Getting there

Well, the internet is up and running, and I have quite a few items here. Luckily, I got the computer moved in before it started raining.

However, I didn't know if I would make it back before 10 with the rain making people drive odd, and then spurts of torrential downpours.

We'll see if Kastl shows up soon and then go from there....

Then, lunch, and then wait for the water guy this afternoon.

Hoping for a slow day at work tomorrow

I have three classes of paperwork to do.

I need to call Nick, Jimmy, Christopher, and Adam.

I need to see about getting a plumber in less than 2 weeks to fix some piping issues.

I need to see about when I can get the water turned on again from the city.

Before that though, I do have a 2-4 minute speech to give about a personal experience. I wrote down 10, and I'll probably just pick a random one for the speech.

Afterwards, drive to St. Joe, teach, and drive back to my sister's and hopefully start boxing every other thing up and be able to haul it all on Friday with either my Dad's, Adam's, or Jimmy's truck.

Fixed What Exactly?

Here's the "repair" job. They didn't do any work today at all, and this is a shot of how water is now directed towards a known leak and clearly damage section of the condo with the gravel water flow path made out of gravel.

So, I'm working on getting a parent out after Wednesday night to fix the plumbing on the inside and make sure that it's in tip top shape.

During the day I'm going to start moving the for sale items into the old main bedroom and air out the chlorine smell, plus hang up two large blankets after moving all the other items from the kitchen into the lost cause room.

Then, Friday I have at least a bead on one truck to help me get all my stuff out of my sisters that's too big to fit in the car.

Good Drive, Bad Arrival

Well, I took these on the way home today:








However, when I went to the unit, they had botched the outside job, and at the same time proven their clear ability to have completed the work prior to today. I only hope that my lawyer hasn't issued a release for the lien yet, nor attempted to halt the legal process. I contacted him with as much information.

Closer to move

Got all the carpeting out and into my old bedroom. I also pulled all the tackboard and baseboards. Plus, I put the cut sheet rock in there.

All the damaged items are going into the second bedroom, and are organized in there nicely.

I have cleared out the main bedroom, and that is where I'll put all the nonessentials that I will be selling either in a garage sale or on craig's list.

I used an entire container of bleach on Sunday, and wiped down the walls in the laundry closet, then the bare concrete floors in both the dining room and the living room. I also wiped down 1/2 of the main bedroom.

I haven't heard whether the yokels will start today or this week even on the outside, but they are running out of time.

While I have talked with Paul Davis, I have a parent in Lawrence that I will show photos for some plumbing work on Wednesday. I will pay him to get the inlet water shutoff value replaced, and the back pressure regulator replaced, as well as the shut off above the hot water tank. I know at least some of the pipe will have to be replaced as there is a tiny crack in it.

Then, I can have the water turned back on. Then I can move back in. I haven't decided if I'm going to have the gas turned back on for the water heater though. Water and electricity will suffice.

If the work actually gets done, I may buy a new washing machine, but otherwise, I'll do it the old fashioned way.

Also, if the work isn't begun this week I'll hang up large blankets to help seal off the rooms containing the contanminated materials until the meeting on the 16th of May.

I have found a that Lawrence Freenet has a hotspot near the apartment, and is the cheapest internet available to me. For bills that I'm paying:
Internet - 30 min free or $25/month
Water - $50/month
Electric - $50/month, unless I use the A/C which I won't unless the work actually gets done.

Then, just transportation to and from work until they come get the car.

If work is done, I'll need about 10K to make it through the summer without Karate.

I have about 3K each month in expenses.

So aptly appropriate

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
-Frank Zappa

Just like the news story about India and corruption through the viewpoint of requisite bribery. The American reporter pointed out that the bribery was required due to the "undevelopedness" of the country.

Yet, I was requested to submit to a bribe here in Lawrence yesterday, not once but twice.

First, the prosecuting attorney asked for a bribe to keep the ticket off my driving record. Second, the judge admitted the officer lied under oath, and requires a "bribe" to go to appeals court, where he assured me that it would be thrown out.

So, the prosecutor wanted double the $100 fine to remove it from my driving record, and the fee for the appeal is $200 as well, which is non-refundable. Therefore, had I taken the "plea" deal it would have been $200, and the fee from the court is $200 for the near same result. All because they both are corrupt and legally allowed to be so. Even with the admittance of the my point of the officers lying under oath, and lying on his official report, the judge stated, "I'm not in charge of the police, you need to complain to the commissioner."

New chair!

Yay!

They brought up a chair without a broken hydraulic!

Now I can sit up all day without it randomly collapsing to about a foot above the floor.

