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Monday, August 31, 2009

*sigh*

Our mortgage broker really needs to call me back.

So our neighbor pulled a gun on a child...

I realize the purpose of this blog is to breathe, relax, and enjoy life. That's not what this post has to do with, this post has to do with frustration. I'm not editing language from direct quotes, fyi. You need to know how crazy this woman is. But first...

1. If you offer a free trial, someone pays you for shipping on your product, you call ten times to confirm the order, ask if they want to sign up for a subscription, they say emphatically, " No, I do not want to be signed up for anything, I want my free trial and will order more if I want more," and your customer service representative says, "No problem, Sir," and then they charge you immediately for a product you didn't want (aka wtf happened to the free trial?), you are guilty of FRAUD AND THEFT AS SURELY AS IF YOU HAD STOLEN THE PHYSICAL CREDIT CARD. You took credit card information and made UNAUTHORIZED CHARGES. And if you think we won't have you investigated by our bank, the Better Business Bureau, and JAG, you are sorely mistaken. And by the way, we're going to do that even though you are refunding us our money, because YOU ARE A SCAM. Not only are you a scam, but you are THIEVES MASQUERADING AS A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS. We will do everything possible to get you on the military's black list. I hope an asteroid hits your building and all the THIEVES YOU CALL EMPLOYEES die horribly.

2. Two Saturday's ago, as David was out on our porch having a smoke, our friends Hedy and Ryan walked by with Hedy's four year old son, Seth, while taking our Kristin's dogs because they were on vacation. They stopped a few yards away to chat, and while they were doing so, Thor happened to be in the window. Taj barked a couple of times at him (literally, a couple of times), and that was enough to cause our upstairs neighbor to come out onto her porch completely plastered and yell at them that "If you don't shut that fucking dog up, I'm going to shoot it in the head." Naturally, Hedy was indignant. However, she remained calm, though Amy (the upstairs neighbor) continued to yell and shout threats. Eventually, a man came out of her apartment and told her to go inside, and then apologized for her behavior, saying that a toddler was sick and trying to sleep upstairs and they would appreciate it if we kept the dog quiet. Hedy said no problem. Until Amy comes out again, this time with a loaded, cocked pistol, and points it at Ryan, saying that if he keeps looking at her she's going to shoot him. It only escalated from there, with all of the adults on the ground pulling out their phones and telling her unequivocally that the police will be called, and that they have witnesses (David) to back up what happened. Amy replied that we were her neighbors and we wouldn't care.

There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. To hear Hedy tell it, the gun was pointed at Ryan, but to me a drunk person pointing a gun isn't aiming at anything in particular, even if they think they are. To me, she aimed a loaded weapon at a four year old. She was arrested for menacing, which we will attempt to have bumped up to assault with a deadly weapon in court, as apparently it wasn't an option Hedy was given when the police came. David and I (mostly David) gave a statement, and will likely be subpoenaed. Unfortunately, although the gun was confiscated, Amy was released on bail the next day. Naturally, the three families involved went to management on Monday and told them what happened, and they replied that she would be evicted, following that up with "by Monday." Well, now it's Monday, and considering Amy has not done any moving that we're aware of, and we couldn't help but be, I'm extremely curious as to what the hell is going on. We'll give them until 5PM before we go to the office and demand an explanation for why an obviously unstable woman hasn't been forcibly evicted by now. Understandably, it's hard to feel safe knowing you have a neighbor ready to shoot you for absolutely no reason whatsoever except for the fact she's out of her mind. If she hasn't moved herself by this evening, her stuff better be out on the lawn and in the dumpster with the locks changed and the police forcing her out of the apartment if need be by noon tomorrow. She's not welcome here. Get rid of her.

My take on the situation is that if Ryan had happened to have a weapon on him, which is allowed by Colorado law, he could have legitimately shot her dead in self-defense. That was not just a gun, but a loaded gun, and when the police inspected it they found a round in the chamber, which means she had cocked to fire it. That surely would have been a mess, but it would have been honest to God self defense, and she would have deserved it.

I've heard that she has blood cancer, I've heard that she has seizures, but I can't give her any slack for whatever is wrong with her when she willing becomes intoxicated knowing that she gets extremely violent. While I was in Illinois her son told David she was having a seizure, and he went upstairs to help her friends give her her medicine (with their permission and instruction, of course). She didn't recognize him and told him if he didn't get out of her house she'd shoot him. He tried to remind her who I was, who he was, that we were friends. She just said that she didn't care who the fuck he was, he better get out or she'd shoot him. So he left. I mention this to point out that this is in no way an isolated incident. This woman needs to be hospitalized, or put in an institution, or something, because she is a danger to everyone around her. No matter what her medical condition is, there is nothing that justifies pulling a loaded weapon on a child.

Oh, and when she was told to go to the office to discuss her eviction, she told them that it was a water gun. When the manager told Hedy that, she simply replied that she had provided a copy of the police report and the manager was free to call and confirm that it had been an actual, loaded weapon. Which it was. I realize you're trying to save yourself, but why on earth would you waste your time lying about something that can be so easily proven false? Better to spend your time apartment hunting and packing, methinks.

