Auto Zone 24th Street & Baseline

I had Caleb take my car and leave his here for today.
Although I am not feeling well, the car needed some servicing on the coolant - basically it wasn't in good shape and I don't want to have some sort of situation where it overheats or worse, freezes and cracks the block if the temps go down.
To that end, I went to Auto Zone, a store I have been going to since it opened in these parts over 20 years ago.

I have never really had any problems at Auto Zone before.  Today, however, was different.  

I went in, found what I was looking for and went up to the register, which is where the problem began.  It started with a $2.97 bottle of rust flush.  You basically pour that bottle into the radiator, let the engine run for 10 or 15 minutes and then drain it all out.  You then fill it up with water and run that through a few more minutes and drain that out and then finally you put in your anti-freeze mixture with water and a rust proofing agent.

The manager came up to the front to check out my goods and scanned that bottle.  Apparently nothing came up.  He tried again and then tried to go into the system to find the price.  He eventually went over to another register and continued on with his search.  This went on for quite a while.  How hard was it for him to just give me the price that was already listed on the shelf instead of making me wait 10 minutes?

That was the first irritation, though not enough to get me "going" or anything.  He then came up - finally - and informed me the price is $3.49. I said no, it's not $3.49, it's $2.97, like what's listed on the shelf.  He charged me $3.49 anyway, completely ignoring my statement - another big no-no in my world.  I then said fine, I'll pay the $3.49 and I will be calling corporate.   He gives me a look.  Corporate? he states.  Yes, I said corporate, I am going to call them...............and that's when he cut me off, talking right over the top of me, a thing I did NOT do to him.

Any regular, long-time readers know where this is going.  Once I have been dissed by "customer service" of any company, all bets are off.  I don't even talk to that person anymore, I go right up over their head and yes, I always get compensation.  Today? No different.  I stopped speaking and he told me, quite disingenuously after I paid for all of it, to "have a nice day".  I looked him in the eye and said, "Yeah, right".  He started laughing at me.

Cardinal sin.  Never, ever laugh at your customers in a mocking way, if that customer is someone like me?  You are going to pay.  And pay he will.  I called corporate to complain who gave me a regional office number.  Great, I call that number and no answer.  Called several times, no answer, just a voice messaging system.  No thanks, been down that road, it doesn't usually lead anywhere.

I called corporate back.  This time I asked to speak to a manager.  No managers here.  Always love that one.  Manager, please and thank you.  After the lady realized I wasn't going away, she left the phone, found some sort of supervisor who started the same kind of junk with me on the phone that the guy at the store had.  No sense in going into all of that - I finally was connected to the district manager over the store I was complaining about.

The situation is going to be referred to some sort of security team in their company who will actually review the video/s that are existent to verify my statements.  I was all over that, yes, please do!  You will see me standing there for an eternity and you will see him laughing at me if the video angle is good when I am leaving the store.

My compensation?  Well, I didn't make all those phone calls until after I came back and I did most of the flushing on the car's cooling system and found - the radiator has a leak.  Not a huge leak, but steam is coming out of it meaning it's not building up pressure.  If it were summertime here right now, you wouldn't even be able to drive that car.  But since it's winter, different story.  Fortunately, the leak is up high on the radiator meaning most of the coolant is still staying in there, albeit it still is going to come out.  I have no idea how long Caleb has been driving that thing around like that.

It needs a new radiator and I am going to get 20% off the purchase price of a new one PLUS a gift card.  I don't know how much that will be for, but I am guessing the price of the brand new radiator will be knocked down to around $100 instead of $160.  I was going to have the old radiator repaired, but I doubt I am going to get it repaired for less than $100, so might as well just throw a brand new one in it!

So there it is.  I spent 2 hours on this deal and I'm guessing my compensation will be the equivalent of around $30 per hour.  Of course, it is also time to go lay down, lol, as I am still sick and not feeling very well.

I'm offa here.

Later.
ben

Direct TV & Other Minutia

I got the hankering yesterday and got it done.
I hate calling Direct TV.  They have some of the rudest, crass and calloused incoming call center employees of any company, though they certainly aren't alone in that feat of mastery in how to diss your own customers.
But, the current set of free movie channels is going to expire soon and I wanted another new set up and running - for free of course - before those run out.

Of course, it really isn't free, is it?  I spend $90 per month for the Direct TV package I have and that doesn't include if we get any pay-per-views.  For that much money, yes, I want a continual string of free movie channels and if I have to call in and get confrontational with them - which sometimes I have to be and other times they just give them to me without any argument - then that's what I am going to do. 

Yesterday was unusual on 2 fronts.  First, I got it done in one phone call, albeit I had to talk to 3 separate people on that phone call and second because a person claiming to be an operations manager got on the phone. 

It's helpful when calling them to have your facts ready to give at no-hesitation's notice.  I have that company down, oh yes, I do.  The first person I talked to I knew probably wouldn't give them to me, but I tried anyway and was very nice about it.. Sorry, Mr. Benb, we can't do that for you.  Perhaps you can't do it, but someone higher up will, may I please speak to your supervisor? 

The supervisor gets on the phone and as usual, I am adamently told that I will never get free channels.  Not going to go into detail with that particular conversation as it got nowhere and I ended it abruptly: I would like to speak to your manager, please and thank you.  In case you get the wrong idea here, I always use courtesy language and as polite and respectful to them as they are to me.  Which on many occasions, hasn't been all that much.

So, Mr. Whoever gets on the line apparently attempting to take a tone of authority with me, stating his position in the company as an operations manager and after a grandiose introduction, how can he help me?  Just give me the free Starz channels and we're good, I replied.  The conversation went quickly down hill after that after this individual got short with me as I wasn't budging.

You see, customer service reps mistake a person that won't take no for an answer as a person that is being rude.  As the old saying goes, we can agree to disagree, agreeably.  But that is never the case with Direct TV.  The man also states that I will "never" get any more free channels but his tones were abrasive and his verbage completely condescening, a thing I don't tolerate from a company I have paid untold thousands of dollars to over the years for their service. 

