Pizza Tuesday

Not having to return to the dealership this morning, because no word yet that the driver side mirror had been received, plan for today was to hang out with the folk in the Community Room, people watching this Pizza Tuesday.

First, however, I made a run, few cities over, to a market where I’d seen something the previous day that I should have bought but passed on.

It was just yesterday morning I had the thought, this is such a drag, while making morning coffee.

I’d gone from driving to Starbucks every morning for a cup, to purchasing a pound and making my own using the pour over method with my trusty little percolator.

Then, after running across an article about a coffee that was purported to be an aid in healing angry guts, PLUS detox toxins out of one’s system, enhance mental clarity AND lower blood pressure, I switched to making Bulletproof Coffee every morning, pour over method, with that same trusty little percolator.

I’ve not given up Starbucks completely, but now it’s more like an occasional treat, as Bulletproof is definitely living up to the hype. Along with clean eating, my previously dead metabolism is coming back to life, I’m losing weight without trying, feel better, have more energy and, best of all, haven’t had a gut episode since shortly after Thanksgiving when I survived the trifecta – ear infection, gut episode, influenza, all at the same time.

So anyway, yesterday morning I heard myself say to myself, “I am so tired of having to do this every morning. I think it’s time I looked at some of those machines that make coffee for you, preferable something with a timer”.

It just quickly flashed through my mind and, just as quickly, disappeared as I went on with my day, which included a run to the craft store for yet another needlepoint floss color I’d run out of, gassing up the car, and a stop by the only market with a 30-mile radius to carry tofu shirataki noodles, so I don’t have to always order online.

Leaving the checkout line, with tofu angel hair and fettuccini, I saw a wall of kitchen products, like crockpots, egg cookers, microwaves, coffee makers, and my eyes landed on a Hamilton Beach Flex Brew Single Serve Machine.

Hmmmmm?

The box indicated:

·       Takes K-Cups or grounds

·       Lets you brew into a coffee cup or 8" tall travel mug

It didn’t have an automatic timer but, at only $48, that would have been too much to expect.

Thinking this was just the Universe suggesting which coffee maker to purchase, and that I could beat that price at Walmart, plus it would be easy to return if I didn’t like it, I passed on the deal but, once back at the unit had second thoughts and decided to drive back this morning to opt for the one, which pretty much had been an instant manifestation.

I made sure I could get a refund if the coffee maker doesn't work out.

Once back at the complex, I checked into the Community Room and found a few folks nuking their pizzas, sitting around chitchatting.

It’s a good thing I checked in because I learned folks were beginning to worry … “I hope she’s alright” because no one had seen hide nor hair of me for some time.

I also received confirmation of a rumor that I’d heard in the Laundry Room just this past Sunday – that Assistant Maintenance Guy (AMG) had gotten into an argument with Head Maintenance Guy (HMG) about HMG putting all the work on him. At the end of the argument, AMG had gotten in his truck and left -- walked off the job.

Totally true, I’m told. And AMG had not only walked off the job once, but twice, stayed gone a long time, ultimately came back, but consensus is “Third time’s the charm – he’s looking for a new job and won’t come back next time”.

My buddy Apache wasn't in the Community Room, but earlier had sent me an email about his quest to catch the guy who'd danced naked in front of a resident's patio window. I'm unclear as to whether there's been a second sighting, but Apache said -- “I’ve been out at night trying to catch him. Wish I knew height and length make sure got the right guy.”

ROFLMAO! -- Not height and weight, but height and length.

If anyone does catch the guy, it’ll be Apache because he’s relentless and very protective of us ladies.

In fact, Apache is wanting me to attend a Lunar Eclipse viewing by the pool, 6:15 PM, Wednesday night and offered to be my escort just in case Naked Guy is around.

I said yes, but the Baker tells me 6:15 PM tomorrow night will be waaay too late. That if I want to view and take photos I’ll have to be outside Wednesday morning, not night, between the hours of 3:30 and 6:00 A.M.

I’m game, but I don’t know about anyone else. It might just be me, Apache and Naked Guy.

Tough Talk

But can she back it up?

Two notices were posted to our doors yesterday.

One flyer is to remind residents this is a no-smoking community, that it’s written in the lease as such and residents agreed to comply with the no-smoking rule by signing the lease agreement. However, inasmuch as some continually break this rule, management is getting tough and those caught smoking from now on will be immediately evicted.

That’s some tough talk, and may sound harsh but this complex has been designated no-smoking for a reason. Many seniors have health issues, breathing issues and then there’s people like me who’d like to avoid the consequences of second hand smoke.

