That darn Dog

That darn Dog.

So, as many people know, there was some fun last week with our family.

Autumn accepted the responsibility of watching the neighbor's dog. Kip is a mutt. And a rather unruly mutt. The fact is however that until Wednesday night I had not met Kip. And I will say that I would happily have gone on living without meeting her ether. But, that was not to be.

The dog is unruly, and likes to run around without any discipline. Autumn and Steph went over there to feed the dog, and it literally busted lose. It jumped at a locked door and it opened. And it promptly disappeared. Steph came home and asked me to come and help them find it, and Cody was enlisted also. I put my shoes on, and starting walking out of the house. I was listening for a bark and had my head cocked to listen. That was when I heard the first shot. I took about three steps forward thinking it was; it had to be something other than a shot. Then I heard autumn screaming

"Don't shoot, it's a dog". I am pretty sure I heard her saying it prior to the first shot, and that was why my head was cocked. Autumn later confirmed that she started yelling it before they started shooting, and I trust her on this.

Anyhow, as I start sprinting towards Autumn, and I mean my fatness was full out running. Something that doesn't happen every day. I mean, if it did I probably wouldn't be so fat.

Anyhow, I am hearing my daughter pleading with some unknown person to not shoot, it's a dog. I come around a corner, and there are two Men standing in the gravel driveway, pointing a gun at the ground, but at the ground in front of my daughter. I move to get over to her, knowing that she ultimately is not in any danger, and they aggressively tell me to get back. That was when I started to flip out at them. The dog ran past me to its house, and autumn is crying.

I will, for the sake of space, not say everything I said. But it was, suffice to say, not very nice.

For starters, I called them stupid republican hicks, and made references to their hillbilly ways. Something about the republican methods of shoot first asks questions later. And then trotted after autumn.

I went into the house that belonged to the owners of the dog, whom are in Hawaii on vacation. The two hicks wanted to come inside, and asked me… Anyway, they followed me in. The dog was clearly hurt, and cowering in the corner. I sent Autumn out, as I didn't want her to see it, or to get hurt by it.

And the stupid idiots are telling my wife and daughter that he was a good shot, and there was no way that that there wasn't a chance that the dog would live. It was at this point that I completely lost my temper. And they took their leave.

Steph and Autumn went home to get some supplies, and to call the owners of the dog. Kip was scared, and hurt. She also, as I found out later, doesn't like men. I with some work, and a few dog bites, got the dog calmed. Or maybe it just simply went into shock. I then found the wounds, and applied some simple first aid. The whole direct pressure thing, and pet and talked to the dog. I was convinced that Kip would not make it. I believed that she was shot in a bad way, and felt she needed to get to a vet, so I went home to get a make shift muzzle. It was then that I started shacking from anger. I walked home, and then called 911. I cleaned up a little, and then went back to tend to Kip. She wasn't particularly happy to see me. But I got her, muzzled her, and then carried her to the car for transport to the Vet.

As my wife was getting ready to leave, I was outside when the neighbors, along with our other neighbor "the pervert" as many of my family refer to him as, came walking up. I was already mad, and told all of them to leave. The shooters, whom I will always refer to as Yahoos, came up and wanted to apologize again.

This whole time, they seem to think I am mad about them shooting the dog. That was only a very small part of it. I was mad at their carless behavior, shooting a gun in the dark, in the general direction of my daughter. I am an advocate of gun rights. I own them, my family does, and I believe that is a freedom that I value. But it is people like this that give gun owners a bad name, and will ultimately make Americans lose their right to have guns.

He approached me saying; "I swear on the holy Lord Jesus Christ, that I wouldn't have shot it if I had known it was a dog" It started to really piss me off.

I turned and gave him a look that had all three of them stepping backwards. And the rest of the conversation went like this.

Me "You guys are yahoos" I then went to leave. I then turned, and as I did they all took a step backwards. "Do you guys even know what that is?"