"You do realize, Mr. So and So, that I know your company's policies and one of them is that every single phone call is recorded and that I can call corporate and ask to have this phone call reviewed?  Corporate won't have to take my word for, they can listen to the call themselves.  Further, when I call corporate tomorrow, they will give me the channels, anyway, I was just attempting to go through the normal channels first and see if I would get anywhere with it.  You are being rude, condescending and you sound NOTHING like any operations manager I have EVER spoken with at any corporation.  You are being completely unprofessional in your stance with me.  Let me say to you that I have spent untold thousands of dollars with your company over the years and I don't appreciate your tones with me".

"Please hold while I review your account".  When they review my account, they never look back at the decade of service I had with them before my house burned down, they only look at the current account and mistakenly believe that I have only been with them for - well going on 4 years now with this current account so it's getting up there, too.  They seem to not find that other account until, of course, I bring it up to them.

After quite  a bit of time passes - like over 5 minutes - he gets back on the line. "Mr. Benb, I have very carefully reviewed your account and I will give you a one-time courtesy of 3 months of Starz for free, but it's this time only and it won't happen again".  "If you are asking me to agree to never ask for free movie channels again, Mr. So and So, then I absolutely don't agree to it. Further, you undoubtedly only looked at the history on THIS account, you didn't bother to check how long I was with your company before my house burned down of which I had an account with your company for somewhere around a decade". 

A long silence after that statement.  Yes, indeed.  "Even further,  I spend $90 a month on your company's service and that isn't exactly what I would call at the lower end of the payment spectrum.  I'm guessing that is a lot more than the average household spends.  Even further than that, your company gives free channels to new subscribers but for people that have been with your company for over a decade - we get nothing unless we call in and ask for it or have to demand it". 

That is some of my standard, modus-operandi statements to them - but it's not just spoken in passing, I really believe I should get the free channels just because of my longevity with their company, the amount I spend every month for TV and the total amount I have spent with them since starting somewhere in the mid 90's, I think it was.  I always get them, though sometimes that's taken several days worth of calls to accomplish that feat.

In 3 months?  I'll be calling them again. 

Today?  I came home from work early.  I was not and am not feeling all that great and am writing this from my bed.  I just plain don't feel well and I already took a 2 hour nap.  I have to say that buying this laptop is one of the better expenditures of money I have made.  In reality, I don't even watch that much TV, I could do without Direct TV altogether but my tenants wouldn't exactly go for that.  The great lure of my house for attracting tenants is having Direct TV in every bedroom; free Wifi and having very large bedrooms compared to most houses in these parts.  13X15 is not exactly a small bedroom.  The other 2 are 11X15.  Many bedrooms I see listed on Craigslist for rent are more like 10x10 or even smaller. 

Anyway, this laptop is getting a lot of use and frankly, it's nice that I can lay in bed if I feel like it and still get on the net and not have to sit at a desk.  Though, honestly, my desktop computer is WAY faster than this thing.  I spent the money on that computer to make it fast and fast it is. 

Here I thought maybe I would use it if I were waiting at a stop in the semi or up North only.  I am, however, curtailing the spending of money and have been since Christmas.  I will spend whatever I need to to finish that trailer, yes, but even with that I am waiting until my funds are back up a bit. I already bought most of the stuff for the roof, so it's just a matter of finishing those projects, not a matter of buying the materials.  I still have to buy a queen sized mattress, a microwave and  probably replace the carpeting.   Buy them one at a time.  I got my W-2 offline at work, I have my mortgage statement for 2011  and the only other thing waiting for is giving at church.  Oh, and for whatever reason you can also use car registration as a deduction, lol.

My focus after finishing this trailer is going to be saving even more money than I currently am.  It's going to cost $300 to move that thing up north.  I've probably got another $700 or more to spend on that thing - including moving it - before it is done.  I am not doing it half-@$$ed,  I want it right before it leaves the property, cause' honey, there ain't no way I'm gonna want to work on that thing up there.  Not at the git-go, anyway. 

I guess I didn't bother to say that I am quite sick right now, went to the doctor several hours ago, go an injection, took 4 pills, was given eye drops and some sort of cream and yes, I am  not going to work tomorrow and got off early today.

I think it's bedtime.

ben

Monday 1/23/2012

I thought about being a Walmart greeter - you know, when you are attempting to retire and not having enough money, you find yourself in the position of having to go out and find something to do to keep money coming in.  It isn't that I think lowly of Walmart greeters, it's that I don't think I am going to WANT to be standing there doing that or anything similar at the age of - what - 65? 70?

I'm simply motivating myself to take another step in the savings process and either add at least 1 percentage point to withdrawals for 401k or add another $10 to $20 weekly on the bank savings withdrawal.

If I don't keep beating myself up over this - the idea of going into my 60's broke, poor and facing a the end years of my life in a state of want and possibly even hunger or homelessness - I will not stay vigilant about this savings plan and I will, in the end, fail.

It's easier to save in a 401k than in a bank savings account, though.  You can't easily access 401k savings.  You can take out loans, but you have to pay them back and in the company I am working for, you can only have 2 out at a time.  The 401k loans are, of course, a bad idea.  I know this but I have taken them out anyway.   The great disadvantage to taking out those loans is the compounding interest.  The more money you have in that account, the more you will make on interest.  To that front, I am attempting to save up enough money in a bank savings account that I won't have to touch 401k savings ever again, or, at least, not until I retire.  I figure having at least 5k in an emergency savings fund is about right.

I know financial guru's tell me differently.  They tell you you should have 6 months worth of pay saved up.  That's no small chunk of change and though it isn't impossible, it would take years to save up that much money.  However, to realize my "dream" of having rental properties, that's exactly what's going to have to happen. I am going to have to save up a lot of money to get a second loan.  Any lender would have to see a substantial chunk of change - meaning I would suffer a sizable loss if I foreclosed on something - down on the table.

