Loan Mod Scams/PLEASE VOTE FOR DUKE!!!!

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Umm, back to the regularly scheduled programming.

My boss and I have been searching out this loan modification stuff for awhile now. I have come up with some pretty interesting information after finding the material I was looking for - not that I KNEW what I was looking for, but when I found it, wow!

If you go to the government’s website on the agenda of “Keeping Homes Affordable”, the program that was initiated by Obama and now is allowing for 125% of your home’s value to qualify, you will find some very interesting stuff there, especially if you’re a person about to lose your home to foreclosure.

But before I go into that, I will preface this: I applied online with a company that sends your info out to “Loan Mod Specialists”. Those companies call you and start giving their line (of BS, I might add). I have listened to well over a dozen of them at this point. They ALL tell you they are accredited with the Better Business Bureau, they ALL tell you they have had the highest success rate of any modification company in the business anywhere, etc etc etc. Well, they can’t ALL be the best, now can they?

Some of them sound like used car dealers - their voices have SCAM written all over it. One guy I summarily rejected after 2 rounds of crap. After reading online about people getting ripped off - numerous stories about it, and then seeing these 2 companies in California who are being given a cease and decist order - I just wrote it all off. NO WAY am I giving UP FRONT that kind of money to ANYONE for anything like that.

Why on God’s green Earth would you pay that much money up front? Do you do that with anything else in life? I mean, they want the whole amount in their account before they will do anything for you. It turns out, a lot of them aren’t DOING - ANYTHING - after they get the money. I told ALL of them flat out that there is no way I was going to fork over that much cash before “your company” even did a thing. They all tell you that your money is fully refundable, etc etc etc. I asked all of them to send me their policy on the refund and all the fine print. Not a single one of them sent me anything that dealt with that particular point - they sent me a lot of other stuff, but not anything that covers THAT issue.

So, I figured, what they hey, why can’t I just do this myself? I”m the biggest do-it-yourselfer on the planet (okay, you can argue that if you want) I will do anything - just about - if I can, indeed, do it. Talk about THESE days, definitely I need to save every penny I can considering this last weekend’s AC catastrophe and the financial dump my bank account took after that little gem of an event occured.

Well - here’s what I found out: That plan by the Obama Administration? You have to go through your OWN lender to get it. You can’t just go onto the government’s - or anyone else’s - website to do it. The loan mod “specialists” don’t bother to tell you that little detail. If your lender is doing the mods, great, if they are not, what is a loan mod “specialist” going to do about it? It’s ALL a bunch of guff. Why can’t you just do it yourself?

The simple answer is: YOU CAN. Your bank/lender probably has a whole section of their internet website dedicated to it - and probably including an online form you can fill out to apply for whatever mods they are giving out. If they don’t, CALL THEM YOURSELF. So what if you’re behind in your payments, that’s the whole point. If you are not calling them out of fear, you are only hurting yourself. They’re going to ask you to send them all kinds of information. They are going to ask you to go over every penny of expense you have for any given month. My company even wanted to know how much money I spend on dog food. EVERY expense.

I have found that, with these people, if you are nice to them and respectful, they aren’t going to chew you out and demand a payment - there are MILLIONS of other Americans going through the same thing you are, this isn’t like you are the odd-ball-out/lowlife/scumbag because you are behind in your payments. If that’s true, the entire country is a giant sleezeball filled with scumbags.

Okay, before you call them, here’s your homework. Go over ALL of your expenses, write them all down - calculate each expense for an entire month: Food; gasoline; cable/satellite; credit cards; car payments; water bill; electricity; phone service; cell phone; any other utilities I have miss such as natural gas; ALL of it. Add it all up. Now, you add up your monthly income. Well, what if your monthly expenses exceed your monthly income? Well, that’s the REASON you need a loan modification, right? Your lender isn’t being forced to do anything, it’s all about what they are willling to do. Which is why the term nice and respect and don’t get mad/heated arguments/nasty words - they aren’t going to do you ANY good and may hurt you. No 2 lenders are alike - you can’t know what they are willing to do for you - if anything - until you apply for that mod. Just be ready with all the information they are going to want.

For the Obama plan, the interest rate can go as low as 2%. Whatever 31% of your income is, that’s how low they will go with the interest rate, but not lower than 2%. So, you can figure that out, too - calculate what is 31% of your monthly income and that’s what they are going to base a loan mod on. If your income actually goes even lower than that - some companies are actually “adjusting” the mortgage. Again, it’s just what each individual company is willing to do. If you don’t have a job and no way to pay anything - well - I am not an expert, I’m just sayin’ what I’ve learned.

When they get all the information they want, they will come up with whatever they can do for you - if anything. I’m at the end of my paper trail - my lender wants me to prove my tenant income via rental agreements, I was told this on the phone today. No problem, I have all 3 of them. I have sent them all kinds of information and have made a lot of phone calls to my company. I won’t even entertain another phone call from another loan mod company, they can all go bug off. Even if I don’t get anything - but I was told today that I most likely will get “something” - he just wouldn’t tell me until I could prove my income.

Well, I may have shot myself in the foot by telling them about my tenants - I might have “screwed” myself out of a better offer by telling them I have that income - especially considering it would be nice NOT to have to have fully 3 tenants living in my home. Be that as it may, I want to be honest about it, so - I am. But I don’t really know how they come to their conclusions, so, I am definitely not suggesting anyone say they are getting less income than they are. I’m not really giving any kind of advice - I’m just saying here that for those that are facing foreclosure, are afraid of the scams and losing money for nothing, you most certainly can do this process by yourself.

Regardless, another thing they are going to ask you is for a letter of hardship. WHY can’t you pay your mortgage? Mine was simple: 2 separate cuts in hours have netted me over $900 per month in lost income from work. That is definitely an excuse they will accept. You might have had a spouse that lost their job - but you still have yours. Anyway, if you are looking for the refinance mod - I think you have to be current on your payments. Hey, I’m just trying to motivate people to take their own action, that’s really all I”m doing here. In my case, once I get started on something, I am relentless, I will continue on the given path until there is either a resolution or the path comes to a fork in the road - or a multi-phased intersection with potential paths leading multiple directions. BTW, even the loan mod people ask YOU to write up your own letter of hardship. I really can’t see WHAT these people are doing? Just taking your paperwork and sending it in, the same as you could have?

Another aspect of this mod is that it is a 5-year thing. It is not permenant, at least not from what I read. The interest rate will go up in increments over a span of time, I think, after the 5-year time frame elapses. It’s basically a life line being thrown to you - probably the thinking is that hopefully, after that much time, you have jobs again and can make the payments at a higher interest rate. Whatever - save your home now, deal with that bridge when it comes, that’s all I can say about it. That does NOT mean it’s going to revert to an ARM - it just means that the prevailing rate will apply up to a certain amount/percentage. I wasn’t real clear on that aspect of it - I’m sure the lender will be able to give you better info.

Anyway, I am so infinitely glad I did NOT give those mod companies any money, I didn’t even hint with any of them that I was going to do anything, I just wanted to hear the spiel and after I get several calls, I then wanted to hear if the spiel was the same from all of them. Definitely not. I am guessing what they are going to offer me - I’ll take anything at this point just to get out of arrears, but I would love to get the mod that lowers your interest rate, as I don’t think I qualify for the refinance (total bummer).

ben

Irritated

I'm extremely irritated right now.
I didn't sleep worth crap last night.
The AC went out this morning.
I stepped on a very long nail yesterday that went deep into my foot.
And - something bit me in what sleep I did get last night - there, where all males dread getting something like that - "it" is swollen and does not feel good at all.

I'm sure that is more information than anyone wanted to hear and right now, I couldn't care less.
It's starting to get warm in this house - pretty soon I'll be outside and I'll just sit out there and bake for the next 3 or 4 or more hours until the AC technician gets here and fixes the thing.

You want to read something uplifting and positive - this is the wrong blog to be at today.
I'm not having a pity party, I just feel like s*** and I'm making an appointment to see the doc tomorrow if he's got any room at all in his schedule. As deep as that nail went into my foot - well I'm hoping it doesn't get infected.

The nail was defitely rusted. If I can't get into see him tomorrow, I'll go to Urgent Care, pay the extra $35 for the visit and get that tetanus shot. I think the situation with "it" will take care of itself, though I have no idea how many days that's going to feel like - that.

I'm seriously considering calling my boss - today - and asking him to find someone to take my place tomorrow. They now have 3 drivers downtown, I expect that one of them could be shipped over to our branch to take care of the business at hand for a day.

Lord I'm cranky. People talking to me here right now? I am not even responding except a noise and a thought: Please leave me the bleep alone right now, no offense, thanks.