Exciting....

Unfortunately, I am not getting to leave early as I was hoping. I was going to shuffle around some hours and then head out early for time worked.

However, I got scheduled to run a room for a teacher who's out of town, and I have an online remote tutoring session until 8pm... and I usually get off at 9.

Then, come to find out, I was volunteered to teach the undergraduate faculty the same as I taught the graduate faculty about the e-books. The difference is going to be this presentation should last 40 minutes instead of 10. That will be requiring some tweaking to my presentation.

Also, I have a meeting with tutors in a couple of Mondays, Orientation room to run this upcoming Monday, and May 16th, a Sunday, I have a few people coming to Lawrence to eat at Perkins and discuss my options for the future.

Busy day too, I have a call into my lawyer about the non completed work on the condo, my brother shot me an email about some things, and I put a call into him as well.

I have to mail him some stuff after work today, and speaking of which... I need to figure out the zip code up there.

Court? Legal?

WTF?

You prove that the primary witness has falsified claims, but because he's a police office you continue to admit his testimony because it's not an appeal?

Really, I have to spend $200 to argue that the policeman's, proven false by his own evidence, testimony should be thrown out along with the red light ticket, because the sitting judge doesn't delve into that part of the matter?

WTF?

On the bright side, the rain came, and probably dashed away the chances of them completing the work this week. However, the Paul Davis Restoration owner stopped by at 8 this morning and confirmed the bid, and offered to store damaged items without charge until the case was settled. Unfortunately, he agrees that with the damage pattern, he cannot in good conscience begin work until after the outside work is done.

unanswerable question

Please explain how the three step writing process help you in your formal report.

Well, unfortunately, as of my final exam I hadn't received back my graded formal report. Thus, I couldn't adequately answer that question.

Though, I did b.s. my way through it, and the other 29 questions. So, I'm done with my final for this class. Hopefully next week work gets started on the unit, but May 16th I having a gathering to see what some close friends think.

(@#*% children masquerading as adults

I'm so tired of dealing with children masquerading as adults.

The engineer was 20 minutes late to the condo today and made no apology. The lawyer representative who knew nothing of the case was on time, but made the "I'm sorry" mistake. Wherein he only said he was sorry.

You being on time, but your engineer being late is the same as showing up to pay a bill 5 minutes before closing time, but saying the guy with the money is still on the way.

Take so (*!@#&$)*(&!@#$ responsibility!

Moving out of my sisters

Well, for sure I'm moving out of my sisters starting tomorrow.

Tonight was the last line of disrespect.

First, she waits until 8 to ask if I can get her daughter from cheer, when she'll still be up and my nephew even told her I was going to bed.

Then, she "hollers" downstairs which I didn't hear, because I was watching a show to be able to stay awake long enough to go get her daughter.

She doesn't take her phone with her, and goes without anyone else being around while leaving the television and the computer on.

She never again gets to wonder where her daughter gets her lack of respect from.

Great article in Wire

"Do You Speak Statistics?" by Clive Thompson in the May 2010 issue on page 036.

Lays out how statistics are used as weapons, and unfounded ones are used to skew people's viewpoints.

The article closes with "Statistics is the new grammar."

Makes many good points and clearly lays out its arguments.

Ahh.... wishing that schools would step up and teach stats at a time like this is like wishing they'd start teaching critical thinking pre-college.

Weather

"Coincidentally," the start date given by the opposition corresponds to the time this week when there will be rain, and thus the proposed start day will more than likely by "a wash."

So, now I've come to the crossroads of being able to try and figure out what to do. I have to wait until Tuesday to find out about the time line for getting the work started on the interior of my condo, and if they are delayed in getting the outside work done, then that adds to the inside work.

I have also to decide this week, if I am going to be able to continue paying any bills next month.

Will I forsake all and leave, or should I attempt to remain to waste away at least 4 months of my life with backbreaking schedule to pay to stay.

So much for a week

They agreed to the conditions on Wednesday. Now Friday, the contractor finally got the appropriate figures on the quote for work to be approved by the engineer. Their lawyer was tip toeing around about allowing the contractor to put in the exact numbers into his report.

After the call from my lawyer, I find out they won't start until Wednesday. I said, well, I'll be generous and give them until Friday, but I said one week from agreement for them to do the work, not one week from the date the work proposal was acceptable. Granted, you made clear barring weather, but barring weather are they going to be done on time?

With an answer of well... a 2-3 day job... I said, so does that mean no?

I reiterated that 1 week was a condition, and that I agreed to nothing more than that. If it was unclear then they can deal with the inadequacy they created and not make any money.

