"You gonna get another job?"...

[Volpone]

God, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to keep a freaking dog alive. A few days ago I noticed the very bottom edge of her upper...lip, for lack of a better word, was pink like the inside of her mouth instead of black. It took awhile for me to decide it hadn't always been that way and to watch it to ensure it was healing. (Old Dog sunburned her nose once and the result was similar.) Well today a part of it is red instead of pink so I've got to decide if that's part of the healing process--scabbing over and such--or that it is getting worse. Of course with things like this, when you go to the vet, the most they can do is give antibiotics to prevent infection. So I get to wait and watch and worry.

 

[Volpone]

Today I'd better get to work on making money. First off, look for houses to buy. Then dig through my paperwork to see if I can find a mini storage contract (I got some space when I was selling my Oregon house so I should have one around somewhere) to plagiarize, since Neighbor.com has been underwhelming. Then I'd better zap off some applications for part time jobs. Ugh.

 

[Volpone]

X2. Looked at a house yesterday. So frustrating. 3/1 1300sf brick with a detached 2 car on a quiet side street. But very odd floorplan. There was no front door. The "back" door was in the driveway and opened onto the kitchen and a large dining room. Bathroom on that end too. Crap, I'm trying to remember the floor plan. Other side of the front of the house was the living room. It had the "front" door, only it opened onto the other side of the lot--so facing the next door neighbor's house. It had a closet. 2 of the bedrooms did NOT have closets. 1 bedroom did have a closet. One of the bedrooms also had a door to the yard. None of the bedrooms had ceiling lights and all the wiring was in "panduits"--plastic stick-on mouldings. This in a house that was built in 1964! Then the icing on the cake was the neighbor across the street had a yard full of junk, old station wagons, and "TRUMP 2024" "LET'S GO BRANDON!" signs. So I guess today I should get to work on getting my storage space rented out. Since I'm distinctly underwhelmed by Neighbor, that means I've got some work on my hands. I've got to come up with paperwork and I should probably call up my insurer to find out if I need to make any changes in that regard. Then I'll need to make up a sign for the front yard (I'm on a pretty busy street) and get to work on places like CraigsList. No part of this sounds like fun. Sadly, most ways to make money aren't fun. But the money isn't going to make itself--just spend itself. Well that's not true. My money in stocks and real estate makes itself. Just not faster than I spend it. Yet.

 

[Volpone]

I should just either print out the agreement from Neighbor.com or go to the mini storage next to the abandoned Wal*Mart and see if I can pick up some paperwork.

 

[Volpone]

Well fuck me. TIL there are Buck-ee's outside of Texas. In fact there's one less than 2 hours from me. So tomorrow I should work on making money. OR! I could make a 4 hour pilgrimage to Buck-ee's.

 

[Volpone]

Boring Marge Simpson grumble post. Nothing exciting, just the constant annoyance of staying alive. Last night I was looking for a storage rental agreement I know I have. Paid for it with a credit card so I started with the credit card receipts since I knew the exact year I was looking for--and generally the month. Of course it's far enough back that it is in a banker's box or other storage. And of course that is the one year I was completely unable to find, short of unpacking every single box in my house until I get to the one that has it. Next I decided to wrap up the night with a martini. Got it all mixed up, nicely shaken in the mixer, got the frosty glass out of the freezer with a pair of fat olives on a skewer and was all set to pour it...when it turned out I was holding the mixer by the lid. I know this because the actual mixer fell on the floor and spilled martini everywhere. Naturally, I threw the lid at the wall as hard as I could and it gouged a nice dent in the wall and the paint. Got everything cleaned up and made a fresh martini.

Then I got to wake up before 2am because The Dog was whining. When it didn't stop, I dragged myself awake to go let her out. But she didn't want to go out. Eventually she settled down so who knows what was bothering her.

Actually woke up early today. Well, relatively early. Then, while I was opening curtains and watering plants and such, I managed to bump into a picture on the wall. Of course it fell down. And of course, since I made the frame myself (it was odd-sized art), it completely broke into its component pieces. This pretty effectively used up any extra time I had from waking up early.

