That Didn't Take Very Long

My search for the relevant documents - most notably the signed lease agreement with $400.00 per month on it and the agreement further stating it is a "month-to-month" agreement - did not take long.

I had forgotten that I have been keeping that stuff in my car. Kind of a secure place to keep it, but - probably better off keeping it in my locked master bedroom closet.

I have all of these handwritten notes from her and the only thing left to do is print out the forcible detainer actions she has been forced through by rental companies - where she lost and has huge judgments against her - and all of the email exchanges between us. A quick review of all of it and I will be ready for court.

She can bring up all the nonsense she wants - she signed a legal document stating that she agrees to pay $400.00 per month, not $200 or $250 as she so assertively claims. There is no way she is confused on this issue - I have stated this over and over and over from the beginning that IF she wanted to work, I would only be able to give her a $100 per month credit on the rent, as that's the least I can afford along with another full-paying tenant to be able to stay afloat.

Anyway, I was glad to find all of that stuff, intact, and yes - it will be locked away shortly as now that I have found it, I'm not going to go over any of it until tomorrow sometime. I don't really need to review it today. All of this stuff is in my head, anyway, I just have to be able to find where she makes certain states in writing if the judge wants to see it.

Plants.
I don't really want to devote my entire blog to tenancy issues, so I'm parting with that subject on this entry, anyway.
I do have a semi-green thumb. Sort of. It's just that I got all of those plants at auction and I knew nothing about them. Do they like shade? How much water do they want/need? It's taken me a while, but I have learned the needs of each particular plant that I have, and most notably those "barren" sticks with leaves on them that looked quite - bad to me. I gave about 10 or more of those particular plants away, but I did end up planting some of them.

Amazingly - to me anyway - the ones that I planted in full sunlight started putting all kinds of absolutely beautiful flowers of all different shades of colors on one single plant. I planted 4 of them in a row and they are doing just magnificently.

But - I couldn't figure out whether these plants wanted a lot of water or a little. I tried both and didn't see much results. I decided to basically drown them in water just about every day or every other day - and they loved it! That's when they started blooming in full force.

They don't like shade, I have found - the ones I planted that is mostly shaded are not blooming. They aren't dying, but - it's obvious they like full sunlight. I still have at least 5 of those particular plants - whatever they are called as I have no clue - in planters and am trying to decide where to put them. I would like to put them on the west side of the house up against the wall, but I'm afraid the dogs will just piss them to literal death. I really don't want to put up more fencing, but I had thoughts that maybe I could just circle each plant with some fencing and see if that will do the trick. That wall gets full sunlight for at least 1/2 of the day. The area where theey are really thriving get full sunlight almost all day long.

The honeysuckles that were trampled by Not-So-Great-Danes are making a REMARKABLE comeback. I truly thought they were just going to stay barren sticks, but the watering paid off. They now have large leaves and several new branches shooting out. Hooray for them! Eventually - of course keeping that the dogs don't get back there again - they will grow back into full plants, and really, at the amazingly fast rate of growth they are producing, I don't think it long - a couple of months maybe and they will at least be full plants even if they aren't that big yet.

Really, all of the plants are doing extremely well. Which is a big sigh of relief for me. They don't really need as much watering as when I first planted them, either. Which is nice because it equates to a lower water bill, though I suspect in the hot summer I will basically have to be watering them everyday to keep them healthy and growing well. I think the root stimulant I gave all of them must have helped as well.

I'm kinda checking email periodically to see if there are any bites on my room rental ad. Nothing - yet. My guess is that tomorrow I will get some hits - Sunday is a day where people seem to tend to start looking at stuff like that if they are in need of such.

An interesting development in the main bathroom - I put rolls of toilet paper in there here and there, but I expect the tenants to pitch in and buy some as well. So - I haven't put any in there in a while now. I went in there today to find nothing - no a single sheet of toilet paper in there.

Which makes me wonder how - anyone is cleaning themselves. The thought is enough to make me want to go up to the store in a while and buy some paper, even if I don't necessarily feel that I should have to keep it completely stocked all of the time. The boys use that bathroom here and there - though I tell them to use mine so there is no animosity in terms of cleanliness of the bathroom and also the TP issue. But - the newer tenant simply doesn't have a lot of money and so I don't really mind at this point just keeping it well stocked, for a while anyway. He eats very poorly which is also why I have decided for the time being to help him out with food whenever I have extra and - not really say anything about his visits to my food pantry and my refrigerator, as long as it does not get excessive. I get along with the guy quite well, so I'm just going to leave it alone for a while.

