Everything under the sun, no limits. Say it or foreverhold your peace
DAWG ON A SHORT LEASH
Sometimes there are people who we feel need to be kept on a leash when taken out in public.
Well this woman had the exact same idea when she took her boyfriend out shopping in Walmart.
Either this man has shown a tendency to be extremely ill-behaved in stores or his girlfriend just likes having full control over him as if he were a pet.
We wonder if she lets him off the leash when he has to use the restroom.
DAWGS TIRE EXPERIENCE
Here is my review of an experience I had last Saturday when I tried to get tires put in my oversized rims on my utility trailer.
This occurred at discount tire, which is also known as America’s tire in Henderson Nevada
At 432 Lake Mead Pkwy. in Henderson, NV
Just for a little background I had purchased a utility trailer that was a old Chevy Z 71 pickup and they cut the frames and made a trailer.
It was basically just the axle the tires in the bed, and the front frame had been bent in two form the tongue for towing.
Someone at one point or another had either pimped out the truck and or the trailer with 24-inch rims and the tires were 305/305R 24.
The trailer also has a bed cover on that is supported by pistons on both sides to lift the cover up. It is also a 6-foot bed.
The trailer is highly functional and tows very well, especially with those large tires.
The tires that were on the rims were about 12 years old and were becoming weather-beaten and cracked so I decided to replace them.
DAWGS TIRE EXPERIENCE AT DISCOUNT TIRES
So here is the story of what happened when I tried to do that:
In the past that always used America’s tires for my automobile needs that they were very efficient and functional in dealing with tire issues.
Here in Henderson Nevada there is only discount tire which is the same company and they use the same system and they recognized me right away in the system on the computer.
Had to special order 2 -24′ tires for my trailer, an old pickup bed converted to utility trailer.
That I expected, and they came in about three days later.
When they arrived, I made an appointment and was taken in very quickly though they were busy.
For some reason it was taking a long time and when I looked there was 4 employees standing at my tires and after 45 min. they still had not been removed.
Come to find out they did not have a socket that fits the lugs on my rims. It was not an abnormal lug.
And I also had noticed that the manager had gone out to look at what the problem was.
The employees trying to take the rims off came to me and asked if I had a special socket to take the lug nuts off and I advised them they are normal lug nuts nothing special.
He was not able to find a socket to remove the lug nuts.
Finally the manager became involved, and he initially had told the employee he was too busy to discuss the situation but I was standing right there and he did not have much of a choice.
Talking to the manager he said he was too busy to deal with it and told me to go to Harbor freight and find one.
I advised him he is the tire expert not me and I expected for them to solve it.
And he made a comment something to the effect what you want me to do and I said put tires on my trailer that’s what I’m there for.
Again, he said he did not have time.
After some discussion they refunded the money I paid in advance, $460 and I left.
My guess at this point is they are not the tire experts I expected of them,
And they are not problem solvers for simple problems like lug nuts.
Isn’t that what they do?
DAWGS TIRE EXPERIENCE AT DISCOUNT TIRES
UPDATE: I went home put a 13/16 socket on a breaker bar and all 12 lugs were removed in 10 minutes.
That is a standard lug size socket for these rims, nothing special. In fact they were the stock lug nuts for the truck originally.
Also note this review was also put on yelp to let others see the experience that I had.
It was not really a major issue other than the fact that the manager was not customer orientated nor did he seem to be solution orientated either.
After I had removed the tires from the trailer myself, which took about 15 minutes.
I went to a competitor tire shop in Henderson and the tires were ordered and I was told to be a one-day delivery, and $80 cheaper.
A STORY OF FORGIVENESS AND MISGUIDED PASSION
By the time I was in my preteens, my dad had become a full-fledged alcoholic and regularly abusive.
The domestic abuse led to child protective services visiting multiple times, and a few nights at the local police station.
Then, when I was 13, I got a call. There had been another fight at home, so I should go to my Grandparents’ house instead.
When I got there, the decision had been made- a divorce, once and for all.
And just like that, two things ended; the place I called a home, and all communication with my dad.
My dad, the ‘villain’ in our home
The truth is, not seeing or hearing from my dad wasn’t hard at all. We barely had a relationship.
To me, he brought terror into the home. I didn’t like him, and I had made it known for as long as I can remember.
In one little act of rebellion, I was on the computer after school when he came home. I knew he had come home, but I chose not to acknowledge him.
