New Family Member

I caved! I caved! I can't believe I caved.


Lou has asked me on and off for the last five months to take on the care of his cat. He got Sparks about two years ago when he finally realized that he and his ex were not going to get back together as something to distract the children with. He is the kind of brother that is always helping me out, he is the car expert so every time I have got a new car he is there by my side helping me make the right decision. Since I am the pet person of the family I went with him to the Humane Society to choose the new pet. I saw this cute and friendly black cat and I liked him. He had spunk. I thought he would need spunk to live with three rambunctious children. A couple months ago I watched Sparks while Lou was away on a vacation when he came back he made noises about me keeping Sparks but he missed him and took him home.

So Lou called me late on a Saturday night basically telling me it I didn’t take Sparks off of his hands he was going to go back to the humane society. I asked him where his compassion was. He was able to resist my guilt trip and said I had until Monday to make a decision. I am not sure he would have really taken him there but I was able to make a compromise with him.

I had a prospective roommate at my house on Sunday and as he was leaving he noticed a bees nest in my front yard bushes. I was totally grossed out! I knew that there was no way that I would personally take care of the bees on my own. I called up Lou that night and gave him my bargain. I said I would take Sparks if he would remove the bees and the nest as well as pay me some cat support for Sparks’ upkeep. We finally decided upon $60, a meal at a Mexican restaurant and bee removal and the deal was done. I now have a second cat and he is a pain. He fights with Mickey all of the time. The fighting frequently happens at night on my bed while I am asleep. I will try to catch a video of the kitties fighting in the future for your enjoyment!

Roommate Update

I DID it

I finally got a roommate. I was feeling very discouraged yesterday when I hadn’t received a single phone call from the add I placed in the paper on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. I just kept thinking that it wasn’t going to happen. Then I got two calls in a row on Sunday afternoon and they both came for a chat. The lady I chose is older and is a grandmother. I don’t know her exact age but I would guess she is in her 50’s. She moved here from California to live with her daughter and son-in-law and to help take care of her 6 year old granddaughter and she talks allot. She said it wasn’t working out living with her family and she needs her own place. She was at my house talking to me for two hours. She works for the YMCA Kplus school program at a nearby elementary school. She gave me four references to call and one of them was her boss at the school. She told me that the employees are required to take a drug test and pass an Indiana criminal history report. The boss told me she would have her move in if she had the room. I then called her old boss from Florida and he left me a message that he would hire her back in a heartbeat and she was a wonderful person to be around. I haven’t received calls back from any of the other references yet.

I am excited yet cautious of this new development. I am glad finally have this resolved and I hope that it will be so uneventful that I will have nothing to write about it. Somehow, I doubt it thought. She moves in tomorrow night and I will keep you posted.

Crazy about a book!

I have been acting crazy these last three days since I started and finished a new book. This book had been recommended to me by a couple different people and on Saturday night my sister-in-law loaned me her copy. I looked at it and thought “This could be good?” but I knew I had to finish this other non fiction book for my monthly book club meeting on Wednesday evening. So Sunday during the day I plodded along with my book club book (I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire). I think that this book is ok but it is dense, dry and a bit hard to read. This is the reason that I am still not finished reading this 200 page book in three weeks.

I have also come to the realization lately that I am not a fast reader. I used to have the perception that since I loved to read and that because I read so much I must be fast. I had a realization last night that I just don’t read that fast. I wish I was faster but then I wouldn’t retain the information.

So, back to the new book. I picked it up on Sunday night at 10:30 and I though I would just read the first few chapters to see if I would like it. The next thing I knew I had read the first 150 pages and it was 2:00am and I had to go to bed. I went to bed thinking about the book and reliving its imagery. On Monday night after I finished my evening’s activities, dinner, The Big Bang Theory and Dancing with the Stars it was 10:45 and I again picked up the book. I thought I am only going to read until midnight and then I will go to sleep. About 1am I noticed how wet my checks were becoming; apparently my eyes were watering because I was so tired, yet I contained to read until 2am. I have now completed about 300 total pages of this book.

