Sunday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great Sunday!
ben

Short Blip

Ahh, the rewards of taking giant dogs for a long walk.
I decided the canal was boring and went to the mountains instead.
Took the Javelina Trail up into South Mountain Preserve (that's what the sign says, anyway), went along a narrow trail for quite a ways and then found a good, steep hill with a cool looking pathway going up it. We headed up there. Danes weren't struggling, Leopard Dog was climbing it with ease. Got to the top and all 4 of us were breathing heavily.

Went up yet another one and then started back down again.

It was a couple mile long walk in total. It's so beautiful up in those mountains. Yes, it's all desert type terrain, but it's a step out of the city simply by walking 3 blocks. Really - the difference is amazing. Plus, you get back in there and the sounds and sights of the city disappear. Only when you climb to the top of a hill or mountain do you see the city - which usually isn't anything spectacular because the first thing that glares out at you is the brown layer of smog covering the inner-city.

I don't know if that's hitting the place where I live or not. I'm up off the desert floor since I'm so close to the base of the mountain. The brown cloud only goes so high - but impossible to tell if my house is in the midst of it or not. I would like to hope not.

Anyways, I'm off to Fry's - they are having some good sales on certain things. Hamburger Helper is on sale for a buck a box. It's usually at least 2 bucks per box. I am not an AVID fan of it, but when I add my own ingredients, it makes it taste better. The thing I like about it is that the kids love it, it's easy to throw together. It's one of those things I cook when I don't really feel like cooking. I'm going to get at least 25 boxes of it - I'm still doing my food store thing that I haven't really been talking about. In that department, I could easily live a month off of what I have in my house now in terms of food, working towards 2 months.

But I don't want to get into that now. I just don't believe we are anywhere NEAR the end of this economic collapse. From the beginning of this nonsense, at least some of the financial guru's have speculated that the end of this thing will be sometime in 2010, when the final ARM's come due and that will be the last of it. From what I have been reading on certain forums, 2009 could be far WORSE than 2008. That's bad if that's true. I don't live in fear, but I do want to live realistically. Realistically for me, food is not something you can live without - and if it gets really bad, I want something to be able to fall back on.

As for right NOW, I'm going to take my little trip to Fry's : )

ben

Went to bed early last night - so I woke up early this morning.
I'm still a little tired - woke up in the middle of the night and it took a while to get back to sleep.
I think the NFL games are tomorrow so I want to go putz around the yard today, dig out a few more holes, etc etc.
Some of the barren plants I planted a while back are now putting the most beautiful flowers. They have a very pleasant smell to them as well. I had thought those plants might just be plain ole' plants and not really look that good, but I am pleasantly surprised at the beauty and abundance of the flowers each one is putting out.
Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Middle of winter and I have plants blooming, lol. Probably go through and do whatever weeding needs done, rake up the area and it should be good. My fencing is holding against the dogs. I don't have to worry about Prince dragging his tail through that other fencing that was up and slicing it open. His tail is STILL healing - it's been a long time. But it is getting better - it's just taking forever because he wags that big long thing - it's almost 3 feet long - and it smashes up against walls, chairs, whatever. The antibiotics ran out last weekend - fortunately there is no swelling in the areas and it isn't looking infected.

The newer tenant - needs a lesson in budgeting. I WISH I lived so close to work as he does. He's only 3 miles away. If I were that close to work, I could walk, roller-blade, ride a bike to work. Great exercise and helps clear the head. He takes a taxi, every single day he goes to work. Yes, he works for the cab company and gets a discount, but it's still costing him a chunk of change that comes right out of his check to get to and from work. The point is that his financial situation isn't all that great - he could be doing much better if he would save the money on taxi's and take a bus if nothing else. A bus pass is like $30 for adults per month. Compare that to taxi fees for average 23 working days per month - huge savings.

So - because Mary didn't pay her rent, satellite went out yesterday. Didn't bother me at all, I can take or leave TV, but the newer tenant came out immediately after it went off. I got paid yesterday, yes, but my check didn't clear the bank until after midnight. Well, I figured since I had the money in the bank, maybe I could go ahead and pay the past due amount and it would go through on my debit card, anyway. Sure enough, it did.

However, the TV did not come back on. Oh. I called DirectTV. Took forever to talk to anyone - their system wasn't working right and it would dump me back to the main menu after I gave it the info it wanted. On the - fifth try, I think - I finally got through to an actual AMERICAN named Beverly. I'm estimating that 90 plus percent of the time I call Direct TV I get hooked up with a person in India, or Pakistan - somewhere over there considering the accent which sometimes is so thick you can't understant their English.

Their policy: if the TV shuts off, you can pay the past-due amount, but it won't get the TV turned back on unless you pay the balance down to zero. I asked to speak to a manager. Took another 15 minutes. Manager gets on and politely refuses my request to turn it back on. My argument? I've been a DirectTV customer for almost 9 years. Obviously, I've paid them some money in that period of time. I was polite back, but I didn't let up. He finally - politely - hung up on me, lol. Sorry Mr. BenB, but I just can't do that for you. I wasn't particularly happy, but oh well. One night without TV isn't the end of the world. Sitting here right now? I don't even have the TV on.

But, a magical thing happened. The guy turned the satellite back on even though he said he wouldn't! JUST after I got off the phone, ta-daaaaaahh! I guess he broke their policy. Another magical thing happened: HBO and Max are on as well. But I doubt he did that, it's probably a free weekend for that stuff as they do it once in a while. BUT, I'll have to say that if he did that, too, wow!!!

Also, I have been having email exchanges with what turns out to be the Chairman of the Board of Directors (so he claims) about this product of theirs. OH, I just did a search on the net, the guy is one of 2 investors that are funding MagicJack - at least on an article I found, but it's an old article and that might have changed by now. Basically, for the MagicJack to work on my computer without all the problems, I would have to have only one user account. Can't do that, but there are several cheap computers for sale on Craigslist - when I say cheap, I'm talking $40. If the thing has a USB port, it's good enough. The device I have isn't working properly, either - but they are sending me a new one for free. MagicJack is a good product for the money, it really is. The calls are crystal clear. You buy the thing for $40 and that also pays for 1 year of service. After that, it's $19.99 per YEAR. That includes unlimited long distance calling, btw. Something for anyone wanting to save some coins to take a look at.

I have no Mary report this morning because nothing more has happened since last night.

The dogs are restless, I think I'm going to take them for a medium-length walk. Meaning I don't really want to, but it's not even 8:00am yet meaning not too many people will be out right now and it's a good time to get them out there and get that energy released.

C'ya later, and have a great day!
ben

Friday

Ummm, well an interesting day.

I got to work, shortly after arriving, the boss calls.
He's wanting an order - a rather large order - to be pulled for Monday and also - to have the shelving in the warehouse to be vacuumed off.

I took the mundane job. Started vacuuming shelves that have had dust accumulating on them for over a decade and have never been cleaned off. I started to do that job a long time ago, but the dust in the air got to be too much and I just stopped.

The boss brought in his wet-or-dry vac - a little dust coming out but nothing to the extent of just trying to just a broom. These are LARGE arrays of shelving - rows and rows of them that are about 8 feet tall and at least 4 feet wide.

I did that for quite a while and then a customer came in. Another came in, and then another.

The rest of the day was driving around and then got off work an hour early.

