USCG Documentation renewal

I had the boat documented with the US Coast Guard as part of the requirements from the bank. They ask that you renew your registration every year, so that they can be sure that nothing changed about the boat, and that you still own it. This is a free service. They do not charge you for this. Infact, its one tiny form to fill out. If your address doesn't change, all you do is sign it, write "owner" and put the date on it. Then fold it, tape it, put a stamp on it, and go sailing.

Optionally, you can use Specialized Yacht Services awesome renewal service. This is a private company which will take all the hassle out of signing your name, writing "owner" and applying those cumbersome stamps for a one time (a year) low, low fee of $75!

For this very low $75, you get to sign your name, write "owner", put the date on a form, write a check (including another date, another signature, write the number twice, and tearing it out of the book) and put it into a provided envelope. Granted... you don't have to affix one of those stamp things... nor deal with tape... but you do have to lick the glue.

Act now, and they will sign you up to receive other awesome free offers via the USPS, and email.

Seriously... $75 fee to fill out twice as much info, but save $0.41 on a stamp.

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Tenants... yay for being a landlord

Buying a duplex, and renting out half of it seems like a good idea. I mean... when rented, the one side pays for most of the house... which is a good deal... when they pay.

I bought the house with a couple living there, with a few kids, one being a baby. They were late the first month... I forgave them the late fee, to set up a nice relationship. That wasn't smart.

They were late the next month, and the month after... eventually having to wait till they got a tax return to pay off all that they owed me... they paid for December's and January's rent at the end of January... and then... they paid February on time! One month on time, out of 5... not so good, the rent is cheap.

March rolled around... and they gave me a song and dance about how they can't pay the rent, and would have the money in "3 weeks, or 2 weeks... or maybe one week." I gave them 3 days... and then evicted them. I am not running a charity.

It took a month to get them finally out... and lawyers fees, and other costs. But, finally, I locked them out the other day (in the presence of the bailiff). With the rent the owe me, and the other fees I had to incur... and now the cleaning of their stinking place... I am out about $1500!

They left me a nice little note before they finally got all their crap out... saying how I am a nice guy, and how they are sorry, and how they have new jobs which are going to pay alot more... and how there were "no hard feelings." Well... there are hard feelings... 1500 of them. I planned on taking them to small claims court... partially to see if I can get some money back, and partially to learn how the process works. Problem is... they never left me a forwarding address. I tried all of the 5 or 6 numbers I had for them... and somehow every one is disconnected... go figure. I started gearing up to have to search for them... calling their references, calling their work, calling the post office, or the utilities company....

Sunday morning... they called me! Apparently, in their stupidity... they left a box of important papers, in the unit. They asked that I leave it on the porch for them... which I said we had started to go through and clean, and threw some of their stuff away... but if I had their address, I could forward some mail they had, and send this box of stuff to them... they gave it to me!

Instead of a box of papers they needed, they will be getting a summons to appear in court.

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Brilliant ideas log.

Every once in a while... or every few minutes... I come up with something I think is brilliant... usually its only me that thinks this.

Here's some from this week:

• An LED light with battery, and radio beacon to attach to indoor climbing walls for climbing comps so you can change the route remotely... or even as the climber is on it!
• Beer Runners... a beer and wine delivery company. Saves everyone from driving drunk. Add pizzas to that, and it basically prints its own money.
• Graffiti finder... a website you upload camera-phone photos of graffiti and get more information about it. Maybe even a google-maps of where all those tags are found.
  

Thats it so far, its been a slow week. I have had to dumb myself down to deal with work. Maybe when I quit I can smarten up again.

Ofcourse, the greatest of all is the Dayton Rickshaw Company... where we are a rickshaw taxi service!

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Dog owes me $64.45

Patina ate my sunglasses. She ate the ear piece, and bent them enough to weaken them... and the bridge broke. I sent them to Maui Jim to repair... here's my note:

Dear Maui Jim.

I love my sunglasses. So does my dog. Please make your sunglasses taste bad to dogs. It will have to be really bad though, because she eats poop!

-Russ

I hate to smell what they will send me in return.

Ugh

I no longer want to live in a place where someone says "Hey, its going to be warm tomorrow... in the 50's!" Whats worse is... I agreed, and thought it felt warm!

50 degrees can be described as chilly, cool, not as cold as it has been, warmer than it has been... but never should it be described as warm.

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Patina rules

Maria and I have been pretty busy working, and doing stuff around the house, and picking up dog poops. Thought I would share some of the moments we have had with the puppy.

She loves to play on the stairs... and is pretty tough.


Sometimes she plays so hard she plays in her sleep.


Back at it.

