They did it. Of course they did. And I knew it was coming. Doesnt' make me feel any better though.
I received a notice that my apartment lease is coming up for renewal. They gushed over how lovely it's been having me as a tennant, and they hope to continue our relationship. I believe our exact "relationship" has consisted of 11 rent checks given by me, 1 maintenance call, 4 package pick-ups, and countless community newsletters reminding me to pick up after my non-existant dog. And a partridge in a pear tree.
And how would they like to thank me for being such a wonderful tennant and partner? By jacking up my rent, of course! What says "we value you" more than a note saying we want to value you more? However, they did make note that what I am paying is still lower than the market value. Right. I have no idea how they calculate the market value. In my 8 years of apartment living, I have known no one who pays the market value.
The "slight" increase is only good if I sign up for another year. And of course, i don't want a year, since I WILL be buying a house this summer. So who knows what my actual increase will be. But they have me by the figurative balls, so I will just pay the money and move on my merry way. Thank God (literally) that I got a small raise with my promotion, so this will not be a hardship. But since our insurance premiums went up by more than 50%, I'm not seeing much of that extra money. And I know that my hardship would be nothing compared to most people in the world. It would mean not eating out as much and not buying new clothes just cuz they are so cute! Like the new suit I bought while shopping for my sister's birthday present!
Happy New Year's dear readers!
Friday, December 29, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Blog Entry: The Final, The Omega, The What Was I thinking???
Yes, it has been less than 10 minutes since my last entry. And yes, things can change that quickly. Since I am preempting my house purchase, I don't need you dear blog anymore.
Really, what was I thinking?? I can't handle this major investment by myself.
The toilet in my apartment leaked yesterday. I was washing my hands, so I didn't see where the water was coming from. I just heard a not normal sound coming from the corner. I look over, and water is seeping on the floor. Not gushing, but persistent none the less. I think it was clean water, not from the bowl. But who's to know. I threw some towels down and decided to investigate later. I have another bathroom, so not a big deal. I also have an apartment maintenance service, so again, no big deal. Sadly, my house was not in good shape to receive visitors, even maintence men who look at toilets for a living. So I postponed the call.
So just now, I go back to the bathroom to see if things have calmed down. Maybe Mr. Toilet was just expressing his dissatisfaction. Perhaps his tantrum was over. So I flushed again. No major overflow, just a few drops coming from the lid of the reservoir. So I take the lid off to watch and see the process. Maybe I can see what's going on. The water level doesn't look out of the ordinary. I flush again. The water starts to go down. When the level of the water goes below the end of the hose where the water comes in, the hose has nothing to hold it down. So instead of filling up the reservoir, it starts spraying at a 45 degree angle (my head being at about a 30 degree angle). So I grab the hose and point it downward after only a few long seconds. There is not too much water on the floor this time; most of it is now absorbed in the roll of toilet paper. And my hair.
I'm not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I can hang pictures and curtains - as long as you don't tug too hard on them. But fixing appliances and plumbing? Not my forte. How will I manage a house by myself? There's no 24 hour maintenence number.
Living in apartments isn't that bad, right? I can deal with this for the next 50 years. Maybe I'll just make things easy and move directly into a nice retirement apartment complex. I'll probably end up there anyway.
Or maybe I need to change my strategy for finding a husband. I will get off of match.com and go to HandyMan.com. I've heard plumbers make a lot of money.
We'll see how I feel in the morning. For now I feel the need to take a shower. Hopefully, the drain won't stop up.
Really, what was I thinking?? I can't handle this major investment by myself.
The toilet in my apartment leaked yesterday. I was washing my hands, so I didn't see where the water was coming from. I just heard a not normal sound coming from the corner. I look over, and water is seeping on the floor. Not gushing, but persistent none the less. I think it was clean water, not from the bowl. But who's to know. I threw some towels down and decided to investigate later. I have another bathroom, so not a big deal. I also have an apartment maintenance service, so again, no big deal. Sadly, my house was not in good shape to receive visitors, even maintence men who look at toilets for a living. So I postponed the call.
