Monday/KCL/Women

A rather cruel day if I do say so myself. I worked too hard this weekend outside around the house and I paid for it today. I was tired, cranky and just wanted the work day to get over with.
Plus there were snafu's with a particular salesman and his inside salesman - those 2 are always creating problems.
Tomorrow looks to be a little better concerning work as I will be driving out to far east Queen Creek to deliver 40 foot lengths of HDPE pipe - thick, hard plastic pipe used for high pressure water delivery - and then to Casa Grande, then to the Indian Reservation and if there's time, a entire load of large diameter water pipe to deliver Wednesday.

I'm tired - but I am going back outside in a little while to pick up where I left off yesterday. I have several plants in the ground that I just put in this weekend and they must be watered daily for a while to keep them alive and growing. Plus, I am going to finish within the next week or so in planting the rest of the plants I acquired at that auction last year.

I am going to post this entry on 2 sites - so this next part really has nothing to do with Blogspot. My other site that I just started is at benb.keepconnectedlive.com. There is no use going over there if you are reading this entry cause' it ain't gonna be no different.
I will reiterate what I said on the comments section of yesterday's entry (at KCL) - I do NOT hate the site! I just do NOT like having to try and learn an entire blogging host's site all over again. I have already learned a dozen of them anyway and this one looks a lot different than any of the rest of them.

Which does NOT make it a bad place - it's just ME, me innate desire to NOT have to go through all of that yet again. I have no idea what happened with Diane and apparently the administrators of KCL - it sounds like it got rather ugly. Such is the nature of the beast - all blogging sites get that kind of junk going on at points in time with no rhyme or reason. Certainly I remember JS having more than it's share of people getting ugly with each other. I mostly tried to avoid all of that stuff, but I did end up in the middle of some of it (to be honest about it).
So I'm here (at KCL to delineate) - I'll give it a shot. But at least for now I'll be posting the same posts to both my Blogspot site and KCL.

As for the women portion - we are planning our first in-person meeting on the weekend of the 4th of July. I have not seen this lady yet, but we have talked at great length via email; IM's and phone conversations. We have hit it off really well.

I spoke with mom yesterday - she went up north to her property, entered her travel trailer only to find the dead bodies of mice and the stench of it permeated throughout. She couldn't take it - I imagine she cleaned all of that up but then she came back to the valley. She mentioned that she has tried all kinds of venues to get rid of them. I offered that if she would get a cat, that would deal with the problem handily.

We have feral cats at work and they have elminiated the rodent population. They are now working on the huge consortium of pigeons - a bird I love to hate. I offered that I could catch a feral cat at my house and she could take it up there and see what happens. She was afraid it would just leave. So beit - she hates cats as much as I do. I did not suggest to her that it be an indoor cat, I suggested just take the thing up there, let it out of it's cage and see what happens.

She commented that her neighbor up there had tried the same thing - it ended up leaving his property and moving to a property near a stream down the hill. Cats are highly adaptable creatures that can survive in just about any setting. I don't have any other suggestions for her other than getting some kind of housing up there that won't allow rodents to be able to get into the place. So, she's plenty bummed - she loves her property up there and loves to spend time at it.

I've 90% talked myself into getting another 401k loan after I pay it off - which will be tomorrow, I'm sending the $52 check in the mail. I have lost too much income to tenants - starting late last year - and up through the point that I had to have Mary removed from my home. For those that don't know - sorry - long story. Well, the short of it is she was smoking meth IN my house, I got an order of protection, a scuffle occured late one night, the police came, she's gone. I could get caught up on my mortgage and also have money left over.

I haven't fully talked myself into it by any means, but - I'm getting closer to it.
As for now? I'm going to take a short nap and then go outside and get at it.

Have a great day!
ben
PS - concerning the KCL site - WHAT other bens are there? I don't remember seeing anyone with that name on JS?!!!

The New JS

I am copying and pasting a post I made to whatever that place is called - KCL. I have not decided yet. I have become so nicely comfortable with THIS place, but - Westy offered to put up my old template from JS. Very tempting.

Anyway, on with the show.

My complaints with this site.

I HATE the green headers, good Lord. Might as well put a row of frogs up there, it's totally ugly.

It's totally foreign. So I'm a blog illiterate, I make no claims of computer literacy. Therefore, I am the perfect person to identify for blogging complaints in terms of use. It takes me a while to figure out where everything is and how to use it. I'm pretty comfortable with Blogspot - and here we go - an apparent ex-JS favorite site pops up.

Okay, you can tell me it's been here a while, nice. So has Swine Flu and I don't see anyone clamoring to acquire that - or the kid that died of Bubonic Plague recently.

I am not equating this blog host with anything negative, I've just been thrust around from site to site after JS disappeared and I have had enough. The ONLY reason I would consider moving here is because of all the ex JS'ers that are here, if that weren't true, I wouldn't even know of this site.

So I'm whining. It's no pity party. It just takes so long to figure out a new site, how to navigate it and get comfortable with it..........

I'm done.

For today, anyway.

I have spent the entire weekend working outside and I have loved every minute of it. So much so that the weekend disappeared far to quickly. And I loved it so much that I have decided to try another Craigslist startup: property maintenance.

I'm good at it. I love it. It isn't a chore for me. I could take on a house or 2 and make some extra income. As I have stated numerous times before, I am always looking for ways to increase my income, especially after feeling the effects of fully 2 hour reductions in less than 6 months.

Speaking of extra income, one of my clients recommended me to one of his relatives. I'm referring to dog-watching. This person called me today. They want to bring their dog over and have a pet meeting. I'm all for it. ANYTHING to make some extra money right now.

In fact, I'm all over this property maintenance stuff, I am posting an ad tonight and see where it might go.

I'm done for the weekend - and I am posting this post on 2 sites. One will figure out the other. If that makes sense, welcome to the looney bin!

G'nite and have a great week!

ben

Sunday

I heard something last night that just made me shake my head.
Michael's brother, Anthony. I mean, how is this kid going to survive in the real world? Is he going to live with his mother forever?
Last night, I'm sitting there listening to the boys talk about Anthony's life as it stands right now. He stays in the house all day long, smoking pot and getting drunk.
That's it. He apparently has sniffed out a girl a couple of townhouses down that he is allegedly hitting on. He paces around the house, back and forth, back and forth.

