Leelanau Whippersnapper

Tomorrow (Saturday) I get to wake up at 4am due to my inability to be an asshole to my team members.  It’s a holiday weekend.  NOBODY wants to work but you know, we retail slaves are open for business JUST FOR YOU on a holiday so you can stain your fucking deck [incorrectly].  Well since I had nobody else to work, I took the early shift where I will have the pleasure of stocking shelves for 2 hours in the morning before the store opens.  At least I won’t have to stick around once the doors open.  I hate Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends up here.  The lunatics REALLY come out of the woodwork around here.  Had a guy spill a full gallon of stain all over the floor and then literally run away leaving foot prints all the way across the store to the exit doors.  Spills happen folks, don’t embarrass yourself any more by running away, how about if I give you a FUCKING paper towel?  No?  I guess not.  Enough about work.

I’ve received all my bills now for my new place except for my water bill (I suspect that is a quarterly bill here).  Looks like Gas and Electric combined will be under $65 a month.  My cable (which STILL is not working right) and internet will be my most expensive bills.  I’ll take it, I use those two utilities more than any of the other ones.  So, it looks like when I add up ALL my bills (debts, utilities, rent, gas money, food, and random shit) I can live for less than what I was paying just in rent before.  I might even be able to get that retirement account going this year…I need a few months though to make sure I have a reliable percentage I can sacrifice each week.  Just having arrived to a point in my life where I am not living paycheck to paycheck, I’d like to actually enjoy it for a minute.

The pets are adjusting fine to the new condo.  I do have to separate them however when I leave for the day.  It seems that Gavin is just too dam smart for his own good.  2 baby gates and a door he could never slide through has not been enough to keep him out of the cat food.  Fortunately, my condo is set up nicely so that I can separate the cats in the back and dog in the front and everyone has all kinds of room to sleep all day long.  Like the pets, I am really liking it here.  I still have a ton of unpacking and sorting to do but I am taking my time now since everything I really need is in its place, now it’s just the little shit I have to find places for.  Soon it will be time to start thinking about decorating for Christmas (yes, my retail mind thinks Christmas starts in September).  I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.

OK, well off to bed now so I can actually get out of bed in the morning. Here is a picture of a VERY tired Gavin on the last day of my “residency” in Leelanau.  We just finished playing fetch.

Well it’s been a dam long time since I’ve written on this blog.  Finally after 2 weeks, I have an internet connection back and I’m pretty much moved into my new place in town.  My vacation from work starts this Friday afternoon (Lord I can’t wait) and all I have yet now to do is get the old place cleaned up and presentable which will involve cleaning the carpets and painting some of the walls.  I expect Jirar and I can make a quick job out of it and be done.  Once it’s finished, it will truly mark the start of a new life for me, Jirar and I will have nothing other than our pets tying us together any longer.  A bit sad but life does indeed go on.  I still miss him quite a bit and quite often but we are both moving on with our lives in positive ways and we are and will likely always be on good terms with each other.  Some feelings never go away for people you’ve spent a great deal of time with in your life.  They are always a part of it in some way.

So Charter Communications (my new internet and cable TV provider) can never do anything right.  I had problems with them in Leelanau, why would I ever think I would not have any in Traverse City?  I signed up for basic expanded cable service which comes with a cable box to take advantage of “on demand” programing.  Well the box was dead on arrival and the contractor who installed it didn’t have another one.  So, not only do I once again not have all of what I am paying for, I have to actually go down to Charter and swap out the box!  On top of that, he never gave me a “user name” for my internet account so I can’t set up my email with charter.  Doesn’t really matter though since I’m using Gmail as my email from now on.  It’s just easier to have a web based email that I can take with me wherever I go.  Oh well, I expect nothing less from monopolies like Charter.  Just fucking sucks that I have to fix the problem.  I will say that the connection speed is amazing.  I am getting a 5mbs download speed now, compare that with a 256kbs speed that I was getting with DSL.  To put that in perspective, a 20mb file now takes just about 8 seconds to download where as before it would have taken about 3 minutes.  Both are MUCH faster than dial up but dam, I am paying less for this than I was for DSL and I get better speed.  Speed is what it’s all about now with the internet.  Video, streaming media, music, and all that shit is worthless if you can’t download it quickly.  At least in my eyes, the internet is pretty much worthless if you have dial up.  It just doesn’t cut it.

Gavin is adjusting well to the new house.  He still barks every now and then but I can’t blame him.  I’ve moved from the middle of nowhere to a condo that is pretty densely populated and I’m right near the airport.  There are lots of new sounds that he is getting used to.  All in all though it has been a good transition.  I’ve not moved the cats yet, we’ll have to see what happens with them.  That will happen this weekend.

So now it’s off to bed in my nice air conditioned condo.  Hope everyone is doing well.

For those of you keeping track, I’ve spent the last 3 months or so searching for a new home.  It’s just too dam expensive to live in Leelanau County any more and I simply can’t justify a 4 bedroom house now that I’m single.  So, today I got an email informing me that the condo I looked at last week and really liked is now mine.  I will go sign the lease early this next week.  I’m pretty excited about this one since, when you look at the big picture, it’s really a steal.  It’s located very close to work for me, it’s a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with a 2 car garage in a cookie cutter condo complex.  The interior is a little bit dated but it’s not at all unreasonable.  I’ll have central air, a small sun-room in the back, a fenced in side yard for Gavin that is fully landscaped complete with a deck and on top of that I’ll have full access to the community pool and fitness areas as well as all the other amenities that the association offers.  What’s great is that the association dues is already included in my rent so I don’t have to think about it.  The lawn will be mowed, the snow will be plowed, the streets will be safe and quiet.  Not a bad deal.

