BCKinetic's Blog - 2old2play

The Cluster F#&K Continues

Wow, the new job is freaking chaos. I have been going non-stop since Monday. And unfortunately, the lack of support from the management company is apparent. We (Kelly and I) posted notes on the doors of all the units telling them about the change over, and honestly, every single email I have gotten back from current tenants has something along the lines of, "Looking forward to meeting you and having competent managers in the building!" That was a cut and paste from the latest email.

We are in a building of 38 units and right now there are 9 vacancies. Well, on Wednesday our boss had his weekly meeting discussing the vacancy rate in buildings and our building was top of the list. So I'm guessing he got his ass reamed, and no doubt blamed us (since we had anything at all to do with it - couldn't have been the fuck up they hired before us). Well, he comes over to the building and walks the vacancies with us. That went really well, he was not afraid to spend some money to replace fridges, new flooring, etc. So he writes down all these work orders to put into the maintenance company. Tells us he will take care of submitting all the stuff. This was Wednesday at like 3pm. It's now Friday, I call the maintenance company, no work orders submitted. What the fucking, FUCK? Call boss, his reply, "I'll follow up with them." Bitch, I'm going to come down there and punch you in the fucking throat!

I have been showing apartments non-stop for the past 3 days and you can't do me a favor and DO YOUR JOB?! Needless to say, I'm keeping detailed notes on everything we are doing, appoints for showing apartments, and doing everything through email so there is a valid paper trail of work. Just try to throw me under the bus bitch, I'll pimp slap you.

The saga continues...

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The new job.

So, the new job is locked down. We will officially be taking aover as the Apartment Manager Sept 1st. All I have to say is- what a fucking cluster fuck! The management company that is running this show is soooooo disorganized. I'm afraid. It's really no wonder that the last 5 have all failed so miserably. I'm guessing I will pretty much be on my own. We'll see how much support I get. It really is unfortunate because the building has potential, the units are really kickass, but fuck if we can get 4 washers and 4 dryers for a 36 unit building all working at the same time.

I have done two training 'sessions' thus far. One for their computer software - which I need to VPN to their system to use, and oh btw it doesn't work with Macs. I'll have to see about upgrading to OS 10.5 and using Bootcamp. Hmm, maybe I'll just purchase the OS out of their petty cash.

The second bit of training was last night. My direct manager went over signing leases and landlord tennant laws, etc. Let me describe how the meeting went. (Mind you, I have NEVER done anything like this before).

"When going over the lease, you should have them sign here, here, and here. They need to print their name here. Collect money. Here is a packet about landlord tennant laws, you should read that. Any questions? Good, see if you can fill the 6 vacancies before the end of the month."

Us: "We don't have keys, know which units are vacant, have deposit forms, anything that we need to do our job"

Him: "Yeah, you should try to get in touch with the old manager. Alright, if you have any questions email me"

Us: "But..... um..... wtf?"

So yeah, WTF? He gave us absolutely no info but yet wants us to fill the place up. This is going to be a nightmare for the first couple of months. I think once it gets rolling and we are full and really only need to keep the building up, it will be a cake walk. Also, he informed us that really nothing has been done as far as paperwork goes for the last 4 months, we will need to straighten some of that out. I'll keep you posted.

As for filling units - anyone in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle looking for a 1 bedroom???

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The LAN Cometh!

Well, only a couple of days and we will all be drunk and jumping on pool tables. Can't wait! It's going to be great to see everyone and hang.

I'll be offline until then, so see you all then!

Oh, forgot to say, the interview yesterday went really really well. I would say that we are over a 95% lock. So thanks for the well wishes, I'll keep you posted.

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Potential new job

The wife and I are about to go interview for the position of Apartment Manger here at our building. We have been here for about a year and a half and the building has had five (yes 5) managers in that time. We put in our resume, which has no such experience on it, but I don't think that's a problem. We are actually meeting with the owner of the building rather than just the management company. Pretty unheard of really.

So here's hoping it goes well.