He hit me so hard, my chair fell backwards and I hit my head on the floor. I didn’t say ‘hi’ to him the next day either.
People aren’t black or white–learning to acknowledge the grey
So, while the years rolled by, I didn’t miss my Dad. I was getting older though.
And with my age, I began to see cracks in my childhood that I didn’t know were there.
As I grew into a teenager, I became more perceptive, smarter and more individualistic in my thinking.
I started to notice my mom in ways I hadn’t before. I noticed how often she lied, I noticed how often she tried to use manipulation as a control tactic, I noticed how wrong her relationship was (I’ll circle back to this).
By this point I had long known that neither one of my parents were ideal, but I had held on to the belief that my dad was ‘the bad one.’
A child’s narrative vs. an adult’s story
It took years before I was emotionally and mentally intelligent enough to piece together the truth of my family.
I discovered that at the centre of this truth was my mom’s affair. She started to see no other than my dad’s sister’s husband since my sibling and I were toddlers.
This was no secret. She explicitly told me when I was 5, and from then on, she used her kids as pawns in her affair.
She would have us lie for her, eavesdrop if my dad’s sister came over to talk to him, and play house when she would invite him over when my dad was at work.
But that’s not all, my mom also made sure that we had little relationship with our dad. We never celebrated his birthday– I couldn’t even tell you which month it is in.
When I was 7 or 8, my dad tried to teach me how to read and write in our native language, I sat on his lap.
My mom stared at me until I got off. Then she stared at me until I stopped learning.
When he began to grow suspicious of her affair (she sometimes even blatantly flirted with the guy in front of everyone- including my dad- at family functions), she would make fun of our dad. She would say that he acted like a crazy person.
My dad, the weak man who broke
This veil that had covered my mom in pious white and my dad in devil black was lifting, and all I could think was how I could have been so easily manipulated.
She encouraged and rewarded us kids to treat him like an outsider for as long as I can remember, and we complied.
Maybe we were just desperate to have a mother’s love, I don’t know, but we did it. We ignored him, we gave him attitude, we protected her affair, we chose her side.
As he grew more privy to her affair, the drinking started. The abuse started. The timing was not a coincidence.
Oftentimes, arguments would start in the house about the affair.
Before I knew it, my dad would be closing the curtains- something that I knew always preceded a violent, sometimes bloody, fight.
And that’s when I knew to go hide.
So, while I knew he would never win ‘Father of the Year,’ and our relationship was likely irreparable, the truth was still important to me:
My mom used us and sacrificed our relationship with our dad to support her affair from an age so young, that we had no chance.
But another truth, equally as hard to swallow, was this: “My dad did not have to turn to alcohol or abuse.
Those too were choices, choices that, regardless of the provocation and the helplessness he felt, he was ultimately responsible for.”
The importance of forgiveness
Today, I have little to no relationship with my mom or my dad. But I know now, that my dad wasn’t the villain.
When I deciphered the haze of my childhood, built of lies and manipulation, I started to be able to remember some of the happier times.
Times, when despite how I treated him- how we all treated him- he held me when I fell, or cried during a movie.
Times that showed the bits of beautiful humanity that somehow survived.
My dad’s weakness was that he caved under the dynamics of a family that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone, and you know what?
I forgive him. I hope he forgives me, too.
I share this story because I know first-hand how difficult it can be to erase childhood conditioning and navigate through parental lies, especially when told at a young age.
I know how confusing it can be to see different sides of a person, especially when trauma, abuse and pain are involved.
And I know how lonely the process can be.
DAWGS CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE
DAWGS CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE
On Monday this week I started the frustrating experience of attempting to buy a new car.
Not wanting to get into the typical games that are played during negotiations, and out of curiosity, I attempted to do an online purchase.
Going through the online procedures is very difficult and tedious and I am sure not very successful.
But they do offer some excellent prices and discounts for online purchases.
A young man delivered a Jeep Cherokee to my house for a test drive, and he was the person to talk to about online purchases.
And he warned me about the procedures online.
As it ended up instead of doing a lengthy negotiation in a showroom floor, they had me doing a lengthy negotiation over the phone.
So there was not much difference and they were not willing to accept their online price.
DAWGS CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE AND FRUSTRATIONS
The interesting part about that is that it was not a price that I had asked for, but a price that had come up through their system and supposed to be a special online price which also included a trade-in value for my old car.
Going through negotiations with this young man for some time that day ended up proving futile, as I had printed out everything that the online process produced including their numbers, not mine.