Friday, August 28, 2009

New Frying Pan

I got a new frying pan today, courtesy of Mom McCarthy, at Kohls. My old one has been wobbly for a couple of years now, and I've been looking forward to a new one. That day was today. I used it for browning meat tonight, and it is great! No more wobbling! Very exciting. Sometimes it's the little things in life. Not often enough, but sometimes. Like finding one of your favorite childhood movies new on Netflix instant watch.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

House Tour

Woohoo! We had our last showing of the house today. The yard looked SO much better. It's also a lot bigger than I remembered, especially in front. The closing date is set as September 25th. There's definitely work to be done, and we'll probably replace the siding and the gutters relatively shortly, as in when we have that kind of money. Other than that the interior work is all aesthetic. We need to put a light fixture in the office, do painting in all the bedrooms, and probably refinish the hardwood, which is why we're hoping for those two weeks plus between our closing date and our lease expiration. There's a crawl space that we couldn't get into because it looks like it's painted shut, but the VA Inspector will take care of that. There's also an attic we hadn't noticed before, and while we couldn't put tons up there, that's from limited mobility on our part, not lack of space. Christmas stuff will definitely be able to go there though, and once we have the house that will be what the majority of our storage boxes are. And there's a small sprinkler system that wasn't noted on any of the paperwork. Since VA Inspectors have (recently) been getting to houses in a matter of days from the inspection request, this should really be the home stretch. Karol says she made it clear that we had to close before the first of October or we would withdraw our offer. I should probably really start thinking about paint colors. That and the floors I would really like to get done before we move our stuff in. And packing, we should start packing non-essential items. That way there's less to do at the end, because Lord knows I love to procrastinate while underestimating the amount of work at hand.

I'm sleepy, I'm going to join David for a nap (he has the night shift this week).

Monday, August 24, 2009

September 25

Apparently they went out and did work on the house, yard and painting, and now we just have to get the VA Inspector out and we should be able to close by the 25th of September! Yay! That's plenty of time. David's going to have a lot of painting to do when we move in. I'm wondering what VOC paint is, and how to make it washable, as in not like crappy apartment paint that comes off when you're scrubbing cat boogers off the walls. (I hate cat boogers). We have another showing on Wednesday, and we'll take lots of pictures, especially of the things we don't have pictures of now. I'm so excited! What an awesome week.

Bleh

I'm nauseous. I'm tired of it. Felt like complaining, cuz that's all the relief I'm going to get.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Ick

I'm tired of vomiting, clear soda, and saltines. I really wish I could take my goods meds for it, but those are off limits now. Yuck.

Recooperating

My trip to Illinois was a blast. It was great to see everyone, and Grandma and Grandpa were there. We got quite a bit of work done, and I am now quite proficient in wallpapering. Painting the ceiling kind of sucked because the paint was on the floor and getting off the bench to refill my roller was tedious. It would have been nice to have my own paint container, but Patrick and I had to share. Rachael and I got filming for her video done, and now I just need to edit it. I haven't been over any of the footage because we wouldn't have been able to reshoot anyway, we're stuck with what we got. Hopefully it's halfway decent.

I need to go to my storage unit soon, but I might wait for David and the weekend. I brought everything I could fit in Tonks back with me, which leaves a fews pieces of furniture and 3 boxes of china I inherited from my great-grandmother. I wanted to bring it this time, but I decided that not only did I not have the room in the Jeep, I didn't have room in the apartment, and what was the point of bringing it home to put in storage besides risking breaking something? We have a tentative closing date at the end of September. Finally, progress. My parents will come out sometime between then and the end of the year, and they can bring it with it them, along with the furniture we got from David's parents that I didn't have room for when I moved out here. Now we just have to wait for the VA inspector. I really wish the owner would pay attention to what her realtor told her about getting the house sold. She needs to maintain the yard and replace some boards. Wow. That's tough. But anyway. Worst case scenario is the VA inspector tells her she has to do those things and she does it then. It'll just take a little (lot) longer. But still, progress.

I'm tired, it's been a long day. At least they were able to change my appointment. They were supposed to make me an appointment with the doctor for a consult, and even the reminder card they gave me had his name on it, but somehow when I called to confirm they told me the appointment was with the midwife. All fine and dandy, except she wanted me to have a consult with the doctor, walked me to the desk and told them that herself. But somehow they were able to switch it over to Dr. Baer for the same time, which make me think the person I talked to was just crazy. Otherwise it would have been a very disappointing day.

I just found out who Rebel was. I had a slight inkling, but it still feels like a surprise. I wish Heroes wasn't so addicting. I should really get some sleep.

Thoughts on Polygamous Lifestyles

I was thumbing through "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop and got online to look up what her sister wives and husband looked like so I could put faces with the pictures. (Interestingly, to me, is that none of the photos in her book include her "spouses," and even the pictures of her children were obviously taken anywhere other than on Merril's property. Legal injunction or personal choice?) This brought me to a lot of articles and websites and I spent several hours pouring over them. There were opinions from both sides, and I found myself wanting to leave replies to others comments without wanting to waste the time or space on people who wouldn't appreciate it, so I'm doing it here. I'm going to start by saying that there are many different types of polygamous lifestyles, and maybe I'll address more than one, maybe even without rambling and going on forever. That last part is highly unlikely.

