Posted in Uncategorized on April 30, 2012| 2 Comments »
I got this gem in an email today:
I fixed the mapping and unfortunately the column was moved in the spreadsheet Kim provided to the middle not sure why the columns can’t remain in the same order and I’m make sure I’m better about checking this too.
Can you believe the author has an MBA?
Posted in my life, neighborhood on April 27, 2012| 1 Comment »
I was surprised to get an email from Cory at Century Link. He apologized for the upgrade fiasco and is providing feedback to the sales team so that other customers will be advised of the lapse in service when upgrading DSL lines. He also credited the account for a month of DSL service.
Last night I had dinner at Avenue Grill with Barbara, Cindi and Cindi’s new man toy, Joel. Project Angel heart was having their annual Dinning Out For Life fundraiser. Over 300 restaurants donated 25% of their food sales to Project Angel Heart which provides meals for people with life threatening diseases. Barbara told us about her resent trip to Paris. Cindi filled us in on her work dramas. All of us shared stories of our aging parents and their health issues. It was a great time but I was glad to get home and kick off my shoes as my day started at 5 a.m.
K stopped a burglar climbing into his bedroom window the other night in St. Louis. He was awaked by the noise of the burglar wrestling with the blinds and curtains. Thankfully, the burglar ran away when K got out of bed.
Bitch across the street (BATS) put her house on the market two days after telling me she was listing the house in July. BATS listed the hours for about 75k more than what it is worth. Bats also had her husband tell the new neighbors not to park in front of her house. Apparently, she doesn’t like people parking in front of house unless they are her guests. BATS delivered another monologue when I was working in the yard last week. She crossed the street to tell me she had a showing and to complain about the language school students parking on our street. I listened to her blab on and on until she rushed back to her house in order to leave before the prospective buyers arrived. BATS didn’t give me a chance to speak. I’ll be happy to see her move. Sheila thinks BATS is an insecure woman whose identity is defined by her husband’s wealth and socially prominent name. That’s probably a good synopsis.
There’s a rumor circulating around the neighborhood that the recently resigned HOA President is not going to proceed with building his house and is selling the lot. That’s just great. Now we have an empty lot surrounded by a construction fence on our street. I wish he hadn’t scrapped off the house he bought. I think the property would be easier to sell with the house.
We had thunderstorms last night. The early morning hours were cool and cloudy. It was so hard to get up this morning when the alarm went off at 5:30. I wanted to pull the covers over my head and sleep a few more hours.
Posted in my life on April 25, 2012| 1 Comment »
Obama was in town yesterday. He got a standing ovation at CU Boulder. It was nice to see the positive coverage on the local news. Obama spent the night at the JW Marriott over in Cherry Creek. Last time he was in town he stayed at the Four Seasons. I guess he’s wants to spread the wealth around. I’ll have to call Aimee today to see if she drove in the motorcade again.
Posted in neighborhood on April 21, 2012| 3 Comments »
The HOA meeting was so out of control that the Board President and Vice President resigned today. One resignation letter referenced “certain unruly members who seem to take odd pleasure in attempting to degrade and berate their leadership”. That’s the polite way of saying the white folk were acting ghetto. I’m really disgusted that the so called educated professionals in this neighborhood can’t have a civil discussion about the issues. Both men were new to the neighborhood and are in the process of building new homes. I wonder if the regret purchasing property in our neighborhood.
Posted in my life, neighborhood on April 20, 2012| 1 Comment »
Sheila and I made plans to go out to dinner on Tuesday night since our husbands are working out of town. We forgot it was the quarterly homeowner’s meeting but decided to skip the meeting in lieu of a nice relaxing dinner. The homeowner’s meeting had all of the ingredients for a drama filled night and we we’re not up to seeing our neighbors at their worst.
I picked up Sheila a little before six and we headed over to Hillstone in Cherry Creek for dinner. Hillstone has an upscale modern atmosphere mixed with a bit of casual sophistication. It’s the type of place one would expect to see a modern day Don Draper at the bar. Sheila and I had a wonderful dinner. It was great to get caught up with each other. As we left the restaurant I was amazed as the heads turned to check out Sheila. She’s a statuesque beauty who commands a presence in a room. I wondered if she felt like she was back on stage singing at the Met.
Having dinner with Sheila turned out to be a wise choice. The homeowners meeting turned into a ruckus. Our neighbor, Terry, was so appalled by the attendee’s behavior she left before the meeting ended to get a drink in order to settle her nerves. She said the meeting almost turned into a ballroom brawl. She was shocked to see her so called educated professional neighbors yelling and screaming at each other. I’ve been at meetings like this before. It’s quite shocking to see people let emotions get the best of them rather than discuss the facts of the situation. The board ended the formal public meeting and moved to another undisclosed location for a private executive session. Clearly, education and wealth doesn’t prevent one from acting ghetto.
