Wednesday 1/26/2011

Wednesday

Tiffany - the tenant that is moving out - showed up last night with 2 people and a pickup truck and began the process of moving the large amount of things she has in her room - out. Which is a good thing. I have the room paid for in advance for the entire month of February, I was glad that she was sticking to her word. 5 full days to get it completely emptied, carpet cleaned and ready for the next person.

The other tenant that just recently moved in - is posing some problems. Basically, I am getting that this guy has never lived in a shared housing type of situation and I guess it's time for some education. We don't shave our faces and then leave the little hairs all over the counter. We don't put our personal hygiene items on the bathroom counter and leave them there - you only do that if that is your own, personal bathroom. Yes, you can leave shampoos on the ledges in the shower, but nothing stays on the counter excepting the anti-bacterial hand soap that I keep a constant supply of there.

We don't pile dishes in the sink. We don't come up with the excuse that the dishwasher had clean dishes in it, therefore, no place to put dirty dishes. Instead, we empty out the dishwasher, put the dishes away and then start the process of putting dirty dishes back in.

We don't sit on the owner's computer and attempt to hijack it when the owner comes home from work.

But, the coup de grace was yesterday. He was on my old computer, filling out some sort of online form to sign up for school to get a security license to become a security officer. I let him stay on it since it was related to him getting a job and decided to sweep the kitchen floor and then mop it.

I got that all done just before he got done on the computer. The floor was still wet. He started walking towards the refrigerator. I stopped him. "Can you wait a couple of minutes until the floor dries, please?" Well, Ben, I have to get ready for work, I need to get my food ready right now. "Can you wait a couple of minutes until the floor dries, please?" I have to get ready for work now, if I don't leave early, I will hit rush hour traffic and I will be late for work.

I am getting visibly annoyed at this point. If it was such a rush to get ready for work, what was all of that sitting on my computer for 20 plus minutes after I had graciously allowed him to use it as long as he needed to to get his stuff done on there? The idea that he couldn't wait a few minutes for the floor to dry? I offered it this way: GO AHEAD, DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO.

"I'm not trying to be a prick......yada yada yada", was his reply and onto his excuses, but instead of going into the kitchen, he went to his room. My first thought was maybe he wasn't TRYING to be a prick, but he was definitely accomplishing that goal with great perfection, I might add.

I went and got some paper towels and manually dried the floor so that I wouldn't have to mop it over again.

This guy isn't going to work out. The other night, he was making so much noise, as I reported in another entry, that it woke me up - me having ear plugs in and a large box fan running next to my head. I asked Martha, the other female tenant about it. She had wondered if there had been a party out here that night. NO, I replied, it was him and JD living it up, at mine and your expense in terms of sleep.

Again, the guy has no clue. I don't know if it's just that he doesn't KNOW that what he is doing is unacceptable in such a situation or that he doesn't CARE.

But, it only gets worse. Lynnette - the trailer tenant - reported that he was yelling into his phone - at his mother - yesterday. I have heard him raising his voice in his bedroom as well.

I have no choice but to write up a notice - I am not going to get into it with him personally, at least not on the "first volley", spell all these things out and ask him if my place really is the right place for him to live. Cause' in reality? A person that wants to live like that needs their own apartment. Of course, he cannot afford such a thing. He will only continue to run into problems living with other people such as he is with us wherever he goes, irrelevant of who it is he is living with.

But, I am going to write up that notice today and I am going to leave it under his door. It isn't an eviction notice, I think I have decided on the title being something like: "Notice: Shared Living Etiquette".

If he doesn't like it, he's free to leave. He is paid up through the end of the month. In such a situation, I don't want or need an advance move-out notice, if he can't or won't change, I will give him the appropriate 30-day notice since that's all I can really, legally do and deal with it that way.

I get people that are real pickles once in a while, long-time readers know full well who those individuals from the past were. This guy is starting to rank right up with Mary, Justine and Sheila. Those are names from the past, people that moved in, all 3 were forced out with restraining orders. 2 of the orders I had served, 1 of them was Mary serving on Justine.

I don't think I'll need a restraining order here, I think I will try reason and logic with the man because, I still am not sure that he understands that he cannot just go around doing whatever he pleases without possibility of consequence. I'm guessing this is his first "adventure" into living with other people besides his own family. The way he talks to his own mother gives a good clue as to how THAT situation must have gone for the last 20 whatever years that he has been living and walking on the face of this planet.

I have talked with his mother, she called for him, he was not home, I talked with her. She didn't bring up negative stuff, so I didn't either, she actually sounded like a really nice person.

Well, that's life in the rental lane. Nothing new under the sun, but it's been a while since I've had to deal with this kind of nonsense.

As for me, work day approaches and there is some pipe to pick up at a vendor and deliver it to a jobsite.

Therefore, I bid you........g'day!

ben

More Of The Hummingbirds

Both feeders were running low on the sugar concoction the multitudes of hummingbirds are drinking - at the tune of about 2 inches of it a day.  That's a lot, at least compared to a month ago.  So, I stopped at Walmart today hoping to find a better deal than that of which Fry's had - $5.00 for a bottle that  half fills them up twice.

Sure enough, they have $0.97 packets of it - makes a quarter per package, enough to half fill both feeders which is all I want to do anyway.  I bought 5 packages, should be enough to last quite a while.  Got dog food, pond clarifier and a new AC filter - it's full of junk and I want to replace it in case I need to turn on the heat again anytime soon.

Came home.  Got on the computer - I do that pretty much first getting home. Got up from that, mixed up the mixture and put it in the fridge.  Directions say to use warm water to mix it up, I wanted to put it out there cool, not warm since they are used to drinking a cold concoction.  Felt tired, went and took a nap.  Came out, the "kid" tenant - he's early 20's - was on my old computer.  He is trying to find a new job.  He said he would be on it for 5 minutes, so, I decided to get the feeders, clean them out and put fresh liquid in them.

