Monday 11/14/2011

The work week clock starts afresh.

Sometimes I wish that clock could slow down a bit on the weekends.

Won't have an extra day off until Thanksgiving day and then, will have to

go to work the day after.  

But it's okay, I have 3 days off at Christmas, plus Christmas weekend and

the Monday after is a holiday, totaling 6 full days off.  

I got quite a bit more done on the front yard yesterday.  I'm at the hardest part, frankly, because I have to get underneath this giant bush/tree thing to get at the junk that's under there, clean it out and then lay both the landscaping rock and put down the other kind of rock next to it.  So I'm not really calling that particular part of it fun by any means - but it will look much nicer and therefore be worth the effort.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood kids tell me that Randy told Sam -the dude that is hoarding behind me - that when he gets into court to tell the judge that he's crazy, not all there and doesn't really know what the ticket is all about.  The guy got ticketed for the unbelievable mess over there.  Well, even if the judge buys that story, that still does not give him a pass to have that property like that over there. 

Obama saying that "all options are on the table".  What table?  I would hate to see us going into another war, but I don't see Iran as anything but a global threat.  The longer everyone sits on their hands about this, the closer Iran will get to getting nukes.  That's it.  Fire one off at Israel and there's the beginning of WWIII - or - the beginning of the end.  

Whatever.  Gotta git, work starts in half an hour.

G'day.

ben

Yikes

Worst time in church I have had since going to the one I am going to now.
I got into a particularly foul mood just before arriving at church and it never
changed. In the Christian realm, it would be called an attack of the enemy.
It came out of nowhere, too.  I was in a great mood and then baam, there I am
fighting off all kinds of mind battles.

I sat there in church wanting to leave and fighting off the feeling.  It never left the entire time
I was there.  Food fellowship after service?  I was leaving and a man who has greeted
me a few times asked if I were staying for food? No, thanks.

I came home.  Ate left over spaghetti and went outside, enjoying my property.
The Honeysuckles are in full bloom.  Both bees and a purple-headed hummingbird
were feasting on the flowers' nectar.  The hummingbird saw me and went to one of my desert
trees and sat on a low lying branch.  He/she started making noises.  I think it was
not pleased to be disturbed in the middle of his feast, but, I certainly had no ill intent.
I was only 6 feet away from that bird while it was sitting on that limb of the tree, which
was maybe 5 feet off the ground.  This is a completely different bird than any of the
other Hummingbirds I have seen here. This because of it's purple head, I have not
seen any others with a purple head, they all have green and red.

I then went out front, climbed underneath a half-shrub/half tree thing and started clearing out
the larger, natural rock that is on the ground to make way for another pathway of my
landscaping rock.  Not that landscaping rock is unnatural, it is mined off the sides of
cliffs, basically, or out of the ground and put through machinery that makes large rock into
smaller rock. It may be the final pathway that I will do on the front with the landscaping rock -
but don't quote me on that.  It is certainly a natural progression to what I have already done.

Completely enjoyable "work", though I don't call it that. If it were work by any of my standards,
I would have skipped it on a beautiful, lovely Sunday afternoon.

Calls to DirectTV.  Yeah, well I got into a lengthy conversation with a supervisor yesterday.
That after being denied any free movie channels from a "regular" incoming call center agent.
He flatly refused, saying I wasn't paying for such services and wouldn't be getting them for free.
He then offered me a series of worthless movie channels for $5 extra per month. They are the "add-on" channels that come with the channels you pay for. Are you serious?

I flatly told him they were worthless channels that I never watch.  I dunno about my tenants, but I didn't mention that.  Why bother.  This went on for a while.  I always preface my requests to corporate headquarters with numerous calls to the regular 800 number.  Oh, yes, you tried that already.  Oh, and I was on the line at that point with their disconnection "department".  Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.  He eventually hung up on me after saying there wasn't anything further for us to discuss.

I let it go yesterday, a 45 minute interaction with people I don't want to talk to was enough for me.
So, I called again. The only thing that motivated me is that all 3 sets of movie channels I had for free are
now gone. They only last so long, usually 3 months, though one set I got for 6 months after complaining to corporate.  Oh, I called again like 30 minutes ago.  I don't talk to computers, so I press 0 until I get through to a live person.

The woman that answered? Umm, without going into it, definitely the voice of attitude.  I was not going to talk to this person, I was going to talk to their supervisor or I was going to hang up and try again.  So, I asked for a supervisor.  The line went dead.  Well, there was no sound, anyway.  A few minutes later, the woman comes back on and tells me her supervisor is on the line, thanks.

This person informs me he is with the billing department.  Billing?  I didn't ask that computer to be switched to billing.  What can billing do for me?  I will admit that I thought in my mind that if I said that to this guy and played it out - I'm sorry, didn't know I was with the billing department (which I HONESTLY did not know until he said it!), I don't think you can help me - maybe that would get me what I want.  So I did.

I finally told him that my free movie channels - all of them at this point -were gone.  I didn't bother to mention that superviosr's statement yesterday about the fact that I wouldn't get anything regardless.  He looked up my account, offered me Showtime and that was that.  Thank you, thank you very much!  Didn't have to get into anything but a real discussion without all the bs about it.  Which was nice.

Umm, long interlude.  The lady that reconnected with me - Mary - got me on a Facebook conversation.  Time for bed.

G'nite.

ben

Sunday 11/13/2011

Ohhhh, noooooo, it's Sunday the 13th!  What will happen today?  Lol.  Alright, I have my own superstitions, I guess, but I just have to make a bit of fun at people that see numbers on the calendar and think: gee, this must mean something!  Or the Mayan calendar running out next year, too many people think it's the end of the world. Seriously, I have run into all kinds of individuals both online and face to face that absolutely believe that December 12, 2012 is going to be the "apocalyptic end of the world".  \

Regardless, this kid that has been walking my dogs is now giving me his entire family's "poor story".  They are, undoubtedly, extremely poor people, living just 3 houses down from me.  I can't take care of everyone, that is God's department, not mine.  I can help people, but that's only when I feel "led" to do so.  Those people have been living there almost the entire time I have lived here and they seem to be making it somehow is all I can say about that.

The interesting thing is how many people can living in a single house, especially in this case where it's a single wide mobile home and there are at least 12 people living in there.  Another interesting note is that this kid's dad is as sick of the feral cat population being propagated around  here as much as I am.  Those same cats that come into my yard are going into their yard and yes, crapping and peeing everywhere.  I have to wonder just how many other people around here are in the same train of thought: out of control cats with "owners" that only encourage even more to continue to come into this neighborhood and set up permanent shop.

Okay, I did help them out a little: I have some free coupons from Fry's - they send them to me every month or couple of months. Free salad bag; free pound of bacon and don't remember the other 2.

I'm just curious - changing the subject - as to when one of these space probes, satellites, orbiters, this that or the other thing - is going to re-enter the atmosphere and slam into a city or otherwise populated area.  They have gotten lucky so far, but this news of this Russian thing that is probably going to re-enter - with hazardous materials on board - gets the mind thinking about such.

My friend from teenaged years contacted me yesterday, distraught and not happy.  Apparently some dude dumped her.  She had asked me to come over and help her take down part of a tree whose  giant limb broke off in a recent storm.  She put that on hold.  Which is okay, I will stay home and continue on with my landscaping project - after church of course - though I didn't realize until just a minute ago that it rained last night.  That might put a damper on things, lol.

I have been attempting to figure out what, exactly, these "Occupy Wall Street" protests are trying to accomplish with these people showing up in large numbers at odd and various places around the country.  " They also repeated the main message of Occupy Wall Street movement of peaceful resistance to income inequality and what they see as corporate greed."


Okay, I get it.  They are probably broke, lost their jobs in the economic collapse of 2008 and the ensuing chaos with employers literally dumping employees by the hundreds and thousands.  Probably some or a lot of them have been on unemployment for so long they have lost their benefits or are facing the loss of them.  Maybe facing homelessness, certainly not enjoying anything close to the type of lifestyle that, probably, some or many of them had at one point in time.  


I get that part of it. I don't get what these protests are going to accomplish.  "Corporate" greed isn't going to change because they are out there protesting.  Inequality if NEVER going to change regardless.  I don't WANT to live in a socialist society, thank you very much.  I don't CARE that I am on the lower end of the economic post of wealth, to live in a nation completely controlled by the government is NOT a good trade-off, not in my view of it, anyway.


Why don't they use their energies and start running for office?  City council; mayor; state senators, even president?  There are all kinds of proactive things they could be doing with this newfound energy to go out and attempt to "change our world", I guess they think they are doing, why not do something that actually WILL create change?  


Well it's another beautiful day outside, just waiting for my clothes to finish drying so I can go shower and get ready for another morning at church.


G'day.


ben

Saturday 11/12/2011

Umm, I was about to start this entry and then decided I better get out and about and get some things done. First on the list - haircut.  I tend to let it go because I hate waiting in long lines for a haircut.  I got lucky this morning and was the only one in there, plus the lady did an excellent job.  

