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Feb 26, 2008 The ongoing saga on
our rental home continues...Rob gave the landlord the
benefit of the doubt and contacted her about her impending
foreclosure. Instead of being forthright, she accused him of
committing a federal crime and opening up her mail.
Obviously, the lender has not been able to serve her the
summons. She then claimed that she is working hard to remedy the situation with the bank
and that we should continue paying her rent because we
signed a contract with her. Does she not see the hypocrisy in this? Since we moved in September, she has not paid one mortgage payment and has been living off of our monthly rent.
Well, after a string of emails that revealed lie after lie from our "responsible" landlord, we finally called the attorneys listed on the civil action summons. Of course, we learned that she has not been in contact
with the lender or the law firm. We are also now fully aware
that she never put our security in escrow and will probably
lose it. It seems that with all this foreclosure crap going
on that new laws need to be written to protect the renter's
rights.
Here we are, a family of 5 (well 6 if you count our
little Pezzie), always paying the rent on time, caring for
the property with the utmost consideration, and yet facing an eviction in the coming months.
The landlord has pretty much screwed us without any remorse
because she and many, many others looked at their homes as
wallets in which was an endless supply of money to spend on
frivolousness. Yeah, real estate was gong to make everybody
rich. I always thought that a house was to live in,
folks...to raise a family and provide coziness after a day
of hard work. During all of this, we have been very upfront with our kids
and they
have learned a very hard lesson on the ugliness of human nature.
Switching to a cheerier subject, we survived JOs and are prepared for Sr. Champs this weekend. Up at 5:30, at the pool until noon for prelims, back home for some reprieve, and then return to the pool by 4:30 for relays or finals.
Unfortunately, Nicole's best events are always scheduled for Sunday, the very last day of an
exhausting 4-day meet. So, we finally left the Long Center at 9pm Sunday after she swam
her 2 finals. The times were slower than prelims for not only her
but for most of the other 15 girls. They were all very, very tired.
We were all very, very tired. Of course, this means no
training at all. Right now, St. Anthony's is looking to be a
very painful race for both Rob and me.
Feb 22, 2008 I'll be in
swim meet hell for the next 2 weekends. Florida's Junior
Olympics, the hardest JOs in the country, has been taking
place since last Thursday at the Long Center; Senior Champs is scheduled the following
weekend (again, at the stinky Long Center). Nicole is
swimming in both meets. Oh joy. Since 7 am this morning,
I've been sitting in an un-air-conditioned building sans a
nice bar that serves anything ice cold. With me are about
40,000 other parents (and gullible grandparents) milling
around to watch over 800 kids swim about 1-2 minutes each.
Conditions are truly unbearable because all these folks are
crammed into an enclosed pool area built to accommodate 500.
I do not understand how Rob and I have agreed to let Nicole
join a swim team since we are both well aware of other
painless ways
for her to get exercise.
I have come to learn during the last 3.5 years that a swim
mom (that would be me) has to camp out overnight if she
hopes to get in the pool early enough to secure a spot for
her chair. I have also learned that 13 and 14 year old girls
are crazy fast. Finally, for some reason, I seem to attract
parents who refuse to wear deodorant for, what I guess,
would be
environmental reasons. But, heck, to see the smile on my
kid's face as she finally broke into the 25-second mark on the
50 free (as the relay anchor) and then went 1:59 flat on the 200 free makes all
this suffering worth it. At least I am feeling that way
tonight although I am not too sure what my thoughts will be
tomorrow morning when Nicole gives me a 5:15 am wake up
call. Go
TBAY!
Feb 16, 2008 As painful
as it is, we decided to start riding our tri bikes today
(well, I guess we technically started yesterday at the
duathlon). By the 2nd hour, my saddle was in pain. I really
hate making the switch from my very comfy road bike every
February. Ouch.
I've come to learn the term "lis
pendens." I see it in the media more and more these days,
along with "short sales". The lady who we rent the house we're currently in received a lis
pendens late last month. So, we'll just wait for the lender to send notice that
the house will be put on the auctioning block and we'll move
for the third time in 1 year. We won't know for sure when
that will be because, since there is a staggering
number of homes undergoing foreclosure right now, the
process may run over the average 7-month period. We're guessing that it'll
take about 12 months. Oh
happy joy!
Feb 17, 2008 Rob and I did
the Chilly Willy Du today. He and I felt pretty awful on the
bike but he managed to win it whereas I was dead last (after
vomiting and almost making a mess in my Desotos, of course). Guess
opposites do attract. Man, I am in bad shape.
One thing wonderful that came out of this morning though
(besides seeing friends, that is), is Jessica Mundie and
Mark Parish gave us almost a year's supply of Accelerade. Rob has
fallen in love with stuff when he went down to watch the
Jeff C race at the Escape to Miami. What a windfall,
huh? Does anyone realize how much a bottle of energy drinks
costs these days?
Feb 13, 2008
Oh, you're so wrong, Rob! You'll always be my
piece of meat! Hahahahahah!
For the past few days, I've been trying to settle into into our new life
but it's kind of , well, unsettling having Rob in "my space"
24/7. He's
been on my favorite computer for the last few days because
his laptop is acting wack-o; every time I turn around he's
telling me "I love your life;" and, now, I am having to make
lunch for two! He also joined me during my lunch spin today
and the Neanderthal dropped me on the 2nd lap. This sucks!
Thankfully, his new trading station is due to arrive next
week. It has one of those 6-monitor arrays so he can lust
over charts and graphs all day. I'll have to make sure he's
set up away from my office or he'll drool all over my desks.
Feb 10, 2008 I
dig stories like
this one on Austin Richmond,
the 2nd-place guy (shown on the
left) at the 15k—living in a trailer while eating, breathing
and sleeping running. That's true focus and dedication to
his passion.
Feb 9, 2008 Well, what a great morning for a
15k.
Rob was very happy with his race, negative-splitting his
second half (26:46 and then 26:17), and clocking the 18th
best time (53:03) of the day. He ended up the 2nd fastest 40+-year
old, 3:00 behind the speedy Dror Vaknin. Rob always
negative-splits at this race, which I think is so very hard
to do. Obviously,
he is the patient one in this marriage.
My swim buddy, Linda M raced fast enough to get 2nd in her
age group. I think I'll just roll my eyes the next time she
tells me she'd be happy make 8-min miles. Linda, Marty is
right about you!
I ended up 2 minutes slower this year, making an art of
dying the last 3 miles of this 9.3 mile distance. Obviously,
I did not negative-split the last half nor am I patient.
The top male winner was Joseph Sitienei (46:45) and Annie
Cooper-Gasway the female winner with the time of 56 flat!
Wow! I think the Sitienei guy has a PR time of 2:11 in the
marathon.
January posts |
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