9-04 10-04 11-04 12-04 1-05 2-05 3-05 4-05 5-05 6-05 7-05 8-05 9-05 10-05 11-05 12-05 1-06 2-06 3-06
4-06 5-06 6-06 7-06 8-06 9-06 10-06 11-06 12-06 1-07 2/07 3-07 4-07 5-07 6-07 7-07 8-07 9-07 10-07 11-07 12-07 1-08 2-08 3-08 4-08 5-08 6-08 7-08 8-08 9-08 10-08 11-08 12-08 1-09 2-09 3-09 4-09 5-09 6-09 7-09 8-09 9-09 10-09 11-09 12-09 1-10 2-10 3-10 4-10 5-10 6-10 7-10 8-10 9-10 10-10 11-10 12-10 1-11 2-11 3-11 4-11 5-11 6-11 7-11 8-11 9-11 10-11 11-11 12-11 1-12 2-12 3-12 4-12 5-12 6-12 7-12 8-12 9-12 10-12 11-12 12-12 1-13 2-13 3-13 4-13 5-13 6-13 7-13 8-13 9-13 10-13 11-13 12-13 1-14 2-14 3-14 4-14 5-14 6-14 7-14 8-14 9-14 10-14 11-14 12-14 1-15 2-15 3-15 4-15 5-15 6-15 7-15 8-15 9-15 10-15 11-15 12-15 1-16 2-16 3-16

“When I go out at night I like to bring a knife with me” –Dillon
“What kind of a knife” –Me
“A very sharp one.” –Dillon

Friday, 4-29-16: Sox-Yankees!
The Yankees are playing at Fenway vs. the Red Sox, and they had a 2-0 lead until about one minute ago when Jackie Bradley JR his a double off the left field wall that scored 2 and tied it up. Go Sox! In years past it seemed the Sox-Yankees rivalry was more heated, but the games are always still fun to follow. I haven't seen very much of this game because I went to Jester's to help Kat set up her karaoke show, but I plan to watch the rest of the game here at the house before I head back to Jester's in a bit. So far this season the Sox are 12-10 and in second place. 22 games played, 140 still to go. They have some good young players on the team now (Mookie Betts, Xander Boegarts, Brock Holt, etc.) and some veterans who have produced well (David Ortiz in his final season and second baseman Dustin Pedroia.) Unfortunately, the starting pitching hasn't been so great so if that doesn't imporve ASAP it will be another busted season for my favorite baseball team.

I got that apartment rented, the one on the first floor above my gym next to my old apt (Doug and Tommy lived there about a decade ago.) I had a total of nine showings scheduled at the apartment, four Wednesday afternoon and five Thursday morning. I had two no-shows Wed PM and two cancellations Thurs AM so I "only" showed it five different times. However, out of those five showings I got four applications. Not bad! All four of the applicants wanted the place badly, too. Three applicants were college-aged folks and one application was from people who rented from me back in 2010. They moved into my Holyoke house with family members, they signed a 12-month lease, and they moved out after only 3 months. What a bunch of crap! It gets better, though. On their final month there they bounced their rent check that was dated 4-13. EPIC FAIL. I looked that up in their file about 30 minutes before our scheduled showing. The chick called me up like we were buddies and shit, like she had an in with me becase they rented from me before and I was awesome. I agreed to meet with them and show them the place, but in my head I was already thinking DENIED. However, better to give them a chance just in case I get desperate and they do check out as acceptable 6 years later.

The saw the apartment and loved it. They wanted it right then and there and dangled that "We have cash and can pay right now." carrot that never works on me. Don't get me wrong, I love cash and am far from wealthy so it is nice to get paid sooner rather than later, but making a rash decision and doing the "Show me the money and you're in right now" bit is bad business. It's a way to make a bad decision because the good tenants generally won't be so desperate that they need to do that. I make everyone fill out an application and then I tell them thanks now spread out of here and I will call you when I finish up your application. I always try to find the best fit, not the ones who are begging to get in the most.

