Sunday

Usually, I like the weekends to go by as slow as possible. Really. I mean, Monday comes and it's all over - another work week. Work is great - if there's something to do. If there's nothing to do, then I'm vacuuming shelving, cleaning trucks and doing what-not to try and pass the time. Which is okay - but I'd rather be doing what I was hired to do, and that's pull order, package them, load them on the truck and drive it out to the jobsite.

But - couldn't wait for today to get here. Eagles v Cardinals and Steelers v Ravens.

I'm a Steelers fan, so obviously I want the Steelers to win the second game. I'm still undecided on the first game. ALL Cardinals fans here in Phoenix have declared the Cardinals the victors of today's game. They talk about it as if it's already over and the championship has already been won by them.

I'm sorry, but the Eagles aren't going to be quite that easy to beat, I'm sure. They didn't make it this far by having a sucky team. In the normal realm of things, I would definitely declare the Steelers the champs as well - but this is the game for the conference championship and teams do strange things in these kinds of pressure situations.

I always shake my head in wonder when I see a coach decide to do something different in such situations - instead of doing what got them there in the first place. It ain't no time to start fooling with the plan. Whatever the case, today's games should be quite entertaining. I get a lot of flak about the Steelers and my desire for them to get a 6th Superbowl ring because of that in itself: they've already won a bunch of them, let some other team have a chance. BUNK, is all I can say to that. Let them win 10, 15, 20 Superbowls!

I was looking at hundreds of photos of the U.S. Airways jet that crashed and their attempts to pull the thing out of the water. Pretty amazing stuff. They have it on a barge now and presumably taking it to whatever hangar they are going to take it to to dissect it. One assumes that the birds caused the crash, one also assumes they would take the engines apart (I don't think they've found the second engine yet, have they?) and try to look at ways that perhaps they could avert such a thing from happening in the future.

I'm not really going to get a whole lot accomplished today. I did a deep watering of my tree out front, watered everything else - Mary isn't doing much of anything out there at this point. She usually waters the stuff out front, but since she isn't, I'm certainly not going to let the stuff just up an die. Doesn't need a lot of watering at this time of year, but still.

Oh, and I did take more ground yesterday in my quest to store up food. I'm going back to day or tomorrow- before the sale goes off - and buy another 20 or more cans of the meal in a can - that's what I call it - Campbell's chunky soups that are oh so delicious. I don't eat a lot of that stuff because if I remember correctly, it's full of sodium. You can eat stuff like that here and there, but a daily diet of it probably isn't too good for your system.

Things in the horizon: My uncles and dad are talking a reunion down in Sierra Vista. I haven't seen any of my relatives since I was a teenager. I missed the last reunion cause' I didn't have the bucks to get over there. To take my son and I to North Carolina - where it was held - would have cost a lot of money. I would have loved to have visited one of my uncles that has since died, but - that's life I guess. I can definitely swing driving down to Sierra Vista, I don't know about hotel stays. My dad put us up at the Marriot down there that last visit, but when I'm paying, well, I'm looking for the places that are half that price. My mother seems to believe that my brothers would go. Remember that my brothers basically hate their father at this point - going to a reunion down there would probably end up having some rather - uneasy moments putting it lightly.

I'm also still waiting for the list to come through on the safe driver award. I'm not guaranteed it - but I haven't had any tickets or accidents in the last year, so I'm hopeful at the least. I could use an extra week's pay right about now......

Mary still hasn't paid her rent. I found the copy of the 5-day notice I gave her and will be going down to the courthouse tomorrow after work and filing for Forcible Detainer. I have come to understand - or believe anyway - that she thinks I won't do it. Probably cause' I let her go the last time she pulled this crap - 2 months without paying anything. Now she's claiming that she's overpaid me. Okay, Mary. I have her handwritten letter saying she "made a mistake" on the rent - that's enough right there for the judge as far as I'm concerned. She admits she owes the rent is all I'm saying. I will hopefully be able to get a server over here tomorrow evening and have them post it on her bedroom door. If you have it delivered within 24 hours of filing for the Detainer, you don't have to have it served to the person - in person - they will just come in your house, tape it to her door, take a pic of it and then send the necessary documents into the courthouse.

She is back to her "being nice" game, but I'm ignoring her and the game. I could stand to not have to deal with her junk at this point. She claims that she's going to take down the door and all that drywall and stuff if she leaves. I wrote to her that if she tries to do that, I will be calling the Phoenix Police and having her arrested for criminal destruction of my personal property. Once she put that stuff up, too late - it's part of my house now and it's mine. I didn't ask her to put it up, but I ain't lettin' her take it down at this point. I neither wanted or didn't want a door there, I was neutral about it. It closes off that end of the house and it's a little - dark in there. But, that is a HUGE room, and now that the project is finished, I could rent that room out and leave the other one open. Yes, I'm talking as if Mary is already gone - it's quite obvious to me that she isn't going to pay any rent or she would have done so by now. Since she's lying about the situation and making life miserable for the other tenant - and if I do get a judgement against her - I will be going after her wages in a garnishment.

Nothing against women to the lady readers here - you are all wonderful folk - but if I ever write about having a female tenant in here again, please get out a gun and shoot a round across the bow of my ship - a warning shot. If that doesn't work, then please aim for a non-deadly area of my body and give me a wake-up call. I had figured in renting to Mary that since she has a full-time job and is making good money, I wouldn't have any issues with her about the rent. Goes to show you all about human nature. I'm floating as far as bills are concerned - just barely but it's there. Ken pays his rent religiously, on time, every time.

I've had 4 women living in here. The first one was an absolute nutcase; the second was okay and we got along fine, but I don't think she liked the kids; the third one was the girlfriend of the young guy - they were both great people; the fourth is Mary. So - 2 good ones, 1 that resembles something from hell and then Mary - somewhere in between the 2 extremes.

Ahhh, whatever. I have stuff to do in cleaning before game time gets here and I'm gonna tackle it.

Have a great Sunday!
ben