There honest and humble reply "No"

I snapped "Google it". I then turned to leave again. Stopping abruptly, I looked back at them, and then said. "You probably don't know how to do that, so you may want to call someone and ask them to do it"

Keeping the story short, well relatively, the dog lived. She is in our home barking, and annoying me. But she will live.

The neighbors are still stupidly thinking I am made at them over the dog, and life goes on.

Overall, it could really have been worst. I am glad that the dog lived, mainly for Autumns sake. I do not know how she would have handled it if it hadn't lived. I believe, in my very simple way, that God was watching out for her that day. Not overly a religious person, but I think I can say that. All things considered, and not all is told here in this story, I believe that she was watched out for.

 

I remember sleeping. I remember laying down and closing my eyes and falling asleep. I just hate that I so often cannot remember how to do it.

It is one of the most frustrating things to watch seemingly everyone I know fall asleep at night. My wife, my friends, and even the darn dog. I lay there for sometime hours just waiting. Sleep doctor says, “oh it must be the sleep apnea, so were this annoying mask and you will be able to fall asleep faster”. Well, I gave up on that. It doesn’t help me close the eyes and fall asleep.

Ambian, lunista, and countless other drugs. They work some times. But they only seam to work for a limited amount of time, and then they stop working. So, here I am. My eyes hurt, so I cannot just watch TV, because the lights need to be on to help the eyes not hurt. Then I never fall asleep watching TV.

Xbox, same thing.

At the very least, this is very depressing all on it’s own. I suffer from depression, and this just always makes it worst. Last week I slept very good for three days. I even wanted to go to sleep. Now, that is gone again…

Last night, or technically this morning, I dreamt that I had to go and help a friend in need. I ended up killing 30 or so people to do it. The last person I killed, I shot in the face with a .45. That was a dream, and last night. But I can clearly see the face of the person head, point blank, blowing up. The back of the head blew out the back of his head, and sprayed the side of the tree they were standing next to. They then fell over, and onto their back. I walked up to him, and looked down at his face. The bullet had entered just below the nose, and took off the bottom of the Jaw. He was “the” enemy and the reason I was fighting. In the end, I felt it was a waste of time. The person I was helping didn’t want my help in the end.

Before that, I had a dream that I was a research person looking into a crashed spaceship in Canada. I found the ship, and was exploring it when I learned that it was a US government ship, and top secret. The government then sent in a group of people to recover the ship, and destroy any evidence of the crash. My wife left me saying she didn’t want to case anymore trouble for the kids. In the end, The US nuked Van BC. They played it like a terrorist attack, and killed a bunch of people during the Olympics.

In my dreams I can, and often do, Lucid dream. In this dream I went semi lucid when the government was attaching. I survived the nuclear attack, but simply by making myself immune to the attack. It is not a pleasant dream when everything around you is catching on fire and exploding. The members of my team are melting, and screaming as the blast comes. This is a Simi common experience in my dreams, so it didn’t surprise me much. In the end, I gave up. The US went to war with Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

The dream before, or maybe in the middle of those two, was of the flu. I dreamt that I was surviving a major flu epidemic, and that millions worldwide were dying. 60% of the world population died in the first 2 months. Oddly, my family seemed to have survived. The dream was mainly about the after effect. No food, no water, no gas, no electricity, no Internet… I think the Internet was the worst part.
We survived, and started to build back our communities. The sad thing was, the civil unrest did more damage then the flu. Seattle only experience about 30% death, but the city fell apart. Killing in the street, rape, steeling, looting. It was a struggle to survive something that should not have brought society to its knees. And the people with the guns survived. I had an arsenal, something I do not actually have. I was forced to kill two of the neighbors. Getting food was hard, and one of the neighbors was shot trying to raid my vegetable garden. I ate his cat, but not our dog. And at one point I shot a dear. No cannibalism in this dream…

Anyhow, I am just writing to do something. Probably should delete this. People here about my dreams, and next thing I know they will think I am weird…

Anouther day

Not that it matters, but I am tired. I woke up some 18is hours ago, and it was Clearly on the wrong side of the couch. My first thoughts were of a deep desire not to go anywhere, do anything, or even think.

