Labs are smart, the SWFL economy sucks, Tivo rules

Just to update on a few previous topics....

Our lab is doing great and is adapting to hew new house and family. She had some accidents, but has only had 2 (I think) this week, so I believe she is starting to get it. Still has to have that puppy spaz where she runs thru the house/yard like crazy. And of course, still with the chewing. She has eaten a few things that upset my wife, but that's normal and I think she'll be okay. Anyway, she's a pretty smart little girl to get 80 - 90% housetrained in a week and a half.

For those of you who don't have Tivo, I recommend it. We have DVRs from both our cable provider (Comcast) and from Tivo and I can't tell you how much better Tivo is. I was looking on the 'net to see if there was a Tivo with more memory than the digital one shown on their website (Tivo.com) and found a site call weaknees.com that sells upgraded Tivos. They have one with 2 TERABYTES OF DATA!!! I can't imagine how much shit that is.Admittedly the 2 terabyte option costs more than my plasma did, but still that's pretty cool.

My Tiger baseball team managed to win a game finally. They had gotten off to a hot start, then lost 5 in a row. They managed to get the "W" against Tulane last night thanks to some timely hitting and good relief pitching. Used 8 pitchers during the game.

Went on Monster.com to look at a job back in LA that my wife had found for me. When I logged into the site, it asked me to update information. I did so, and this week I've gotten about 10 e-mails from people to see if I'm interested in various jobs. It's my belief that this has only happened because I'm not looking for a job. If I was, my e-mail box would have dust on it.....

Where has all the construction work gone here in Sw FL?? Our revenues are going into the crapper. My latest decision is to really push the sr. mgt. here to get busy finding jobs for 2009 so I don't have to start eating gov't cheese. I've got to get these guys focused on expansion of our markets, geographic expansion and selling some of the smaller jobs in our current markets. I know the economy will come back, the question is when?

Friday 03/14 Post

Some general thoughts on the housing/credit markets. I'm a little behind the curve now, because I didn't update earlier and I think the WSJ is running an article now declaring the US in a recession. I have to say I'm glad they figured it out! From my perspective, and mine alone I would say we've been sliding toward a recession for a year and have possibly been in one for 3 - 6 months. I know the technical definition and I don't care if what I say matches. At least in this area of the country, we're in a tough spot. I got a pretty good price on the house I purchased last year after moving here to SW Fl. I was convinced that I had purchased near rock bottom pricing...there's at least one house in the development already thats for sale cheaper. This wouldn't worry me except I moved down here to work for a local builder and so watching this economy and especially the local building economy scares the crap out of me.

On to happier thoughts. The new puppy (Katie) is doing very well. Clearing up an eye infection and she's rapidly learning about going to the bathroom outside instead of on the carpet. Very cute little thing and if I can figure out how to do it, I may post a picture some day.

Still looking for an old Jeep. While I drive a TJ every day, I really enjoy working on the old ones because they are so simple.

My beloved Tigers got knocked out of the SEC tourney in the 1st game yesterday. Couldn't watch the game (damn that work!) but didn't sound like they played well at all. Lots of turnovers and poor defense. Still, after losing the coach mid-year and having had such a poor record, they at least made things more respectable.
Big Question now is Who is going to be the new coach? Smart money says Anthony Grant from VCU, but there are a number of other options. I'll post if I hear anything interesting....mostly for myself, but you never know, someone may stumble on this thing and read it one day.