Mission Accomplished

So everyone probably knows I have issues with the management at my apartment. Before I talk about the recent event where I finally got my point through, let me give you all a background on what has been going on there in the last 2+ years.

One of the girls there is really nice, only because she likes me, but the others are complete block heads that don't understand that I don't want people in my apartment when I'm not there. She asked me once why I don't want anyone in my apartment. Really it's none of her damn business except that I pay rent and I don't like people I don't know in my apartment. But I told her I have assault rifles and I work for the government and that is all she needs to know. Really I don't care who knows what I have, I have an 850 pound safe so no one is getting my guns anyways. Who does she think she is asking me a question like that? Would she like to have strangers in her apartment every time she needs something fixed, unsupervised? I'm not a very trusting person and I don't want people in there, and that's all she needs to know.

I have had several problems with these idiots from management.. Close to two years ago, they send illegals over one morning telling me to open the door. This was two days after they cut my screen without telling me so I filled a police report thinking someone was trying to break in. If it wasn't for the fact that Natalie was over, I would have pulled out my recently purchased AK-74 because they didn't speak a word of English and kept insisting I open the door. After all the drama I had a few months before, I thought people were coming after me. On top of it, they didn't let me know that these people were coming, no note or anything, which is setup for disaster. Once Natalie translated and found out there were re screening my patio, I let them in, but put on my boarder patrol hat to be funny.

Every other place I have lived they let you know a couple weeks in advance when something is going on. Yet here they don't do that. Florida law says you have to give tenants a 24 hour notice. So 24 hour notice is legal, but still it's BS. If they know a month in advance they are going to be working inside the apartments, they need to not wait until last minute to let people know. What if I set all my alarms and head out to Cali and they give me 24 hour notice? How am I suppose to get that notice if I am not there and they leave a note on the door? Then I would get non stop phone calls on my cell phone from my auto dialer and my good friend Phil would be rushing over looking for someone to shoot. These people need to wise up.

Then I asked for an air filter last April and the guy wanted to make an appointment for the maintenance guys to install it. I was going to Key West with my parents and Natalie and didn't want people in so he wouldn't order it. Finally a couple weeks later I had to talk to the girl there to order me one. I don't need someone to go in to pull an air filter out of the wall, and push a new one in. A monkey could do that. They are looking for reasons to enter my apartment and it's pissing me off. I don't know why the first DB didn't understand this and refused to just order the filter. I should have called corporate on him for being a DB.

Then there are the several times I have needed a simple thing fixed and they send a person from corporate and three weeks later my stuff isn't fixed and they throw off the blame. I've had to put in 5 work orders once because they send some idiot from corporate and they keep closing the work orders without fixing the issue. I was really pissed last summer when my AC went out on Thursday and they send this guy from corporate on Friday that says he'll order the part and have it Monday. Monday came and no part. Then I talk to the maintenance manager and he said that guy told everyone the same thing all day, he'll have it fixed Monday, then he didn't put in the orders and went left went back to corporate and left everyone hanging. So I didn't have my AC fixed until a week after I put in the work order.

Then let's not forget last summer when the painters stole my pineapple the day I was going to pick it. 18 months to grow that thing. I don't care if it's a 5 dollar pineapple (that takes 18 months to grow), or an car. Stealing is stealing and these idiots proved they can't be trusted.

These people want to keep trying to do the minimum. They don't understand that I pay to occupy that place and I deserve privacy. They need to do their best to provide enough time where if I want to be there when someone is working I can make those arrangements.

So anyways the most recent event. I come home Monday night and find a note on my door. I didn't read it, it was late and I was tired. The next morning my auto dialer is calling my phone at 09:30. So I call the apartment office to see if someone is working in my apartment. So the girl that is about as smart as soap tells me they are and then starts telling me that they have a right because they gave 24 hour notice. Ok, when I get home at 18:00 and receive a note, and the next morning they are in at 09:30, that is not a 24 hour notice. Leaving a note on someones door on a work day when you know they aren't home is not 24 hour notice. On top of that I doubt they had the note up by 09:30 on Monday. So anyways I had to go home pissed off and use my lunch break to disable my auto dialer.