Tuesday comes around and again I am very busy after work going to the mall to exchange an item, mowing my lawn and watching the Gubernatorial debate. I am completely exhausted at this point and really need to sleep due to the deprivation in the last few days but I still decide to read more of my book with the promise to myself that I will go to bed at 11:30. I am not able to fulfill that promise and I don’t stop until 1:30am with only 100 pages left. I go to bed wishing I didn’t have to go to work the next day and could sleep in and finish the book, but I know that it cannot happen. I wake up at 6am to go to the bathroom and I decide to turn on my light and continue to read. If you know me at all you know that I am most defiantly not a morning person and I NEVER get up early. I stayed on my bed eating cookies for breakfast because I couldn’t take the time to cook something until I finished the book. I finally finished the book at 7:45am and got ready for work.

I am not sure why I went so crazy except that I loved the story. I used to do this type of thing when I was a teenager but I have not lost so much book self control in many years. But I have to take a break. There are 4 books in this series and I cannot allow myself to get the next book until I get a full night sleep. I still have to go to book club tonight with my head hung low because I didn’t finish that book.

So are you wondering what the name of this FABULOUS book is? It is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I highly recommend it.

Warranties are a Good Thing

The fridge debacle is almost over. Today was the day that Geek squad was to come to my house for the third time to complete the repair on my refrigerator. I took the entire day off of work to be at home for their stringent repair hours. The geek squad calls between 7 and 9 am to tell you the window that they will arrive. The repair should take the tech about 3 hours to complete so this wastes my entire day at home. I have the ability to work remotely from home so I tried to be a good employee and work today since I no longer have any vacation days because of my desire for exotic travel.

The repairman calls me while I am in the shower this morning and I have to take the call dripping wet. He tells me that he will arrive between 10:30 and 12:30. He called me about 12:45 to tell me he would be late and he would talk to me when he arrived. I thought it was weird that he would say that but I put it out of my mind and continued to work. When he arrived he came inside without any tools and I got a bit scared. He told me that my new part did arrive but it was missing some of the electrical components. I put my face in my hands and shook my head and thought how could this continue to happen? He said he could repair the unit using the existing electrical equipment but he wouldn't recommend it. I agreed with him and I didn't want any further problems with the appliance.

Now the best part. He told me that when a customer is inconvenienced for more than 5 days without a working fridge they will replace the fridge with a new unit. I told him I though that I would qualify since my wait time has exceeded three weeks. He said he would get me an authorization code to take into the store for approval of a new unit. So I went to Best Buy tonight and they looked up the information on my old unit and discovered that this unit has not been manufactured since 2004. Since the didn't have an exact exchange I could pick a replacement unit of comparable features and price. The first few units we looked at would take until mid October to be delivered as they didn't have any in stock. He then extended his search to other brands and I settled on a NEW GE Stainless Steele unit. It looks fairly similar to my old fridge but it is 4.5 years newer.

The new dilemma is weather or not to purchase the extended warranty on the new unit. The cost is $250 to $300 for 5 years. This is about double the price that I paid for the original warranty. I have 30 day to make my decision but I think I will. The $300 warranty will cover food spoilage to $350 and a yearly preventative maintenance visit. I know I will buy it but I just hate so spend $300 this way. Hopefully, after Saturday there will be no more stories about my appliances.

Gubernatorial Debate

I do care about politics. I just began caring about this in the last two years after ignoring the entire process my entire life. I have spent lots of time reading, learning and listening to the presidential elections debates and not any time on the gubernatorial candidates. So tonight was the first time that I have invested any time in the local elections. I just finished watching the first of three gubernatorial debates in Indiana between Mitch Daniels (Republican Candidate) , Jill Long Thompson (Democratic Candidate) and Andrew Horning (Libertarian Candidate). I enjoyed watching it...when I first turned on the TV I thought I might just get through the first 20 minutes before I was bored and had to watch something else. I was presently surprised at how entertained I was.