The other idea that has always lurked in the back of my head is an RV park.  I have considered that idea for at least 10 years now.  Too bad I didn't start saving towards such end that long ago, lol.  An RV park won't make a person rich, but certainly will make a decent income if it's set up properly and appeals to enough people to want to stay there overnight and others living there.  Some of the parks around here are pure and total dumps.  They  are nothing but dirt lots and dirt driveways.  Pretty ugly stuff, really.  Some of them are exceptionally beautiful and well maintained.

But I wouldn't even consider starting one inside city limits.  Too much beauracracy, red tape and all of the nonsense that goes into having to deal with city officials to get the approval of such, if you can even get approval of such.  They don't exactly like such places, to be honest.  At least, not the ones that look like earthly hell.

Onto other things.  Well, time is almost up and not a lot of other things to speak about in a short time period. Work day almost here.  I have a mind full of things that are floating around, not endlessly but I do tend to analyze things well into their potential endings.

Whatever the case, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 1/22/2012

So, 10% of my gross income.
At least.
That's the statements of financial guru's that are talking about getting a late start on saving for retirement.

Yes, I frequently visit this issue because, well, I'm there.  It's past do-or-die time, there are no more excuses.
Not that, in recent times, I have been making any. Retire broke or retire at least comfortably enough to be able to enjoy the "Golden Years".

Upon checking my Prudential 401k retirement account - which is a dismal thing to look at sometimes simply because of the low account balance - I am saving at a rate of about 13% of my gross income.  That's pre-tax income, in other words.  On top of that, the money I am having taken out weekly for emergency savings fund - though it IS a savings account.

I guess, realistically, I should not count that towards retirement, though.  A broken washing machine; busted water heater; broken down car; this that and the other thing.  That's what that's for.  If it gets beyond that, great.  It's also saving for a new (well not brand new) vehicle.  I am tired of making auto payments.  As if it's some sort of thing that you HAVE to live with ALL of your life.  No.  It's something like 2 more years and the car I am currently driving is paid off.

So, there is a goal that I have determined to set for myself, starting today, actually.  No more car payments after this one is paid off.  I don't CARE if I am driving around an old car, as long as it is dependable and not breaking down every other day, I'm good with it.  I really want a pickup truck, though and that is what I am going to save for.  Eliminating a monthly auto payment and putting that towards retirement - or even investment - would do wonders.

The other monthly payment that I hate paying but have no choice is the monthly child support.  The money I am paying now is going to the settlement made at the time of the divorce for the house and the 401k account which was cashed out.  That's a couple of more years, actually and unfortunately.  Nothing to do but live with it.  One of the reasons I will probably never get married again, or if I do, there is definitely going to be pre-nuptial agreement and if the "mate" doesn't want to agree to it, then no marriage.

This idea that marriage is sanctimonious - well it is, really but that's a different story - and is life - binding - which it also is, but also a different story - has turned into a pipe dream.  There are no guarantees that your partner and you are going to stay married the rest of your life and if not, then what?  You lose half of everything, all over again, and start from Ground Zero!  Screw that!  Been there, done that and not desirous of going there again.

Whatever the case, there is at least one thing I can eliminate in the not-too-terribly-distant-future: a car payment.  In 2 years, I am going to be 50 years old and I want to see that retirement fund at the very least, doubled by then.  Actually, at the rate I am saving, it should be tripled - that is, of course, if the doom and gloomers are wrong (which I hope they are ) about their prediction that 2012 is going to see a recession or depression worse than the one we already went through ( or are going through, depending on your perspective).

Another factor that is somewhat of a game-changer is the fact that I am posting more hours on each paycheck.  I have no idea whether that is going to be sustained for any length of time, but I did get almost 87 hours on the current pay period, versus the 3 years of 70 hours.  401k deductions are pre-tax, so the OT is good for that, at least (however, why the government thinks it's entitled to 40% of any OT hours is beyond me, I worked just as hard for that OT as I did the regular hours, it's not like it's "free money" to me or something).

I'm not the best at saving, but I am at least trying at this point.  It's not that terribly difficult: save now and in 20 years you will probably have something to draw on that is sizable enough to sustain you for a while.

In other news, lol, well I finally got back up on the top of that trailer yesterday and went to town cleaning off the junk where the new vent will go.  It took forever because that grinder I bought is a very cheap one and the motor heats up quickly.  I had to keep stopping and let the thing cool down.  I might have bought a more expensive one, but how often do I use the thing?  It's only for this project on the roof and after that, I don't even see a use for it.  If it will finish the 3 projects on the roof, I am happy with it and it can melt down and disappear into thin, blue air if it lasts that long.  It was like an $11 grinder, lol.

The cleaning is done on the one vent, so only one more larger vent to go and a much smaller one after that.  There is also another area that probably should be taken down to the metal and re-done - but I will call that shot when I get to it.

4 more payments on one of the travel trailers and it is paid off.  The other one is already paid off. I think when I pay off the one I am making payments on, I will probably try to sell it.  Not sure yet - 4 more months to decide on that one, but I am thinking I would rather have the money in a bank account instead of sitting on 4 wheels out in my driveway.  But, life is never really a constant, things change and so do circumstances.  Who knows what might be going on in 4 months that the use of that thing might be needed for something?  I dunno, but it's in pretty good shape, needs some things fixed on the inside but nothing that would make it unsellable.

Enough for one entry.

Later.

ben

Cafe World Tips 34: Low Buzz Rating Glitch - Cafe World

I'm getting hits on an old article I wrote about buzz rating.  I am guessing that is because people are experiencing buzz rating drops or even having it go down to 4 or 5, apparently while you are not even in your cafe.

The way the game normally works is that buzz rating stays at whatever point it is when you exit your cafe.  However, there is yet another glitch now which has nothing to do with the layout of your cafe or whether your waiters can get to all the food on your counters or not.