And I know I should try to get a part time job today but I really don't want to. I like being retired, even if I only make about enough to make ends meet. But I want to make my retirement goal and time is getting shorter for that and I won't make it if I'm eating up what I've made so far (even if it is gradually). So I guess I should zap off some applications today.

 

[Volpone]

As I look for ways to avoid looking for a job it occurs to me (and none of this is particularly novel, but I hadn't thought about it in awhile) I don't so much hate the idea of work as I do all the silliness *related* to work. Heck, "Office Space": "I have 3 bosses, Bob. The only reason I try not to screw up is because I don't want to be told about it 3 times." "Yeah...we changed the cover sheet for the TPS report." Punching the clock. Filling out the paperwork. Applying for vacation/time off.

And I'm reminded this is an important reason to send kids to school for 12-13 years. Oh, it's nice if they come out able to read and write and do math; maybe know a little history, art and music, and are physically fit and healthy, but the important thing is to condition them to get up every monring, 5 days a week and take mass transit to a building where authority figures assign them tasks that they complete for a decent chunk of the day before returning home.

Ah well, enough bitching. Time to bite the bullet and git 'r dun. Or maybe look at some porn first.

 

[Volpone]

OK. Just need to think out loud. Back in 2017, when I was selling my first house, I rented storage units twice. So one would think I'd have the contracts laying around from at least one of them that I could plagiarize for vehicle storage. I'm underwhelmed with Neighbor.com and looking to just do it myself and keep 100% of the profits for about the same amount of headaches. But I can't find them. Either of them. I would've paid with credit card, so the first place I looked was my credit card receipts. Unfortunately the receipts from 2017-2019 are misfiled. I checked a few other files, in case I didn't put them with the credit card stuff and I did a preliminary check of storage boxes for the credit card stuff. Didn't find them. I could begin systematically going through every storage box and file, looking for the 2017 credit card records, but even if I find them, there's no guarantee there's a leas agreement.

In fact, while walking The Dog, it occurred to me that they may have sent me the records electronically. Searches of my relevant e-mail accounts found an e-mail from one of the storage units with a PDF of my receipt. So. The fact that they e-mailed me a receipt raises the possibility that I never even got a paper copy of the rental agreement. All this--along with the result of my call to my insurance company, investigating the impact of renting storage space (the girl said she'd never been asked that in 16 years working in insurance and couldn't find any reason I couldn't do it)--makes me think I'm overthinking everything. Which wouldn't be surprising.

Oh, I did zap off an application to do part time merchandising work for Home Depot. Had to take a behavioral test, so it's possible they'll just decide I'm unemployable. The company that I previously did merchandising work for for something like 5 years never got back to me on my application to work for them part time so who knows? They probably want a docile drone. And at this point I'm not that and I won't pretend to be. Better to not get a job than to pretend and get a job you're miserable at. Years ago I had an business idea and needed to work for a cell phone company to get some experience. They had a behavioral test and I never heard back from them. That company doesn't exist anymore.

****

This reminds me of a different train of thought related to trying to buy my next rental property: It's possible my desire to punish the stupid and the arrogant gets in the way of me getting what I want. (I don't actually believe that, but I'm putting it out there.) Found an interesting place Monday. My agent got back to me "they aren't accepting offers from investors until after 20 days."

Now, my first impulse is "well, if you haven't sold it in 20 days and now you have to consider an offer from me to make the sale, you're really not going to be happy with the offer I'm going to make." Or just "Fuck you then. Enjoy not selling your house." It's like the other 2 deals that recently fell through. They were asking unrealistic prices and were willing to not sell the place rather than sell the place for what it was worth. Now one is in preforeclosure and the other has sat vacant since August or so. Houses aren't like gold or diamonds, where you can just stick them in a drawer and they remain in the same condition indefinitely. Houses wear out and get damaged. Especially when they sit empty for extended periods and especially over the winter. So in all honesty, if this guy lists the place again in April, I should offer significantly less than the amount he rejected in January. But it is a house that is valuable to me. So I must consider how to get what I want instead of just doing the "right" thing. Because if I offer less than last time and he just goes "screw it, I'll never sell it to this guy," we both lose. If I can offer him a price that he'll take that still works for me, we both win--even if I disagree on principle.