One of those days that I would have just preferred to just disappear somewhere, or simply everyone else just go away and I just veg out.

Interesting thought, at least to me. How many adults that are missing, are truly people that just walked away one day and never looked back.

Well anyhow, here it is at 1:00 in the morning, and I am tired, but do not want to go to bed. My mind is racing, thinking about all the things that I shouldn’t think about, and sleep just is another thing that I need to do that I do not want to. I am forced to get up, go to work, go home, and now sleep. I really do not want to do anything at all, including eat and sleep.

Oh well, at some point I will simply fall asleep. Regardless, tomorrow will come if I want it to or not.

How selfish of me to think like this….

The holiday

The holiday weekend
Well, I ended up going to Ptown for my holiday weekend. A few people in my family wanted to make sure it was a good time, so they organized three TV’s, 2 Xboxes, and a Wii for the 17 or so kids to play. I will add that there were several adults taking time to make sure the kids were playing nice with each other by sampling the video game goodness.

That night we played a game of Planet earth Trivia and I will say that I won 2 times, one from forfeit, and the other through pure genius, with the help of one sister. We were pitted as two people agents’ teams of 4, and we still won. I will also add that the other teams will probably deny this claim that I won, but it doesn’t matter, they know who won.

Diner was pretty good. Other then the fact that I had to cut up the bird, it was pretty good. I ate Devin’s fruit salad, my mom’s potato salad, some stuffing (do not know who made it), some turkey from both birds, and then I grazed all day. Ate about 17 little smokes, a bunch of chips and dip. Two large cauliflowers, a few carrots, about 10 crackers and cheese, a large diet rock star, 1 peace of chocolate, 4 cups of cider, and 1 cup of milk.

I purchased a freezer and generator for my parents, and drove them down there for them. Because of that we ended up taking two cars down. Cody and I went late, after I got home from work. We listened to a book on tape, and then talked for a bit. I found out that he wants to learn how to play tennis. News to me, never told me that before.

Got to my parents house, and stayed up tell well past anyone’s bedtime talking to Cricket and Aaron. For the record, her current husband is incomparably better than her first one. After about an hour’s sleep, I got up and started hanging with family. We managed to get through the entire day without pissing each other off with political or religious discussions. However, Joe and I failed to keep the peace that shouldn’t be our responsibility to keep, by telling our Niece to dye her hair blue. My mom took it as us telling her to disobey her mother, and just do it. Apparently free thinking is not allowed tell you are 18. As soon as my mom stormed off yelling at us, Joe leaned over to me and said “should have stuck to politics”. I had to agree. So, from that point on it went downhill. Politics, religion, schools, and all the topics… Even sex at one point, were discussed. People left and I have a feeling that it will be a long time before we get together again. Not the arguing that will keep us apart, just life.

My oldest nephew brought his girlfriend. He is 18, and I have a feeling will be entering life on his own soon. The kids getting older, and peoples life’s get in the way, and one by one the large group will get smaller. If it is good or bad, I still am happy to be a member of my family.

I decided for whatever reason, to leave for home at 1:00 in the morning. I had slept about 3 hours in 2 days, and wanted some sleep. So I drove 4 hours in the middle of the night home. I finished the book that Cody and I started, and there is very little else that happened.

I must say, drunk people can be funny. I stopped at some small gas station to use the toilet and get some gas. There was a man and women talking at the counter, and I thought they were both working there. I got out of the can, and realized that my first impression was wrong. The women I think worked there, but was just visiting the guy at the counter. And she had been drinking. I walked up to the counter and got the look of apology from the guy at the counter has soon as she started talking.

This lady is about 40, and the guy at the counter is about 30. She says to me, in a drunken slur, “this is sex 101”. All I wanted was to pay for the soda that I was trying to get, and my gas, but talking to drunken women at a gas station at 3:00 in the morning of black Friday, who could pass it up. She then said “I am experienced in the world of sex, and I know how it works”

I said “if you are so experienced why are you still talking sex 101.”
I then, while trying to get out of the place, tried to set Marty up with the cougar co-worker, and made my leave. That in its own was a funny story.
I made it home and here I Sit the next night. My wife and kids will be home tomorrow, and I sit here board, lonely. But so far it was a good holiday.