I won't go into all of how I feel about that entire situation over there again, as I have done it too many times and it isn't worth wasting my time. One thing that got me yesterday, though was when Michael and JD went to JD's house to play basketball. JD is being raised by an 82 year old grandmother. Michael is Mexican, JD is black. When they got back, Michael was all up in a huff. JD's grandmother had come out of the house and told JD to "keep that Mexican boy off of my property". She's racist!! I couldn't believe my ears - but JD wouldn't make up such a story. They then started in on Michael's grandmother. I hadn't heard this little gem before, either: she hates both white people and black people.

I'm not voluntarily exposed to racist people, so I don't encounter such very often. I always attempt to see things through the eyes of the Lord. Not that I am God, just trying to take His perspective on things, if that is, indeed, at all possible for a human speck of dust to do. The Bible says we are all created in His image and likeness. Racism is not a part of my equation. There are certain religions that I most certainly hate, but - not entire people groups.

My excitement for today is continued work in deweeding and degrassing on the east side of the house. I transplanted one of the plants I wanted to move yesterday and in a little bit, I'm going to move another plant from the back of the house to the front - hole already dug. I have also decided to go ahead and plant some shrubs next to the rear fence on the east side of the house that has nothing. I still have several plants from that auction. I had no idea that those plants could basically live in those pots indefinitely. Only when they get too big and the roots start getting all bunched up - then you can either plant them or put them in even bigger pots.

High today 96 - but the dew point and humidity are up enough to make it feel uncomfortable even at that low of a temp, so I'm going to try to get this stuff done before noon.

I don't know how everyone is doing, so I am definitely going to make the rounds today to various blogs. Later on - after all the sweat and heavy work is over. Trust me, digging in that dirt is hard work. It ain't soil that just comes out and walaah, you have a hole. It's rocks and hard dirt that only come out after a LOT of energy is thrust into it. Which is why I sorta put on hold, some time ago, planting the final plants from that nursery auction. I just got tired of it.

That coupled with the weeds and grass that are constant chore on the east side of the house. It's great exercise, I'll say that much.

Have a great day.
ben

Saturday

Went to bed early enough last night that I woke up just before 6:00 am.
I decided that I could not afford to pass up an offer that would only set me back a few dollars, so I went and got a few of those Sassoo trees.
But - it isn't just Sassoo trees, it's an entire nursery going out of business. I don't really need anything else in terms of plants and stuff for my yard excepting some vines to grow on the trellises - they were sold out of those. Which is okay, I have a vine already growing at one end of it and shortly after putting up 2 of the trellises I had purchases a small - but different kind - of vine to put near the center of them and I am going to transplant another vine which is out of place where it's at and put it next to the trellises as well.

I pointed out a row of desert trees they had - people have told me they are weeds, I firmly disagreed after seeing them being used in landscaping designs in various places around Phoenix. Sure enough, they are definitely a desert tree. They grow like weeds - yes. The tall one on my side yard was maybe 3 feet tall last year, it's now almost 8 feet tall. The man explained that they put out seeds like crazy and that's why I have about 8 more of them growing near it. I intend on transplanting the small ones just before they get too big to transplant - otherwise - I am going to have a stand of trees that are all together like a giant shrub. I think several of them out front near the house and the side walls would look excellent. Providing they survive the transplant, of course.

The man touted the virtues of Miracle Grow - something I have heard about all my life but have only used a few times. He said on the Sassoos, I could use the stuff weekly and those trees would also start growing like weeds. He further explained that if I keep trimming the Sassoos, they would grow out a nice, wide canopy about 30 to 40 feet wide when they mature. Or, you can do nothing and they will grow as tall as 60 feet but only be about 10 feet wide. I was thinking of what a situation like that would look like - the tall but narrow tree style - if I had enough of them to plant in a row. 60 foot tall trees would shade the house completely during the hot summer months, and these trees look nice. But - a 40 foot tall tree with a nice canopy would look nice, too. Better decide quickly - I want to get them in the ground today or tomorrow.

I was asking him about a cacti I have in my front yard. He provided some amazing information about it - actually them - I have 2 of them out there. They are narrow cacti right now, but - as they grow, the get up to 18 feet tall and TEN FEET wide! Whoa, Nelly, good information. Where that those 2 are planted now is NOT a good place for a plant that is going to get THAT fat. In fact, I don't WANT a plant that wide. He said just don't water them too much and they will grow slowly but still look good. Well of course - isn't that the nature of cactus? They don't need a lot of water and really don't want a lot, either.

So, I have some work to do in planting those trees and transplanting numerous other already planted plants.

Long interlude. I have one of the trees planted and a couple more holes started. The ground is so incredibly hard and rocky around here, it takes starting a hole and then watering it and doing such until you can get a tree and some mulch in there. I also was looking at an array of plants on the east side of my house - one of them is starting to show signs of underwatering. I decided I better trench around all of those plants and create a situation where you can fill the whole thing with water and be assured that the ground is getting saturated well into it. That project is now half done.

I also started digging a hole to transplant the vine and have decided to take out a plant that is out of place by the trellises and put it in the front where there are several of them that are doing quite nicely out there.

The only drawback to all of this work is that the sun is shining brightly and I can feel the "tanning" effect on my face. Must get some sunblock. I had my shirt off for a while - but in that kind of sun, 30 minutes is too long if you are a very white person underneath the clothing like I am. In fact, I can feel the warmth on my back as I am sitting here - I left it exposed too long as it is. No big deal - not long enough to get a burn that causes you pain for a week - been there done that.