Maybe he'll get a raise or something and possibly a little more income will come his way. Who knows, apparently the taxi business is quite alive and thriving, even in this wicked economic atmosphere that is present. The Cardinals game that was in town for the conference championship brought a LOT of business to that particular industry, as well as a lot of other industries including hotels and restaurants. We also have "world-class" golf resorts that people come here in the winter to play golf and get away from bitterly cold temps. That's probably more retired folks that have money regardless of the economic situation.

Anyway, I think I will take that trip up to Fry's and get some TP and other items I need for the house.

Have a great Saturday!
ben

Well, I got involved in watching a movie online last night and stayed up WAY too late. This online movie business may be addictive, will have to watch myself here.

It was also a very nice, quiet morning until the next store neighbor started messing with his Harley Davidson - a bit annoying.

Oh, and I am dog-sitting again - this weekend for this dog and then I think it's about a week and a half from now I'll be watching Roscoe the German Shepherd for about 10 days if I recall the email correctly. Not a lot of money - I'll take whatever I can get at this point. I haven't run the dog-sitting ad in months - I sorta decided I really didn't want to do it because of the potential liability if the dog is hurt or if my dogs inflict pain/wounds on someone else's dogs. Be that as it may, I am still sitting the dogs that I have already had here before - these people keep calling me and they keep bringing them over, and even if it's not that much money, it's certainly hard to turn anything down right now considering my circumstances. Half tempted to run the ad again. Only half. One thing I have going now that I didn't before is the option of separating the dogs if I have to. My yard is now divided by a chain link fence and the dogs cannot get to the other side.

So, it is a possibility in just putting a dog that I am sitting outside on the east side of the house and keeping it over there while I'm at work. During the winter and spring, anyway, couldn't do that in the summer. Too hot - there is shade but I just wouldn't do that to a dog.

Yes, this is a rather rambling post admittedly as I have a lot of junk going through my head right now, especially this situation with Mary. I am having trouble finding what I did with the rental agreement. Rest assured I will go through every single piece of paper in the house to find it, but I'm 99% sure it's in my master bedroom closet. I started going through it last night and will attack that situation again today. That rental agreement she signed says $400.00 per month and nothing about working for reduced rent. Now, don't take me wrong on that. I'm not claiming she hasn't done any work - I have freely admitted that but also have included that she has received quite a lot off of rent monies she's paid.

Mary sent me her version of what she has paid me since she moved in here. A cacophony of lies, she has her having had paid $800 during the 2-month period where she paid NOTHING and I actually went and filed forcible detainer action against her THAT time. I'll be bringing a copy of that paperwork for the judge to see.

Basically, what I'm understand Mary is saying, is that she feels she should just get the entire month of January for free. Lol. Her claims are numerous, the biggest is that she put up that door and it's worth $500.00 and therefore she shouldn't have to pay anything. Oh, Mary DID hand me the key last night! I was amazed at that little action - and it's on video surveillance cause I was sitting here when she handed it to me. She actually tried to duck down and make herself not seen on it, but - quite sure it's on there.

Anyway, the whole thing is actually starting to become entertaining because she says one thing, and then comes along and says another thing - totally contradicting herself. I have it all in writing, to - both her email and her hand-written statements.

Whatever. I'm going to start getting all that paperwork together in a little while - I'm just sitting here drinking my coffee - and thankfully, the motorcycle noise has stopped. Meanwhile, I wrote up another ad and posted it to Craigslist. No replies yet - but sometimes it has to sit there for a couple of days before any series responses come flowing in. Getting close to the end of the month, so there are going to be people out there looking for a new place to live. Yes, I have to consider another tenant in here immediately. I'm actually - sort of - okay on finances - sort of. There are a couple of bills that are lurking that need paid and I won't be able to do anything about it until I either get money from Mary - which I haven't really been asking for anyway - or 2 paydays from now. Yikes!!!

Ummmmm - nothing I can do about it but hope that what I have will carry me through. One of those situations where I will dump a lot of money onto the card reader to make sure there is power for the next 3 weeks, fill up the gas tank in the car (already done), buy enough food to last that time period and then whatever else happens? Deal with it.

So I just went and inspected Mary's "old" room. She cleaned the carpet and it smells good in there, but the walls are going to have to be repainted. Fortunately I have plenty of paint to be able to do that without having to spend a single dime on it.