These former-tenant-Giblets dropped a fail bombshell on my ass at the end of our meeting when I was updating their info (had 6-year old info on file for them.) They said they got evicted from Bangor Housing last September, but it shouldn't have been an eviction and it wasn't their fault. Then they said they owed Bangor Housing $1800 because there was a small hole in the wall that was caused when a nail started to pop out. It was Bangor Housing's fault for using nails, not screws when they installed the sheetrock.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^I'd rather have no tenants than tenants who got the boot from frigging Bangor housing. When you get kicked out of there then you have 100% failed at life.

SWEET! BIG PAPI DAVID ORTIZ HITS A 2-RUN HOME RUN TO LEFT-CENTER OVER THE GREEN MONSTER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE 8TH INNING AND IT'S NOW 4-2 RED SOX. Ortiz is having a great start to his season at age 40, and he has already announced he will be retiring after this season ends. Hopefully he can stay healthy for the season; at age 40 things get harder (trust me both Kat and I know because we're both 40. Hehehehe.)

^BIG PAPI YANKEE-KILLER (older photo.)

In one week I will be finishing up some packing because we are going to leave very early Saturday morning for a week-long vacation to Cancun. I will write about that next time because I want to get out of here and go to Jester's soon. In conclusion, the Sox are about to beat the Yankees, I got new tenants picked out for that apartment, and of course Goonies never say die!

Hey, Kat told me last night there is a book based on The Goonies movie. How cool is that? I would guess the book is based on the movie whereas normally movies get made that are based on books. I never ever knew there was a Goonies book, and that has been my favorite movie for a very long time. Maybe one day I will get it, but probably not because Kat said it's expensive. $200 for a new copy?! What a bunch of crap!

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Wednesday, 4-27-16: Almost turkey season!
I need to buy a hunting license ASAP so I can go turkey hunting next week. Opening day is next Monday May 2, and I plan to head down to the ol' homestead to meet Pop and hopefully Jason so we can spend some quality time in the midcoast woods with our shotguns. The bag limit is two male thunderchickens apiece so hopefully I can put a little meat in the fridge and/or right on the grill. I suck and have almost no wild game left in this house gods damn it. Not shooting a deer last year = what a bunch of crap! I don't even think I shot a turkey. Epic fail.

If time was unlimited I would stay a couple days, but sadly it will only be a day trip. Pop is hardcore and will be in the woods at friggin' 0400. F that! Turkeys are not nocturnal so all I wanna know is why? Why start hunting that early when you can just as easily roast one in a field in the middle of the day? The toms do respond much better to decoys and calls in the AM, though. Usually by later in the day they are "henned up" meaning they have found a nice-looking feathered piece of tail to try and woo.

I did not shoot a turkey last year, but I shot two in 2014! Photo below taken at the ol' homestead by Dad:

^I need to do that again this year!

I wish I had more free time gods damn it. However, I'm not nearly as pwned as I was last fall and even earlier this year. I'm at The Roost in Orono tonight with my laptop PC as I write this bootleg update that two people will ever read. Right now it's not busy, but in an hour it will be getting jammed and I will have to turn people away who want to sing because we'll have a waiting list of 20, each song is 4-5 minutes, and we will get to last call at 0100 before we can get through 100% of the list. This place gets CRAZY busy at the end, and the college kiddos love to get wasted and sing. Good for them! It's a very demanding gig so at least when I come with Kat for this one I can be of some help for part of the time. When it gets busy I keep the board updated and talk to potential singers while Kat queues up the songs, makes the announcements, etc.

I showed a vacant apartment two times today, and one group seems very interested and filled out an application. I had four showings scheduled, but two no-showed. What a bunch of crap! I have five showings lined up for tomorrow morning so if all goes well I will have people picked out by Friday. The Giblet tenants who live there now only gave me a week's notice of their intent to hit the road so they ain't getting all of their security deposit back. I won't keep all the deposit unless they trash the place, and it doesn't look horrible in there. A couple ceiling tiles are dented, but those are around $2 each. A door might have to be replaced if I can't fix it, $50 for that. If they don't clean well then bye bye some more deposit money, too. No major damaged caused by them so I'm thinking they will get a few hundred back of the $977 I have of their deposit now.