This is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Sounds like the economy.
ben

Project

I was a little disappointed that my boss never called me to meet up to borrow his torch and accompanying items for sweating copper pipe and fittings.
This is the second time in 2 days he forgot, in fact, he still hasn't called so I guess he put it totally out of his mind.

Well, he certainly isn't required to loan me his setup, it was offered by him. So - I just got back from Home Depot. They have a plain Jane thing in a kit that probably would work, but I would still need to buy some extra things for it even with the kit. I pondered whether spending money on such right now was a good idea - I decided to let it sit in my mind for a while and figure out what to do. No sense rushing into this, it's going to be awhile before I have the whole thing set up, and right now, I wouldn't go out there to do that fitting install in this kind of heat anyway. Sometimes - you wait and something good happens. Not always, but - that's my outlook on life in most circumstances where waiting can be happen without compromising anything.

Well, while I was there I decided to finish buying the necessary parts for the install - a stick of copper and a copper couple with no stop. They had thin copper - too thin for my tastes in 3/4 inch size, which is what I'm working with. The only stick they had of 3/4 thicker walled copper had been cut. They sell it in 10-foot sticks - about 2 feet had been cut off the only stick remaining.

So, the haggler that I am, I asked how much for the stick with 2 feet missing. The guy tells me 10%. I calculate that in my mind - per foot that would be MORE expensive than buying 10 feet at the regular price. I countered with that information, but his hands were tied, that's the best he can do. Well, they walked off as I was rather deep in thought about whether it would be prudent to continue on with this project considering I have a non-paying tenant of whose monies are necessary to fund this little deal and not get too far down in finances.

Well, I started eyeing all the copper there. This stick is the one I wanted - if I'm going to do it, I want to do it right. Thin walled copper just wouldn't set well with me - definitely considering the current setup out there is the thicker walled stuff. This copper I'm buying has to be able to hold a ball valve suspended in the middle of the copper. Well, these 2 employees are eying ME now, wondering what I'm up to as I pulled the stick back off the shelf, determined to get it a price the reflects how much it should cost per foot, not a flat 10% off that makes it cost more per foot.

We talked a couple more seconds, I asked if a manager could be called. I didn't ask in a belligerent or angry way, just a simple "hey, see if I can possibly get the price down to what it should be". Turns out the General Manager of the store just happened to be walking by. The employee explains to him what my "deal" is and the GM comes over. I give a simple, quick explanation of my reasoning. He looks at me for a couple of seconds and asks me how much I want to pay for it. I must have looked at him blankly, I just said probably 20% off would be fair. He repeated his question: How much do you WANT to pay for this stick of copper?
I hedged - and asked him how much he wanted for it. Third time, the GM asks me the same question, so I threw out $10 as my response. I didn't want to look stingy - at $10 it would be less per foot than the normal price, but it's a damaged stick of copper, that's what I would be willing to pay for it (normal price was $15.99). He says: "Okay, I can do that, but how about $5 for it and it's yours?".

Nice. I'll save my pennies any which way I can. The only other thing I bought was the copper coupler - I have everything I need to get the water supply for this venture going, I just need the equipment to be able to put it together.

Ken just asked me to spot him money for beer. I asked him if he had gone into my room taking beer. I wasn't going to do that, but him asking me for money after what happened a few weeks back and then finding out he's going into my room? That question apparently took him by surprise. The only thing I can say about it is that he always pays the loans back. At the same time, I think it prudent that he learn to live within his means.

Well, I have decided to go rough it outside and do some other small things that I would like to have completed out there. I'm also trying to determine exactly where to put the last 4 Sissoo trees I have in pots. I want to get them planted and get them rooted in the ground, along with the remaining ficus and the Chinese Elm. I ain't doing all of that today - but I can probably do at least a couple of the holes.

Well, I know it sounds crazy going out into that kind of heat - but I just can't stand being cooped up in a house all day long. I have spent my entire life as an outdoors person, old habits are hard to break, and in this case, a habit I don't WANT to break.
ben

Rain?

I went outside a little while ago to start watering plants.

I noticed the sky to the east dark and looking like rain.
Well, I went out front anyway - I didn't water the front yesterday - and decided to water that at least and let the rest go.
After that, came back in here and looked at Doppler and Satellite - if it's any indication, we're in for a decent rain and a good ground saturation.

I haven't seen rain in so long, I desperately hope it does! Not just for my plants, but for ME!!

I just checked Doppler again - it's right near my house now. PULLLLEEEASSSSE God - make it rain!

When I went out there, and after only a few minutes into watering - the wind started picking up. We used to call them dust storms. The reason being is that you would see a wall of dust a mile high coming in at you. You also ran for cover - a lot of stuff would be flying all over the place. Not anymore. They're wind storms I guess you could call them - the dust has been reduced greatly over the years because the outlying areas have been developed and now there's a lot of asphalt/cement/landscaping instead of open desert.

A nice "perk" if you want to call it that is that these storms almost always blow in colder air. I don't mean cold per se, just cooler than it was. It was 113 degrees a half hour ago, now it's 109. No, I checked it again - the storm is about 10 to 20 miles away judging from Doppler and the temp has now dropped to 108. May sound hot - yes - but the point is that my AC runs less at lessor temps. I'll take that anyday - tomorrow is forecast to be 115 degrees. I won't take that any day : (

Darn - the wind has started to die down and the rain is JUST around the corner.

Well, anyway, I have a cigar. I buy them - infrequently - very infrequently. He gets a deal on quantity cigars - he smokes them every day - and lets me in on the deal whenever I want one. This time? "Buy me lunch when I've over there next time" - referring to my store. I didn't have any money on me - I really try not to carry too much cash with me, lesson learned from years of excessive, wasteful spending (I think that must have been something I learned from the feds) - just don't have it with you. Sure, I have debit and credit cards - I'm pretty disciplined at this point to NOT waste money on needless things.

So, at the advice of fully 2 separate store employees at - 2 different stores - I will drink a bud tomorrow while - if I get everything of course - install the valve and copper portions of the beginning of the system. If all goes well, the cigar comes afterwards : ) I love cigars - though they make me quite high on nicotine. Sometimes to the point I feel like getting sick ............. I sorta learned the hard way to smoke half the cigar at one point and then the rest another day. In other words, cut it in half and have to times the pleasure. I am not advocating cigar smoking - just a nice thing to do once in a great while.

The storm is headed south and is going to bypass my immediate area. However, there was one huge effect: a decrease of temperature by fully 11 degrees in less than one hour's time! Nice.

G'nite.

ben

Friday

Just pondering things before I get started with the work day.
I heard an ad this morning on the radio that was pretty nice.
Frito Lay has announced (at least locally, no idea if it's nationwide) that they are going to start ADDING 20% more product to every bag of chips for however long - WITHOUT raising the price.
It's their offering for people getting hurt by the failing economy.
I find that especially refreshing because many companies have gone the other route - take product OUT and leave the price the same.
You HAVE noticed that a package of hot dogs no longer comes in a 10-pack, didn't you? The price stayed the same: 8 for the price of ten, such a great deal!
Cereal companies are notorious for making the packaging look as though there is all kinds of cereal in it - when in fact many of the have reduced the amount - by weight - of content.

I kinda hope that this is a nationwide thing and that it will raise the bar for other companies to follow suit. Frito Lay has a huge manufacturing plant down in Casa Grande - I've been there a dozen times at least delivering pipe and materials when they were doing some sort of expansion project. A company that makes that kind of offering is a company whose product I'll buy - the boys love that stuff anyway.

This weekend's plans are simple: start the installation project for the drip watering system. The beginning of the project is the hardest AND the most expensive. You can spend a LOT of money on the timer and other items necessary to install the system - I think I have found a balance of good product that isn't astronomical in the price. Certainly the plumbing projects will be much cheaper than most people can get stuff like that - I just happen to work for a company whose plumbing division is purportedly the largest in America. We get stuff at cost a 6% bump.

I have decided that all exposed parts must either be brass or copper, not PVC. The sun is brutal towards plastic pipe around these parts - stuff like that will not be long-lived if exposed to the summer sun and heat on a daily basis. Anyway, my boss is bringing his personal equipment for sweating the copper stuff together with him to work today - which is pretty cool. I used to have all of that stuff, but certain theives decided to get their hands on it and it = whoooof = disappeared into thin blue air.

So, with that I have to make a trip to the plumbing branch today for some items we don't have here. Easy enough. What I thought amusing yesterday was my trip to Sprinkler World and Home Depot. When I was talking with the guys about how I should go about installing this system, they both said to go home, sit down at a table, get out a piece of paper and pen, get a beer and start making the plans. I'm serious, they BOTH said it's FAR more fun to have beers with the project than to not. Now, I wasn't even thinking in the terms of adult recreational beverage, hearing it from both of them made me want to go look into a mirror to ensure that the word Budweiser wasn't stamped on my forehead!