A couple of days ago - totally changing subjects again, told you this was a rambling post - I was driving the truck up in North Phoenix near some mountains. I was driving through a wash - it's paved road but it obviously turns into a small river when it rains - when I see a coyote dart out from some bushes in the wash, grab what must have been a freshly killed bird off of the road itself, and then trot off back into the bushes! There were at least 3 of them standing there - with all the traffic coming by, acting as if we, the traffic, were nothing! That was a rather amazing sight.

I'm done. I want to go outside and look at my plants before I start the task of finding all that paperwork, reading through all of it and putting it together in some semblance of order.

C'yall later.
ben

Friday/More

Just got back from a long hike in the mountains with the dogs. There's always people up in there - miles and miles of trails - run into hikers and mountain bikes. They all just stop what they're doing when those Danes come trotting by. Those dogs were huffing and puffing hard going up and down those steep hills - it was a good workout today as I ventured further in and forced them up and down more steep hills. My goal: get the energy totally out and have them knocked out for the evening.

The Mary Report:
Just a series of emails, a lot of trash talking from her. As she progresses with her make-believe, the story gets more and more rife. The whole thing at this point is a fabricated, out-right lie. Seriously. I wrote her back and asked her to calm down, get out of the emotional state of being, sit back and take a rational look at this situation.

She wrote back and said she couldn't deal with my email anymore and that she would delete every one I sent and not to write her anymore. THEN, she writes me AGAIN - does this sound like the doings of a rational person? - more jive. She tells me the room is empty, cleaned out and the door is unlocked.

I write back: Not good enough. I need for you to actually give me the key to the room. That signals that you are giving up ownership of it. I'm not going to get into court and have some technicality thrown at me that yes, she emptied the room, but no, she didn't give me the key, therefore, she didn't lawfully give up the room. It says it in state law - that's what she must do. If she doesn't, I ain't bitin'. I did write up another Craigslist ad, though, in case she does hand me the key, I could use some rent money, even though I totally do not want 3 tenants in here.

Plus the fact it might not be such a good idea to try to get anyone else in here before I get her out. Still.....

I've been informed by Michael that a certain relative of his that owes me $300.00 from 14 months ago is going to pay me back when they get their tax refund.

I had totally blown it off. In fact, I had totally blown off the entire family sans Michael and getting anything back. This is not, BTW, the monies owed me to replace the broken - still broken - windows. That is Anthony's deal - though parents are held responsible. I could go after the mother - she has been working for quite a while now, no small miracle in itself - but I am not at this point. That judgment apparently sticks with Anthony all the way up until he's 18, and then you apparently have to file something to keep that judgment on him afterwards.

Oh, and though I don't know this for a fact, it's QUITE obvious they are now living on free rent subsidies. There is NO WAY they could be paying for that townhouse AND buying all the junk they buy on her income alone. Which is one reason I have given thought to going after that $600 plus or minus to get those windows replaced. If you are new here, well it's too much of a story, but I have 3 broken windows thanks to Michael's older brother. The kid went to jail, went to court, agreement to pay was made. I have not had the windows fixed because they are double-paned windows and only the out panes are broken. If both panes were broken on any or all of them? I dunno - I would have figured out something. THAT might be a situation where I could sell the old car to get them fixed, or even try a trade.

Right now, I'm just trying to stay afloat, those windows are FAR down the list of priorities. Like, at or near last place. Ken just paid me today his bi-monthly rent. That's $200 and $150 in the bank. I get paid next week - all of it goes to the mortgage. I have $350 to last 3 weeks unless I either am able to rent out the now vacated room - providing Mary legally gives it up - or she actually pays me the rent. We'll be going to 2 months behind in rent shortly. It's the 23rd - the end of the month draweth nigh.

I'm saying that $350 is not a lot of money to last that much time. I have resisted applying for a second job after I finally just gave up on the idea. Fry's still looms in my mind as a very-real possibility. I just don't savor the idea of working 2 jobs again - I hated it last time I did it, I hated the time before, I doubt I'll like it this time around. IF I can even GET a second, part-time job. What chaos it is out there - 2 million people were dumped last year, more every month. Giant labor cuts are announced daily or at least a couple of times per week. The gurus of finances are finally admitting this year is probably going to be FAR worse in terms of the housing chaos than last year.