Then decided that a nice cafe mocha, venti size from Starbucks would be cool, I rarely go there cause' their drinks aren't exactly cheap - got one of those.  Then over to Ace Hardware looking at lawn vacuums, but their prices were higher than I wanted to pay.  Over to Fry's fueling station - you get money off gas prices by using your shopper's card - I got 20 cents off per gallon which is a pretty good deal so I filled up. Then, over to Home Depot where I found a much better vacuum and bought it along with another gallon of wallpaper paste since Lynnette has used most of the other gallon up.

Got home and got into a Facebook conversation with a lady I know from the ministry days - she lives in Texas - about making  a quilt for me and then my mom.  She has already started my quilt and will do my mom's when she's done with mine.  As a lot of people in this nation, she is unemployed and has been for quite a while now.

Then got on the phone with mom about the color patterns she might like on a quilt if she were to receive one for Christmas, lol.  Beige, blue and dark red.  She has good taste in colors and what goes together is all I can say about that.

Now?  About to go outside and get that vacuum going so I can get on with this landscaping project.  I want to get that done so I may put off the roof thing on the trailer.  The trailer isn't any big hurry project at the moment, anyway.  There is a lot to do with that trailer and I figure at least a couple of months before I have it the way I want it.  Wallpaper; AC; carpet; mattress and microwave.  Landscaping: basically the entire front yard, maybe half of it is finished at the moment and a lot of tedium left to go with it.

_________________________________

Long interlude.  My new vacuum is awesome!! I can just move the end of the thing around in the rocks and it sucks the leaves and junk right out of there!  Exactly what I hoped I would get, plus the thing has a 2 year warranty on it.

My son just came out and started complaining about the newest Playstation game: Call Of Duty MW3.  He was frankly disgusted.  Apparently, when you are killed in the game and you "spawn" - come back to life - you come back to life near or next to an opponent who immediately kills you.  This did not happen, according to him, with the other versions of this game.  I dunno.  I don't buy or play these games anymore, quit a long time ago.

All 3 dogs got walked today.  This because the neighborhood kids were bored and they like walking giant dogs that get them a lot of attention.

_______________

Yes, another very long interlude.  I tend to get caught up in things on the weekends and let entries drag out all day long if necessary.  The people with 2 properties behind me? "Cleaned" up their house/property - but only on the front.  I am still subjected to the hoarding by virtue of having to see it from my back yard.  Their other property?  The definition of hoarding should have a picture of that property as a reference. They have done absolutely nothing.   I sometimes think about these things when I am outside, working away and trying to beautify my property - while - my neighbors are not only doing nothing to beautify their property, but seem to take pride in the pig-sty type of living conditions that they are perpetuating.

But, it is getting late - for me anyway, probably not most people - and I am going to bed.

G'nite.

ben

Reaction

"What does that guy want, to be able to harass you?", spoken by a lady at work who reacted to my informing her that this guy is now appealing the Injunction case to the Superior Court.  My manager - same kind of reaction.  Yes, but there is something that goes on your record, apparently, with this kind of Injunction.  I don't know.

I handed the same lady the photo radar ticket.  "Ohhhh noooo!", was her reply until she started looking at the pictures, lol.  "Well THIS isn't YOU!".  "Look at the license plate, it's from out of state!".  On and on.  My manager's like: "If I get a photo radar ticket, I'm going to tell them it was you!", referring to the fact that I am have been named as a person driving a car that isn't mine, the owner of the car I don't know and certainly I don't live in the state that is on the plate.

The only thing I will say is if a police officer in the City of Chandler is going to falsely accuse me of this crap - there is an officer's name and badge number on the ticket - then the City of Chandler can waste their money on having me served and also on court proceedings.  I'll just add here that I hate photo radar, even if I drive legally, I don't WANT government taking pictures of me while I am driving down a freeway or on a surface street.  I don't want them having live video cameras at intersections, either, which many of them are loaded with, especially in Chandler.

I did end up driving down to Arizona City today - but not after working my @$$ off in pulling the entire order - most of it anyway - and spending a great deal of time attempting to get it loaded onto the truck.  It was a 76k order - large by our current standards - and it was a nice drive.  Well, it isn't that nice, just nice to get out of town.  I-10 between Chandler and Casa Grande is a - well I won't use that term - how about a FUBAR?  Yes, indeed.  There is a LOT of traffic on the Interstate in this area and a lot of accidents occur, plus there is a huge construction project.  It will be much better when they get it done - a 6 lane interstate highway between Chandler and Tucson.  But, it has been going on for a couple of years now and undoubtely will be at least a couple more before the entire project is finished.  I"m guessing, anyway.

Well, I'm going to throw this in here.  I have no idea what was going through McCreary's mind when he saw a man raping a boy.  No idea, whatsoever.  It, uhh, kinda gives me doubts, really, about his story.  But it's probably only because I know what my reaction would be.  If I saw  a man in the ACT of raping a young boy, I would probably kill the man.  If not, there is no doubting in my mind that my instant rage would put some serious hurt on that person.  Don't know about Pennsylvania, Arizona law states that you can use lethal force against a person caught in the act of rape.  I read that straight out the state statutes.

This guy didn't even call the police, much less DO something about the vile, incredibly sick thing that was taking place in front of his eyes.  There is no doubting in my mind that he should be fired from his coaching position along with Paterno.  I find this man's inaction FAR worse than anything Paterno has done, or didn't do.  He may very well be the whistle-blower, who cares.  He did what amounts to nothing about it.  How could you not just find something - a bat, large branch, pole, whatever is available and bash the guy committing the rape over the head with it?  I don't understand this situation at all.

I have been listening to this situation unfold over the news for the last several days, it's sickening.

Uhh, enough of it.  I can't really think about that too long.  I started to read the grand jury indictment and got to the part about this coach sodomizing a 10 year old boy in a shower and clicked off of it.  Overload.

The weekend is here.  My plans, as usual, are nothing great, grand or fancy, but it entertains me, keeps me occupied and I like the results of the fruit of my labor.  I am also very much enjoying not having 2, stupid, individuals starting trouble with me all the time.

I have also started to format plans within my mind about summer.  I never look forward to summer, but the idea of spending some or many weekends up north is certainly intriguing.  I figure to take several 3 day weekends and some 4 or even 5 day vacations.

Long interlude, like a quarter day, lol.

Time for bed.

ben

Friday 11/11/11

Times of "nothing" don't seem to last long.  Problems, that is.  Just when I thought I finally had some peace around here, baam, this guy is filing to take this to the Superior Court. The only good thing about this appeal 350 man has made is that the Harassment Injunction can NOT be stayed while the appeal is going on.  I read that online on the judiciary site yesterday. The other thing is that appeals always take forever.  It might be 2 months before this thing gets through the court, or even longer.

Dunno yet.  But, I already have several arguments running through my head.  In an appeal, the most important thing to focus on and spend as much time as necessary is the brief.  This is why, if I recall correctly, you get 30 days to file your reply brief AFTER you receive the appellant's brief.  The judge will read the brief and most  likely come up with a ruling just by reading the briefs and going over the facts of the original trial.  Oral arguments don't really count for much.  In fact, when it comes my turn to present an oral argument?  I will probably simply say that my entire argument was already outlined in my brief and that I have nothing further to add to it.  Whatever the case, the evidence at trial - mainly 350 man's own mouth belying himself - is extremely compelling and I have doubts that any judge is going to reverse the decision or, if such case, remand it back to the Justice court to have a do-over trial.  I hope not, because 350 man will undoubtedly learn to keep his mouth shut, which is what go him into this mess to begin with, he simply doesn't know when to shut up.

Meanwhile, my mother scored big time for my trailer in going to yard sales yesterday.  Just throwing it in there.  She enjoys yard saleing and trying to find the deals, now she has a "mission" and it's even more enjoyable because it isn't just looking through stuff to see if there is anything there she might want, it's now a mission to find the stuff she thinks I will need for that trailer.

Today is the "infamous" 11/11/11.  The only ominous sign is a helicopter flying around in circles above my area right now, and has been for about 20 minutes.  This usually denotes the police searching for someone and using the chopper to help them out with that.  They will shine a very powerful spotlight into everyone's back yards looking for whoever in an attempt to see if someone is hiding out.  I don't give a morsel's choice of a flash of anything in credence that today, somehow and for some reason other than the fact that the same number is the only number in today's date (though technically, it's 2011, not 11, so there) and that, therefore, must elude to the "fact" that something bad is going to happen.  It's Friday, it's a great day!

Yes, it's Friday. Supposedly a trip to Arizona City - a small town in the middle of the desert - to deliver to a new well site being built, but yesterday there were glitches with the order and I have no idea, now, whether it's going to happen or not.  I hope so - or hope something is in the system, cause' I like being busy with something to do.

The situation with Sandusky and Penn State?  I have no comment.  Well, I have plenty of comments, if it's true what McCreary is saying then - vile is all I can say about it.  I'm just reading the developments as they come out.  But, there has been no trial yet, there has been no decision of a jury, wait and see.

As for this weekend?  It says possibility of rain on Sunday, meaning tomorrow I might get up on that trailer roof, take off the vent cover and take a lookit the situation.  I dunno what else, I think just continuing on with my landscaping project, of which I have taken several days off since I have been getting home from work late.