On top of the fact that they were already in my apartment, they were using my power to power their power tools for use outside of my apartment. So I was a little pissed off Monday. And to make it even worse the idiots destroyed my walls. They needed to install a fire alarm siren and they made 8-10 holes in my kitchen, living room, and hallway doing so, all for one alarm. They patched them, but haven't painted them. And they were so smart that they didn't move anything before drilling, made a mess, and didn't clean it up. I had saw dust and dry wall all of my counters, aquarium, and silverware.

So what to do. Well I decided that since talking to them and letting them know they aren't welcome in my apartment unsupervised isn't working, I'll show them. So you can see what I left on my kitchen table Wednesday morning. On top of that, they already saw my safe. I figure half of these guys are illegals anyways. Wednesday they were in working again and on Thursday I noticed they were all looking at me when I walked to my truck. I didn't think much of it, even though they were even watching as I drove away. Natalie didn't work Thursday, she had the day off, and she said when they came in to do work, they seemed scared and insured her that they will be done quickly.

Then when I get home, I talked to the maintenance manager in the parking lot. He's a nice guy, I don't have a problem with him and he said he heard that they tripped my alarm. I let him know that I think it's unacceptable that they leave a note the day before and what if I was gone. He agreed that they are disorganized.

So for now, I think I seem to have gotten my point through. When I go to pay rent this month I'm going to sit down and have a talk with them about this situation and about them being more prepared and reaching out to keep tenants happy instead of doing the minimum to meet the laws, which I doubt they even did that. After seeing them scared to enter my place yesterday, maybe management will actually listen to me this time. I'm sick of having to justify myself for not wanting complete strangers in my apartment.

I also just bought fake cameras to make them think they are being watched when they work. Hopefully these people aren't smart enough to know any better. Usually these things are hard wired which would be impossible for me to setup in my apartment but maybe they'll be dumb enough to think they are wireless. They even have blinking red motion detector lights to make people think they are real. Only five bucks each, put one in each room.

Miami Is Full Of Strange People

So being that I am a So-Cal native, I had no clue how strange people are here. I'm learning more and more as each day goes on, ever since the arrival of the District Office Chicken, our new mascot here.

The chicken first arrived about 3 weeks ago. I was walking out to grab a soda down the street and while walking out the front door I noticed a chicken standing with his back to the window, chest puffed out, looking towards the street. There are people all around outside, sitting and waiting, and this chicken was not phased by all the action around him. He was standing still and looked like a statue. So I got a little laugh about it. I mean this is a common scene in Key West where you see chickens all over the streets and even on top of the buildings, don't ask me how they get there. But that raises the question of how did this chicken get here, and why did he cross the road.

So a lot of people like the chicken. Customers like to pet it and someone has even been bringing it food and water. The majority of workers here do not want it removed, we want it left alone, it's our mascot and it's kinda funny have a chicken at the front door everyday.

But there are some people here that are superstitious and afraid of the chicken. I had no idea that people in this country are so weird and superstitious. There has been a lot of Santeria talk, a lot of "don't go near that chicken".

Due to all the Santeria talk I have got an even further education of how superstitious people are here. The lady that took the pictures of the chicken started telling me about a goat that was slaughtered at her husbands work, ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement), and how no islanders would go near the thing because they thought it's spirit would get them. Then she proceeded to tell me about the brown bags in the freezer. I guess there was a lady in the office that no one liked so everyone wrote her name on a paper and put it in a brown bag. So this lady telling the story says that she goes to open the freezer and there are 20 brown bags. She tells everyone to take their food home or it's going in the trash. They all freak out and told her those bags have to remain in there forever because it keeps the annoying person away from them and since they have done it she has left them alone. Some kind of Santeria curse. And other people took it even further and took the brown bags to train tracks, not the ones next to the office though because they have to be so far away from the person you want to curse. Then 9 train cars have to run it over and then you can freeze it.