I'm cutting back on lots of things that can be cut back on. Unfortunately for the doggies, I have cut out the Iams. The store I was buying it at raised their price - out of my range. I am now buying 50 pound bags at $16.00 per bag and then supplementing it with scrap meat that I have after cooking. Just want to make sure they are getting sufficient protein in their diet. Scrap meat - equals the junk you don't want to eat that dogs eat with gusto. They don't CARE what part of the meat it is, they'll consume it hungrily. They don't get the bones, though. Well, if it's LARGE bones they get those, but chickens don't have large bones. Plus, those kind of bones splinter easily and can do damage to the innards of the dog - stomach lining and intestines.

God knows that dog eats. I just fed them - Duke is a giant PIG. He eats and eats and eats. It's amazing he isn't fat as a whale.

Ummmm, anyway. I'll just sit here and mull these series of problems that are facing me and go and enjoy everyone else's entries.
G'nite.
ben

Friday

I'm at work taking my break.
I just had to add to this Mary drama that she spent all last night (remember, she's an insomniac on top of everything else) moving all of her stuff out of one bedroom and into "her" family room bedroom. It does nothing for me until she hands me the key to that room. That's the law - I can't take possession of it until she either voluntarily hands over the key or she is forcibly removed by constables.

So, it's useless to me at this point. Now, if she leaves the door open and it's obviously vacated, I can post an abandonment note on that door and after however many days - I think 5 - I can retake possession legally. I know, it's all BS, but I am not going to do this stuff any way but the legal way.

What I would like to do is get the room rented out while I'm waiting to get her evicted. I need the money. I've got more bills on hold while this stuff is going on. Plus I'm going to need another $104 for the Writ of Restitution if I have to go that far with it. Ken - the other tenant - can't wait until she's GONE.

Anyway, I gotta get offa here.
C'yall later!
ben

Thursday

So, I got to work early this morning. I keep doing that - not on purpose, I just haven't changed the alarm back.
The situation was that Prince's tail needed tending to every single morning as it had open wounds in a couple of places. I had to get up early for weeks, take the old dressing off, clean the wounds, and then put fresh dressing back on it. It was time consuming so I started getting up earlier.

Well, I don't clock in right away. I sit down and persue the internet, mostly, besides making a fresh pot of coffee. This morning, it dawned on me that I have never done a Justice Court background check on Mary. I was curious to see if there was anything in there.

I was astounded to find numerous Forcible Detainers had been entered against her, and that there was at least half a dozen monetary judgements against her totalling over $10,000.00. Yes, that's ten thousand dollars - more than that. Quite a large number of tickets as well. Several Orders of Protection she had acquired against whoever those poor souls were. I never checked her when she came in here - I don't think I did anyway - because she had and has a great paying job and the rent really isn't that much.

I'll never take anything as appearances again. I didn't do that with the newer tenant - but he has no credit history and he doesn't want one. He has stated he doesn't even want to own his own home. Well, whatever, one would think he might want to at least have his own apartment eventually. But that's neither here nor there. I really was amazed at the amounts of some of the judgments, one of them almost 4k.

Okay, well, I'll be printing all of that out for the judge to see if it comes to that.

The other thing that happened today? Well, I noticed my kitchen camera was pointing way off. There is no way that anything like that can happen accidentally. So much so, I immediately accessed the files for my video surveillance.

What did I find? Mary - came out JUST after I left for work this morning, walked straight up to the camera, unplugged the power supply by pulling on the cord which caused the camera to aim upwards.

It was very dark in here - she had turned out the lights and apparently thought that since it is dark, the camera can't make anything out. Au Contrairie, monsieurre (speeeeeling). The cameras have these little red "lights" that shoot out all around the circumference of the camera. You can't see that there is light coming out from it, but it's MORE than ample enough light to clearly make out her face.

She then hooked the power supply back up much later on, leaving the camera angled up towards the ceiling so you can't see who reconnected it.

I have already left her a notice to NEVER touch my surveillance equipment again. And why would she do that? She's taking my coffee and helping herself. How do I know this? Because I have her on previous surveillance making coffee.

Uhhh, well, whatever. Her threats yesterday in email sealed her fate with me. I will not tolerate a person living in my house talking to me in that manner. Icing on the cake was finding the numerous Forcible Detainers (evictions) and her tampering with my surveillance equipment.

Whatever. Tuesday ain't far off.

Oh, here we go - she just sent me another email - I'm a liar, evil and all kinds of other crap.