I refrained from cursing, but I just wanted to say, "For F's sake man how clear do I need to be before you understand my position?"

Well, he's going to get a hold of them again to see if they understood that portion of the agreement. However, the near back in house, looks like it won't happen now.

On the plus side I got my brother's wife's phone turned off and the rate plan turned down yesterday. Just until May 10th, then it's all off!

Developing situation?

So, one of my tutoring appointments for C# has been acting a bit differently lately.

She has gotten extra help twice on the weekends, which isn't the problem.

However, she has given off what could be signals?

Monday, she noted that she was jealous that other people were needing help and I couldn't be dedicated to just her. Even though I was still helping her, enough so that she even mentioned it to her sister on the phone.

Then, Saturday for the weekend tutoring, I remember she was disappointed that we didn't eat out somewhere.

Another possible sign occurred Friday after tutoring she requested me to walk her to her car, and then apparently we are now on a hugging basis (hugging is fine with me, I do it with a lot of people).

The last one I can think of though is the most troubling. She stopped working on her stuff Monday when I had to leave, and then walked me out to my car on the way out and gave me a goodbye hug. The most disturbing part though was when asked where she was going by another student she made up an excuse.

I really hope this isn't becoming a situation. First of all, I am clueless about when it would be. Secondly, I hate having to have the "talk" about my decisions with girls. Third, she's a toot, as Nick likes to call the tutored students, and I'm the tutor. That's to me like student teacher, and I don't cross that line.

Then, I just got this email as I was finishing typing this up:
"Just wanted to say hi, hope you're having a great day!"

3 Deer burgers

Wow, I am definitely content on food for right now.

I had 3 decent size deer burgers for lunch today. Each with a different seasoning. Then topped in cheese. Broiled to perfection in their own juices.

Then I decided to flip on my sister's TV to see possibly a movie, and there was Anthony Bourdain's show on the travel channel. Eating great food, watching a show about great food. Mmmmm, it was nice.

Paths are never concrete

We inadvertently forget that which we have already learned and file it away somewhere.

Many are the times I have done something without thinking about it and not remembered why I did it in a certain way.

I have the pleasure of watching many different shows wherein the lead character remembers a lesson at the appropriate time to help them in a jam. Then, they rarely use that to their advantage later on, and had they not remembered it, they wouldn't have made it out of that situation.

That's why I disburse random lessons that many may not even understand why we are doing things that way. I just have them do things that way then. Hopefully, one day they will understand more why we went over the things we did.

However, I wonder how many times I haven't recalled an appropriate bit of knowledge to help me out of a situation to achieve a better outcome.

It makes me wonder many times how often I do bring myself back to the start of a path to walk down it again. I'd like to think that every time I walk a student down a path I take that path with them. Although, I am unsure today if I truly walk with them. I know we walk together, but I learn more than I did the time I walked the path before, and it's much more solidified than the first time I walked down it.

It was going to be short about parenting being hard

That is the downside of kids. No matter what, the possibilities are endless, and we won't know how we did.

Throughout the phases of all our lives there are times we praise our parents, and times we curse them. The best we can do is ask ourselves are we doing what we think is right, and are we giving our best. There comes a point where we can only do so much, and it's hard to watch them strike out on their own. Knowing that you gave them love and knowledge the way you knew best, should comfort you in the hard times.

While, personally, I am constantly reflecting, and find it good to do so, be wary of second guessing yourself. You are doing a fine job with her!

Also, while others criticism cannot be summarily dismissed, we must take it in stride and use it as a chance to reflect about our own values, and whether the means we employ help us to pass along those values. Anyone who uses the phrase, "it's just ______," shouldn't be given a second thought.

When it comes to computer games, television, movies, and activities, the choices parents make will shape a child's understanding of the world, and how they should both fit into that world and how they should act therein. Many parents don't take into account the little things in the shows they let their kids watch and it shines through in their attitudes. I remember my niece being 4 and watching one cartoon with rabbits, Max and Ruby, and it was a great show for awhile. She would dance and sing the theme song with my brother, but then after awhile the one rabbit, Ruby, became overly controlling in the episodes, and that behavior started to shine through in my niece. After a few days of trying to figure out where the new behavior came from, my brother saw her watching an episode of Max and Ruby, and imitating Ruby and her attitudes towards others. That's when that show was no longer allowed in the house.

Even in my older niece and nephew now, I am constantly monitoring their television when I'm around them. Too much drama on television causes them to think that is how life should be, and as they both are teenagers, they are more susceptible to act that out as they try to be more adult. There are other shows on television that I have seen them watch, and had them change the channel, because (Suite Life of Zack and Cody) the show was simply causing them to become less intelligent by watching it.