They did not want to accept their own figures.
And after several hours of calls going back and forth negotiations proved to be worthless, again because they did not want to accept their own online prices.
In fact I had told them much of the figures that they were giving me were a large number of fees which I know darn well are there way of pumping up the profits on every vehicle sold, as most of those fees were a load of crap.
Towards the end of these negotiations the young man actually said to me it’s obvious that you had purchased a few cars in the past and are familiar with many things that goes on in a dealership, and it does not appear we are going to be able to agree on a price.
I again repeated all’s I want to do is have you honor the price you gave me your online quote; It is a special price for online purchases.
He was not able to do that because of, I am sure, management policies.
Negotiations were then stopped.
I then began researching some other vehicles and started looking at a Dodge journey, not a highly rated vehicle, but it was economical and had a couple of nice features.
Again, the test drive was arranged after I had completed the online procedures to purchase.
The vehicle I was looking at was a brand-new vehicle with less than 100 miles on it, but it was a 2019.
DAWGS CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE AND FRUSTRATIONS
The vehicle had a genuinely nice ride and being a 2019 it had a V-6 in it for adequate power, and the mileage rating was good.
I again had printed out all the documentation from the online process and they again did not want to accept those figures and renegotiate.
Initial salesman was a new salesman, but an older gentleman, who did very little conversing about the vehicle or the negotiations.
Another gentleman had stepped in to do the negotiating which I told him I was not going to do because I had an online price agreement.
He was not willing to accept that price, which again, they had given me a figure for my trade-in which I thought was very fair, and was very close to what the trade value showed on Edmunds.com.
Again, he showed me figures that were about $5000 more for the price of the car, and about 1/3 of the value they had initially quoted online for my trade-in.
I told him I was not going to accept anything less than what the online process had quoted me and was willing to write a check on the spot.
After another lengthy negotiations, which I was trying to avoid in the first place by doing online, I had stuck to the numbers that they had originally given me online.
Finally, another person had come to the table, that’s number three now, and had a print out with the costs that was even higher than what the last gentleman I was talking to was trying to get.
DAWGS CAR BUYING EXPERIENCE AND FRUSTRATIONS
At that point it was obvious they were done negotiating altogether and he was trying to get me out the door.
He did ask what I thought was a fair price and I showed him the print out that I had from the online process and I told him I expected him to honor their own numbers.
These are not my numbers they were theirs that they had given me online.
He said he was not going to do that in addition there are only going to give me about 1/3 of the trade-in value they had originally quoted me online for my car.
He was obviously trying to end the negotiations right there. Which it did.
At that time there was another dealer next-door who did not do the online process.
They give their prices and you go from there the old-fashioned way. They all have a large number of discounts and rebates right now.
At the time that I was in this dealership I noticed that I was the only customer there for a long period of time and new that was a good sign for my cause.
It was a large dealership with a large inventory, and I was dealing with a young man who I thought was highly competent and straightforward.
Negotiations went very well at one point the manager sent me a note with a happy face on it that says congratulations you have won here is your price.
I told them I was not willing to accept that price, they were trying to lure me into something.
Negotiations continued and about another $1500 was taken off the price of the car.
I was very pleased at the results of this note negotiations, though they were claiming they made no money on this deal and the salesman claimed he’ll get no commission, but I knew that was not the case.
I did purchase a 2020 Ford escape, similar pictured above, with many nice features and what I felt was a very fair out the door price.
My earlier attempt to make it less painful to the online process created more grief and showed the underhanded nature of some of these dealers. It is all just a lure to get you in, they are not serious about those online prices.
Just thought I would drop a note about this experience for any future reference that anyone may need in a purchase of a car.
NOTE DAWGS BLOGS REFERENCES AND NOTATIONS ON WIKIPEDIA. CLICK LINK BELOW.
THIS IS LEX WHO IS THE ONE WHO POSED FOR MY LOGO
HE HAS MANY TALENTS
DON’T BE BASHFUL ABOUT SENDING SOME FUN STUFF WITH YOUR DOGS.
I AM BAD ASS AREN’T I?
This morning taking my car to be washed at prime shine carwash I was told as my sticker on the door was being scanned by the employee that effective October 4 all scan stickers will now be placed on the windshields.
I asked the employee what happens if I don’t want to sticker on the windshield, she stated that you will be required to have it on shield and if you don’t remove and cancel the sticker on the door you will continue to be charged but won’t be able to use the services. Personally, I felt this probably a very uninformed employee.