Ummm, I was not prepared for what happened next or what's BEEN happening since the point in time that I took the feeder into the house.  One of the regulars had come up to drink, I had the thing in my hand.  He went and perched on the fence, looking at me.  I went inside, thoroughly cleaned out the feeder, poured in fresh concoction, took it back out.  One of them - don't know which - buzzed me.  Stopped about 6 feet above me, hovering.  MAD. That bird was fuming mad!!  And now?  They can't drink out of the thing, they are too busy fighting!!

Benb notes that next time he wants to refill the feeder, do it at NIGHT.  I have no idea why this action of me refilling the thing sent them in to a huge frenzy, but it did and it's been going on for over an hour now.  I refilled the other feeder but there isn't any activity going on over there.

Other things going on, but, I'll save that for tomorrow's entry.

ben

Tuesday 1/25/2011

Tuesday

Rather odd. I have been running ads for the room - that will be vacated shortly as I called the lady who is "occupying" it and asked when she was going to get her stuff out of there.

She lost yet ANOTHER job. Unbelievable, the third in 2 months time.

But that isn't the subject. A man calls. Now, I have in both the subject line of my ad and in the content of the ad itself, written very clearly: Available February 1st. This guy calls me, tells me he just got into town, got out of the airport and was at - the major intersections near my house. In other words, he was moving in today.

NOT. Can't rent out a room that is full of someone else's stuff and I told him that my ad plainly states that it isn't available until Feb 1st.

Next? Phone rings again about an hour later. This time it's a man who wants to come see the place - right now. I offered the same information: not available until Feb 1st. I know that, he says, and explains his situation in living in an apartment complex with people walking up and down the hallway all night long making all kinds of noise. Yes, I know that scenario ALL too well. I didn't really want to show it last night, it was getting closer to my bedtime and I was not in the mood, but he REALLY wanted to come over, offering that if it looked good, he would put money down on it.

Okay, that was enough bait for me, come on over. He did, too, within 15 minutes he was at my doorstep. Umm, make that gate step, I don't have a front door by design : ) Showed him the room - boy does that woman have a LOT of stuff in there, I am calling her again today. Please just get it out of there. She is worried about being able to pay the rent. She was caught up until Monday. She obviously thinks I am going to make a big issue out of it - not. She has no job, I am letting her off of this last week just to get her to get that stuff out of there. I haven't told her that yet, I just came to that decision this morning - otherwise - she is going to wait too long to get it done.

Getting off of that tangent, we start the "talk". This is why I wasn't in the mood, I insist on talking with people for some time to get a feel for where they are coming from. If I am tired, I may not come off too well. But, I put on the happy face and the discussion was enough to lead me to believe more positive than negative. He pulls out the entire month's rent for February and that was that.

There has been only one other time that a person put money down on a room and that was from a lady that actually sent a check from Oregon.

After that, Mario, the other new tenant, comes out and wants to have a frank and blunt conversation. Yes, well I do those types of conversations well, thank you. He was next to blasting music out of my older computer's speakers last night at 1:00 am with JD sitting there - they were definitely living it up. No, I wasn't happy, I usually am not when I am jarred from sleep in the middle of the night and have to go out and deal with things.

So, we discussed that and the fact that I wasn't in a good mood this afternoon. Yes, I said, because I didn't sleep well the previous night and when that happens, well, I don't always want to talk to everyone. Look - there are also times when I just want some solitude. People can pass by in the kitchen, I am on my computer, I don't necessarily feel the need to say something to everyone everytime they pass by. I'm doing my thing, they're doing theirs, great. I am not unsociable, I just want to shut off the world here and there, tune things out and focus on whatever I am into at the moment. Yes, I have a bedroom I can go to, I spend very little time in there excepting to sleep.

The conversation ended well enough, but it was late - an hour past my bedtime.

Oh well.

My dermatologist appointment is for the 1st - cutting off flesh apparently - and then I was remanded to take the next day off. So, I have to ask today, I totally spaced it out that I needed a day off. In fact, the appointment sounds about as fun as jumping into a cesspool - this doctor wants to inspect all of my skin. Whatever toots your horn, lady, but ALL of it? Yes, cause' you haven't had it looked over in over a decade.

I didn't bother to tell her that in the case of having it ALL checked over, that has NEVER happened excepting maybe when I was a baby, a thing I wouldn't remember anyway. Do you have your skin examined once a year? Lol. She tells me every 6 months because I am "at-risk". Great. Just what I want to do, spend an afternoon in a gown in an office somewhere getting spected'.

You may be able to tell that I am not a fan of visiting doctor's offices. I am most certainly am NOT. I hate waiting, I hate taking my clothes off for a complete stranger to peer into whatever they want to as if I am some sort of machinery that needs greased and fine-tuned.

Whatever. I haven't even gotten to the news yet, which consists of a crop circle in Indonesia, a woman stepping down from the global warming position, lol, a more somber note of a bunch of cops being shot all over the country in a very short period of time (so they are fearing a war on cops) and a bunch of other stuff, really.

That's all, as I have work day approaching and as yesterday, there is plenty to do in there.

G'day.

ben

Monday 1/24/2011

Monday

2 days of not posting anything. Well, in reality, I had almost an entire post written up on Saturday, got busy with other stuff - and just never posted it. Yesterday, I didn't feel like writing, so there.

My dad sent me a rather strange email the other day about "this email may not be working and sending mail to my home address may not work, either". Followed by another email saying he would explain later, followed by another email saying that it would now work?!! 

This was a mass email sent to me and a bunch of other relatives. No clue. Is he and his wife having a spout and he was getting kicked out? Speculation galore as there has been no explanatory email stating what, exactly, he was talking about. I will be sending him an email this morning asking him what's going on.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!! I watched the first half of that game last night against the Jets and thought we were going to have a completely boring game. When the second half started, I hoped for a bit more of a challenge and the Jets did start picking it up - too little, too late. 

Typically, the Super Bowl is on or near my birthday, this year a day after. This is how I can instantly tell anyone, any time of the year that asks when the Super Bowl is - ohh, around the beginning of February, usually near the 5th....

Ummm, well, I want to get some other stuff done before the work day starts - which there is PLENTY to do in the truck routing system this morning, best way to start a work week is to start out running. What I want to do before the day starts is get another room rental ad up on Craigslist - a week before the end of the month, this is the time to get those ads going twice a day - so, I'm offa here.