And, a good pic of the lot of us...

IS there a perfect Job?

IS there a perfect Job?

When I was 16 I decided I wanted to do property management. I remember for the first time learning about the profession, seeing its usefulness, and deciding to enter it.

The problem was, I was 16. So I needed to wait. Shortly after that decision, a friend got a job as an apartment manager, and the two of us starting painting for different apartment complexes. I think it actually went to other way around, but that isn’t important. He got the job, and I was jealous. Actually, I was too young to have been eligible, but I was interested in his job. Free rent, decent salary, and his boss never came around. That was at least at first. When he started to mess up and get lazy he was harassed, and ultimately fired.

I started my first “legal” full time job at home depot, and later on to Wacker Siltornic. I loved the job at Home Depot, and to this day I am glad they fired me. I could have seen myself becoming a lifer there. Wacker was different. It was a job, and was suppose to be temporary. When the job became unbearable, I decided to quit. My supervisor at the time was a person I had a great deal of respect for. After I turned in almost 50 resumes for apartment manager jobs, I found someone to give me a shot. When I told that person that I was quitting he gave me some advice. He talked about how I was too nice, and had trouble telling people no.
Fast forward 8 years. I left a Vancouver company to move north to Seattle. My supervisor at that job, a person I used to like, but over the time I worked for him subsequently lost all respect for, and actually grew to despise…. Anyhow, that is another story.

When I quit he told me I would never be able to do the job I was taking, and that I was setting myself up to fail. It was one of the best pep talks a person can give. Nothing like someone you cannot stand telling you that you cannot do something that you want to do. First class motivation if you ask me.

He told me I would never be able to fire people, amongst other things.
I have a hard time telling people no. It is not a big secret. I like to do everything I can for someone, regardless of who they are or what they are doing. I have bent over backwards for people whom I know were lying to me. I help people that I have evicted all the time. I one time spent almost a whole 8 hour day calling charitable organizations to get help for a women who would love to have seen me dead. She actually spit at me one time. They helped her, and she never knew I found it. Funny thing is I was playing agents myself. I was evicting her, and trying to find a way for her to stop me from doing it. I succeeded at stopping myself. But I am off subject.

I have gotten to the point where I can be cold. I still do not like to do it. But the second boss, the one that said I would fail. Well, I am still here. I probably make as much if not more than he did. But, I still hate to fire people.
I love what I do. I planned my career up to this point step by step. And I have future plans also. But in the last 4 years I have had to fire more people then I want to remember. I hate to hire and fire people. I hate it more than anything I do for the mighty paycheck. I have had to fire people whom I have become friends with. I have had to fire people that were the only working member of their household. I cannot stress how much I hate it.

But, with this major negative, I know I could never not be the boss again. I am addicted to not being the little guy, or low man on the totem pole. There is no way I can go backwards. I just do not look forward to the years of hiring and firing people. I want to have my own company. I have a long time left in the workforce. I just do not look forward to all those lost employees.

To answer my own question, there isn’t a perfect job. But I do love my career choice enough to live with a few negative aspects of the job. I just wish everyone would just be better employees, and do everything perfectly. Well, maybe not perfect, but good enough that I wouldn’t have to fire them.

I feel Jipped

Yea it has been a while…

I do know that nobody is going to read this. In fact, I do not care that nobody is going to read this. If I did want that, I could promote my blog, say something profound, or just force people to read it. But I do not care.

I was reading the stuff that I post, and I noticed that my last blog was about me fixing my motorcycle. I worked hard, and for many hours to get that thing running good. And then what happened. On September 23rd 2009 at approximately 3:15 I died. I didn’t die, but I should have. Miracle, random act of statistical variation, blind luck… I do not know.