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Saturday Afternoon Projecting

So I don't blog much, as you can tell since my last post was over a year ago. But I thought I would throw this up here. Yesterday the wife and I were 'Projecting' as she likes to say. I decided to mess around with the time lapse feature of our little point and shoot. She was making some new additions for her Etsy Shop, and I was putting together a set of stacking drawers she had picked up from Cost Plus the day before.

Afterwards, I threw the video in to iMovie just to play around. I still have no idea what I'm doing with stuff, but it was kind of fun to mess around with it. I tried to upload the finished product to YouTube (and Google Video) but they apparently don't like some of the editing stuff that iMovie does because it was all cut out after it was finished uploading. So instead of embedding it here, I just threw it up on my .mac website.

You can check out the video HERE.

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New job!!

It's official, I'm now employed again. But this is a good thing, having been without work for the last 2 months. So congrats to me and to the landlord, they can get next month's rent! Woots!!

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Camping along the coast-

So Kelly and I just got back from camping up along the Northern California coast. We stayed in Russian Gulch State Park near Medocino, CA. Gorgeous! The weather was mild and the scenery was spectacular. We try to make it up there once a year around this time. The camp grounds are usually pretty empty and quiet. We went with my In-laws (whom I get along great with), and then Kelly's sister and her boyfriend met us there, and also Ti and Hein (more friends) met us up there. We were there from Wed. - Monday.

Kelly posted some pics up on her flickr account, you can check them out here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36713073@N00/show/

We spent a day at Glass Beach and there are a couple pics of it in there. Glass Beach was actually a city dump back in the 1920's. They would dump their trash, burn it, then push it over the cliff into the ocean. Well, it became apparent somewhere along the way that doing that wasn't cool. So now years later, the ocean has tumbled all of that broken glass into pebbles and burnished pieces. The entire beach is covered in little glass pebbles. It's pretty amazing. So the girls (Kelly, Ti and Kathy - wife, friend, mother in law respectively) are all art nuts and went crazy over it. This was Ti's first time to glass beach so she went overboard. The bags of stuff that was collected is crazy! And after 3 hours there, how can you not walk away with a ton of prizes.

I will try to get some more pics up as I get them from other people. But all in all, it was a great time and we had a blast!

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Rollin'

What the hell is up with people and their massive rims? It seems to me that the asthetics of the vehicle are being sacrificed simply for rim size. I am constantly seeing mid 70's hoopties (is that even a word anymore) that have like 24" rims and sit higher than the Jeep Wrangler driving next to them. Seriously, they look four wheel drive. I keep picturing those old AMC Eagles that were all wheel drive and sat as high as a Bronco. I guess Rim size is the new compensation for lack of penis length...

Hung like a mosquito:

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Lucky Number Sleven

So here is my impromptu movie review: Good time fun, great cast, good twists and all around good movie. It involves some mob bosses, assasins and one very unlucky guy. Lucy Liu is in there as well, and since she is hot - I say it's worth the NetFlix. I know I'm way late on this, but it just came out not to long ago on Netflix, so I picked it up. Add it to your que and enjoy!!

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Bored on a Saturday at work

I really don't like working Saturdays right now. It kind of sucks. But..... once snowboarding season is in swing I will love working Saturdays because that means I get a day off during the week. And boarding during the week is much better than on the weekends. It's not even October yet and I'm already getting amped to be on the mountain.

For those of you who have never boarded or skiied in California, you are missing out. I highly recommend making it a week trip if you can. There are about 10 resorts all within an hour of each other all bordering Lake Tahoe. I love being on top of a mountain, looking out over the Lake, breathing in the crisp clean air. There is something so.... euphoric about it. I am destined to just move to a ski town and live there. Who needs a "good job" anyways. It's overrated.

Here are just a few views of some of the resorts I have boarded. I can't wait!!!