STICKS

To get my mind off of that subject - which I have all but mastered the art of simply tuning things out and switching gears as effortlessly as I shift gears in the semi - I went out and inspected the plants. Last night, we got a good, soaking rain. The ground is nicely saturated.

The sticks I am referring to are what was left of the honeysuckles after the Danes trampled them to death. AMAZING how something that looked totally dead has put out all KINDS of leaves and branches on just stubs/stick sticking out of the ground.

I love it. I just love watching things grow. Even more watching something come back from the dead. 3 plants like that - coming back and geeze, at the rate they're growing, maybe it won't be that long before the start looking like full plants again! Yowsa!

And, yayyyy, tomorrow is Friday already! No football this weekend - which gives me a chance to get out there and do some weeding. I would do some other things as well, but money is very tight right now. I have money - but I have to make it stretch. Only bills, gasoline, electricity and food are on-tap. I think I'm going to blow off the roller blades - it's a great deal and I saw the pic of them - but I simply don't have the leeway right now, even at 30 bucks.

Oh, and my dad is writing back and forth to his brothers and such about a reunion at his place in March. I will be there. At least, I will be there for a day. I don't want to impose upon my dad to pay for a hotel room - unless I have some funds by then by some miracle, I just won't be able to do a hotel room. Well, maybe one night - hopefully.

That's it for now.

Have a great evening.
ben

Wednesday

Note: I wrote this entry yesterday, but posted another entry instead on here, and this one on my other blog. I have even more stuff on Mary that is priceless - will be working on that entry after posting this one.

Another busy day. All the way up until time to leave. I like work like that.

Now, onto the juicy stuff. Not really much. I called the process server this morning because they didn’t come last night - before I went to bed anyway. Which was 9:00 pm. He told me she had been served. But not directly. He came to the gate, said there was a lock on it and though he could have undone the lock (I left the lock on but not locked) - that apparently wouldn’t be legal, or “peaceable” so he folded up the complaint and set it in the gate itself.

Now, somebody got it. It wasn’t there when I went to bed last night - I checked the gate in case that was what they were going to do. Plus, I left the lock unlocked on purpose. This morning, the lock was locked and there was definitely no papers laying around anywhere, so either Ken or Mary took them. Since Ken already knows what I’m doing, if he saw them there, he wouldn’t have taken them. They aren’t laying on the counter. Therefore, I assume Mary got the papers.

Regardless, they are sending her a letter which probably will get here tomorrow - a certified letter.

There isn’t anything juicy because I haven’t seen Mary since this occured. I really don’t believe she thought I would file the papers because she knows my financial situation. It costs money to do all of this. She knows I have limited finances. I believe she figured I just couldn’t afford to do it. Oh, Contraire, my zeppelooondon. Lol. I couldn’t write in French anymore than I can write in Chinese.

The point? I can’t afford NOT to! So, she probably will be coming back later on - we’ll see what plays out. My guess: nothing. She’ll say nothing and I’m definitely not talking to her unless she has past-due rent money plus late charges plus court fees plus the server cost. Where will I get the other $104 to get the Writ of Restitution if I get a judgment against her? Dunno, but you can’t even apply for it until 5 days have passed from the day of the judgement. The 6th day, you can file. That would be, assuming I win in court. That’s 12 days from now. Hmph. It will be close to mid February before she’s forced out of here.

Look, I’m bracing for the worse-case scenario: she shows up to court with a lawyer. I’m getting all of her handwritten statements about how she knows she owes me the money - yada yada yada - to prove my stance and point. I have enough statements from her - written by her own hand - to prove that she owes me the money. I have pics of the door of the room she has taken over, but I am giving her a 2 day notice and am going into both rooms to take pics of the fact that she is occupying fully 2 rooms in my house. I don’t CARE if she likes it or not. I have the legal right to inspect any tenant’s room if I give the required notices - I will put a notice on each door.

BTW, if anyone has any thoughts that jump to mind like a light-bulb going on - please feel free to share.

Right now, I just finished a post about the other tenant and posted it on Blogspot. Gonna give that post a while - like maybe til’ tomorrow - to get some views and potential responses.

Right now? I’m done with the Mary report because I don’t want - NEWS ALERT - I just remembered that a little while ago, I was in my email and saw one from Mary. It was excoriating, riddled with more lies than blades of grass in a lawn, full of threats. I wrote her back and said “see you in court”.