Well, I have a couple of articles I want to read before signing in for work and I only have 5 minutes left.
Have a great day!
ben

Today

I wrote an entry on KCL earlier and then this morning.
Yet, I refuse to give up this host for blogging - for now anyway.

Ken came home early. I don't know why, but usually entails being let off because there is nothing to do. He started in on a girl he "screwed" when she was - well I don't want to incriminate him, so I won't. BUT - it's the SAME exact exuberance when he started in on the last girl. The last girl - lady - was MARRIED.

I'm not amused. The beginning of his story was appalling, the end of it was not the end, I'm sure.

Changing the subject, I've come to the realization that I'm not that sold on cabbying. Apparently, people ditch you and don't pay. I would not take that well. I would be the cabby chasing the freak down and calling the police for theft of services.

Apparently they get robbed alot. I wouldn't take well to that, either. It wouldn't make me afraid, it would make me MAD. Sticking a gun to my head - I might give up the cash - but I would remember the face. I have to wonder if cab drivers are allowed to carry their own arms. Supposing it would depend on the company's policy, dunno whether commercial vehicle laws apply to it or not.

OTOH - it might actually be interesting to encounter all kinds of different people. I can be talkative in the right circumstances and make conversation when a person is amenable to it. I'm not sold on it yet, and certainly, giving up my weekends is hardly something I really WANT to do.

The Valley of Decision is always an interesting place to be. I continue to forget totally about getting the 5-year driving history after getting off of work. Hey, speaking of work, our branch is at like $170,000 for the month. That's very good considering what we have been doing in the last few months - really, the last several months. I also have no clue what's going to happen with me when the bomb is dropped in a couple of weeks from now.

Ummmm, that's it. I fed the dogs - they were looking at me as if they were hungry. Turns out someone else put food out for them earlier today - assuming Michael. What the really wanted was attention. I have spent copious amounts of time since that revelation in giving such.

C'yall next time.

ben

Current Events

I watch Ken on video surveillance - frequently - going into my refrigerator.
To say the irritates me is certainly valid, albeit certain other adjectives apply in a much more sincere sense.

Milk; cheese; whatever.

I ever-so-slightly turned the tables on him. I stopped buying coffee. It's expensive. If it isn't on sale - Folger's is like 8 bucks a can. He drinks coffee every day. He puts about TRIPLE the amount of coffee grounds into the brewer than is necessary for a regular pot of coffee.

He was going through my cans of coffee like a kid eating lollipops.

I figured if I just stop buying the stuff - I get all the free coffee at work I want so there's 5 days of the week covered - he would either have to quit or he would have to start buying it himself.

He bought the last 2 cans. In the time it takes him to go through 2 large cans of Folgers coffee grounds - that much coffee lasts me about 6 months. THAT'S why I stopped buying it.

In the same cabinet the coffee is located is where I store my bread. My bread disappears at a ridiculously fast rate - I had thought it was the kids. For that, I didn't care. I started seeing Ken helping himself daily to my bread, putting it into the toaster and then helping himself to my margarine in my refrigerator.

I haven't figured out an answer to that - I may let that one go, I buy cheap white bread for the boys as that is what they like. Ken, however, likes wheat bread. All well and fine until his supply of it runs out.

Cans of tuna fish? Gone. LOTS of them. Michael eats some of it, I had thought it was him. Michael is an eating machine as of lates - he is getting bigger and bigger and his body is demanding caloric intake to keep up with the pace (hence, I imagine, one of the long list of reasons he is over here, food is plentiful, at least for now). NOT. Ken - helping himself. I see this stuff on video surveillance, this is how I "prove" it. I have no choice but to go over hours and hours worth of surveillance to identify what, exactly, is going on in any given situation.

Beer. I drink beer in the summer. I don't drink massive quantities - but when I'm outside baking in the sun, and ice cold beer tastes better to me than anything except a large glass of water filled with ice. One has to keep tabs on that when in the baking sun - alcohol can really kick you in the @$$ when it's hot outside and if you're not drinking enough water. Ken? Will drink the entire amount of it in the refrigerator and it's gone. I have addressed him on that particular issue twice now. Oh, thank you, I am not a drunkard and I HATE being drunk. I don't even come close to anything like that, just as a disclaimer.

Ken helps himself to my laundry detergent. He has NEVER bought an OUNCE of it the entire time he's been here. Again, video surveillance. Did I tell Ken he could do all of this stuff? Do monkeys fly? Well, now that I think of it, yes, a certain breed of them do, however, I did not tell this particular monkey that he could just help himself to my food and drink whenever he feels like it - and he feels like it daily.

Funny it never happens when I'm IN here - here being the kitchen. I have my computer in here because I do not like to much of anything in my bedroom except sleep. Options? I have, thus far, resisted giving him an eviction notice. I am attempting to resist it. I don't know how long it would take to find another tenant. But Ken is starting to wear on me like Mary started to when she was living here - smoking meth in my house. I am EVER so glad that Mary is GONE. Ken is a different kind of case. I will have to pray and seek the Lord on this one - perhaps this is an "assignment" from the Lord that I must bear. Dunno. Perhaps I am supposed to just allow him to help himself.

It would help - if he would at least say thank you. A little gratitude goes a long way. It's not an egotistical thing - when you see someone taking your stuff without asking, you feel like that person has just stolen that stuff from you. It REALLY does. Food is a huge expense for me. I'm not complaining, but this man is not one of the people that I have included on that particular list.

Perhaps I'm just being a selfish, whining baby.

ben

Monday/More

I hate to keep talking about the heat - but it’s the same thing as people being stuck inside their homes in a frigid winter - just the opposite end of the scale. You can get just as dead going out there in this kind of temperatures and suffering heat stroke and all kinds of other heat related illnesses.

As evidenced yesterday when Kyle passed out at the skate park in the middle of the afternoon when it hit 114 out there. I told them not to go, they ignored my warning - maybe they’ll listen next time. Paramedics had to cool him down and whatever they did - I wasn’t there and didn’t find out about it until the event was over.

Unfortunately, there is no way to raise the temp of the AC in here during the day. The varied hours of the tenants force that. Ken doesn’t leave for work until 1:30 pm, I get off of work at 2:00 pm (at least temporarily) and Pete, the newest tenant, gets home usually late morning. People are here, in other words, 24 hours a day. Which is actually a good thing from my view - just that I can’t save a few bucks every day on AC by moving the thermostat to say - 85 degrees or even a little higher. If it were just the dogs in here, they can suffer a little in 85 degree weather, it certainly isn’t animal abuse. Abuse would be to leave them outside in this crap.

But, I resolved in my mind that this would happen and that I would just have to grin and bear it - the electric usage/bill that is. Pretty much the hottest part of the day right now - I have been home for 1/2 and hour and the AC has not shut off yet. Which is normal for AC systems at this time of year - but I have wondered if I should have had them install a dual AC system and get about 7 tons of AC out there instead of the single 5 ton unit. Too late now - it IS keeping it nicely cooled in here, no complaints there.

My manager started getting all of that stuff out of the crates and off the pallets for the drip watering system stuff we have now acquired.

I would love to learn how to install of that stuff -which I will - and then maybe make a business out of installing systems for other people - for money of course. Sorta doubt there is much demand for such right now - considering people are losing their homes, highly doubtful they want to spend the money installing such a thing on a house they are walking away from - but you never know what homeowners out there that aren’t losing their homes might want to do. I’m always looking for ways to earn some extra money.

I have nothing else. Not right now. I have to go out there in a few minutes and get to watering certain plants that will already have started drooping even though they got a thorough watering yesterday. Because of such, I am definitely going to put an automatic timer on the system I install and the whole thing is going to be totally self reliant. I have a lot of learnin’ to do, and I’m going to start delving into that tonight after I get the watering done.

C’yall later.

ben

Conscience

Do you have one?
If you get something you're not supposed to, say, at a store and realize the error the clerk made later on when you get home, do you do anything about it?
Do you go back and pay for it?
Do you call them and tell them the mistake and say you'll come back in to pay for it? Or maybe pay over the phone with a credit card if they accept such a method?

I resolved all of these questions in my mind and heart long, long ago. I don't have to think about it - I do the right thing. Because they "gave" it to you - on error - does not mean it's right to just keep it. If you can sleep at night doing such a thing - I will not say more power to you, because I believe it to be unethical and immoral.