^FOR RENT. (Doug and Tommy's old apartment many years ago. Photo is from 2006!)

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Sunday, 4-24-16: Apt for rent.
Yesterday afternoon just as I put the finishing touches on the west-facing siding on our house I got a text message from one of my tenants. He got a job offer that he couldn't pass up so they are out of there by the 1st. OMG THANKS FOR THE 7-DAY NOTICE YA FUCKIN' DINK. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Oh well, a 7-day notice is better than a no-day notice and this time of year I shouldn't struggle too much to find replacements. I hope!

The timing of these Giblets wanting to move out is not great, but it's far from a worst-case scenario. I do have a $970 security deposit that I can mostly keep if I can't find replacements. If I get less than 30-days notice then it should not be expected that a full deposit gets returned. I won't screw then over out of all their deposit unless they leave the place a shit-show, though. That's just not good business. In a perfect scenario I'll be able to find good people who want to move in around May 6th, just before we leave to go on our family vacation. That should give me a few days early next month to paint, clean, etc. The bathroom also needs a little work including a new floor. Hopefully the place is not left a total mess; I don't think they will leave the apartment as a war-zone because they have incentive to get their deposit back. I was just in the place a couple weeks ago and it didn't look horrible. However, I won't know for sure until around this time next week when they are moved out.

I've been doing the rental property (slumlord!) business for almost 12 years, and until today I've never drawn a floor plan to accompany an ad. I have posted room dimensions, videos, and lots of photos, but I am hoping this added representation helps people to decide if the place will be a good fit for them or not:

It's not drawn to scale at all, but it's fairly close. The apartment is actually the one Doug lived in many years ago, and it has seen a lot of different people in the 11+ years that I have owned the building. I haven't had to advertise the place since August of 2012. Wow! When you can get a few years out of a place with the same tenants then you're doing alright. Since August 2012 that apartment has had a small revolving door of different roommates, but they've always paid and been decent. First was Jake, Calvin, and Jon. Then Jon left and Ty came. Ty left and Todd moved in. Then Todd's chick moved in, too. Then Jake moved out and Kelsey moved in. Since then Todd and his chick have pumped out a kid. That's a lot for not quite 4 yrs, but when I lived in that building I had many different roommates come and go so I totally understand.

It sucks dealing with the apartment turnover that will pull me away from working on this place again, but I'm not really upset about it. Just the cost of doing business, no worries. In a way it's a benefit because I will list it at a higher price point and see what I get. Plus I can do the bathroom floor and give it some TLC while it is vacant. That bathroom floor has been on my list for 1.5 months, but it's hard to coordinate that job with tenants who have a tiny little baby and who all work different days and different shifts. Now the place will be empty for a few days (or more) so I won't be under as much pressure to make it happen so quickly. No pets, babies, or Giblet-Heads to potentially walk through wet floor tile glue, etc.

I cruised the listings to see what else is out there for rents in this town, and as always the diversity is stunning. I see a 3BR listed for only $750 on Center St, but heat is not included, there are no photos, and Center Street isn't the best even here in Brewer (Center in Bangor is worse!) All I wanna know is why? Why would a potential landlord not post photos in an ad these days? Mind = blown. Most cellphones can take pictures these days! That is an epic fail for sure and if I were a potential renter I would avoid any ad that lacks photos.

On the higher end of the scale is a 3BR for a whopping $1500 a month. OMG. For a house, maybe. For an apartment, WTF?! It is supposedly 1230 square feet as opposed to mine at 1000 square feet, but I am asking way less for mine by A LOT. The photos make the place look decent, but for that price it should look like the fucking Ritz. Plus check out their strict pet policy:

DOGS are allowed with proof of RENTERS INSURANCE. 50 lbs (some exceptions can be made) or under ARE ALLOWED WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE FOLLOWING BREEDS: Pit Bulls, Dobermans, Chows, Akitas, Malamutes, Wolf Hybrids, Boxers and Huskies. Any violation of this provision will be grounds for eviction and will also subject the Tenant to a liquidated damages obligation in an amount equal to one month's rent. WE HAVE A STRICT POOP AND SCOOP POLICY!! VIOLATORS WILL BE FINED OR EVICTED!