So just now, I go back to the bathroom to see if things have calmed down. Maybe Mr. Toilet was just expressing his dissatisfaction. Perhaps his tantrum was over. So I flushed again. No major overflow, just a few drops coming from the lid of the reservoir. So I take the lid off to watch and see the process. Maybe I can see what's going on. The water level doesn't look out of the ordinary. I flush again. The water starts to go down. When the level of the water goes below the end of the hose where the water comes in, the hose has nothing to hold it down. So instead of filling up the reservoir, it starts spraying at a 45 degree angle (my head being at about a 30 degree angle). So I grab the hose and point it downward after only a few long seconds. There is not too much water on the floor this time; most of it is now absorbed in the roll of toilet paper. And my hair.
I'm not much of a do-it-yourselfer. I can hang pictures and curtains - as long as you don't tug too hard on them. But fixing appliances and plumbing? Not my forte. How will I manage a house by myself? There's no 24 hour maintenence number.
Living in apartments isn't that bad, right? I can deal with this for the next 50 years. Maybe I'll just make things easy and move directly into a nice retirement apartment complex. I'll probably end up there anyway.
Or maybe I need to change my strategy for finding a husband. I will get off of match.com and go to HandyMan.com. I've heard plumbers make a lot of money.
We'll see how I feel in the morning. For now I feel the need to take a shower. Hopefully, the drain won't stop up.
Traveling by plane, and all that that entails.
This was supposed to be "Thursday Thirteen Things I Like About Traveling, and Some I Don't" for the week, but since it is now Sunday afternoon, I will skip the pretense of posting on the right day.
This past week, I took a quick overnight business trip to visit a client. Luckily, it was just a holiday schoozing lunch, followed by a quick presentation that I didn't have to give, so there was limited stress and nervousness on my part. Here are my thoughts on traveling (may or may not be thirteen. Give me a break - it's not Thursday).
- The airport is open before 6am. I didn't know that. It seems very unnecessary. I can barely drive a car that early in the morning, so I sure hope the pilots have had their coffee. And there are many more crazies than us who were also there. They should call the 7am flights the red-eye flight.
- I ate an X-rayed Sonic breakfast burrito. Hopefully, it will cause no permanent damage. I bought it on my way to meet a co-worker to drive to the airport together. I was hoping she would be a few minutes late. She was not. I was driving so I didn't get to eat it right away. Then I thought I can eat it in line for security. But since we got there before any sane person would want to travel, the security line was fairly short and fast moving. Isn't it ironic? When you want there to be a red light to put your mascara on, all lights are green. When you want to eat your breakfast at the airport in the security line, everything moves at a breakneck speed. When you want a knife, there are 10,000 spoons.
What with moving with the line, worrying if I had got all of my liquids out of my bags into an pint sized ziplock bag (which I didn't, BTW, more on that to follow), getting my ID, pulling my laptop out of the case, taking off my shoes, taking off my jacket, and sucking down my Dr. Pepper that I knew they wouldn't let me bring in, there was no time for the burrito. So I had to put it on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed. I ate it while waiting for the rest of my party to put their shoes back on, laptops back in the cases, and their dignity back into their persons. It was tasty, but cold by that point. X-rays are not the same as microwave rays, apparently.
- Timing is everything. I put all of my personal belongings on the conveyor belt. There is ONE person ahead of me to go through the metal detector. My bags have disappeared into darkness. Then what happens? Nothing. No one is allowed to go through security. The TSA people say nothing, except it will be a few minutes. I'm thinking there is a shift-change or something since it about 6:00 am. I'm thinking the guy in the other line set off an alarm when he put his soft-drink through the x-ray. I'm thinking, can I grab my burrito that is being loaded with x-ray material right about now? Now would be a good time to eat it. At first they just say it is security at our gate and the one next to us that is shut down. Not a big deal. I see planes taking off in front of us. I see people past security walking around. Then they say all security gates are temporily shut down. A little more disturbing, but still a minor, local issue. But then they say, and this is to comfort us, "Don't worry, no planes are taking off right now. You will not miss your flight." Great. That makes me feel better. Lockdown in the whole airport. So what went from a little worry about a dufus trying to get his daily caffeine fix through security grew in my mind to enormous proportions of life-changing events. So we stand around for about 10 minutes. "No, we do not have any information." Then, as calmly as if we had been waiting for someone to tie their shoe, they say "Next". Lines start moving again. No explanation. No apologies. No reassurances. Such is life post-9/11. I thank God I live here where there are 1,000,000,000:1 precautionary events to major events.