Oh, and then there is this photo ticket.  I am half laughing/half nauseated about it.  How do they send me a ticket for someone else's vehicle that is registered in another state to a person that has the same last name as me, but for that, the ONLY similarity?  A car I have never seen before, much less driven.

Time to leave for work.

G'day.

ben

Speeding Ticket/350 Man Appeal

I pulled 2 surprises out of my mailbox today.
First was a letter from the city of Chandler, AZ.
It was a photo enforcement ticket.  Chandler
is loaded with photo radar setups at numerous
intersections, I know where all of them are.  If
I were inclined to be excessively speeding, I
certainly wouldn't be doing so through an intersection that
has photo radar doing both speeding and red light infractions.

Further, I didn't remember getting flashed except a few times
a while back while driving the semi - on a green light going 5 mph BELOW
the speed limit through the intersection.  The cameras were
malfunctioning and were flashing every vehicle going through there.

I open it up.  A black car, at night, owned by a woman in Glendale
that has the same last name as me.  Yeah, whatever.  Again, I don't own
a foreign, small black car, I don't know this woman in Glendale and I
never go into Chandler at night.  Yet, the pic of the man driving the car?
Strikingly close to me.  I'm not going to reply to this thing at all.  If I
get served, then I will go to the courthouse and deal with it.

Second thing in the mail.  Well, not completely surprising, though I hadn't
really given it consideration.  350 man wants to appeal the lower court's
ruling against him for an injunction against harassment.  He has filed with
the superior court to appeal it, but no date has been given for a court date.
That's because the notice came from the Justice Court that issued the Injunction,
which is only telling me what is going on.

The thing about an appeal? Oh I have done my research on this one, long ago.
They can't bring new evidence.  They can't "retry" the case. The only argument
is about whether the facts that were presented were valid and whether the
judge erred in considering the facts that were presented.  These kinds of appeals
are rarely over-turned, but I expect this time 350 man to show up with a lawyer.

All well and good, I won't be showing up with a lawyer, as I don't need one.
This time? He will have to prove his appeal, I don't really have to prove anything.
But I may have to pay to appear.  In this case, if it isn't exorbitant, I will do so.

If it were a normal person, I wouldn't understand why this guy is going to this much
trouble.  But this isn't a normal person. He has a felony record.  If I call the police
and file a complaint that he has violated the order, well, that record will come into
play against him. The thing that he doesn't, can't or won't realize is that I will not
call the police unless he does something that crazily violates that order.  Like cussing
me out or approaching me or anyone here - at all.  In an appeal, witnesses are irrelevant.
They aren't heard.  The judge only considers the evidence that was ALREADY brought
to the original hearing at Justice Court.

I've been through this process when I won a case against the mobile home park in 2003,
I think it was, and the park appealed it to the Superior Court.  It's just their attorney against
me.  Or 350 man against me if he chooses to attempt to do this himself, but I doubt that is
going to be the case.  After my experiences with lawyers in court, I am at the point where
I have no fear of them.  They can make all kinds of threats and statements and say that
all kinds of junk is going to happen - but in the end, only the court can and will make those
decisions.

I'm liking the peace I have now and don't want to lose it because this "man" might win in
appeals court, so, I will be doing my homework.  Refreshing my memory, more like it.

I'm already digging into this.  This will not happen overnight. Number one, he CANNOT get
a stay on a harassment order.  So, the order is in effect until/if/when the judge makes a ruling.
Well, this is usually a long, drawn-out process.  I find Superior Court appeals to be extremely
stimulating, to be honest, not scary or arduous. Though, going through all the information
necessary can definitely be time consuming.

Lots on my plate.  But, the photo radar ticket can go blast.  I don't have to do anything unless I
get served and then I need only show up in court.

__________________

Long interlude.  Spoke with my mother - she goes on Thursdays early morning to the yard sales in her area to find the good deals, of which she scored quite a few.  She has taken personal interest in attempting to secure items for my trailer once it finally gets up there - which doesn't matter, she won't be up there until next summer anyway.

I am thinking of getting up on the roof of that trailer and taking a stab at getting the leak fixed.  Except - it may rain this weekend.  I'm not going to be up there in the rain, thank you very much.

Also have read quite a bit of material on appeals already.  Pretty easy to find all kinds of sites dedicated to it - both from the courts and from attorneys.  The first thing that comes to mind in responding to 350 man's brief - whenever it is submitted - is that his reply to my filing for the injunction was that "I have NEVER (and he underlined the word never) had any contact with Mr B.".  That was IT, that is ALL he stated in it.  The judge, at hearing, tore that apart after asking him a series of questions, which, of course, totally undermine's 350 man's credibility.

No need to go into all of that now.  This thing will wind itself out over time. I have been through an appeals process, as I said earlier, it's not an overnight thing, in fact, it's not even in a few weeks.  It can take months and months to go through the full circuit of an appeals process.

With that, I bid you...........g'nite.

ben

Thursday 11/10/11

11/11/11/ approaches - like - tomorrow.  I have given the day no more credibility or thought than any other day, but an amazing amount of people I have encountered have.  So I ask them what makes it evil - or good?  No one can answer that question, they've just "heard" about it.  I did a little looking online - there is no evidence to base even a superstition on this set of numbers - but then again, this is the stuff superstitions are made of.

If anything, I would feel it a lucky number in terms of blackjack!

The guy I bought the trailer from calls yesterday.  Good.  I still owe him $400 on the thing, he's looking for his money, I agreed to pay him by the 17th of this month.  I asked him about the AC that worked so great for him.  Yup. Will, it isn't working now.  Oh.  The fan motor must be burned out.  Oh, and by the way, you certified this thing as having no leaks, but it definitely has a leak.  The point wasn't to b**** at him about false claims or claims made that he may not have known about, the point was to see if he would bring the remaining amount owed down any.  Nope.  Well, I had already figured to eat it anyway, but it didn't hurt to at least try.

I had to order more wallpaper for the trailer.  Taking a lot more than it appeared it would.

Nothing on the neighbor front.  The people behind me who were given the ticket have done nothing to even start cleaning up that property.  I mean, on the property that has no house, there hasn't been a drop of motion towards doing anything.  This kind of situation will escalate over time.  People complain long enough, the city will eventually come and give them an ultimatum: clean it up or we will clean it up for you and then charge you for the clean up, place a lien against the property and eventually?  The city will own the property which it will undoubtedly turn around and sell at auction or under the same guise they do with the tax liens that they attach to properties.

Randy isn't speaking to me after I asked him - nicely actually - to take responsibility for his cats coming over to my property and crapping.  He instead went into a ridiculous, stupid and childish rant on if I am wanting him to shoot his cats and that since there are no leash laws for cats, it isn't his problem.  No, but there IS  a law in the books about someone else's animals coming onto other's property.  I read it myself.  That doesn't matter to him, perhaps not, but if I wanted to start catching these cats and then turning them into the pound and documenting that I caught these cats,  it might be a different story.  The person that came to take ownership of the cat would also be admitting that their feline was on my property.

But, I am not really prepared to go that far with it, well I am toying with the idea just because of the calloused replies and stupid attitudes I am getting about it.  This adults are nothing but juveniles in adult bodies.

Regardless, the work day is here and I must be off to work. Plenty to do today.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 11/9/2011

Before you know it, Christmas will be upon us.  I am taking 3 days off on the week leading up to Christmas, that  weekend and Monday a paid holiday which will give me 6 full days off in a row.  My dad wanted me to come down for Thanksgiving, but I have been taking time off at Thanksgiving for several years running now and nothing off at Christmas.  I'm much more interested some time off at Christmas this year.

I guess the idea of Christmas being here "so soon" is amazing just because summer seems to finally have ended.

I have not contacted the mortgage company again.  I get tired of the bantering.  They have their little game and I don't like playing it.  It takes forever to get through to anyone if you are calling them - which is the ONLY way to get anything done as witnessed by my recent letter and getting a pure-nothing reply.  They then ask you, every single time, a multitude of questions, the same questions.  Then you have to talk to a know-nothing that won't let you through to anyone else until you discuss it with them - or they will hang up on you.  You waste your time talking to them because they cannot answer your questions and they have ability to do anything about the situation, anyway.  This just goes on and on.  It takes me a while to get up the motivation to go through all of that to begin the process.

Meanwhile, my manager at work has a buddy that gets old laptops and re sells them after upgrading them.  I'm going to wait and see what kind of deal, if any, I might be able to get on one of those before diving into the "buy a new one" situation.  My manager has one that he paid $1,200 for a year and a half ago - but I don't have as much money as he wants for it available right now.  Not that I have to have one right now, anyway.

The wall papering is coming right along, but we are almost out of wall paper.  I was hopeful  that 3 double-rolls would take care of it - it did not and I ordered 3 more double rolls which definitely should do the job.

Ummm, I am off to work early - emergency order that has to go out as early as possible today.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 11/8/2011

So yet another woman has stepped forward claiming sexual harassment against Cain.  Is there any truth to any of the allegations?  I guess the real question is: what really happened versus what people are claiming happened.  Whatever the case, I'm even more interested in what these allegations may do to his polling numbers.