Oh, there is a $300 nonrefundable pet deposit, too. Mine is only $100, and it is refundable. I've always been pet friendly because that gives me a competitive advantage to a small degree. I definitely do NOT allow smoking inside any apartments, though. I do draw the line somewhere.

I will be pricing my apartment at $920 per month with heat included and can lower the price if I don't get much response. I expect at that price point it will go quickly, though. At least I hope it does!

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Friday, 4-22-16: Feels good to be a "free" man. Oh, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary!
It sure feels good to be all done doing taxes for the year. It's GREAT. Overall it was a good tax season, my personal best in terms of tax returns done and net revenue. It started with a bang and I was super busy through the middle of February, but then things slowed down and the end of the season was less stellar. However, as a whole I can't really complain. I thought I had a chance to make a massive bonus goal when business was really rocking two months ago, but even though I didn't hit that 60k/8% magical bonus level I still should end up with an overall bonus check that is around $1000 more than my bonus from last season. Oh Jesus, hell ya! plus my overall client satisfaction results were so good that I won some huge contest that I didn't even know I was enrolled in. Sweet! Hopefully that guarantees me a job with JH next season if I want it, and it seems likely I will.

I was still able to use the gym on a regular basis during the tax season thanks in large part to the relative ease that was the apartment rental business. I had no tenant turnover and no huge issues to solve, nothing that took up tons of my precious... precious time. I had a few small plumbing issues, a couple no-heat calls, and the usual small stuff. Tenant turnover in the middle of winter sucks a lot so I am thankful to have had a good winter for Bootleg Properties. It was a milder than average winter with below average snowfall, too. Oh Jesus, hell ya!

The Red Sox are up 4-0 in Houston, and the Celtics are winning at halftime in Boston vs. Atlanta in the first round of their playoffs. The Celtics are down 2 games to 0 so tonight is pretty much a must-win for them. I'm not a huge NBA fan, but the playoffs are watchable from time to time. I was watching the Sox, but I flipped to the basketball game for a few just to check in. Kat is at Jester's and I am at the house hanging out with Copperpot for a bit before I head back to the bar around 2230.

Kat and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary on Tuesday. Being married for a year = awesome! Kat is an amazing person, and I am so lucky to have found her. We spend the day Tuesday together and had a nice date where we ate a lovely Wendy's dinner and watched Batman vs. Superman in the theater. (Oh, we also watched WWE Monday Night RAW on the DVR that morning. Hehehehe.) That movie made a shitload of money at the box office, but in my humble opinion it was not great. Not bad, just not great. However, the day was special because I spent it with my Sweet Pea. We could have watched paint dry all day and it would have been all good in my world since I was with my awesome wife all day.

Over the past three days I resumed work on the house. On Wednesday I spent a few hours mudding and sanding upstairs. I also installed some insulation and started a bit of sheetrock in what will be the pantry up there. Here is what Dillon's soon-to-be bedroom looked like as of a few hours ago:

There are two coats of mud on all the walls, three in a few spots. I still need to install a little more insulation in the ceiling, but that shouldn't take too long. I'll work inside on crappy weather days and outside on nice weather days so I haven't touched any interior work since Wednesday because the last two days have been great. Yesterday was sunny and 73. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I got some sun and am starting to form a base tan already; thankfully I haven't burned. A bad sunburn = what a bunch of crap!

I spent a few hours each of the last two days working on the west-facing siding. I had to take a serious inventory of my existing supply of siding because I didn't want to run out before I got to the peak on that side. The existing siding is ever so slightly off color from the new stuff that I have bought so it needs to match evenly on each side. Take a look at what it looks like now:

From the photo you can't tell at all, and from the naked eye it is very difficult to tell, but the siding on the driveway side is brand new and just a tiny bit more brown than the siding on the existing house off to the very left and the siding off to the very right (the west side.) The west side already had vinly siding installed up to the top of the bottom window because that was the footprint of the old garage. I've worked my way up all the way to the top windows since yesterday on that side, and tomorrow I should be able to finish that west side entirely. I had a pile of the old siding because I saved some from what I removed, and there was some spare siding in the garage that the previous owners left. Nice! I'll need new siding for the south and east sides, but that can wait until later this spring.