This kind of stuff just baffles me. I mean we are in a day where we drive cars to work. We have technology. We have education, well some of us. And yet so many people in this country believe in the strangest voodoo stuff. I was watching a show about the Machiguenga in the Amazon and they believe that deer spirits can enter a person's body and make them sleep with their own daughters, yet they eat monkeys, which are as close to human as you get. I can understand when people that are living in the rainforest out of society and not educated can believe in something so far fetched, but in the modern world, well it's mind boggling. But ever notice in America there are no 13th floors? Or how many people do you know that are afraid of the number 666. I used to work in a meat department and people would make me put more meat on or take some off if it weighed or cost 666. So stupid. How many times in their life you think they come across that number without even realizing it. I like to mess with people and if I see a chicken at the store that cost $6.66 I buy it and then I get a big smile and say it's my lucky number when they ring it up. I don't believe in superstition at all, it's ridiculous.

Here are some pictures of our famous Immigration Chicken. I think he crossed the road/boarder, to get a visa. We'll see if he gets denied. One of the higher ups isn't so happy about the chicken being here. Everyone else seems to be on my side and want to give this chicken political asylum. Don't deport our chicken, leave him alone.

South Florida Update

So what's going on in South Florida? Well we had one hell of a winter. Yeah I know it wasn't that bad, but for South Florida it was. We had more overnight lows in the 50's than I could ever imagine and the single driest winter on record. Only 18% of our normal rain. It's been dry, brown, ugly, and depressing here. Still 70's everyday, but not as many 80+ days.

Well that all changed last week. We got a low front that brought in rain, it's green again, and the heat is back. Suppose to be near 90 today! I woke up today and it was still 75 at sunrise. A lot of people asked me why I want to move to Florida, it's so hot. Well first off it's not hot, just warm and humid. Second I love it. I love walking out in the morning and feeling the warmth and humidity, I'm like a lizard that likes to bask in the sun. And the humidity really brings out the smell of my jasmines. The first year here was hard to get used to. I moved here from San Diego and the winter here is warmer than San Diego's summer. The water only gets down to 73 in the winter, that is like a warm El Nino year in San Diego. But after adapting let me say I'm loving the weather here and I'm excited about the change this week and the return of the heat and humidity. I'm hoping for a rainy summer, last summer sucked except for the tropical storms and the one day we got 8 inches of rain. The year before we got 18 inches of rain in June and it was nice. I love t-storms, especially when it's a daily thing.

Now what would my blog be without a complaint? I don't understand the people here. I had a friend from EDS. He's the one that told me about Southcom. Well EDS went under about 6 months after I left and he was out of a job because he wouldn't move to Tulsa with them, so I got him over to Southcom and shortly after he got something like a 6K raise. Without my help he could very well be unemployed right now or working in a completely different field. I mean face it, the economy is crap. Instead he's doing even better than he was before and on top of that he has a secret clearance now which is extremely valuable and is major job security in this rough market. Because of my help, he's got a job that is recession proof. Well he's Cuban, or half or something. I have lots of Cuban friends and they all seem to understand my frustration with people not speaking English here. They understand it's nothing personal against them and it's nothing racist. But this guy will defend any Cuban no matter what. A Cuban can murder someone and just because they are Cuban he will defend them like family. I don't understand that mentality. There are plenty of white people I don't like. But no matter what with this guy, Cuban's are his people and no matter what they do he defends them.

Below are some pictures comparing the flooded Everglades a couple months after Fay last year and the same spots this April during the drought.

Pictures from two months after Fay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from this April.

For some reason the alligators were extra shy today and didn't want their pictures taken. I think due to the lack of water they felt out of their comfort zone and were more afraid of humans than normal.

Dried Canal

Borrow Pit Dried Up