 

[Volpone]

(Reposted from Facebook, because I really should get back to being productive not that most of my devices are recharged):
Not the worst weekend ever, but probably in the top 5. Walked The Dog Friday morning in a torrential downpour. Walked her in the afternoon in 60mph wind gusts. Power was off when we got home. Settling in with candles etc to make the best (and not knowing the scope of things) when the last tree in my yard that I thought would fall--and the only one that could hit the house (I shouldn't type that because actually there's a massive oak that is close enough and could easily destroy the entire house) But it did. Watched it fall across the driveway rip down the (dead) power line, roof gutter, etc, and just barely brush up against the living room window. While I was out looking at the damage, a big truck on the street caught the dangling line and ripped the meter off the wall before the cable parted and wound up in the grass across the street.

Typing from a library where I'm charging up my laptop, cell phone, and cordless drill. Apparently something like 300,000 n Louisville lost power and the projected restoration for me and the 4 neighbors near my power line is 11pm Wednesday. So I likely won't be posting much before then.

Still, can't complain. If your house is going to get hit by a tree, this is the way to do it. Only damage was to one corner of the roof, out past the walls, so if we get rain, it *shouldn't* get inside the house. And I'm fine, the animals are fine, and the vehicles and all the other buildings are fine. I just lost an entire weekend. When I get home I guess I'll open the fridge and eat or cook anything that still might be savable.

 

[Lanzman]

Damn, dude!

 

[Volpone]

Unplanned 2nd day at the library. I mean, I still expected power to be out today, but I thought I had enough to do at home and the means to do it but... The battery on the electric chainsaw is only good for 1-2 trunk cuts so that's dead with at least 2 cuts to go. And it turns out that the life of my cell phone battery is about 2 years. Would you care go guess when I last replaced my cell phone battery? Keeping it charged enough while trying to charge up my backup phone killed the laptop (and the backup phone flakes if I try to charge it off the car charger).

Anyway, this gave me an excuse to read e-mails and give an update. Tree is mostly cleared from the yard. Expedient repairs are mostly done to the roof--with good weather for the next few days at least. Repaired electrical just got inspected so the projected restoration of power can still happen Wednesday night.
It has sucked less than it could've. If you grew up in the country, you're used to not having water when the power's out. Because the well has an electric pump. But with city water, I've got water pressure. And because I have a gas water heater, I have hot water. Because I have a gas stove, I at least have the cooktop burners. The oven won't work because it has electronic controls, but I can hold a lighter next to the burner and light it to make anything that can be prepared in a pot or skillet.
The fridge... If you're like me, the fridge is magic and it will keep food good as long as you don't open the door. But this is kind of a Schroedinger's Fridge thing. The CDC says 4 hours. But I'm cheap and hardy and the CDC errs on the side of caution, so I got a 22# bag of ice, pulled out the vegetable trays and put the milk (which is really the only thing that is critical to keep cold) and a few other things into the vegetable trays and then dumped the ice in around them and put them back on the center shelf of the fridge and it is doing a surprisingly good job working as a big cooler--and old-fashioned icebox. So we're hanging on. But I'll be glad when we have power again so I can watch the news and stay up past 8pm. I've just about used up all my candles at this point. And there isn't much to do by candlelight anyway. Practice ukulele and maybe eat.

(Reposted from FB. Forgot if I mentioned that the inspector was just by to sign off on the electrical repairs, so I'm on track to get power back Wednesday night.)

 

[Volpone]

Posting from home. 5 days without power, almost to the minute. They started working around lunchtime...and kept working. Eventually I stopped waiting and took The Dog for the evening walk. On the way out I noticed they hadn't installed the meter yet. Considered stopping by where they were working with the cherry picker to touch base but figured they'd be there when I got back. They weren't. Then I saw a light on in my neighbor's house and the whole rest of the way I prayed that I'd see a meter installed when I got to the driveway. It was. I should be out working on a few remaining things, but it was bitch cold today. Eventually got up to 50 outside. But it was overcast so I didn't get much heat from the sun and it never got above 54 in the house. All this crushed my spirit so now I'm recovering.

On an unrelated note, I found out there's a Buck-Ee's in Kentucky, a few hours away. So I'm considering a road trip ASAP.