Advice from everyone

So, I am sitting in my little cube right now... have been all year. Its cold out, but the sun is shining. I don't enjoy my cube much, so I practice a new form of escapism, where you listen to pod-casts (internet talk-radio) about sailing all day. and I have pictures of my boat up on the walls, and background of my computer, and let my mind wander.

The particular podcast I have been listening too is furled sails... where they interview all these people who are sailing, or doing awesome sailing things. Often they will ask people who have shared a great story about their adventures what advice they would give anybody considering doing something similar.

The first thing that every single person has answered was "go do it". Thats the first advice that anybody ever gives... not what sort of boat to take, sort of gear, when, or how... but that anybody considering something similar, should just go do it.

I hope that some day I will be able to give similar advice.

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Even in Spam

My buddy Paul always has some displaced Nigerian king wanting to pay him to  help out with a little problem he has... or is contacted by someone who works at the bank, and found an error in record keeping leaving untold millions uncollected and wants to give some to him... or some how wins the British lottery (note, Paul sits next to me at work, no where near anything as cool as London).

Me... I win sometimes too... but the consolation prize.

---

Ref Nr: PBL/CN/6654/CP
Dear consolation Prize Winner,

We wish to congratulate and inform you on the
selection of your email
coupon number which was selected among the 6
lucky consolation prize
winners Your email ID identified with coupon No.
PBL2348974321 and
was selected by our E-games Random Selection
System (ERSS) with entries
fromthe 50,000 different email addresses
enrolled for the E-game.

Your email ID was included among the 50,000
different email addresses
submitted by our partner international email
provider companies.
You  have won a consolation cash prize of GBP
1,500,000.00 (One
MillionFive Hundred Thousand Great Britain
Pounds) only.

You are to contact the DPU Officer with the
following details for the

release of your winnings.

Claims Requirements:

1.Name in full:
2.Home Address:
3.Age:
4.Occupation:
5.Phone Number:
6.Present Country:
7.Sex:
Contact Person: Mr Anderson Moore
Contact E-mail: email removed to protect the scammer

TEL: Tel: +44-701-114-7850



Regards
Mrs. Stella Bryan
(Group Co-ordinator

---

So, not even when its fake, or spam can I win the main prize!     

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Sorry

I am sorry to every other "professional" out there who hates me for wearing pants with integrated belt systems, don't brush my hair, wear alot of fleece, sometimes wear pants with holes in them, don't have a orderly desk, drink alot of coffee, don't act my age, say "thats what she says" every chance I get, wear a tie only once a year, yearn for my uniform to consist of only board shorts, hate hearing myself talk so much that nobody knows what I said, don't believe in umbrellas, and am only friends with people I actually respect.

But, this is not my first rodeo.



Had to get that off my chest.

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Pee everywhere

We had a bit of a scare with Patina last week... she was sick, wouldn't eat... and pee'd a little blood. We took her to the vet, and turns out she had a little bladder infection... which is getting cleared up.

Life is adjusting to her... which is quite an adjustment. I have taught her how to sit, how to fetch, and how to make Maria mad by peeing in the house. She does all 3 pretty well... and we have moved on to lay down, and bark-all-night. She is catching on to bark-all-night faster than lay down... but I think she'll get it eventually.

Seriously... potty training a puppy with a bladder infection, or Urinary Tract infection is not the easiest thing to do. She seems to pee right after you bring her back in from peeing outside. Once we get her last set of shots, we are taking her to obedience school so she can learn to do handstands, and cartwheels... or atleast how to walk next to me.

She does a good job of not chewing on cords, and helped me paint a room the other day without getting into anything. She has an issue understanding not to jump up on people, jump up onto furniture, and with biting. The vet told us to just act like she hurt you when she bites... so I tried that... she seemed to enjoy inflicting the pain, and bit more, and harder. Now I grab her nose, and hold it closed till she settles... and that seems to be starting to work.

Also... I read some awesome advice which nobody ever mentioned to me. I wasn't sure she understood the pack mentality of being with us... and that she thought she was the leader. Then I read that if you lay a dog on his/her side, and keep her there till she submits, she will realize your the pack leader. We have done that a few times... and I definitely can tell a difference. I am surprised I never heard that before... I guess momma dogs do that all the time when a pup gets out of hand.

I can't wait till she's potty trained... thats going to be an awesome day. I just told Maria last night how good she was all weekend, and how she didn't have an accident, when I caught a whiff of some horrible smell coming from the other room. She came wandering out with that "ahhh... I feel better" look on her, and there sitting in the middle of the room was a nice, steaming pile for us to pick up. So close. Once we can get her potty trained, teach her to not bite, and to stay off the furniture... I think that things will get alot easier at home.

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