Andrew Horning was very funny and he was able to interject humor into the debate by pointing out what most people are thinking. I really liked him after tonight’s debate and I am going to spend more time learning about him and his policies. I did not like Jill Long Thompson. She made several comments with disdain about the privatization of government holdings, including the Indiana toll road. She seemed to be for big government and the policies that she was in favor for would cost Indiana lots of tax dollars. I am not sure Mitch Daniels is much better with his idea of giving every Indiana the equivalent of two years free tuition at Ivy Tech. I don't believe it is the State Governments place to pay for higher education. Many socialist foreign countries (Germany) are moving away from that policy because it doesn't work and costs the tax payers too much money.

Both Daniels and Horning are in favor of doing away with the school book rental fee but did not propose a way to pay for this change. Daniels did mention that 41 out of the 50 states do not have book rental fees in grades K-12. They also had a long discussion on the virtues and evils of daylight savings time. Thompson wants to change it again to make the entire state on one system, Daniels likes it the way it is and Horning wants to do away with it completely. I like DST and enjoy it being daylight in the summer until 10pm, but I understand that most parents with small children struggle with it because the babies just don't want to go to bed.

There will be another debate next Tuesday. I am excited to learn more so I can make an informed decision in November. If only Election Day was a national holiday.

Candy

Andrea is Awesome!

Due to the refrigerator debacle I went over my monthly cell phone minutes by $45. After endless (OK...I will admit it...) whining to Andrea about the cost of the overage she suggested that I call Sprint when I receive my bill. She had a friend who has had Sprint in the past and when they called about the overage minutes the customer service person removed the charges. I told her OK I would try, but I was feeling apprehensive and embarrassed. I knew the overage was my fault or Best Buy's fault but not due to a Sprint problem. I arrived home at 9pm tonight very tired after working 2.5 hours of OT and I decided to give them a call. I got the best customer service person. I gave him a brief story about the fridge problems and I simply asked if there was anything he could do for me in regards to the overage minutes. He spent some time reviewing my account and I think he was looking for chronic complaints and multiple account reversals. He also spent some time looking at my monthly minutes used and he was very impressed that I knew the exact time that I went over my minutes in the past, February 2007 (yes, I am on overly detailed accountant). He said since I was a customer in good standing, I paid my bill on time each month and I don't chronically go over my minutes he would be able to remove the entire overage cost. I was shocked, I thought he would perhaps split the amount with me or reduce it a bit. I never expected him to remove the entire charge. I was impressed with Sprint's customer service protocols. I guess that is why I have been a customer for four years.

Thanks Andrea for encouraging me to speak up!

Dinner Venue

I went to this wild place for dinner on Friday night. As my blog indicates I have a very adventures side. I meet 3 friends about once a month and we go to dinner and have fun catching up and keeping up on each other lives. The interesting thing about our group dynamics is the large age gap of the members. One of the ladies is in her early twenties, one of the ladies is the same age as me and our birthdays are one day apart and the final member of our group is in her fifties. But we all seem to have things in common and have loads to talk about. I had originally suggested that we go to a comedy club on Friday night but after I discovered that it costs about $15 per person plus drinks and dinner I tried to economize and think of other ideas. If we went to the comedy club on a Wednesday night we could all get in for free. So this idea is still on the table. Anyway, since I changed my mind about the Comedy Club I tried to find us a different kind of place to go...and I sure did.

I did a yahoo search for local Indianapolis restaurants and I found the following link:

http://www.emilyandchristopher.com/restaurants/detail.php?r=148&blah=Traders+Point+Farm

This is an individuals restaurant review website. They had a good review of a organic dairy farm called Traders Point Creamery and it looked interesting. I had never heard of this place before. It is located off of 86th Street just West of Zionsville. They have a dinner every Friday night that is made of all Organic ingredients. I thought to myself, why not...it looks interesting. I sent the web link to my friends and everyone agreed that it could be a fun place to go.