Heavenly Ski Resort:

Homewood Ski Resort

Northstar at Tahoe:

Sierra at Tahoe:

Kirkwood Ski Resort:

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Random thoughts

Have you ever stopped a moment and put yourself into some random person's position? The other day, I was sitting in my car at a stop light and looked over at this woman in the car next to me. She was driving a BMW SUV, probably in her late 30's early 40's, had a kid in the back seat probably about 4 years old. I just had to stop and wonder what exactly was going on in her life at that moment in time. Was she on the way to some sort of babysitter for the son? It was early enough. Perhaps she didn't have to work, maybe she was going to a friends house so their children could play together. What was she thinking about? How she was upset because last night her husband didn't do any of the dishes again. He is such a slob, always expecting her to clean up after him. Perhaps her sister was going through some family trouble with her other sister. What kinds of messed up things were going on in her life? What kinds of awesome and inspiring things were going on in her life? Isn't it interesting how your mind can conjour up a whole complexity of things in just the mere time it takes to sit through a red light. Next time you are sitting at a red light, look over and let your imagination do the rest. That person next to you is going through some of the same stuff you are; but they could be going through some really different stuff too. Who knows...

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It's FREAKING HOT!!

It has been 105 deg. or better for the last 5 days and I can't take it anymore! My poor cats are nothing but puddles of fur when I get home at night. Last night it was still 84 deg. outside at midnight! I looked into getting a window mount AC unit - impossible. None to be bought around here. Besides that, my shitty new house (the one with the shitty phone wiring) also has crappy outlet wiring. I would have to wire a new grounded 115 volt outlet with its own breaker. Let's just say - NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! I don't know how to do that, nor do I want to try. And I'm not paying for an electrician to come out.

We have tried closing everything down in the morning, and it seems that there must not be any insulation in the attic, because that resulted in sweltering heat inside the house. Again - kitty puddles.

I'm sick of this heat wave!! I know it's worse other places, but for right now, I'm going to vent.

BC- out

PS- This is kind of what a "kitty puddle" looks like:

And this is - Kitties on a 'Nip Trip' (the plant in the cinder block is cat nip)

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Wiring a new phone jack-

So, wether you knew it or not, Ive been MIA for the past month due to moving. ;; I have managed to slip in a sarcastic comment here and there from work, and then when I leach off my neighbors wireless signal. ;; But I havent been able to play xbox online - which sucks! ;; The ISP guy came out, determined that my new place has shitty wiring. ;; He would have to run new wire and install a new jack. ;; That would cost me approximately $200, if no problems arose and more time wasnt needed. ;; I said, "Um, how hard is it to hook up to the incoming line?" ;; I mean the line that the ISP provides, where I get dial tone basically. ;; Turns out, its super easy, you just unhook the old wires and hook up the new ones.

So, ofcourse, I say to myself, "Self, you can do this and do it better!" ;; I know you all know that Tim Allen grunt in the back of your head. ;; The one that convinces you that you are smarter than you really are. ;;

The game plan: Install a new phone jack that has two ports, one for the modem and one for my wireless phone. ;; Yes they will sit right next to each other, but wireless router is 2.4Ghz and the wireless phone is 5.8Ghz. ;; Shouldnt be a problem. ;; Then next to that, install a network jack, run wire down under the hallway and up to the living room behind the TV. ;; Install another jack there. ;; This will make the wife very happy because she wont trip over the patch cable I continually run across the hallway. ;; Simple right? ;; Well, really it is, but Im a novice.

Well, hassle number 1. ;; I moved into a duplex. ;; The crawlspace opening is under the other half of the duplex. ;; Yes, that means that I have to crawl all the way from under his house, just to get to mine, and then ofcourse I have to go 3/4 of the way through mine to get to the spot. ;; Awesome. ;; Im still going strong though. ;; I can do it.

So I go to Frys, get the wire (and damn if you can find just plain Cat 3 wiring), so I just buy Cat 5. It was only $40 for 100 meters. ;; I will only use about 1/2 that and then I dont have to buy wire for the networking side of things. ;; I pick up the dual port phone jack, two RJ-45 keystone jacks and two one slot face plates for those jacks. ;; I also grab some networking wire hangers (the ones with a little plastic bracket attached to a nail), and a punch-down tool for wiring the jacks. ;; Sweet, Im set. ;; I go over to Home Depot, pick up 3 plastic wall boxes and a small drywall saw. ;;