Now, I call the day interesting because of what occured here about an hour or so ago. I was checking email and found a letter from Mary. It was chock full of garbage. I replied to her - via printed letter posted to her door. She had come home with a friend (lady) that has been over here several times. She comes out, apparently reads the letter - comes out here. I have the tape recorder running, she doesn't even know I have it.

We go back and forth, but I bring up the issue of her friends knocking on Ken's window. Her email to me stated it was a "fairy tale". Well, bypassing a lot of useless chatter, Ken comes out after hearing Mary bitching about this situation and my continuing to affirm that this guy is knocking on Ken's window. Ken let go a lash of fury, so to speak. Pent up anxiety about her nonsense. He kept his distance, though.

Whatever. I am not going into the whole thing, I have no desire to do so, it's a waste of my time. My final point was that I demanded an apology to Caleb for that shit in the morning and to Ken for the treatment she has shown him. She did, actually, apologize to Caleb but refused to apologize to Ken.

That's where it was left, as she left.

10 minutes ago, this same shows up and knocks on Ken's window yet again. Ken comes out loudly complaining - that's the only reason I knew the guy was out there - so I immediately headed outside. Yup, it's this guy again. I very firmly - asked - that he stop knocking on Ken's window, pointed to the doorbell button, told him to use THAT, not a tenant's window. I don't wonder if Mary didn't tell him to do that - knock on Ken's window.

Anyway, that's the day in a nutshell.

And that's it for me, cause' I'm really tired and I've been running around too much today. More than I wanted to, anyway. I'm just tired, I think is the end of it. Michael, Caleb and JD are all here. A pretty good group of kids - I pretty much let them do what they want within certai boundaries that they learned LONG ago. And usually, almost always, they respect those boundaries.

Well, I would rather have them here, doing their thing, than running around the streets, doing the wrong thing. You KNOW what I mean by that.

G'nite, folks, sleep tight.
ben

Thursday

Dannnnnng - dude - the weekend's almost here! The difference between a busy week and a slow week at work? One flies like a jetliner, the other crawls like a turtle. Speaking of jetliners - amazing that plane that went down today. It's amazing because no serious injuries (or deaths, thank God) were reported. A flock of birds caused both engines to shut down. Crazy things happen in this world, I'm just so glad for the people inside that plane that everyone got out alive.

So, I was reading AOL. Here's the story, and here's my take on each one.
Retail Rip-Offs & Sneaky Tricks
1. So-Called "Liquidation" Sales
The deal with this is that the retailer is raising the price so that the "liquidation" sale price is actually as much or even more than the regular price. I don't do liquidation sales, for the most part, and even if I do, I am a very well-informed consumer: I will not buy stuff that's obviously no better deal or worse than anywhere else.

2. Tricky Changes to Cut Costs
Packaging rip-offs. They are making peanut butter jars with huge dips in the bottom of them protruding upward into the bottle, and making cereal boxes the same heighth and width, but not as deep as they used to be. Again, if you've been buying this stuff for all your life, you are acquainted with how many ounces are in that box or bottle. Bacon, too. I found that one long before the media reported about it. I am a very observant, inquisitive person - I look at packaging intently. When I saw a package of bacon for $2.00, I was like, yeahhh. Then, I saw it was a 12-ounce package instead of the normal 16-ounce package. Put that sucker right back down.

3. Heavy Discount, No Rain Checks!
The statement here is that retailers are putting huge discounts on a certain product and advertising such - but not stocking much of it and then it runs out quickly. They then offer you something of the same kind/quality at the REGULAR price. NOT!!! I'm the kind of person that is visiting the doorstep of the general manager's office and asking why they have run out of the product so quickly. I noticed this happening recently, I didn't know it was a ploy by retailers. I want a rain check or I want something of similar value at the discount price. Remember, the squeaky wheel adage? That's me when it comes to retailers and the games they play, and the game I play in response.

4. The Price Isn't Right
So there's a sale on something, you pick it up and whatever else you're buying, head to the cashier. The statement here is that the product rings up at full price and you, the buyer (we're talking supermarkets here) don't realize that you were charged full price until you get home and start looking at the receipt - or you never catch it at all. BenB? I'm the dude you see standing at the front of the store, just after I paid for everything, scrutinizing the entire receipt. I catch things FREQUENTLY - and at Fry's, I get my money BACK for those things that are rung up incorrectly. They aren't making any money off of me in that arena.

5. I skipped a bunch - not important - and this is the next one.
Popcorn at the Movies
Yes, I buy popcorn when I go to the movies or nachos. I know it's a huge ripoff. I don't go to the movies that often and I just shrug it off. The thing this report didn't bother to mention is that the theatres make thier livelihood off of the concessions stands, they don't make that much off of the cost of the movie ticket. I read about this a long time ago. Hey, I want them to stay in business - I don't go often but I do like going - some things you just need to fork out and let it go. I consider this one of those things. I think this report they were doing is in light of ecomonic times. Well, if you're without a job and don't have any money, probably going to the theatres at all is a bad idea.

6. Skipped some more - not going to do 21 of these.
Brand Name Medication
This is old news. Generics have the same active ingredients (for the most part, you have to read the label) as the brand-name. I don't buy brand name pain relievers and such. I learned a lot from my mother growing up - I learned how to shop. That level of education was GREATLY increased when I became an adult and - couldn't afford a lot. You learn ways to cut corners but still get what you need.

That's it. The rest I didn't want to comment on. I don't buy organics, if I go to a restaurant like Denny's and pay whatever for the bottomless cup - oh well. I RARELY go to a sit-down restaurant anymore, it's a moot point with me. I'm guessing that many people are becoming much more informed consumers as their money disappears and they have little to work with. Food is a huge expense, HUGE if you have a lot of people to feed. As I have said before, now that Michael is only here on the weekends, my food usage has gone down considerably and my visits to Fry's have decreased accordingly.

As for today - Mary got her paycheck out of the mailbox today. I know this because it always shows up either on the 15th or the 30th, if not the day before, and it wasn't in there when I got home. Not that I would do anything with it - the fact of the matter is that I know she's been paid. If she doesn't give me rent money - all of it for the entire month of January - before tomorrow, I will be heading down to the courthouse and filing the forcible detainer. Well, maybe not. Fridays get awfully busy after work. It may have to wait until Monday. I don't really want her rent - I want to get rid of her. She's a nutcase - as my other tenant so succinctly put it - he's been on the receiving end of her s*** - but if she offers the rent, lawfully I have no choice but to accept it. But - ONLY if she offers ALL of it. I do NOT have to take a partial payment, and if I do - that negates my ability to file for the detainer for this month.

I did a V-Log today while driving - several of them actually while all over Phoenix, Casa Grande, Coolidge and wherever else. I don't know if I'll post one of them today, but - Fin's interest in this guy that has a live webcam while he's driving a truck renewed that for me. I have several YouTubes that I have done while in the truck.

Anyway, I'm totally hungry. Like, I had a salad for lunch and now I'm ready for something filling.

C'ya later.
ben

Thursday Morning

I was awakened this morning - about 4:00am.
What woke me up?
It was hot in my bedroom. Considering it's the middle of winter and the night time temps are in the 40's - it seemed rather odd.
You know that stuff that goes on in your head when you just wake up and you don't really know what's going on.
I got out of bed, walked over to the vent and felt warm air coming out of it.

