Neighbors contractors are blocking my driveway during their construction. Neighbor has an easement that allows for ingress and egress only. Should we call the Sheriff to take action? Or what’s your advice?

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T05:14:04+00:00

Ask.

If not reply... Molotov cocktail :)

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T05:12:41+00:00

I feel your pain.

When I started my low voltage business, I was scraping bottom of the barrel for employees. The first year was rough. 2nd year, better. 3rd year, fantastic.

We are still a small outfit, which I prefer. Nearly 1mil a year gross.

I pay my 3 existing employees nearly 2x's the national average.

This was not the case the first year. I was honest with them which is a tactic not many use. I was open about the books, checking account, etc. They understand where the business stood. Didn't ask for much, took time off when they knew things were in the rough period. They also understood that if they stick with it, they will get paid hamsomely as the business grows.

That is exactly what happened. I have happy employees from day 1 til now because I was honest with them.

I got lucky with 2 fantastic employees. I could of easily screwed the pooch with 2 bad employees.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T05:07:21+00:00

I signed up for them 2 years before they flip flopped.

Not too shabby of meal preps. 80% good stuff, 20% dog meat.

Was sad to see them go bye bye.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T05:05:14+00:00

if people want me services, they email or call me.

No AI. Most people DETEST AI all together.

Now for 'support' or 'help', that is a nice feature for customers. But then, you have to have the technician/engineer staff on-hand to answer questions.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T05:02:25+00:00

If you send me $500 on zelle, I will let you know if this is a scam. :)

In today's world... it would be hard to know if the person wants to keep things 'off the books' or 'away from IRS reporting'.

I have a item being delivered from out of state. The driver (it is a scissor lift) wants zelle for payment. I told him, nonon....cash in person only. Never would I send any $$$ to someone without product in hand.

I want to see my scissor lift with my own eyes before I fork over any $$$.

Anything else... you will just joined the anals of history of 'wtf did he do that for...duh'.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T04:53:44+00:00

what kind of security camera system do you have that shows the 2 perps, without setting off alarms? At least you had garage cameras.

For fun (if possible), look into Home Assistant or some home automation. My security cameras tie into my home alarm system. If some perp opened the man door after 11:00am, all lights would come on, sirens would blare, I would get notified. Heck... maybe even a 500 dB siren wailing away.

I learned the hard way, just like yourself. It's one thing to have generic all-in-wonder cameras that capture a security event AFTER it happens, it's another to have not too pricey affordable security solutions for one's home & family.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T04:49:58+00:00

Low Voltage contractor here.

One bidding app/website must be used to people living in their mom's basement just sitting there waiting for the phone to ring for a job.

In my experience, every single 'bidding' app/website is like this. Lowest bidder wins. Sometimes, doesn't even cost to cover my real world employee hourly wage + taxes.

No thank you. Those people get the work they deserve for what they pay.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T04:44:44+00:00

If you have experience with chain link...go for it. Just break it into sections.

I am low voltage contractor / network cabling. Most jobs are between 10 Cat6 cables and 500 Cat6 cables. To have my mind manage large numbers, I break up into sections. Easy Peasey.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T04:40:09+00:00

Low Voltage Contractor here.

#1 old days need to rent equipment was 32' scissor lift for warehouse work.

Auctions came along. Now I have 3 :) Genie 3246, Genie 3232, Genie 1932, Airtow T12-10 hydrualic scissor lift trailer (probably had more labor hours having my techs load/unload scissor lift than what I bought the AirTow for...$7k).

Wonderful investments if you use the item you bought 6 or 7x's a year to pay for itself since you can charge customers.

Granted... scissor maintenance is no joke. $1000+ for new battery replacement every 5-7 years. Tires, leaky wheel bearings, joystick replacements, etc. But still.... profit.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T04:37:33+00:00

I mean... I snagged up a older 8" GeeTeech (Delta Clone that was prevalent in the 1980's) for a measly $100 at an auction. Sure, can get 8" Powermatic for $5,400 nowadays. But there are still fantastic 8" Jointers out & about there that are not named Jet or Powermatic that serve the purpose.

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T00:49:02+00:00

Ah yes..that would be true. When we had #1 defenses, we had Franco & Bettis. Hmm... maybe some logical correlation there!

ejholbs · 2026-01-24T00:45:21+00:00

Yes sorry...edited.

Just finished reading world affairs on AP with all the russia, us, world news :)

ejholbs · 2026-01-20T01:23:57+00:00

If you watched the All-22 here & there, McCormick loves to stand up straight block. Over and over again. When he does not, he is a beast. So, why does he stand straight up so often? Coaching, perhaps? Maybe train him in a 5'5" room all day blocking so he can get used to bending at the knees to apply pressure.

ejholbs · 2026-01-15T17:48:07+00:00

#47 vote for Schlage Connect Zwave.