The Seer herself has so much cigarette smoke seeping into her unit, from multiple neighbors breaking the rule, that she’s taken to wearing one of those respirator masks. Also, it’s a safety issue as some of the residents have those little oxygen tanks on their wheelchairs and in their units.

Though I’ve never complained about the smoking, I was relieved when the complex received its “no smoking” designation, because I no longer had to hold my breath or cover my nose when walking past smokers.

At the time the complex was designated no smoking allowed, management offered smokers help with quitting.

To my knowledge, no one took management up on the offer. They just turned to smoking on the QT… covertly, which is why the tough talk.

The other flyer is about leaving pet food on the sidewalks for stray cats and dogs. Reason being it “also attracts coyotes and all kinds of unnecessary animals to the property”. If caught, a Lease Violation will be issued, which means not immediate eviction, like with smoking, but cease and desist or risk eviction.

Problem with enforcing these rules is “if you’re caught”.

Not if someone complains, which many have, but if caught by management personnel.

Not likely to happen, as management makes it easy for rule breakers to work around being caught.

Office hours are 9:00 to 5:00, closed on weekends.

Head Maintenance Guy and Assistant Manager live on the premises, but they get really upset when notified of something occurring while, as they put it, “I’m off the clock”.

They live here, for Pete’s sakes!

I imagine they were given free no-rent units for a reason -- to make themselves available.

Leaving her job as Leasing Agent at the multi-family complex next door, to finish her college education, but needing a place to live, plus food and life’s necessities, Granddaughter took a position as Leasing Agent in a beach community senior complex.

One of the seniors in that complex tried to commit suicide by setting fire to his unit. Granddaughter got involved, even to the point of entering a unit to save the dog of a resident.

Had Head Maintenance Guy and Assistant Manager been faced with a similar situation, they would have told us “I’m off the clock”, leave a message on the Emergency Line and someone will get back to us … eventually.

I tried to use that Emergency Line one evening when an unidentified car was parked in my spot. I first called the Tow Truck company we were instructed to call, but was told only office personnel could call. Office Personnel was “off the clock”, so I called the Emergency Line which had so many instructions that, ten minutes in, I still hadn’t gotten through what was and was not an emergency and the push this, if it’s that, push that if it’s this, until finally I just hung up.

So good luck with the catching and backing up of this tough talk, when there's no management eyes on the property before 9:00 weekdays, after 5:00 weekdays, and all weekend long.

Pimp My Tee

It was freezing inside when I woke up at 4:00 this morning, ready to seize the day.

The thermostat inside the unit registered 73, but it felt more like the 43 the weather bureau indicated as registering outside.

I have no idea as to why I was up at 4:00 A.M., but getting back under the covers was not an option as the adrenaline was going and I felt the need to get stuff done, starting with weeding through a stack of paperwork on the table, shredding what needed to be shredded, organizing what needed to be organized.

Couldn’t do that because, at 4:00 in the morning, the complex is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Running the shredder would wake everyone up, so after reading a few blogs, playing a few rounds of Candy Crush and AlpaBettySaga, I set about looking for a solution to a dilemma.

Granddaughter sent me an awesome t-shirt yesterday.

I forgot to take a photo of it as it came out of the box, but this is how it looked on the source website.

Made me smile. I loved it! Could see myself wearing it everywhere and also thought it would be a great top for the upcoming Donut Run.

Only problem was, when I tried it on, I felt like the crew-neck collar was strangling me, the shirt too big, boxy, long, stiff, heavy. But it’s a tee. That’s how they’re made, which is why I’ve a container full of tees that came with various 5K registrations, waiting to be turned into a quilt because, preferring my tops more form fitting, I can't wear and truthfully don't look good in boxy tops.

But this was a gift from Grandbaby. 

I didn’t have the heart to tell her the tee wasn’t working for me, that I wasn’t comfortable in it, so I thought about reordering for myself in a smaller size from her source, thinking Granddaughter would be none the wiser. However, looking at what was available, there wasn’t one in black that she’d not notice the difference; plus there was no guarantee reordering would give me the fit I needed.

With at least two/three more hours before I could begin making noise in the unit, without disturbing neighbors, I turned to YouTube and watched a few “pimp my tee shirt” videos and videos of how to turn a crew neck into a V-Neck, how to make a tee smaller.

Later, able to get started on this project, I was scared about all the cutting pimping required but, reminding myself of how many Starbuck Gingerbread Cafes I purchased before I had a successful build, I figured if I messed up too bad, I could reorder the exact same tee however many times it took, so off went the sides and the sleeves.

