That building really looks bad. Once again I decided to ask Fast Eddie what he thought. Should I simply forget that place or perhaps wait for something that's worth waiting for.
His brother Junior was there, so I got a chance to talk to him too. Junior used to drive cab, that's where the name is from, he's only Junior in the context of cab driving. He claimed that the building would get fixed in a few weeks unless the insurance company contests the claim. How does he figure? There are a lot of out of work people, a contractor will put as many as 20 people a day on the job, and it will finish fast.
The place continues to advertise for people, and the advertisement says fall semester which is consistent with what Junior was saying. They told me to get back to them in 3 to 6 months, but that was really quickly after the fire. So, I wonder.
Are they just putting me off? In 3 to 6 months I will have moved somewhere, forgotten about them, and the problem of wanting somebody else, who ever comes along beside me, is solved.
This entry, as the other housing entries will self destruct when I solve my housing issue.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
Guess that housing option isn't going to work. Damn!
The Co-op I was looking at had a fire Tuesday night, and it really burned the building a lot. The photos on the internet this morning are really grim. The fire department is investigating, and until they're done the house is off limits to all the folks who lived there. So, even if your room didn't get burned, in the short run, you've lost everything. Tragedy!
This means I can't live there until the place is declared inhabitable by the city, and none of the others can either. Declared inhabitable? Yeah. You think you can move back in and fix the place while you live there? Nope, can't do that. You need permits and contractors and inspections, and in the mean time you need a place to stay. A nightmare for sure.
How did it happen? The fire department is investigating that. On the internet it says the fire started on an outdoor deck. It says the fire started about an hour before bar time. Surely an accident. It also says the fire department had to go back twice to finish the job because it was a very persistent fire.
My heart goes out to all the folks who lived there, and the neighbors too. The neighbors are going to suffer from the construction project to repair the place.
This means I can't live there until the place is declared inhabitable by the city, and none of the others can either. Declared inhabitable? Yeah. You think you can move back in and fix the place while you live there? Nope, can't do that. You need permits and contractors and inspections, and in the mean time you need a place to stay. A nightmare for sure.
How did it happen? The fire department is investigating that. On the internet it says the fire started on an outdoor deck. It says the fire started about an hour before bar time. Surely an accident. It also says the fire department had to go back twice to finish the job because it was a very persistent fire.
My heart goes out to all the folks who lived there, and the neighbors too. The neighbors are going to suffer from the construction project to repair the place.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Thanks - reflection - the last house meeting
There is an entry that speaks of Xanadu, and a house meeting, I'll fill in the details. I also need to thank the people I'm writing this entry for, they've sparked some old memories that need to be remembered. What happened at that last house meeting and why.
In the fall of 1978, about a month after contracts had been signed, the ICC (the central organization) announced a budget short fall, and told everyone they'd been forced to assess everyone some amount of money. At our house, and every other no doubt, there were house meetings where the house treasurer explained this to the membership, and the membership got upset and said it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, and probably wasn't legal either, but legal didn't matter, it was co-op business and fair was the primary concern.
I got up and told everyone that what would happen was the ICC would get the money no matter what the people in the house voted, discussed, complained or did. One day the house treasurer would announce that he'd been pressured by the division treasurer and the office people enough, and he just paid it. That is in fact what ended up happening, a few months later, after I'd moved here to Madison. The payment was retroactive, so everyone got tabbed how ever much it was, a few hundred bucks in a lump sum. The house treasurer went back to the ICC and told them that the house was resisting, like every other other house treasurer. Did I pay this assessment? Yes I did.
The ICC head man, a fellow named Luther, came to the last house meeting I attended at Xanadu. He wrung his hands, and pleaded, and the house was unmoved. The biggest obstacle was this guy named Greg who was the editor of the Michigan Daily (I'll leave Greg's last name out of this). Greg had a real sweet job lined up with the Detroit Free Press, or the Detroit News (I forget which), and he was as I was, leaving at the end of the semester. Greg was graduating and getting a job, I was moving here to Madison.
Greg was overweight, and kind of reminded us all of the character Bluto in the movie, Animal House. He danced out of the meeting, waiving his finger in the air and chanting, "I'm not gonna pay, I'm not gonna pay..."
I got up and tried to reason with the group, no dice. Luther pleaded with the group, no dice. Luther begged me to do something. I asked him what I was supposed to do, and told him I just did everything I could do.
There was no love lost between Luther and I. He liked nice placid students who didn't get involved much in the house, washed their dishes, graduated and moved on. I wasn't a student, I took responsibility in the house, and cared deeply about the house.
Now? It's someone else's turn to stand up and be counted at the house meetings. It's my turn to fix the house, and clean the house. Cooking? There are usually people who want to do that. If asked, I'd do what ever the group wanted. Does it need to be my house job for me to scrub the floor in the dining room? No, it needs to be a day when I don't have anything better to do for a couple of hours, which means I'd do it pretty quick if I was a member. What co-op job would I want? I don't care, they are all important and need to be done.
Why would I say 2 years of membership? There are places with age requirements that are real nice, and subsidized, and I've got my eye on one such place. In 2016 I'll be old enough to qualify. At that time, I'd have to ask myself real seriously if my feelings had changed, I doubt they would.