 

[Volpone]

Dump, after 3 hours or so of electricity in March:
There's the trope that you need evil so you have a reference point for good. 30 years ago I thought that was BS, but 5 days without electricity really makes you appreciate electricity more than you can imagine--especially when the last day is gray and cold.

St. Patrick's Day will be the 2nd anniversary of The Dog's death. Last time I walked New Dog downtown, I realized I no longer remembered what it was like to walk Old Dog. Since then I realized I don't remember exactly what she looked like. She had a black tongue but I couldn't remember the pattern of it. And her ears are a bit longer and more flexible than New Dog, but I couldn't remember how they looked. I also realized that my attempts to remember weren't referencing her in particular, they were drawing on memories of photos of her that I've looked at since she's gone and I felt bad. Without going fully down the quasi-science theology rabbit hole that I think I've mentioned more than a couple times upthread, my theory is that there is an afterlife for humans because their brains are complex enough to create memory patterns that exist after the body is gone. Dogs and other animals don't have a brain that is complex enough, so they're lost at death. So I resolved to try to hold my dog's memory in my brain so I could bring her with me into the afterlife. But unless dead loved ones will be able to help me with this, she's gone. It was a fool's errand anyway. I couldn't keep *her* in my brain, even if I had perfect memory. The best I could do was keep my *perception* of her in my brain.

Something happens to the male human brain around 40 (or at least my brain). As an adult I rarely cried about anything. Then, after 40 or so, I cry about just about everything. I think it is compounded by all the things I never cried about before, now being let loose. Add in the stress and hardship of 5 lost days without electricity, just when things were starting to really come together and the release of at least having electricity again and knowing insurance will handle the damages (less deductible) and that creates an emotional release too.

Finally, The Plan is just a mess at this point. We'll just go with the shopping list because that's easiest. I go shopping on Saturday evening; Sunday afternoon if I'm lazy. But I had no electricity (and no idea when I'd get it) so I didn't buy anything. In the mean time, things spoiled. Other things got used up. Still other things substituted for what I'd planned to use. Meanwhile there's laundry and other stuff that needs to happen and I kind of just need to shake the Etch-A-Sketch and start fresh tomorrow.

 

[Volpone]

I must speak on Social Security soon. Probably in a different thread. This is just a reminder.

Came back to post on leadership. I have some aptitude at it but I don't particularly enjoy it and this week I realized why.

Power was out for 5 days for me and a handful of neighbors. Only 1 is relevant because we talk a fair amount. Living without electricity for 5 days sucks. It wouldn't even be fun in a place like Hawai'i, but Kentucky in early March is no fun. So I'm doing my best to get through this. But my neighbor keeps texting me. "Do you have power yet?" "...[looks at yellow-taped off area under a pole across the street where my power line is coiled. Looks at my power meter, laying in the grass, next the wall it was ripped off of. Considers bitter snarky things to say.] No." "They say we've got power!" [looks at the power outage map that clearly shows we do not have power and aren't expected to have power until 11pm Wednesday; decides to say nothing]

The thing about being a leader is, you not only have to deal with hardships yourself, you have to guide other people through them. And you have to say the right things to keep their spirits up and positive and you have to act like you're happy and know what you're doing--even when you're miserable and have know idea if you know what you're doing. Shit, it's enough work to keep myself motivated without having to motivate 1 or 40 or 800 other people too.

 

[Volpone]

Jesus. Flush March down the toilet. St. Patrick's Day will be the 2nd anniversary of my dog's death. We had a storm on the 3rd. Lost power and had a tree clip the very corner of my house. Didn't get power back for 5 days--almost 400,000 lost power. Then tonight I rear-ended someone coming home from the dog park.

Taking my route home. Stuck behind someone who's driving 20 in a 35 zone. Eventually she got up to 30--maybe. Finally get to a right turn with a "YIELD" sign that takes me to a multilane road. Of course I'm behind this idiot. So there's no traffic--at all--but she won't go. FINALLY, she decides to go, so I'm looking down the road to see if I can go too and quickly get in the left lane and get out from behind this person. It's all clear so I start to accelerate and look in front of me--only to see she changed her mind and *didn't* go. Banged into her.