You're going to have to ride this one out until Zynga fixes the problem, there is nothing anyone can do.  Just wanted to throw that out there because of the hits my blog is receiving for buzz rating issues that I have posted in the past.

PS: One more thing: YES, this current situation is one of a seemingly endless line of glitches with Zynga's Cafe World game. If you leave your cafe at 105 and come back to find it at 4 or 5 or whatever much lower number, you are not alone! Many players are experiencing this glitch! Why doesn't it affect ALL players? As with almost all glitches with Cafe World, the glitches affect one or more servers, but not all of them (usually, anyway). I have no idea how many servers are used by Zynga for this game, but there are undoubtedly a large bank of them. Not all servers are affected by these glitches, hence, not all players experience the glitch. I added this comment to this thread but decided to post it in the thread itself.  

 past. Further Update: Zynga has officially announced it knowledge of the problem and is "working to fix it": The Wedding Table is causing my Buzz to drop

Updated 01/22/2012 at 05:41

Greetings chef,

A small number of our fellow chefs are reporting that after placing the Wedding Table into their cafe, the Buzz rating drops. As a temporary workaround, may we suggest that you place the table back into your inventory.

Meanwhile, we have notified our engineering department and they are currently working on a fix. We hope to have this resolved shortly. There is no need to submit an email for this issue.  Instead, click the Please Fix button below to help us keep track of the number of players affected.

If you decide to report a ticket, place the keywords "Wedding Buzz" at the start of your message and reference: CAFE-26287.

For immediate support and the most up-to-date information, click here to visit our Technical Support Forums.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

.........I somehow doub it's a "small" number of chefs, but whatever the case, at least they know about it and hopefully will have a fix for it soon.  

Saturday 1/21/2012

So, I have decided to embark upon another month long tracking of my expenses.

I do it once in a great while to see what I am spending on what.

I can mostly go to my checking account and see what's going on, but there is a lot more information to be gleaned when you write every single purchase you make and bill you pay whether online or at the QT - not only the amount you spent but WHAT you spent it on.

I'm looking for ways to increase my savings is the point.  With my 401k loan payment, my contribution and my company's contribution, it's around $200 per paycheck - which quite frankly, isn't near enough.  That's only around 5k per year.  I also have $40 per week going into a savings account, but that money is being saved up for emergency use.  It will go beyond that if I ever get it up to where I want it - which is going to take quite a while since I figure I should have at least 5 grand in a savings account for emergency use if the occasion rises.  I am thinking of increasing that to $50 per week.

Onto other things.  Finally going to try making Navy Bean soup with the ham bone and extra ham fatty that I have left over from the last ham I cooked.  I was going to make it today - but I didn't know the beans have to be soaked "overnight".  I am going to let them sit in a pot 6 hours and then try it anyway.

I kind of find it odd that this South Carolina voting is being done on a Saturday. Maybe they've always done it that way and I've just missed it?  Or perhaps they have a set date for it every year and it doesn't matter what day it falls on?  I did watch the last debate, it was quite entertaining from the git-go.

Nothing much else.  Randy apparently has all of his permits now to build his house.  It will be quite interesting to see what, exactly, is going to go up over there.

As for today?  I am burnt out from working this week.  I don't feel like doing anything.

I'm sure that will change as the day grows longer, but for right now, I am doing a lot of nothing.

ben

Cafe World Tips 33: How To Easily, Automatically Collect Bonuses And Gifts From Your Cafe World Neighbors

Let's face facts, Cafe World, if you let it, will take up a LOT of your time.
Going around attempting to collect bonuses and gifts off of your neighbor's wall feeds is one of the most time-consuming elements to this game, an element that is easily by-passed by using one of numerous auto-collect tools that are to be found on the internet.

Yes, that's what this article is about.  I have hundreds of Cafe World neighbors and no way am I going waste as much time as it would take to visit every one of their Facebook walls to find the gifts and bonuses that they have posted.

When I found out that you can simply use an app to collect them for you, I was all over it.  The app that I am using is called Friendly Gaming Simplifier.  This is, for me, the best one out there.  Unfortunately, Facebook has been giving the individual that created this particular app legal troubles and it appears he has taken down the link to install the app.  But, you can do a search around the web and many sites appear to have a link to download it available.

Here a few links to other apps that do the same thing:
http://bonuscheckers.com/
http://gamersunite.coolchaser.com/games/cafe-world-bonus-collector

There are more of them out there, just giving you a clue how to get all of the bonuses without all the work!

Cafe World Tips 32: Live Chat: How To Access Cafe World Live Chat Zynga Live Chat For Any Zynga Game

This will be a short one.
First off, you DO have to have been a paying customer sometime in the past to even have access to Zynga Live Chat.  If you have never bought Cafe Cash, you won't be able to access the Live Chat option - but on the same page I am about to take you to, you WILL be able to access their email version whether you have paid or not.

Okay, having said that, go into your Cafe (or any other Zynga game, it's all the same).  On the top right hand corn of the screen, you will see the large, red Zynga bulldog.  Click on it.

It opens up a separate, new page.

On the top, right-hand corner of the new page, click on Support.

Yet another page opens.

On the left side of the next page that came up, click on Cafe World (or whichever game it is you are wanting to access live chat for).

Sometimes the live chat option comes up immediately (it will show up next to the  "Search All Articles" bar) and sometimes you have to wait. Other times it won't show up at all - Live Chat is not always available.  But if it IS available, it will come up without having to do anything else.

If it doesn't show up and you don't want to keep trying/waiting, you can also support and Email ticket on that same page.  Just click on the white arrow in the red box right next to the "Search All Articles" bar.  It will bring up the email option and click on that.  However, be prepared to wait an extremely long time for an answer, up to 2 weeks.  Yes, I have recently submitted tickets that took them 2 weeks to respond to.