G'day.

ben

Saturday 1/22/2011

Steelers V Jets today, dunno what time yet, still early.  Went to bed early last night as well, which isn't abnormal for me.  I have no plans made for today - yet - still pondering that one.  It's brisk outside so going out there will wait until the sun comes up and warms things up a bit.

I have been closely inspecting the damage caused by recent frost.  I am tempted to start cutting back branches and such, but, the experts tell you to not do that until spring.  I just hate to leave a tree looking like that for that long.  I am not, however, in any rush for spring to get here.  When spring gets here, summer is just around the corner, I can wait : )

I'm not exactly sure how many hummingbirds are using the feeders now.  It is hard to distinguish.  I now see 3 of them feeding at the same time several times a day.  If I am standing even within a foot of the feeder, they will fly right up and drink away.  I freeze and don't move, so I don't know if they don't recognize that I am standing there or if they simply have no fear.  I haven't seen a lot of fighting going on in the last several days, which is nice, I really don't get off on seeing one bird trying to dominate the entire feeder.

Changing the subject: Obama doesn't get it.  I don't know that he ever will, but - he didn't get a clue from voters in the last election, apparently.  Obama wants to spend more money.  Great, wish I could just pull money off of some imaginary money tree and spend, spend, spend.  If this nation didn't have a HUGE deficit, great, try it out. He is basically going to advocate, in his state of the union address, spending more money.

Do you live paycheck to paycheck?  I know several readers here that do not, but, many of them are just as concerned about this nonsense as mr. Average Joe and Jane that can't just go out and buy whatever he/she wants whenever he/she wants to.  But, I personally know a LOT of people that are living paycheck to paycheck - several managers at my work are doing that  even with 2 incomes in a married situation.  I guess I don't see where the government gets to just blow money wherever on the notion that spending more money will in some way end up gaining even more.

It takes money to make money, sure, but that is in the private business sector.  The government has grown to unsustainable proportions and as always, wants to grow even more.  It always wants to grow more.  The people running it make that possible and even encourage it.  I am waiting to see if the republican party that has basically taken over the House is going to do what they said they were going to do in the last elections.

Back to the hummingbirds, I moved the new feeder to a completely different location.  The first feeder is to the east, I watch it out the living room window - or I am standing out there and they come up to it regardless.  The second one I moved away from that area today and put it due south - I can also watch that out the back door which also has windows in it.  They already found it.  The first one has up to 4 bird feeding on it at one time now.  The one I just moved has just one using it.  I'm glad I moved it, is all.

I had this one as a draft, decided to go ahead and publish it, ie: the end.

Friday 1/21/2010

Friday

Strange dream last night, woke me up. An impossible act: a man came up behind another, opened his mouth, put it over the entire man's head, bit it off and swallowed it. The headless body plopped onto the ground. A few seconds later, this grotesque looking "head" came out of the man's neck. That dream woke me up.

Well, whatever and anyway, it's Friday. I was surprised to find a LOT of work in the truck routing system had been dumped in there overnight. About 30k worth of pipe being delivered to a contractor plus a bunch of stuff to be picked up for Monday deliveries.

Just nice to have something to do - which has been the norm to some degree lately versus nothing.

Obamacare and it's many dissidents and more pointedly, the news of all that is going on to repeal it, well I find it highly entertaining. The lastest "attack" against it is the State of Idaho claiming that they can simply nullify the bill in their state under some "archane law" or otherwise put as " Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void."

Lol. The amusement in all of this is Reid. The man is a relic. How he got voted back in, I'll never know. It still appears between polls and public opinion that more Americans want this thing repealed than not, start over and do it right - that's what I said at the beginning of this nonsense. My thoughts were that they were pushing the thing through like a runaway train. There was NO way, IMO, that they had spent anything near the time it would really take to research this thing through and come up with a good plan that wasn't going to end up throwing more public money down the toilet.

Off of that subject, another subject that always interests me are the pirates on the Somalian coast and now more of them being killed, this time by a raid initiated by South Korea to retake a ship that had been taken hostage. There is a pretty cool pic of the special forces, on the ship, crouched down by the windows, apparently about to go in and kill a bunch of them while at the same time, keeping all the civilians alive. Bravo, bravo, bravo!!! Gotta love that! You gotta figure a lot of training goes into making something like that happen in making sure no civilians are also killed in the firestorm - you can see holes in the windows where the helicopter and the naval ship were giving covering fire - pretty awesome. I wonder if they were also videoing it, I would love to see that.

January 21, 2011 6:05 AM 

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess my HAMP thing is underway. I mean, I've sort of been told on the phone that it is, I haven't really received any written confirmation of that. I will send in the first of 3 month trial payments tomorrow and then call them Monday to ensure that all paperwork has been turned in, is correct and if not, please resend and I will re do it, thank you.

This is the HAMP killer: you don't get it right the first time? You don't get a second chance, that's the FEDs saying that, not the lenders. It means before the first payment is due, you have to have i's dotted and t's crossed - perfectly - or it's a no-go. Once you start the HAMP process, it goes very quickly. It is NOT difficult to do, but I can understand now why the news reported that many of these modifications don't go through and people lose out on the opportunity. It's a hard and set rule: NO second chances.

I found the whole process a bit surprising in how fast it moves and the fact that you have to get everything done in a very short period of time. The news, as I have read it, has not reported this very well. They've only eluded to homeowners claiming that banks lost their paperwork, they did not elucidate on the subject of no second chances, short time period between when you first start the process and when the paperwork is due. It sheds a little fresh light on the subject, at least for me.

Now? I guess there are those calling for 30% down payments to get a home mortgage. Others want to revert it back to 20% - whatever the case, I am now becoming more comfortable with staying in my house seeing all of this starting to come out. How many people are going to be able to come up with even 20% down? On a $200,000 home, that's 40k. Just happen to be carrying that around in your back pocket, right?

