It's not that I forgot, I just didn't pay too close attention to the date.
This regarding the affidavit I was sent in the mail last month and looking at it again this morning.
The hearing is for tomorrow.
I don't just want to be there, I have to be there.
Fortunately, the hearing isn't too early and hopefully I will be able to leave work early.

Whatever.  Too much on the brain lately, some things getting shuffled into corners and not brought out until - almost too late in this case.

It was yesterday's second theft of money out of my bank account by someone using my debit card number - how they got it I have no idea - making a $200.69 purchase through Amazon - that got me going.

But I don't want to get all riled up again so not going there.  Have to leave for work in a few minutes, anyway.  This weekend has been strange, well actually sucked because of my neighbor's parties and loud music going into the wee hours of the morning.  I was so tired at church yesterday I got up halfway through the service and left.  I pretty much figured about the time the sermon was going to be preached, I would be falling asleep and that wouldn't go over too well.

I'm sure people were giving me looks as I was leaving, oh well and too bad, so sad.

Then there was the call to Direct TV to negotiate my payment.  That turned out fairly well, though I am considering either dumping channels to lower the bill or switching to Dish Network.  I am thinking dump channels as I don't particularly care for Dish Network.

G'day.


ben

I made the dreaded call to direct tv.
I bypassed the Philippine Islands and the people they have over there that are manning the incoming call centers.
I got connected to - a particular department that I now call or ask for not naming it here, thanks - and then got into a conversation with a man who eventually said no, he couldn't help me..

Thanks, your manager, please?  You can always tell they don't like that question, but when I ask, it's not going to be anything else, I have determined that only management can help me - if they can or will - so let's get on with it.

Manager gets on the phone and we get into an extended - very, very long - conversation.  But by the end of it, we were talking fishing, this that and the other thing.  The man was very generous, is all I can say, well, all I will say.  He helped me out and that's that.

I still think Direct TV is over priced and at some point, I will probably switch to either Cox or Dish Network - or some other new thing called Prism TV, just heard about it on a radio ad.  Probably won't go with the new one if it's originated by who I think it is.  Oh, yes, just looked it up: Century Link. I equate Century Link's customer service right "up" there with Direct TV, possibly even worse.  I just dumped Century Link and won't be going back anytime soon.

G'nite, it's my bedtime : )

ben

The people who live the next street over.
In recent times, they have gone on an unlimited free-for-all in turning up their music so loud, I can hear it in my living room and bedroom with the doors closed, windows shut, tv on, etc etc, etc.

Apparently everyone else that is subjected to this unbelievably BAD music- it's not just extremely loud, it horrible music to begin with - doesn't care.  I was hoping someone else would finally get sick of it and call the police.  When I call the police, yes they will come out - eventually, sometimes it's hours before they are free to even show up - but then they will just tell them to turn it down and leave.  There is no punitive action for the ordinance violation, so as soon as the police leave, they turn it right back up.

My first call to police was around 6 pm.  I was amazed that police made it so fast, it wasn't even 20 minutes and suddenly the music was turned down.  About half an hour later, music turned right back up.  I waited about an hour and called the police again.  "Did you send the police out to such and such location?".  Why yes we did, Mr. B, do they have it loud again?. YES, they DO.  We'll send someone right out.  Okay, thanks.

A little long for the police to get there the second time, but the music eventually goes down.  It's my bedtime, I go so sleep. I have ear plugs in and my box fan on - always do to help mask outside noises.  But it doesn't matter, it was somewhere around midnight or 1 am, I would have to look at my phone for when I made the third call, but the obnoxious noise that they call music was blaring now.  Like a mariachi band sitting in my bedroom.

I laid there for a while, hoping the noise would be lowered, but it wasn't. I was extremely cranky at this point.  I was going to call the police for the third time, if they weren't going to do anything about it then I was going to go over there myself.  I'm sure the consequences of that action probably would not have turned out too well, but I am SICK of these people who could care freaking less about anyone else in the entire neighborhood.

So I'm on the phone with this sweet sounding lady at police so I am trying to be nice.  We talk back and forth and I finally say: they don't CARE about the cops, they will just turn the music back up as soon as they leave.  Since the city of Phoenix doesn't seem to care to follow their own noise ordinances, I am just going to keep calling back all night long until you finally decide to DO something about this problem.  Of course that isn't really a threat to a person that is paid by the hour to answer the phone, but I wanted to make my point clear enough that perhaps should would relay it to the next officer/s that go out there.