1/19/2012 Thursday

Thursday already.
Plenty of stuff to do at work today, which always makes a day fly by.
I haven't seen the doom and gloomers lately in the news, concerning another
recession or even a depression, I guess they are all waiting to see whether their
predictions come true or not.
I, for one, certainly hope they are WAY off on their predictions.

After posting a rather - in-your-face note on the main bathroom wall, one tenant came forward and took responsibility for it.  It being the puddles of urine on the floor.  Not going to go into great detail here, hopefully the problem is quashed and I won't have to deal with it again, at least with this individual.

Anyone care to tell me why Obama decided to nix the pipeline from Canada?  The same people that oppose wind farms because the blades on the fans might kill birds and oppose solar farms because - who knows why, something about turtles I believe it was - now have their voice magnified 1,000,000 times over again in having this pipeline stopped before it started.  I am always amazed at how such small groups of people can have so much power over governments.  I dunno, but they are building a HUGE solar farm/array/whatever they want to call it down in Gila Bend, Arizona.  It's basically nothing but desert down there.

Whatever.  If these people who are opposed to all of this are really going to stand behind their words, then they better shut off the power to their homes and stop driving anything with an internal combustion engine in it.

Haven't heard anything on the neighbor front concerning the war going on over there. Apparently 350 man and Randy are completely ignoring each other now.  Randy put up a temporary fence to block the view of 350 man's house.  350 man is still able to completely annoy me, however, because he has very bright spotlights directed at my front yard.  Every morning I go out there and there they are, in my face.  I don't know if the city will do anything about that, but I am going to find out. It's been this way for months now.  I am assuming he is doing that to see if I have the animal trap out there and to "catch" me in the act, apparently.

What is he going to do if I DID decide to put the trap out there?  He would be ill-advised to put a single foot on any portion of my property is all I can say about that.

Anyway, work day is almost here, time to leave!

ben

Wednesday 1/18/2012

Went to church last night for the prayer group.  But this was a different type of thing.  They had the lights dimmed and were playing Christian worship music.  The idea to basically get into the Lord's presence as a group.  They have a much different type of prayer group going on Friday - not sure if I'll make that one or not.

Dunno how Caleb's first day at school went.  Considering he had school, then Muay Thai and then work, I'm guessing his late night stuff playing online games with his friends are going to greatly curtailed.  Then again, the only class he had yesterday was Japanese. For whatever reason, he wants to learn how to speak Japanese.

Nothing new going on here, besides a few notices that I haven't heard back from yet.  Which doesn't necessariliy mean that anything bad is going to happen (ie: a tenant moving out), but I had to inform one person that he is now limited to 3 loads of laundry per week and if he wants to do more than that, it will cost him the same as at a laundromat. I'm sorry, but one person doesn't need to be doing 8,9 10 loads of laundry per week.  That's more in the range of family of 8 or something.

The other notice was entitled: "Lakes of Pee". Someone has been missing the toilet so badly that there are actually puddles of urine left on the floor after they are done.  I left a message in the bathroom.  If the activity doesn't stop, we will find out who is doing it and that person will be given a 30 day notice. I mean, that's just plain disgusting.  It's bad enough guys that don't quite hit the bowl and a bit of it goes down the side of the toilet bowl, it's an entirely different matter when you are finding PUDDLES of the stuff on the floor next to the toilet.  Gross!

Who wants to clean up someone else's urine? Not me!

Well, it's time to be off to work.  Hump Day - middle of the week.  Life is good.

ben

Tuesday 1/17/2012

So, Caleb comes in last night - just before I'm heading off to bed thank you - with no small degree of consternation about something.  He is getting money "back" from that federal Pell grant and they apparently couldn't figure out how to go about doing it.  They being his mother and him.  I think it a good idea if he does this stuff alone and if he messes it up, it can be fixed.

I went through all the screens - lots of them to go through - before I got to where they left off.  The money is being processed by Citi and the only thing left to do was to make a 100% withdrawal for when the "next installment" comes through, of which I did.  So, when it gets in there it is going to be automatically deposited into Caleb's bank account.

His first day of school? Today.  His schedule, routine, entire life really is going to make a dramatic change and he will have little free time with all that he has going on.  School, work and Muay Thai.  That is enough to fill up any day and then some.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia has made an announcement that for 24 hours on Wednesday, they are blacking out the English portion of their site, taking a stand against some sort of anti-piracy bill that is being considered by Congress.  I have no idea what that bill is about, besides reading into the name of the bill of course, I have not taken the time to look into it.  But I have been reading about numerous web sites that are considering doing the same thing.  Craigslist put a paragraph on their main board about it as well.  It's making me curious enough that when I come home from work today, gonna take a lookitit.

I did watch the debate on Fox last night.  I have not decided who I would want in a race against Obama, but I did decide that Ron Paul made himself look utterly contemptible with his anti-war statements.  I still sort of like Perry - he made some good comebacks and statements last night, but I think his numbers are down too low.  Who knows, though.  I'm not a fan of Romney and yes, religious views have a lot to do with it. The media and the big wigs in it are bashing Christians for not support Romney simply because of a religious problem.  Yup, I'm one of those dummies.  Mormonism is a cult - not trying to offend anyone but that's the way I see it and that after doing considerable research on the subject over the last few decades.  Yes, I have even gone to some of their meetings.  Beyond everything, though, Mormonism is based on works.  You earn your way into Heaven - the Bible clearly states that salvation is a gift from God, not of works lest any man should boast.  The idea that the "good works" that we do in life somehow account to getting more favor with God is absurd at best in terms of thinking it is going to buy your way into heaven.

But, whatever.  If Romney gets it, then he gets it.  Hopefully we won't be seeing legislation to ban the drinking of Coca-Cola and coffee, lol.

I rather like my morning coffee before work, of which I am enjoying and finishing up right now, cause........it's almost time to leave.