- I sneaked past security with liquids in my bags! I did it! I am very sneaky that way. Of course, I did it without my knowlege. The culprit? Hot sauce. 2 packets. I didn't open my Sonic bag before - I didn't know the burritos came with salsa. I did't even want them. But since I am not a terrorist, I didn't try to overcome the pilots with hot acidic tomato sauce to the eyes.
- I always get the window seat on the wing. Why is that? I dont' know. I always get the large man next to me. The one on the way was nice and talkative. And he snored. The one on the way back couldn't be bothered with a hello. Maybe I was just jealous because an older man had an ipod and I don't. I'm not as cool as a middle-aged big man.
- Somehow I didn't have to go to the bathroom on either flight. Trying to hover on airplanes is very hard to do. Guys are so lucky.
- I am always amazed that these things can fly. Sitting next to the wing, you always hear and see interesting things. And I have learned that yes, the wings are supposed to do those things and make those noises.
- People will try to fit anything in the overhead compartments. They will try multiple times. It is geometry people. Sometimes, the cool toy you bought your kid, still in it's square, plastic and cardboard container will not fit. Deal with it.
- There has to be a better way to let people board. Why is the aisle guy always already in his seat when the window people are coming after?
- It is fun to watch people. Figuring out where they are going and why. Is it business or personal? How are they related to the people with them? Do they like the people they are related to?
- Why was that man carrying around an un-opened box of Cheerios? I want to know. I guess now I never will.
- Why do some people carry on conversations on their cell phones in a very loud voice? I don't care about your call. I'm on the plane too, so I know that we just landed. Leave me out of it. Personal auditory space is gone with the times.
- Overall, not a bad trip.
This past week, I took a quick overnight business trip to visit a client. Luckily, it was just a holiday schoozing lunch, followed by a quick presentation that I didn't have to give, so there was limited stress and nervousness on my part. Here are my thoughts on traveling (may or may not be thirteen. Give me a break - it's not Thursday).
- The airport is open before 6am. I didn't know that. It seems very unnecessary. I can barely drive a car that early in the morning, so I sure hope the pilots have had their coffee. And there are many more crazies than us who were also there. They should call the 7am flights the red-eye flight.
- I ate an X-rayed Sonic breakfast burrito. Hopefully, it will cause no permanent damage. I bought it on my way to meet a co-worker to drive to the airport together. I was hoping she would be a few minutes late. She was not. I was driving so I didn't get to eat it right away. Then I thought I can eat it in line for security. But since we got there before any sane person would want to travel, the security line was fairly short and fast moving. Isn't it ironic? When you want there to be a red light to put your mascara on, all lights are green. When you want to eat your breakfast at the airport in the security line, everything moves at a breakneck speed. When you want a knife, there are 10,000 spoons.
What with moving with the line, worrying if I had got all of my liquids out of my bags into an pint sized ziplock bag (which I didn't, BTW, more on that to follow), getting my ID, pulling my laptop out of the case, taking off my shoes, taking off my jacket, and sucking down my Dr. Pepper that I knew they wouldn't let me bring in, there was no time for the burrito. So I had to put it on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed. I ate it while waiting for the rest of my party to put their shoes back on, laptops back in the cases, and their dignity back into their persons. It was tasty, but cold by that point. X-rays are not the same as microwave rays, apparently.
- Timing is everything. I put all of my personal belongings on the conveyor belt. There is ONE person ahead of me to go through the metal detector. My bags have disappeared into darkness. Then what happens? Nothing. No one is allowed to go through security. The TSA people say nothing, except it will be a few minutes. I'm thinking there is a shift-change or something since it about 6:00 am. I'm thinking the guy in the other line set off an alarm when he put his soft-drink through the x-ray. I'm thinking, can I grab my burrito that is being loaded with x-ray material right about now? Now would be a good time to eat it. At first they just say it is security at our gate and the one next to us that is shut down. Not a big deal. I see planes taking off in front of us. I see people past security walking around. Then they say all security gates are temporily shut down. A little more disturbing, but still a minor, local issue. But then they say, and this is to comfort us, "Don't worry, no planes are taking off right now. You will not miss your flight." Great. That makes me feel better. Lockdown in the whole airport. So what went from a little worry about a dufus trying to get his daily caffeine fix through security grew in my mind to enormous proportions of life-changing events. So we stand around for about 10 minutes. "No, we do not have any information." Then, as calmly as if we had been waiting for someone to tie their shoe, they say "Next". Lines start moving again. No explanation. No apologies. No reassurances. Such is life post-9/11. I thank God I live here where there are 1,000,000,000:1 precautionary events to major events.