Put my clothes on (one huge disadvantage of living with other people - you can't just walk out in your undies into the "communal" portions of the house), went out there. Sure enough, the furnace had been turned on - and set to SEVENTY-FIVE/75 DEGREES!!

Then I saw the notice I left her last night sitting on the kitchen table.

I have given her at least - 5 notices anyway - in the last week. Last night's notice was telling her to stop having her friends knocking on Ken's window. They knock on his window to ask if Mary is there!

Whatta piece of work.

Off to work.
ben

Wednesday

JS, I noticed, is on again. My old blog is gone - I tried signing in for the fun of it under my old user name, didn't recognize it. I signed up the same thing all over again, but I'm not rushing over there. It's under the Wordpress format - I already have two Wordpress accounts and JS going under that domain is hardly anything noticable or laudable. Now, if they do something with it, great. Wait and see. I MIGHT start using it as a mirror blog like everything else I'm doing - but I don't trust it. Waste of time to post copied entries over there if it's just gonna go down.

I wonder how many of you folks feel the same way. The feel of my journal there is totally evaporated into thin air. They're gonna have to do better than that to get me wanting to use it as my primary blog and this, Wordpress and my LiveJournal place as mirrors. Frankly, I'm getting comfy here at Blogspot. I know, I'm a traitor to my own cause, oh well.

Anyway, I have this guy that keeps bugging me for me YouTube uploads. I have uploaded some vidoes of trucking down the road - this guy sends me emails all the time. My travels today were blahhhh, to be honest. In-city, no freeway driving, just driving down the road, babbling away. Well, I took a couple and am going to upload them. I have had - the most views I've had - is 54 on a particular video. That isn't very much for YouTube. But - maybe if I start making regular contributions from the truckers view, I could get that number up.

Ummmm - no reply email from Mary today from the rather long and very detailed letter I sent her yesterday. I left her another notice on her door. She has turned the hallway by her door, the main bathroom door and the other tenant's door into her storage compartment for 2 hampers and my vacuum cleaner. Because I don't go back there often, I didn't know the situation existed until Ken - the other tenant - brought it up to me. So, I put one hamper in front of one of Mary's doors and the other hamper in front of the other. I removed my vacuum cleaner and took it into my room. My notice provided that her stuff was blocking the entrance to the bathroom - which it was! What is WITH this woman? My message also included that if it happened again, she would be able to find her hampers or whatever - in the STORAGE SHED OUTSIDE.

I was on the phone for over an hour with our monthly meeting that is both visited in person and via webcast. I visited webcast, but only by the phone. So, I'm on the phone for an hour, walking around outside watering plants and making sure things are kosher out there. When I'm done and the meeting is over, I noticed the notice had been removed from her door and the hampers were gone. I also heard her come out a few minutes ago and then go back into "one" of her rooms, slamming the door behind her. Provocation for another notice: nothing is going to be done in anger around here that either disturbs anyone's peace OR causes or potentially causes damage to my property. Slamming doors can do damage - I know from experience.

Ummm, not a lot more. I'm enjoying some of the rather bland looking plants I planted that I didn't really want to plant - just branches shooting in all directions with some thick leaves. Recently, they decided they liked it here and started putting some very beautiful flowers! Cooooooool!!

Guess they have to figure out whether they want to stay - or go permanently.

Oh, and back to Mary, I will be wanting an answer from her about whether she's staying or going. But - I get paid on Friday. She gets paid tomorrow. If I don't receive dineros by Monday - after my check is deposited and I actually have access to the money and can go down to the Justice Court and file the paperwork - Forcible Detainer action will proceed. I'm not asking her for the money - she'll have to WANT to give it to me, cause' I'd just as soon get rid of her. Now, to qualify this, I did give her a full explanation of why her presence is no longer desired here, including a lot of stuff about my son, Michael and Ken, not to mention my own feelings, especially about the shit she pulled with Caleb. I'm quite serious: If she ever does anything like that to Caleb again, I'm going to call the police over here and see if I can press some kind of child abuse charges. Whatever. Just a never-ending story about tenants.

I'm hungry. I hate to make people start drooling about food when they read my journal, but about this time of day, I'm thinking food. I had a Super Nachos from a Mexican restaurant today, but I only ate half of it. My stomach told me full quickly, and that's when I end the eating. Now? Some veggies and a little meat sound good. I thoroughly enjoyed my spinach last night - turned into Popeye and actually ate a whole can's worth of it along with the meal I had. Funny how much food affects your life. You can't live without it, but too much of it can mess you up bad. Eating too much of the wrong stuff can also have that effect. Eating too little wears you out and you don't have much energy. It's a strange phenomenon. I mean, if you drink too much, you CAN just stop drinking. If you gamble too much - you CAN stop gambling. If you eat too much? You can't just STOP eating altogether!

I don't have a problem with food - I eat when my stomach tells me it's time. Only certain times of the year do I go overboard - and regret it afterwards in feeling bad or even ill - most of the time I'm eating good meats and at work a lot of salads. NO WAY I will ever do the vegetarian thing. I love vegetables - but I must have my meat. I don't care if it's beef, pork or chicken, I have to have some of it. Tonight's fare? I just want to put some ground beef (landed some 93% lean stuff on sale) in a skillet along with some tomatoes, onions and whatever else I have in there, cook it. Dump a couple of eggs on top of it - let those cook a few minutes and then put some cheese on top of that with some spices - and maybe some fat-free sour cream. OH, sounds terrible. Yes, it's very, very bad, never try that recipe, lol. Ummm, well the tomatoes actually don't go in until near the end - they don't take long to cook and soften up considerably. Onions a totally different story.

I've made myself hungry.

Gonna go hit that stuff.

ben

Tuesday

Tired. Work was a non-ending series of one thing after another for 10 hours straight, no break and didn't have time to eat. Take that back, early this morning I stopped at Q-trip for a coffee and had a small taquito. That isn't enough food for an entire day's worth of work. Actually, I'm more than just tired, I'm spent, burnt, toasted and fried. I kind of miss those days, though, because days just fly by and having to worry about weight-loss and what I am eating is a moot point - barely eating and expending that much energy keeps you pretty lean and trim, if I do say so myself.

Even when I got home, all was/is not over. The exterminator - a thing I can ill-afford right now but the idea of getting stung by another scorpion is a worse fate than being totally broke - showed up at my house the same time I did. Which sent me into a frenzy of making sure everything is picked up and also cleaning up today's dog dung. Wanted the dirt/sand/rocks to be sprayed, not dog poop.

Umm, so I just finished making pork chops/gravy/mashed potatoes/spinach. Dumped the gravy over everything and I feel SO much better after having eaten something.

There isn't much else - just cause' I've emptied the brain for the most part of all the junk. Just to have some peace. Issues come and go, I need peace in my mind and heart to walk through all of it.

Really, I'm done for this entry, maybe the night. I figure to head to the bedroom early tonight, watch some TV, get drowsy and get (hopefully) a good night's sleep.

Bidding you all the same.

ben

Monday

For a day that had me doing no deliveries at work, it certainly was busy. I left the yard this morning and didn't return until an hour before time to go home. Driving the semi all over Phoenix.
Tomorrow will be more of the same. Pick up a load of pipe at a manufacturer, go back to the yard, load up more stuff and then take the material out to the intended jobsite.