My break is over and I'm headed back outside. It feels good to work in the yard.
ben

Friday - Late

What a day.
When I found out about the pipe situation this morning, it set in gear a non-stop cascade of things going on that had me busting @$$ all day long.
The situation is that one of our salesmen placed and order with a pipe company 2 and a half weeks ago. He found out yesterday that the pipe company was "sitting" on the order, had not done anything about getting the pipe onto a truck and sent here from Texas.
So, we ordered enough pipe for the contractor to be able to work tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow, starting at 4:00am, they are working a long shift. These aren't the greatest times to be having to pay workers OT, so they must be on a tight schedule to get the job done.
I'm at the pipe manufacturer's place in west Phoenix. When I arrived, I found out the pipe lengths were 14 footers instead of the normal 20 footers, which set the whole thing up into the air. I had the truck set up to put on 20 footers - I already had pallets and other pipe on there. We're talking 2,480 feet of pipe to go on the truck.

Well, anyway, I had a forklift operator re-position everything on the truck and then they brought out the pipe to put on. JUST before they were going to start putting the pipe bundles on the truck, the salesman called. He started bitching at me about how he had been promised that the pipe was going to be on the jobsite by 9:00am - it was noon time when he called - and giving me hard time. I cut him off - this guy is always giving people a hard time and I just won't listen to it. I informed him that there was NO possible way that pipe could have EVER been to the jobsite considering everything that had to be done and that I had not made that particular promise to him, go talk to whoever made that promise and give THAT person a hard time, cause' I would have told you no earlier than noon and probably later.

He tells me the crew is going home in half an hour. Not even possible. They were going to be installing the pipe early tomorrow morning. I offered to get up early Saturday morning and take it out there. This calmed him down considerably. He hung up and called management to see if they would allow me to work on a Saturday. No problem. Anyway, the problem was blown WAY out of proportion and I was on the receiving end of all of it.

The contractor ultimately decided to wait until I got there. I had other materials on my truck that they needed by 4:00 am so it could be installed by 5:00 am so that some specialist coming out would be able to do his work with it. Well, I was happy to have that taken off of me, but I would have gladly taken that entire truckload out tomorrow morning - anything to keep me looking good at work, even if it meant getting out of bed at 2:30 am to be at a jobsite by 4:00 am.

I finally broke down and got a haircut today. I couldn't hold out any longer. My hair was almost down to my eyelashes. WAY too long. I'm just doing whatever to keep expenses down as low as possible. I hate having long hair - it gets too hot in the summer time. My hair is very thick and when it gets long, it's like having a fur cap on.

Ummm, that's it for now. I'm tired. I went overhours and I did not get a break - and I was moving all day long. It actually felt good to have a good, solid day's worth of work, but it always takes it out of me.

C'ya later.
ben

Friday

Settling into a "new" routine - the new tenant is up at 2:00 am and is at work at the airport at 3:00 am. I have asked about the noise levels - he's quiet as a mouse. This guy is, from what I can tell, your basic, ideal tenant. Has enough money he doesn't have to mooch, keeps quiet, talks normally, etc etc etc.

I just got to work - have not signed in yet. A pleasant surprise awaited me this morning when I found several deliveries had been dumped into our truck routing system after I left yesterday. I do call this pleasant because this will keep me busy for at least most of the morning.

Another continuing pleasant surprise is the weather. The temps are not showing to go over 100 for at least another week. Actually, for being this far into June, that is shocking. Shockingly good, yes, but - truly amazing.

Ummm, and there is a truck driver here already wanting me to unload his truck. I'm usually firm but polite - we don't open until 6:30am - that's 15 minutes from now, I'm not on the clock, be out there then, thanks. I do not, however, say the same to a customer showing up early. Telling a customer they will have to wait 15, 30 whatever minutes is pretty much the same as telling your boss to bug off - it's not a good idea.

Well kick the day into ultra high gear - a pipe manufacturer as "f*****" us as a manager that just stopped by put it - literally - and I will be running around quite a bit today trying to get all of this done.

Gonna hafta cut this one short, get on the clock and get to workin'.
Have a great day!
ben

Thursday..........

..........already?!!
A slow day today at work in terms of deliveries. Only one place. I spent much of the day doing much-needed cleanup work around the warehouse and the yard. We have our bi-annual inventory in - 2 weeks I think - we're just getting everything ready. I do precounts on crates and pallets of stuff that are on high shelfs - and label them with a count so they don't have to pull it down. The CEO of our company is coming to town next month - don't know that he'll actually show up to our branch, but I would definitely like to meet him in person. I had an email exchange with him when my house burned down - he and his family are responsible for getting the company's Family Fund started. It's a fund that employees can apply for if they are in some serious financial distress. I can imagine right now they may be getting inundated with requests.

Anyway, that fund gave me 5k when my house burned down. It was a lifesaver. I had sent the CEO a thank you note - at that time, the fund had JUST started and I wanted him to know how much it was appreciated and how helpful it was in a serious moment of need.

DirectTV came through - they did send the new box and the newest tenant now has Satellite in his bedroom. Thank you, for once at least, Direct TV!!

Fry's - amazing. A vice-president of some department had called me - last week was it? I told him my concerns with the recurrent theme of not having enough of certain products, well, in fact, not having ANY of a certain - sale-priced product. We had a rather lengthy discussion. He asked me how he could make it right? I flat told the man I did NOT want freebies, because I have already received a freebie in the form of a $50 gift card from another gentleman from his company. That was the end of the conversation. I forgot about it - I'm not going to dwell on that stuff, I just like to let Fry's know about what's going on when it happens. This guy sent me a $25 gift card to Fry's, too! There isn't anyway I will quit shopping at Fry's and I have never threatened to do so, but - I have definitely been going to other stores that are giving Fry's some serious competition as well. Today, though, Fry's had lean ground beef - 2-pound chubs - for $1.99 per chub! That's an AWESOME price! I wondered if maybe they didn't have it mislabelled?

The City of Phoenix actually sent me a bill for having Mary served with the Order of Protection! The night I had her served, I wasn't even the one that made the initial call, I just used the visit already in-progress to have it served. I am going to contest this one. But - whatever - it's just another thing I can add to the lawsuit if it comes to that. I haven't heard of them charging for such a service, though, and certainly they didn't tell me about any such charge when they were serving it. Definitely going to make a phone call and look into that.