- I sneaked past security with liquids in my bags! I did it! I am very sneaky that way. Of course, I did it without my knowlege. The culprit? Hot sauce. 2 packets. I didn't open my Sonic bag before - I didn't know the burritos came with salsa. I did't even want them. But since I am not a terrorist, I didn't try to overcome the pilots with hot acidic tomato sauce to the eyes.
- I always get the window seat on the wing. Why is that? I dont' know. I always get the large man next to me. The one on the way was nice and talkative. And he snored. The one on the way back couldn't be bothered with a hello. Maybe I was just jealous because an older man had an ipod and I don't. I'm not as cool as a middle-aged big man.
- Somehow I didn't have to go to the bathroom on either flight. Trying to hover on airplanes is very hard to do. Guys are so lucky.
- I am always amazed that these things can fly. Sitting next to the wing, you always hear and see interesting things. And I have learned that yes, the wings are supposed to do those things and make those noises.
- People will try to fit anything in the overhead compartments. They will try multiple times. It is geometry people. Sometimes, the cool toy you bought your kid, still in it's square, plastic and cardboard container will not fit. Deal with it.
- There has to be a better way to let people board. Why is the aisle guy always already in his seat when the window people are coming after?
- It is fun to watch people. Figuring out where they are going and why. Is it business or personal? How are they related to the people with them? Do they like the people they are related to?
- Why was that man carrying around an un-opened box of Cheerios? I want to know. I guess now I never will.
- Why do some people carry on conversations on their cell phones in a very loud voice? I don't care about your call. I'm on the plane too, so I know that we just landed. Leave me out of it. Personal auditory space is gone with the times.
- Overall, not a bad trip.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
 |
1…. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Well, not a lot. More like a little. But the cold weather certainly helps. Somehow 80 degree weather and Christmas just do not add up. Unless you live in the southern hemisphere. Which I don't. 2…. I don't feel the need to shave as much. Luckily I don't have a sig. other to complain about that. Not sure if the shaving causes the not having a boyfriend, or the other way. Didn't have a boyfriend in the fall, summer or spring. So I guess in my line of work, I would have to say there is a correlation, but not causation. 3…. While it's true that summer shoes are definitely cuter, as a friend of mine stated, I think that winter outfits are much more rich and more adult. Deep browns and creams, navies and light blue, maroons and navy (I like blue by the way). 4…. As an addition to #3, there is less skin being shown in the winter. Not as many teenager girls showing off their g-strings and belly rings. 5…. Curling on the couch or bed with a warm blanket, reading a book. 6…. Curling on the floor in front of roaring fire. 7…. The start of basketball season. 8…. Hot cocoa. 9…. Christmas lights. 10…. It's almost spring time - the best time to live in Texas. Unless you get hit by a tornado in the spring. 11…. If it were to ever stick, pure snow is very beautiful. I love the silence on mornings when you wake up with a blanket of snow. 12…. Ice skating for Mary's birthday. 13…. I love that you can turn anything into a sled if the streets are icy. Since it doesn't happen very often, none of us ever had a real sled growing up. Things we used: my scooter, fiber glass sheets, laundry baskets. |
Monday, December 4, 2006
Definitely Don't Feel Like A Kid
After a full day of flag football on Saturday, I am still moving a little slow today. My sides hurt when I laugh and breathe deeply. I don't know why I say yes to these things. In the past 6 months, I have played in an indoor soccer league, a sand volleyball league, a tennis league, and this football tournament. Only 1 of these sports I play regularly, and football definitely isn't one of them. But it was still fun. I had a few catches - 1 really long one. I also scored 2 extra points. And my defense was even better. And more importantly, I didn't seriously injure myself, which is a major accomplishment.
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