Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The outcome

The eviction trial was this morning!

The Good
We won the case! She of course had all sorts of lies to tell, just like we expected, but the judge saw past it all and ruled in our favor. We actually didn’t need to say much at all. Our attorney pretty much laid everything out clearly and did most of the talking. Whew, money well spent there.

The Bad
We have to give them two weeks to get out. They have to leave, but they have two weeks to do it. You can be sure she’s going to squat until the Sheriff comes to kick her out.

The Ugly
As we were leaving the courtroom, we made the mistake of exiting at the same time as Miss Bitchtenant. She was soooo mad. She hissed at us, “I’m gonna fuckin’ burn your house down!” Some sore losers are scarier than others. She definitely ranks up there. We immediately went to the police station (which was on the same lot as the courthouse) and filed a report about the threat.

So that part is over with. Yay. Now if we can only get through the next couple weeks without any more incidents, everything should be peachy.

Mmmm… peaches… I like peaches… particulurly peach pie.

Monday, November 13, 2006

One more day, and then...

The eviction trial is tomorrow! I’m both excited and nervous. I’m excited because we’ll finally, at long last, be able to get rid of the deadbeat in our back yard. However I’m a little nervous because I’ve never been to one of these things before. Not only that, I don’t relish going up against this lady who has made it her lifetime personal profession to lie convincingly to anyone she talks to, including her own daughter.

After this, assuming we win (and I don’t see why we shouldn’t, the bitch basically sealed her own fate when she called the city inspector), we’ll have to immediately convert the rental back into a garage. Annoying as this is, I’m kind of looking forward to a little bit of demo work. Not a whole lot, since I don’t really know what I’m doing and I wouldn’t want to destroy the place, but just enough to have a bit of fun. Like tearing off drywall. I keep seeing on TV how they just gleefully rip right into the middle with hammers, axes and even boots. I looked it up online and that’s basically the procedure—you start smashing in the center of the wall and rip away at it. I wanna try it! I plan on only doing the one wall that I know has no plumbing or electricity in it. Anyone else have experience with this stuff and want to offer advice?

Thursday, November 09, 2006

To the tailgater behind me this morning...

Dear Lady in the shiny black Volvo who was riding up my ass during the morning commute,

No, as a matter of fact, I wasn’t in any kind of hurry this morning, for the following reasons:

1. Unlike most people, I leave for work early
2. I was already going above the speed limit
3. Most importantly, it’s kinda hard to go faster than the car in front of you, and unlike bitches like yourself, I like to maintain a safe driving distance because, OMG, did you know that people sometimes stop suddenly?

It’s unfortunate that you felt the need to drive two inches from my rear bumper just because you were too stupid to leave sooner for your destination. It was also unfortunate that, in your attempt to pass me, you got stuck behind a bus that stopped to drop off passengers. On the bright side I got a good laugh out of it.

However, because you are who you are, you decided to get right back into my lane to tailgate me some more. I forgive you for honking at me out of frustration. You can’t help being a moron any more than a dog can help licking himself. Your attempt to show me just how much you wanted to pass me was not lost. Zooming past me while I was turning with only 6 inches between our doors was a very plain message: Getting to your destination 10 seconds sooner makes all the difference.

So, lady in the shiny black Volvo who was riding up my ass during the morning commute, in acknowledgement of how we’ve touched each other’s lives, if only briefly, I’d like to share with you this parting gift:

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Looking forward to vacations

When we finally kick the deadbeat renters to the curb and sell this house, and when we find a suitable apartment/condo/townhouse to move into to become renters ourselves, we can finally start saving up for a vacation. I can’t remember our last trip anywhere. The only times I’ve been out of town in the last couple years was to visit my mom. That doesn’t count.  I don’t know anyone who would consider visiting their parents to be any sort of vacation.

The last time we were on a major vacation, we visited my sweety’s sister in Miami. While there we decided to make a four-hour detour into Orlando and do the whole tourist thing. We bought Universal Studios tickets and everything. It wasn’t meant to be. Buckets of rain poured the entire two days we were there. That sucked.

I think it would be fun to try another Orlando vacation again. When we finally get back onto financial solid ground, we’ll be in a position to consider it. There are so many touristy things to do there. Would you believe it’s got 52 theme parks?? At least that’s what I read. That number probably includes things like Medieval Times and stuff. But still, I’m a sucker for touristy things. Is that bad?

Misshapen helmet

I’ve been avoiding a haircut partly because I haven’t really liked my last few haircuts, and partly because I need the money for other things.  I’ve just been letting it grow out into my current misshapen helmet. The funny thing is, more people are commenting that my hair looks nice than when I had my hair freshly cut. Evidence that those haircuts were not right for me.  I don’t like having shaggy long hair, but I’m afraid to get the wrong cut again.

I still think everyone would be better off naturally bald.  One less thing to worry about.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

A change in perspective

In a comment in the previous post, Jer suggested renting out the house. It’s actually an excllent idea, one that we’ve considered extensively. The problem is, both the mortgage and taxes together are nearly $4000 a month. We would be lucky in the extreme if we could rent it for $3000. This is highly unlikely though, especially when you consider that a 4-bedroom house just two blocks away rented for $2000.  We would have to rent someplace to live in addition to paying the remainder of the house. And if we have more trouble with the tenants again, I can’t imagine trying to pay for a house and an apartment. It just isn’t worth it.