It's gotten Phoenix' version of cold here.  We went from summer temps one day to cold temps the next, that's pretty much the way it works around here.  We aren't gradually introduced to the cooler temperatures, we are plunged smack dab into them.  It's 46 degrees out right now at just before 6:00am.  One of the kid tenants just left, came back in and left the door wide open.  Even 30 feet away from that door, I felt the cold air almost instantly - and got up and shut the d*** thing.  I don't normally have to run heat around here, the house has good insulation and since it warms up nicely during the day, it stays warm enough through the night.  But, when it gets into the 30's, then the furnace comes on.

There isn't much more to yak about.  Work was slow yesterday, hopefully there is something going on today, the job sites were shut down yesterday due to all the rain.

G'day.

ben

11/7/2011

It's raining. From the looks of it, it has been raining much of the night.  Well, I wish it would do this while I'm home, preferably during the daytime so I can set around and enjoy it instead of it coming in by stealth in the middle of the night.  Looking at the radar, this storm is passing through a large swath of the state and the northern part of it?  It's snowing in Flagstaff.

Which reminds me, I forgot to replace the windshield wiper blades on my car, ouch.

I have nothing much this morning.  I was just reading some interesting information about Herman Cain's background.  I haven't decided who I am going to vote for for the GOP candidate to face off Obama.  Still looking at the information.  Not sure about this situation with Cain and the alleged sexual harassment that he engaged in with - apparently several women.  He has some great credentials other than that.  The media certainly isn't letting him off the hook even if he is going around saying he won't answer any more questions about it.  I don't like Mitt Romney so I won't be voting for him, Perry is looking less attractive, I'm still up in the air about Bachman, I like Ron Paul's take on things - for the most part but not 100%.

Good thing there is time, lol, to make a decision.  Maybe I won't actually make a decision until I am in the voting booth!  In every other presidential campaign, I have already decided by now who I am going to vote for, but that simply isn't the case this time.  I'm not a one-issue person. I want to know the specifics a person is going to do about turning the economy around; I want to know what the candidate is going to do with Obamacare; I want to know how any given candidate is going to treat our ally Israel.  And what are you going to do about the free ride the unions are getting?  I really didn't know much about unions, to be honest, until the economy went sour and suddenly government officials are looking at ways to balance the budget and then started looking at unions and much of it having non-existent contributions for health care or pension plans, or very, very little contributions.

That got my attention.

Meanwhile, Randy, my next door neighbor who basically said he doesn't care what his cats do, they don't have leash laws for cats so they can do what they want - is still speaking with Lynnette and Mark.  "Oh, we're just mad at Ben, not you guys".  We being 3 properties full of both junk and animal hoarders and one more property of 350 man who apparently has never heard of the term: landscaping.  Randy's property is far worse now than it has ever been with junk laying out over the ENTIRE property.  And I do mean JUNK.  Maybe I'll snap a few shots of all of this this week.  Allegedly, he is going to get a permit and start building some sort of - if it's anything like the rest of what he does - ramshackle house.  Fortunately, he won't get away with building whatever he wants to over there, Phoenix city codes and code compliance along with the inspectors that come out and demand that every portion of any given project  be inspected before moving on - will stop him from building some kind of piece of garbage.

If he's really going out on the fringes, he will have to ask for a hearing to have zoning changed or a variance on his property.  I will be at that hearing, if it comes down to that, as I am not about to live next to some piece of s*** pile of garbage "house" that does nothing but uglify the neighborhood and bring down already low property values even more.  Meanwhile, I am considering applying for my own variance.  Though, only slightly considering it.  That would be to allow 1 trailer to be parked on my property as recognized living unit by the City.  The problem I would have with that is that all these hoarders would show up just to spite me and probably if the council sees it as a potential problem, they aren't going to give it's stamp of approval.

Though, I could take pictures of the properties around mine and make a very valid argument that it will do NOTHING to further deteriorate the quality of the neighborhood since it's already at the bottom of the barrel.

Whatever the case, it's still raining and I am - off to work.  If it's rained enough, the job sites will all be shut down and it will be a very boring day at work, indeed.

ben

Sunday 11/6/2011

Church starts in just over an hour.  Lol, I haven't even begun to get ready for it yet.  Actually, the pre-service prayer starts in a couple of minutes - I'm going to pass on that this morning as I went yesterday.

I had thoughts of getting up on the trailer and seeing what I could find in terms of where a leak or leaks might be, but I decided against that.  If I found what is wrong, I might be tempted to by-pass church and go right to work on it.  I have decided that I can probably fix whatever myself.  Even if I have to put on new sheet metal, it will cost considerably less to do it myself than taking it to a shop.  I just like the idea of a shop because it will come with a guarantee, the downside to a shop is the bill.  Probably not cheap to have them doing it right - which means they will undoubtedly want to replace the metal versus slopping on roof tar or elastomeric roof coating.

Benefits run out for the unemployed.  This news is all over the internet now.  99 weeks has passed for millions of Americans who can't find work and now?  I have no clue.  What do these people do to survive?  Food stamps?  HUD housing?  Welfare?  What does that tell us about the near future?  Is it likely that the gloom prophets are correct, that 2012 will see a double-dip recession?  How many of those people that are unemployed and have been unemployed for over 99 weeks used to have great jobs and spend lots of money?  How many more are being added to the over-99-week roles every week?  How far is this going to go before it comes to an end?

Just questions I have, I have no answers.

Another interlude - went to church.
Now? My son just called.  The talk we were going to have last week was put off til' this week and now he wants to do it.  It's his show, really, not mine.  He wants to tell me some things but - don't really know where this is going.  I just know that I am hungry and am going to go somewhere with good food and he can talk away and I will be all ears.

Yet another interlude.  This is the "all-day-entry" going here.  We went to Applebee's and I listened with great interest to his plans for the next 4 or 5 years - and beyond.  He is totally focused, I'll give him that much.  I won't say anything negative about his ideas.  I fully support him.  Because of that, I won't go into it - excepting to say it's all about the Lord and God's plan for his life.  And lemme tell you, we are coming into the age of the prophetic and things are going to start rolling, especially with this younger generation.  I will be praying for him and what he wants to do.  Had a great meal at Applebee's, this didn't go on forever but it was as long as it needed to be.

I did finally climb up a ladder and tookalookit the roof of that trailer. That roof has already been replaced.  It's a solid sheet of metal from front to back. The ONLY place it can be leaking is at the vents.  So, I am going to take that stuff apart and treat it - nicely - with the correct material - and that should take care of the leaking problems.

My cat trap was broken the other day when I set out some bait/tuna fish in it. My plan was to catch a cat and keep it for a day.  See what happens.  Well, 3 rungs had been broken off of it, there was clearly a cat in that thing because the tuna was gone.  I am suspicious.  I couldn't find the broken rungs on the ground where the trap was at.  That's 3 rungs, all broken off at once, with no trace of the rungs?  I Jerry-rigged the thing.  I used baling wire and I can guarantee that that is not going to just "break" after one use.

If it didn't break by normal use - that trap has only been used a few times now - well, I am going to do something else.

So, the roof was a relief to see that it can only be something that should be easily fixed - I hope anyway.  The AC?  Haven't looked at that yet.

Steelers v Ravens.  Ummm, interesting game so far is all I can say about that.  2cd quarter, tie game.

Well, anyway, day is over, work week approaches, time to get ready for bed.

G'nite.

ben

Leak

So, there is a leak in the roof on this trailer.  Well, not totally unsurprising, but certainly a pain to have to deal with.  I am considering using the Camper's World service to fix it.  They have a rubberized coating they put on for $300.  I assume - but would ask if I decide to go that route - that it's guaranteed to stop leaks.  I dunno.  I am guessing this move of this trailer is going to be put off much further than I wanted it to be.  Which is okay, I will get this stuff done before I even think about moving it up there.

I'm guessing I'll be waiting for tax time and a return to finish up whatever needs finishing next year and be done with it, get it moved up there and be ready for a bit of summer relaxation in the cool, mountain pines/air.  Is it going to be worth it?  I guess I'll find out.  One thing's for sure, it rains up there much more than it does down here.  I cannot even think about having a leaking roof up there, just isn't going to cut it.

Well,  a visit to the roof of the trailer is certainly in order.  Not today, however.  I have junk to get done and then in 2 hours, I have to be back at church to do the "Duck Pond" thing.  Prayer this morning was good, but I still feel completely out of place.  Not sure, if ever, that feeling is going to go away?
__________________________________________

Like, a 5 hour interlude, lol.  I did the 2 hour Duck Pond stint.  It was actually quite fun cause' there were a bunch of little kiddies and even some of the adults love that game!  I left, though, they are still going at it now but are going to be shutting it down soon.  Today is, at least for me, really the first day that it has actually felt like Fall.  It's been cool all day long.

Lynnette was working away on the wallpaper. I took a look at the light fixture in the ceiling that had filled with water after last night's rain.  No idea - perhaps tomorrow after church I'll get up on the roof of it and see if I can see where the damage is and what it is going to take to repair it.

News.  Lots of it on the internet, that's for sure.  Nothing new, really.  A bunch of psycho's out there.  Iran at the top of the "danger" news again.  This that and the other thing.  Again, nothing new.