My next course of action would be to talk to the Sergeant and find out why they refuse to do anything about this, ie: start writing citations.  The police must not have been that busy last night, because it wasn't 10 minutes and suddenly the noise was shut off.  I don't mean turned down, I mean turned all the way OFF.  Since their normal, modus-operandi is to play that s*** all night long, I have to assume that the police actually did - something about it this time instead of merely telling them to turn it down.

But I had to call them 3 times over a 6 hour span of time to get anything done about it. I have half a mind to go to Walmart right now and buy one of those obnoxiously loud air horns like they use at foot ball games, go stand out in front of their house and let 'er rip until the thing is empty.  It's 7:30 am, they've been partying all night long, see how THEY like it.

But I"ll refrain.  Instead, I am going to go on a police-calling campaign.  Every time they blast the music, I am immediately going to call the police.  Repeatedly, over and over.  This will generate a "file" against this house - though at this point there must already be one because this has been going on a long time.  But after enough of it for several weeks in a row, then I am going to call either the sergeant in this district or the city prosecutor's office and ask them to review the file on that particular address and also ask why they haven't done anything more than what they have - which up until now has been basically nothing more than a verbal command to tell them to turn it down.

It's raining and not just a little bit.  This is really good news for me.  The ground is getting completely saturated and it will be easy to pull weeds and whatever I want to pull out.

Oh my.  Stink bombs.  Never thought of that.  Harmless but effective. Hmmm.

Well, anyway, it's not getting any earlier and I plan on going to church today, so better get a move on.  Unfortunately, the rain has topped - but - not before it got the ground nicely soaked.  The sky is dark and "ominous", there is thunder and hopefully it will start raining again.

G'day.

ben

Friday here.  Work to be done - at work that is - which is a good thing.  I spent the day yesterday running around as well.
The operations manager almost ran me over yesterday in his pickup truck - literally - he was going 30 mph through our yard, I had just gotten out of the semi headed across the yard but caught his truck coming out of the corner of my eye.

No-one drives that fast through our yard.  Whatever the case, if I hadn't jerked myself to a stop he would have run clean over the top of me.  Well he stopped, terrified look on his face, I hoped incident would help him think about slowing down in the yard, lol.

When asked about the meeting yesterday - this was in the morning, before it had occurred - he was giving out no clues.  I was unabashedly pimping for info, the only thing I really got out of him was that Casa Grande should be in our territory, not 3083's.  I have been trying to get my manager to ask him about this for a while now, but since the opportunity came up, what the heck.  He smiled and said he would take care of it.

It means, if we get it back, more business and bottom line numbers for our store.  The main warehouse manager simply decided to take it away from us at one point and that was that.  We are much closer to Casa Grande, there is a road from our store that is almost a straight shot down there and it used to be ours.  I dunno why he thought he could just steal it from us, but we are, apparently going to get it back.

It is also a bit of a drive - I am getting so sick of being stuck in the east valley and not really getting OUT of it excepting to head west into Phoenix to pick up material for deliveries.  A truck driver being stuck in the same, small area, all the time?  Yikes!

Well, time to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Changes at work. Undoubtedly, something coming down the pike and probably, that news will be given out today to branch managers.  That's cause' they are having their yearly end of year get together for the managers.  They go to a fancy resort place and eat some fine food.   Talk of bonuses should arise but also talk of what they are going to do at the main branch will undoubtedly also be covered.

Our branch is doing so poorly now, I can't imagine they won't enact some kind of changes there as well. What those changes are, I don't know yet.  They have thrown out a few things but in the end, you can never really guess.  You just go with the flow and hope the changes aren't so radical that it is upsetting or otherwise disarming in nature.

Well, time caught me and I have to be off to work.

G'day.

ben

Driving through Fry's parking lot today.  Going 5 mph or less.  Prolly less, I am no hurry with a bunch of humans around.  A guy gets out of his car, babbling on his cellphone, he walks towards the store, along and next to a line of cars.  I am up to him when he starts to walk in front of me, but I'm already there, just slowly keep cruising.

I must have an anger problem.  This guy goes livid.  I don't even know what's going on excepting the person that works for Fry's is looking up with a discerned face over the top of my car. I couldn't hear anything, I was looking over at her to make sure we weren't going to - connect in an very unfortunate way - since she was in the driveway but on the side, dealing with shopping carts.