G'day.

ben

Monday 1/16/2012

"Iranian Boats Approach USS New Orleans"
That headline certainly grabbed my attention, but the video shows 3 small boats - armed yes with some sort of large caliber weapon on the fronts of the boats - moving what appears to be alongside the ship.
I am curious as to what Iran has to gain from all of this unless it just wants the international attention that has been lavished on it because of their threats concerning the Straight of Hormuz.

I just had an encounter with the neighbor's pit bull the other day and was discussing that encounter here, on my blog and here we go again with yet another pit bull in the news:  it killed it's owner's 1 year old baby.  I'm not sure about the people that own pit bulls that say that people who fear that particular breed have unfounded fears and - where do they get off making a statement like that?  Do you read about Great Danes killing family members? Golden Retrievers?  I don't even see that much news about German Shepherds doing any such thing, but from time to time, you see the news about a Pit bull killing or mauling someone and frequently the attack is on it's owners, not strangers.

I was asked the "source" of my news a while back - I don't watch TV news for the most part, I just read it online and get some of it from radio broadcasts.  I read both ends of the spectrum - MSNBC and FOX news.  And others in between.  I don't normally rely on just one news source because if you are going to be honest about it, it is ALL tainted to one direction or another, depending upon the writer's own beliefs and viewpoints on any given subject.  The question was posed as some sort of condemnation.  I pose the same question back to people who haughtily ask such things, as if THEIR source of information is somehow superior.  I might read several different accountings of the same type of story just to get the mix of it all and try to settle on some middle ground of what a thing is actually about.

But who knows.  If you want to know what's going on in the world, you have to get your information from somewhere.  I don't know too many people flying around all over the place, personally visiting each and every sight where news is being made.  Do you?  News reporters, of course!

Lol.

Time to head to work.

G'day.

ben

Sunday 1/15/2012

Stayed up WAY too late last night and now?  I have no desire to go to church this morning, at all.  I haven't decided yet - which gonna have to change soon if I am going cause' I will have to leave in like 45 minutes.
_____________________________________________________________________
It's 5 hours later.  Yup, I forced myself to get into the shower, get ready and get to church and I can honestly say that it was the best decision of the day.  I won't go into the details - God is good is all I will say about that.
It's kinda cool out today and the sky is overcast.  In fact, it's starting to rain as I am typing now that I noticed.

The neighborhood is - not quiet - a bunch of people across the street getting drunk; 350 man sticking his nose, eternally, into other people's business and who knows what Randy is doing over there.

________________________________________________________________________
Another 5 hour interlude.
My mind is full at the moment and attempting to analyze numerous things that need completed in the memory department.  I can safely put short selling the house on hold until the government officially rolls out the new refinance program and I find out - for good or for change - whether I qualify or not.  Although it doesn't really make me happy with the current payment, it does allow for peace.

I hooked up the printer - finally - that we scored at Walmart on Black Friday - like at midnight - and it works swimmingly and with only 2 cartridges compared to the Epson's 4 cartridges of ink.  Which gave me occasion to write up 2 notices. One entitled: "The Lake of Pee", posted in the main bathroom and the other was a personal notice - cleanliness issues in the kitchen - slid under the door of a tenant. If such notices give rise to the occasion of a tenant moving out because of it, then they didn't belong here in the first place.

So, that issue at least addressed, more in the "mind" peace department.  Next issue - a constant one really - is this idea of getting to retirement - broke and poor.  This is unacceptable.  I have taken steps to alleviate that problem - but in terms of numbers in actual accounts? Dismal.  This can change over the years, of course, but at the moment it is a bit depressing.  I could "retire" for about 8 months on my current savings.  Not a funny matter, certainly not at my age, indeed.  Okay, if I were retiring with SS benefits, that number of months would increase to - whatever it needs to increase to to live.  Baby Boomers are, unfortunately, retiring without enough money and having no recourse.

I am at the last year of the Baby Boomers.  I turn 48 next month and for me, an even more sobering thought. If I had a house paid off by the time retirement arrives, then no big deal whatever I have to live off of.  But with a mortgage payment? Yikes.

This is why I want to short sell this house.  Even if it's 3 years to getting into another house - I can get into one for half the mortgage of what I have now and have it paid off in 15 years max.  That's 18 years from now-  which is beyond what I want to retire at.

So, I am again - many times over have I given this thought - revisiting the idea of building a casita/guest house.  It's the cost of doing so that has stopped me, but now I am going to research doing the entire thing by myself.  There is even a college course on teaching you how to do such. Yes, I have thought about taking a course or 2 of college about the things that will make me money, not anything that will drive my career ahead, just things that I can learn that I can do to increase my income.  I can build a basic structure, even follow basic plans, but there are some things I don't know how to do in terms of city code compliance.

A self sustained guest house - meaning a small dwelling that has it's own small kitchen and bathroom - could bring in a very nice price per month.  6 to 8 k per year extra is what I am looking at.  15 deep by 10 wide.
Doesn't sound like much, but it's enough to build a kitchenette style dwelling that I could live in and rent out my master bedroom or that I could rent it out.

I'm going to get there, eventually, if I stay at this property.

Many other things in my mind, not the least of which was a very nice looking lady who loves the Lord that I encountered at church this morning.  Single as far as I know.  Not necessarily sure of that.  Yes, I am still wanting a mate, but not in a hurry to get into a bad relationship, thank you.  Time will tell.

Time to go to bed, work in the AM.

G'nite.

ben

Saturday 1/14/2012

I was laughing yesterday because the quantities of 13 or the number 13 were occurring all over the place - it was Friday the 13th, just to say why it was anything of interest.  The first notice was when I pulled a pipe order - I pulled 13 sticks  of pipe and loaded it onto the truck.  It was sitting there quite a while before I realized the correlation.  It happened a couple more times at work and then at home.  Good thing I am not superstitious!