I'm not preaching to anyone, really, just making my observations and opinion about it. I was given 6 bags of dog food today, when I should have gotten 5. I am currently buying Nutra dog food - it's an excellent quality food and this place has a smoking deal on it at $22.95 per bag. The extra bonus is after you buy 10 bags, you get an extra bag free. I didn't know I had reached the 10 bag quota for the freebie. The guy showed me my card and asked if I wanted the extra bag today? Yes, I do - I don't want them to make a mistake and have them thinking I already got the free bag and then not get it on my next visit.

Well, I was on the phone with my mother and not paying a lot of attention to the fact that he had put out 6 bags for me, not 5. I was trying to get mother off of the phone - not that I didn't want to talk to her but I think it extremely rude to stand there on a cellphone talking while doing a transaction at the counter. It's not totally my fault, though. I was standing at the front of the store, talking with mother and was just going to wait there until the conversation was finished and then go to the counter. Well, the guy running the store came in from the outside - drenched in sweat from moving bales of hay around - and asked if I needed anything. I pointed at the dog food and told him 4 bags, and then it went on from there.

Anyway, I grabbed the bags he put out. Piling them up in my utility room, I counted 6 bags. My mind is just all over the place today which is why I really didn't give it much credence until I got home with it. I would have identified the problem sooner if I had been here on planet earth. I'm still perplexed and a little rattled at the situation with work. I don't feel any sense of job security at all right now. Fear? No. But - if something like that happens, it creates a huge vacuum and a HUGE problem. I have absolutely NO desire to start over somewhere else right now. I am not a job-jumper at heart, I did it until I found the place I'm at, I just didn't want to waste my life away working at sub-par companies that treat their employees like crap. My company treats employees like gold.

So, I got a free bag of dog food. Yes, the free bag I legitimately got, the other bag I am going back in there tomorrow after work to pay for it. It's a great deal, no sense in taking it back, the prices undoubtedly will go back up on that stuff and it's just as well to keep it. Some - maybe many - people would say they made the mistake - too bad for them. I don't really want to judge people - I'll just say that I would not be able to sleep tonight wearing that kind of crown on my head. I already have problems with sleep - and it has nothing to do with stealing bags of dog food.

Speaking of money, Discount Cab just called me not 30 minutes ago. I had totally forgotten about that. I'm telling you, I am definitely not quite right, right now. They want me to get the DMV 5-year driving history report and come in. Them calling me means they must need drivers. The lady was quite amenable - and quite honest about the daily pay. I asked. I laid down a "line" (in my mind, not to Discount Cab) - I do not want to take on any part time job that pays less than half minimum of what I am currently making. I truly believe I can make more than the average taxi driver - service and attitude are everything, I have encountered my share of drivers that are absent-minded, calloused, even rude. They do their job - but they do it minimally. Sure, they get the fare, but they apparently don't think about the potential of getting a tip for doing more than just sitting there, driving the car. No doubt there are people that pay the fare only regardless of how well you treated them, no doubting as well that there are people that will hand you a tip on top of the fare.

The only problem - sacrificing either Saturdays or even entire weekends. No. I will only do it one day per week, I must have at least one day off.

Michael and Kyle just went to a skateboard park. Caleb didn't want to go, I totally don't blame him. I warned Michael he better take a lot of water with him. He took nothing. It's currently 110 degrees out there. A couple more hours it will be minimum 112, if not much higher. As I said, I warned him. I'm going out there in a few minutes, but with an ice cold drink in hand. That wide-brimmed hat would be nice, right about now.

Oh, a lady at Fry's told me today about a couple of places with job openings. Target is opening a distribution center somewhere in Tempe and Walmart is opening a store in Tempe as well. I will NOT work for Walmart - my ex was treated very poorly by management when she worked there. I rarely go to Walmart, I have been learning to find ways to stay away from that place. I can't say I never go, but my visits have dropped exponentially. I really do not want to support a company that is abusive towards it's employees. I get that information not only from the ex when she was working there, but also from talking with numerous ex Walmart employees and even a couple of news stories that have hinted at the same.

Enough.
Later.
ben

More

At the main branch on Friday, I was talking with a co-worker that is pretty cool - we get along well. He gave me an odd look at one point and asked me about my trees and plants. Yes, they're doing well. He says, well, when we move out of our house, if you're interested, we're going to sell everything that's ours - which is all the landscaping (it was a dirt property like mine when they moved in) included the trees and plants. Actually, he said people could come over and give a whatever donation to their cause.

The sad truth of the matter: they are going to lose their home to foreclosure. His wife lost her job a while back - like a year or more ago, found another one and then got laid off of that one the SAME day that we all found out we are losing an hour per day at our company. He got a double-whammy in one day. I immediately agreed about the trees - but then felt bad for saying so so quickly. I don't want to see the guy lose his home. He's a go-with-the-flow person, he figures to rent an apartment at less than half of what his mortgage is and start saving money.

Perhaps - but I've been over there a couple of times. They did all kinds of upgrades and modifications on the property. They spent a truckload on the landscaping and the place looks really nice, including a nice swimming pool. He tried to talk to the lender - nothing. They call him on the phone and he's like: well what do you want now? "When are you going to send in a payment?" I can imagine his frustration considering he's called them, talked to them, got nothing but the runaround and they continue to call anyway.

What're you going to do? Well, it's not too late. The "making homes affordable" program should be able to help him. He doesn't have to talk to the bank, he just has to fill out the paperwork and send in the necessary documents. I did mine online. I did talk to the lender, but they referred me to the online applications for everything. Fine and well. It's just sad to see so many people going through this, even worse when it's someone you know.

On that note, I just accessed all my accounts that I can access online - which is all of them excepting paying the mortgage online. I have come to the conclusion my mortgage company does that on purpose - force you to send it in snail mail. Then, if you're going to be late, they charge you a $25 fee to send it Western Union. Whatta scam.

Anyway, I was surprised to find all of my accounts are paid up. Excepting the mortgage that is - a given for right now. I expected to see a water bill on there - it's a 0 balance. Credit cards either paid current or not due for 20 plus days. DirectTV - 0 balance. The only thing I owed current was the broadband bill - due by today. It's now paid, of course. I've been doing my due diligence to stay on top of everything else as much as possible besides the mortgage. The only other payment that I get behind on is the car payment. The "lateness" of the payment scales back by 2 to 3 days per month. Right now it's paid current, but due on the 16th. Last payment was almost 2 weeks over, this next one will be about a week and a half late. In saying that, it does NOT show up on my credit report as late, it just means that I am dumped with a $10 late fee.

I'm totally way over-impatient to get the stuff unboxed at work - all the drip watering system stuff - and figure out what I need. I would have loved to have started on that project this weekend. It may be a while before I get the stuff, but the wait is worth the huge reduction in cost that it will be.

That's about it. I'm still psyched by my winnings at the casino today. I'm sure they don't much care for it, but the risk goes both ways when you're playing. From what I saw, they MORE than made up for it just from other players at the same table.
Think that's enough writing for one day.
G'nite.
ben

The Casino

I have fought the waves of “winning” for weeks now. I have not gone to the casino because I have not thought it prudent or even smart to do so. I ended the winning streak a couple of months ago now - close to a grand UP, not down, thank you.

Today, I did not resist. I’m sure I could have resisted, but I didn’t. It is MISERABLY hot out there. I was not going to spend the entire day working out in that kind of misery. I was also not going to sit around here all day long, doing nothing but mindless nothingness.

I got to the casino and the parking lost was about 2/3rds full. A good sign for me. “My” parking space was empty, another good sign. Getting out of the cool car and into the hot sun was no fun, but it’s only a hundred plus yards to the entrance from where I normally park.

I walked around the blackjack tables, as is my want. I have methods to my madness, there is no logic, really, to it, but - I do what I must. I finally sat down at a table. It came off quickly that this was not going to be “THE” table. There was a guy there rambling on and on about how HE should be the guy to cut the deck - I sat there for about 45 minutes listening to this nonsense. The cards were not going my way. The dealer rung up 3 blackjacks in about 10 hands or so - that was my sign to leave, but mostly because of the man that just went on and on - bitching really - about the fact that the dealers were not giving him the cards to cut. I did NOT want to wait around to find out what this guy’s kind of cut would do.

I got up and found another table. That went off bad immediately. The lady I sat down to - after only 2 hands - started mouthing off to me. Why? Because “I have lost EVERY hand since you sat down here”. Really? All of TWO hands?!! Anyone willing to mouth off like that is sitting at a table I don’t want to be at. The dealer started to say something about “pretend there’s a glass window between….” I cut her off - but not rudely. I just said I would find another table. Any person that is willing to piss on other players for no more reason than they are losing - is a person I want nothing to do with.

