother-in-law's ashes. I dislike going to Spokane - the heavy traffic and aggressive drivers make the trip stressful, and there are always sketchy neighborhoods you have to pass through. It's just a bit unnerving, even though I'm sure it's perfectly fine.
Whilst we were over in the next state, we stopped at the only nearby Mercedes dealership. The new (to me) Mercedes only came with a single key/key-fob. I didn't want to be dependent on a single key working perfectly forever, so I decided to get a replacement key. My initial plan was to get a blank key/key-fob off eBay and have Mercedes program it. That did not work at all, because Mercedes doesn't do that, and each key is tuned to the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).
To get a replacement key, you have to go to a Mercedes dealer with proof of ownership, ID, and the current mileage on the car. They will then program a new key-fob specific to that car that will allow it to start the vehicle. Modern key-fobs (and garage doors) use a rolling code, so that the new code is always different than the previous one. This prevents thieves from stealing a vehicle by recording and repeating a simple code that gets used over and over again.
In any event, I called all kinds of locksmiths to see if they could make a key fob for the car, and all of them said the same thing: They could program a fob for any car but a Mercedes. LOL. The new fob is on order and it only cost... $775.00 Lotta money for a second key. What I learned this past week is: Don't ever lose a Mercedes key.
Also I fired up the old S600 land barge while checking the mileage, and a bright red warning flashed on the dash: "ABC Malfunction: Do not move vehicle", or some such. The car had settled down on the struts as the hydraulic fluid was pushed out past leaking lockout valve seals. The warning is to keep the owner from rubbing the tires inside the wheel wells. I pushed the ride height button, the car lifted right up, and the warning went away - as expected. I still need to replace the seals, but that won't be for a bit yet.
While I was waiting for the customer service guy to fill out the paperwork for the new keyfob, and look over my registration, ID, and mileage information, I saw this crazy-looking rig.
I don't know what this thing is, or what it cost, but I don't imagine the owner(s) of these things do much off-roading in them. That likely makes it the biggest poser rig since the original H-1 Hummer.
OK, I couldn't resist and looked it up on Wikipedia. The MSRP on that rig was just over half a million dollars, according to MotorTrend. I guess if you can afford that, you can also afford to lose a key or two. I don't know who these people are, but they don't ever come over for BBQ and a beer.
Had some good music roll around on the way to work today:
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