I arrived first on Friday night and I took a look around and I was a little apprehensive at first. It appeared to be just a big farm and I was nervous to eat there. They had a tent area set up in the front with various organic products for sale. They ranged from meat, dairy, and vegetables to soaps and honey. There were about 15 total vendors to choose from. It was fun to walk around and look at things while I waited for my friends.

Dinner was buffet style and was $15 and it included your meal and beverage choice. Every Friday night there is only one choice of meal and Friday it was:

We will be serving a Traditional English Cottage Pie made from 100% Organic, Grass Fed Beef and Fresh Vegetables topped with Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Our Vegetarian option will be Cottage Pie made from Tempeh and Fresh Vegetables, topped with Creamy Mashed Potatoes.
To accompany this delicious entree we will be serving an array of Roasted Organic Vegetables; Parsnips, Rainbow Carrots, Garlic and Onions and a Refreshing Organic Cucumber Salad.
All meals come with a choice of Lemonade, Iced Tea or Milk.

I don't normally like buffet food but it was piping hot and very tasty. I was disappointed because the website said that it included fresh Milk but it was not a choice when I was there. I would have never ordered this meal at a regular restaurant but I really enjoyed it. Everyone ate everything on their plate while we talked but we all agreed that maybe dinner wasn't quite a $15 value. However, I do know that organic food and produce is much more expensive that regular grocery items.

After dinner we walked around the farm a bit and found the organic ice cream stand. We all indulged and it was WONDERFUL. I loved it! The flavor of the chocolate was so very rich...I wish I was having one right now.

I am not sure that I would go to this place very often but it was a fun Friday night diversion.

This is the website if you are interested:

http://www.tpforganics.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

Eventfull Day

Eventful Day

Fridge

I am still in the process of getting my refrigerator fixed and it is turning into a grand debacle. As I explained last week the compressor has stopped working properly. See this post for the beginning details. The Best buy repair service called me up last Tuesday to set up my repair, the customer service person put me on hold and kept me there for over 30 minutes. When she comes back to the line to check on me she says that the repair service will give me a call in two days as I was unwilling to hold any longer. Two days later I get another call from the customer service person who then wants to put me back in the queue for a long wait. I had had enough…I had already gone over my cell time by 100 minutes. I couldn’t talk to her and I aggressively explained to her how upset I was by the very poor customer service. She apologized, although, I know it wasn’t her fault and she said some one would call me back the next day. The next day (Friday) I never got a call back…so I tried them at 9pm while I was driving and I was able to speak to a person in only twenty minutes. It felt like a Christmas miracle. The routing guy said he could have someone at my house on Thursday 09/11 to make the repair. I responded that I have already been without a working fridge for two weeks was there anything he could do to get me scheduled sooner. He said the soonest he could make it was Tuesday 09/09. The other trick with this repair is I have to wait for a call from the repairman from 7am-9am to see my scheduled repair time. I had to wait at home this morning for the call because I didn’t want to get to work and have to turn back around. So the call arrives at 9:05 to tell me that my repair will commence between 11:30am and 1:30pm. I give a big sigh and head out to work for 1.5 hours. I arrive back at home at 11:30 to wait for the repairmen. They arrive about 12:30 and bring in all of their equipment and start to prepare for their work. About 10 minutes after they arrive they call me into the kitchen to tell me that they cannot repair my fridge today. I about came unglued. They said that the compressor that they had ordered me is also broken and that they would have to order me another new compressor and they would come and repair it as soon as it arrives. I just couldn’t believe it. Why does stupid stuff like this have to happen? I am going to have to take additional time to schedule the next repair as well as take more time off of work to be at home. I am seriously PO’ed at Best Buy!