3’s a charm. I was down $100 - money I could not afford to lose. Yet my confidence level was so high, I was absolutely sure my luck would change. I pulled out another $100 bill at the 3rd table. Got my reds - $5 chips, all of them - and plunked down a $15 bet. From there, it was history. I was as much as $300 plus up over what I walked in with. I was tipping greatly - another thing I can’t shake. Don’t tip? Might as well stay home, the cards will reject you. The dealers, the waitress, even the guy tending the bathroom. Tipped them all. Now that I think about it, I should have gone to the steak restaurant and indulged myself. I never feel bad about leaving ahead, even if I was up well above the total take.

My take today was $200. Sounds like chump change to some, to me it’s everything I spent this weekend and then some - quite a bit then-some. I bought an electric weedeater this morning, as well as the soaker hose, some bug poison and 2 packages of stakes to hold up the plants I have been planting in recent weeks.

The thing that struck me was the pit boss. She was a great lady! She made it all the better - her input and the rapport back and forth. She came back after I was down - and was surprised. “Wow, you’ve done well!”
I didn’t know they kept track of that kind of thing. I SHOULD know, I guess, but I just never considered they are counting their pennies as well as everyone else. At the end, she came back when I was cashing out my chips, I thanked her profusely for such an enjoyable time, she said you’re welcome, I headed for the cashier’s window.

In this 4 hours of casino gambling, I watched several people losing a LOT of money. I also sat there and watched a few people winning a LOT of money. One guy sat down, pulled out $500 - and proceeded to lose it within about 5 minutes. The lady sitting next to me won at least $500 I’m guessing after looking at the stack of green - $25 - chips sitting there over time.

That’s it. I had a great time and I also won some money. It’s all going towards electricity. The temps are outrageous, the electric usage is off the wall. I’ll bet today will be at least a $14 day in terms of electrical usage.

ben

Saturday

I copied and pasted a posting I made on KCL over here - it for some reason didn't appear here?!!
Oh well, I guess I could do it again, but who cares, I'll just write another post.
I bought a soaker hose for the plants today, it was on sale and the extremely high temps out there are too much. I have nodesire.com to stand out there in blistering heat watering everthing.

It's a 50 foot long hose that drips out water the entire length of the hose. I would have rathered a 25 footer, but they didn't have one that size. Anyway, I am slow watering everything and will be doing so all day long. I also was out there putting in stakes to hold up certain plants and trees that need the help - though I finally gave up and came in here, sweating profusely and decided to get an ice cold glass of water.

I'm totally excited about the fact that everything I need to install a drip watering system is going to be available right at our store. It will be at least a week, I'm sure, before we get it all sorted out and placed on shelves - I can wait that long, especially now that I have acquired the soaker hose. I don't have to stand out there watering the stuff, the hose can do it for me, I only need go out at intervals and move it from one line of plants to another.

Yes, that's pretty much it for this weekend. I have no great plans for anything. In a couple of hours I'll probably make the trip to downtown and visit the 2 guys that I have been helping out here and there - and for whom I have found a couple of other people who have also been helping them, which is totally cool.

I will be making a list for the boys to get things done around here this weekend - of the which I expect them to get it done. This time, when they accomplish everything, I'll give them a couple of bucks each to go to the store and get some ice cream or something. They won't find that out, however, until they finish the jobs. It took them about an hour and a half of constant work last week to finish. They are ALL asleep right now - well I don't know about JD, he goes home to sleep - they must have stayed up late last night.

I'm trying to talk myself out of getting another 401k loan. If the loan mod I applied for comes through, I probably won't do it. Only if a financial emergency arises will I get that loan in that case. A financial emergency would be something like the car breaking down or the AC quitting - though it's still under warranty for the compressor and other expensive parts of the system. I'm trying to tough it out without the loan is all I'm saying.

Well, that's it. Highs today are ranging - depending on whose forecast you read - anywhere from 112 to 115 and tomorrow, allegedly, 112 to 117. I went to open the door of my house a few minutes ago from the outside- my hand burned as I turned it, and it's not even noon here yet. GAG!!!!!
Outta here -
ben

I'm Not Ignoring My Blog................

………….I just have a lot of “stuff” on my plate.

The watering of the plants around here is taking endless amounts of time. The hot weather just sucks the moisture right out of the ground and doing a deep watering on that many plants is next to impossible with just a couple of garden hoses. I can’t wait until we get all that stuff unpacked at work and I can buy all the stuff to put in the drip system. Meanwhile, I think I’m going to spend $10 on one of those hoses that has all the small holes in it for doing a good slow watering that will cover 50 feet worth of plants at the same time.

I also did that loan mod application this week and sent in all the necessary documentation. At the very least, I’m hoping for the HUD interest free loan that sticks the past due amount on the end of the loan. What that will do for me is free up another $60 per month in late fees. Every little bit helps. I’m facing some serious electrical use in the coming days if not weeks. I read online that hell is visiting Phoenix this week and it’s bringing it’s temps with it. I don’t like hell and rather bid it a good riddance. Regardless, it’s 7:00 am and it’s already 90 degrees outside.

Further the stuff that is happening at work is a bit - stressful I guess I’ll call it. You go to work and wonder what’s going to happen next. I’m not dissing my company - I’m just saying it’s a little nerve-wracking to know that layoffs are on-going and they will continue to do so until they figure that this thing has bottomed and they don’t need to get rid of anyone else.

And then there’s all the tenant stuff that comes and goes. Never know what’s going to come up next. I need a vacation. I would love to take a week off and go somewhere nice and just let the cares of this world float away for a while - I’m good at dumping that junk out of my mind when I’m on vacation. A nice pipe dream, but dreams are better than nothing.

As for today, there is quite a lot I want to do - but I don’t know that I’m going to be very motivated once the heat really kicks in. I figure I should stop writing and get out there and get some stuff done - but I also figure I would like to just take a day off from everything - sorta like the vacation dream - and do NOTHING but stay inside, alone, with no interruptions, and just watch movies. Lol, that is definitely a dream that certainly won’t materialize around here. Actually, I guess I could come close to it by disappearing into my bedroom. Kick the boys out, tell them to leave me alone, ignore the tenants and just have the presence of a bunch of dogs that endlessly love to follow me all over the place. However, I don’t consider my dogs a nuisance or an interruption - they know me well and they know how I want them to act in my house.

So, that’s it. My life in a huge nutshell as it is currently panning out. Oh, and I forgot that I promised the now ex-homeless guys I would take them some food today. Nothing fancy, just something to eat. They don’t have the gas turned on in their place yet so they can’t cook. I’m trying to decide what to make to take over there, but I figure I’ll probably end up just making the chicken breast that is on sale at Basha’s - 77 cents per pound - cook 2 packages of that and a couple of side dishes. They at least have a working refrigerator.

C’yall later?!!

ben

Wednesday

Well, I haven’t been writing much because I have become absorbed with the idea of all of this change coming to work - that hasn’t even been implemented yet. The thoughts of what exactly the changes are and what will happen with me in the process is rather consuming.

And yet, I can do absolutely nothing about it, and further, thinking about it will change nothing. Worrying and fretting changes nothing, either. I make no claims of being a super-human, therefore I make claims that my natural thought processes in situations like this sometimes take me to undesirable places.

Regardless, my manager left early today to go to the main branch to meet with the GM. I do find the proposed changes to be quite - acceptable - but - changes are coming so fast in this company, no-one knows WHAT is coming next.

Anyway, I was driving the semi all day today. The reservation; Gilbert; Florence; Casa Grande. I got back just in time to sign out, actually. The hourly reduction - doesn’t quite work on certain days when there is more work than hours available. Tommorrow is going to be extremely busy. Since our company closed the store out west, numerous people have been involved with the removal of everything from that store and have it transported to various places. Well, I have a couple of 2 or 3 deliveries in the morning, a transfer to downtown and then a trip to the store that is closed. This will undoubtedly take me well beyond 7 hours of work and will also undoubtedly make me lose my 30 minute, automatically deducted break and - oh well.

As for around here, it’s been pretty quiet. The temps are heading up and I have been extra-watering everything. This weekend will be a real drag - I really don’t want to deal with 110 plus degree heat anymore. It’s not unlike those of you that are house-bound because of frigid temps and snow and ice all over everything. There isn’t much desire to head into the great outdoors when it’s so hot coupled with humidity, you start sweating before you start DOING anything. Staying indoors is not an option for me - I have to go out and tend to the bountiful plantlife. But, after I’m out there awhile, it becomes - nice - actually - regardless of the heat.