I decided that, if she presents these emails in court, I would write up another reply. This one basically stated that I do not want her living here anymore, if she just hands over the keys to the place I will forgive the debt, she can go her merry way. I even offered her up to a month to get her things out of here - providing she moves all of it to one room. I then spoke that going to court is a pain, that we could part ways amenably.

I’m going to say right now that if, somehow, I lose in court, I will be giving her the 30-day notice to move out. I don’t need a reason - it says so right in the AZ statutes. You can get rid of a person by simply giving them enough time to find a new place. It has to be a full month, and has to be so that the person has 30 full days before the beginning of the next month. If not, then you give the 30 day notice and they have until the beginning of the next month beyond that.

I’ve had enough. I’m still ignoring the news as the stuff on Obama and locally the Cardinals is more than I am willing to bear.

Have a great evening!

ben

Wednesday/What Would YOU Do?

I was busily writing up my daily entry when I got sidetracked by an email that Mary sent to me. Putting that entry and the situation with Mary aside, I have yet another thing going on in my home.
Lol.
I've been checking my video surveillance - particularly the one in here, for any sign that Mary might be trying to access my computer. It takes a while to go through that much footage, I don't relish the chore.
Well, an interesting scenario is being played out on a daily basis, really, with the newer tenant.

The guy is helping himself to my food.
Nothing extravagant - a $1.00 can of chili I bought when it was on sale here, a LOT of bread there. I see him going through my refrigerator - don't know what he's looking for. He'll get out my tub of margarine, make numerous slices of toast. He'll look up at the camera - guess he's wondering if I'm going to catch him or if the thing is really on.
He goes into my cupboard with the coffee and helps himself to a pot of coffee as well.

I had noticed that it seemed food was disappearing. A normal event when Michael or/and Caleb are around, but certainly shouldn't be happening when neither of the 2 are here.

Now, to put it into perspective, we're talking $1.00 loaves of bread, $1.00 cans of chili, cheap stuff.

Then I saw him doing laundry. Video surveillance saw, that is. He grabs MY laundry detergent and helps himself! I buy the cheap stuff - but - I don't need to buy detergent very often as I only do laundry once a week. Sometimes 4 loads, sometimes more, but a bottle of detergent can last up to 2 months, if not more.

Not now. That was what was starting to get me wondering - I simply don't use that much of the stuff and though I buy the cheaper stuff, it's still not "cheap".

What else is he doing? I dunno. He came out of a homeless shelter when he moved in here, I have learned. He came back from Florida and was starting his life over. He knows a "higher-up" at the cab company he works for and that person got him a job right away. As soon as he got his first paycheck, he started looking for rooms to get out of that place. He moved in with another person - but it was too far away and started looking again. He's all of 3 miles from work now.

Examining his spending habits.
He takes a taxi to and from work every day. He gets a discount, yes, but it's still very expensive for someone who really isn't making a great deal of money. That particular habit - if lost - would save him a lot of money.

He's been buying things for his room. Nothing major or grand.

He pays the full rent, on time, every time. No questions or guffaws, he always pays his rent.

He doesn't really appear to do much beyond going to work and coming home.

I started getting very irritated watching him going through my cupboards and taking things, but I got out of my skin for a moment and decided to take a view from the biblical perspective. He's got $50 to go on his security deposit. His next paycheck he intends on paying it off. After that, he'll have another $50 per paycheck - every 2 weeks - to work with. Not alot - but if one spends it on food, perhaps one can not take things that aren't ones to take.

Anyways, the Bible says if any man asks of you.....give. Problem here is, he didn't ask and isn't telling me he's taken anything. I know from much personal experience and watching a lot of others going through the same thing that the lack of money even for eating purposes takes it's toll on a person. No food equals hunger equals desperation.

I've decided that it isn't really bothering me that bad - mostly because I have severe issues with Mary that take priority right now and more because he pays his rent on time. The logical mind will say that paying rent does not equal taking one's things.
True.
Mercy may say something different.
I have an idea what some people will say about this - but I would love to hear your take on this situation. I have not spoken a word to him about this yet.

What would you do? Why?

Back to finishing the Mary post.
ben

More

I was only going to take the dogs for a 20 minute walk and that would be it. Somehow, we got to traipsing through the mountains and 20 minutes turned into 40 minutes. When I left, I told Michael if the process server shows up - let him/her right on in!

