Day of excellence
January 30, 2009
Yesterday began like any other day, telling the kids to hurry up or they would be late, loads and loads of laundry, and a fabulous lunch date! (well, that was something untypical, but I had to mention it because it made the day that much better).
I was at the school to pick up the kids and as soon as Byron and David see me they start hauling to get to me. The closer they get I see that they are waving manilla envelopes in the air with huge smiles on their faces. They both start talking at once so I ask for one at a time. Byron sweetly tells David he can go first. “mom! I scored in the top 10% in the nation on the IOWA test in reading! Only one other fifth grader in the school got a certificate!”. I was stunned, I remember those tests. I always did well, but never that good! I yelled and hollered for David and then turned to Byron. He was grinning from ear to ear. “mom, I too scored in the top 10%, but not in reading. I got it in social studies, science, and total composite. There were no other third graders to get one “. Holy cow! I hollered again and couldn’t stop smiling:). The boys were so pleased with their results, I could see their chests bulging. I emailed josh and made a few proud mom phone calls.
We were still soaking in the boys euphoria when we noticed the time. It was 5:30 and we needed to leave by 6 to get to betsy’s award ceremony. Oh yeah, she entered a school reflections competition a few months ago. She took a gorgeous picture of some roses and turned it in. She won at her school level, won at the region level, and last night was the district level. We got to the district office and betsy looked so sweet. She admired everyone elses work and then said, “I still think mine will win.”. I told her anything was possible but I didn’t want her to get hurt. We sat down and they began their presentations. They announced that the winners would continue to compete at the state level and after that at the national level. Well, you guessed it, she won!!!!!!! She is off to state!
I just don’t know where these kids get it from. They are amazing! So much brighter and talented than I was at their age. So, I’m done bragging for this entry. Until next time:)
Check Engine
January 30, 2009
This is a photo of something you don’t want to see when you’re driving a long distance on a cold night.
Keystone Kriminals
January 30, 2009
Two prisoners in New Zealand are facing more charges, and major embarrassment over an escape attempt gone bad.
The men were handcuffed together as they fled a courthouse, but apparently forgot that little fact as they ran to opposite sides of a light pole, with predictable results. The men slammed into each other and fell to the ground. End of escape.
Birthday Girl
January 27, 2009
Betsy turned seven on Sunday.
Stitches
January 24, 2009
It was the morning of Friday, October 4, 2002, and I was off to a new adventure. This was the morning that I was packing up my car and moving out to Central Oregon. Melanie and the kids would follow behind by a few weeks, as soon as I was able to find a house in which we could live.
Leaving Utah wasn’t something I was particularly excited to do, though I was very excited to be joining the ranks of the newly employed. You see, I had somewhat recently been told that my services were no longer needed at my previous job. That place seemed to have a habit of cutting jobs the minute times got tough. Hmm.
Anyways, I was almost ready to leave and Melanie and I were just finishing getting ready in the upstairs bathroom of our little townhouse when we heard a blood-curdling scream from Byron, who was two at the time. He came running up the stairs and when he rounded the corner, we could see blood running down from his forehead.
“Oh, great,” I thought. “What happened!?”
David chimed in with, “He was running in the kitchen and he slipped and bonked his head against the wall like this!” and proceeded to hit his forehead really hard with his hand. Only then did Byron give his side of the story and, oddly enough, it was a little different than what we had previously heard.
“David threw a Hot Wheels car at me and it hit me in the head!” was the new version of the story. Immediately after the accusation was made, David went on the defensive. “Well, he threw it first!”
Uh, huh. That’s going to make it all better.
Instead of me hopping in the car to start the 11 hour drive to Oregon, I was accompanying my wife to the doctors office so the doctor could stitch a forehead back together.
Byron’s forehead still bears the scar. Of course, it didn’t help that he ripped out three of the four stitches that night. Melanie ended up having to take him to the emergency room to have the thing glued back together, as the stitches apparently rip out too easily.
Ah, memories.
Exams, et al
January 24, 2009
I took my first college exam today. It was for my ECON 1740 class, which is Economic History of the U.S. It’s an interesting class and I really do enjoy it.
That said, I really had trouble studying for the test, though, as I didn’t have any idea what to expect. It had been so long since I’d done something of that nature that it seemed foreign to me. I think I did well on it, even though it was not exactly what was described by the instructor. The instructor had said it would be on chapters 1 and 2 of the supplement (some handout he gave us on the first day), as well a portion of chapter 1 of the textbook. Well, when I looked at the exam, I noticed something handwritten on it that said something to the effect of “Supplement chapters 1 – 3,” or whatever.
Uh, what? We received chapter 3 as a handout this past Wednesday and it is supposed to be covered in the second exam of the term. At least that’s what he wrote up on the board. And said to the class. Repeatedly.
Thankfully, I was able to get through those questions. The essay portion was a little difficult for me, though. Hopefully, I won’t lose too many points on that portion.
The good news is that I now have an idea of what to expect on the rest of the exams. For me now, it’s off to do some homework for my writing class.
Weight a Minute!
January 16, 2009
It’s been about 10 months since I started that weight loss competition last year. It went on for about 9 weeks and I ended up winning one part of the contest. Yes, good for me!