Both cars were driveable but both were damaged--mine the worse because it's a Mustang and I hit the back bumper of a Pathfinder with the passenger side corner of my car. Great. Shit. It's going to be my fault for not anticipating the other driver is an idiot. So I'm trying to get this over with ASAP. She eventually gets out of her car and...gets on her phone. She's talking to someone in Spanish and I'm trying to tell her what needs to happen. Well mostly I'm just pacing around, waiting for her to decide to interact with me instead of with her phone. Meanwhile cars are stacking up behind us and my dog is freaking out in the car.

Ultimately I'm like "I'll take a picture of your license and you'll take a picture of my license and we'll go call it in to our insurance companies." At which point she hands the phone to me to talk to her husband. I don't hear anything on the phone so I just repeat what I said at the phone and hand it back to her. More conversation on the phone in both English and Spanish. Finally, she does what I explained and we can get on our ways. Then I realize we didn't exchange insurance info. Oh well. Nothing to be done. Get home, make the claim. Turns out there isn't an "approved" body shop in my area that isn't hopelessly backed up so I have to use a link on my phone to take photos of everything. But it's pitch black. And it's a gunmetal grey car. And it isn't actually going through my camera, it's through a Web-based app. That is chewing up batteries by the second while I fight to take the pictures it wants. And of course eventually the battery craps out and the phone reboots. I guess I could've moved the car into the other shed, but fuck it, I'll wait until tomorrow. Or just get them to send an adjuster out.

But geez, last Friday (the 3rd) afternoon everything was going pretty well. Oh, I probably needed a part time job but my life was running pretty smoothly. And then it all went sideways.
I guess I can't complain too much. As "sideways" goes, losing power for 5 days, having a small tree barely hit the corner of your house, and getting into a relatively minor fender-bender isn't so bad. Still, it sure isn't loads of fun.

I realize this is just the way Life is and that God has better things to do than play fuck-fuck games with me, but boy it sure feels like it. "Fuck it, my life is on hold and I spent Fat Tuesday getting a colonoscopy. I'm not doing Lent this year." "O RLY? Well how about if you give up electricity for Lent and have multiple insurance claims?" "OK God. Well played. Fuck you very much."

 

[Volpone]

Just a quick note, then I've got to start making things happen. Because things are happening faster than I can address them and I need to get on top of that. But a few days back I saw something that made me think.

There's a comedy sketch (English? Probably) of a couple WWII German soldiers, suddenly realizing they might be the bad guys. I have moments like that. A mentor used to say "you're the star of your own movie." To that I add that you're also a supporting character in everyone else's movie. Sometimes even the villain.

I've always been frustrated by this girl back in Oregon that I had a crush on. I could never make it work because she always had to test me. I figure I want a girl as a companion that is their own person and that I can have adventures with. I don't want to decide what someone else should do; I barely know that for myself (especially this past week or so). But she always had to see if she could make me jealous or how far I'd go for her so nothing ever happened.

Well recently someone shared an article that this is normal for women. Biologically, they want a man to make them feel safe and wanted and cared for. If you've seen "Breakfast at Tiffany's," I've always related more to Audrey Hepburn and Cat than George Peppard. Cat's name is "Cat" because Holly Golightly doesn't think it is her right to impose a name on him or tell him what to do. That's the way I feel about people. You should want to be with someone because you want to be with them, not because they protect you and buy things for you and fight anyone that looks at you. But it's entirely possible I've got that completely wrong. And this might be a big reason I've failed to ever find someone for myself. :/

 

[Volpone]

I'm so fucking tired. Just trying to stay alive and make things better, but things go sideways faster than I am fixing things. As mentioned, I got into a fender bender last night. There aren't any "approved" auto shops that have availability so I either have to wait for a claims adjuster or use their "app" to take photos. I tried using the app and it was frustrating and stupid and killed my phone battery before I got 3 photos. So today I told them to send a claims adjuster. A few hours later the claims adjuster called and told me to send her photos of the car in response to an e-mail she'd send. I was out walking The Dog and it's getting towards dark (part of my frustration with the app, by the way, was trying to take pictures of a gunmetal car at night) and my phone battery was getting low so I rolled the car out and took some pictures. Came in and plugged it into the charger and got ready to upload them. Opened the e-mail.