But don’t despair, we’re looking forward to being, as Jer put it, “life rich instead of house poor”. We tried the house thing, the timing was all wrong, and it was good for awhile, but now it’s time to move on. Even though it’s still early, we browsed a few rental options last night, just for fun. There was a lot of oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the luxury townhouses and such, many within our price range.  “Hey this one has a pool and a jucuzzi!”

The funny thing is, there was a time when we were renting my sweety’s brother’s house for a super-cheap $600 a month. The tradeoff was he would come and go as he pleased, bringing whomever he pleased. They (my sweety and her brother) got into a heated argument and we said, “Fine, we’re moving out.” After an initial aprtment hunt we were whining loudly that there was nothing good under $1000.  Funny how an astronomical mortgage can change your perspective on things.

Monday, November 06, 2006

I would if I could

I’ve been to Disneyland on numerous occasions as a child. At one point in my young life, I went every year. I have a 15-year-old map of the park emblazoned in my head. I wonder if Disney World is completely different? Given a chance and money to blow, I would be interested to see. I know they’ve got more things packed into their multiple acres of land, like Typhoon Lagoon, Epcot Center and Pleasure Island (why does that sound kinky to me?) Yeah, I think it would be cool to pick up some Disney World tickets and just find out what the hype is about. While I’m there I’d also love to see Universal Studio’s super-hero area… Marvel something or other. I don’t remember. They don’t have that in their Los Angeles location. Phooey.

Anyone wanna buy a house?

After a lot of discussion and agonizing, we’ve decided selling is the best option to go with. We’re tired of barely scraping by each month. I’m tired of whining on this blog like a begging dog. That $6000 tax bill was the straw that broke us. If we continue as we are going, even if the rental unit was back in use, our credit records will go down the toilet.

We need to sell ASAP because the housing marking is starting to dive. It’s more gradual here in Los Angeles, but it will eventually reach here in full force and then we will be SOL (shit outta luck). If we get out now we can still make a modest profit because of the improvements we’ve made. I’ll post pictures sometime this week so y’all can see what a beautiful place we’re giving up.

We’re sad, but I’m optimistic because I am really looking forward to actually being able to go on vacation and buying my sweety things and actually having a savings account with more than $100 in it. I’ve been a renter before and it isn’t so bad. You just have to choose the right place. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than trying to own a home, I can tell ya that!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

A lot of thinking to do

Anyone who’s been following this blog knows how much I whine annoyingly about never having any spare cash because of huge expenses. Wah wah waaah join the club, right? We have a lot of major thinking and deciding to do. Refinancing is one option, but difficult with very imperfect credit histories. Selling is another option, but we have the house just the way we like it! It’s tough, but we need to figure out what’s really important and make that our priority.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Dorothy would've liked to have one of these

I was thinking about The Wizard of Oz the other day, don’t ask me why. I was thinking, if they had a storm cellar, shouldn’t she have gone inside it? I mean, they lived in Kansas, right? Tornado country? What were they doing without a storm cellar? Were they nuts? When those kinds of storms are a way of life, you have an emergency shelter. It’s just common sense. Then again, The Wizard of Oz wasn’t a common movie. They probably didn’t have companies like FamilySAFE around specializing in sturdy steel saferooms and storm shelters anyway. Imagine what a different movie it would’ve been if they did.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Ooo la la

Today we’re going international with the music.  How’s about a little French trip-hop electro lounge tango? Yeah I can’t define it either.  But it’s good stuff.  It’s perfect for small gatherings when you don’t want your music to overpower your conversations, but you still want it to be interesting for those periods of silence that are bound to happen. (Unless, of course, you have one of those friends who just never. shuts. up.)

Anyway, the band is called Gotan Project, and here’s a nice sampling of MP3s for you*. (*It’s been well over a week now, so links have been removed. Feel free to contact me if you really want them.)

Chillin (Okay this one is sung in Spanish, but the primary band members are still French, and they’re all still international!)

Epoca (Um, this one’s sung in Spanish too, but doesn’t it sound sultry?)

Santa Maria (I guess tango is a Spanish style anyway, thus all the Spanish singing, heh.)

Chunga’s Revenge

El Fuego (A nice piece of downtempo with less tango influence.)

Paris, Texas (Clever name if you ask me (there really is a city named Paris in Texas). Kind of a mellow, podunk cowboy instrumental… with an accordian.)

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Not so springy mornings

It’s getting harder to spring out of bed in the mornings now that it’s getting colder. It just feels sooo good to cozy up in bed. The time change was definitely a welcome one because I hate waking up in the dark, but I was apalled at how quickly my body adjusted to it. I mean it was instantaneous. One day I changed the clocks, the next work-morning I found myself waking up at the exact same time I did on previous work mornings (I don’t use an alarm). I was kinda hoping I’d get up early and have a bit of free time, but no, my body decided to stay on schedule and sleep until the designated waking hour.

Now why doesn’t this happen when they start the whole daylight savings crap? We lose an hour and it takes me an entire month to adjust. That annoys me.

No time for commuting to school

I’m so happy to have my schooling years behind me. 20 years of studying has a way of making you sick of learning, y’know? However if there ever came a time that I needed to get a more advanced degree, I’d do it from home. There are lots of courses online in various subjects I can choose from. Places like Capella University, founded 1993, are making it easier for busy people like me to advance their education. Business, information technology, education, human services, psychology, you name it, they probably have it. It’s the ultimate in flexible scheduling. I love the Internet.

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