I've trashed this subject around in my mind for months now. It has been a terribly difficult decision for me to decide whether to stay in the house and live with the fact that it's so far underwater, or short sale it and live with the fact that I will probably be a renter for the rest of my life. Seeing this 20 or 30% down stuff today in the news? Thanks, I think I'll stay and start saving to build a small guest house. It's going to be a long time, I'm guessing before my house's value is anywhere near what the mortgage is on it, I might as well start saving money, get another rental going on the property and get more income from it. I had toyed with this idea before - but that was when times were better. Now? I'm stuck at my house, I don't see any reason why not to build. Money, of course, but, I am now starting a more aggressive savings plan in my 401k, which I am now fully vested in. It might take a year or 2 to build up enough to get enough out to put up a good structure, I can live with that, not like I have any choice in the matter.

Work day is here.

G'day.

ben

1/20/2011

Thursday

Thursday, already? I did a double take on the calendar this morning thinking - for whatever reason - that today is Wednesday.

One man replied to my ad - well a real person and then a couple of scammers. The scammers say they want to rent your room and will pay 6 months in advance plus all kinds of fees included in that payment. You get sent a cashier's check, deposit it in the bank, then you "forward" some of the extra money they sent to an acquaintence. You see, this person is only try to help a friend with some much needed finances. A week or more later, the check bounces, if you spent any of the money, you are screwed. 

I occasionally toy with these people. One time I got it pushed to the point where the guy gave me his alleged actual phone number after I told him the first phone number was no good. I didn't go beyond that, it would have been a long distance phone call. So, I informed him I knew he was a thief and told him to bug off. Never heard from him again, lol.

The problem with the guy is that he has a dog. I have had enough experience with other people's dogs in my house to know it isn't a very good idea. Pissing all over the place, attacking my little dog - it just doesn't seem to ever work out, so, I didn't even respond to him. I have ways that it could be made to work - the dog would be in a kennel in the person's room during the daytime - but most people object to that. Not that kenneling a dog is considering inhumane, it's just that many people think it too confining and "punishing" the dog for nothing.

Well, they can think of it any way they please, but when it comes down to brass tacks: it's my house, not theirs. They find it very difficult to find anyone to take them and their dog in. I might, however, consider it with an extra $50 per month pet fee. Save the money while the person lives there and then use it to replace the carpet in that bedroom. I dunno, I'll think about it, I have time right now. The real push for people looking for new places to live generally doesn't start until the last week of any given month. I'm starting to become an expert at this stuff. 

I am upping the deduction out of my paychecks for 401k to 5%, initiating that today. I have 2% coming out. I can't afford it, but I can't afford not to. I will figure out how to live without the other money. Getting my hours back at work would be extremely helpful in that endeavor, but there is no sign in sight that that is going to happen any time soon. 

I was hoping this month I would get the safe driver award. Although the list hasn't come out yet, I know I won't be getting it. I got warnings last month and just getting warnings is enough to disqualify you. Of course, a safe driver, one would imagine, is one that stays out of accidents. I dunno, I guess I think it a bit unfair that as hard as I try to be as safe as possible - and getting no tickets or getting into accidents - I still get removed from the list. It would have been a week's pay. When I see that list and my name not on it, I am going to probably be a bit grumpy. 

Oh well, such is life. Right now, that extra money would be really nice. 

Work day approaches,

g'day.

ben

Wednesday 1/19/2011

Wednesday

So begins yet another round of trying to find another tenant. On top of that, I remembered that the queen mattress that was in that room is now in another room, because that tenant wanted to use her own mattress in there. So, I am going to have to buy a queen mattress for that room now. 

Gag. 

Hope I can find a decent used one as a brand new one is out of the question. Okay, a surfactual glance under mattresses and I see a bunch of them on there, some of them in the price range I would be looking at and some of those are good mattresses. 

Not big on used mattresses, but a new one is out of the question. You can buy those cheap, junk, uncomfortable mattresses, sure, but that's the point, they are junk. They don't last long and doesn't exactly nurture a good sleeping environment.

Whatever the case, I have a couple of weeks to get that done. I'm a bit nervous about losing the trailer tenants. If they get the job, I no longer have eyeballs watching over my place during the daytime while at work. They don't have the job yet and are competing with 2 other couples that also want the job, the owners apparently wanted management to come up with the 3 best couples and then the owners are going to meet with all 3 and make their decision. I DO hope they get the job, I just hate to see them go. It will be a HUGE standard of living increase in having their own place, free, plus $1,300 per month salary plus free utilities. That's hard to beat, especially for people that were homeless. 

Not much else and my time is up.

G'day.

ben

Tuesday 1/18/2011

So, I started writing an entry this morning but got caught up in other things going on, so, oh well.

The HAMP mortgage adjustment is apparently going through.  I was congratulated earlier today in a generic email and asked for more information, lol.  Oh, and sign a bunch of documents.  I can say that I read every word of the documents I was signing, oh yes, I did.  Nothing in there than what I already had learned about this program and fully expected, no shocks or surprises, I signed my life away, faxed it back to them, figure I will get more stuff as well.  I am now on a 3 month trial period - again as the modification I did last year.

Tenancy issues.  Always, always.

First and totally expected:  the female tenant that is never here is moving out at the end of the month.  I was happy to get the information 2 weeks plus before that date, not as the last guy, who handed me a money order and informed me he was moving out THAT DAY.  She is actually paid up through this week.  Amazing.  I am going to start running ads for the room today.

The trailer tenants - have been gone all day long.  Nothing new, they take off here and there.  The news is that they have interviewed for running a small apartment complex.  They made it through the first interview and have to go before the owners.  This might be the break they were hoping for - a salary, an apartment with free utilities.  They are using me as a reference and I am happy to recommend them.  I hope they get the position. I hate to see them go, but living in that trailer ..........well, I'm sure it is a motivating factor to get  a decent place to live and get life back in order.

I found a new doctor today.  I didn't look long.  It was based on location.  Yesterday was a dermatologist, today was a general practice deal - the person you go to with your life - the physical aspect of it - and hope she/he can figure it out.  I tell people I have skin cancer and they freak out. Maybe I should be far more alarmed than I am, but, I am not.  They cut it out, you're done unless it's the type that can spread.  Then, thet keep digging until it's ALL gone.