I was very tempted when I was looking through Craigslist and saw Sassoo trees being sold for $5 per tree. That is an AMAZING deal. Yet another nursery going out of business. Those trees grow to be HUGE. And they are nice-looking too. I'm going to resist, I think, but darn, that's a great price. Yeah, I still look. I look to see if perhaps another nursery is going out of business. Hey, it's my version of window-shopping.

I am going to go for a visit in the next couple of weeks - probably anyway - to meet this lady friend I have been talking with online for some time now. I decided to take Fin's advice and make the first visit a day-trip in some public setting. We are talking about hiking with her dogs versus spending money on a restaurant trip or whatever. She knows my financial situation, I thought I better just put that out there in case it turns her off. She's very well off herself, making excellent money - but some ladies are inclined to find a "rich" guy. That definitely would not be me. I wrote her yesterday about the possibility, she wrote back and said definitely.

Well, that's it for me. I have been avidly reading the news about N Korea; Iran's upcoming election; waiting to hear Israel's response to Obama's speech (which I didn't and won't bother to listen to); the pic of Obama's feet up on his desk while speaking to - was it the PM of Israel? and their offense taken; and much more keenly, the Air France Airbus jet that went down in the sea. I do hope they find the black boxes. This kind of thing fascinates me to no end. I'm sure the families of those that are lost probably don't see it that way - but - this kind of thing happens and I do feel badly for everyone. There are amazing stories about some of the things that occured, the latest is a woman that missed her flight - which would have ended up in her death, only to be killed in a head-on collision. I immediately thought of the movie: "Final Destination". If you have watched any of those movies, you know what I'm talking about. Not that there is any actual reality to such a thing (the premise of the movie, that is), but it's just what came to mind. Oh, and the now official mandate that the Swine flu has been classified as a pandemic. This world is definitely in turmoil.

Well, and then there's the "May ONLY lost 651,000 jobs". What? Is this supposed to be a SMALL number? The media, whatta crock. The numbers went down a little, so that's great news. Yeah, well be on the receiving end of one of those pink slips and you aren't going to care a diddle about that. That is a LOT of jobs to lose in one nation in one month's time.

I'm gonna shut up now.
Have a great evening!
ben

Wednesday

So, Caleb went out looking for a job today. He went to 5 different places around where his mother lives. At the Alberston's grocery store, he filled out an application on their computer kiosk and then left. He called me right after he left, I told him to go back in, find a manager, and tell that person you just applied through the computer, if you need any help I am available and I would really appreciate consideration for whatever position.

He did just that, too. That manager wasn't sure whether they needed help or not, but - to just fill out an app and not at least approach a manager may be a waste of time. I was proud of him going around to all those places and cracking the whip. I encouraged him not to get discouraged if nothing comes through right away - times are tough and a lot of people are looking for jobs. But he's got good references and the JR ROTC to list as something he's doing with both school and extra-curricular activities, can't hurt to write that in there somewhere. In fact, I think it will help immensely if there does happen to be job openings anywhere.

Well, anyway, today wasn't much. I had no deliveries but did make a trip downtown to take some material from our branch to the main branch and vice-versa. It was abysimally slow. As yesterday, there wasn't a whole lot of anything going on. The warehouse manager was washing his pickup truck for the 2cd time this week.

The general manager was cruising around, talked to him for a little bit. Actually, he was questioning me on the transition since we have gone from 4 workers at our store to 2. It's gone quite well, actually, considering there simply was not enough work to warrant 4 workers. With just 2 of us, the amount of work we are getting is enough to keep us busy - for whether driving or doing things around the store or warehouse.

Look - it's a 7 hour work day plus half hour break. Unless there is absolutely nothing going on, it goes by like a breeze. I have been busy driving lately, so even on a slow day, I can find things to do.

I have been pursuing looking into getting a passenger endorsement on my CDL and attempting to get part time work driving a tour bus - maybe for a casino on the weekends or something. I can't do Greyhound because they want full time drivers and they most certainly do not pay enough for me to want to quit my company and go work for them - not to mention the fact there are no other opportunities to do anything else there but - drive. I have not seen a part-time trucking job available since the economy went into chaos. Some companies are hiring full-time drivers, yes, but not part-time.

The transplanted tree is not doing well. I suspect that the guys that dug it up just cut out a lot of the root system, though I definitely saw a small root ball underneath it. If enough of the roots would have survived, I think I would have seen it coming back to life by now. But, just in case, I'll water it for another week. If it's just plain dead by then, it's coming out of the ground. It sucks because that is a great place to have a tree, and certainly, I do not have money to be buying trees right now. Oh well.

Which reminds me, I still need to get someone to give me a written quote on fixing the walls in Mary's rooms she was in, I am not going to - not - sue her. Not after she attempted to get me into trouble by claiming that I had shoved her. If she had not done that, I might be tempted to let it go.

Anyway, hope you all are having a luxurious day - the weather is still semi-nice here - better than very-bad - and I'll take it for as long as it lasts.
ben

Tuesday

I haven't yet heard anything from the new renter - I told him I was holding his check until today. Tomorrow, I am depositing it unless I hear something different from him. I assume he's moving in, just haven't received a phone call from him yet. Of course - if he didn't move in - another person responded to the $475 per month ad that is interested, lol.

I get a call from a Loan Mod place today. Tell you right now, the guy trying to sell me on his firm's version of it sounded like a used car salesman - at best. He tells me to check the BBB concerning his company. I said yes, I will also be reading every word on whatever you are faxing over to me - I wanted to see what kind of fine print is on the paperwork. I told him I would read everything over - but that I was at work. So, I leave work, get home, this yodel calls me again. Wants me to send in the Authorization Form which authorizes them to work on my behalf. Yeah, right, I'll just do that right now, let me get in my car and go back to work.

This guy thought I had time to look up his business under the BBB, read all of the paperwork, fill OUT all the paperwork and get it sent back to him in less than an hour's time? If I ever felt a scam coming on, this is definitely it. Instead of reading all this stuff, I'm going to tear it into pieces and when he calls me tomorrow, I will - be very blunt with him.

Meanwhile, DirectTV saga continues on. Last night, I apparently missed the call from the lady that was going to call me back. She left a message. I went to the bathroom for a minute and she called while I was taking care of business.