To keep this part short, I was going 70 MPH north on I5 on my bike. Out of the corner of my eye a motor home crossed over two lanes of traffic and push come to shove, he won and I ended up knocked off my bike. I flew, tumbled, bounced and rolled through heavy traffic and crossed three lanes as just me. Coming to a stop, I forced myself on legs I couldn’t feel at all, and crawled to the side of the freeway and sat with my back to the concrete divide.

At this point and I will leave out most of the story because it is boring. This was when I got jipped. This is when my profound religious experience did not happen. I lost conciseness for I would guess a couple minutes. Maybe 5 at the most, hard to tell when you are out cold. My life never flashed before my eyes, in fact my loving wife tells me I never even thought for a second I would die, and that is why the profound experience never happened. Whatever the reason, that is one of the top ten times I almost died. Well, at least this year…. But for the argument, I flew. I bounced, and I hurt. But in the end, I laughed and made jokes.

Everyone says to me. “God was watching out for you”. I really didn’t see him. I didn’t feel him; all I felt was rational reaction to the accident. I remember a line from a move, just not the move. Two kids drive along and toss their grandmother out of the car so they can keep going… it was a comedy… Anyhow, they scream to her tuck and roll grandma, tuck and roll.” And that is what I did. Protected my arms, and did the best I could to survive the trip. I was worried that a fallowing car would run me over, hence the hurry to crawl to the side of the road.

As I was sitting on the side of the read I had vision…lol I dreamt that I was a ware wolf and I was tearing through the pallets on the truck that parked there at the scene of the accident. I was a monster, ripping apart the cargo on a simitruck. The same truck that in my mind I actually saw run over me well I was on the ground. I was saying any second now. That second never came. And I didn’t really turn into a ware wolf and tear apart the truck. But I think I was Jipped. That was when I should have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. That was when Jesus should have said “my son” even though we are taught he is our brother” My son, repent of your evil ways, and join my flock” Or I would have preferred “I have great plans for you to experience fame and fortune, just wake up” I can even see a dead family member saying “Ben I love you, but your mission on earth is not done”
Nothing, just a ware wolf ripping apart pallets on a truck. That was it, and I have dreams like that ever night.

I in complete honesty, I was not scared, I never expected to die, but I did expect to be worst of then I am. Broken legs, arms, internal bleeding. At one time I visualized a car running over my mid section and slamming on the breaks while on my stomach and entering a skid with me under it. But still, no fear or religious experience.

Now as people tell me how blessed I am, or how god is real and watched out for you, I have serious doubts. I felt none of it. If it is real, and that god is real, heaven is real, blessings and miracles are real. I feel even more abandoned by my creator then I ever had prior to this. I, like many people, would love for the stories to be relevant. I believe Jesus lived, but do not know if he was a “god”, The religion is in question, and I cannot help but feel even further removed from my family because I did not feel god intervened. But, if he had, and maybe mad the motor home miss me…. Would I have stood here and said “God is great and powerful, he saved my life and I owe it to him from this time forward”….. So in theory, if he only has a set amount of saves, he should not have saved me.

My celebratory gag of satisfaction.

I recently bought a motorcycle. I got a smoking good deal, one that I will probably never get to repeat in my life. I got a 1999 Honda shadow for $300. Top it off, the guy gave me over $300 in parts with the price tags still on them.

On the day of purchase it didn’t run. In fact it hadn’t been started for almost a year, probably more then two. I started to clean the mold and mildew off of it, and polish the chrome. I then changed the plugs, battery, changed the gas, tires, and got it running pretty good.

I drove it a few times, and it was running pretty good. So I thought. It started to get worst, and was running with low power. It always felt like I was in the wrong gear. You know, should be in second but you’re in third or fourth.

I decided that the fuel pump was bad. But then decided to check the carburetor first, sense the fuel pump was easier to get to, but much more expensive. So, not having a clue how to do it, I tore into the motorcycle to get the carburetor off.