I then contacted Mister carwash club the now owner of prime shine carwash, effective December 10, 2018. They are out of Arizona not locally owned like prime shine used to be.
Here is the email that I had sent off to Mister carwash:
I got my car washed this morning at the car wash that is still named prime shine in Ceres California. I was advised by an employee THAT ALL STICKERS would be moved from the doors to the windshields effective October 4.
I asked the young lady what if I do not want it on my windshield, she says I would not be able to use the services but still would be charged for the sticker on the door.
Feeling that this employee may be misinformed I am contacting the corporate office through this medium for clarification.
Also note: that I run a local blog called Dawgonnit.com a.k.a. Dawgs blog and this information is going to be relayed to the public in the area of all the Prime shines in in the community.
Requesting an official response from Mr. carwash in regard to this matter as I feel clarification to the public is necessary.
Thank you very much for your attention in this matter
Marty Carlson
Dawgonnit.com
(Dawgs blog)
Anyone else with these type experiences in the community or with prime shine for now Mister car wash, please feel free to contact me with your experiences ideas or suggestions. I will update when I get a response.
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JUST A QUICK NOTE: I WILL BE INTERVIEWING FRANK CARSON TODAY TO GET SOME INSIGHT TO THE ACTIVITIES OF THE LAST 4 YEARS.
I WILL POST THE INTERVIEW IN ITS ENTIRETY, IF IT IS TOO LONG I MAY HAVE TO PUT IT UP IN TWO OR MORE PARTS……..
Your bow tie must be too tight sir…….
By Marty Carlson
7-18-2016
As most of you know that’s been following this blog recently, I am constantly mentioning somebody in the courtroom that is constantly glaring at the audience especially myself and Tom. I personally I don’t concern myself with that kind of stuff because I think it’s stupid this has gotten to the point where it’s actually kind of funny, especially when all of a sudden he glares at me and shakes his head in an extremely self-righteous manner. Then goes back to playing angry birds on his phone and reading DAWGS BLOG.
No doubt my mind this gentleman feels that he’s one of the good guys, I guess that’s okay he’s got have a feeling of importance like all of us do. He does drive a nice car, in fact it’s beautiful, but taxpayer funded.
Today like every other day that he’s there, he was doing the glare down, in fact everybody in the audience noticed it, and brought it to my attention when he was doing it. Now most of the time I’m looking at other things that I like to observe people during the hearing, and having a stare down is something I think we did when we were in grammar school.
Regardless of all that, my function is to follow was going on in the courtroom which is very difficult right now with the testimony that is taking place at this time, the with the cell phone expert, and how dry it is.
Now to the fun part, after court was over Tom and I were standing outside by our cars, talking and discussing issues and the DA, and this gentleman, along with their $350 an hour in tow (Jim Cook), came outside and start loading up their vehicles. Again he was doing the stare down and it again meant little to me, then I noticed he started walking towards me across the parking lot towards the street with his hand behind his back. Is it a weapon? Is it a bow tie that he personally had made for me? Is it a copy of the Wizard of Oz that he once played in as the scare crow? Interestingly enough it was none of the above.
He says when I got out of my vehicle something had fallen out and he sure that I would need it, and he handed me this:
if you’re not sure what that is it is a tin foil hat, and I guess there was a message there, but to be honest with you I think it showed a pretty good sense of humor and I actually enjoyed it and laughed out loud. In addition to the shit eating grin that was on his face when he handed it to me.
I also asked him if he minded if I put this in my blog tonight, and he said “OH I’m sure you will.”
I actually enjoyed the moment very much.
Now if you stop and think about it, and I do not know if he took it out of his vehicle or Jim cook’s vehicle, they were both loading up at the same time and I wasn’t paying that much attention. Somebody has me on their mind, I’m in their head for some reason. Somebody took the time to take $.12 worth of aluminum foil, shape it over a ball, or a mannequin, or one of those Styrofoam wig holder things to shape it.
Or maybe it was his own tinfoil hat!
This tinfoil hat did not fit me, my personal tinfoil hat has ear holes and a chin strap and two antennae out the top. So I am concerned that he is not hit his comfort zone tonight and that could create a real safety issue for a constantly armed man.
But I do thank him for the recyclable materials.
By the way I was told by another investigator they are not reading my blog, I wonder if that is still true?
Sometimes you just got a know how to have fun.