Back to Phoenix, load up for Wednesday. Wednesday I am doing the "Tucson Run". Every Wednesday the main branch loads up a semi headed for Tucson or Tucson loads up a semi headed for Phoenix. They take turns. This time, it's our branch because we need some 40 foot pipe to deliver to a jobsite and the boss said he would do the run this time since we need it done that day.

Whenever I come home from work, the dogs are all excited to see me. Wagging their tails, making all kinds of noise, basic chaos. Then, when I get changed and come in here to write up a fresh entry, they all lay down and pass out - as if they have been going all day long! I'm serious, only in a dog's life.

Anyway, the letter wars move on. Mary left me yet another note this morning, replete with a small trash canister full of trash. Her complaint? That "no-one else is cleaning up this bathroom, I am cleaning it up 3 times a week", yada yada yada. I stopped cleaning the tenant's bathroom some months ago - I don't use that bathroom and the tenants should be accountable for cleaning up after themselves.

The note included the statement that she had cleaned up the bathroom floor with paper towels stated that I needed to look at those dirty towels - in the trash can - in front of my computer. I did not look into the trash can and I put it back in front of her door. It isn't my trash and frankly, her attitude around her is going further and further south with each passing day. Heck, it isn't even my trash can! It must be hers, I doubt the new tenant put one in there.

I thought about responding that she took clean dishes out of the dishwasher this morning, some of her cups, but didn't bother to put the rest of them away. Or the fact that she never takes out the trash in the kitchen. Or the fact that I have requested several times that she not do partial loads of laundry - wasting energy and water. Or a lot of other things. Instead, I am not replying to her at all. I have given her all the notices that need be given, unless something else comes up, we aren't on speaking terms; my son, Michael, their friends and Ken, the newer tenant - ALL dislike her greatly. Her sour, rancid, obnoxious attitude and behavior around here has gone far enough. Tomorrow marks the first day that I can go to court and file for eviction. Money is tight, so - not doing that until I get paid. If she pays me the rent, then I will definitely be considering giving her a 30-day notice. That's simply a notice that says the rental agreement will end and will not be renewed after 30 days. I think I have to give that at the last day of the month.

I tried to call the new mortgage company today - the same recording I have gotten every time I call. It states that wait times are long, we apologize, yada yada. The MagicJack has quit working altogether and I don't want to waste minutes of my company's cell phone time on a call that has nothing to do with my company. I guess I'll have to do it on the landline at work - though I do have a new Magic Jack device ordered and it has been sent out.

I'm guessing Michael is gone for the week and definitely so is Caleb, so I only have my mouth to feed. I have some leftovers from this weekend. Most notably, after I made the chicken and rice casserole, on the same day, I also just cooked up the other package of chicken. It was going to go bad - at least by the date and usually those dates on those packages are pretty close or even right on. I am going to use some Mexican tomato sauce (spicey), tear up the chicken into pieces, mix the sauce in with it, cook it for a while, and then make chicken tacos out of it. They are QUITE good, much better than you might think. Everyone traditionally thinks of beef, and yes, beef is wonderfully good in tacos - but the chicken is a different twist/taste and it's pretty darn good. Not to mention the fact that I love tacos.

Umm, well this entry is getting long and I have some things to do. Must go out and check the freshly planted plants - probably need more watering I'm guessing. Dog dung needs cleaned up - of course, a daily chore - and whatever else my eye spots out there or in here to do.

ben

Steelers WON!!!

Dang, whatta game.
First thing they show is snow coming down.

I take that as a GREAT sign for the Steelers - I have seen them playing their best in snow, rain and mud.

Chargers score right off the bat. I mean, I think it was 3 plays and they scored a TD.
Didn't care, beginning of game.

The rest of the game was history.

I wonder if history will show a Cardinals V Steelers game,
or possibly Pennsylvania game?

Or - no Steelers at all. Gag.

No thanks.

Ravens up next.

I'm done for the weekend.

Made absolutely delicious hamburgers with several kinds of melted cheeses; fried tomatoes; fried onions; avocado; bacon; ranch dressing on toasted wheat bread and a tad smickens of ketchup.

YUMMMMMM.

G'nite.

ben

Sunday

Wow!!
What a mess those 2 games were yesterday!
Unbelievable. Underdog teams win - the Cardinals handed a roasting to the Panthers, definitely some entertaining games.

Gets me to fretting about today's Steeler's game. Charger's fans will undoubtedly be hoping their team is going to win, but I would think most people would definitely give the greater odds to the Steelers in pulling off a victory.

Considering yesterday's games, that's definitely up in the air.

I left Mary 3 notices on her door last night. One was a notice of doubled rent - she has both rooms locked and I am not going to just sit here and do nothing about it. If she wants to occupy both rooms, then her rent is going to be doubled.

Second was notice of peaceable enjoyment for the other tenant, ie: excessive noise to stop after 10:00 pm with the story printed on the notice of what allegedly happened.

Third was final notice to either give me a key to the new door or the door lock is going to be drilled out. I'll do it, too, with Caleb videoing the event on my digital camera - it takes almost 25 minutes worth of video on that thing and certainly good enough quality to see clearly what's going on.

Mary left me a another message saying she would give me a key today and demanding a receipt. I didn't give her one in December - she can have her receipt, in fact, already typed and printed. I have my recorder not terribly far away as I am getting this "feeling" that things may start to escalate. No way am I going to leave myself unprotected. One of those situations where video surveillancde will be recording whenever she's around me and audio tape will be push-buttons away from recording any nasty verbiage.

I am not hoping for such, of course, but I am not going to leave myself unprepared.

I accomplished in planting fully 5 plants yesterday. I sorta stopped for a while cause' I was just tired of digging holes. The plants have done fine in the planters - yes I still have plants from that auction that are sitting in planters, waiting for me to plant them. They are flowering and doing well in the pots, so no big deal. I still have more to go, too, but I don't know that I'm going to get all that done today. I also removed that fencing I put up to keep the dogs out, rolled all of that up and put it off into a corner.

Still plenty of work to do around here, some of it I can accomplish, the rest will wait on finances - maybe a LONG time on the finance issue. I am hopefully getting the Safe Driver Award bonus - which is a full week's paycheck, but - that's just bill money. If I thought I could get 4 or 5 tons of landscaping rock over here for the east side of the house for $200, I might consider doing that with some of that money. But - alas - bills take precedence.

In the news:
5 pirates drowned and lost their ransom money when their boat capsized. I actually didn't laugh at that, but plenty of people did at work and here. I tend to take the scripture that says something like not laughing at another man's calamity quite seriously - as the scripture goes further to say that the Lord can stop the calamitous effect on that person and turn it on YOU. Hmmm. I'll have to get that out and read it again, I don't want to be muddying up the Word.

Apparently Microsoft "got the message" and is putting out a new version of windows. And how much will this OS cost? I have a $100 disc sitting here for Windows XP, doubt I'll be rushing to any stores to shell out probably at least $200 for a new system. It isn't available commercially yet, they are supposedly giving away free beta test runs of it. I never even considered Windows Vista because out of the 50 plus people that I had personal encounters with it over the span of time it has been out, only ONE said they liked it.