Earlier, I was outside cleaning out one of the pond filters.  It's quite the job, actually.  We're talking a large apparatus and it gets filled with fish crap and whatever else.  Not really nasty, just takes a while.  In fact, I wash out everything right over the top of plants - get that stuff into the ground, it's great fertilizer.  The neighbor's dog crashed down the partition, came over to the fence and started barking at me.  I said quite loudly: "Guess it's time to turn the music on".  10 seconds later, people were out there calling the dog and tell him  - in Spanish - to shut up.

Thank you.  I don't want to HAVE to turn on the music, just do the right thing and we won't have any more problems than we already have.

So now, I am potentially facing having the trailer tenants gone and all the stuff they do.   Meaning a lot more work for me.  I don't know that I want to find someone else to live in there, haven't decided that yet and they aren't gone yet.  If they do leave, well, I dunno.  Another great person or persons, sure, sleaze, slobs and filth, no thanks.

Today - has posed me enough to deal with, thank you.  I'm not stressing, but it was enough.  I don't want anymore, hope that's the end of it.

Good evening.

ben

The Dermatologist

I have never been to a dermatologist.
I am, admittedly, totally clueless here.
I would never have gone but I was told I needed to see one.
A dermatologist wants to mess with your skin, apparently.
Examine it with a giant magnifying glass; blast some freezing cold
junk at it; ask you a lot of questions about your exposure to sunlight;
ask if you have ever had skin cancer or anyone in your family;
use a lot of terminology I have either never heard before or have heard
but never investigated.

Honestly?  Walking in there, I got the sense right away that this is women's world,
not necessarily a place men visit.  I really had NO idea.  My answers to skin cancer
raised the alert status to the highest point, apparently.  Me, yes, one of my brothers, yes.

This lady had more bad news than a mosquito facing a fly swatter.
I went in there to find out what is going on with my face, not to find out that several "things"
on my arms are potentially more skin cancer.  I'm not saying that dealing with reality is a bad
thing, I just wasn't NOT prepared for the list of things coming at me.

She examined my face and told me it was swollen in several places.  She asked a LOT
of questions.  I answered as LOT of questions.  She believes my 35 years - minus some years
as a missionary in other states and in Mexico - and the fact that I rarely use sunscreen - is not helping
me, to put it mildly. She then suggested that she and I would become best friends.

Uh-huh.  At $50 co-pay per visit, I kinda doubt that.  However, I was open to everything she said, I received it, absorbed it and am pondering it.  She gave me 60 rated sunscreen protection and told
 me to use that from "now on".  Okay.  I didn't resist, just had some thoughts wandering around the
shelves in my brain attempting to collect any relevant information that might be stored there.

Pleasant woman, yes.  No, in terms of personality, a great visit.  In terms of the information given, I was
wondering what my life expectancy is.  She told me to stop, immediately, the use of facial anything that
has - whatever it is - in it. 2 different things.  She was spouting off terminology that apparently "most"?
people know? I am not stupid, I can guarantee you that, but in this realm, I can say I am not knowledgeable

She made it easy, there are only a couple of things on the market according to her that she recommends that doesn't have "those things" in it.  I call them things, she called them names.  I don't remember those names, but I'm sure in the next season of life, coming now apparently, I will be learning all of that.  Or, I will just not. I don't presume to necessitate the facility of having to know everything about everything.  Perhaps, in some cases, a professional and what they know is enough.

That sounds good, of course, but I am far too much of an inquisitive person to leave it at that.  I will do my homework, you can count on it.  You can BET on it.  I didn't doubt her, though and when I got home with
my "free" $50 samples, I cleansed my face with the special soap and then put whatever the facial cream
is over it and I can tell you right now, it feels MUCH better.

2 weeks from now? I am to go back.  She promised that several "things" were going to be removed from my flesh.  She also informed me that I would not be working 24 hours after that.  Yup.  I've had plenty of flesh wounds and kept on working.  The point was that bandaging would have to be placed over the removed flesh areas and - whatever.  It's 2 weeks from now.  I will ask for the next day off, cause' I was told I have to.

Let's face reality: she observed several areas on my arms that she believes are pre-cancerous.  I don't doubt
her.  I also don't doubt that I am going to spend as much money on visits there as it takes and take whatever
time off of work that I have to to get this in-check as much as is possible.

I am an outdoor person.  That's a big part of who benb is.  I like being outdoors.  It comes from my family and the lines.  We like being outdoors.  If you like being outdoors in the Phoenix, Arizona area and have for a good portion of your life, well, you have also been exposed to a great deal of sun and UV's and all that kind of terminology and yes, you might pay for it.

Just another reason I want to leave this area permanently.  I stuck here for now.  I don't want to be in this extreme heat and sun.  Blue skies are great, but you pay a price for it around these parts if you are light-skinned and of European descent.  Not a racial statement, just a statement of physiological fact.

G'nite.

ben

Monday 1/17/2011

Monday

Well now the real story has come out, or so it is believed, anyway. The Stuxnet worm was created by Israeli and US government. Lol. I find this highly amusing. Don't go over there and drop bombs on Iran's nuclear plant, just destroy it from within through a virus. The war of the future is here. No nukes, no missiles, no guns, just volleys of computer viruses.

Did you read or hear the story? Iran claims the damage was negligible, yet the Times story says something completely different: "The Times said the worm was the most sophisticated cyber-weapon ever deployed and appeared to have been the biggest factor in setting back Iran's nuclear march. Its sources said it caused the centrifuges to spin wildly out of control and that a fifth of them had been wiped out."

Absolutely amazing, the entire story was, not just that portion of it. 

Well, onto other things. My dad said that in Sierra Vista - not terribly far from Tuscon - there hadn't been any kind of memorial for the victims killed by a complete nutcase. So, he and his wife set one up, I think at the military base down there, invited the entire community out and yes, a lot of people showed up for it. 

Dear old dad. I remember thinking after that tragedy occured: I wonder if dad is going to do something in Sierra Vista about it. He wasn't going to, he's getting rather old and moving around/doing things is getting more and more difficult for him. So, reading his story of how he put it together and got it going was pretty cool, indeed. 