Sitting on the couch a little later, hand basting in smaller sleeves -- because I wanted to make sure they were in correct position before I stitched in place on the machine (they weren’t), Granddaughter called to make sure I’d received the package.

Talk about feeling guilty.

I almost blurted out “I’m pimping it. It’s in pieces”, but held my tongue.

A couple hours later, sleeves stitched, sides back together, I tried it on and …… success!

Fits like a glove. No longer boxy, without the extra fabric no longer heavy, the tighter fit also solved the problems of the tee being too long, the collar strangling and, best of all, Granddaughter is none the wiser.

Now that I know what I can do with a tee, I have a feeling that quilt will never get made as I go through the container and try out some of the other pimping styles I saw online.

A Day in the Life

Another long day at the dealership, getting the driver side mirror and tie rod ends taken care of. 

To be specific … five hours!

And a soon to be return visit because, when the mechanic opened the box containing the new driver side mirror, he found it had suffered shipping damage.

Service Advisor said, “I’ll order another, make sure it’s not damaged, then call you to come back in.”

“And how long will that take?”, asked I.

“I’ll try to get you out in an hour and a half”.

Translation: Another three hours.

Oh well. Stuff’s gotta get done.

Just in case we went into overtime today, I’d taken the precaution of bringing something to snack on – cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, olives in a marinade of olive oil and apple cider vinegar. I also took a thermos of that bulletproof coffee I’ve become so fond of.

Next time, I’ll take the added precaution of throwing in some protein – like a boiled egg or cashews.

What did I do for five hours?

The wait, though long, wasn’t terrible, except for the first hour. The waiting room is a nice place to waste one’s life away. There was that needlepoint project to work on, plus this week’s Woman’s Day magazine and crossword puzzle.

The first hour was rough only because there was a husband/wife senior-looking couple engaged in conversation with another senior-looking husband/wife couple. The husbands hardly spoke a word, but one of the wives talked rather loudly and wouldn’t shut up. She talked at length about all the places they’d travelled to, about being stuck in traffic jams, while needing to go potty. She talked about one such traffic jam, when she was on a bus trip with a nice clean bathroom, but could see “white butts” as other drivers got out of their cars and went potty by the roadside. 

I was thinking to myself, stuck on a bus with this woman’s yaking yaking yaking? I would have lost my mind and started screaming.

She talked about how she doesn’t like Vegas, but loves casinos. That casinos have nice bathrooms and lots of real-life Indians. About how so many of her neighbors have moved or are moving out of California to Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, etc., because housing is cheap, but found utilities are high and weather is bad. One family found themselves in 30 below. How some relocated, found they didn’t like it, wanted to move back to Ontario, but couldn’t afford it, and how some of the areas friends moved out-of-state to, those areas are catching up -- getting expensive. She herself would love to live in Sedona, but is priced out.

I think the wife in the other couple was tired of her talking as well because, when the yaking wife took a break to go to the lady’s room, she and her husband escaped, went outside, and didn’t come back. That couple weren’t the only ones. There are two sides to the waiting room – one side has the television, which is where I was but couldn’t hear it for her yaking, the other side is the cashiers and car stuff to purchase. I noticed, during the hour the wife wouldn’t shut up, others in the area had gotten up and moved over to the quiet side.

At any rate, once the yaking wife returned from the lady’s room and found the other couple no longer there, she evidently didn’t see anyone else she wanted to chat up and became quiet. Didn't even talk at her husband.

I’m expecting to hear from the Service Advisor in another day or two to come back in, but needing to rest from this long day, I’ll be putting it off to next Tuesday, which means not catching up with the seniors here at the complex for yet another week or two.

Happy 1st Community Pokémon GO Day

Lured by the promise of catching a special Pokémon and extra points per capture, between the hours of 11:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M., I was off to join the hunt at the University campus this morning.

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I was surrounded by dozens and dozens of Pikachu’s and, as I began walking the campus collecting Pokéballs, I ran into dozens and dozens and dozens more. Also saw a great many individual players, such as myself, and teams taking advantage of the event. I eventually followed a Lure to a location where I found music, vendors, artists, snow on the ground.

Fascinated with what I was seeing, I said to the kids in the middle photo, "This is as close to snow as I've ever come".

They found that hilarious.

“Where’d the snow come from?”, I asked.

“They said it just appeared because it got so cold”.

Yeah, right.

I can be gullible, but not THAT gullible.