First point I want to make is that marriage at the tender age of 16 is allowed is just about every country in the world, including the United States, as long as there is parental consent. In some places that age is even lower, sometimes as young as 12. In fact, in some countries, including South Africa, Jordan, and Scotland, you don't even need parental consent to marry younger than 18. The concept of marriageable age being the age of majority is an extremely recent development. That doesn't make old men having sex with teenagers right, it just means it's not a new concept. Not just that, it's an extremely old concept. An older man is wealthier and has more prestige (obviously in general) and therefore when he has a need to marry of course he prefers a young, beautiful woman who has many childbearing years before her to a woman his own age who is going to hit menopause in the next decade and is at an increased risk for pregnancy complications. They are called trophy wives for a reason. In years past, when women didn't contribute income to the family, marriage was something a man planned for. He had to have a job, a house, a means to support a family, and not all men even wanted that, much less were capable of providing it. And when I say he "had" to have those things, that was because a woman generally needed parental approval for the marriage, if not legally then to avoid being disowned. Arranged marriages were extremely common place. Marriage wasn't about love, it was about continuing the family line, breeding with other ones, and daughters were viewed as a means to an end, being legally unable to continue the family line in many cases. I admit, I'm digging back in history quite a bit. My mindset is in the 14-1800s, but I'll give some examples. Henry VIII's wives, with the exception of his last, continually got younger and younger. Anne Boleyn was 10-16 years younger than Henry (there is continual debate over whether she was the older or younger sister and birth years and yada yada, I digress) and he began pursuing her when she was 16. The got married when she was 24 and he was 42. Bet you didn't guess that watching the Tudors on Showtime. Jane Seymour was 17 years his junior. Anne of Cleves, 24. Catherine Howard was 30 years younger than he was, and they were married when she was 19. Tudor history provides us with other great examples, such as Mary Tudor, Henry's sister, who was 18 when she married the king of France, who was 52. Her second husband, Charles Brandon, was 12 years her senior. To move a little further forward, Napoleon married his second wife, Marie Therese, when she was 19 and he was 41. Catherine de Medici and Marie Antoinette (now I'm just bouncing around) were both married to similarly aged men when they were 14. Royalty is the easiest to trace because it's recorded, but these were by no means exceptional cases. At the time, the production of heirs was most important, with the intention of improving the family's position through marriage. In fact, marriage as an institution was first developed from such a simple idea as guaranteed paternity. A man paid her father for exclusive sexual rights to her, hence the concept of a bride price.

Whew. Long paragraph. Moving along.

Childhood being it's own separate part of life is also a recent development. For a long time children were expected to act as adults, dress as adults, talk as adults. It wasn't until the Victorian era that childhood was recognized as it's own stage, although not in such terms, certainly. But the innocence of childhood was respected, for the most part (we're going to conveniently forget this was the era of increased child labor). Childhood most certainly was not supposed to be fun. That period of time was useful to groom a child for adulthood. Boys and girls received their education, though usually of extremely differing sorts. My point here is that you can't point at these marriages, distasteful as they may seem, and try to say that you have any biblical or historical basis on which to base your opinion. In truth, the Bible put up no resistance to such marriages until the past 100 years. Remember that only puts us back to 1909, it was 11 more years before women had the right to vote, to put things in perspective.

I have to get dressed and start the day, I've been messing around on the computers for about four hours now, and it's not even 10AM! Perhaps this has satisfied my urge to share my opinions on what I've read, perhaps I'll pick it up again later, we'll see. I still have opinions on the YFZ raid, modern polygamous marriages (as opposed to prairie dress people), and people who need to shut their bigoted, intolerant, hateful mouths and learn to live and let live. Children were regularly beaten for the majority of our existence. It's great that we're evolving to better solutions, but we're all here, right? And go back 300 years and I don't know that there was a man or woman alive who hadn't been beaten at one time or another. Not smacked, beaten. And I bet they had just as many well adjusted people as we do. Now there's a social stigma that frowns upon it. Before it was viewed as effeminate and weak not be seen in complete control of both your children AND your wife. Consider yourself lucky. Ok, I'm really done for now.

Friday, August 7, 2009

runpee.com

I heard about this in a news article, so I'm sure everyone else has heard about it too, but there's this really cool site called runpee.com that tells you when the best times to get up and pee in the theatre are. I actually think this is a super convenient service. Someone's going straight to the bank with that idea. Just passing it along...

Monday, August 3, 2009

Writing Day

Adria's finally getting after me to give her a life and a voice and stop hogging her all to myself. She's my alter ego and expressing her honestly is putting words to things I barely comprehend, much less can easily describe. However, she's been bugging me, and I owe it to her to tell the world her story. That may not make sense to anyone who isn't a writer, but it's important. What she has to tell is important, and a part of me. So I'm going to do some chores and then lock myself away with music and a do not disturb sign. I always feel like I have to be caught up with everything before I allow myself to write, but I think it needs to be a lot more balanced. I need to write. I need to let her out.