I'll be - his name is all over the local news down there and the event apparently was publicized. He did it out in front of Gifford's Sierra Vista office. 

Well, anyway, I have a doc's visit this afternoon, nothing else grandiose or great going on today. A couple of things to do in the truck routing system this morning - better than nothing.

Have a great day, folks, enjoy life while the enjoying's good to get......

G'day.

ben

Direct TV - Yet Another "Encounter"

I don't care what company or entity it is, if they are raising rates in THIS economy, they can go jump in a lake.  That's putting it nicely, thank you.  That includes the City of Phoenix, which is not the subject of this entry, but will be soon enough as I intend on showing up at their next meeting where they intend to vote on ANOTHER 5% increase on water usage rates - they can not only jump in the lake that is filled with water I paid for through extreme taxation, they can drown in it, too.

What occurred today?  I got an email from Direct TV.  I usually delete them without even opening it, but this one caught my eye.  It said something different on the subject line.  I clicked on it to find a notice:  we are going to raise your rates next month whether you like it or not and we'd like to let you know in advance about our sticking a bat up your @$$ and there is nothing you can do about it.  Okay, it didn't say anything even remotely close to that, it did say that there are "rate changes" coming.  

My cynicism of this company relates back to the countless experiences with this company I have had over the phone - over a more than 10 year span of time.  I mean - countless.  I don't know how many phone campaigns I have had with them, I do know that 99% of the time, I win and they lose.  I had one such campaign that went on for 3 or 4 days, spoke to dozens of people, was ostracized by 1 supervisor and I even bet another supervisor that, in the end, I will get what I want.  I offered a wager of $100.  She refused.  She also said I would NEVER get what I was asking for.  That WAS her words.  Too bad I can't go back to that person and show her that I got FAR beyond what I was asking for.  $150 credit to my account on that one, besides a lot of other perks.

See? It isn't written in stone that you can't get anything from Direct TV and mostly, a LOT of other companies whose first-encounter personnel you speak with will tell you otherwise.  But, if you don't like confrontation, this isn't going to work for you. I don't really LIKE confrontation, I just don't like getting SCREWED even worse.

No, I haven't even described my encounter with a woman that obviously has serious issues in life that go far beyond talking to a customer that didn't want to talk to her.  That customer being me.

So, without further ado - and long-windedness - let's get to it.  I did, of course, immediately call Direct TV.  In 10 years of calling them - actually longer - I know what kind of reply I'm gonna git from the "1st Responder". CRAP.  Pre-scripted crap at that.  I was polite, respectful and amiable to this person I got on the line, but, after I got the "no, that can't and won't happnen" junk, I asked for her supervisor. Oh, no, my issue isn't with this particular person, I already knew what she was going to say and I knew the correct course of action to get beyond it.  She connected me with her supervisor and then I dug into the problem.  I also knew this person, a supervisor, also has no authority to do what I wanted, but I needed to explain it so I could get to the next department.

Yes, it's a process.  It's a learned process, I spent the time and the dime to get the knowledge, whether anyone wants to try it is their business, I'm only reporting my business as I am not a particularly private type of person anyway.

My explanation to the supervisor was enough to get me to the next level.  She explained that she couldn't do anything for me, but the next tier could.  Great,thank you and transferred to the wrong department.  I ended up with a woman that is the same person you would talk to when you first call in.  If you have a low-level problem, they can help you, when it comes to money, normally they can't or won't. I was not going to go through all of that again and attempted to explain to her that I was just on the phone with a supervisor - please get me your supervisor so I can get transferred to the right department.

The BS that came out of that woman's mouth when I asked to speak to management was more than I even expected to hear from Direct TV, and trust me, I have heard a LOT from them.  I could write a book.  She first got indignant that I didn't think that SHE could do anything for me.  I tried to explain to her that I had already talked to management and that I had been directed to the wrong department. At this point, she let off on me.  Bypassing that negativity - a lot of it - I put the phone away from my ear.  I will not take that kind of abuse from anyone, but especially a company that I am paying good money for their services and that, I am NOT disrespecting the person I am talking to.

Management please.  Management please.  I heard a lot of squawking in the phone, when it finally ceased, I then put it back up to my ear.  It was then that she conceded to get me to her supervisor......bypassing needless lengths of communication...........manager on phone.  It was obvious from the beginning with this person that, if nothing else, he was going to talk to me like a human, not a piece of trash.  I informed this individual of the conversation with the woman and that he is welcome to review the recording of it, if such is, indeed recorded.  He replied: "I have no reason to disbelieve you and I WILL deal with my employee accordingly".  I thanked him for that and we moved on.

My call was about the fact that I was not going to be paying more money for Direct TV and that IS a fact.  I am either going to get that waived or I am going to move on.   We are allegedly out of the recession -  a statement of belief that I do not find credible and that with no more than surfactual evidence to support that finding.  I could go into all of that, but, that is not this entry.  The man offered me a full year without that increased price structure plus $2 off - plus - Showtime, free for 6 months.

Thank you, yes, have a great day!  I neither asked for nor even thought that I would get such an offer.  We bid ados and that was that.

I have to say that I had no idea that I was even going to have the need to call Direct TV to day nor that I was going to get into it with a person that hasn't got a clue, or more likely, that her employer is getting what they are paying for, or beyond that, that I would get even more movie channels for free.   But, I will, of course, take it and that's that.

G'nite.

ben

Sunday

I was sitting here at my computer which is in my kitchen last night, minding my own business- doors and windows shut - neighbors dogs barking and barking and barking.  It had been going on all day long.  It was after 9:00 pm with no end to this crap in sight.  It is a freaking nightmare to have to live next to people like this.

Their house is an old mobile home.  In those homes, the walls are made out of aluminum and behind it is usually a thin layer of insulation with paneling for the interior walls.  The windows - after 30 plus years of being in existence - weren't that great of technology to begin with when they came from the factory - they tend to start leaking and they do not keep sound out.  I know this because I lived in one for 11 years.

