Looking Back

Well, I'm back home in Los Angeles now. I got back on the 20th at 6:00 PM. I've been home for a week now just getting sorted out after 50 days away. Lots of things to catch up on.

First thing was to send off my Motion TabletPC to see why it died on the way home in Phoenix! It just quit working and would not respond to the on-off switch to restart it from standby after I checked my mail while on a two hour layover there. It did this once before and I had to send it in.
It turns out that the mother board was cooked and needed replacing. To the tune of $530! and 2-5 weeks! This was not acceptable as I need this computer for my work that I would soon return to. (at least I hope my job is still there!)

I began the search for a new TabletPC as that is my preferred form factor. There are a ton of offerings out there. Some were just not in my price range for a field unit that gets some hard use. I saw units in excess of $4500. These were the "ruggedized" Military Spec type that you can drop in the water and run over with a truck. I really did't need that. I used one of those for my FEMA inspections that PaRR inspections provided.
I decided to switch to a "convertable" style from the "slate" style that I had been using. The convertable style has a built-in keyboard and looks like a conventional laptop except the screen can spin around and lie flat over the keyboard like a slate. The unit I eventually chose, an
HP tx2510us, is a "dual mode" screen with both "touch screen" and an "active digitizer" that works with a special stylus. It is taking a little while to get used to the new system (along with Vista) but I like it so far. I wanted the digitizer screen system since I do a lot of "inking" as in handwritting and that does not work well on a pure touch screen system.

Oh Oh! When I called in to tell the guys ar work that I was back and ready to restart I was told that "John will call you". That does not bode well! I may be looking for a different position or going on my own at a time when the Real Estate market is in the tank. This would kind of suck since I've been with this group for 6 years now and am one of the senior inspectors there.
We had been told by the CEO that since work was slow, it would be ok to step away for a while and do something else with no problems when we were ready to come back. The ethics of this is questionable. They have been known to reverse on past statements and I should have been better prepared to make a change. I have been working on some options but nothing is in the income producing stage yet. Better get busy! Time will tell I guess. Still waiting for "that call" from John.

Later,
Dana

San Leon, Texas is Wasted!!

I think they want some help

Where's the House?

Nothing left but the address!

Odd place to park your boat!

Even the bird houses got hit!

Texas Prairie Chicken

These used to be mobile homes

Former Mobile Home location

Wow!

Another Wow!

This small community just south and east of Bacliff and right on Galveston Bay where I have been working was really hit hard. It is very low, with some areas that are actually below sea level. The results of this are obvious by the pictures I took there the other day. These pictures are one month after the Ike hurricane and most still do not have any utility services. A few of the businesses out on the main highway into town, 517, have power but that's all.
Still in the clean up phase after the storm, very little repairs are under way due to lack of utilities. This is going to take a long time and some will never be able to rebuild. Due to the location and conditions in San Leon, many could not afford insurance or the insurance companies will just not write a policy for any amount of money. In spite of all this destruction, the people I met were pretty up-tone and getting on with their lives. The mind set down here on the Gulf Coast seems to be Sh** Happens - lets just move on. I have to laugh when they find out I'm from California and the first thing out of their mouths is "Earthquake" I just tell them that after the earthquake, all your stuff is in one pile and dry. You don't have to ask the guy six blocks away if they have seen your car.
It looks like things are starting to slow down as far as work for me goes. I may be coming home soon. This will be the second weekend with little or no work. That sucks since the weekends are the best time to catch people at home with an "ambush inspection". I cannot reach many clients by phone since a lot of utilities are still out. The typical process is to call for an appointment, tell them what documents I will need to see and then go by the next day. This usually works on about half of the applicants, the others I cannot reach. When they make their first application, they are supposed to list several contact options. After the storm, the phones don't work, they have left the area and not returned and some have even blocked incoming calls on that line. Time to "ambush" them. LOL
I'm actually starting to like the Gulf Coast area. I'm getting used to the humidity and the weather has been pretty nice. The "beach lifestyle" is pretty strong down here. This is definitely Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney country. The cost of living is quite low, housing prices are a total shock to someone from hyper-inflated California! You can rent a nice house with a huge yard for about $500-$600 a month and buy a very nice house for under $200,000. Wow, it wouldn't be hard to consider living here. Of course the wage rates are a lot lower down here I would expect, hence the low housing prices. If I could create a business down here that made the money that I currently make in CA, we could live like a king and have a ton of room for all the dogs.
Ok, this is getting pretty long so I will cut it off here and say "Later"
Dana

Looks like the end is in sight.