I look the other way and here is this black dude, glaring at me and mouthing off.  I stopped the car and opened the door. What's going on?  You need to slow down, blah blah blah.  Trash talk.  I don't get into that crap and I won't tolerate it.  Something around a 20 year old punk going on and on. I frankly told him if he hadn't been so consumed by his phone call, he might have actually LOOKED to see if a car was coming.  MUCH more trash talk.   I finally told him where he could stick it and I would be happy to stick something up there if he continued.  His verbiage was getting really bad, to the point I wanted to get out of my car and knock his teeth out of his head.

Not much the words of a Christian, much less the thoughts of one.  I forced myself to not say another word after the line that told him a baseball bat could be forced up his @$$. This isn't worth it.  I have to get over this stuff.  The enemy pushing my buttons, using people to do it.  I really wanted to just shut him up and then, I stopped.  I just closed the door to the car and drove off.  These kids thinking they are bad, my gosh, starting crap with people they don't know, don't know what those people are capable of.  I was waiting for him to kick or hit my car, though, and the car would have stopped immediately and the situation would have been dealt with post-haste.

When such things happen, my teenage years leap into my mind and things that I shouldn't even be entertaining go into my head.  I HAVE to find a way to tame all of this.  This guy was looking for trouble, I most definitely was NOT.  But it takes an instasecond for me get into the mode, which is unacceptable.  Sometimes the things from the past that come into my head to do to people that are starting s*** with me are unbelievable after the event is over and I start backtracking after away from the situation. WHAT was I THINKING?  I wasn't thinking, just letting raw emotion take over.

I didn't care in my teenage years and most of the people I hung out with didn't care, either.  Someone gonna start trouble, they BETTER be ready to back it up, because we were all over it. I could tell stories, but - well anyway.  My fighting days started the first day of Kindergarten in the slums of Pittsburgh and "grew" from there.  This is something that I have, actually, gotten much better at, but obviously still have a ways to go.

I can only say that at least I drove off.

Gag. Sticking point in my life, gotta just find it within myself to bless those people, let it go and move on.

This I know: These situations are going to keep occurring until I am fully over it, released from it, have it dealt with in my life and I can just smile and say sorry, even if I didn't DO anything wrong.  That's the hard part! People starting trouble with other people about something the other person didn't do!  Yet, I understand the enemy and how he works, I still, so far, fall for it every time.

Done with that.  Tomorrow, my manager is going to be gone after a few hours there in the morning and they aren't sending anyone to take over the branch.  Which is not that big of a deal - but I will be out on the road and that new kid - the one with the mouth and attitude - will be "running" it.  He is still doing more of nothing than working. I am ignoring him at this point, instead of speaking my mind.  I don't much care for people that "work" at a place for an hourly wage yet screw off at least half the day and apparently are getting away with it.  It's obvious he won't be doing ANYTHING while everyone is out of the building.

Lol, but I AM getting over that.  They want to let him sit around screwing off, then let them and him.

Enough.

ben

No business, whatsoever, being in my neighbor's back yard.  This referring to 350 man.
I promised my next door neighbor I would keep a watch out for him - 350 man - doing anything to my neighbor's fence.  350 started to erect a fence that is well into my neighbor's yard quite some time ago.  He got the posts up and that's where it ended.

So when I saw him IN my neighbor's back yard, poking through Randy's (my neighbor) stuff, I called Randy, who is currently in Michigan at his summer home.  Randy, I said, 350 man and Sam are in your back yard.  They took down your fence and are welding on 350 man's fence.

Randy went into a conniption, I would have too considering the circumstances, I asked him if he were going to call the police? Yes.  I call him back about 10 minutes later, Randy informs me the police tell him that it's a civil matter and to take it up in the courts.  How is trespassing on private property a civil matter and how can the police interpret it like that?

Randy pleads with me, telling me he gives me his full authority to go onto his property.  Though I neither like Sam nor 350 man, I was not inclined to get involved with this, but I relented. I got my camera, turned on  the video portion of it and started videoing my walk over to Randy's house/property.  350 man disappears, as I thought he would.  Catching him on video both trespassing on private property and attempting to finish a fence that he KNOWS is OFF of HIS property could be used in the courts against him.  But Sam could have cared less.  "You're tresspassing on private property", he tells me.  This is Randy's property, I replied, of which I have his permission to be here.