Brother

While I was at work today for a mere 1.5 hours I get a call from my long lost Brother Ron. I have not spoken to him in about 2.5 years. Our last contact involved an incident with a TV and we parted ways on strained terms. Ron moved to California about 5 years ago and left his big 32 inch TV with me and told me that I could have it and it in the future he needed a TV he would take my 20 inch in exchange. I fully believed that this TV was mine to keep. Apparently it wasn’t. In the meantime he had moved to North Carolina and got married and had a baby. So on an unannounced trip north he dropped by my place unexpectedly for a visit. The primary purpose for this visit was to collect the TV. I was not interested in giving him the TV as I believed that it belonged to me. We both behaved like babies and he left with the TV. I hadn’t spoke to him since, although, I have been in some contact with his new wife via email on occasion.

So, he called me today in the middle of the big repair turmoil to ask if I wanted to meet him, his wife and child for lunch as they are driving through Indianapolis today. I explained my repair issue and told him that they were welcome to come to my house to visit but I couldn’t meet them anywhere. I was amazed and surprised to get this call out of the blue. They arrived at my house about five minutes prior to the repairman visit and we sat in the living room awkwardly chatting. One of the first things that they told me is that I have been addressing their son by the wrong name for the last 3.5 years. I guess I had thought that his name was Michael but it really is Matthew. I was still sending birthday, Halloween and Christmas cards to the child. I was really embarrassed! How could I have addressed this child by the wrong name for so long? After we got past this and the repairmen left, I went to lunch with them. Ron’s wife is Chinese and is from Hong Kong , so she was hungry for some good Chinese food. I took them to my favorite Chinese place, King Chef on 96th street and as we were leaving she had a 15 minute conversation with one of the employees in Chinese. We enjoyed our lunch and I was pleased to see them and rekindle a bit of our familyness (am aware that this probably isn’t a work). I will have to keep this in mind and take more time to stay in contact with them in North Carolina .

Cheesecake Incident

One of my co-workers was selling cheesecakes as a fundraiser for her teenager’s school. I didn’t buy any but there was an incident with them at work. The cheesecakes arrived this week and she brought them to work and stored them in the lunchroom freezer so that the employees could pick them up. When the last person went to pick up his the package was opened and someone had removed a piece of the cake. G was furious and couldn’t understand why someone would do that. She sent an email to one of our executives that prompted the following email:

Last Thursday several cheesecakes that had been sold as a part of a child’s fund raiser were put in the freezers to be picked up by their owners. They were all marked with the owner’s name. One of them was opened and partially eaten by a thief. It is hard to think that we have someone in our family who would violate the trust that we have put in them by doing this.

The cost of the cheesecake is $13. The thief needs to put $13 in an envelope and slide it under the warehouse/mailroom door by this time tomorrow. Kenny will bring it to me. If you know who did this, you may want to let them know that this is expected of them or you can let me know who it is and I will take care of the situation.

Let your conscience be your guide.

WTG

It is funny to me how people react to these types of emails. The person next to me was convinced that it was someone on the cleaning staff because she couldn’t imagine a co-worker doing this. I find it funny how someone can accuse someone of a perceived lower station or job just because they clean bathrooms and speak Spanish. I immediately defended them and said that I could be anyone. People are strange and they will do anything. The next day we get the following email:

Yesterday we thought the worst of one of our fellow passengers here on the SS Key Family with the great cheesecake incident. This morning when Kenny opened up the mailroom door, there was an envelope on the floor with cash and a note. The note said that the person had seen an email saying that there was free food in the café and he/she thought the cheesecake was part of it. The person sincerely apologized and as an act of good faith, provided not just the $13 for the cheesecake but paid with a $20 bill with the note to put the extra $7 in the Riley Wagon for the kids.

Mistakes happen. How we step up to admit and then atone for those mistakes is the measure of the person. Whoever this was, they can be a passenger here with me at anytime.