At this point, Im amped up. ;; I get my box of cable, a hammer and the hangers. ;; I figure I will get under there, run the wire to the approximate spot and them come back up for a break and reassess the situation. ;; So under I go. ;; Flashlight in hand, I am barracaded by a wall of spiderwebs on any side. ;; No big deal, I knock stuff down with the hammer and keep moving. ;; I instanly see the problem with the original wiring in the house. ;; Its your basic "flat grade" wire, and there is a spot where about 20 feet is just wrapped around a cold water pipe connected to another wire by a coupling. ;; And not a good one, just one of those $0.99 ones you buy to get by. ;; But whatever, all the landlord has to do is provide dialtone, right... ;;

So I start crawling in this 3 foot space. ;; Run some wire out a crawlspace vent to the spot where the phone panel is. ;; Then I start working my way back. ;; Everything is going smooth, then I hit a heater duct. ;; Hmmm, maybe I can make it. ;; So I squeeze under it, just barely and keep moving. ;; Sweet. ;; I see some piping up ahead, but we will worry about that when we get up there. ;; Well, I should have worried about it sooner. ;; I get up there and cant quite get under it. ;; I get half way and almost get myself stuck. ;; But I breathed out deep and managed to squeeze through again (damn Im glad Im a skinny runt). ;; So, I get to the approximage spot and then head back up to the surface. ;; It only took me about an hour and a half to run the wire. ;; But I must say, after about an hour, that $200 wasnt looking so bad.

DAY 2:
Alright, Im ready now, Ive got my wireless drill charged up, a new 1" drill bit that looks mean, and some other stuff. ;; I put everything in a plastic box so I can easily slide it around under the house. ;; Heres what Ive got: Drill, drill bit, tape measure, wire hanger, needlenose pliers, wire cutters, duct tape, walkie talkie. ;; I have my wife home now, so I use her to guide me under the house. ;; I take measurements from walls, and guesstimate where I will need to drill. ;; Luckily, once Im under the house, I can use a conduit pipe as a guide to where to drill in the first wall. ;; I put box holes in the corner on opposing walls. ;; Once I got under there though, I reallized that I would have to drill through 3 layers of 2x4s to get in to the wall. ;; So Im going to have to patch a hole now. ;; But I get my spot and start drilling. ;; And drilling. ;; And drilling. ;; Bit is smoking, and getting stuck. ;; Hmmm, not good. ;; The wood was really hard and the bit I bought was this new "boaring" type of bit that was too aggressive for the wood. ;; It pretty much drains the battery on my drill. ;; Damn. ;; Back up to the surface. ;;

I make a run over to by buddies house and borrow his set of drill bits, and a wired drill and extension cord. ;; I get back to my place and head back under. ;; I drag along his drill and a few more drill bits for a variety of options should I need it. ;; Well, the wired drill made all the difference. ;; Way more power! ;; I get a good hole and have my wife lower some string down. ;; Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you - I wanted to put the router and modem up high ontop of a cabinet in the kitchen. ;; So I cut holes about 7 feet high on the wall - another bright idea from yours truely. ;; Well, I have my wife drop string down a hole with a nut attached to it for weight. ;; And miraculously I reach up with the wire hanger and am able to pull the string through the hole!!!! I attach the cable, wrap some duct tape around it for security and up it goes. ;; We then repeat the process and send up a second wire. ;; Alright, halfway done. ;;

Now to find the hole for the living room wall. ;; Its only about 5 feet over and 2 feet back. ;; I have my wife measure from above, I measure from below; should be good. ;; I start to drill, and about the point I think I should be breaking through my wife yells, "STOP!" ;; Uh oh. ;; I was off by about an inch and a half and was drilling up into the carpet and baseboard. ;; Its not too noticable though and it will be behind the TV anyways. ;; Lets just hope he doesnt notice when I move out. ;; So I drill a new hole and run the wire up and out. ;; Mission accomplished.

As Im getting things packed up I see where our TV cable lines come up through the carpet. ;; Its not at all where the TV is, so I cut those and drag them over to behind the TV hole and run them up. ;; I will install a new cable jack there while Im at it. ;; Sweet, now all that is left is putting in the jacks.