Israelia forces are in the "suburbs" of the city of Gaza, apparently. The world is denouncing the offensive. I don't much care for the civilian casualities on either side, but consider this: If Mexico or Canada suddenly decided one day to start launching rockets from their border into ours, does anyone honestly believe we would just sit here and take it without launching a MASSIVE counter-offensive? No, I didn't think so. Would any of these nations that are denouncing the Israeli offensive just sit there and take it, either? No, I didn't think so. Israel has the right to protect it's borders, period.

And then there's the bizarre news. The week has been full of it. For example, this guy that waits in line at a bank to do a bank robbery with a toy gun. Undoubtedly, that will end up on the "World's Dumbest Criminals" show or whatever it's called. A lot of weird killings, too. And the little boy that showed up to school with a loaded .45 caliber gun. Poetic justice, I guess, since the gun was stolen, if I remember the story correctly, and then the dad was arrested on warrants.

I'm waiting for the arrival of the 2 Chinese destroyers and supply ship in the zone near Somalia where all of the piracy is going on. What I'm wating to see is what kind of absurdity they will enact on any "caught" pirates. Shoot em' down? I just don't see the Chinese military having any kind of patience in waiting for ransom notes or paying off pirates with anything but 60 caliber rounds in their heads. My question is: will their reaction be worse than the action that caused them to want to come over there in the first place?

As for now, I need to start laundry. Mary claims she is going to give me a key when she gets up. I'm bracing myself for any kind of verbal offensive. She can be very nasty, condescending and a list of other appropriate adjectives when she wants to be. Considering the fact that no-one has done anything to the woman, it's a bit befuddling. As I stated in a reply on another of my sites, I am considering that much of her problem is in her head and was started when her husband committed suicide. I'm no psychologist, but I would have to guess this is where her problems began. I can imagine the kind of mind games that might play on a person's psyche. Whatever the case, I don't want to be on the receiving end of it and I don't want other tenants or children in the house to be on the receiving end of it, either.

But, none of that will stop me from having a great day. It's a little cool, but it's beautiful outside. I will be going out there in a little while and continuing to clean up from yesterday's messes. My little plant oasis on the east side of the house - well the effort was certainly worth the trouble. It's very peaceful and very inviting. I could only wish that some of the fiolage were mature fiolage, at the same time, it's fun to come out and see the progress on each plant as they continue to put out some new shoots here and there. Certainly encouraging that they aren't all dying, especially since it's winter time and not exactly the best time to be planting. In a couple of years, much of this plant life out there will be at least starting to get mature and will have grown considerably. So many plans for that portion of the property - so little money to accomplish it.

Oh well.

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

ben

AAAAARRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!

The title pretty much sums it up nicely, thank you.

I was tired of this computer not having sound. It crashed a little while back and I simply couldn't figure out why sound wasn't working. Directly related to the fact that there was no driver for the ethernet controller - regardless of the fact that I had downloaded the d*** thing, I gave up on it and today, decided to simply reformat the computer and reinstall Windows XP.

I only have a few documents on here that I wanted to save, so I just copied and pasted all of them and put them in an email to myself.

Went through all there is to reinstalling Windows - and STILL couldn't get the friggin' sound to come on. HOW did I get sound to work every other time? Interesting question. I then found a blurp on the Dell site about downloading compenents in the right order/sequence. Oh??????

I did the installation ALL over again. Rather than fooling with it, I just dumped everything all over. This time, I went to Dell's site and re-read the sequence for installing the drivers/controllers and walaaaaaaah, SOUND again! What, may I ask, is a computer without sound? BORING. Lol.

Of course, that means having to reinstall all this other software including the video surveillance system. I keep those discs in a very safe and secure place - I doubt I could replace that sureveillance software disc, and even if I could, it would have to come from China where it was shipping from in the first place and I would undoubtedly have to pay for it. Same with Windows XP operating system - $100 for that sucker, no intention on buying that piece of work again.

So, a pain in the rear, but the intended result was accomplished.

I spent literally hours on this little project. I'm no computer geek, I just muddle my way through things and hope that what I want to do actually occurs at the other end. I do wish I could afford to simply go to the nearest community college - all of 2 miles away - and take courses on all kinds of computer related things, as I'm pretty much tired of being in the dark and having to guess and take stabs at things and go the reeeeeally long way around to getting something done when I don't know how to do something. It can take me hours or even days or even WEEKS to figure things out. I've had no formal education on computers or the internet or html code or anything. It's really starting to get to me.

Though, I can say that whatever I learn, I pretty much can do over and over again. When it takes you THAT long to figure something out, it stands to reason that you aren't going to forget how to do it, or at the very least, remember what site you found the info on HOW to do something.

Umm, well I did plant my little Christmas tree, but I have one more to put in the ground. Now that I have THIS finished, I think I'll go out and do that right now, still 45 minutes before game-time.
ben

Saturday/The Mary Factor

My apologies to the new readers to my blog, there are certain things I write about that I just take for granted that everyone knows what's going on.

Mary would be one of them. In July of 2008, I placed a room rental ad in Craigslist. This particular ad had a header that included the following: "Work for reduced rent". I wrote up my "normal" ad and then added a descriptor of the work factor. A person could move in and do some work around the house and get $100 knocked off their monthly rent. No, I remember now, I stated the rent could go as low as $250 per month depending on how much work the person did, but that regardless of how much work the person did, the rent would not go below that number.

So, I'm sitting here thinking about that and decided the next day to delete that ad. People had responded to the ad, but not for the work, they just liked the location. My location is a mile away from a huge industrial park where lots of people are employed, and then 3 more miles away a lot more of it. I'm maybe 8 miles at most to downtown Phoenix. I thought that having someone working around here could potentially create huge problems in a person attempting to determine how much work is worth how much money. Decided I didn't want that kind of headache and did go ahead and delete it.

So Mary responds via email to the ad. Yada yada yada, and she comes over to take a lookittheplace. This was like a week after I had placed and deleted that reduced rent ad and then immediately placed a "regular" ad. So, Mary looks around and then we sit down at my kitchen table to start talking. I insist on having some time to talk the person - the longer the better - to get a feel for what they're about. Mary is a very crafty person, has been down the street and around the block several times, at least. She didn't reveal or say anything that would send up any flags.

At the end of the conversation she brought up the reduced rent. I was surprised because she never said anything about it in her email and waited until the last to say anything about it. I informed her I had deleted the ad because I thought it would create the potential for problems, but then said it would be okay. Why not - see what becomes of it. Live and learn type of thing. I very clearly stated at that point that I could NOT go below $300 per month. She changed her mind and said she didn't want to do that, anyway and would just pay me the regular rent.

She moves in, and then goes out front to start working. Said she wanted to do some work to lose some weight.

Well, I'll give Mary credit that her work has accomplished a lot of stuff around here. Mary is an insomniac - she'll often be up late at night, working on her room or working outside or doing something. Mary started in on that dirt thing that was called my front yard and plugged away at it in the heat of July, August and several more months, in fact, really, all the way up to now, levelling it, picking up rocks from the back and carrying them out front, and planting some plants.

Meanwhile, of course, issues with rent started to unfold with her. She paid a small amount and then it was two MONTHS before I got anything else. I was wishy-washy as to whether to keep her or chuck her out - she was doing a LOT of work, yes, but money is more important for my situation. Still is.