Got it off and boy was it dirty. Got the float champers apart, (didn’t know that is what it was called tell later) and it was full of brown flakes of stuff. I cleaned it out, the jets etc, and put it back together.

I didn’t even have any extra parts when I was done….lol

I started it up, and it purred like a kitten… or cat, cannot remember what that saying is.

Anyhow, I took it around the block and it was a different bike. Twice the power as when I thought it was running good the first time, and it ran greaaatt!!! You know, Tony the tiger great.

So, I have been riding it to every day and love it.

The funny part is, when it was sitting there idling, my truck headlights shining on it, since it was after dark when all was finished. I sat down on the foot stool and took a deep sigh of pure satisfaction in myself for a job well done. Just about the second I was done with this open mouth inhalation part of my hard earned sigh, a blankety blank mouth flew into my mouth.

The stupid thing got all the way to the back of my mouth……

Needless to say, my sigh of satisfaction turned into a gagging and spiting situation that would have been much funny to see then experience.

So, my deep satisfying gag of a job well done.

Today I gave pardon to a killer

Today I gave pardon to a killer.

I am not a killer, nor do I like to cause suffering.

Last night I walked into the bathroom. I am standing there, draining the lizard if you get my drift, and I look down at my feet. First thing I notice is I can still see them. When you are as big as me, some time you need to check.

Anyhow, I looked down, and at my feet was a large spider. Large, well tip of leg to tip of leg is almost 2.5 inches. I am naturally impressed, so I called Steph to show her. Then I called Cody and showed him. Steph asked what kind it was, and I wasn’t sure. I had her catch it in a jar, and looked it up.

A hobo spider. I always thought they were small, but apparently they can be large, as in the case of this one.

The other side of the story is that Steph has a rather painful bite on her side, one that has all of the characteristics of a Hobo spider bite. So she has issued a death sentence, one coming directly from the top position in the household government.

I have kept it in a jar, and showed the rest of the kids. When I returned from some errands this evening they were banging the jar on the ground, and shaking it like a rattle. I immediately yelled at them for being mean to animals, something I really do not like.
I took the jar outside, and let the beast go in the neighbor’s yard. Meanwhile I was telling the kids how it is just doing what it is suppose to do, and we shouldn’t hate it for that. I do not want to kill the Bear because it is close to my house. I feel, If there is a God, that he meant for us to respect animals, and spiders. Respect them, be aware of them, but why kill them.

This made my queen mad (not yelling mad, just upset). That was not my intention, but it is what it is. She was bitten, and in pain. I also let it go about 15 feet from the tent my kids have been spending there night sleeping, so maybe not to smart.

Anyhow, I think I did right, teaching my kids not to hate animals, or treat them bad. I feel bad now that I did let a relatively poisonous spider loose, but hey, win some and lose some.

I tried....

I have at times loved my job, and at times hated it. Recently, with feeling sick, depression, and plane old fashion stress, I have decided to move on. I approached my wife with this decision, and she supported me. I do not know why this surprised me, but I am grateful that she did.

The long story short, I turned in a letter of resignation to my company today. I was going to be a coward, and email it to them remotely so they couldn’t argue with me. Maybe send it to them after I had gone home for the day, and then ignore the phone….. I have never been very good at being a coward, so I hand delivered it. I have always given resignation as one line letters saying I quit. This started out as the same, and progressed into a two page letter of resignation.

I was positive, in fact completely positive that my boss would accept it, and move on. The biggest problem with my boss is A type personalities. People often make fun of my boss for his personality traits, but the flat out scary thing is we are similar in a few too many ways. I often think when watching house about the relationship of DR. Foreman, and Dr. House. Dr Foreman hates that he is becoming house, but the fact is he is very similar to him in a lot of ways. I often think that I am Dr. Foreman in the relationship with my boss.

I fear becoming him. I fear taking on too many traits that he has. As it is people tell me all the time I am just like him, and between the two of us we are next to impossible to go agents. Contractors, customers, Tenants, and employees all hate us. Without talking to each other most of the time we back each other up. It is the old, Mom said no so I will ask Dad type of thing. I have never had to worry about him not backing me up, or vise versa.