So, not a person to like to wait, and having ample experience with these large companies that don't give a damn about it customers and put it's policies on the Throne as some kind of god that oversees everything their portion of life's existence occupies, I called them back.

My experience with these companies? Persistence can eventually pay off. If you are willing to go through the eternity of press 1, press 2, press the red button - go from one menu to another to another, and then have a computer dictating you terms and telling you things that you learned in grade school, then finally getting through to a live person, who asks you the same questions over that the computer asked you - which I find quite annoying - and then talk to that person, who tells you no, the company will not do that, and then ask for their supervisor, they tell you the same thing and then evnetually hang up on you - and do that enough times - you will eventually get through to the "right" person. The right person has no more authority than the rest of the supervisors you talked to, it's just that your story rings a bell with that person and walaah.

I've done it many, many times. Last night, I called DirectTV a total of 8 times. Some of the people were downright rude - and I was being very polite with everyone, even if I was being quite firm in my stance. The last man? Told him the story - the receiver had been stolen, I have the police report number, on and on and on.
Told him I had already spoken with someone else - gave him her name - which did nothing for him since there are so many incoming call centers - and then he started speaking.

A breath of fresh air. Did he HAVE to give me a new receiver for free? Undoubtedly not. They weren't responsible for the box being stolen, why should they be? He looks at my record. So, you've been a Direct TV customer for a year and a half? No, I tell him, I've had 2 accounts with DirectTV, the one before my house burned down and the current one, I've actually been a customer for almost NINE years.

That was the end of that. Okay, Mr. BB, you got it. 2 to 5 business days to receive it, sent FedEX ground. $70 plus shipping/handling for free. Was it worth the unbelievable amount of time I spent getting the deal? Darn straight. In my financial situaition, everything counts, EVERYTHING. Heck, I still haven't got my hair cut (conerning spending money) - it's so long it's getting quite annoying in itself.

But, I had not time for that today. The newest tenant just showed up with a U-Haul. He gave Michael $20 to help him move in - Caleb left for home - I'm not going to tell him he left half an hour too early to make an easy $20 - the guy has some stuff, but it isn't that much stuff.

Swwwwwwweet. This latest round of trying to get a tenant in here certainly put me to the test. I wasn't about to give up, but I was getting a little - uncertain to say the least.

Up - down - up - down - that's life.

Work was nice today- it's been actually very nice weather with overcast skies for what, a week now. Certainly not June type of weather. After running around all over downtown, I drove out to the Lost Dutchman State Park for another delivery. Nice drive. Got the truck stuck back in there little hole they call a construction site - not stuck literally - just that it's a very tight squeeze - but this time noticed that they had removed enough of the gravel piles so that my truck could fit through the gate at the end of the road. Last time, I had to back up - I don't know, several football fields worth, to get out of there. I think I side it was 300 feet last time - it's much further than that. I also noted that they don't like semi trucks going into their park - but - that's the price to pay when you have construction going on.

We were busy enough - downtown? People milling around, wishing there was something to do. A whole crew of them, standing around, looking for something to do.

Long interlude. People flowing in and out of here, lots of conversation - and made myself sliced potatoes with onions fried; 2 eggs runny; a slab of cube steak, medium rare. I mostly like steak rare - but cube steak is better eaten a bit more cooked, I think.

So, with that, I'm outta here.
G'nite.
ben

Monday

Took a trip in the semi out to Florence today - a nice little drive - delivered some concrete meter boxes - well, delivered a LOT of concrete meter boxes - and then came back to the yard. There were no more deliveries. I ended up going through locations in the warehouse to make sure that each item we sell is in the place that the computer says it is. We are doing our semi-annual inventory soon, we always go through locations to make sure they're correct, and we usually also do a pre-inventory count to see if the actual numbers on the shelf are the same as the what the computer says we have.

DirectTV - after QUITE a lot of talking back and forth - I was not giving up unless they hung up on me - actually has agreed to replace the receiver for free. That's the one Mary took and that I have filed a police report about. They are allegedly calling back tonight - it was getting far too late last night, after ten o'clock which is well past my bedtime - to get the serial number of the unit that was stolen. I asked them to give me the serial numbers of all the boxes so I could eliminate the 3 remaining ones and therefore come up with the box that is missing. I need this to give to the police.

Anyway, quite a lot of persistence - while still being polite - got me something out of that. I am all about saving money wherever I can right now - always I am really, but even more-so now - and certainly having to replace something that was stolen from me is not something I really wanted to have to do out of my own pocket. I give no kudos to DirectTV until I actually HAVE the receiver in my possession.

A name from the past surfaced last night - Anthony. Seems he is still getting drunk and still starting trouble. He starts fights with everyone and then has father steps in - who is a hothead himself - and I can only imagine the outcome of that. They are out-of-work and I am sure the situation over there must be quite "pleasant". Michael is spending all of his time over here at this point - apparently the end-of-school is also the end of the restrictions.

I strongly suggested yesterday to both Caleb and JD - Caleb's friend - that they get up off of their lazy @$$es and start looking for a job. Sure, jobs are not easy to find, but I notice that the grocery stores are still hiring teenagers for bagboys and such. The point is to at least TRY to find something. They both had their excuses - which I basically ripped apart at the seams and fed to the garbage disposal - and told them both to get out there and start filling out applications. Both had this idea that parents/grandmothers were going to go find a job for them. WHY on earth would they want to do that? I mean, if you happen to know someone that needs someone - great - but I would far rather see them put their toes into the water and start feeling this stuff out for themselves. It's a whole new realm, no doubt, and maybe a little scary, but it's past time for both of them to start getting a taste of reality.

Ummm, new renter moves in tomorrow. I have nothing more than to print out a rental contract and find the keys from Mary, the rest is done. I'm going to have to think about building a regular closet in there - but for right now - the guy is happy enough to get the room and doesn't care about a closet - his words, not mine. I already have a check from him - I'm not cashing it until he actually moves in.

Nothing much else. Have some beef that I am going to form into hamburger patties and go outside and do some grillin'.

