PG&E denies new ’smart meters’ are inaccurate – Top Stories – Fresnobee.com.

Yesterday a PG&E service man installed a smart meter on our electrical and I told my wife it I thought they already put one on few  months ago.

Our bill month before last was GINORMOUS.  If we can’t get our utilities under control we wont be able to, or wont want to live in this home.

The way things are going if news sources find themselves under water and have to sell, the arabs might be the only ones with money and INTEREST in purchasing them.

Al Jazeera English – Americas – Deep cuts push Californians to edge.

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As you can see, All of California has been hit hard and Fresno is no exception.

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I was under the weather all last week with a cold or allergies and on Saturday I finally felt well enough to get out and do something so I browsed the Fresno Bee online and found the advertisement for the event.

I will admit that when I read this: Music composition is done using a sixty-piece orchestra and is presented in full stereophonic sound. I took it to mean there was going to be a live orchestra.  Wrong.  Just a recording. But the dancing was stunning and offered LOTS of camera candy.  BTW, I called ahead of time to be sure that photography would be allowed because anyone who likes to shoot these kind of events knows that it often IS NOT.

Afterward my wife and I went to the North India Bar and Grill in Clovis for dinner (perhaps another blog?)

Here are two of my favorite captures from the event.

We had a GREAT TIME and I wish we could have stayed longer.  Butte has such a rich and intriguing history, which I will say more about in another blog – but for now I feel compelled to just say SOMETHING because I have been away from the computer for so long.

“Do you have any firearms on you or in your vehicle” asked the officer.  “No” I replied, “I have a permit to carry concealed but I dont have my gun with me today.”

After questioning us for a few minutes and searching my vehicle for weapons it turned out  there was a report of someone shooting in the area.  Well, we KNEW that was the case because we were out on the far edge of the bluff a little earlier and shots rang out VERY CLOSE to us and scared the BEEJEEBIES out of us so we decided not to hang around since we could not see where the person was who was firing, what he was firing with, and what direction he was aiming.

I have to say that the Fresno Police were very professional in the way the handled themselves and even though it was an extemely uncomfortable occurence and their guns were drawn, they didnt behave in anyway that made me feel threatened.

Here is one of the pics I took with the camera I was armed with.

We were parked in the flat area near the center of the image where the dirt road goes up the hill.

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You can find great local Fresno, California real estate information on Localism.com Randy “Lazarus” McAtee – Owner/Broker Lazarus Realty, Fresno California is a proud member of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free online community to help real estate professionals grow their business.

Painful perhaps, but probably necessary.

Well, he had me at $30.00 so off I went. I watched him hook it up and run some tests and he seemed a bit befuddled.  He asked me if I could leave it so he could run some more tests. I went by his shop in the late afternoon and he explained that I needed a couple of valves and doohicky that’s in front of the radiator and something inside under the dash. He explained to me the perils of dirty oil in the AC system, the dangers of pressure being to high, etc.  He asked me to leave it overnite and told me he would give me a price for repairs in the a.m. My wife and I discussed it that evening and she questioned whether or not the guy knew what he was doing. I told her I wasn’t sure, but let’s see what he says in the morning.

So, in the morning he calls me and tells me he has ordered the parts from the dealer and they will arrive in a day or two ( and that I am looking at $1200.00 total to repair the AC!

I told him to right there. I asked him to just change the oil and charge me for the diagnostic on the air and I told him I would be down soon to pick up the car.

Now in case you dont know, California has a lot of laws regarding Automobile Repair Service and if you aren’t familiar with them you can visit this website for more information. Its against the law for a mechanic order parts without first having your signed or explicit verbal permission beforehand.

So I picked the car up and went to the Honda dealership. The service guy there asks me what I need and I tell him the AC went out and I need a diagnosis. He sits me down in his office and writes up a work order for $198.00 to do a diagnostic. I ask him why its $198.00 and he tells me they do this and that and replace the freon. I tell him I’m not low on freon and the freon in there is fine but I think there’s an electrical issue that needs to be addressed. He asks me how I KNOW my freon is full and I tell him I already had a diagnostic run on it, then I add that the gal I spoke to on the phone told me the diagnositic test would be $106.00 not $198.00 so he asks me who it was, gets a little huffy and tells me he needs to speak to the service manager. Finally he comes back and tells me he can do the diagnostic for $106.00

I left the vehicle and shortly thereafter he called me and told me it was a relay that needed to be replaced, they had the part, it would cost an addition $124.00 So there you have it. You really have to advocate for yourself whether you’re seeing your doctor or your mechanic. AND – you need to be careful that you’re not losing money trying to save it – i.e. going to the discount mechanic whose initial charge is substantially lower but after that you get BURNT!

Just so you know – I took my receipt from the Honda dealership and went back to the other mechanic and showed it to him. I told him that I believed he should refund my $30.00 for his diagnosis since it was for a bunch of parts that had nothing to do with the problem and his estimate was over 5 times that of the dealership. He obliged.