He does some things that are typically agents what I want, or more importantly I feel are not unethical. My biggest problem is that he is the boss, I am the employee, and I should do what he says. I also do not want to go down the road of unethical behavior. I fear that I will start small, and pretty soon I will not have any personal pride left. I suppose it is like cheating on your mate. First it is a flirting, then kissing, then outright affair. It all starts small and innocent.
He however, and I do not like it, has given me two weeks with pay off to think about my decision. He is smart, and he knows me. I wonder if when I come back I will have the ability to quit.

And to top it all off. I ignore most every complement someone gives me. I am cocky, and arrogant, but I generally ignore complements. He gave me a complement today that I cannot ignore. We were talking about something else, and he made a comment that is a complement that has probably got to be the single greatest compliment he could have given me….. We shall see.

Vonage....

I was frustrated, so I wrote this.... and yes I mailed it.



ATTN: Customer Care
23 Main Street
Holmdel NJ, 07733

Dear Sir or Madam.

RE account #: ########

Recently I have run into a problem with you account administrators, customer care, and fraud prevention departments. I do not wish to be a trouble, but believe that my frustration and unhappiness was completely preventable, unnecessary, and avoidable in the future.

What has an apparently happened is that the above account number was forwarded to you fraud department. Apparently in May of 2009 the credit card number and billing name and address was changed. The name it was changed to was, is, a person I have never met, and have never heard of. Naturally, this person is upset that your company charged her card without permission, and has opened a dispute with her credit card company. I think anyone in her position would have done the same thing.

My problem is in the way I was treated by your company. I would like to point out that myself, and with my company have opened almost 20 accounts with your company. At least 10 of these are on the credit card number I provided, and never changed. I pay for the annual plans, and for the most part am very satisfied with your company. I even use you for home service, have signed up 3 family members, and recommended you to literally hundreds of people. My primary business is property management, and we recommend your company to our residents all the time.

I am will no longer rely on your company to use as a recommended provider, as I do not give this on away for just anyone.

The reason is, I have now been called a fraud, accused of shady business, and told I was a liar. This in my opinion is unacceptable under all conditions. Why would I, using my own office telephone number, willingly sign up and charge a complete strangers credit card. My name, mailing address, email address, and a phone number where I can be reached are all associated with this account. Why would a person do this I ask? I guess it happens, but that was not my intention.

I was notified that there was a problem on Friday, May 29th. I called your customer care numerous times, and tried to straighten it up. I over the course of 2 days spoke with at least 6 people who accused me of fraud. I was told they could not fix it, and told to call your fraud department and leave a message for them.

Monday morning I was called by a gentleman named Ron. His direct line was 732-444-####. This was the only person in your company as of now that has been respectful and polite the whole time. I told him I do not understand how this happened, but wanted to fix it. I also told him that your company should reimburse the person that was charged. I also at this time offered to pay any amount due. He said that they would do that through her credit card company, thanked me for calling and was glad to resolve the issue so fast.

About an hour later a man named Freddie, direct line 732-365-####, called and spoke with the person that worked at the number in question. He accused that person of credit card fraud, and said he would shut the account off if I did not call back. Since I was already dealing with Ron, I called him. This was when I was told that Freddie was a supervisor and he transferred me to him.

I was frustrated at for the fifth time being told I was doing credit card fraud. I asked to speak with upper management, as I would like to voice a complaint. I was told there was no one to call, and after pressing the issue told to call a number that eventually lead me to customer care. I asked very specifically who to ask for, and was told “Upper Management”

After getting a run around at that department I was again told that there was only one complaint department, and that was cancellation. I questioned Iris, the lady in this department, why when I asked for someone to talk about my complaint to I was told I could cancel. That did not make since at all to me. She then, after telling me this was a paperless company, provided me with a mailing address. She doesn’t even know if anyone will read this. This is a ridiculous display of customer service, and I consider myself an above average, top customer for a company like yours. Is this a call for me to do business with a local company? They are after all offering a competitive price at Comcast. Tell me why I should sign up another phone number with you, and not them?