DAY 3:
I get home from work today and start on the jacks right away. ;; It takes me a practice round on some spare wire to figure out how to hook up the network RJ45 jacks, but I manage alright. ;; After a couple hours, its done! ;; My wireless router and modem now sit proudly up and out of the way and everything is working like a champ. ;; My download and upload numbers are very strong so Im happy. ;;

Here are some pics of the (mostly) finished work:

On top of the cabinet. ;; You can easily see the hole I will have to patch. ;; Not a problem though, done it lots of times.

Look at those jacks - kick ass!

This is where they are in the kitchen.

And here is behind the TV

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The Quarter-Life Crisis

So, I think Im officially in my quarter-life crisis. Its an earlier version of the mid-life crisis without the sports car or younger women. Pretty lame really.

So those of you that know me, know that I bartended my way through school and then got out and landed myself a "real job". Restaraunt people like to refer to a steady pay check and a desk as a "real job". Because really, working in the restaraunt industry is really just a J.O.B. - Just Over Broke.

Well, it took me two years to discover working at a "real job" sucks ass. I gained 20 lbs, got out of shape, and worked a ton of hours without getting paid extra because Im salaried. Constantly having to have a cell phone and lap top on me was also lame (although I didnt have to pay for my cell and home DSL line). So I said - forget it! I quit and am now back to bartending and serving. I make just a little less, work less hours, and have much more time to myself.

But now the question that needs to be answered - What now? What exactly am I supposed to do? And then you meet other people your age who are much more successful than you. Strike that, who have much more money than you. Having more money doesnt neccessarily mean you are more successful. I met this guy last night at a friends bachelor party. He was 28, driving a brand new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and talking about how he had just gotten his Viper back from the shop.

WTF??!! I suppose Im in the position Im in for a reason, but damn how I wish I was driving a Viper around on the weekends. Well, maybe not. I just wish I was out of debt.

I think the thing that gets me is how much Americans associate success with money. I feel successful right now, even though Im up to my eyeballs in debt and slinging drinks. Im really happy with my life and my marriage. Im not stressed right now and I get to the gym every once in a while. I even managed to swing just dropping some shifts at work to go up to Tahoe and snowboard with a buddy for 3 days on basically a two day notice. How many "real job" people could do that?

Well, it is late, and I am really rambling. I know Im not the only one out there who feels like this. So if you were wondering - "What the hell do I do next?" youre not alone.

BC

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No love for the handicapped-

I was in an older building yesterday, go into the restroom, stand at the urinal and discover that to flush the toilet you step on a pedal near the floor. Now, I think this is quite nice. I hate touching any handle in a public restroom. And most of the time, when in a stall, I just kick the handle on the toilet.

But I notice this massive cage in the handicapped stall. So I take a peek. Its like a freaking jungle gym in there. I mean, there wasnt just the little side rails. There were rails that go over the top, and back down to the floor. It looked like it was the training ground for some kind of gymnastics event.

But here is the kicker- that same flush pedal is in there. A foot pedal for the handicapped. Stop to think about that........

Wouldnt most people using that stall be in a wheel chair because they cant use their legs? How jacked is that. Let the handicapped take a massive crap, and then laugh at them because they either have to leave it in the toilet, or push the nasty FOOT pedal with their hand - BECAUSE THEY CANT USE THEIR LEGS! Great design asshats.

I guess thats why you dont see those foot pedals anymore. ;)

You know while Im at it, I hate those little sensors on toilets. You know, the ones that know when to flush when you walk away. On a urinal its cool, but it sucks on a toilet. How many times has this happened to you guys? You walk in the stall, get out the butt gasket, get it all set up on the seat, stand up and turn around, pull your pants down and the toilet flushes sucking your neatly placed butt gasket down the toilet! Stupid ass sensor! I didnt leave! Im still here with my pants down!! So you pull your pants up, get a new butt gasket, and then try to stay as close as possible to the sensor so it doesnt jack you again.

Well here is a handy tip to help avoid this situation. When you first get into the stall, take a little length of TP and fold it in half and lay it over the sensor. That should prevent the pre-empted flush.

Enough of this toilet talk.

BC

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