I also ended up getting all those plants during this time. I planted most of them, actually - she did plant quite a few out front, but I planted them around the side and the back of the house and decided to plant some of the ones I wanted for the front out there as well, including digging that giant hole for that 36 inch box tree - that took days and days of digging in that rocky ground.

The problems with Mary are her lack of feeling that rent is of any importance and some of the bizarre behavior that she exhibits from time to time, though recently, much more frequently. Last night, Ken (the other room mate) and I were sitting out here talking it up. Ken will sit there and talk for hours and hours if you are in the mood for it - last night I was in the mood. Ken perfectly HATES Mary. Mary is quite intolerant of him, though he's not done a friggin' thing to her.

So, he brings up the subject of Mary. He is talking VERY loud. I'm thinking Mary can hear this conversation - and I'm thinking that's a good thing, she can get an uninhibited feel for what people are thinking of how she's acting around here. Ken is just a loud speaker - that's normal for him. In the course of this conversation, I remembered that Mary had placed a deadbolt on her new door and hadn't given me a key. I LOUDLY brought up the fact that if that thing wasn't removed by today and a regular door handle be put in there, AND I get a key, I was going to drill that sucker right out of there and leave the door open.

Lol. Mary leaves and comes back later with a new doorset in hand. I have yet to receive a key, but I expect that to be coming shortly, or I will be drilling that out of there as well. I had informed Mary that a deadbolt inside of the house on a bedroom door looks very tacky. I'll give Mary credit that between her and the guy she hired to come in and do the work, the door, the frame and all of it is looking pretty good at this point. Even Ken was admiring the handiwork. So, I gave loud kudos to Mary as well for all the quality work she has done around here - since we had a good half hour plus at her expense talking about the crap she's been doing. I figure Mary heard most of the important things. Will that actually do anything to change her behavior? Who knows.

The conversation then changed. Ken is an atheist. I don't ask people for their religious credentials when they come into my house. If a person is an atheist and wants to engage in a conversation like that with me, that person will be hearing in great detail the things of the Lord and my view of it. We hashed that one out without getting into a fistfight for well over an hour. Lol. In the real world, I am not going to talk an atheist out of being and athiest and and athiest is not going to be talking me out of my Christianity. So, we left that conversation on the table just before it might start getting heated up, but it was an interesting dialogue. It was actually a very interesting night last night. Ken wanted me to take him to a Karoake bar. No thanks, not into it.

So it's Saturday. A couple of NFL games slated for later on (it's still early, I go to bed early every night, even on the weekends 99% of the time) and I will definitely be watching all however many hours of it.

I'm watching Tank again. I haven't watched this dog in a long time. He's got more energy than 10 of me. He's a little over a year old and is a Boxer mix. Mostly Boxer. I started my techniques with him again immediately last night when the owners dropped him off. I'm not dissing them - but they have no clue how to train a dog. I would have to say that most people don't. Without using "violence", I had him sitting and laying down within the first hour. Right now, he's sitting with the rest of the dogs - all lined up staring at me. I had all 5 of them lined out last night in a row. Dogs are allowed to go crazy - OUTSIDE, not inside. Tank is one of those untrained dogs that does whatever he pleases wherever he pleases to do it. At least he's housebroken. It's a short gig, but I'll take it. I'll take whatever pennies I can get on any kind of side job right now.

I'm just waiting for the sun to come up. I have several things I want to do outside including planting this little pine tree I bought at Home Depot during Christmas. It cost all of $3.99. It doesn't like the little cup it's in and I need to get it into the ground before it starts dying. I have another one, a little bigger, as well. It was on sale more than half off the day Christmas was over. I have no further need of plants, I want trees now. Not that I can afford them, but if some place has a really good sale on them, I'll spend the dollars to get one. I'm also wanting to take down that fencing I put up to keep the dogs out. It's very unsightly and now that I have the chain link fence up - even if only temporarily - the dogs cannot get over there. They have tried, it's a MUCH larger and stronger fence and I effectively have my dog free zone. I will be happy just getting that stuff done this weekend along with my normal weekend cleaning chores. There will be football on and the only thing that is going to stop me from watching it is if Direct TV goes out or the power goes out. Then I'll get into my car and head up to a sports bar and sit there for half a day if I have to!

I think this entry has gone on long enough. C'ya later and - have a great Saturday!
ben

Friday

Mary's antics are revved up and moving on.
Last night - Ken, the newer tenant informed me - she was out in the hallway, next to his door, working on that door she just had installed.
She was running an air compressor and spraying texturing material on the wall. Note that this was being done at 11:00 pm. Ken had gone to bed as he had to get up early for work - early as in 5:00am. Same time I got up.

Well, Ken got out of bed, told Mary that he had to get up at 5:00am and that he needed to get some sleep. Mary replied that she is getting up that early, too. Ken just said: "well could you be quiet?". "NO". Ken's statement: "She acts as if she owns this place".

Mary left me a message this morning that started out with: "why are you harassing me?". Note that we haven't talked in almost 4 days - but - I did leave her the 5-day notice last night on her door. THAT is her version of harassment, a legal notice that is rightfully given to her? I got halfway through the note - the statements were so outrageous that I ended up tearing the paper up into pieces and leaving it there on the kitchen table. Ummm - it was early morning and having that kind of thing staring in my face is not exactly what I want to see in the morning.

For whatever reason, Mary seems to be going off the deep end. Because I have been through situations like this before, I am now carrying my microcassette recorder around with me at all times while at home, just in case. The question has to be asked: Why should I have to live like that? Answer: I shouldn't. Ken would love to see her leave and Caleb dislikes her greatly. She has worn out her welcome. Unfortunately, I didn't start getting deposits until Ken moved in here. From him on forth I will be requiring a deposit, but I didn't get one from Mary. Meaning I have to fork out the money myself to pay for her eviction. Sooo - that won't happen until next paycheck, as I have bills that simply can't wait and Ken is paying me his rent money tomorrow. That with what I have leftover after the mortgage payment is enough to pay a couple of bills that are - getting stale is one way to put it.

Umm, but I don't want to dwell on that. If Mary starts more crap this weekend, I will be home and have instructed my son to wake me up if she starts in on him again and asked Ken to also wake me up and I will get involved. First, I'll address the situation, microcassette recorder hidden in pocket, but recording, and see if she starts mouthing off. Getting it on tape would be great if this thing ends up in court. If she goes berserk, I have 2 witnesses besides myself to her behavior and I will call the police.

Kinda strange, really. We were getting along very well after all that stuff that happened initially. I guess my demand to be paid the rent that is rightfully mine was the thing that got her
going. And that's what this all boils down to: she doesn't like being told what to do, she doesn't like being ASKING NICELY what to do, and really, she has no respect for anyone. She has no respect for HERSELF, either, judging from some things I have seen around here recently.

Tomorrow - NFL football!!!! Woo-hooooo! My team isn't playing until Sunday, but I'm totally going to be watching the games tomorrow with special interest in the Cardinals v Panthers game. I have some things I want to get done outside tomorrow as well, guess it's gonna have to be in the morning cause' really, this weekend is wasted on football and - well it's supposed to be 2 weeks until the Superbowl, but I've heard rumors they aren't going to skip a weekend? What's THAT all about?

Michael just came in as well. I just brought Caleb back - his mother still hasn't returned from her trip to Florida to be with family for the funeral and such. Michael was also in a very good mood - everyone's in a great mood - and probably cause Mary ain't here right now! So what's going to happen when she returns? Who knows.