The point is that if there is noise outside, it's coming inside with little resistance.  How they can live with those dogs barking like that, I have NO idea.  I have 2X6 construction with thick, upgraded insulation and double-paned, LowE windows.  The noise of their barking, which was, for some reason, being aimed directly at my house, was penetrating all of that and competing with the sound level of my television.  I do not watch that much TV, that isn't the issue.  Dogs bark, everyone knows this.  Dogs should NOT be barking all day and all night.  I have written about this situation on here before, the problem resurfaced recently and I have been listening to this s*** every day.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that there is a chain link fence between their house and mine.  A block fence would tone the problem down quite a bit.  It wouldn't eliminate the sound altogether, but it would definitely help.  Too bad I don't have thousands of dollars to build a block fence.

Well, I had had enough.  I mean, it just clicked in my brain, I got up, went outside and shouted at the top of my lungs: SHUT those F******* dogs UP!!!  Yes, I used the F word,  a thing I don't like to hear or use and have no good excuses to provide here.  The bad excuse is that I was mad and getting madder.  Which isn't so great, either, but it is a living hell to have to listen to someone else's dogs barking 24 hours a day.  I am not exaggerating, either, those dogs were barking, nonstop all day long yesterday.

The guy is a total prick, I'm sure he took great pleasure in making life miserable for another human being, he attempts to do that frequently with whatever interactions that I see going on over at his house if it involves someone from the neighborhood.  I, however, took it a step further.  Got out the boom box.  Got out the step ladder.  Set step ladder up next to fence.  Put boom box on top of step ladder.  Aim boom box directly at their windows.  Turn boom box on to heavy metal rock.  Crank volume all the way up.  Go inside.  Forget about it.

That was the recipe.  I went out 2 hours later, turned it off and heard - nothing.  In fact, I didn't hear any dogs barking all night long.  Further, I only heard them barking for a few minutes this morning.  This is normal. Dogs have the charge to go ahead and bark at things - here and there, not 24 hours a day.  The boom box is still sitting out there, perched up high on it's ladder, waiting for further instructions.  So far, the instructions are to stay turned off.  That directive could change at any time, the boom box is on heightened alert.

You say it's childish.  It's - moronic - stupid - whatever, to do something like that to your neighbor.  Yes, perhaps it is.  However, if you had to live next to the kind of noise - AND - having had called the police; animal control; the city prosecutor's office, sent letters asking them to please do something about it - and have had that going on for about 2 years now - you might see things differently.  It's called walking a mile in another man's shoes.  In this particular case, I have shed all of societal restrictions imposed upon me for "civility" since this man next door has never heard the word civility or terms such as mutual respect and therefore, doesn't deserve any.  That's my opinion, of course, but I don't leave my dogs out all night long to bark ------ all .............night.............long.

In fact, if it continues, I am going to buy a BIGGER boom box that makes 3 TIMES the noise that the on I currently have.  That's very small of you.  No, actually, I don't think it is.  I think I have tried my best to pursue normal courses of action that most normal people would pursue.  I think that the line has been crossed: they simply don't care one way or another what kind of hell they are creating for anyone.  They are isolationists.  They will have NOTHING to do with anyone around here and if there IS any interaction, it is EXTREMELY negative.  I have seen it and been on the receiving end of it dozens of times now.  I think they can go piss off.

ben

Saturday 1/15/2011

I have decided to go ahead and do it: use my Best Buy gift cards and whatever cash necessary to get Windows 7.  I can't stand the idea that I spent the money on the RAM for this computer and can only actually use half of it because of the limitations of Windows XP.  So, later on when they open up, I'm heading up there.

Meanwhile, Great Clips is having a sale on haircuts so I will TRY to get in there.  I hate going into any barber shop or hair salon if there are mega-people waiting.

Monday, I have an appointment to see a dermatologist to find out what, exactly, is going on with my face.  Red marks and itching, that's all I know.  The 3 other doctors before this didn't have a clue.  They take some kind of skin test, supposedly, to find out what the problem is.

Burning 4 copies of the memorial later on today and then calling my friend's wife to see if she is still up for visitors tomorrow.  I don't know, I think she said she was going in for surgery this week, don't really know if she's going to be in any condition for it or not.  She asked me to come over is the only reason I would call her.  The surgery?  Cancer in both breasts, she is having them both cut off.  What a thing to have to go through right after her husband dies.  She IS the type of person that likes to have people over all the time, is all I can say about that.

Cleaning.  Today is major clean day.  I have let a few areas go in the house and it's time to get them spic and span.  Already started that little diddy.

Gun control.  I hate even going into it.  They are proposing that any gun dealer along the border has to report "gun sales of two or more high-powered rifles sold within five consecutive business days" covering semi-auto rifles greater than .22 caliber with detachable magazines.  Lol.  Okay.  Start the process and eventually you have nationwide gun control, that's what something like this would do.  My opinion of course.

Ummmm, I'm going to get ready to go, maybe if I hit Great Clips when they open - which is right now - I might get lucky and not have to wait an eternity.  Worth a try!

ben

Friday 1/14/2011

Friday

Just have a few minutes here as I got sidetracked this morning by news and also doing this HAMP junk. The non-paying tenant -- well I was going to leave her a notice yesterday but I refrained, figured I'd give her until the weekend. 

She shows up yesterday, hands me 2/3rd's of this month's rent, asks if that's okay and that was that. The other one, who is slightly employed - she has a part-time job cleaning houses - handed me more money. Amazing what my wallet looks like when handed all of this cash.

Yes, I know, shouldn't be carrying around that much money and I intend on depositing it today along with my paycheck. The even better part of this is that the month isn't half over and I have almost all of the bills paid.

I REALLY want to get Windows 7 for my new computer, if there is enough left over after buying the Cap and Gown for my son for his graduation later on this year (you have to order early, I am told) and other household needs, I am getting it. 

I believe it's Sunday that I am driving back down to the town of Maricopa to visit my deceased friend's wife. I promised to burn 4 copies of the memorial for her so that she could have one, send another to junior and dunno what the other 2 are for. She keeps telling me how she's going to pay me for doing it, I keep telling her that's impossible, her money will not be accepted at my establishment. 