The main topic of discussion was a homeowner’s desire to sell a half acre of their 1.3 acre lot. The covenants do not allow lots to be split. The homeowner is threatening to sue the board and the homeowner’s association (The board was sued about ten years ago and was victorious in court. The board has hired a real estate development lawyer who attended the meeting). The homeowner wants to sell their house 7,000 sq ft house but claims he can only get 3.5m for it. They have a pending contract to sell a half acre of their lot for 1.3m. He thinks he can still sell his house for 3.5m minus the half acre. The board and almost the entire neighborhood are against subdividing the lot because it will set a precedent for the rest of the neighborhood. I’m also against splitting the lot.
This property in question is located in the much more affluent west side of our neighborhood. The lots are bigger and the houses are architecturally significant and generally sell in the seven figures. Our house is in the much less expensive east side where the lots are smaller and almost all of the houses are mid century ranches.
The homeowner must have significant financial resources if he can afford to run this house along with the taxes and upkeep. Housekeepers, gardeners and the pool service come and go. I doubt the owner is in financial trouble. It is common knowledge that the homeowner inherited the property and is owned free and clear.
I see this as a case of simple greed. It can be interesting living amongst the one percent.
Posted in my life on April 20, 2012| 1 Comment »
Did you notice the comment on the last post from Century Link? I sent an email to Cory but have yet to receive a reply. I doubt I’ll get a reply.
Posted in my life on April 17, 2012| 8 Comments »
Last week the Century Link internet service quit working. I called the technical support line and the representative was able to get the service restored after a series of tests. While I was on hold I was forced to listen to various sales pitches for new offers. One of the offers was high speed internet upgrades up to 40 MB. I asked the technical support woman about upgrading our internet service. She couldn’t answer my questions so she transferred me to the sales department. The sales guy took an order to upgrade the service to 7 MB. A new modem would arrive by Monday and I was instructed not to connect the modem until after 5 on Monday. The modem arrived on Friday. The box contained the modem, a couple of cables, two line filters and the order sheet advising not to connect the modem until after 5. The box did not have any installation instructions or user guide for the modem. On Monday morning the internet service stopped working around 9. I called Century Link technical support after power cycling the modem a few times. The technical support rep advised me that the old internet service was disconnected and the new service would be turned on by 5. WTF! I couldn’t believe attitude of the rep. She didn’t apologize for the problems they caused. It didn’t faze her that I work from and need internet service. The sales department said there should not have been an interruption in service. The sales departments promised to have the field technician call me. The field technician never called. After several calls and waiting two hours the internet service was restored.
One would think Century Link would coordinate the orders so the customer would not be left without service. I guess that’s too much to ask. The Century Link representative showed a total lack of empathy for my situation and offered no apology. Fuck Century Link. I should switch all the services to Comcast.
Posted in my life on April 13, 2012| 1 Comment »
Imagine the joy you experience when you discover you have to pay $300 to find out you owe $15,000 in additional taxes. Yes, I got the accountant’s bill today. I guess the bill isn’t that bad considering my tax return is twelve pages. That’s only $25 a page.
Posted in garden, my life on April 13, 2012| 1 Comment »
We had our first spring thunderstorm complete with hail and a tornado warning Wednesday night. More rain is expected on Saturday and possibly snow on Sunday.
The garden has burst into bloom. The daphne shrubs, lilacs, tulips, daffodils, bleeding heart, apple trees, and iris are all blooming. The brooms will be blooming in a few days. I cut a ton of lilacs off the neighbor’s bush that hangs over the fence. I had enough lilac cuttings for two vases and was able to give a big bunch to Sheila. The bedroom and family room are now perfumed with the scent of lilacs.
Work continues to be trying. One of the young developers has been complaining to everyone that he is underpaid. He asked for a 20k raise. He’s also pissed off the queen bee of the office which is causing me grief. Queen bee will not talk to him. She refused to get on a conference call concerning an engineering issue because he was on the call. They both need to grow up and start acting like professionals. I’m so happy it’s Friday.
Posted in friends, my life on April 6, 2012| 1 Comment »
After a grueling workday I met Jackie for dinner at Moe’s Bar B Que at 6th & Broadway. We had delicious pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. After dinner we headed over to the soon to be opened History Colorado Center for a photography lecture by Catherine Opie. The lecture was part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artist Conversation Series. Opie is included in the museum’s current show. The lecture included a slide show retrospective of Opie’s work. While I didn’t care for all of Opie’s work, overall it was very impressive. Opie gave an interesting and entertaining lecture. Clearly, this was not her first time at a podium.
It was fun to hang out with Jackie. We got caught up with each other’s lives since we haven’t met up for months. We’re going to see the Gary Winnogrand photography show that recently opened at the Denver Art Museum in the next few weeks. I’m looking forward to our next adventure.
The Corporate Slave 