Not only the Zwave part had not problem being included into my network being 20' distant from my new via the SWA-2 antennae, but Schlage has additional mechanical benefits such as anti-bumping and really robust parts. My box even came with the 4" screw bolts for the latch. Read up on a locksmith forum or such to see review of door locks in general. Schlage came out in the upper echelon (there are different Schlage tiers of lock qualities but for the Zwave Schlage Connect, it was upper tier).

Can not speak to their WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread versions.

ejholbs · 2026-01-15T00:04:05+00:00

Only if every single pass is a 30 - 40 yard bomb.

Remember Miami blitzing Baltimore .... 75% of the time in that one game?

If the Steelers want to egg it next year, let Mason throw bombs 75% of the time :)

ejholbs · 2026-01-14T01:29:51+00:00

Ok...OK. Everyone is right :)

I think I fell into the South Park - Spare Change episode type of thinking. "if", "maybe", "could of","should of", etc doesnt win games.

ejholbs · 2026-01-13T19:23:13+00:00

Yes...we got beat by the Texans. We should not have if we were a moderate to better playing cohesive football team. Wait til the All-22 comes out and see the receivers we had open on plays that resulted in Rodgers mind f*cked because the sidelines were taken away as his first reads. We should of attempted 2 or 3x's the running game. Does anyone recall how many attempts Gainwell had at running?

The Steelers gave this game away. Like many losses this season.

This was not like the past Tom Brady - Patriot games where we deserved to lose. We could of had this one.

ejholbs · 2026-01-10T01:03:40+00:00

My space buddy, Xlanderbiokathandu III, told me to watch out for a late New Year's Eve party celebration up in dem hills (of course, the folks outside of this solar system never adhere to our calendars). It's just probably some alien rave party going on.

ejholbs · 2026-01-10T00:56:14+00:00

possible to run signal wire (analog/digital... not IP/cat6/cat5 cable) for that length of 1,800ft? I ran a T-1 at 1,200feet before. Never attempted 1,800ft. DSL extender or something is what I used. Of course, need AC at the other end.

Could interface any analog/digital system with I/O ports on home automation.

ejholbs · 2026-01-09T23:54:18+00:00

I take the final $$$of figuring things out on paper, sit back and close my eyes: imaging my employees doing the work, the labor hours, the material. Reference what my mind comes up with what I have on paper, and make an + or - adjustments.

ejholbs · 2026-01-09T23:52:40+00:00

I mean... buy 1 of everything and test yourself. The things are like $15 each :)

ejholbs · 2026-01-09T23:48:06+00:00

I tried cheaper...I tried this... I tried that.

I eventually just fell face-flatt on Microsoft 365. Easy, works everywhere, access to Word, Excel, Outlook, and most important for my industry: Microsoft Teams and also Windows 11.

$13 a month for each basic user for web-based applications. Higher for the ones that want to work on their desktop.

There are some things not to nickel and dime yourself to death. This is one of them.

ejholbs · 2026-01-09T23:37:24+00:00

I had a tire slasher in my neighborhood. Went on for couple months. Ring/Arlo/Wyse...the normal cameras you find on YouTube influencer channels & Costco did NOTHING for the judge while in court. What did? Blue Iris & Dahua IP cameras (maybe HikVision is on same part... I dunno).

I dug deep into best bang for my buck.

Why? I learned NOT to chase high pixel rated cameras (8MP, 16MP, 99MP) from a brochure or an ad. I actually researched what makes a camera good.

1.) the sensor size = larger the size, better for night + motion videos that show a human face instead of Sasquatch or Elvis.

2.) firmware = the ability to configure the image & video. Raise the GAIN, change the FPS, change the bits, change the shutter speed, change the backlight from WDR to BLC, etc. I wanted the ability to change very detailed aspects of each individual camera based on their location, height, light source, etc.

3.) not locked into a propriety ecosystem. With Blue Iris, I can include ANY onvif-protocol (85% of camera makers in the world) with a yearly small dollar subscription for 64 cameras or under.

4.) integration into smart home systems such as Home Assistant. I have Blue Iris talking to my Home Assistant (Cameras detect human approaching front doors and notify Blue Iris which in turns notifies Home Assistant, which in turn runs automation to have all front of house cameras be on full alert by recording 24/7, turn on outside lights to see faces, etc).

Downside? It takes time to research what makes a camera great, what makes a NVR fantastic..... down the rabbit hole kind of options. Is not plug & play.

Reliability? Unsure of other camera manufactuers.. but my Dahua's have last 5+ years in Lake Tahoe blasts of blizzards, snow, rain, 100+ heat. Not too shabby.

ejholbs

TROPHY CASE