Writing? I've had writers block for a while. This exercise in asking for membership has jogged me back into wanting to say things on paper. Yea!!!! I see some good stories coming out of my checkered past. I'm not ashamed of my past, I've done a lot of really stupid things in my life, but it wasn't boring. Writing is really hard work, if you don't think so, try it.
Thanks to my father for providing me the opportunity to be a writer.
Oh yeah, why didn't I rush back into a co-op after I left Loth? Well, I did! Back then there was a place next door to a bar now called Wando's (The 602 Club back then), called the Green Lantern Eating Co-op. I joined that place, and was an influential member until I took a job working afternoons (3pm-11pm) and couldn't go there because of schedule conflict. My room mate for a few years was a fellow I knew from there named Dave Alsberg who is the guy who showed me the back door into the Univ of Wisconsin which resulted in my college career. What became of Dave? He screwed around and never got his Phd, went back to suburban New York City, got married and went to work for an insurance company as an actuary. What became of Dave after that? I don't know for sure.
In the fall of 1978, about a month after contracts had been signed, the ICC (the central organization) announced a budget short fall, and told everyone they'd been forced to assess everyone some amount of money. At our house, and every other no doubt, there were house meetings where the house treasurer explained this to the membership, and the membership got upset and said it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair, and probably wasn't legal either, but legal didn't matter, it was co-op business and fair was the primary concern.
I got up and told everyone that what would happen was the ICC would get the money no matter what the people in the house voted, discussed, complained or did. One day the house treasurer would announce that he'd been pressured by the division treasurer and the office people enough, and he just paid it. That is in fact what ended up happening, a few months later, after I'd moved here to Madison. The payment was retroactive, so everyone got tabbed how ever much it was, a few hundred bucks in a lump sum. The house treasurer went back to the ICC and told them that the house was resisting, like every other other house treasurer. Did I pay this assessment? Yes I did.
The ICC head man, a fellow named Luther, came to the last house meeting I attended at Xanadu. He wrung his hands, and pleaded, and the house was unmoved. The biggest obstacle was this guy named Greg who was the editor of the Michigan Daily (I'll leave Greg's last name out of this). Greg had a real sweet job lined up with the Detroit Free Press, or the Detroit News (I forget which), and he was as I was, leaving at the end of the semester. Greg was graduating and getting a job, I was moving here to Madison.
Greg was overweight, and kind of reminded us all of the character Bluto in the movie, Animal House. He danced out of the meeting, waiving his finger in the air and chanting, "I'm not gonna pay, I'm not gonna pay..."
I got up and tried to reason with the group, no dice. Luther pleaded with the group, no dice. Luther begged me to do something. I asked him what I was supposed to do, and told him I just did everything I could do.
There was no love lost between Luther and I. He liked nice placid students who didn't get involved much in the house, washed their dishes, graduated and moved on. I wasn't a student, I took responsibility in the house, and cared deeply about the house.
Now? It's someone else's turn to stand up and be counted at the house meetings. It's my turn to fix the house, and clean the house. Cooking? There are usually people who want to do that. If asked, I'd do what ever the group wanted. Does it need to be my house job for me to scrub the floor in the dining room? No, it needs to be a day when I don't have anything better to do for a couple of hours, which means I'd do it pretty quick if I was a member. What co-op job would I want? I don't care, they are all important and need to be done.
Why would I say 2 years of membership? There are places with age requirements that are real nice, and subsidized, and I've got my eye on one such place. In 2016 I'll be old enough to qualify. At that time, I'd have to ask myself real seriously if my feelings had changed, I doubt they would.
Writing? I've had writers block for a while. This exercise in asking for membership has jogged me back into wanting to say things on paper. Yea!!!! I see some good stories coming out of my checkered past. I'm not ashamed of my past, I've done a lot of really stupid things in my life, but it wasn't boring. Writing is really hard work, if you don't think so, try it.
Thanks to my father for providing me the opportunity to be a writer.
Oh yeah, why didn't I rush back into a co-op after I left Loth? Well, I did! Back then there was a place next door to a bar now called Wando's (The 602 Club back then), called the Green Lantern Eating Co-op. I joined that place, and was an influential member until I took a job working afternoons (3pm-11pm) and couldn't go there because of schedule conflict. My room mate for a few years was a fellow I knew from there named Dave Alsberg who is the guy who showed me the back door into the Univ of Wisconsin which resulted in my college career. What became of Dave? He screwed around and never got his Phd, went back to suburban New York City, got married and went to work for an insurance company as an actuary. What became of Dave after that? I don't know for sure.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
A new home
I'm looking at a new place to live, and they're looking at me. What to say about it? It's what I wanted when I moved here a long time ago. I said in writing I was only interested in about 2 years. Why would I want it now, and why only 2 years.
2 years first. There are some very nice places to live in this town that have restrictions on how old you have to be to live in them. I have the place I want picked out, and I'll be the right age in a couple of years. Nicer as the place downtown is, the place I'm alluding to is really really nice. Allows dogs. Affordable. Quiet. Comfy. It will be a long wait.