OCC

Now I come to the funniest part of the story. The person who bought the cheesecake that was eaten did receive a new one to take home. He took it home yesterday and when he got up this morning his dad had eaten the entire cheesecake while he was sleeping. I don’t think that B was destined to eat the cheesecake.

Roommate Update

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Family Gathering

I went to a very interesting family gathering yesterday. My brother Lou was divorced two years ago but he is still in contact with his ex’s relatives. Hi ex-in-laws (Bill & Sis) were in town over the weekend from Florida and were staying at their daughter (Cindy’s) house. Our mom passed away about 4.5 years ago and our dad passed away about 9 years ago and we don’t have a very large extended family. So you can see why Lou and I regard Bill and Sis as surrogate parents and we wanted to see them and spend time with them, as well as allowing Wyatt, Sarah and Paige the opportunity to know and reap the benefits of their grandparents. Cindy lives in Brownsburg and we (Lou, Sarah, Paige, me and Traci (Lou’s new wife)) made the hour trek to their house at noon on Sunday. When we arrived Cindy was in bed taking a nap (I am not sure I understand why you would be taking a nap when you were expecting guests?) and we were greeted by her husband Fred and Bill and Sis. We spent an enjoyable 45 minutes catching up and spending quality alone time with them. Then the rest of the family started to arrive. This included Cindy’s other Sister Cheryl, her two adult son’s one of the sons six month old child. This group also included Cindy’s Daughters (Cassie) husband and their child as well as Cindy’s Son (Lee) his wife and their three children. It felt like a circus having so many people there.

At one point I was sitting on the couch talking and to everyone and the father of the six month old who was sitting on the floor near me ask me to watch the baby while he went to the kitchen. I was fine for the first minute but soon thereafter the baby was trying to lift herself up and I became terrified that the baby would fall and hurt herself while the parent was away. Apparently, my face got all red and blotchy and I had a look of panic etched into my facial expression. I was glad the father came back without incident. As soon as he returned the baby did fall and cry. I guess I was right to be concerned, as least it didn't happen on my watch.

There were several unpleasant family items that occurred during this visit. Lou’s daughter unfortunately takes after both sides of our family and struggles with food and her weight. She is 8 and Lou is working with her on making good choices, potion control and engaging her in physical activities. There were some comments about her from Cheryl, an adult, directed at Lou inquiring from him about how he is managing Sarah’s weight and food. He was completely offended by this comment and hurt for Sarah. Both Lou and I know what it feels like for this to happen. When we were children and we went to family events on my mother’s and fathers side there were always rude and unkind things said about us because we were overweight. We both know how hurtful this was to experience we know that our mother didn’t do anything to stop it. He doesn’t want these types of things happening to his own child. He is managing the situation. Why would a person who you only see once a year have the right to make these types of comments? From my perspective it doesn’t come from a kind place in her heart.

Cindy is generally an unpleasant person to be around. She is usually negative and makes rude comments. This trip was no exception. It started by her being in bed when we arrived and staying there for an hour. I just cannot understand that behavior. I wouldn’t invite guests over and then stay in bed after they arrived. Then we were there for two hours without being offered a beverage. We don’t visit this persons house often enough to make ourselves at home and rummage in the kitchen. I am not sure that I was ever actually offered a beverage but about 2.5 hours after I arrived I got a glass of water. Then during the day she would just make rude comments to people. I am not sure where she learned social behavior, but I think that she needs an additional lesson.

Finally, can you imagine how Traci felt being at a family gathering at her husbands ex-in-laws? She didn’t know anyone but us. I am glad that she made it through the day fairly unscathed. The thing is that it takes a long time to make these kinds of relationships. I liked Tricia’s parents and I enjoyed spending time around them (but not especially her extended family). I am not sure I have these feelings yet for Traci’s family. They are nice enough to spend time with, but they have only been married for six months. I am not sure how long it is going to take me to grow as comfortable with her family.