Anyway, the mountains offer a great workout in less time. Up and down, up and down. The last hill we climbed was very steep and Duke was breathing very heavily. I decided that was the last hill. I've heard about large dogs even having heart failure in a situation where you work them out too hard, especially if they're not really in shape. Duke is not in great cardio shape. He's not fat - none of my dogs are fat - but I haven't really worked them too hard. I'm forcing myself to get them out there and walking them. They get too ancy, too much energy and they just drive me crazy with it all pent up and no release.

It was just funny how much time elapsed - I had thought that I had only been out 15 or 20 minutes at most - it was a little bit of a surprise that it had been 40 minutes. If I wasn't expecting this process server, it would have been a longer walk, albeit not so many steep hills.

Anyway, when the process server shows up - and it's delivered - and I see what's going to actually happen - with tape recorder in hand (video surveillance is on 24 hours now, recording, and has been for awhile) - I'm going to edit this post and add whatever happens. If nothing, then the edit will be very short : ) Right now, Mary is home - dunno how long she's going to be here, but the company said it makes no difference to them. They show up, serve the house, mail her certified - done.

And so am I!
Have a great evening! If you watched the inauguration - lemme know if anything - happened. I'm ignoring TV right now because I'm tired of all the hype.

ben

Tuesday

Quite a lot of running around today. Florence; Valley Farms (don't ask me, a smalllll little town that makes you think you just drove back into the 50's when you drive into it); Coolidge; Scottsdale; Phoenix, everywhere. The fact that I got all of that done and back to the yard only 10 minutes after my normal sign-out time was a feat in itself.

It's all good for me - gets the work day done and behind me.

I then drove straight to the Justice Courts building in downtown Phoenix and filed for Forcible Detainer. After that, I called the process server - who wanted me to fax the stuff to him - so I did. Been waiting a while for him to call me back. 5:00pm comes and I'm calling them back - won't wait forever, the phone book is full of process servers and many of them are charging the same price. Some of them are charging FAR more than the rest - stay away from them.

I did leave Mary a "Friendly Notice" yesterday afternoon in her work email. She never replied to that. I'm guessing she must have an attorney friemd - she has friends for everything else - and she must think she has found a glitch.

Admittedly, I am not an attorney and don't know everything, don't claim to. I do know that she illegally took possession of 2 rooms, and has admitted to such in her own handwriting. Besides the fact that she owes me rent for this month. I wrote the fact that she is occupying 2 rooms without the landlord's permission on the complaint. I also am asking for double rent since she is occupying two rooms - again - without the landlord's consent.

We'll see where this goes. I wouldn't surprise me in the least if she showed up to court with an attorney - I will have every email she has sent me, every hand written admission she has left for me and whatever else I have available at my fingertips for the court date, which is a week from today. By state law, they are required to give a court date within 7 days.

Anyway, that's my excitement for today, though I was hoping to get her served today as well. They merely have to post it on her bedroom door if it's done within 24 hours of initiating the Forcible Detainer. Otherwise, they have to deliver it to her in person. If she tries to hide, I will give them her work address - the building she is working in as well.

There is a president being sworn in today - I won't be watching it. I have no interest whatsoever in this president. This man has been lauded for everything he's already done - which is nothing, he isn't the president yet. It's crazy to me the amount of media junk that has all but pronounced him the cure for the entire world's woes. The economy is going to work itself out eventually - the government meddling in it and dumping billions and even over a trillion dollars is only going to put you and I into more liability for government debt.

The other thing that is beginning to annoy me is the daily barrage of junk being thrust at us locally about the Cardinals.

Skipping that thought as a lot of time has passed. First, someone called about the roller-blades they want to sell me - I had written them telling them that I would be in their area and if they were home, I could stop by and pick them up, here's my phone number. They didn't get the email until this evening. Hopefully go out there this weekend and get them - I want to use them to exercise the dogs - they can run down the street instead of the walking I am doing - a much more effective workout for them, will release more energy.

Then, the process server called back. It's a done deal, she'll be served tonight. If she doesn't answer the door, they are going to "serve the house" and then send her a certified letter. They are the pros, I am assuming they are doing what is lawfully correct for this situation. I will be here - excepting the next 30 or so minutes as I take the dogs for a walk - a quickie just to get them exercised and get back hopefully in time for these people to show up. I don't think it's going to be right away, but who knows.