Why do I want it now? Right now I need to simplify my life. I've got too much crap, and I do mean crap. AND I really need to write this blog up in book form.
2 years first. There are some very nice places to live in this town that have restrictions on how old you have to be to live in them. I have the place I want picked out, and I'll be the right age in a couple of years. Nicer as the place downtown is, the place I'm alluding to is really really nice. Allows dogs. Affordable. Quiet. Comfy. It will be a long wait.
Why do I want it now? Right now I need to simplify my life. I've got too much crap, and I do mean crap. AND I really need to write this blog up in book form.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
I saw Bobbie at the grocery store today
He was the trainer when I started. He looked real good, and he didn't remember me.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Blog referer spam
Interesting. I'd never heard of this before this morning.
You think people are willingly viewing your web pages, but they are not. They are being redirected to your website by a virus toolbar, or your traffic is simply something similar to a virus checking your website on a daily basis. It's automated, so it looks like you're getting hits, but you're not. It explains all the traffic to this blog from the Soviet Union. It explains all the views of the very first entry in the blog.
This has nothing to do with cab driving, but everything to do with the internet. And blogging. And scams. So, it should be of interest to a wide spectrum of people. I'll read up on it, and post some entries addressing it, and after they've been up long enough for my legitimate readers to read them, if they want to read them, I'll take them down.
Certain subjects are like a magnet for these web traffic fraud people. They love guns. They love violence. I'll add crime in the labels, and let all of you know how this works out. This is a distinctly uninteresting blog post, it shouldn't attract ANY interest, what so ever.
You think people are willingly viewing your web pages, but they are not. They are being redirected to your website by a virus toolbar, or your traffic is simply something similar to a virus checking your website on a daily basis. It's automated, so it looks like you're getting hits, but you're not. It explains all the traffic to this blog from the Soviet Union. It explains all the views of the very first entry in the blog.
This has nothing to do with cab driving, but everything to do with the internet. And blogging. And scams. So, it should be of interest to a wide spectrum of people. I'll read up on it, and post some entries addressing it, and after they've been up long enough for my legitimate readers to read them, if they want to read them, I'll take them down.
Certain subjects are like a magnet for these web traffic fraud people. They love guns. They love violence. I'll add crime in the labels, and let all of you know how this works out. This is a distinctly uninteresting blog post, it shouldn't attract ANY interest, what so ever.
Monday, July 29, 2013
An absolutely PRICELESS link to another cab drivers comments!!
This link belongs to a driver in Las Vegas. It's a question and answer thing.
http://jobstr.com/threads/show/3661-las-vegas-cab-driver
His answers are VERY TRUTHFUL. I found this thing while tracing some traffic to this blog. It seems that a whole lot of people on the web want to know if cabbies carry guns. My most recent post, posted just a few hours ago, gives my opinion about this matter. The answer is, yes some carry them, and if they ever use it, they will regret carrying it for the rest of their life.
My dad's sister was married to a fellow who shot some people who held up his liquor store. They tied him up, he got lose, and he killed a couple of them. Their families harassed him for the rest of their lives. Anonymous threats, but it was obvious where they were coming from. Is that worth a couple of hundred dollars? No.
Some people point to murders, and say, if the victim had a gun, it might have been different. I read that in New Orleans a lot of cab drivers have been murdered. It wouldn't be different unless the people doing it are morons, and they're not, they're criminals. Why do I say that?
A guy came up behind me once with a big shiny impressive looking hunting knife and demanded money. I thought to myself, if he was going to cut me, I'd be cut. Obviously he doesn't intend on using that thing. I walked away from him, he was shocked, and he didn't cut me. Moral? If somebody is going to kill you, they won't give you a chance to resist. They might go through the, where is the rest of the money routine, but you're dead either way. Giving them the extra money might buy you 90 seconds of extra terror, but you're dead either way.
http://jobstr.com/threads/show/3661-las-vegas-cab-driver
His answers are VERY TRUTHFUL. I found this thing while tracing some traffic to this blog. It seems that a whole lot of people on the web want to know if cabbies carry guns. My most recent post, posted just a few hours ago, gives my opinion about this matter. The answer is, yes some carry them, and if they ever use it, they will regret carrying it for the rest of their life.
My dad's sister was married to a fellow who shot some people who held up his liquor store. They tied him up, he got lose, and he killed a couple of them. Their families harassed him for the rest of their lives. Anonymous threats, but it was obvious where they were coming from. Is that worth a couple of hundred dollars? No.
Some people point to murders, and say, if the victim had a gun, it might have been different. I read that in New Orleans a lot of cab drivers have been murdered. It wouldn't be different unless the people doing it are morons, and they're not, they're criminals. Why do I say that?
A guy came up behind me once with a big shiny impressive looking hunting knife and demanded money. I thought to myself, if he was going to cut me, I'd be cut. Obviously he doesn't intend on using that thing. I walked away from him, he was shocked, and he didn't cut me. Moral? If somebody is going to kill you, they won't give you a chance to resist. They might go through the, where is the rest of the money routine, but you're dead either way. Giving them the extra money might buy you 90 seconds of extra terror, but you're dead either way.
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