How are you doing? Hope everyone is well.
ben

Relief

FINALLY - I have rented out the room.
The guy that came earlier today - it's almost 4:00pm - and I clearly stated to him - and everyone else - first come, first served. I have check in hand. He isn't moving in until Tuesday, so I prorated this month for the rent payment - have check in hand.

Short and sweet, the man hopefully not a lunatic and seems normal enough. He is moving because his current roommate is moving and he can't swing the entire rent by himself. He works at the airport - which is like less than 5 miles from here to the entrance, much shorter directlyl to the edge of the airstrip - fenced of course - if you wanna watch em take off up close.

He will not, however, be a long-term renter. I doubt it, anyway. He is expecting an inheritance to come through - he has siblings that are fighting it in court, so it may drag on for who knows how long - but he claims to expect 500k as his share if/when the court hands it out. Whatever, I have temporary reprieve - all I needed for now.

I'm through. This has been very trying, to say the least. Just because it took so long to get someone in here. And honestly - I have no clue how long ANY of the current renters are going to stay. But - deal with the next one when it happens.

More

Well, I finished the paint project except for the clean up - when the potential tenant called, wanting to show up early. He's a student in some University in Indiana, down here for the summer to work at U.S. Airways - doing some sort of office type work. They have a corporate headquarters in downtown Tempe.

I thought the guy was 18 years old, to be honest, but - he said he's 28. Anyway, gave him the tour, he sounded interested - but - he had other places he wanted to check before making a decision.

Not throwing a wet blanket over my own party, but that pretty much tells me he isn't interested. I could be wrong - so beit. Find out one way or the other by the end of today, as he wants a place to stay - starting today. I just think he's looking for a furnished room and probably someone, somewhere, has one that is probably nicely furnished.

So, my next plan of attack is to get the room put back together, cleaned up and take pictures of the actual room, versus what I have posted on the most current ad, which has pics of a smaller bedroom. I will not be buying furniture for that bedroom unless someone comes in here wanting such - money is hardly a thing I can just throw to the wind right now for something that isn't a signed and sealed deal.

If you think this situation with renting this room out is a bit obsessessive with me - well, you need only place yourself in my shoes to figure this out. I have absolutely no regrets getting Mary out of here - at the same time - the money lost is an irrevocable blow if I don't get it reconciled and soon.

Anyway, at least someone came and looked at the place - after all of these people prior to this guy making appointments or showing interest and asking about coming over - and not one single show. I will be posting yet another ad today.

As for now, I am going to finish putting the room back together plus I am moving the 2, junk cabinet things out of her room and into the storage shed outside.

ben

Sunday

Another nice, quiet Sunday morning. No TV on, no video games - just peace and quiet. On a Sunday morning where I am experiencing this and the boys come out - I just tell them to go find something else to do, cause' the TV's are staying off until further notice.

I was a little surprised that this sargeant did not call me back yesterday after he said he was going to do so. This concerning renting the room. I've had so many people bug out - they say they're coming and they don't show - but - that's the nature of Craigslist. Many people complain about it, there's really nothing you can actually do about it.

I did write the man a note asking him if he is still interested, but that's as far as it goes. Meanwhile, yet another individual is supposed to show up at 2:00 this afternoon. At this point, I won't hold my breath - but I will finish the painting job in the room - just need to finish the trim work. Unfortunately, I think I may have to buy another gallon of paint to accomplish that task. I'm not really interested in spending money on anything - but that room definitely needed fresh paint.

I went to bed early last night - and I am still tired. I have lost so much sleep in recent days, it has caught up to me this weekend. I took 3 naps yesterday and this morning I still feel tired after 9 hours of sleep. I will undoubtedly be napping today as well - but still trying to finish stuff around here in the interims. Can't say there's anything wrong with napping, I just want to finish a couple of more projects, or move some of them along anyway.

Well, a long inter-lude while looking at the situation here and determining what to do. That, unfortunately, means a trip to Home Depot to spend money I can't afford to spend to fix a room's walls that a particular ex-tenant made a mess of.

Off to the races!
ben

Dad; The Lifesaver

Well, maybe not quite that bad - but he did send me a $150 check today that is going almost entirely to electricity.
Sweating into the 2000's, I've been outside quite a bit cleaning up, watering, digging more holes.
I also started a good cleaning in here - a day earlier than normal because I potentially have yet another person coming over to look at the room.

However, pretty soon, I'm going to have to kick it into high gear and get in there and get the paint job done. I've been working outside so much, I simply haven't had the time to deal with it. First impressions are everything, if this guy does show up today (or possibly tomorrow - per this person and his military schedule - allegedly a staff sargeant) - I want the room ready. It really doesn't take that long to paint a room - but - it's a big room and it will take a little longer, albeit one wall is done excepting the trim work.

In actuality, I really never have woken up today. I woke up this morning much later than normal and slept mostly through the night - giving me almost ten hours of sleep, whereas 3 days this week I was working on 4 to 6 hours of sleep. Not by choice, either, just wake up in the middle of the night and never able to get back to sleep.

That's it. I have had 2 replies to the latest postings on CL - today - and have talked with one individual and have yet to hear back from another.

Anyway, back to work.

Saturday

Amazing that the temps are staying as low as they are, considering we're starting to get into June pretty good. Projected highs for the next week are under 100, even after that, they're at 100. Not bad to work in and definitely helps keep cooling costs down - versus 110 and on up. I imagine we'll get there eventually, but I'll take whatever reprieves in finances going out that I can find.

The latest ad - has generated absolutely zero interest. Not sure what I'm going to do at this point. Just keep hoping that someone replies, as I'm not interested in going too low in the rent price. Couple of reasons. 1. Not worth having a person coming in using as much as it costs to have another person in here and then - not having much of anything on top of that. 2. If other tenants find out they're paying low then them, that could definitely cause some unrest in the ranks. 3. Why bother. The amount coming in from any single person must be enough to make it worth having them around. I don't care how nice or mellow or quiet a person is, they're still in my house and regardless, it still makes me have to do things differently than I would without tenants here at all.