I dunno, but whatever the case, I'm looking forward to hopefully some good football games.

And with that, I'm off to go out and deal with the ever-present chore of cleaning up - DOG DUNG!!! Woo hooooo!
Oh, that's nasty stuff - well, you know, get it over with.
ben

Michael

Fin made a good point - it was a reply on one of my other blogs that I am using as a backup site.
The event of Michael moving out will start to see the reduction in food costs.
I had already thought about that, but - the cost savings go beyond that.

First, I have numerous new readers to this blog - probably a little light shed on Michael and who he is and what his relationship to me is would be good, considering the potential ideas people might get.

When I first moved to the property I am living early months of 2004, the house that was here was uninhabitable. I placed an RV trailer on the property to live in while I was basically tearing the house apart and replacing everything inside of it.

The first few days here were uneventful. Until one day, less than a week after living here, I do believe. My son was bored and I suggested he go out and find some new friends to play with instead of bugging me to death about how bored he was.

He left - and came home - several hours later with a kid in tow. This kid's name was/is Michael. Michael and Caleb (my son) came into our trailer, they sat down in the miniature living room and proceded to start playing video games. Michael didn't want to go home that night. I didn't let him stay - I didn't know his parents and thought it a little odd that a kid would stay overnight on his very first day of meeting my son.

Michael was over the next day. As is my want, I make dinner every night - well just about every night, sometimes I get lazy and just throw something easy together. I was making dinner that day while Michael and Caleb were again playing video games - Michael was making comments about the food and the good smell in the air. So, being an extremely hospitable person - just ask anyone that read my JS journal for the time it was there and you will hear from some people how I go way overboard on that particular subject - I offered him dinner. He gobbled whatever it was (I have no recollection of what I was making) down in a few minutes. I gave him more.

That was the beginning. It wasn't long before his "parents" came over - the father getting angry about his son being over here and -- well you would have to know this person, his drug use, his lack of care for his own children, the fact that he doesn't and won't work to support his family - a long list. I wasn't about to get into a fight with some guy over something as petty as a kid coming over to my house, eating my food and visiting with my son and I - so I just calmed the situation down and introduced myself.

From there - the rest is history. A rather LONG and ARDUOUS history, I might add, of my interactions with this family - all of them. All kajillion of them. Michael ended up moving in with us. The facts eventually came out that there was no or very little food in the house, electricity was on whenever they could afford to put money on the card reading device and the water was always shut off. Further, that Michael had literally been kicked out of his and his brother's bedroom so that drug users could inhabit it. They were sleeping on a carpetless floor.

It was a week or so after Michael showed up that he came one day with another kid. This kid turned out to be Anthony, his older brother, of which, I assume, Michael was telling him about the fact that - there's everything here. You know, things like water and electricity, on and on.

Now, it all sounds strange - but for me not really. I was a full-time missionary for 5 years and ministered in various capacities in a church for another 10 or so after that. Helping people has been infused into my blood. Seeing kids that aren't getting the things they need in life to - live - well, I didn't think too terribly long about it before just letting them stay.

Skipping over volumes of JS entries worth of stuff that has occured since those boys moved in with us and up until now. Anthony - I kicked out early in 2008. He was getting into drug use and was getting drunk - to the point of violence. The situation came to a head one day and I invited him off the property. I have not even considered him coming back - again - another long story. Michael, however, is the opposite of Anthony. He doesn't do drugs, doesn't want to do drugs and is basically a good kid. I had figured that sooner or later, his mother would put the pressure on him to move back. I figured right. He moved out - basically - 2 weeks ago. This week is the first that he actually hasn't been here at all. I miss the kid - yes, we have grown pretty close in that 4 plus years.

But - my expenses have gone down noticably. I was doing Michael's laundry, feeding him and he loves to take showers that drain out an entire 40 gallon hot water tank. He eats like a pig - literally. He is skinny as a bean pole but will sit there and eat, and eat and eat. Fortunately, he's not a picky eater and prefers "simpler" foods, read: cheap - but consuming that much of it still costs money. I have found this week that I have had to adjust the amount of cooking dramatically.

I was not, however, buying him clothing. Well, I wasn't buying him much clothing. He's into designer this and that, stuff that costs too much money. His mother apparently MUST have got on the free rent program, cause she is living in a place now and still has money to buy junk. I say junk because in their situation, one would think they would find better ways to spend their money. But, if you have read this blog on JS for any length of time, you know these people and you know what they do. For those that haven't been here - they are the most irresponsible, careless, reckless people I have EVER met.

It's amazing the amount of money it costs just to have a person in a house.

It's also interesting that with each financial blow, something seems to happen to help shore it up.
Unfortunately, winter won't last forever and those $350 plus per month electric bills will be coming back.

BTW, I did not ask Michael to leave, or even intone such. His mother basically told him he needed to come back. Purportedly, Michael will be coming over on weekends, don't know, remains to be seen. They moved into a place all of about 2 and a half miles from here, though their tenure at their new address remains to be seen.

Well, anyway, as I attempt to mitigate the "damages" with the loss of OT and now the proposed/demanded increase in mortgage of which I still have yet to be able to get through to anyone at this new mortgage "company", and other things - I MAY be able to survive this storm. Who knows? If I don't, plenty of apartments around for $700, $800 and more per month. Of course, they probably don't allow 4 dogs, 2 of them Great Danes...............no, I'll do everythingI can to save my place, stay in it and continue living the life I currently have. It may not be the greatest, but it's better than being homeless, dogless and a host of other things.

ben

Thursday

I didn't feel good this morning when I woke up and the alarm didn't go off for whatever reason, so I was 20 minutes late - but not out the door. I just skipped some of my morning routine and got out of here asap. Not that my boss would care - as long as I get 8 hours on the clock it's pretty much irrelevant unless there is an early delivery.

Which is tomorrow. The load MUST be there by 7:00 am. It's just one spool and the place is less than 40 minutes drive, no big deal.

Today I drove almost 300 miles - pretty good for a local delivery area.

Anyway, it's Thursday - almost over actually - one day closer to divisional finals weekend. And then conference, and then - the Superbowl! Who (if any of them) are you rootin' for?

I forgot about dealing with the mortgage company. Beginning this month, this newest company that has acquired my mortgage raised the monthly payment by almost $100. I can ill afford that. I tried to call yesterday - the wait was so long I just ended up hanging up. I'm going to askl them to renegotiate the loan to a lower percentage rate. If they aren't going to do that, then - I don't know. I don't know what they are raising the mortgage rate for to begin with. I mean, did they purchase yet another insurance company's policy that is more expensive? Cause if they did, I'll get another insurance company at a lower rate and they can go blow.

Whatever. Always something. Such as coming home and finding a pickup truck parked in MY parking spot. Big no-no at BenB Properties. The newer tenant saw me and went into the house and told the guy to move his truck. Lol. It was Mary's carpenter - he's in here finishing installing this door that I don't really care about at this point because Mary has decided that installing the door is more important than paying her rent.

Whatever again. I don't even want to go into that.
I have been waiting every day for my company to post this month's recipients of the safe driver award. I have not received any tickets in 2008 and didn't cause' any accidents - though I was rear-ended, totally not my fault. It's a paycheck award, take out 40% taxes (blahhhhh) and still some money leftover. It will undoubtedly all go to bills. I have yet to get motivated to go down to Fry's and apply for the job in person. Just don't have the feel for it - yet. Get the feel when my finances are so depleted, I don't have enough money to eat from.