Now the hard part starts.  Once I finish this, I am going to start putting boxes together to sort and finish packing the rest of my shit.  I’ve kept a little low on that front lately just becuase it’s somewhat difficult to live out of boxes.  My intent is to get out of this house and start living in my new place around mid-August or sooner.  That said, I don’t have tons of time to mess around packing shit up.  The roommate is still living here and nobody is telling me when she is leaving.  There is SO much to get done at this house, I need it empty as soon as possible.

I took the dog and KD the cat to the vet today.  Turns out KD had a bladder infection so that is why she has been peeing in outside the litter box.  I’ve got to give her 2 pills a day now for the next month or so, hopefully I will see some improvement in her general health.  Gavin is healthy and now up to date on all his shots.  I’ve got to get a license for him now that I’m moving to a different county.  I’ll likely go do that this week.  Pooh is doing just fine, fat as ever, and enjoying very good health at the moment.

Alright, it’s off to work now.  I’ve had a few beers and my clothes are in the laundry.  Time to get some work done.

I admit it, I’ve been a little lazy when it comes to this blog.  Today I got emails from my web host letting me know what I’ve got a month to renew my domain names (leelanauphotography.com and leelanauwhippersnapper.com).  No big deal, $8 each.  I’ve also got to renew my subscription with Zenfolio by the end of August in order to keep the photography site alive.  Again no big deal (hey mom and dad, how about that birthday gift?).  I’ve added some new functionality to the blog tonight.  On the right, you’ll see 12 pictures.  They are random samplings from my photography site.  They will be something new each time you visit the blog.  Just a good way to promote the photography web site I think.  I’ve also added a post calendar so you can see what days I’ve actually written something and I’ve added a search box in case you ever need to find something that I’ve written in the past.  WHOO HOO!  Right?

Well the apartment hunt is going pretty well.  I toured a condo today that I think I’m going to take if I can get it from the Realtor who was showing it.  I’ve already sent in my application and told him I’m ready to go TODAY.  This was a great little 2 bedroom 2 bath condo right off of Garfield.  Comes with a small fenced in yard for Gavin and a 2 car garage.  It’s in a managed community with a pool and other amenities.  It’s also listed for sale but apparently the owner will take whoever makes an offer first so I made an offer on it.  Pretty much right within my budget and very close to work.  Just crossing my fingers now waiting for a call back telling me I got it.  Then I have to round up the cash to make it happen right away.  I’ll have to be creative with that.  Anyhow I hope I get it.

After the tour, I took Gavin out for a boat ride at the cottage.  Pretty nice day today.  Not crazy hot but really not unpleasant.  I decided to test my shallow water skills and we took the boat through the narrows and out to the North Lake.  Always a trip to do that, no problems though.  Had a swan hiss at me, what evil birds they are.  Tonight I’ve just been sitting around doing not much of anything.  I’ve not had a day like that in a LONG while.  It’s nice to just relax now and then.

So, off to bed now, I’ll be writing more about the apartment hunt again soon.

What a boring night.  The Monday’s after I work the weekend really suck.  By the time Monday gets here I am so worn out that when I get home, most of the time I fall asleep on the couch and waste the remainder of my day sleeping.  From 11am on Friday to 2pm on Monday, I put in nearly 40 hours of work.  It is exhausting.

So tonight, I’m sitting here listening to music and looking around the internet to see what’s out there for apartments.  Landlords are stupid.  I should just buy a house and be done with it.  These pets of mine are going to be a problem.  I found a 2 bedroom condo that I like that is within my price range.  Problem is there is a $300 pet deposit with another $10 monthly fee.  Now get fucking real.  I don’t care what kind of animal you have, the chances of it causing $300 fucking dollars in damage is just mind boggling to me.  I sent them an email to see if the fee was negotiable and if they had a model I could come and tour.  I also went to the Craig’s List web site and looked around.  Lots of private landlords listing stuff but I am cautious about renting from individuals again.  I’ve done it for years but I always end up with some slacker for a Landlord and becuase of where I work, I know A LOT of landlords in this area who are nothing more than meth-heads feeding drug habits using the rent they are getting from the slums they care nothing about.  I’m at a point in my life where I’m willing to pay for some things, one of them is a property that has been taken care of where shit isn’t going to break down or stop working.  A property where I send in my rent check each month and don’t have to cut the grass or shovel the walkway.  For the amount that I will end up paying, it’s almost worth the trouble of just trying to get a house.  I just know my credit is not where it should be yet.  I’ve got to get rid of my 2 credit cards and I just can’t do it fast enough.  If I can get rid of those the only liability I will have is my school loan so there would really be no reason not to take me seriously.

Anyhow, tomorrow I am going to sleep in and then clean the house.  I have a department meeting tomorrow night at work, if it’s nice, I’ll take the dog over to the cottage in the afternoon.  Otherwise I have to get this shit hole of a house cleaned up a little bit.