There’s been so much going on lately..
I worked all weekend on the day shift. 
(is that a cool photo or what?) One of our major units is shut down for scheduled work and the rest of the refinery is just coasting. There’s nothing to optimize, nothing to tweak, no way to squeeze a little more production from a refinery running at full capacity – it’s actually a little boring. We’ll have that unit back in a few weeks, and then things should get back to normal. It was a really quiet weekend.
This morning, I had a meeting with the Ameriprise 
financial advisor and let him know that I was not interested in continuing our relationship. I mentioned that I had talked to some clients of Ameriprise that were not happy with their fee structure. I should have just phoned the guy. Anyway, the awkward meeting was over in just a few minutes and I was out of there with a promise of getting my fee back in ten business days or so. As I was leaving, I noticed that every car in their parking lot was nicer than mine. 
I’m not sure exactly what that says, but I did notice that.
My Explorer is back in the transmission shop. 
I expect that the transmission will have to be removed (at the very least) and then repaired or replaced. That’s a shame, but it’s a risk that the shop took when they decided not to rebuild my worn-out transmission and put someone else’s rebuilt trans in instead. I hope it’s ready before my next visit to Brasil. As it was raining this morning, I had my son drive the Explorer to the shop and we both drove home in the Focus. It’s a nice walk, but not in the rain.
Mary Frances has her eyes open!
I spoke with Melody the other day – she’s doing fine, and my first granddaughter is doing well, too. The little one is sleeping a lot – that’s good for mom and dad, too.
I had today off of work – it gave me a chance to get some stuff done – I worked on the living room a bit, reloaded WIn XP on my son’s computer, fixed that thorny bluetooth mouse problem with the laptop and did some goofing off. Oh, I have some time to work on the blog, too.
I had a long talk with my son the other day. It seems that he is no longer considering going into the military. He does have a job now – he’s washing dishes in a restaurant 
(funny, I’ve never seen him displaying any of that sort of talent at home). It’s a shame, but I suppose we have to let people make their own mistakes…
I received a letter this afternoon from my good friends at PNC bank. A week ago, I lost my card in an ATM in Retiro, where it was retrieved by some bad people and used to make some unauthorized withdrawals. The letter said that they had done an investigation and decided to return my money. 
PNC is a great bank. I do wonder, however, if the criminals will ever be caught, or even pursued….
Bonnie needs a walk, so I’ve got to go.
Greg
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