The room will remain empty until someone willing to pay at least a minimum amount of rent is attracted. So, the Craigslist ads will also continue. Next ad - no pics, different desciptor. Just playing on words - without lying or exaggerating or otherwise painting a false pic. The point is to try to get someone interested by the verbage that otherwise might not have any interest.

I was also thinking of running an ad with a MUCH higher price. Reverse psychology - the room is expensive, it MUST be a nice place. Will it work? It's free to run the ad, therefore, it's worth a try.

I woke up late - for me anyway - and have been grumpy this morning. I overslept. But - that's my body paying me back for not sleeping well for 3 nights in a row. I'm starting to come out of the grumpy phase - really just need to get outside and start doing some of the work I have intended to do this weekend out there.

That's about it for now. Just paid some bills - didn't really want to do that, either, but - can't let things go forever. My hair is like a giant mop right now - I've let that go, too, in response to reduced income, but - I am going to HAVE to go get a haircut as it's too hot and I don't really like long hair - it's too much to manage and deal with.

Anyway, hope you have a great day!
ben

Friday

So, my prospects for a new tenant - haven't been that great.
A guy is coming into town on Sunday who says he wants to come look at it.
Another guy is starting a job at a resort that is about a mile and a half away from here and wants the room - but 2 weeks from Saturday.
Others have simply disappeared off the radar. One guy's deal-breaker is that I must have a garage for his vehicle and that he would pay extra rent - sorry - no garage, no, I ain't building one anytime soon.

So, I just entered another Craigslist ad for the room. There are so many Craigslist ads for room rentals running every day, there is apparently quite the competition going. However, most of those ads are not anywhere near the ideal location that I am at in thinking of getting to downtown Phoenix or ASU in Tempe or University of Phoenix only 3 miles away. Anyway, I figure to keep my ad up in the running by running a new one every day or every other day until the room is rented, while deleting the old ads in the process.

I just got paid and I am paying off the 401k loan. There is no sense in waiting, it's $50 - I am getting to the point where "The Button" is going to be pushed and I will be getting another loan. A $2,000 plus loan will stave off the wolves for quite a while - as long as I am prudent with the money, and rest assured, with the way things are going, it will be spent on bills and whatever repairs need to be done around here. That will not eat up too much of it - I will make it not do so - and I will have some money in the bank to fall back on.

The weekend is here. I won't say "finally" here - I'm only working 7 and a half hours a day. This morning, as I almost always do - I arrived early. I like to make a pot of coffee, drink several cups, look at the internet - N Korea making more threats and all the BS that goes on in the news - arriving at work and there is a customer waiting. Done with him, another customer shows up - halfway done with them and realize I haven't even signed in yet - mainly because it's before the store "officially" opens. A freight truck shows up. Anyway, the day passed quickly enough.

My plans for this weekend: finish painting the rental bedroom. Keep track of hours spent - already have receipts. I have 4 separate things to sue Mary for - but it will all be on one complaint. I still need to get an estimate for repairs to walls. I am apparently not going to get my DirectTV receiver and remote back from her, meaning I will have to go buy replacements. More fodder for a lawsuit - and MUCH more motivation to go file that suit.

I am also going to transplant one of the vines from it's current location to next to the trellises. I will then plant 3 of the other types of flowering plants I still have in containers in the proximity of where the removed vine was at. The transplanted tree - is showing it's dislike for the transplant. I am going to give it more root therapy and keep watering it. Really all I can do - it's up to the tree to hang on, re-root and take up it's life where it left off.

Today has been overcast, which I find very pleasant. The temps are coming back down, another surprise considering it's June and usually - at least from what I remember, much hotter than it's predicted to be for the next week or so than it's actually going to be.

I'll undoubtedly talk to my lady friend this weekend - but I have no great plans besides just getting things done around here. As for today? Water some plants and probably go to bed early.
ben

Thursday

Taking my break at work.
The more thought I give to my current situation, the more evident it is becoming that I am not going to make it through this without taking out another 401k loan.

I'm not exactly chomping at the bit at such an idea, either. You have the option of how many years to pay it back, but - you get too close in the amount of time to pay it off and the payments are pretty high.

Second, it eats into my retirement and does "irrevocable" damage to the account.
But life is slapping me in the face now, not 25 years from now, and there isn't much I can do about it. The fact of the matter is, any kind of financial blow was enough to push me over the edge. Getting rid of Mary - while effecting a marvelous change in the atmosphere of my home, not to mention no more meth being smoked (changes include not having a person up all night long, making all kinds of noise, keeping people awake; not having a line of guys walking in during those all-night episodes; wasteful uses of electricity and water are gone, and a lot more minor things not needful to go into here - but also the fact that she is no longer here to start trouble with other tenants) in my house.

I'm frantically working on getting another renter in there yes - but every day that I don't have one eats into an already extremely-strained budget that couldn't deal with the newest loss of hours at work to begin with.

I am, however, still resolved that I am not going to cave into just anyone coming into my house. If they seem strange, whacko, have serious financial issues, evictions on their record - or I just don't feel right about it, I will not give them a room in my house. One guy said he either will or might come over today to look at it. Giving the wrong person a room just adds another drain to the already full plate.

I'm hopeful today that when I get home from work and check my personal email, there will be more inquiries after placing that ad last night.

The 401k loan is my only backup plan. My dad offered that if I get into a position where I am facing imminent foreclosure, to call him and he would see what he could do. I am definitely NOT wanting to get to that place - that is some serious - back-to-the-wall positioning that I hate to be in - but, really - I'm already there, just still have a cushion in terms of time before foreclosure notices start coming my way.

Anyway, back to work.
ben

More

I've had a phone call and an email already from people interested in the room - amazing the difference that can be made by wording an ad differently and throwing some pics in.
The first guy - works in downtown Phoenix - I'm all of 8 miles away from there.
The second guy is starting a job a the Arizona Grande Resort - that's all of a mile and a half from my house.

Oh, and yes, this woman that was supposed to come twice now and didn't and then was supposed to come today - and didn't - well, I hope she doesn't bother calling me because I am going to politely tell her to bug off. I'm not sure how one does that politely, but I'll find a way.

