When You Blog Too Much

This is for Wendy, who is debating consolidating her blogs.

When it’s hot in Seattle

This is what you see on the beaches.

Rather, you can’t see a thing because all the white skin is so blinding.

I wonder how many tan salons there are here per capita compared to areas such as Texas, California, or Florida.

What HOA Property Managers Do When You’re At Work

They trespass onto your property looking for “non-compliance” issues. The homeowners association (HOA) property manager is wearing the orange top. Notice that the board member respectfully stays off the property.

They peer down a hole in the ground for no good reason.

They note the infraction on their clipboards.

And they thankfully stay off my property. Time will tell if they looked upward (which I didn’t see them do) and noticed the tree growing out of my gutter.

Anyone having problems with Typepad?

I’ve tried to go to some Typepad hosted blogs today and the performance seems to be unusually slow. As in the files never load, or it takes over a minute or more to load. Just wondering if there’s an issue? Thank goodness I have WordPress. I’ve never experienced any issues with them.

Some Things Make No Sense

Moonbeam McQueen once posted about Megan Meier, and I just came across an updated article on the trial progress of the woman accused of harassing Megan, allegedly leading Megan to commit suicide. (In case you don’t want to read the article, she’s pleaded not guilty and is out, free, on $20,000 bail.)

I haven’t really been following this story all that much. It’s horrible, though. What jumped out at me was this bit of content in today’s article at the Seattle Times online.

James Chadwick, a Palo Alto attorney who specializes in Internet and media law, said he has never seen the statute [Computer Fraud and Abuse Act} applied to the sending of messages.

He said it was probable that liability for the girl’s death would not be an issue in the case. “As tragic as it is,” he said, “You can’t start imposing liability on people for being cruel.”

Say what? You can’t? But we impose laws and penalties on people for being cruel to animals. Why on earth can’t we hold people accountable for doing the same to other human beings? That’s got to be the most assanine comment I’ve ever heard. Just because the medium inflicting the cruelty was words and technology and not hands, fists, and stones, doesn’t make the act any less viscious. We prosecute Marines for throwing puppies off of cliffs, but this woman doesn’t get hit with some sort of involuntary manslaughter or something?

Some things just make no sense to me.

But one good bit of progress…

In response to the case, Missouri legislators gave final approval to a bill making cyber harassment illegal.

Butt Crack McGee and the Bad Neighbor

Okay, so I complain about our Homeowners Association and some of our neighbors being just, well, Stepford-ish. I want to know if karma isn’t throwing a bit of a curve ball my way.

We have new neighbors. They bought this house, in the background to the left of Maxie, that is straight in my line of vision when I look out the window.

Now, it’s not their fault that the builders made it so that the neighbor next to me and I can see directly into their backyard and windows. It’s also not their fault that the previous owners took out the bushes along the fence that would, by now, be a nice screen so that we couldn’t see them in their backyard.

But is it too much to ask that they be aware of the fact that we all can see straight into their yard? I look out my window and it’s human nature to want to watch whatever activity is going on. Right now, all I see is this approximately six foot tall man, who looks to weigh approximately 275 lbs, working in the yard with his wife. But he’s forgotten that possibly he’s not as ripped across the abdomen as he might once have been, and the loss of tone to the buttocks means that his nylon gym shorts are sadly allowing a good four inches of butt crack to be on display.

Plus, he’s wearing a headband as if he thought he was Bjorn Borg in the 80s. Now, if Bjorn was over there doing yard work, I guess I wouldn’t complain.

And at night, they don’t believe in closing the blinds or curtains, except thankfully, in the master bedroom, but sometimes, even then, I’ll glance that way and the sight of him starting to undress before they remember to close the blinds is a bit too much. Not that I’m a prude or anything. I just don’t want that much information about my neighbors.

And the last rant is that they play their music loud. Not blaring, and I suppose it’s not their fault that it’s a small neighborhood and the sound bounces off and echoes off the buildings. Plus, I’m forced to listen to their music while I work. Great. I don’t do music while I work. I hate noise pollution. The least they could do is put the radio indoors.

I guess this makes ME the bad neighbor now.  Sigh. Maybe I should submit a music request since I have to listen.