So, I"ll call this one done.

Saturday 11/5/2011

Yesterday, we tried to get the AC working on my "new" 5th wheel travel trailer.  The fan won't come on.  We took the panels off the unit and I spun the fan by hand - but - it still wouldn't do the trick.  The compressor did come on, however, a very good thing indeed.  There is a huge chasm of a difference in replacing a fan motor and replacing a burned out compressor in one these AC units.

Not sure if I can replace one myself or not, but I'm going to see about it.  It's going to cost me $50 to have the thing hauled to the service center and $50 to have it hauled back, plus whatever it costs to repair it - I'm guessing to pay a repair facility to do it around 3 bills - so looking at $400 total to fix it that way versus attempting to see if I can remove the motor myself and replace it - I'm guessing around $100 for a new fan motor.  The difference in price motivates me to at least get up on the top of the trailer, remove the cover and take a look.  It can't be that hard, right? Lol.

I was thinking of getting a notebook or laptop - on payments instead of chucking down cash and being - broke.  However, I am going to wait until Black Friday and see what kinds of deals might be had.  Besides, I am completely lost on these things.  I have learned a great deal about desk tops - but these portable computers are a bit out of my knowledge span excepting the ram and memory capabilities.  If I'm going to get one, I want at least 4 gigs of Ram and at least a 500 gig harddrive, plus I want it expandable to 8 Gigs of ram.  Other than that?  I guess I'll have to do research and see what other people have to say about what is "must-have" and what things may annoy people about them.

I am supposed to go to a prayer walk this morning for the event this afternoon.  I am sitting here, in my comfortable chair, not wanting to do anything.  Gag.  Plus I'm hungry.  Umm, I'll go just because I need to get more involved with things at the church, though I am to spend 2 hours this afternoon operating a "Duck Pond", lol.  From what I see online?  It's just a bunch of ducks in a small pool of water that little kids pick  up and find the number on the bottom.  The number correlates to a prize.  Okay, this is a really hard game, lol.  I hope I can pass 2 hours without getting extremely bored.

Of course, it rained last night while I was sleeping.  I couldn't do it while I was AWAKE, thank you very much.  I don't know how long it rained but everything looks pretty well saturated out there - no watering any plants for at least 4 days!  It's always nice when the temps come way down, the ground doesn't dry out so fast and watering plants can be put off in longer intervals.

Interesting.  A friend saw my post on Facebook asking the difference between a notebook and a laptop and had her - 15 year old son, computer guru apparently - call me and explain all kinds of stuff about these things.  Alrighty then.  I was surprised to find out that you can get a Droid phone, download an app and use that phone as a router, basically, to supply internet service to your laptop.  Didn't know that.  Very interesting indeed. I have a Verizon phone from work - just a plain Jane thing - would like to take a drive up to my mom's property and see what kind of reception I get.  The coverage map shows red over her property - but are those maps accurate?  Have not been able to find that out.

Umm, well I am going to the prayer thing, drag myself out of this chair, to the shower, hurry up and get moving cause I only have half an hour before I have to be there.

Which is, actually, plenty of time  : )
ben

Friday 11/4/2011

I got up early this morning for an early delivery at work. No time to write an entry. Long day, too, meaning I got to keep all that OT I had acquired this week. Not that I didn't bring it up to my manager - just because of company management's insistence to keep that kind of stuff down.

I'll just voice my opinion on this pilot that is getting 6 months in prison for flying a commercial airliner - drunk. GOOD. Do YOU want to get into an airplane and go jetting around the skies with a drunk pilot? How many people can be killed by a drunk pilot? Well, fortunately there was the captain of the plane that wasn't drunk and, apparently, turned this guy in. I am under the same exact restriction in blood alcohol content: no more than .04 percent while driving a commercial vehicle. Well I can assure you that I drive commercial vehicles with a 0.000000000000 ad infinitum alcohol blood content. Not that I never drink, but I certainly don't do it before or during driving a commercial vehicle.

Whatever the case, the weekend is here. Yayyyy. The sky is overcast and Accuweather has their definition of the conditions here: dreary. Yeah, well whoever wrote that certainly doesn't LIVE here. EVERYONE I have spoken with today - which is quite a large number of people - WANTS rain, loves overcast skies at least once in a while and can't wait for it to begin. I am assuming that this massive "green" cloud that is observed by looking at radar is moving this way from California? Or from the North? Well it's coming from somewhere and it's massive : )

My mother wants my response on what I want for Christmas. She gave me the Starter Knife Set and asked me if I wanted more of that kind this year? Yes, yes indeed. Messermeister cutlery. Check it out. I am eyeing a knife that costs $129.

Came home from work today. Wind blowing, temp at perfect levels. Beautiful outside. 350 man eyeballing me as I pulled into my driveway (completely forbidden with the restraining order, he is definitely NOT allowed to even LOOK at me) - I ignored it. Did my thing and got back out front. I have been working on it for a while now, it's starting to shape up. Getting there, but not done yet, of course. 350 man is out there, looking at me again. This guy just can't let it go. But I can, just looking at me? I don't care. I'm not going to report that. If he starts s*** with me or does this juvenile stare-down crap or other things he does? I will warn him.

I turned my back on him and then completely ignored both him and Randy the rest of the time I was out there - which was about 2 hours of laying plastic; large rocks and then hauling the landscaping rock out there in a wheelbarrow. I am creating pathways through the vegetation and it's looking really good. I have Mary's (ex-tenant) idea in mind and keeping some of that, but what I am doing out there is definitely transforming it to the next level.

My search. For what, you may ask. Lots of things. But my mother has taken up the flag and is running with it. She has gone so far with this situation, that I haven't done any of it yet. That is, finding things that will be needed for the trailer. She takes great pleasure in finding the bargains - wherever they are to be found, who am I to stop that train? My mother is starting to get well up there in years. I want to spend more time with her.

Umm, there is much more. But I am done with this one. I am going to bed soon, busy day tomorrow.

G'day.

ben

More Neighbor Issues

So, the neighbor whose house burned down a while back and returned from Michigan recently? Well, I found fresh cat s*** on the front of my property. When he comes back, he brings his cats. They beeline it for my property. And s***, pee and destroy my vegetation.

He inserted himself when I was telling someone on the street who had asked what I was doing: Cleaning up someone else's cat's s***. He comes walking up to the front of his property, which is where this goes sour.

This is the guy that brings all the rusted cars from Michigan to resell here, though he didn't do it this time around. He lines the street with them. He is living in an RV on his property - obviously a no-no since the city told me I can't do that, either. He is pissing and crapping outside. That's right, he is going number 2, not on a toilet, but in the back of his property. He is also a hoarder. He "collects" things,the people that live like that are want to call it. He STILL has a LOT of junk out there.

I have put up with this guy and his junk for years because I don't want wars with my neighbors. But all 3 of these properties and these people are cat lovers and they don't CARE what their cats do off their property.

So, I started to discuss with him this cat situation. As normal for him, he takes responsibility for nothing. I have been hearing this from him for years concerning other situations - which I have nothing to do with - and interactions with other people. He is as pure as the driven snow, at least in his own eyes. He throws up his hands, what do you want me to do? Shoot my cats? No, I want you to take responsibility for them. "Well, there are no leash laws". In other words, who cares what my animals do on other people's property. I suggested they become indoor cats.

He has a comeback for everything: they live on 40 acres on his other Michigan property, you expect me to turn them into indoor cats? I came up with 350 man's idea of moth balls. He states they don't work. Then gets nasty with me and tells me to not start this s*** with him. Funny, I wasn't even talking to him, he inserted himself into my conversation with someone else.

So, he points at one of my tenant's cars, I don't know why that guy parked there, but he is partially in front of his property. Whoopee, I didn't say anything, though, even if it isn't
illegally parked. Not into arguing just for the sake of arguing, if you want to call the police, be my guest, though I didn't say that, either.

He walked away. I went back to my fence a little while later and asked him if he has a cat litter box. Yes, it's filled with dirt. I then mentioned the motion sensor activated device that turns on a sprinkler when an animal comes within it's range. That's your problem. Yes, but my problem becomes your problem, though I didn't specify how. Well, you guys can buy one for me and this problem is solved. He says again it isn't his problem, cats aren't required to be on leashes. No, they aren't but that doesn't mean they can come on my property.

I'm not getting a great "name" around here for this situation, but I am fed up with people that want to live like pigs and don't care what effect their actions or in this case, their animal's actions are having on other people, especially when it comes to me, on MY property. If a neighbor comes to me and says something I am doing or something someone living here is doing or my animals is causing them a problem, I'm not going to throw my hands up in the air, shrug my shoulders and say: "That's YOUR problem, not mine". I am not that kind of person. I will do whatever I can do try and resolve it with them. That's what good neighbors can and should do.

I rather believe in a normal neighborhood that most people would also think such - who wants a war with neighbors. This is not a normal neighborhood. Although I have heard the hate and disgust people have with HOA's for years and years and I am not necessarily wanting to live in a place that has one, there IS an advantage to having an entity that forces people to not only keep their property clean, but also have landscaping on it as allowed by the HOA's CCR's.