I’ve all but lost the battle of not getting a 401k loan. I could actually - eventually - get caught up - but it’s so far out that my call to the mortgage company told me that they had rejected my payment and said the reason is because I would have to come up with a payment and a half. I have not gotten mad, upset or rude with these people ever - this isn’t a situation to get like that - and it paid off, I hope anyway. The guy said I called “just in time” that he might be able to get the payment forced through.

Beyond that, whether they have a rate-reduction program or not, they do participate in a HUD program that has an interest free loan that puts whatever payments you are behind to the end of your loan, getting you fully caught up - as long as you can show that you can make all future payments on-time.

Well, the time before last I called, the lady wanted to hear ALL of my income and expense information. I entertained her in it, it took something like half an hour. I thought of every expense I have and stated it - all of it. I then stated that my income - with reduced hours and with 2 paying tenants. She calculated that my income was more than my expenses - by 75 cents. Yes, that’s 75 CENTS. Lol. With another paying tenant - well that puts me over, yes, but certainly I have no great abundance going on over here.

I’m not complaining. I have a job - whatever it is - and I have enough income. It’s far better than what millions of Americans are going through right now.

There are other stories but - my finger is hurting again, in fact it looks like it’s infected. I’m either going to have to stick a needle in there and let out the puss that is building up - or go to a doctor, have them deaden the area and lacerate it - or maybe they’ll just prescribe anitbiotics. My normal modus operandi is to avoid the doctor at all costs and attempt to drain the thing myself. Which usually entails some levels of pain - but to me, not as painful as going to the friggin’ doc.

ben

Please vote for Duke or Prince!!!!

http://www.mix969.com/pages/arizonas-top-pet/vote-entrants.php?gid=2&id=98

http://www.mix969.com/pages/arizonas-top-pet/vote-entrants.php?gid=5&id=89

Okay, I put Duke and Prince in a contest. It's called Arizona's Top Pet and it's hosted by a local radio station. The winner - animal that gets the most votes - gets $1,500!!

I'm unabashedly asking everyone to vote for one or the other, though it would be better if everyone votes for just one instead of the votes getting spread out between the 2.

The first URL posted at the beginning of the entry is the URL to duke's pic. Copy and paste that into your web browser, go there. At the bottom of Duke's pic is a button "vote for me". Clicking on that takes you to a page that asks you for your email address - obviously so one person can't just vote over and over for their own pet. That's it, you're done! Thanks to everyone that helps me out!
ben

4th of July

I smashed my right pinkie yesterday - bad. Dumb mistake and I will be paying for it for a long time. I had plans of BBQ'ing steaks and such today, no such thing is going to happen, I feel like crap. It also is slowing down my typing considerably.

The fingernail is definitely going to come off - the whole thing is black. I HATE when I do stupid things like that. I was out back on my little step ladder pounding in a stake for holding up one of the Sissoo's. When I was done, I was folding it back up - not realizing my pinkie was sitting the way of the "folding zone". Lord - it was a painful event and has been ever since.

About and hour and a half ago, I had just laid down to take a nap - when my cellphone rang. I didn't recognize the number and had half a mind to not answer - but I did anyway. It was Glen. Glen is one of the homeless guys I have been feeding and handing a few dollars to for a couple of months now. They show up out of the blue - I cook them dinner. They eat - and eat - and eat.

His buddy is a paraplegic - he cannot walk. I have attempted to persuade them every time they come here to get some government help - there's plenty of it out there, ESPECIALLY for disabled people. They were living in a park near the airport - take the light rail all over the place and basically panhandle their way through life. BUT - Glen - the guy that is not disabled - is very intelligent and very motivated. He HATES living on the streets but he has been taking care of his disabled buddy and hasn't been able to work.

Glen informs me they have acquired their own place. I mean, they actually rented out a house looking thing - it's a small house that has to rental units. He was asking if I had some extra nails and a hammer - he wanted to build a ramp to get his buddy up and down out of the house over the stairs. I was already half zonked in my nap-zone, I didn't feel like doing anything.

But - they were desperate. Not for nails and a hammer - for food. I have never in my life refused anyone food - and I have given out a LOT of it since 1984 when I became a Christian - and I never will if I have anything that I can give. Driving over to 11th avenue and Adams - where they live - wasn't a pleasant prospect - but I just forced myself to say yes, got up, and got out of here. Stopped and picked up both cooked food and sandwich meats and some bread on my way over there and some beverages.

I have had a LOT of dealings with the homes in the last 2 plus decades. My observations - I have only seen a couple of people that REALLY wanted off the streets, the rest had acclimated their mindset to the point that they were just going to beg for the rest of their lives. I was quite amazed that Glen actually pulled it off - he wanted off the streets badly. His buddy cannot do much of anything for himself, so he's basically bound to taking care of him. I have no idea how these guys met or why Glen is so intent on taking care of him - but it is something incredible to me.

Glen is a very respectful - but very determined person. I was also as determined - there is plenty of government money out there for disabled people - you have to go and fill out the forms/seek the assistance, but his disabled buddy would qualify for all kinds of assistance. I will be going over there again next week - and I will again be insisting Glen take his friend to a place that is right down the road from them and start asking for help. The guy can't walk, can't talk very well, has suffered a life-altering stroke. This is a person, in my opinion, that should get government/community assistance. Glen should be pinned with a medal for forsaking his life to take care of this guy.

BTW, Glen paid for the place out of panhandling. I wonder how fast people will judge the man. I wonder when we make such judgements if we have ANY clue the circumstances that lead certain people to that point. Glen unabashedly stated that he was going to a 4th fireworks show to - work the crowd with his buddy. Maybe - just maybe - there ARE times when you get hit up for money from a street bum that that person is someone that can't work, can't get a job, can't because of whatever.

I went over there with fried chicken and bought some ham slices on sale with some bread and some drinks. Nothing fancy or expensive - but tasty food none-the-less. They consumed the entire bag of chicken in a short period of time. Gary was getting sick when I showed up - he hadn't eaten and it was hot. There is evap cooling in the place - I have spent many summers with evap cooling only and no AC - I know how it feels. It's actually cooler to go outside in the shade when the humidity and the dew point is high enough - and the dew point is WAY high right now, which renders evap cooling almost useless. Glen got Gary up off the floor - there is no furniture - into his wheelchair, brought him outside. Gary ate a piece of chicken slowly. Glen offered him more, he said no. But, after a few minutes, he did want more. Meanwhile, Glen had been stuffing himself.

Glen confided after Gary went back inside that he has not been able to work or do anything because his time is spent taking care of Gary. Gary's brother, Rit - this guy has some problems in the mental department - is there as well. Glen figures it's good enough, he can leave Gary there and go look for work.

Again, the whole situation is amazing to me. I went and saw the situation with my own eyes - I need not guess. I didn't give them any money - I just gave them food and drink. But, I did place an ad on Craigslist for help. You'd be surprised - people will help if they can. One lady wrote me and asked for the address, said she would stop by and drop off some food. It hasn't been that long since I posted that ad, I'm hoping for some offers for a couple of beds and maybe some furniture.

This morning. I couldn't resist. I took a "country" drive to the nursery that's going out of business and bought 10 more of buck per 3 gallon pot ficus trees. I also took all 3 Danes with me. They "told" me they wanted to go. Prince was sticking his head out of the rear side window almost the entire trip there and back. He has a very large head and it was attracting a lot attention. It was really a drive to determine for sure whether the Discount Tire fix had worked. It had not. I am thinking at this point that maybe there is a mechanical problem, or maybe one of the rims is messed up. I'm not sure what to do - don't exactly have money to start spending on diagnostics. I don't have to go out of town if I don't want to and the thing only acts up at high speeds.

So, I think for now, just leave it and if/when finances get better, then deal with it. I had to put off my lady friend up north, I had full intentions of going up there for a 4th of July visit.

As it stands, I held my pinkie off away from the rest of my hand and dug several holes today, planted several plants. Mimi suggested it may be broken - certainly the force of the impact was enough for breakage. She further suggested I put it in a splint, I refused. A splinted finger will cost my my job, basically. You can't drive with an "inoperable hand". My right hand, the damaged pinkie hand, is my shifting hand. I can shift gears without a pinkie, just have to focus on it as I pay no attention to shifting, it's quite an automatic function for me.

Umm, well it's late enough, I will be going to bed soon.

Hope you all had a nice 4th of July celebration.
ben

Running Around

I finally broke down and took the car back to Discount Tire. Hour and a half wait, they tell me. Just about every time I go there it's an hour and a half wait, so I end up just putting air in the tire and leaving. This time I decided to bite the bullet and do the wait. Fortunately there is a Walmart across the parking lot - something to do and I had business there anyway.