If all goes great then I could actually finish all the siding tomorrow on the north and west sides. The weather will be decent so hopefully I can bang it out. I could have finished it all today, but I only worked on it for 3.25 hours total. Oh well, sometimes 2-hour lunch breaks, naps, and racquetball will use up my precious... precious time and I am ok with that. I feel no sense of huge urgency on this home remodel at all because I need to make sure I enjoy life and spend time with my wife and best friend. Plus I want to hit the gym, jog, and relax. If I work on the house for a few hours a day a few times a week I should have the thing close to done by the time summer rolls around. If things stay easy with the rental properties then I will have plenty of time to work on the house, but if I get some major happenings with the apartments then that will pull me away from the house and that will suck. A lot.

The Celtics had a 20-point lead, but Atlanta has cut that lead down to 64-57 with several minutes left in the 3rd. What a bunch of crap! I don't think the Celtics have a snowflake's chance in hell of making it to the NBA finals, but I hope they do. Seems like Golden State has the best chance to win it all since they had a BEAST MODE season.

The Red Sox are now up 5-0. They need a win to reach 8-8 for the season. Sometimes the Sox have dominated, but other times they have gotten crushed. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, they play 162 games so at this point it's too early to tell what kind of season they will have.

I don't feel like writing anymore on this bootleg blog that about 2 people will ever read. I wanna veg out, play with Copperpot, and then go down to Jester's for a bit so I can see my awesome wife. Drop and give me 25, maggots!

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Monday, 4-18-16: My final few hours of work.
I'm shovelling in a tuna sandwich at work here in my little bootleg Jackson Hewitt tax office inside the WalMart, and I've done a couple tax returns already. Today is the tax filing deadline! Well, sorta. Since today is Patriots Day Maine and Mass get until the 19th as the filing deadline. However, today is my last day because Lucas is working tomorrow and I thank the gods who do not exist for that. I didn't even want to work today, and I damn sure don't want to work tomorrow. My ass is DONE. I'm not bitter at all; it's been a great job. I just am ready to put it in the rear-view so I can focus on other things.

When it's all said and done I will have ended up working less hours this season than I did last season. I worked 652 hours last year, and if I leave around 1500 today I'll have about 593 hours total. That's a sizeable difference considering this season was 4 days longer, but for me it was perfect. I skated off a lot these past two weeks because Lucas got assigned to this office and he wanted as many hours as possible. That was perfect for me because I only wanted to work about 25-30 total hours. Nice! I would have worked more if it was busy, but we had a slow end to the season so no sense sitting around doing noting for all those extra hours. Even though I worked about 59 fewer hours this season I will make close to the same total income as last year because my bonus will be much higher. I did a lot more returns this year than I did last year so pretax my bonus should be well over $2000. Oh Jesus, hell ya!

Sometimes at the end of a tax season I have a long list of other things to do, but this year isn't too shabby. The remodel at the house will take a long time to finish, but I will have a lot more free time with which to work. I've had to deal with an infestation of ground wasps at the house across the street from my office, but that hasn't cost me too much of my precious... precious time. Those little fuckers were everywhere over there! I had to spend yesterday morning at first light filling in what seemed like hundreds of holes with ground wasp killer. This is what their burrows look like:

^GTFO! The holes look like larger versions of ant hills. Spraying in the evening/night/early morning gets most of them because they are home then. I do feel like a dink creating a mass yellowjacket genocide, but I don't have another viable option. They need to spread out and I can't exactly post an eviction notice that they will comprehend. I talked to the tenant there this morning, and she said she hasn't seen as many. Then she told me about the ghosts in her home and how two people have died in that home in the way past. What a bunch of crap! Supposedly ghost hunters are coming back there next Sunday to perform rituals and shit to evict these ghosts. They better not send me a bill because my ass is NOT paying for ghost evictions gods damn it!