They want:
-A picture of the odometer
-One of the VIN
-The license plate
-A "wide shot" of the whole car from 5-7' away
-A shot from each of the corners of the car from 2-3 meters away [why meters for these 4 shots and feet for the "wide shot"? And if they're taking 4 "corner" shots, what is the "wide shot"? The front? The back? The driver's side profile? The passenger side profile? Who knows?]
-About 4 shots of the actual damage
-The dash "(from the back seat)"
-The steering wheel
-The "driver's trim panel"
-The headliner
-Front and rear carpet and seats.

Why, Jesus, why? Only thing I can figure, it's a 14 year old car and they're trying to decide the overall value so they can decide if they should just total it instead of fixing it. I don't know. But it'll have to wait until tomorrow because by the time my phone is charged up again it'll be dark out.

Fuck, maybe I'll just fight with the stupid app again.

 

[Oerdin]

The wait for parts is also a nightmare right now.

 

[Volpone]

On top of that, my car is getting pretty long in the tooth. It's funny, because when you get a grown-up car, it is always your "new car"--even when it's around 10 years old. The Mustang is my first actual new, off the showroom floor, first owner car. And if I could avoid buying another car ever, I would. I don't like the ABS and backup cameras and traction control; infotainment centers and parking assist and all that crap. Give me a big torquey V6 with a 5 speed manual and RWD in a hardtop coupe and I'm happy.

The penultimate grownup car, the '97 Avenger, when I was graduating from grad school, the sunroof shattered. Dunno what happened. We're just driving along the highway and all of a sudden it spiderwebs. This is...2006? 2007? I forget. Take it to the shop and they're like "it could take some time to find the parts." And I'm thinking "it's practically a new car" and realizing no, it was practically a new car when I bought it 7-8 years ago.

But maybe this'll be to my benefit (knock on wood) in this case. Maybe because it's older, the parts supply is a lot less volatile. How often does someone need a headlight or bumper cladding for an '05-'09 Mustang these days? (OK, probably more often than I'd like, but still...)

 

[Volpone]

The wait for parts is also a nightmare right now.

You're prior military, right? USAA? I've been a member for 23 years, apparently, and have been very happy with them--until this month. It took over 3 days to get ahold of anyone to file a homeowner's claim on the storm damage. Then a few days after they said everything was taken care of and they wouldn't be sending an appraiser, I got a phone call that they'd be sending an appraiser--on Saturday afternoon, the 18th--and not to do any more work on the damage until he'd been here.

Meantime, I had this stupid fender-bender Sunday night and that's been a PITA. ROBOT: "Did you know your can file a claim online? Would you like to do that?" "No." "OK, please wait for a claims representative." [claims representative: "It looks like we only have 2 approved body shops in your area and both are very busy so I can send you a link where you can take photos of the damage with your phone or I can schedule an appraiser." I tried using their link and it was a huge pain in the ass so the next day I just asked them to send out an appraiser. "Well, we probably won't actually be *sending* an appraiser. They'll probably call you and then e-mail you what photos to take and e-mail to them." :garamet: So eventually that afternoon someone from Chicago calls up and yup. They want me to e-mail them photos that I take myself. I'm out walking my dog when I get the call so I pull the car out when I get home and take photos of the damage while it's still light. I get in and read the e-mail of all the photos they want me to take and I have no idea how I can even send that e-mail--it's going to be so huge it likely won't go through the mail system. So I just decide to soldier on with their stupid app. Well, because life sucks, of course my phone battery is about done. And their tool is a huge power hog. So it kills a fully charged phone in about 3 photos. And further shortens the already short life of my battery.

So as I sit here, waiting for the phone to recharge, I Google "Is USAA going downhill" and find pretty much everyone says the company has gone to shit in the past few years. I've never had this much headache to file a claim with USAA. Well, should get going. Phone's recharged and it is almost lunchtime to boot. Guess I should order a new cell phone battery and/or try moving the SIM card to the old phone (that I bought a new battery for--I just wish I hadn't tried doing a "hard reset" on it before I figured out the problem was the battery. I'd just switch back to that phone. But I don't want to fart around getting everything set up again.