I don't really feel like driving all the way down there on Sunday, I can tell you that right now before Sunday even gets here. It will not be a long visit, I just want to get her the copies, visit for an hour or so and then leave. She really wants and probably needs people around her right now, fortunately she has lots of family that's doing just that, but I don't want to lose contact with her.

Well, that's it. I have a delivery that apparently HAS to be there before 7am, apparently my manager pulled that order yesterday after I left work and it's ready to go. Hence, I must depart.

G'day.

ben

Thursday 1/13/2011

Thursday

Picking up where I left off yesterday, more like slightly altering the path, I just got done through reading that this year will be the WORST yet since the housing meltdown. I have heard this for about a year now, I finally have seen it in print. 

Ahh, yes, and there are a number of junk mobiles in my neighborhood, a thing that I had considered - moving into one of those - but have now since decided that being a landlord and renting out rooms in my current house versus moving out and into a pathetically nasty old mobile home - not very palatable. 

Actually, there is one for sale that has BEEN for sale for well over a year now. I don't know what they want for it or if it might be owner carry, but it is actually in decent shape from the outside with a chain link fenced yard. 

Well, I'm not going there - yet. 

I was watching the "Memorial" yesterday, perhaps I shouldn't start dousing it with water, but I have never seen a memorial that sounded more like a political rallying party. I mean, I just went to a memorial, it was somber event, I just didn't quite get that last night, as if the people in attendance had been instructed to hoot and holler and shout like a person that just won the lottery. 

Well, anyway, I am going to go for the HAMP thing even though it isn't going to help very much. It isn't going to hurt anything, either. I do understand now why so many people say they didn't qualify for it: you have a short window of time to fill out their form and get it back to them. If you don't get it back in time, your application is cancelled and you do NOT get a second chance. This, anyway, coming from the individual I was talking with yesterday. The reports I have seen, and much of it directed at Bank of America who is not, thankfully, my lender, is that people would send in the required paperwork and later find out that BofA didn't receive it, somehow. You might expect that along the way, SOME paperwork gets lost in the system, but hundreds or even thousands of people? 

BTW, the stats given today is that 5 million homes are at least 2 months behind in mortgage payments. It's just the fact that this economic environment we are in is far from over. Arizona, and most notably the Phoenix area, already has a glut of empty, vacant homes. Add thousands more to that? 

G'day.

ben

HAMP vs Modification

I was not given the greatest of news today when I called the mortgage company and started discussing the options available  After endless - and I do mean seemingly endless - questions about whether I'm living in the home, planning on staying in the home, on and on, income this - stuff I have already answered to these people 3 times in the last month, we got down to brass tacks.

Well, first, she put me on hold for 20 minutes.  Not an exaggeration, I was on hold for a LONG time while she was reviewing my file.  When she came back on, she told me HAMP would only help me by reducing the monthly payment by $100.

I had a lot of questions. Why?  Based on your income and that the amount you pay for the house will be no more than 31% of that.  It is, as always, based on GROSS income, not the amount you are taking home after all the deductions.  This, I think, is a load of BS.  Taxes, health insurance, I mean, a lot is taken out before I get my pennies out of it, but, that's the way it's structured.

I asked again why such a small amount, does it not reduce my interest rate?  NO.  HAMP does NOT reduce your interest rate if it is a FHA loan, which mine is.  I'm at the lowest rate I can get through FHA at the "current market rate", I found out today, presuming I was being told the truth.  I do not, however, presume anything when it comes to these lenders and all the crap that has come out about them over the last 2 years in how they are dealing with their customers.

Okay, dear lady, WHAT, exactly DOES HAMP do?  I mean, seriously.  They reduce the principle amount of your mortgage to the level that it brings your payment to 31% of your income.  That which is left over - the amount over that - is put as a lien against your home, or something similar to that, according to this lady, held by the FHA.  It is interest free, but has to be paid off when you sell your home or if you are going to pay it off.

I was completely unimpressed,because, the last time I did the modification, it dumped thousands of more dollars onto the loan for "fees" and junk.  She then started to talk short-saling.  It's kind of a bad word-term with me, because I have thought through the potential with that:  lose your home, move onto a rental property, lose your dogs, ponds, lifestyle basically.  Where am I going to live?  A rental house?  An apartment?  Wherever it is, it is on someone else's terms, not mine.

Her final "option" was to pay up current the account.  Whatever, lady, I  have played this game for a while now, I understand that as long as I can keep making the payments, even if 2 months behind, your company isn't going to come throw me out.  I didn't say that, instead I had more questions.  I got to the point where I said I would have to think about it.  HAMP is nothing like I expected it to be from what I have read.  Why it isn't explained in much greater detail so that a person considering it will know in advance what it is about, I have no clue.

About the time we were going to disconnect, I wondered, how much IS administrative fees going to cost?  Nothing.  Your loan modification, yes, you are going to have fees dumped onto your loan, with this, nothing.  That changed my mind instantaneously.  But then I was told it would start the clock fresh: 30 years all over. Hmm, 3 years lost, not that much.  

Somebody correct me if I am not seeing something here, but what have I got to lose?  No money for fees - or anything - added to the loan.  30 years, okay, I lose the 3.  But, I am now paying interest on a loan 25k less than what it is now.  The lien is interest free and will stay that way indefinitely.  The house CAN be sold, trust me yes, I asked, with that lien on there, it just has to be paid off at time of sale, ie: monies paid to purchase the house.  I stay on the property, I pay more than $100 less per month because they didn't have stuff on there that I am paying out every month, which affects the reduction, but I don't know how much yet, I see no down side to this.

Here's something else, though.  The lady across the street has cancer and wants out of her house.  She can't sell it, no-one has the money to pay cash for it.  It's an old mobile home that needs work.  Yup, I have done that work before - all of it actually - including tearing down paneling type of walls and replacing it with drywall, tearing off metal roofing and putting on huge patches, all kinds of stuff.  Been there, done that.  The only thing I don't like is that house probably has aluminum wiring, the same s*** that burned my other house down.

Have to finish this some other time.  I was talking on the phone with the widow of my deceased friend - yes I called her to find out how she's doing and though she is doing better, the conversation got to intense levels.  I can't finish this entry in the same frame of mind that I started it, so it is finished.

ben