So, it's late morning.  I got up late cause' I wanted to - like getting out of bed at near 8:00 am.  I think I might cook the spiral ham I bought yesterday at Fry's at 99 cents per pound, but don't quote me on that as I haven't decided. Though, "cooking" a ham is really just a fancy way of saying reheating it.  Hams almost always come pre-cooked anyway.

Looking at various photos of that half-sunken cruise ship - wow!  Looks like the ship just ran straight into ground, it will be interesting to see whatever investigations that are undoubtedly already underway comes up with as the cause' of this accident.  Is it the Captain's error?  You would think they have all that equipment on board to be able to see anything like that coming from a long ways off?  Dunno.

Attempting to motivate myself to get up on the roof of that trailer and do the second project.  I'm cold is the only problem and being cold usually motivates me to do - much of nothing.  But, after letting a project go for awhile, I start getting antsy about it and that alone motivates me to do whatever is lacking.

So, I found myself in a peculiar situation the other day - couple days ago.  My across-the-street-neighbor's blue Pitbull was running up and down the street - loose obviously - barking and growling at people.  Both neighbor's cars were in the driveway, meaning at least one person should be home.  So, the dog up the street, I went to the neighbor's door and both knocked on it and rang the doorbell.  The dog - down the street - alerted to it/heard the knocking and came running up to me, blocking any exit path to leave the premises, it was in a stance and it was barking at me.

A tinge of fear crept up on me, which I shook off immediately and calmed myself inwardly.  Dogs seem to be able to sense fear which edges them on even more.  No answer at the door, which would have eliminated this situation in  a hurry.  Well, I knocked and rang again, this time I heard voices behind the door - but whoever was there did not open the door.  Meanwhile, the dog runs off to the side of the house.  I turn to leave and there it is right in front of me again.  I slowly and calmly start walking around it.  Started walking away from it, my back to the dog - slowly and methodically stepping in such a way as to try and not antagonize it.

It nipped at my shoes but then backed off.  I don't have a huge fear of dogs, but one should probably have a healthy respect for them, especially Pit bulls that everyone has undoubtedly read the horror stories in the news about, including numerous kids that have been torn apart by their OWN dogs.  Never-the-less, getting fearful in such a situation is the worst thing a person can do.

Well, 350 man is standing out there and so is another - neighborhood idiot, there are plenty of them around here - staring at the dog but doing nothing.  The hoarder behind me comes driving up - sees what's going on and apparently saw the owners earlier, as he drove away and several minutes later?  The owners come back with their other Pit bull that they had taken for a walk.

Whatever. This isn't the first time that dog has gotten out - and basically terrorized the neighborhood - I think on Monday I am going to call Animal Control.  Please pay them a visit, this is getting old.

I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit outside before getting to the trailer.  It's supposed to get to 76 but it's still in the 60's.  Yes, I know, I am a cold light weight.  I can handle it if I start moving and getting the blood pumping, I just haven't gotten that far with it yet.

Some pretty strange stuff in the news today..................

Later.

ben

Friday (The Thirteenth) 1/13/2012

Had to throw that into the title line, lol.
The end of the work week draweth nigh.
I have plenty of stuff to do this weekend - but who knows if I will get to any of it.
I sorta need to force myself back up on that roof of that trailer and get that junk done.

Meanwhile, the conversations between Randy and Mark continue.
Apparently 350 man told Randy that he had threatened me and told all my tenants
to get out of the house because he was going to have something done to me - retaliation for something that
hadn't even happened yet.  According to Mark, Randy had a cow.  Why would you threaten him (me) like that? Who does he bother around here? On and on.  So, Randy is determined to go and get an Injunction Against Harassment against this 350 man as well.

350 man, I find out, has 60 days - minus the time that has elapsed, to take down that fence he put up. This because he built the fence 2 feet into Randy's property.  No clue.  I am glad that I am not involved in all of it is all I can say about that situation.  I have a life to live beyond this 350 man's pettiness and refusal to do anything that would be even remotely seen as "beneficial to society" or as a "productive member of society".  There are things even an ex-felon can do that are volunteer positions if - he really wanted to.

Anyway, getting close to time to leave and haven't really followed up with the news yet.  Gonna go take a look.

G'day.

ben

CDL Drivers Hands Free Device

So the company handed out all these hands free devices yesterday, I started using it in the semi today.
Pretty simple stuff, actually.  You enable blue-tooth on your cellphone. Turn on the device and it finds your device, you add it.  That's it.  Incoming calls are automatically directed to the device and you push a single button to answer the phone.

The problem?  Background noise.  Driving down the road, a semi makes a considerably amount more of noise than most any car does.  And it's a constant noise.  It conflicts with your voice and makes it hard for the person on the other end of the line to hear what you are saying.  Further, with the volume turned all the way up, it is hard to hear what someone is saying unless you get your ear pretty much right next to it.

I have seen people wearing an earpiece device that has no wires on it so I assume those are blue tooth and that is what I thought we were going to get in the first place.  I don't wonder if those might work better for the noise element at hand in the truck.  It's good to be able to talk again while driving the truck - but - it would be better with a different setup, I do believe.

CDL Drivers Hands Free Device

So the company handed out all these hands free devices yesterday, I started using it in the semi today.
Pretty simple stuff, actually.  You enable blue-tooth on your cellphone. Turn on the device and it finds your device, you add it.  That's it.  Incoming calls are automatically directed to the device and you push a single button to answer the phone.

The problem?  Background noise.  Driving down the road, a semi makes a considerably amount more of noise than most any car does.  And it's a constant noise.  It conflicts with your voice and makes it hard for the person on the other end of the line to hear what you are saying.  Further, with the volume turned all the way up, it is hard to hear what someone is saying unless you get your ear pretty much right next to it.

I have seen people wearing an earpiece device that has no wires on it so I assume those are blue tooth and that is what I thought we were going to get in the first place.  I don't wonder if those might work better for the noise element at hand in the truck.  It's good to be able to talk again while driving the truck - but - it would be better with a different setup, I do believe.