So, I go to Walmart. No, nothing happened there with customer service - I was taking my time walking through the entire place. The store is so massive, that took quite a while, like almost an hour. I got a napkin holder and some napkins (have been wanting to do that for quite a while now, I just keep forgetting); another garden hose - so I don't have to keep moving one of the houses from one outlet to another; and the new glassware that was the reason I wanted to go there in the first place. These glasses are much larger - it's summer time and a small glass of ice water or whatever drink does - nothing really.

After returning, the man approaches me and tells me one of the tires is bad. I inform him that buying new tires right now is totally out of the question, do you have anything used? He does - and it's identical to the new ones I bought a while back that are on the rear of the car. He informs me of such and says the tire has a lot of tread on it, that I only need buy one more new tire and it's done. Okay, well - no new tires today, thank you. I had all 4 tires rebalanced - free of course - but have not gotten on the freeway to find out whether there is still a vibration.

If there is, I will take the car to a different shop and have the wheels balanced and checked out there. If it isn't - which is my extreme hope - the problem is solved and I need not deal with it anymore.

Trip to the post office - they are only opened 3 hours today and were closed when I got there. But - they have this automatic thing now that uses a debit or credit card, I wanted to send my mortgage payment via a faster delivery mode anyway. Trip to the bank - deposit tenant's checks and money orders, over to pick up Caleb and finally home.

I'm still grappling with whether to get another 401k loan. I just can't seem to decide one way or the other - but it's something I need to get resolved in my mind for my own peace' sake if nothing else. I'm thinking hold off a couple of weeks and see what happens. Now that I have 3 paying tenants I'm sorta hoping I can pull out of this personal mortgage "crisis" and eventually get caught up. I'm fully a month and a few days behind on the mortgage payment.

DANG. I forgot to go to the DMV and get my driving history. Heck, I don't even know if they're opened today. Seems to be a day of shortened open hours. I think I'll call over there after this and see if they are - there's an office about 5 miles down the road from me. If I go, I will take the extremely long way home, get on the freeway and cruise 75mph or so and see what happens. I KNEW there was something I forgot, darnit. I hate making all kinds of trips, I tend to plan them in advance and get it all over with.

Anyway, I'm going to get out pen and paper and start looking at what I can do to try and get caught up on the mortgage without loans and things. The thing that is slammning me right now is the electric use - knew it was coming, and here it is - it's at $10 and change per day, which really isn't that bad - but that's because we haven't gotten up to the 110 or higher mark. Today's high is 103, tomorrow is allegedly 103 and then Sunday we zoom up to 109. Weekends are always more expensive - for whatever reason. Laundry is a factor, yes, but most of us are doing the drying outside which helps mitigate the use. Price of fuel has gone up - another $15 to fill up the tank from what it went down to before.

Well, I guess I better find out of the DMV is open - I haven't made any decision about a daytrip up north tomorrow because of the car. I hate to put the lady on hold like that, but I already told her what is going on with my car.

Have a great day!
ben

My Trip To Home Depot

Mark this as another freebie day due to extremely poor customer service.

I went to Home Depot to buy some cheap 8 foot strips of wood to hold my Sissoo’s up straight. Sissoo trees that is. They need the help - they are drooping over, just not mature trees yet. I also wanted to get a big economy box of Miracle Gro; poison that kills the bees or whatever that are eating leaves off of various plants around the property and some of that green tie-off stuff to hold the trees to the posts - much easier on the bark than rope or whatever else may be laying around.

I spent considerable time in the store looking for all of this stuff. That, in and of itself alone meant nothing to me at the time - huge store and I didn’t know where some of the stuff was at.

I go to the garden checkout. The teenager that is running the register has already shut it down. The garden checkout was NOT closed, but she had closed it anyway. Now, she was trying to get it up and going again. Well, it was ABOUT to close in like 10 minutes. I waited at least 5 minutes for her to get this register going again, she finally shut the thing off and moved to the register on the other side. I wasn’t particularly amused but I said nothing about it and kept my “good graces”.

She rung everything up, I paid the bill, walaah. Done.

Not.

I ALWAYS go over register receipts. I don’t care how long it takes - such as going over a grocery receipt - I am not going to get ripped off by a computer that scans something wrong or has wrong information input into the system. I spotted a glaring mistake. The poison - which I remember clearly read at $6.79 run up at $13.99. I said in low tones to the cashier that I was going to go check the price on the poison as I was pretty sure it wasn’t anything near that price.

Sure enough, I was right, computer was wrong. So I go back. “Well, sir, you’re going to have to go back inside to the customer service counter, I can’t give refunds here”. At this point? I’m still in a congenial mood, stuff happens. I get to the counter, there is one lady running it, but there is no-one else there. I show her the receipt, the bottle of poison and then tell her about the error. She takes the receipt and the bottle. Another employee comes up - she goes across the way to show her something, totally putting me off.

I’m starting to have some time invested into this, and when I lose time to incompetency, I usually end up on the winning side - just have to be patient. She comes back to me - we start walking to the aisle where the poison is. She stops to help another customer. We start moving again. She stops to help yet another customer. I’m starting to get annoyed. We finally arrive at the poison center - bug killing stuff - and she sees the problem. There are 2 sizes of the same stuff. The stuff I bought was a quart size, the stuff that it rung up as is almost a gallon size. Problem was, BOTH of them were QUART containers. The stuff I bought was above the $6.79 price, the other containers were at the $13.99 price, even though they had no more quantity than the 32 ounce stuff. In other words, there were 2 problems going on here.

Regardless. We go back to the counter. Another individual is waiting at the counter. Instead of taking care of my situation first - my money back for the error, she starts taking care of this guy!! Now I’m getting to the “get management” phase, in my mind if nothing else. She spends a couple of minutes dealing with this guy and then comes back to me. At this point? I have already determined that a conversation with whatever highest level of management is available the store will occur before I leave.

But, I play the game. She tells me she is going to give me back the difference. I ask about whether there’s a scanning error policy. Nope, she says, there is not. Somewhere around that point, I asked to see a manager. She decisively tells me that she is a supervisor and can take care of whatever I need dealt with. “No, ma’am, you can NOT, you have put me off 4 times now in dealing with other customers while you were supposed to be dealing with me, I do not like your particular brand of customer service and I want to speak to the store manager.” “Well, I can call her, but she won’t be coming up here right away, it’s going to be quite a while before she gets here”.

I didn’t quite understand THAT statement, but I was firm - I will wait. I waited all of about 3 minutes. A lady shows up. I tell this lady what this other lady had done - all of it. “Is this your idea of customer service?” NO, it is NOT, she flatly stated. I then asked her about the scanning policy - same thing. I then asked for the name of the general manager, I have dealt with that person before at the store. “Well, he’s away on vacation, how can I help you?’” We go back and forth. I’m not being rude, but I am being firm.

I finally said - after her repeated asking and my repeated statement that I just wanted the name of the GM and the date this individual was going to be back - that I wanted a discount for all the time I have wasted in trying to get anything done here. She said fine and walked behind the counter. She scanned everything in my cart, proceeded to the cash register and proceeded to hand me cash - $34.04 - for the entire order.

I looked at her and stated that I still wanted to purchase these items - the money I was looking for was concerning the product that scanned wrong. No, she says, this is what I’m doing for you. I said thank you - heartily - have a great day and tried to leave. I say try because when I went to go out through the garden center - it WAS closed at this point. I turn around and go back - and see the manager giving both the cashier that spent forever and the supervisor that told me “she won’t be here for a lonnnnnnng time” absolute HELL. The kid cashier started mouthing off to her - she put an end to that in a lightning’s flash of time.

I got FAR more than I expected out of the “deal”.

Will I go back? Of course! You can’t ban EVERY store for poor/piss poor/abhorrent customer service, if you did, there wouldn’t be many places left to shop!

ben

Wednesday

1 day left to go in the work week! Yayyyyyy!
I can't believe I have 305 posts on this blog already (if I copy and paste this to KCL, I am referring to my other blog, not my KCL blog).
Like, didn't I just start on this site a little while back? Seems so anyway.

Work? I took out a huge order this morning, the flatbed was fully loaded from front to back. Pretty heavy stuff, too. They always make these jobsites a test of your truck driving skills. This one was no different. Oh, and this is a new customer for our company. Anyway, get the truck unloaded, get turned around and head out to the exit gate - to find a truck blocking the exit and quite apparent it was going anywhere anytime soon.

The foreman comes up to me and informs me there is another exit - just go "back there" and "down that road" and you'll see it. Too bad a semi truck isn't like a Tonka toy, just pick it up, turn it around and off you go. Instead, I'm backing down a narrow lane and having to back around a very tight corner. It's amazing how many sets of eyes are on your truck when you're maneuvering like that. It was lunch time and they were all watching this. Figured because of that - gloating in stupid pride - I would nail it the first time and not have to do a pull up. Well, I did nail it the first time, but the pride stuff is fodder for for the trash can, so is gloating.