Whatever. I have been putting up with this stuff for years now, I am at the end of the line with it. The straw that broke the camel's back is turning in the trailer with Mark and Lynnette living in it. They shouldn't have done that - it was an act of spite because of the cat situation - and it only motivates me to start dealing with this rampant hoarding junk going on around here. The entire situation continues to fodder my interest in getting out of this neighborhood. Though, this situation is isolated to these 3 properties and the individuals that live on them. There are others in this community that despise the way these people live and say so freely.

Okee dokee. End of work week almost here. Church Harvest Festival thing on Saturday and yes, I fully intend on showing up to do the 2 hour volunteer thing. Which is crazy: the weather on Saturday? Slated to be a high of 68 degrees. That may actually deter people from coming out. I know, we are Phoenicians, cold is defined much differently here than what a person that is living in, say, Wisconsin, defines it as. But who knows, perhaps people will like the idea of wearing coats if necessary and having a good time in the sunshine without burning up.

My mother? Going all out now. That is, all out to find stuff at her kind of prices for my trailer. She got up early today - in her area, for whatever reason - Thursday is the day to have a garage/yard/carport sale. She gets to the places early and from what she wrote me? She was highly entertained by all of it. She found an old, steel, Coleman cooler. One of those heavy duty things they used to make - which I have no idea if they make anymore - in great condition for $5.

I went to "Camper's World" today - a huge store mostly set up for people with RV's and trailers - though there is some camping equipment in there - and found what I was looking for. A special adapter - for less than $5. A bunch of other stuff, too, lol - I got a couple of cheap items I needed but pretty much got out of there before getting tempted to spend some real money.

Time has expired. I have to be at work at work at 5:30 am and leave as soon as I get there.

So, g'nite.

ben

Thursday 11/3/2011

Personally, I would hate to see the US Postal service go under. I like to see the mailman come and bring the weekly circulars, all the lovely bills, sometimes a letter or a postcard. I could, however, live without Saturday service, even though they are suggesting that should be a "last" option.

What kind of sick minds are they that would drop a shopping cart 4 stories onto a woman's head? And then, it turns out they are 2, 12 year old boys? And worse, that they were laughing about it after they were taken into custody? Maybe if they were thrown into an adult population incarceration facility filled with prisoners that have life sentences their laughter would go away. What kind of society are we becoming that produces children like this? It doesn't really speak well for us as a whole.

I'm tired from yesterday. Coming back in the semi on the Phoenix freeway system, there were fully 4, separate accidents and even more cars pulled over by ADOT Highway Patrol. Basically a 40 mile parking lot. And in those accidents, one wonders how many of them were caused by people texting and not paying a single bit's worth of attention to the much more important task at hand: drive your freaking vehicle and put the texting phone down. Well at least it's Thursday.

Here's a nice one: my Fingerhut account is close to being paid off. I had that up at around $600 at one point. I decided that getting that and a couple of other accounts paid down is the thing to do. The lower my balances, the better for my credit score. One of them is up near 700 which was, not too terribly long ago, at an all time low of around 500 because of the house modification and having to let my payments go for a couple of months.

Odd, isn't it? They won't help you unless you are behind on your payments. So you intentionally let your payments go - hey, I used the money for good purposes - then apply for the modification, get the modification and your past due stuff disappears. I got a reply back from my mortgage company about refinancing the loan.

They didn't even address the question. They said I don't qualify for a principal reduction since it is an FHA backed loan. Isn't that nice? I didn't ASK them about that, I asked them about refinancing the loan. Just like any big corporation, whoever "read" the letter at MidFirst Bank didn't read it at all. They just skim over it, if even that, and then give you an automated reply. I ALREADY got this SAME, exact reply months ago when I asked for a principal reduction. It irritates me to no end when you send an email or even send in a snail mail asking a specific, particular question and the answer you get doesn't even begin to address your concerns, at all. MidFirst is hardly the only company that does it, but this is a bit more important than an online game I am playing or much of anything else for that matter.

Whatever the case, my time is up, there is a LOT to do in the truck routing system today, I will be busy, that's for sure.

G'day.

ben

Various Things

Long day at work.
10-1/2 non-stop hours of grind.
Not that I mind, I am 6 hours "over" and though I undoubtedly won't be able to keep all of it, it should be able to keep at least 5 by week's end. That just means they will let me go early either tomorrow or Friday. Or both. Or neither. Tomorrow has a full day of stuff in the truck routing system. Friday it will have to be.

Church tonight. I'm not going. Starts in 3 minutes. Starting church at 7:00 pm may work for most people, it simply doesn't work for me. Especially after the kind of work day I have had and the fact that 2 nights in a row, I haven't slept very well. I wish I COULD go, if they were to start it at 6:00 pm, I would be there. Obviously, I am not going to ask them to change the start time for one person.

RV parts store. Yes, well I was going to stop by there on the way home from work, but I had no idea I would be going home from work after 5:00 pm, that will have to wait until tomorrow - or whenever I can get to it.

Double check on Verizon coverage on mom's property. Nearest outage is about 3 miles away. Dunno. I have a Verizon phone from work, I don't remember even looking at it when I was up there last and we just switched to Verizon. Maybe take a drive up there and see - but really I will call them first and see what they have to say about it. Cricket's site claims they don't even offer service up there - but most assuredly, I was able to both use the phone and get on the phone's internet when I was up there last. Alltell's coverage sucks. At least from what I saw on their map. Lots of companies out there offering this stuff, not in a big hurry, don't need it tomorrow, take my time.

Is it any surprise that news reports are coming out that Israel wants to end Iran's ability to build nuclear weapons? If there is any surprise, it's how long it has taken for this kind of decision and information to come out. How long can Iran going around making the outrageous threats of annihilation and destruction it has made, repeatedly, over and over, before someone does something about it? However, I don't think Israel should be firing nuclear missiles at Iran. I don't think ANY nation should be firing nuclear tipped missiles at any other nation. That is the beginning of the end. If that's the end that God spoke about in the book of Revelations in the Bible, then so beit. The intelligence is allegedly out there: just destroy the plants that are capable of making or suspected of being capable of making nuclear grade plutonium.

Whatever. I'm tired and a bit cranky. Because I'm tired. Which can make me cranky. Lol.
Just staying up long enough to make me tired enough to stay asleep for awhile.

So I'm done with this for the day.

Wednesday 11/2/2011

2 nights in a row now that I haven't slept particularly well. That, undoubtedly, will change tonight since 2 nights in a row mean the third night, usually anyway, I will pass out in bed and pretty much sleep through the night.

I came home from work yesterday and Lynnette was full-fledged into the wall papering project. She stated that it's going to take more wall paper than I got to finish it. Gag. I had hoped she would have started in the living room area, not the bedroom area. For whatever reason, she started in the bedroom area and, oh well.

Well we're in there, the "neighbor" from behind me was visiting my next door neighbor. He saw us in there and waved, lol. Same dude that was seen hanging over my fence, taking pics of the trailer and talking crap about the people living in it and me. People are very strange, is all I can say about that, very strange indeed.

The city also came out yesterday to Randy's - the neighbor whose house burned down right next to me - and who knows what they were saying to him. He was already informed he would have to remove everything off of that property. The property's been sitting with all that junk on it since - well it was last year actually - he has had plenty of time to do something with it. A lot of speculation going on as to who, actually, turned him in, it wasn't me but whoever did it did so anonymously.

Then there was the encounter with the mailman yesterday. He asked how things were going, I had thought he had been given the whole low-down about the situation, he had not. He will occasionally stop and talk to people on his route. After telling him all of it, he gave me a look and started telling his own story. Appears the hoarders behind me have a mother - or used tohave a mother - that is also on his route. He stated that after she died, these people were there, the SAME day, removing stuff from her house. He said he lost all respect for them after seeing that. He also said it was the first time he EVER had bad mouthed anyone on his route, but from his view? They deserved it.

The people across the street? Now hate this neighborhood. Mostly because of 350 man's incessant intrusions into their personal business. Probably also because of his continual calling to the City of Phoenix attempting to get the guy fired for bringing the work truck home on occasion to get lunch or whatever. They are looking to move out of this neighborhood. I am still going to try the refinance program they just rolled out. If I can get that through, I will stick it out here since my payment would drop at least $200 per month if not more.

I only heard back from my oldest brother once, though I wrote him another short note - yes it WAS short - about hopefully meeting up with him when the time comes and he can help determine where to put that trailer since he lived on that property for about 2 years and knows where mom will want the thing placed. Oh well, it was a nice 2 sentences I got from him, anyway.

As for internet service, well, I could probably get Hughes via satellite up there, though I don't know anyone that has ever used it and I have seen a couple people online complaining that it didn't work very well. I'm looking at Verizon's coverage map right now - even up there in the mountains - the exact location of my mother's property in fact - is covered in red meaning digital coverage. Is there map accurate?

I dunno, but the work bell rings soon, I must be outta here.

G'day.

ben

Laptop Computer

I have never given serious thought to getting one. I have a nice desktop, I am thinking, what need have I for a laptop? I may have thought about it in passing, I guess, but nothing I have ever really said: gee, I must have one of those.