Best wishes,


Benjamin A. Crane, ARM®
Coho Real Estate, LLC
4223 12th Ave NE
Seattle WA, 98105
Phone: 425-367-4953
Fax: 425-609-2477
benjaminc@cohorealestate.com

It divided brother agensts brother.

It divided brother agent’s brother.

Most people view the American civil war as the start of a long battle for the freedom of blacks. I know there were a lot of political, social, and economic issues that played into it, but let’s just stick with the liberation of a race of people. So what made one brother fight agents another brother? What divided the family so that they were literally fighting each other? Fighting to the death.

I can only imagine that the dinner table conversations started out about normal things. They could talk about the neighbors, that year’s crops, the dog, and then the school teacher. And then they always turn to politics.

I really wonder, did they argue about the blacks having rights or not. Was some good Christian person standing there arguing with there brother that blacks were worthless and were only good as slaves. Did someone actually take that argument, and get to the point that they would want to kill their own family members because they believed that black people should be or not be free.

They didn’t kill over it, but people used to argue that women were worthless and were not smart enough to vote.

And now, here in our time, people actually argue that we need to limit people’s rights. I recently have watched the divide of my family start to grow. A few years ago, and probably more than a few now, my family was pretty close. We would get together and talk, play games, and talk politics. But that was a happy time. A time when most of us were young and still hadn’t defined ourselves as the individuals we are now.

Not all of us are religious. Right now I think it is 50/50 of my family. 3 are less religious, and 3 are more religious. One of those is fence sitting. And then there are my parents. It is interesting, that the 3 that are becoming less and less religious are actually being driven away from the rest because they are more liberal in their views.

I now have seen the argumentative nature of people grow to the point that divorces are happening. I have seen it come to the point where one time close family members will not talk to each other. I have seen it come to the point where the threat has been given where one person will not allow another into their home if they do not hide their views from plane sight.

The issues, democrat or republican. Pro life or pro choice, and that is an overly simplification of the very complex issue. Gay rights, or to protect the safety and the sanctity of the marriage.

I know there is a very big deference between the civil war, and today. The issue of slavery or gay rights. But lets face it, they are both equal rights issues, just to a different type of people. I personally do not think that everyone choices to be gay. Maybe there are some that like the headaches that you get from it, but I personally think it is the way we are made. I know that you can be born with depression and mental health issues. Myself I was born that way. I also know that I was born with learning difficulties.

I know some people are born with the gift to do complex math in their head. Some people can write, and others cannot. Some people can paint, and I myself cannot draw a line. Some people like blue, and others black.

I believe that the difference between a gay person and a straight person is pretty much the same as someone that likes different colors. I am sure it is more complex than that, but it really is a matter of preference. What do you like? I like gadgets, good books, and movies. I could live without all of these things, but it wouldn’t be the best of lives. I like girls, but I think I could live without them. (LOL) If I was gay I am sure I could force myself to live the life of a straight person, but the quality of my life would not be the best that it could be. Yea, someone could pretend to be straight, they have done it in the past. But why would we limit the possibility of other people’s happiness just because we think it is sinful. If it is at the free will of both parties, and is not endangering the well being of another, then what is wrong with it? A gay person is not the same as a child molester or rapist. Just because I like women, does not make me a rapist.

Let’s say that that lifestyle is a sin, like a lot of people believe. Who are we to force our beliefs on them? If we want to believe it is a sin, then we can do that. By why should we tell other people that believe differently that they are sinning, maybe they do not see it that way.

I could go on and on with this subject. But I just wanted to say, I think I now know how brother fought agent’s brother. I have watched something that is relatively unimportant, divide a family into halves. The fear that the family will fall apart is doing the damage, not the issue that is feared. I do not think that the world will end if we tolerate the god made difference in another person.

I have seen the threat of it do more damage to the family then the issue itself could ever do. This is indeed, very sad and in my opinion very needless.