Mr. DOT was following behind me on the freeway. That would be a Department of Transportation Commercial Vehicle Enforcement pickup truck. They do not have to have "probable cause" or whatever to pull over a commercial vehicle, or so I've been told, and so it's happened many, many times to me. I have been pulled over by this particular individual several times. He followed behind me for a while - kind of unnerving - you're waiting for the lights to start flashing as he had quickly gotten onto the freeway and pulled up to me from sitting still on the side of the road.

I was relatively sure the truck and trailer would pass a full inspection, so no worries there, and my paperwork is ALWAYS good, no worries there - still, it ain't no fun gettin' pulled over. I was quite surprised when, after some time had passed, he got into the next lane and apparently changed his mind. Must have been lunch time for him, too.

My newest tenant paid me today - well it IS the first of the month - but there was a surprise. He paid me for the full month, not just 2 weeks. I don't mind getting paid bi-monthly, but right now, that extra money is going to do some great damage to my bill-paying efforts. I haven't had a tenant pay for the entire month in quite a long time. I make the bi-monthly payment option available - because it's just another thing to help get tenants in here when I need one. I FAR prefer the full month in advance, but as I say, it's not that big of a deal.

Ken - the drunk tenant story from the other day - I have only seen once, I think, since the ordeal. That was yesterday as I came home early, but only for a second, to drop something off. I was in the area - there are several vendors just down the street from my house that I go to frequently. I rarely stop at my house - I used to all the time and eat lunch here (with the blessing of my-then manager), but I discontinued that practice as I didn't think it sets quite well with my current manager. He told me a story of a guy that used to work for him a long time ago that would go home and stay there for up to THREE hours. Now obviously that is not only abusive, but that is stealing time from the clock. He eventually fired the guy - don't blame him there, either. I have no ill feeling about stopping by my house for a couple of minutes to drop something off. In this case, I had bought a monitor for dirt cheap from the City of Mesa - they have a surplus sale every Tuesday and Thursday, I happened to be there during the sale hours making a delivery of some fire hydrants.

Umm, I got way off subject. That's because I LOVE this new monitor, it's a flat screen and the resolution and the appearance looks a hundred times better than the old monitor which was also a huge electric hog. I bartered with them to get the price cut in half of what they were asking. Umm, it's not a NEW monitor, it's a used one - they automatically get rid of stuff after X amount of years of service. They usually are asking FAR too much for everything. I just suggest "my" prices to the lady in charge, if she accepts it, great if not, oh well. They also had a Brothers printer/copier/fax/probably a robot that makes dinner for you/all-in-one thing at only $35. But - I didn't know if it worked and I didn't the time to spend to find out - the lady in charge said she would be glad to hook it up and show me if it works or not - again, I don't have all day. A few minutes is one thing, half an hour is another.

So - the lady is asking whether I'm coming up this weekend. I had to say I dunno. The vibration on that car is still there. I really don't want to drive clear up to Flagstaff with that kind of nonsense going on. I'm going to give another try at Discount Tire - where I bought the tires - a freebie of course - to see if they can actually show some level of proficiency with their equipment.

Overcast most of the day, humid and nasty outside. I WILL take dry heat over humidity any day of the year. Actually, I'll just take this summer being over with and bid it adios, thanks. Yeah, I know - IN YOUR DREAMS@!

I'm done.
ben

Tuesday

The work week well - this particular one anyway - is half over. It is also the last day of the month of June. There are just a little over 6 hours left in this month, meaning that I got away with one - if not only for this year.

What I got away with was about $130 less in electric usage than June of last year. SRP - my power supply company - faithfully sends me out a readout of the entire year's worth of electric usage. June stood out from last year - historically it is the hottest month of the year - and certainly from that readout - it was at least $50higher than any months worth of usage last year.

But - this year's June has been amazingly low in temps until - last week I guess. The AC is running off the hook now - not unexpectedly - in keeping it cool in here.

Okay, enough about electricity. It's of particular interest to me - probably not to anyone else. Then again, this IS my blog! Lol.

Of even greater interest is the second Airbus accident. Fin graciously hooked me up with a website that is frequented by commercial jet pilots and other experts in varying fields related to it - I was reading with great interest today the provisions made by such concerning the newest/fresh crash of yet another Airbus - this time an Airbus A310. I think the AF crash was a 330 model?
I may go ahead and register with that site, undoubtedly will never post anything since I am your basic know-nothing compared to those that are posting there. Still, it's all quite fascinating to me.

In all the fascination, however, I do not forget that a lot of people have lost their lives in both crashes over the Indian Ocean and for that, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the deceased. I have not seen much about the Air France flight - guess there's not much to report.

Entire torso area is burning. I have just been standing out in the hot sun for a couple of hours watering plants and taking stock of the entire situation on my property. What are my next moves. Well, I have the buck a piece plants left to plant - I'm waiting until this coming 3-day weekend. I have also decided to transplant at least one of the Norfolk Pines. Although they are where I want them, they are not doing well there. When Mary was here, we had discussed transplanting one to the front of the house where it would get a lot more shade and less direct exposure to the sun.

This because I had read on numerous websites that it really doesn't like arid climates, it wants a more humid climate instead. I figured at least getting it out of the hot AZ sunshine would help - we are in the midst of some humid days right now. THAT one is doing QUITE well. The branches are not burned as the other ones are. Well, excepting one. there is one where a couple of the branches greenery is only slightly burned, the rest of that tree is growing like crazy.

There is another that is seriously burned and doesn't seem to be growing at all. And then yet another which is in between the 2 aformentioned.

Anyway, I SOOOOOO want to get an "automatic" drip watering system in. I'm spending some serious time out there now that summer and high heat has arrived in watering that stuff.

On a different note, I was watching the - "loser" - walking down the street past my house a little while ago. He used to say hi to me or I used to say hi to him - either/or first. Some months ago, I was greeting him and he was totally ignoring me. The man is known as a "loser" because he is 30 something years old and still lives with his parents. He doesn't work - and doesn't want to. It has nothing to do with the economy - he has been living his entire life like that LONG before this recession started. He's about 6'6" tall. Lanky, not especially strong looking. Face is aged well beyond his years - he's a meth user.

I was out front watering all the menagerie of plants out there and he comes walking by. I said nothing - I discontinued since he decided he was not going to respond with anything. I think the silent treatment is the greatest diss of all of mankind. There is no positive OR negative response, there is just nothing. It is response in itself - it most assuredly is. He was walking along, had his fists clenched, had a look of hate on his face and was walking with some determination. Where he was going and why he was posturing like that - no clue.

But I have observed many people over the years with same such look and posturing. Not a one-time event, but a stance that is repeated over and over and over again. I have always wondered what, exactly, is going through that person's mind. In my case - well - this is the guy that was screwing the former tenant named Justine - in my house. I did not want this man coming into my home at all. If an adult cannot find it within him or herself to go out and get something going for themselves in life, I really don't want anything to do with them.

Even the people that I have given food or meals to are people that are driven to do whatever it takes to keep themselves floating - but - the times being what they are and the circumstances that they are facing proved to be too much. People that would never have taken a hand-out from anyone have come to my door - with my CL invitation of course - wanting the help that I was providing. I am not handing out food now. I am still having people over here and there for meals. Not that I don't want to hand out food - my situation with doubled hourly cuts have forced that upon me. I have no reservations at all in having a person or persons over for a meal that I was already preparing - just having to make more for the extra mouths.

As life moves on - and it always does - I always come to points where I have to face not only my mortality - if only in my thinking at the moment - but also WHAT is my contiued purpose here. There is more to life than what I am doing with it. At least, from the perspective of the Bible and the life I have lead before I started journaling. No, journaling is not a hindrance or my setback, it has nothing to do with it.

I have to be content that what I am doing now is what I am supposed to be doing now. If it is not, then opportunity will open up to do something else.

There is something in me that would like to earn massive amounts of money and finance the many missionary contacts I have around the world. Old contacts - old friends - people I have served with on the field. Many of them are still out there. I didn't quite make it - due to a devastating divorce and the shunning of a church. Which may not be VALID reasons in the eyes of God, but - the effect on my soul, heart, and mind was enough. Even my Dad asked yesterday about whre I am going to church. I said I am not going and referred to the shunning. I also made quite clear the fact that I have not turned my back on God and that I still love the Lord.

Well, I'm just rambling I guess. I have a lot on my mind right now. There are many distractions that life has to offer. I'm not convinced that many of them are worth the time of day or the thought in mind that they absorb.

ben