Remember that I grew up without computers, for the younger generation. Schools weren't filled with them, the internet didn't exist and cellphones were a figment of a Star Trek type of imagination. No, really: the internet has not always been around, trust me, it hasn't.

Today, while sitting in the semi for 2 hours waiting for a contractor to actually stop the other stuff he was doing and get to what he wanted me to do, which was move pipe from once location to another, I was writing up a list for the things I will need - and yes - want - for the trailer when I finally get it up north and have it up and functioning.

Internet access. I will want it. I mean, I will spend a lot of time hiking in the woods up there with the dogs, oh most definitely. I have ALWAYS loved the mountains and the allure of it. Umm, on a sidenote: I won't be going unarmed. Now I will be having a holstered 40 caliber SW40VE Sigma at my side. I have been challenged by numerous animals in the forest in the past, including a very large elk that was mad that I scared her partner off; a mountain lion that stalked me for well over an hour; javelina and coyotes to name a few. The idea of having something to defend yourself - even if you have no intention of using the firearm unless actually, physically, attacked, is quite appealing. Although,I'm not sure that gun would stop a mountain lion in it's tracks and definitely not a giant elk unless the bullet hit perfectly - like in the heart.

I stopped on that one, the laptop that is. Not the mountain hiking. I have always taken the risk of hiking even though I know there are all kinds of wild animals out there - usually they run off and don't bother you if you do happen upon them.

My thoughts? Why am I running around all over the place, sitting frequently for 30 minutes up to 2 hours and sometimes even longer, without a laptop and an aircard to access the internet? I mean, this idea of having a laptop in the mountains for internet access barely scratches the surface once I started thinking about it. I could be doing all kinds of stuff on the internet. There is absolutely nothing else I can do when sitting at a construction site waiting to get unloaded.

This gave validity to this idea of getting an aircard at around $50 to $60 per month and getting rid of this texting phone. I am not in love with texting, I have found out, and I never will be. I can deal with it, but it's not my first choice of communication. Talking on the phone is MUCH faster. Writing an email on a regular keyboard is a hundred times faster than trying to use my rather large fingers on these very small keys in typing out a message.

Yes, I will gladly give up the texting phone to get a laptop computer to have something to do while out on the road during lagtime. Indeed, yes yes yes.

Oh, just one caveat: Laptops aren't exactly cheap. Black Friday and beyond or even before that are all kinds of "Christmas deals" to be found. I just balk, btw, seeing huge, fake Christmas tree and ornaments/lights/etc. displays set up at - everywhere? In OCTOBER? YES, I KNOW it is November, but this stuff starting showing up LAST MONTH. Christmas is meaningless to so many people nowadays. Or conversely, it is a depressing time for families that have nothing and haven't figured out that - giving expensive gifts isn't the point. It is nice, yes, but if you don't have the money, it doesn't matter.

Whatever. Another goal now: get a laptop, preferably not a cheap piece of junk. Minimum memory is mandatory.

Tuesday 11/1/2011

So, Halloween came and went and I was none the wiser for it. Didn't sit out front with candy, left the lights out, when it comes to Halloween? I'm a baaaaaah humbug. I like Thanksgiving and I absolutely love Christmas - both of which are just around the corner.

So, the trailer is going to have it's transformation started today. Lynnette will be in there starting today on the wallpapering project. I need to look at carpet and decide what kind and color I want to replace the blue stuff with - though decidedly, it's not going to be blue carpet. Something that hides dirt a bit better - beige/brown, something like that.

I haven't gotten up on the roof yet to look at what needs to be done to stop whatever leakage might be going on around one of the roof vents. I will need numerous items for that thing since it's going to be up there semi-permanently. A small vacuum, a new microwave, a new bed mattress to name a few. Probably having a small assortment of tools won't hurt, either. Now that I have permission to put the thing up there before May - well I am going to get this thing done hopefully within the next 2 months and then put the thing up there early next year.

I had given thought about waiting until May - that's a long time from now. There is no running water up there but my mother has a 500 gallon water tank. There is definitely electricity, if there wasn't that, I would probably not have even started in on this project. Per the water situation, the trailer has a fresh water holding tank with it's own water pump in it. So, in reality, I will have running water, able to take showers, etc etc etc. We discussed this water situation - she doesn't use much, like 500 gallons lasting and entire summer?

I balked at that. I'm not going to waste it, but if I need it, I'm going to use it. If I have to pay a service to bring up 500 gallons of water, then so beit. I am going to get a satellite dish and I will be able to have Direct TV up there at no extra charge over what I am already paying. Not that I watch that much TV, I really don't, but since it's available, might as well hook it up. That only leaves the question of the internet and whether I really need it or not. I'm fairly well "addicted" to the internet at this point, not having it for days at a time probably isn't going to work too well.

So, formulation time over, well not completely, but I have pretty well laid out in my mind what I need to get done in this coming year for having a nice layout up there. Just the internet is left in want - if I am going to spend any amount of time up there, I will want it. If it's just here and there, I can do without.

As for Randy coming back, time will tell how that goes. He is using the green earth as his toilet over there. My neighbors behind me must really be hating me now that they have been issued a ticket. Well, they really messed things up over here in forcing this issue with the RV and having to find a place for Mark and Lynnette, a taste of their own medicine given back to them was in order.

Time for work!

G'day

ben

NEWS ALERT!!! NEWS ALERT!!!!

I just got done checking the City's site.
This particular site allows you to view whatever's going on with a complaint against any particular property.
You don't have to be the person that filed the complaint, either. ALL you have to have is the address.
Well, I definitely am the culprit here. I filed the complaint, they were part and parcel of the parties involved involved in turning in my trailer situation with people living in it. That is, however, ALL they have against my property. I don't live like a pig, I don't have a hoarding situation, etc etc etc.

I make no apologies and I am not hiding anything. They started all this trouble, I will have my say in it. I have been waiting to see what the inspector will file on those 2 properties.

I entered the information on the property that has no house on it. This property has had complaints filed against it in the past - someone else's doings. However, I was VERY surprised to see the results. I figured I would see a "Notice of Violation Issued". No. "Ticket Issued".

This is a fine. This is a recurring violation. I knew it was a violation, I didn't know a ticket would be issued. They will have to go to court to fight it. The ONLY way to fight it is to have that property completely cleared of everything. They brought this war to me. I was minding my own business. I had no issues with these people excepting seeing these giant garage doors in the back of the property every time I walk out the door. I still didn't want to start anything with them. Bring a war to me, you will get one back at you. You will find me to be as person that looks into every crevice, nook and cranny. I will fish out whatever I can find and I will bring it. I will be calling the fire department after this for an inspection as well. If I have to, we'll see what happens.

Time for bed.

ben

The Excitement Continues

Quoting my own words that I wrote in my blog this morning: "Who knows what fun and excitement this week may hold!"

I no more wrote those words, published that entry, turned off the computer and walked out of the house only a few minutes later to find? My next door neighbor from Michigan, his pickup with his big, long trailer parked in front of his vacant lot, sleeping away in the pickup.

This is where the cat situation began, with this man. Well, actually, it started with Mario, a former tenant. I don't even know how the subject came up, but I said something to him about the cats and - not long after - he mentioned the subject to this neighbor. This included my intention to catch cats and relocate them.

Well, I didn't find out from Mario about this, I found out from neighbors who were "outraged" that I was doing such a thing - even though I had asked repeatedly that they take responsibility for their felines and do something about this situation. I am under NO obligation to "put up with" someone's else's creatures on my property. Once? Okay. Once in a while? I can deal with it. Every night, destroying plants, defecating and urinating everywhere? I don't think so.

Whatever, that is what started all of this, Mario telling this neighbor and this neighbor telling the whole world.

So here he is, I am looking at this truck, idling away - diesel engine - him sleeping inside of it. Exciting week? Here we go. I get home from work. I am outside throwing trash away into the outdoor receptacle, he is just on the other side of my fence (remember, he is my NEXT door neighbor, not 350 man on the other side of HIS property). I am looking at the trash can but he is that field of view and we eyeball each other. Hi Ben! The guy has never been nasty to me, even with all of this stuff, at least to my face. What he says behind my back is another situation entirely. Which really gets to me - be a man about it, if you have some s*** to say, say it to me and let's get it all aired out. If there is a solution - which I believe there is in the case of these cats, let's get with it.

Well, I get home from work. He has a "construction site" sign out front. His RV trailer? "Construction Office". Is it legal? Yes, if he has the permits for the trailer and the hookups to it. However, he was seen pissing on a tire out there earlier, there is no sewage, no electricity and that is certainly not a "legal" situation.

Passing by other news that is important, at least to me but has nothing to do with this situation, we exchange words after that eye contact. He tells me in his light and airy manner about the signs. Yes, indeed. Nothing about cats. 350 man is right there, I will have to review the terms of the thing, but there I remember the judge saying there would be X amount of space between us on the Harrassment order. I doubt 20 feet is in that equation, especially considering I was talking to Randy - my next door neighbor - from my property.