Roommate Adventure

The new roommate adventure has occurred for a week now with amusing results. I have not been able to find a roommate through my friends and acquaintance network so I have tried using three separate websites, roommates.com, craigslist.com and nuvo.net. It amazes me the things that people will post. The following are some of the more amusing posts.

Seeking 3 mature roommates who want to make to most of their limited budget. Our healthy lifestyle choices include non-smoking environment, shared household chores, weekly movie or game night, Golden Rule conflict resolution, recycling, and community service. Only $250 INCLUDES UTILITIES, LAUNDRY, CABLE TV AND PHONE. Plus SECURITY SYSTEM and off street parking. We are near IndyGo bus routes #3 East Michigan, #8 E Washington, and #26 Keystone north and south. Residents also give 2 hours per week to support the Quality Enviornment Contract. Two possible locations 19 N. Temple or 105 N. Arsenal.

I am looking for somebody to live in my home rent free in exchange for p/t help around the house doing basic chores. In a new home on the second floor with your own decent sized room (10ft by 10 ft) and full bathroom. Want to make money? I am also looking for a live-in full-time personal assistant(no experience necessary). You would help keep me organized, do some household shopping, do basic tasks in my home office and travel with me to various exciting cities at least 1 week per month. For the personal assistant position you will be paid $1,500 per month, $cash$, paid weekly. Your living and travel expenses will be covered in addition to your pay. For the room, you obviously would not be paid but your rent is free. For both opportunities you will need to be willing and able to move to Arizona within a month. The weather here is perfect! If you are interested, please tell me a little about yourself and your current situation and we can discuss this opportunity. Both availabilities discussed above will be totally professional.

Hi, I am seeking a SWF to spend quality, albeit not quantity, time. Let me be clear about this. I will pay you $400 a month to see you no less than 4 times a month and no more than 8 times a month. I will be there, with you, anywhere between 2-4 hours; maybe longer if we get along well. I will not ever sleep over. I am seeking someone who can be discrete and wont get religion on me ;-) for our quality time together you wont need a "real roommate" and can use the $400 as you see fit. Please be sure that you have the stomach for this type of arrangement before you answer this ad. I am a middle aged businessman trying to decompress from the stress of the road. please reply with a picture and your interest level and I will reciprocate.

I have to spent a great deal of time looking through these weird and bogus adds to find the real people. I have also had to advert some crazy people trying to scam me. I have corresponded with two people trying to set up a roommate situation with me just through email. These are fairly funny.

Hey Candace,Thanks for responding to my mail. I would have love to come see the room myself but I am not in the state right now.I am very sure you will never regret having me as your roommate.I want to make sure that we go perfectly well as roommates.I will like to know more about you and the total move in cost.I have to tell you more about myself.I am a very dedicated individual who is totally committed to human development, very trustworthy and value relationship above anything..I live by the principle of,"do unto others what you want others to do to you".And because i love it when people are good to me,i always do all in my power to be good,just to get a reciprocate(smiles).I am quite a laid back person,i am the interesting type.I didn't drink neither do i smoke and i love pets but i don't have any that's why i indicated no pet.I am the neat type.I love visiting new places. I love to swim, read and listen to nice music,I love meeting people I occasionnally attend parties ,I love community work, love to be around children too,I am the clean type and I am very friendly.I am 28 years old.My dad is an American while my mom is from the West Africa.I live in the United State,CA ever since I was born because my mum also live with my dad in the United State but I lost my dad some years back and my mum went back to West Africa to stay there since then I am currently with her now in West Africa.I have been here for a while with her but I am not really comfortable here.I am not use to there ways of life here and I am really coming back to the state asap.I have my own bussinees,I sell textile and fabrics material,In fact that is our family bussiness,that is what my mom is into as well and I promise to pay my rent and any other bills in time.I am very neat and cleaning of the environment won't be a problem for me.I really want to have a comfortable place upon my arrival Have a nice day and hope to hear from you soon.I have tried to attach a picture to this message so as to put a face behind my email.Thanks and god bless.Kara