With that, I'm out the door.
ben

Monday

Martin Luther King day.
Meaning - courts are closed. I was all prepared to rush out to the court and then this morning realized - after seeing rather empty streets - it's a holiday.
Gives Mary an extra day - today - to pay up the rent, which I fully expect she won't be doing at this point.

I'm also going to find some information - if there is any - about a tenant taking over a second room and what kind of reprisals there may be. Wondering - mainly - if I can simply call the police if there's legal dictate/precedent for it. Probably not - well, really I don't know. I NEVER agreed that she could occupy both rooms.

I really wanted to get this legal stuff started today - nothing I can do but wait until tomorrow.

An interesting bit of information I found out about some of the Eagle's players yesterday. Ken - the guy that is renting a room here - is a dispatcher at a taxi company. He said they dispatched at cab at like 3:00am the morning of the day of the Eagle's v Cardinals game to take some of the players home from a bar. Don't know how a player that is hung-over can possibly be at his peak in that kind of circumstances. Could be they were second or third string and really didn't expect to play, anyway.

It's actually warm here today. 82 degrees. Not REALLY warm by AZ standards, but it's much warmer than it has been. It's way too early for it to start heating up dramatically - not worried about that.

I'm a bit tired as I woke up last night and took awhile to get back to sleep. Think I'm gonna take a short nap.

C'ya later!
ben

STEELERS WON!!

It's a Steelers V Cardinals Superbowl!!!!
Woohooooo!
Will the town I grew up in win, or will the town I'm living in win?
I'll take the former!!

But I was sorry to see a Ravens player going out with what appeared to be a serious - potential head injury.

Our Hines Ward was also injured, a key player. Hope he's good for the Bowl game.

Yeah - that's my team!

Is It Going To Be A BirdBowl?

I hate to say it, but is there going to be 2 Birds at the Superbowl? The Birdbowl!
The game is about to start: Steelers v Ravens.
dunno.
I'm nervous.

Plants

well, I'm sitting here watching the Cardinals game - but I was just outside inspecting my plants.
What has it been, 3 weeks now that I finally got a fence up out back that actually keep the Danes out of the "dog free zone"? Think so. That's because they continued to destroy the plants in the area where they were going at it with the dgo next door.

I was getting - pissed - to be honest. I got that chain link fence and all that came with it for $25. Put it up temporarily - I didn't get the big end posts that you need to really make it a permanent setup - but I did set some top rail into the ground just like end posts and made it very secure.

So, the 3 honeysuckles that those dogs literally destroyed? Actually putting out new leaves!

You have to realize that one of those plants was trampled all the way down to a few sticks sticking out of the ground. The other 2 the same way but with a little more "stickage" left. NO greenery whatsoever. I was going to dig them out of the ground and chuck them, but I decided to keep watering them and see if they would put out any new shoots. ALL of them are doing so!! Now, it might be next to forever before they ever look really good again, but I ain't chucking a living plant. Not when they're showing signs of coming back to life. I had NO idea whether they would be able to put out new leaves or not after being shucked to nothing in terms of the leaves.

I was sitting here looking for process servers a while ago when Mary and my next door neighbor came in. I didn't try to hide what I was doing. They went in the back and came back out carrying a chair. They tried to go out the sliding glass door right next to me, but the doggy door is taking up a lot of space in that door. Enough room to walk in and out, but not much room for carrying things through it. They were standing RIGHT behind me, attempting to do this, and I had a screen up with PROCESS SERVER in huge letters. I could feel the eyes on me and the screen.

Really, I wasn't doing it for her to see, I didn't think one way or the other about whether she would see what I'm doing or not. I have every intention of going down to the courthouse tomorrow and starting the procedure. I am also getting my digital camera out and taking pics and maybe even a video of the door that was installed. She claims that if she leaves, she's going to take it down. QUITE illegal. Once it was constructed, it's my property. I'm not saying I didn't give her permission to put it up, but I most definitely did NOT give her permission to take it down. That's MY call, not hers.

I'm sitting here trying to get my floors to shine. I had no idea that the floor stuff I was using is not floor wax at all. Read the directions, dummy. Well, I did what the instructions say and it still ain't shining. No more of this stuff, I'll have to spend the couple extra bucks to get actual floor wax.

Umm, Cardinals are taking this game away to the heavens. 20-6. Eagles are having a hard time stopping Fitzgerald. In fact, they aren't stopping him at all.

Thinking about going back up to the store and get actual floor wax.
Hmmmm - well if not, at least the floors are clean!
ben

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