Thursday 1/12/2012

Hmmm, well for all the superstitious people out there, prepare yourself: tomorrow is Friday and falls on the 13th.

I have decided one of the best ways to find a new place to live is to simply keep my eyes open.  I drive all over the place in the east valley - which is where I prefer to live - there are "lower income" areas all over the place.  Whether they accept hundreds of pounds of dogs, who knows.  There is one thing for certain: after 2012, the government is allegedly going to start coming after people for taxes owed on the difference in a short sale and if one is going to get it done, best get it done this year.

Moving is such an arduous task, though.  I can only say that I am happy that I do not have a LOT of stuff.  I have stuff, just like everyone, but not piles of things that would have to be moved.  Mostly furniture more than anything.  I have to get myself into the mode of yes, I am leaving this place regardless and keep that mode up for quite a while before I will even force myself into this action.  I could start the short-sale process today, but to sell it before I even know where I am going? Lol.  Not going to happen.  I'm going to check the maps for county islands and land and see what's available in those areas as well.  Some of it is well out into the boonies, but I work in Chandler which is a bit closer to the boonies. I guess I'm saying with these dogs, there aren't a lot of rental options out there.

A pre-cursory glance at the Craigslist housing ads shows a LOT of rental units allowing dogs.  However, it is doubtful that most or any of those places are going to allow Great Danes, much less 2-1/2 of them.  I suppose I could just write up a form letter and start sending it out to all of them in my price range.  There are both houses and apartments alike claiming dogs are allowed.  The arrangement would include a room for Mark and Lynnette, if they so desired to move on with me as this would be an ideal situation, at least for me.

In that case, it would have to be minimum 3 bedrooms to accommodate for Caleb as well.  The only type of  "apartment" I would even consider is a single story situation.  There are many duplexes and quadplexes over in Mesa, probably at good rates I am guessing.  Not far from Caleb's job or school and Mark and Lynnette prefer to live in Mesa, anyway.

That is, undoubtedly, the first area I am going to start looking in since it is loaded with houses and other types of rentals that would be in the price range I am looking for.

I have only mentioned to tenants here that I am thinking about doing this, I haven't concretely sealed that in cement yet as I am working on another refinance option, a lead I was given by a mortgage broker at a large bank who says she has worked with this particular company for 15 years and they are good at getting things done.  If I could JUST bring the payment down another couple of hundred bucks a month,  I wouldn't even think about moving out of this place.  That would be the one thing that would keep me in this house. It would make it a good rental unit - at say $800 per month, a house with 5 bedrooms would easily rent in this market.  Perhaps it would at a grand a month, too, but, I don't want to take that kind of chance.

In that scenario, I would have to start saving up a substantial down payment on another house since banks aren't really all that kind about second loans - but with enough down payment that situation can be altered.

Well, the day's work is almost here and near time to leave for work.  As of lates, plenty to do at work and today?  Plenty of driving to do as well.

G'day.

ben

Wednesday 1/11/2012

Back to regular, 5-day work weeks.
Meaning today is hump day and half way through.
A couple of weeks of very short work weeks sort of spoiled me, lol.

Not a lot going on besides that of which I have already discussed.
I am guessing, on that front, that to short sell this house and find a place to
live that will accept the dogs, it's not going to be a very pretty place, even if a
rental.

Like, more of a dump than anything.  I could live with that for a couple of years
for the tradeoff of getting rid of this house that may never be worth what I  bought
it for and getting into something much more reasonable that is even nicer than this place.
When I say dump, I am thinking one of those trailer parks with dirt lots and lots of
hoarders, drunks, drug users and the like.

So, I will look for something a bit nicer than that, lol.  This is prep stage - find several
options first.  If one fails, others are available to fall back on.  Get money saved up - moving
isn't free and neither are deposits.  Determine if I REALLY want to do this or is there a
better alternative.  Dunno.  Have searched it out, really.  Refinancing- at least so far - has
drawn a blank.  A lower payment would keep me in this house.  The payment I am making
now?  Is enough nowadays to be paying for a 4,000 square foot, 2 story house with all the upgrades
and amenities.  I'll take the top floor and rent out the bottom, lol.

Whatever.  Another page in the book of this life.

Out the door, heading off to work.

G'day.

ben

The Final Question

It's been a long and tough inner battle, both mind and heart. 
To short sale or not.  Your credit is trashed - but not for that long, I have found out.
Less than 2 years.  Some people less than 1 year and their credit is up near where it was
when they did the short-sell on their house and walked away from it.
They are renting wherever and saving money to put a down payment on a new
house.

When I heard last week that this kind of thing is not a long-term trashing of your
credit score, I then started looking into this all over again.  If you look at it from a
purely business type of mindset, the ONLY logido is to get out of the house and do
it as fast as possible.  My house is almost 50% underwater.  When you start looking
at the statistics that it may be as far out as the year 2023 before I can even break even?

That pretty much sent me over the edge.  I do NOT want to live in this neighborhood
forever. A young guy at work just bought a new - and very nice - house with only $4,500 down.

Another short-sold his house about 7 months ago.  His credit score is almost back to where it
was before he sold it and got out of it.  My mortgage company jumps all over the "opportunity" - for whatever reason - to get the paperwork started on a short-sale.  I don't get it.  I mean, it was as if they wanted me to do it! 

The final great question, however, would be: where would I live?  Even the "experts" that are encouraging people to do so get to this question and have some reservations.  If I wanted to keep my dogs, that eliminates all apartment complexes of any decency.  I don't want to rent a house.  This is the next dilemna with this situation that I will have to answer before I even think about short-selling this place. I'm not the sort of person who just dumps your dogs because it creates an inconvenience. 

There must be a reasonable answer to this and I am going to search it out and hunt it down, if it does, indeed, exist.

Well, that question will be occupying the next coming days.  But now?  Bedtime.