^Maybe 5 cans of wasp killer in 2 days was overkill, but I have 4 more new cans on standby just in case. Hehehe. They need to sell GHOST REPELLANT in cans like that, too.

Yesterday was a perfect early spring day. We hit 70 degrees and spent most of the afternoon outside; I even got a little color. Thankfully no burns, though. My pasty-white ass needs to get a good base tan before we leave for a trip to Cancun in just under three weeks. We also took Copperpot to the park to have a play date!

On the right is Tripp, a 6.5-month old male Golden Retriever that some our acquaintences recently added to their home. (Copper turns exactly 5 months old today.) Both puppies got along great and burned a lot of energy at the park. We spent over an hour there watching the dogs play and hanging out with our friends. Overall Copper got a lot of exercise yesterday (we took him for an afternoon walk) but he was still up at 0620 this morning! Oh well, I was ready to get up anyway.

^Copper yesterday at the park. He's a fantastic dog!

I am VERY excited for this tax season to be over. I might not do another return this year. If I do then great more bonus money for me, but if not that is A-okay. It's 1226 now so I still have time to get a few more tax returns done if we get swamped.

Tomorrow is our 1-year anniversary. Oh Jesus, hell ya! I plan to buy my Sweet Pea a couple gifts, and tomorrow we will try to go out for a date. I'll actually go buy her gifts shortly since there are no customers and we are right here in the store. I also need to pay my state taxes due of $196 and maybe throw a couple hundred at the IRS. We owe the IRS $1503 this year, but I ain't paying that all off right now. F that! Owing on taxes sucks. It's a bunch of crap!

Alright scumbags, all two of youz, the next time I update this turd my seasonal Jackson Hewitt tax job will be over. Goonies never say die!

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Friday, 4-15-16: The tax filing deadline... NOT. Oh, I'll be missing the canoe race.
Normally today would be the tax filing deadline, but this year the deadline is next Tuesday the 19th. What a bunch of crap! It sucks when the deadline is extended because that means my season is also extended. I'd prefer to just be all done at this point; thankfully after today I only have to work tomorrow and Monday. Lucas is going BEAST MODE on his hours and is working a shitload so he can cover most of the load. Better him than me!

I just filed our own taxes, and we will owe the state $196 and the IRS $1503. What a bunch of crap! However, it is far better than my damage from last year when I owed over $4000 combined state and federal and filed as single with no dependents. Being married helped a lot this time around. We claimed $500 in energy credits for the new heating system and hot water tank, windows, insulation, doors, etc. on the house so that helped a lot, too. Full price for our own tax return this year would have been $760. OMG WTF?! Thankfully with my employee discount it ended up costing a mere $15. Free would have been better, but I'll take $15 any day.

I actually filed our taxes yesterday, but the IRS rejected the return because I had wrong social security numbers entered for Daniel and Katherine. Epic fail. I forgot I just put a placeholder SSN in there back in Feb when I was drafting the return. Today things went through just fine; when you fuck up your own tax return that is all bad. I need to do better gods damn it.

In other news, the forecast ain't too shabby:

I'm only on the schedule until 1500 today so I hope to get out with enough free time to go for a jog and walk Copper to the park. I have a tenant who supposedly has a hornet infestation in her entire yard so I have to take a look at that, too. The weather has been great the last few days with the weekend looking even better. It was "only" 50 degrees for a high temp on Wednesday when I went for a jog, but the sun was out and the winds weren't too bad so it felt nice. Hopefully I can start working on my tan soon so I don't turn into a lobster when we go to Mexico next month. That vacation will be from May 7-14th, and we're all very excited for it. Looks like the weather will be good tomorrow for the Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race. Unfortunately, my ass has to work all gods damned day so there is no prayer of taking part in the festivities this time around. This will be my second consecutive year missing the race. What a bunch of crap! Last year I was busy getting married and this year I can thank the extended tax season for the loss. Oh well.