The second guy - lives in North Phoenix currently which is a LONG ways off from the Arizona Grande. He also wants me to hold the room for 2 weeks, lol, until he gets his first paycheck. Probably this guy isn't going to end up with the room unless there is absolutely no-one else that wants it before then, cause' I don't want to wait that long to get money to start being generated from the rental of the room.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get even more inquiries by tomorrow and maybe get someone in here out of it. Just a little more optimistic now that I've got some leads, even if it's just words on a computer screen or a conversation on the phone.

As for me, I'm trashed - as in tired - and am headed off to bed early.
G'nite!
ben

Wednesday

Took another trip to the Lost Dutchman State Park located just outside of Apache Junction, up against the Superstition Mountains. The park caters mostly to RV-ers but I think there are also camp/tent sites. This time of year? I doubt anyone is tenting out there. The problem with this place? Most certainly NOT designed for semi-trucks. One lane roads that curve around all over the place. I drove down about a 1,000 foot long road - to a dead end where the job-site is. Last time, I was able to pull through and out the other side, this time - not.

I had to back all the way out of there. Fortunately, there was no traffic at all to deal with and it was - an interesting ride anyway, just because of the turns in the road and the fact that there is anywhere from a 2 to 4 foot drop off at any given time on both sides of the road - and the fact that the road is JUST wide enough for the truck to fit on it.

So, allegedly, this lady is coming over today to look at the house. If she does not come this time, I'm blowing her off - this will make the 3rd missed appointment. I will know soon enough - she has Wednesdays off and is supposed to come between 3 and 5 pm. I'll see if the other person still needs a room reserved for him - he's coming to town on the 8th I think he said, if not, I'll run the ad again and continue my search.

I have no idea what the police have done about Mary. I think the guy was going to email her, apparently, to ask about this situation with her taking my Direct TV and remote. Apparently, Mary did not take me seriously when I said I was going to file a report with the Phoenix Police Department. How can you "accidentally" take something like that? You clearly don't own it. Anyway, if this has to be taken to court, I will have a report number to show to the judge to show at least that I was serious enough about it to take this kind of action. I don't know if Mary will lie about taking it or not, to be honest.

Today? 106. Doesn't feel that warm. I think I have gotten pretty good at tricking my mind to tell myself that this isn't that bad, and think what it's going to be like when it's 110 or more. Oh that it wouldn't GET that hot this summer. I mostly say that for the idea of electric bills - the higher the temps - obviously, the more use of AC to keep it cool in here.

I'm still watching with interest the developments of the crashed Airbus. One expert predicts they will never recover the blackboxes. Although that is certainly a possibility, I was just watching Air Crash Investigation of a commercial jet that went down over deep - deep - waters. They located the wreckage and then used some sort of machine that went down to the bottom - the found both boxes and brought them back up. It was thousands and thousands of feet down. I think this expert was basing it on not having the right equipment, but from what I've read, the right equipment is on it's way "as we speak". Certainly the world of aviation - who makes the Airbus, Boeing? - want to find out WHAT, exactly, happened to that plane. Certainly, if there's a flaw with the design or something that needs fixed, whatever it takes to find out the info is worth the price. They ALWAYS spend a lot of time and money on these investigations, I can't see that this one will be any different. I hope they are able to retrieve the boxes and get the data off of them.

In other news, a DPS officer had arrested a drunken driver today and put that individual in the back of his cruiser. Apparently, ANOTHER drunken driver smashed into the back of the cruiser, killing the woman inside of it. So I read, anyway. All I can say is, at least another cop didn't get killed this time. It's happened several times here - an officer is stopped on the side of the freeway, inside of his car, and some bright person smashes into the stopped cruiser, killing or seriously injuring the officer.

I'm ending this one. I ate at Filiberto's this morning - whatever was in that stuff, it is still churning in my stomach. It is not a good feeling with all of that acid - and I don't have anything to take to deal with it. Yuck.
C'ya later.
ben

Tuesday

Another partial Mary post.
I wrote her again today - twice.
The second message was my final notice: Have someone contact me or email me about when she is going to bring back my Direct TV receiver and remote, or I'm calling the police and reporting it as stolen when I get home from work.

Nothing. True to my word, I just got off the phone with the Phoenix Police Department. They're going to take the complaint over the phone. I could sue her for the loss - and most certainly I will if it comes to that - but I have 2 prospects for tenancy now and I NEED it NOW, not a month or 2 or whenever the court date is set. If worse comes to worse, I'll have no choice but to buy a used receiver off of Craigslist with remote and then add that stuff to the lawsuit I am going to file against her. Oh, and if I wanted to treat her like she's treated me, I could have her arrested for committing a crime against me per the Order of Protection. I won't even try to do that, but the temptation certainly surfaced if only for a few minutes.

Dad wants me to come down with Caleb - next week! - to go sailing. Can't swing time off that fast. I decided I want to go ahead and take some time off - not too much - but at least a couple of days coupled to a weekend. It's halfway through the year - almost anyway - and I've only taken time off for court and the already-scheduled holidays set by the company. I have tons of vacation time and I want to use at least some of it.

My lady friend wants me to come up - whenever - to meet her. Mother wants me to come up and visit her there. In all 3 cases, accomodations are free. Dad is going to pay for a hotel room, my lady friend has 2 guest bedrooms and mother has a couch in front of her RV. Gasoline, however, is not free, and money is very tight right now. Getting another tenant in here will ease that squeeze considerably.

So far, the freshly transplanted pine tree is looking good. But - give it a couple of weeks and then we'll see what it looks like. Which reminds me - I need to water it right now, like asap after getting done with this entry. Gotta keep it wet/moist.

So I'm going through Fry's today to get a few things. I always pass by the meat department - today I bought 2 more packages of the ground beef that's on sale. I'm walking along and lo and behold - beef tongues!!! GROSS!!! More amazing? One tongue was almost TWENTY FIVE dollars. That's absurd! I figure that tongue - ain't worth anything but to cook, cut up and give to dogs. I had absolutely no clue that stuff is that expensive.

Well I've rambled enough and I wanna take a short nap before going outside and digging a hole for the small tree I've had sitting in a pot - forever.
ben