Anyways, I weighed about 198 pounds just before starting competition, in mid March. At the end of the contest, I weighed in at 176. Not too shabby.
Well, about a month after my victory, I let my weight get back up to about 185. This morning, though, I weighed in at 169 pounds. I have not been anywhere near this weight in about ten years!
So, uh, yay me! Only ten more to go before I reach the point I was at when I got married.
School Update
January 16, 2009
Well, I haven’t dropped out, yet!
I really like the Econ course that I’m taking. It’s very interesting. The writing class I’m taking is a little bit of an acquired taste. I like the instructor and the subject matter, but I just don’t think I’m a very good writer. I’m unsure of my abilities to recognize different types of writing, and even more unsure of my ability to write in different ways.
Nastiness
January 10, 2009
So, here’s comes a long drawn out story.
We were renting a home in West Jordan, Utah, prior to the purchase of our home in September. Our move out date was September 30th and, according to Utah law, the landlord had 30 days to refund our deposit. I emailed him and sent him a certified letter at the beginning of September to notify him of our forwarding address. When I didn’t hear from him near the end of October, I sent him an email reiterating our forwarding address. This was jut a gentle reminder that he still owed us the $1145.
I didn’t hear from him, so I sent him another email around the 6th of November. I was cordial, once again, but also decided to call him to remind him about it. When I spoke with him, he said that he’d forgotten about the deposit and that he would send it shortly.
Nothing was received.
I emailed again on the 11th and got no response.
He emailed me on the 18th to tell me that he was going to send the refund by the end of the week. Nothing was received.
I emailed again on the 21st, as a little reminder. I got no response.
I emailed again on the 26th of November, to which the guy responded on the 1st of December. He said he was mailing a partial payment that day. I responded saying that I was glad to hear that he was sending something. I also said, “Let’s just work put a payment plan so I know what to expect and when. This will help keep us all from getting angry and bitter.” I was very very cordial in the email. I received a check for $200 on or around the 7th of December.
On or around the 1st of December, an attorney acquaintance of mine sent a certified letter to him alerting him to the fact that I would pursue legal action against him for failure to refund the deposit, blah blah blah.
During the preceding time, I also had called and left voice mail messages which were never returned. I must have called 5-8 times between 11/6 and 12/1.
After not hearing anything from him again, I decided to send an email to him on December 24th. I got no response to this email, nor to the voice mail I left him a couple of days later.
I decided to give it a little bit of time to see if he would just send me another check at the beginning of January. As of today, though, I have not received anything from him.
So, this brings up what I chose to do today. I decided that I would try to make contact with each of the tenants of his homes here in the Salt Lake Valley (the landlord lives in Arizona so I cannot confront him directly) and let them know what sort of person with whom they are doing business. If he chooses to not pay the money that he owes to me, perhaps he would choose to not pay his other tenants when they move out. I’m not under any obligation to be nice, at this point.
I stopped by the home in which I used to live, but nobody answered. I stopped by home number two but no grown-ups were apparently home, so the kids that were peeking through the window didn’t answer. No biggie. Home number three, though, had lots of grown-ups. They found what I had to say rather interesting. I explained that I am a former tenant of this yokel, and that his financial difficulties are preventing him from being able to pay me the refund to which I am entitled. I also explained that if he is having financial difficulties and cannot pay his mortgages, his homes could get foreclosed. In this scenario, the tenants would get evicted and they would not be entitled to any refund rents or deposits paid.
I did not say anything even remotely untrue or slanderous, just stating the facts and explaining that they may want to inquire with the landlord of their home’s mortgage status. My hope was that if they made contact with him, it could help him understand that I’m not playing the whole “phone tag” and “email tag” games anymore. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get the money that is rightfully mine. Like I said, I’m not under any obligation to be nice. I want my money.
I then went to hom number four, but the parents in the family weren’t home. I left a message with the son who was there and gave my name and phone number. My plan was to inform them of the same things of which I informed the tenants of home number three.
After leaving home number three, a thought came to me. I remembered that the landlord has a real estate agent in the Salt Lake Valley and that agent has performed some rental management services for him. When I could recall his name, I looked him up and called him to inform him of the things that were transpiring. He was surprised to hear about what was going on and promised to call the landlord to see if he could push a button or two.
Well, it worked. Sort of.
Buttons got pushed, evidently, because I got a call from the landlord. He was, well, a little hot under the collar. He proceeded to tell me that I was blanking him and that I had better not piss him off otherwise I’d never get my blanking money or something like that. He kept going on and on about how much I was blanking him and that I could get myself to end up in jail by pulling stuff like this. Then he colorfully threatened the return of my money a few more times and hung up on me. Whatever, dude.
Overall, it was a pretty nasty phone call, and he must have dropped the F-Bomb 20 times during it. Apparently, the fact that he owes me money and won’t return calls and messages is my fault, and I’m a bad person for even asking for it. I just really can’t believe how the guy flew off the handle at me.
I guess it’s time to go to court. I’ll get some judgment against him and he’ll eventually have to pay.
Eventually.
Edjumacation
January 9, 2009
I start college as a freshman on Monday. My first classes are English 2010, which is Intermediate Writing, and Economics 1740, which is The Economic History of the United States. It’s an investment in myself and I’m really nervous and excited.