Later, as I hunted and hunted and hunted, not seeing anything that looked "special", getting frustrated because there were so many Pikachu’s in my way, I commented to a young lady working with a group, “So many Pikachu’s”.

“It’s an event”, said she.

“Yes, I know. But I don’t need more Pikachu’s”.

“You have to tap on them to find the Special Ones. Here, let me show you”.

And she showed me what the special ones looked like – metallic in color.

“Ohhhhhhhhhh! That’s why so many”.

Bless her heart, she even pointed me to a tree where there was supposedly “a lot of special ones”.

Of course, by then it was getting to the cut-off time, I had passed up so many opportunities to capture a special before other players emptied the pool, because I didn’t know I was to tap on/weed through the dozens and dozens and dozens I’d run into earlier, so I only manage to find and capture two.

But I got ‘em. Don’t yet know what to do with them, but I got ‘em and logged in 2.05 walking miles, 4904 steps.

Since Pokémon GO Community Day is scheduled to be a monthly event, I’ll be giving it another go in February.

The Answer

Except for the time I put the former Complex Manager, Nurse Ratched, on the hot seat for not handling the termite situation a few years back and, more recently, Head Maintenance Guy on blast about the slow A/C repair and portable pickups, I haven’t spoken up in the Residents/Management meeting. I just listen, observe, report back on this blog.

Yesterday, I raised my hand and spoke about something observed Wednesday afternoon.

Sitting on the couch, I looked over and, through the patio widow, spied a feeble old guy trying to walk a pit bull.

A pit bull, on this property where we have so many small dogs? thought I.

Feeble old guy was tripping and stumbling obviously unable to control the pit.

Who’s walking who, thought I.

Because of the breed, and inasmuch as the dog couldn’t be controlled, it seemed to me a foregone conclusion it would eventually attack other dogs, so I planned to bring that up in the meeting.

Apologies if you’re a lover of pit bulls, but I know what I know, so don’t try to sway my opinion -- the breed is dangerous.

Wouldn’t you know, just before the meeting began, a resident I’d never seen before, rushed in, sat next to me. Shaking, trembling, out of breath, almost in tears, she said a pit-bull had just tried to attack her. She’d had to run to escape.

I brought it up -- both what I’d observed and what the resident had just told me.

Complex Manager said something is already being done about the pit, but can’t divulge what that something is.

Hmmmmm.

Casino Lady did indeed inform Community Manager that the police department said management could, with consent, post photos of the pervert encountered day after Thanksgiving. Community Manager looked really uncomfortable. She hemmed, hawed, squirmed, obviously trying to think of how to respond without saying too much.

I know that look because I once worked for a politician, which is where I learned to dislike/distrust politics/politicians. He’d hold press conferences, go on the news, make himself look good for votes by telling the public to contact him for this that the other, but then it was the job of us girls in the office to not let any of those calls through, and we had to be careful not to say too much, to blow off the public in a way that would not say our refusing to put them through was on his orders.

Ultimately, Complex Manager found a way to say it without saying too much -- “No. I can’t do that. It might cause a problem”.

Which meant she’d been ordered to take the heat for Corporate’s decision that to do so would make them liable -- the pervert would have cause to sue.

Casino Lady countered with the obvious, that it will cause an even bigger problem if someone eventually gets hurt.

True that!

I guess Corporate will have to learn the hard way.

In the interim, we’ve been advised to be watchful, on guard.

No sh*t, because you know how it is that when one little ant finds a way to creep into your space, it leaves a trail and, before you know it, more ants follow? Well, it seems perverts leave a trail as well, because another resident I’d not seen before -- we have a lot of new people, reported sitting in her unit one night and seeing a naked man outside her patio window. 

A completely naked man on a cold night.

She said he waved at her and, once assured he had her attention, began dancing around, arms in the air, his stuff dangling away.

I’m upstairs, rarely go out at night and inasmuch as I close my blinds as soon as the sun goes down, not likely to be the recipient of such a show.

The resident reporting the incident lives in a ground floor unit.

The description she gave, of the guy being skinny, didn’t match description of the other, so it looks like we’ve two creeping off/on around our complex.

Living here since 2012, I’ve seen and experienced plenty, but these perverts ants are a first.

I'm fairly certain owners of the pit bull will be forced to relocate if they don't rehome the dog, but don’t think anyone will be inclined to move over these other incidents, because no place is completely incident free. Precautions have to be taken everywhere one goes nowadays so, true it is, we’ll all have to be watchful, on guard and, in my case, remain paranoidly prepared.