I'm a bit tired and apparently cranky, so I'm going to end this one.
C'yall later!
ben

Wednesday (already?)/Claim to infamy

"At Dorrie's Fun Forum, a virtual watering hole for a number of journalspace users, annoyance over the outage (sample quote from "benb" on December 18: "Will JS ever get their act straight? How many times do we have to go through this before this kind of nonsense stops happening? My fear is what is happening to all of our journals right now -- what kind of carnage will we return to? Oh well. Nothing new under the sun.") through a remarkable amount of fretting within the community over various personality issues connected with the small firm. "

I actually went to the site and read it there. Then I found a bunch of sites on the internet that are reporting this JS disaster. Reaming is a good definer for I have found concerning the statements regarding the site's administrators.

I'm intrigued by this AOL auction and wondering who is going to end up buying it. Have to wonder with all the bad press whether anyone in their right mind should be paying ANYTHING for it. I guess perhaps whoever is bidding is considering a bunch of us might come back and actually PAY to use the service again.

Meanwhile, someone posted a blip about LiveJournal laying off workers. How many sites do I need to back up my journal, anyway? I have a CD burner in this computer - never used it. I wonder if I could just burn each entry into the same CD until that CD is full, or do you have to have a new CD every time you want to burn something? Surely someone knows the answer to that. If I can just burn an entry on their every time, that would be the easiest and safest thing I could possibly do.

Back to work - this week is really going by quickly for me. I spent most of the day today driving all over the AZ creation - in all directions, too. 2 more days and the weekend is upon us. I'm drooling over this weekend because of the NFL playoff games that are in-queue for both Saturday and Sunday. I'm a little nervous because I want the Steelers to win and move on - never any guarantees there.

Mary did not respond to my message to her - I demanded a reply by this morning - meaning I am going to print out a 5-day notice and attach it to her door today. If that doesn't get her to take action, I will continue on with the forcible detainer. Mainly, I just want the RENT! I'm sure that may be too much to ask for from a person making $22 per hour and getting OT every week. Yes, she has a 25% garnishment taken out of every check, still a chunk of change left over. She picks and chooses her priorities - time to give her a fresh priority that should top the list.

I haven't seen Michael all week - though I didn't expect to - kinda strange not having him around playing video games and such every night. Almost eery the quiet I can find in here at various times now.

Umm, well I'm out the door to take the dogs for a walk, a thing I have been neglecting of late because I have been sick. I haven't mentioned that I am still coughing from the sickness I acquired must have been well over a month ago. The thing is just hanging on, lingering. I didn't want to do much of any exercise until it passes, but these dogs are going stir crazy. It's literally messing with their heads the fact that I am not walking them - after taking them every or almost every day for at least a 2-mile adventure. So - just gonna do it. Take a slower pace so I don't get to breathing in this cold air too much - it just starts making me hack away.

Anyway, c'yall later and hope to find enough time to visit everyone's journals.
ben

Tuesday

This morning, I came out to the kitchen to find that Mary had left a rather long, hand-written, almost illegible letter back to that of which I put under her bedroom door last night.

I spent a good deal of time attempting to read the chicken scratch that's hers in hand-writing. I can't say I'm any better, which is why I type everything out and print it instead of trying to hand-write things.

The contents of the letter were nothing short of outrageous.

But, getting past the "emotional" element that she added for extra flavor, I replied today after getting home with yet another letter.
Mary said that I had only given her $100 off the rent for the last 3 months. In reality, I have given her fully $345 total for the past 3 months, and $645 for the 6 months she's lived here. Hard to believe she's been here that long.

I then addressed her attitude. She has started in on me on numerous occasions - of which I either just walked away or put the fire out, depending on the situation and how elevated her mood happened to be. In this particular letter, however, I left no stone unturned. Including the escapade with waking my son up at 4:30 in the morning and demanding he get out of bed and come out here to turn the phone on. I later learned that this "emergency" of hers in needing to make a phone call? Whoever she tried to call didn't answer. She put the phone down and then started in on my son. Ken, the newer tenant, was right there and not only backed up the story, but gave much greater detail.

I also commented on the unbelievable gall she had in approaching Ken the other day, literally getting in his face, and speaking in very loud tones: "The food you eat is going to give you a heart attack"! You would have had to been there. I further brought up quantifiable lies that I have caught her in and also the situation with Justine, the person who used to live here before being ousted by means of an Order of Protection. I told her simply that I did not believe Justine's story OR her's (Mary's) and that if the truth laid itself out on my kitchen table, a very different picture would be painted, and that picture undoubtedly would include Mary doing MUCH more in this event that took place than what she's admitting to.

She also blamed me for her receiving a ticket - that of driving a vehicle with expired plates. This is when she wanted to start using my car. I only demanded that she get insurance. I told her the plates were expired and that she would be driving it at her own risk in terms of getting pulled over by police. I also told her my experience was that since it was only a month past-due, the police probably wouldn't give her a ticket. I said PROBABLY - AND - encouraged her to get the car registered before driving it. My letter today included those facts and that I certainly am not going to take responsibility or culpability for her taking a risk.

She then stated in this letter of hers that her license had been suspended. Folks, nobody gets their driver's license suspended for expired plates unless there is MUCH more to the story that I/we don't know about. Period. Somehow, I am also culpable for the fine for that, as well.

I addressed that and then left her with the final paragraph. Stated that her actions, including verbal abuse against every person in the house, would have to stop, and stop immediately, or her presence would no longer be welcomed. I also addressed the fact that she did not, in any portion of her reply, address the demand for rent. I have not given her the 5-day notice. Well, I take it back, she did address that she had spent money on the door for her new bedroom and that it would be helping me out, yada yada yada. My reply was that I wanted the rent and could not care one iota about a door being put in, rent is more important.

So, tonight, she comes in and says not a word. She left a few minutes ago. Dunno what she's doing, where she's going, but I am supposing that I will end up posting the 5-day notice tomorrow. I was going to do it today, but I put it off this morning in order to read this letter of hers.

Well, onto other things. Not much else going on, thank God. Work went okay today - some things to do in terms of deliveries, nothing great though. Tomorrow morning I will be driving to Florence to make a small delivery and then over to Casa Grande to pick up some pipe to deliver to a college in Coolidge. These are all small towns - well I assume Casa Grande considers itself a small city - in the southern portions of AZ. South of Phoenix, anyway. Well, Florence is more southeast of Phoenix, Casa Grande is almost due south. The rural driving is nice, I like that.

I'm waiting on word as to when whoever is going to get moved out of our branch. I have no idea when the decision is coming down. Could be tomorrow, could be a month, might never happen at all. Who knows?

Anyway, I'm off to get some things done around here. Hmmm, gotta visit Dorrie's forum and see what juice is getting spilt over there.....
kinda starting, just a little, to get the feeling of the community we once had just because so many of us are making real efforts to find each other and visit each other's blogs. That's a good thing, and if we keep that community spirit together, that is, in the end, worth more to me than all of those words I lost - though I definitely will be "lamenting" that loss for a while.
Good evening, folks, have a great night!
ben