So, as long as you are moving forward, and she is continuing to grow, take criticism with a grain of salt. Reflect on what you've done, and what you're doing, but remember that you have the most influence over your daughter, and take everyday as an opportunity to further your relationship and help her have a more pleasant future that doesn't require her to rely on electronic mediums to entertain her.

Odd award nomination

I was nominated for the "Super Service Award" at DeVry by my boss.

Threw me for a loop, but I did say thank you for the nomination.

5 o'clock today got a message from the lawyer about the response from the (*#$&%, that's right they don't even get the dignity of names anymore. They would pay to fix the outside based on my time line, but I didn't get a definitive answer about the requirement to pay for the court filing cost to get them to do it anyway. So, I have to call the lawyer tomorrow about that.

Of course, they didn't agree to pay for anything else or attempt to buyout the unit, but from the message I got, my lawyer didn't portray the right amount to them anyway.

I swear.... I write *&%^%^ down, tell people in person, they nod in agreement, and claim to understand the written word, but (&*@#$%(*& $%#$(*%&( it up later.

Passport Photo

The guy taking my passport photo actually asked if it was an okay photo.

Of course, I can't look good, no matter how many times you take it....

Then, I have nearly filled out the form, and gathered the required documents. Now, just to get it turned in and come up with the 75-125 (I haven't figured out which is correct) fee.

Then, I talked with my lawyer to clarify my position on the opposition's offer.

Now, still waiting. Hopefully something more will be known soon, as I plan to not pay my mortgage if I won't be back in my home next month.

Sore

My shoulders are sore after this weekend....

It was good though.

Made it to the rock show in Lawrence, but didn't go to the after hours. Woke up 3 hours later taught class in Topeka until 2. Surprisingly more coherent than I thought I would be. Came back, took a nap until about 8. Okay, technically that was sleep.

Then drove to Manhattan, enjoyed the rock show there, and went to the after hours. Didn't leave until 6:30 in the morning. One guy from back in the day (not in the band) had to go golfing with his dad an hour later. It was good times. Made it home about 8:30, including a stop in Topeka for some food.

Then I slept until midnight, except for when Stephen woke me up inquiring about food, when I had even locked one entrance to my room.... Going to have to talk to him about taking a hint.

Good Email in the morning

While more was inside the email, I was glad this was the first sentence after the pleasantries of the opening:

Sometimes the lessons we teach are ones we continue to learn.

My decided response:

If I were to agree to this:

1. Don Schmidt, Ty Herron, and any other "board members", hereafter referred to as they, would not be allowed to participate in any work.
2. They would have to hire a reputable company, and Advanced Systems is agreeable.
3. They would have to immediately reimburse through your office all fees incurred to submit the expedited hearing, and any fees involved in canceling the expedited consideration.
4. They should be informed that as it stands currently my incurred expenses are $120,300, and the estimated value of the unit is $90,000 according to the county appraisal. I would be willing to forgo court all together for $150,000 and they can take possession of the unit to do with as they please.
5. The work must be completed within 1 week of their agreement to the terms.
6. While I'm aware they wish to not take responsibility through this arrangement, they shall be asked to immediately disburse funds for the repair of the interior of the unit. This is a negotiable point.

Also, I wish to know how long it would take for Paul Davis to start and complete the work required in their bid.

Again, I must emphasize that I strongly desire to be back into my home, which I continue to have to pay bills for, before the 1 year mark (May 3rd).

Non observation

*shakes head*

Went upstairs this morning, and the front door was open. Nothing's missing, and no one else was home. Plus I didn't hear anyone moving around all morning after everyone left. However, that is still a huge problem to leave with your door not just unlocked, or not shut all the way, but OPEN!

Decisions Decisions

I received this in a letter today:

Counsel representing the Association has contacted me regarding our request to direct his client to immediately perform appropriate landscaping, maintenance, etc. to prevent future water damage to your unit by way of a temporary injunction. His client is willing to do so, in exchange for your release of a pending lien that operates by law on all of the units. In other words, after filing the law suite, a pending lien has been placed upon all of the associations property and individual units. As a result, owners of units are unable to convey clear title for sale.

My first reaction is to say ()@#$*%& them, and their ability to sell anything with their reputation with me. However, I could be jumping the gun of course. Currently, I don't have the cash to do too much. I wanted to go to my buddies' shows over the next few days, but I don't have the cash for that even. So, I will consult with my mom about her idea before making a decision.