Randy started talking about the lady from the city giving him all kinds of trouble: you can't have ANYTHING on that property. Yup, I know that, though I didn't file the complaint, I flatly told him. I further told him, with 350 man standing there - though he turned away with a cat in his arms, he isn't going to push this that far in violating that order - again - that I did not file that complaint but I freely admitted to filing the complaints on the other properties. I have nothing to hide, they turned me in, letting me know that they were doing such. I also stated that it was probably done anonymously - yup, he said, it was. Well, I stated a third time: I did NOT turn it in. I was tempted to tell him his 350 man buddy probably did it - it wouldn't surprise me - but I refrained.

We haven't even gotten into the discussion I want to get into with Randy - he has brought his cats and the FIRST thing they will do is come to MY property and start shitting and pissing everywhere.

Well, I have things to get done, this one is over.

ben

Monday 10/31/2011

I'm not a big fan of Halloween - in fact I am not a fan of it at all, so I take a pass on this "holiday" considering it's origins and the fact that it holds nothing for me at all besides to make a nation full of obese kids - even that much more obese by handing out gobs of candy and calorie laden junk.

More fun may be the church festival next weekend, though they are going to be handing out the calorie/sugar laden junk as well.

Whatever the case, I wrote 3 entries yesterday an am not particularly feeling like getting too much into depth of anything this morning.

So, I am off to the races. Who knows what fun and excitement this week may hold!

G'day.

ben

Round Three

I sometimes go for round three on entries on any given day, today will be one of them.
I call my mom at least once a week, I think I've talked to her three times this week.

I called her today simply because I almost always call her on the weekend.
She told me her plan concerning Thanksgiving: My middle brother is going out there on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving - the day before and whatever I can or will work in is cool with her.

Well I don't get the 23rd off and I am not necessarily concerned about being there for that, anyway. One of my uncles - who is eventually going to die of some sort of debilitating, horrible disease that he just found out about maybe 8 months ago and from all accounts will probably be dead within 2 years - sent me a friend request on Facebook. I don't know this man. He is my uncle but we have had 1 interaction in the last 30 plus years in an email conversation and that was it. This is pretty much the way my family lines go. Seeming isolationism, though my uncles and my dad all communicate daily or very frequently in private emails of which I am occasionally privy to - but since I don't know these people and the subject is usually foreign to me, I don't add to it.

Umm, the conversation is usually, btw, about Bach, Mozart, Handel, Haydn, Stravinsky, etc. I was brought up with this kind of music being played at dinnertime meals, but even as a little kid - I was totally into disco and then into rock. I liked some of that music, but I wasn't inclined to tune it in on a radio station, if, at the time, they even had such stations. I know there is at least 1 in the Phoenix area, probably that's it. Again, I don't search such things out, though I am not saying that that kind of music doesn't have it's own allurement in itself.

Well, I went to my uncle's Facebook wall since I accepted the request and saw my middle brother commenting on there. I did not reply. Instead, I went to my brother's Facebook wall - which he used to have locked out to non-friends but now, for whatever reason and only found this out today - is open to anyone to view (he removed me as a FB friend quite some time ago now after I decided I had had enough of his BS being directed towards me). The entire wall is about politics and his line of work and his presidency of the union he is "over". It made me gag, quite frankly, to read the rhetoric and brought to stark, clear memory the reason why I want nothing to do with him. His view of things is superior to everyone else's. The god syndrome. I am better than you, my thinking is flawless, listen and agree or I will unleash upon you.

It was nice to see all of that. Well it wasn't really "nice", just that my continued determination to block him out of my life until/if/when/probably never he realizes we all have opinions. We may not agree with other's opinions, but that doesn't mean, somehow, that that opinion is "inferior". Well, there ARE some cases. People that say the holocaust never happened or that 9/11 was made up by the government are bona fide fruitcakes are far as I'm concerned and any "opinion" stating as such will undoubtedly get full redress from me.

More interesting, since that is extremely old news and I don't see it changing anytime soon, was her statement about my oldest brother. She stated that he had come up with a reason why we don't get along and don't communicate with each other. I was all ears, what is it? If there is something I can do about - within reason of course - I have always wanted to get closer to my oldest brother.

She did not elaborate and started to go into something else - sorry, I want to hear this. What, I asked, is his formulation? Chris - my oldest brother - says that we have nothing in common. I mentally had a problem with this, but I said nothing and listened. Well, to elaborate, I have a problem with that kind of thinking because we are family, we are blood, that is certainly something in common, something extremely relevant, at least to me, in common.

Mother continued: he has his vehicle, my middle brother has his politics and I have my thing. My thing has always been church and religion, at least since I was 20 years old. I didn't know what vehicle she was referring to, he has always been in to motion of some sort, whether a mountain bike, a quad or whatever. He has some sort of Suzuki 4 wheeling vehicle that apparently made it into a magazine article and a sport that I know nothing about since mother didn't really know. I assume some sort of off-road racing. She further stated he has his cabin in the mountains.

I can't keep up with my oldest brother, he is married and between the 2 of them they are very well off. They will not be retiring in rags, squalor and want, I can say that for sure. I don't WANT to keep up with ANYONE, however, to be honest and seeing a lot of junk in my life that made me come to the conclusion long ago that that only thing of dire and great importance in this life is God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and redemption through the shed blood of Christ.

The point is that I imagine that whatever this vehicle is, he has spent a good deal of money on - he never goes at anything half-@$$ed. Case in point was his prior love for mountain bikes. He had several - the cheapest was $2,500. The most expensive - I think it was in the 6k range.
It gives me at least some idea of how, perhaps, I might be able to bridge the gap. The cabin in the mountains. I don't know about the vehicle racing or off road endeavors, but I am currently full fledged into getting a 5th wheel travel trailer ready for use up in the mountains, to be placed on my mother's property, which is fully 8 miles away from my brother's cabin, of which I have never been in but I believe I saw it when I was up there earlier this year.

A drive up to the mountains this summer to shoot off a gun (target practice, folks, target practice) and to see my mother turns into a desire to BE up there, at least some of the time, now seems to potentially have some other implications as well. I have time to give this some thought. My oldest brother goes up to that cabin year round, even in dead winter when it's zero degrees outside and there is a lot of snow on the ground. Yes, well if I had such, I probably would, too. In fact, I wanted to put my 5th wheel up there on my mom's property this winter, but when I heard her trying to tell me exactly where she wants it? No thanks. I will wait until she wants to go up there and tells me the location while the truck is there, maneuvering it into position. I am not paying for another truck to come up there to move it to her exact location that I undoubtedly will not be able to identify.

Writing this entry? I pretty much don't finish entries all at once when I am not under a time limit. So, I was motivated: I found my brother's company email address - all I have and wrote him a request. I found that email under an email my dad sent me - almost 7 years ago. Yup, I had an email from my dad, from late 2005, that was addressed to all kinds of people including my oldest brother - who even then, at the time, was not speaking to my dad and still isn't to this day. I am copying and pasting it below:

"Hello oldest brother:

Long time no see or speak. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Easter and whatever else I have missed (making up for lost time).
My purpose in contacting you is for some potential help.
Don't worry, I"m not asking for a loan, lol.
I recently bought a 5th wheel travel trailer and am intending on placing it on mother's property.
She wants it placed where you had your rig placed when you guys were staying there before you had your cabin built.
I guess she doesn't go up there until May and I want to get the thing up there earlier than that, by several months anyway.
In fact, I like snow and the cold to some degree, especially if I don't have to live in it but can visit it.
So, I am wondering, when I get the projects done with this trailer (new wallpaper, bed mattress, fix a leak in the roof, new microwave, carpet, etc etc etc), would you know the location that she would want it placed and would you be willing to either be there when I have it delivered (I neither have a pickup at this point or a 5th wheel plate on a truck, so I am relegated to paying someone to take it up there) to determine that location or perhaps mark it out?
I was going to wait until May when she goes up there, but I will have this trailer ready in no more than 2 months and I am pretty sure that I will want to start getting out of this hell-hole they call a town much more often than I have been for the last 8 years or so.

If this is something you would rather not get involved with, I completely understand but I thought to give it a shot, anyway.

Please give my regards to Linda, haven't seen you guys in a while, though I could have sworn I saw Linda out on a lawn chair, sort of behind a cabin, just off the forest road when I was up visiting mom not too terribly long ago. Dunno, not exactly sure where your cabin is!

ben"

That was my email. Why not? Leave politics and religion out of it. I am trying, that's all I can say. I have not seen my oldest brother since 2 Christmases ago, so going on 2 years now.

Not much more here. Kid came over asking to walk one of the dogs again, this time with 2, much older individuals. Never saw them before. Kid lives 3 houses down, I have known him for pretty much the entire time I have lived here, so I can at least fairly well trust him. I handed him a postcard sized invitation to our church's fair/festival thing this coming Saturday. Large family and poor. The entire thing is free, including food, drinks and prizes as well as games and bounce houses. Then I handed him Coco on a leash. They came back quite a while later and asked for Duke. Not too much later and then wanted Prince. Showing the dogs off to their family, he says his parents like the Danes.

I got nothing done on the landscaping today and I don't feel bad about it. I will undoubtedly be out there tomorrow afternoon, spending and hour or two in the dirt, working away.

G'nite.

ben