I'm running out of inspections to do. I got it down ot one last guy that I need to verify occupancy on and I'm through with that batch I started last week. I did pick up 3 more this morning and they are scheduled for Sunday morning.
The broadcast voicemail that PaRR uses to communicate to all the inspectors in the field had a message about not calling in to let them know about low or no work conditions. PaRR does not send the work to us, FEMA does. Kind of sounds like they are getting a lot of traffic about this and I'm not the only one running out to jobs. This might mean it is getting near the end and I will be released soon. If figures, just when I get a good system down to crank out a lot of inspection and make some serious money, they run out of work! I need at least 8-10 per day to make any money after expenses are factored in.

Over all, this has been a frustrating experience. Many stops and starts and moves to new locations. Lost time to handle housing issues and fighting with the ass***** at Alamo/National Car Rental, writing up and scheduling of 30 inspections only to be told to send them all back and move to a new area. The potential to make some serious money was there in theory but in practice, there are too many things that are beyond your control to put it all together. I think I will be lucky to break even and just chalk it up to an interesting experience. Considering that I would have made at least $200-250 per day back home doing what I usually do, the weekly cost of a rental car, housing costs and food, as well as $50/week for Fedex Express to send in the payroll, doing 8 inspections per day is the minimum to come to the plus side of the equation.
I did not really attain that very many times for a number of reasons including those listed above. I've done something like 180 inspections at $50 each. The gross for that would be $9000. add in the $2500 I got for 6 days of standby, back out the 10% PaRR holds back for 45 days and all my costs, I'm probably ok. I haven't added up all my expenses yet. I have also been paying all my normal bills back home. I'll take a few days off when I get back to sort it all out.

Although I did get to see a lot of country that I wouldn't normally see and meet a lot of very nice people, it wasn't a vacation by any means. I made a few new friendes, got to meet a "long distance friend" in person that I only knew via the internet, had one client actually call and thank me for helping them and got quite a few free cups of coffen and soft drinks, even got a flat pumped up so I could make it to the repair shop. And tomorrow I'm going up to meet another Otterhound owner that lives in Houston. All in all, I don't regret doing this but would have to think about it if they call again. I may try PB Inspections next time to see if they are better or worse to work with/for.

One of the things that always amazed me was the low cost of housing down here in the South. I got to see a lot of mortgages and rental agreeents and housing is cheap down here! At least compared to what I'm familiar with in Los Angeles. What costs me $2100 per month goes for about $500 here. Nice, new 1800 sq ft homes are going for $150-180 thousand. The median price in California is over $500,000. And that doesn't buy very much in LA. Maybe a nice condo or a 2-3 bedroom in a working class area. My typical home inspection job in LA is on million dollar homes. I suppose the wage rate is a lot less down here so I guess it all works out.

Long post tonight since I have not been all that active over the last week or so and wanted to get down a few "Thoughts from a Boomer" to make up.

Later, Dana

1st. Visit to Galveston

I don't think this place will be re-opening any time soon!

This hole is 30 feet above the beach level.

Hope the car wasn't in here!

I took the time today to make a quick tour of Galveston today for the first time since the storm.

It's been almost one month since Hurricane Ike came to town and Galveston is still a wreck. Everybody is busy cleaning up but very few businesses are open. A bit hard to find food and fuel on the Island still. Then are big piles of debris along most of the steets off the main drags. I passed one huge lot completely filled with 40-50 foot high piles.

I took the time to stop by the FEMA camp at the airport to check it out. It's not as big as the Beaumont camp but very nice. If I get inspections down here, I may move down from Texas City. This is a lot closer to my inspections than the Beaumont Camp was.

I have not posted for a while since then has not been anything to new to pass on. I've been out 40 days now and it is all starting to blend together. Every day is much like the previous ones .
I'm almost done with the current batch of inspections in La Marque and Alvin. I'm working on clearing the last few applicants I have not been able to make an appointment with.
I wonder where the next group will be ? I'll keep you posted.

Later -Dana