I asked him if he thought it was okay to be standing on Randy's property and basically helping 350 man steal a portion of it by helping him erect this fence? Was it okay to take down Randy's fence?  Well, he didn't tell me I couldn't be on his property.  Well maybe you should call him and ask him - Sam and Randy have known each other for a LONG time, they have each other's phone numbers.  Sam made a comment about if Randy wants to talk to him, he can call him.  I said fine, I'll have Randy call you right now, do you have your phone?  Sam goes to get his phone - none too happy that I am recording all of this - and I leave.  There was no way I was going to leave myself exposed to lies or potentially even police action by having them making a false accusation against me - it wouldn't be the first time - I had my eye witness with me and I already have it posted on Youtube so that it can't "disappear".

That was it for my part.  I did what I could.  Had it been my property the whole situation, of course, would have never started in the first place, I would have already taken 350 man to court on the property issue and a judge would have already made a ruling on it.  But that's me.  I was going to do nothing more except call Randy, inform him I have a video of Sam doing the fence (and unknown to 350 man, I may not have gotten a video of him back there, but I DID snap several pics of him working on the fence on Randy's side of it).

Well, 3-day holiday weekend over, back to the  wonderful prospect of going to work.  But this morning should be okay, I have a load to pick up downtown and take to north Phoenix.  Not part of my normal territory, but the main branch is swamped and couldn't do it - we are not swamped and we can pretty much do whatever at this point.  We will ever get busy again?  I dunno, I can only wish.

G'day.

ben

Halfway through the holiday weekend.
A man at work that was let go (fired) a week or so ago was found dead in his apartment bedroom by his young son 2 days ago.
Although I have an idea as to why he was fired, I don't have the actual specifics.
What I do know is that he takes rejection type of things very hard, well took them very hard now.

Here's the part that's hard for me.  Whether you believe in prophecy and the gift of prophecy in the church isn't really relevant to me, because I have been operating in that gift for quite some time now.  Not that that makes me anything, it just happens.  So it was in this man's case, but I completely ignored the signs and did nothing about it.  Every time I saw him, the thought "he is suicidal" or something along those lines would pop up in my mind.  I would even see a sign saying " suicidal" before my eyes.

To look at the man, you would not have recognized that.  He was walking around all happy and life was grand, at least on the outward appearance.

I have no idea whether this man was right with the Lord, though many will say that a person committing suicide is hell-bound just by that action alone.  I am not God, I don't know how the Lord sees such things and I do not make such brash conclusions.  I sincerely hope that that is not the case.  I sometimes hear Christians making some pretty - vile - judgments against people, groups, things they don't like and wonder.  Yes, I believe there is a hell but also yes, I don't believe the Lord really wants any humans to end up there.  It wasn't made for people, it was made for satan and the fallen angels that were kicked out of heaven with him.  Perhaps I have made such judgments myself in the past but I am coming to the view that hell is such a BAD place, that one really shouldn't desire that anyone end up there.

I dunno, but I am going to go to church this morning and seek some relief from this.  It weighs heavily on me - the fact that I did nothing about it.  I don't know what I could have said to that man, at work, without getting into some hot water if it blew up in my face, but that's not an excuse, really.

Welcome to my holiday weekend.

Well it's nice having an extended weekend off, anyway.

ben

Gag.
Take a day off in the middle of the week and it messes your head all up. Remind me to make SURE I either get the 2 days off before Christmas or 2 days off after, preferably after.  You just get into your head that it's
Saturday and that you have the next day off, too.

That's okay, I get my revenge: 3 day holiday weekend en-queue.  It wouldn't be so bad going back to work if there was actually something to do!  If it stays this way for too much longer, I have to wonder what is going to happen to our store.  They won't just leave it open forever if it's not producing enough on the bottom line.

I have no idea whether there is anything in the truck routing system, just have to find out when I get work in a little while from now.

Well we got Caleb out and off, that's behind me now, moving on.  To what, I don't know, but moving on.   But I was kind of appalled when I went into his room yesterday after I got back from the airport.  Dirty clothes laying all over the floor and some trash, bed not made.  He just left it like this?  Kinda got me a bit upset that he would leave his room in a shambles.  He apparently forgot his necklaces, too.  One is a cross and I think the other is SA's version of dog tags.

Whatever.  I started to clean the mess up, got well into it but decided to let it go until today.  I was too blooming tired.  I'm telling you, when I stay up past my bedtime, I just pay for it the next day.

Well, enough.  Off to work.

G'day.

ben