 

PS – I know my other neighbor has noticed the same thing, because her little boy’s nursery is in the front, just like mine, and she looks out the window when she’s putting him to bed.

Lion Cam – A completely enjoyable waste of time

 

I’ve been watching this mama lion and her cubs off and on all day long. Most of the time she sleeps, cleans her cubs or walks off screen. This is in Norway, folks. The power of the Internet is amazing.

Click here: Se Norges første løveunger LIVE! – Nyheter – VGTV

One more for Wendy

As a tag to my comment about moving to Texas in my previous post…I forgot how much I like this Chris Rea. Years ago I dated a man who used to listen to his music. I listened to it all the time. This song reminds me of slow, lazy summer days. Someday I’m going to get an iPOD and load it up with this music, and more like it.

This video sucks – just some weird dude not Chris Rea – but I like the music.

Updated to put the right video in of Chris Rea.

The Weather Right Now: Butt Cold

I was over reading Wendy’s blog where she talks about how hot it is where she is and I have to say, I envy her. Sort of. So, I thought I’d tag myself to do a little meme here. Current conditions near me: 53 degrees and cloudy, humidity 77%. Seriously. A few hours ago the humidity was 100% because it was friggin’ RAINING again.

Here was our forecast for today. Keep in mind, it’s supposed to be “summer”. At least that’s what all the commercials for shorts, flip-flops, outdoor grills, and sun-tan lotion tell us. I’m still in long sleeves, sweaters, and jackets.

 

And here is our forecast for tomorrow.

And here is our five-day forecast.

(All images captured using SnagIt from KiroTV.com)

OOOh. We might have a heat wave on Saturday. Whatever. I’m moving to Texas.

Oh, and feel free to tag yourself and tell us what the weather is like where you are. Just link back to us, if you do, that would be awesome.

Technorati Tags: weather,forecast,kirotv.com,seattle,pacific northwest,cold weather,summer,heat,random

Ms Property Manager: You Suck

A few months ago, I wrote about Condo Associations and how I hate the one I live in. My neighbors are fine, it’s the lady who manages the association that drives me into a frenzy of adrenaline and negativity.

Last month, around the end of May, we all received a newsletter saying we needed to do our homeowners maintenance tasks. This involved:

• Pressure washing our roofs
• Pressure washing our siding
• Painting our trim and doors
• Landscaping for summer (clearing up dead plants, etc.)

They asked us to all do this by June 23. WTF? A month’s notice?

This week, we all received “reminder” postcards of the due date and it also told us that if we didn’t do these things, we’d receive fines and assessments.

Again, WTF?

Have I mentioned that it is still friggin’ winter here? It has been rainy and cold – about 45 degrees – with the exception of one nice weekend about six weeks ago. Today is the first day we’ve not had any rain in a while, and my new neighbors – a young couple – across the street are outside trimming their hedges and she’s wearing a sweatshirt, sweat pants, and gloves – not for protection but for warmth.

So, I sent off a nastygram to the property manager. I informed her that, sorry, I wouldn’t be meeting that deadline. First, I can’t physically do all those things myself. Second, I have no income to pay for it right now, and third, had she noticed that it has been RAINING?

The smart thing, Ms Property Manager, would have been to guide the board to finding a reasonably priced contractor for these services – one who would discount his rate based on volume – and then offer the homeowners the option to hire said contractor at reduced price, and have the cost rolled into the homeowner dues over the span of the next 12 months. I’m not the only homeowner around here who finds that mandatory task list and arbitrary deadline just a bit unreasonable.

In addition to the fact that the homeowner’s association refuses to do their part to maintain the perimeter of the property that runs along the greenbelt, keeping the fire danger at bay – when we ever do get heat – and the bobcats and coyotes from encroaching on our backyards and pets. That’s what we pay dues for.

But Ms. Property Manager is too stupid to think of making it easier for the homeowners instead of sending irritating, threatening postcards and wasting our money.

I did let her know if she could make an arrangement like I suggested, I’d be more than happy to accommodate her. Otherwise, I’d do the work when I could find friends and family to do it and when the weather cooperates- more like July or August around here.

 

Technorati Tags: homeowners associations,condo associations,property management,home maintenance