I replied to this person that I was not comfortable agreeing to a roommate situation with out meeting them in person first. The very next day I get this email:

Let me tell you more about me. Name: Marrianne Davies
Age: 28Date of Birth: 10 June 1980 Country: Grow Up In CanadaEducation: MSCEReligion: Christianity Marital Status: SingleKids: No KidsLanguages spoken: English My personality traits are: serious, confident, calm, purposeful, persistent,smart, responsible, honest, modest, kind, sociable, sensitive, gentle,cheerful, optimistic, romantic, considered, responsible I like these kinds ofmusic: Dance/Electronica, Disco, I usually read: classics, novels, newspapers and magazines My favorite physical activities: Basketball, Working Out, Dancing, Swiming and Hiking/Walking My favorite cuisines: Barbecue, Chinese/Dim Sum, Deli, Eastern-European, Fast Food/Pizza, French, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese/Sushi, Mexican, Seafood, Soul Food, Thai, Vietnamese ,I like to go out to/and: cinema, disco, nightclubs, parks, meeting with friends.
My perception of an ideal relationship: Understanding, respect, love. I like the place and I'll be so glad if you can reserve the room for me and remove the advert from roommates sites as i'll love to rent the place.I sold African beads,i used to buy it in Africa and send it to Europe and U.S.A for sell and i based in Canada but now want to be selling it to the states there and based there .Thats is why am looking for a place to stay in the states there so that i will have comfortable chance to do this business,just not like to stay in hotel. I'm a quiet and easy going person to live with. My families lives here in Canada and i have some friends in Canada . and will love to come down as soon as possible to explore my business and hope to have a more business job. I do not have a pic presently on my system but will try to attach one to my next mail.However, based on your mail i will be making a payment to move in. I had like to make the payment for the first month ahead of my arrival, and then i will make subsequent payment thereafter as i plan to stay for more than 12months.The things i will be moving in my luggages and the rest loads.Check your attachment and find my pics there and make sure you send me your own too. Hope to hear from you soon

Regards

Marrianne


I am of the opinion that these emails were from the same person trying to scam me. There are warnings on the roommates.com website about international people trying to rent rooms without meeting first. They will send you a cashiers check in advance for an amount above what they owe you and then they want you to return the extra amount. The problem is that the original check is a forgery and a few weeks later you bank will want their money back.

I met with one person on Thursday night. He was 45 minutes late and didn't arrive until 10pm. This was a bit rude and also made it difficult for me as I had my brother come over to do the interview with me and he likes to be in bed by 10pm. After the interview I didn't think that he would work out, he said two things that concerned me. The first thing he said was that the house cleaning was women's work and he doesn't like to do it much. The second thing is that he said multiple times in the conversation that he likes to sleep allot. I just had the impression that he was lazy and missed work often.

The second person was supposed to come over on Saturday morning at 11:00am. Again, I had my brother come over so I wouldn't be alone with a stranger. This person didn't show up by 11:30 so I called him and he was like "I am sorry I just can't come". So this second person was dismissed.

The third person called me on Saturday and he came over on Sunday morning. He was also 30 minutes late but at least he called in advance. I liked him and I think that we could get-along. We talked for about an hour and he is going to get back with me on Tuesday to see if he can put in a notice on his lease. I think that is is kind of amusing that all of my adds have only drown responses from men. It made me wonder it only men use these websites. I have never utilized the Internet to do this kind of thing before but I am not scared to use new technology.


BTW...I had the fridge repair man out on Saturday morning and I need a new compressor. He has to order the part which will take about a week to arrive so maybe I can have my refrigerator working properly by next weekend. It is fairly uncomfortable to not be able to buy groceries.