^Gavin and I did the race together in my raft two years ago in high water. It took longer in the raft than it would have in the canoe, but the raft did great in the rapids, especially at 6-mile falls. If my memory is right I've done the race 7 times in the past. Yup, I just checked the archives of this bootleg site that almost no one reads. Phil and I did it in 2005, 2006, and 2008 (I was sick in 07 I think.) Jeremy and I did it in 2009 and 2010, and Gav and I did it in 2013 and 2014. I can't remember why I skipped 2011 and 2012. When Phil and I did the race together we actually tried to win and got a couple trophies, but ever since then it's been all about the fun and less about the competition.

I'm a little bummed out that I won't be doing the canoe race again, but oh well it won't ruin my weekend at all. It's not a top priority in my life so next year if things fall into place for me then I will try to do it and if not no big deal. I should look at the 2017 calendar now just to see when the race will be and when tax season ends... guy looks now. The race is usually the third Saturday in April so next year it will be April 15. Fuck! That means the tax deadline will probably be the 17th or 18th so it's extended again and I probably can't do the race. What a bunch of crap!

I'm hoping to get back to work on the house remodel in a few short days. I haven't touched it at all since Monday; I have one full coat of mud in the second bedroom and a second coat in spots. Finding room to store all my tools and materials has been a little challenging, but I have found a way to make it work. The upstairs hall area where the kitchenette will be is full of tools and supplies:

No room to move in that space. What a bunch of crap! The second bedroom where I have been doing all the mudding and taping over the past week is off to the left.

I suppose I'm all done for the day. The end. I'll hopefully update this turd-heap again one more time before my last day of work in 2016 at Jackson Hewitt. If not I'll have a lot more free time for bootleg crap blogs that two people will ever read next week. Goonies never say die!

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Saturday, 4-09-16: I'm stuck at work extra today gods damn it. Oh, we watched the new Star Wars.
I'm on the schedule for a 0900-1800 shift today. Long day for a Saturday. All I wanna know is why? Why do we gotta keep this joint open so late if no customers are here? The last appointment for the day can be made through our website and call center for as late as 1630 so should we not close at 1700? The sign on my door still says we close at 1700 so I should just leave early. Lucas was supposed to be on for a 0900-1900 shift today so I didn't even care because I was planning to leave around midafternoon, but now my ass is stuck since they sent him to cover Brewer again. What a bunch of crap!

Looks like I'll end up with about 32 hours for the week. Still not terrible all things considered. At one point last week around this time I was schedule for 59 hours so I should thank the gods who do not exist that I didn't actually have to be here for all that time. I've done two tax returns today and put another one on hold, but it's 1400 now and in the five hours I've been here I've only had customers at the desk for about 1.5 total hours. I have had some other things to work on, but now I am just hanging out until hopefully more customers show up. Doing another couple for the day would be great, but as each hour passes that becomes less and less likely.

Thankfully I have the next two days off. Nice! I will use the gym and work on the house; so far this month I've done great in the gym. Actually, ever since the latter part of last month I have been hitting the gym quite regularly. The weather has been a toilet so I haven't jogged at all yet this month, but I have lifted plenty of weights and played racquetball. Sucks this month is off to such a bootleg start in the weather department. It's mostly been cold and windy. Last week some major west winds from a cold front did this to the tree out front:

^WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Free firewood? Um, no. The city actually came and took it away. OMG. I am glad they carted it off so I don't have to deal with it, but that is nice maple that burns great so bye bye firewood that I could have cut up and used. On Thursday we had another massive rain storm with epic wind that knocked out our power for a few hours from 2030-midnight. What a bunch of crap! It also tore off some shingles at the roof of the property I manage, and that is totally not cool considering it was a BRAND FUCKIN' NEW ROOF just a few months ago. What a bunch of crap! I'll have to fix that tomorrow or Monday and post photos of that epic fail. Thankfully the weather will begin to improve and hopefully by this time next week we are nearing 60 degrees.

Copperpot is still doing great. Most days I can get him to the park even if the weather is less than ideal. I didn't take him on Thursday because the weather was fucked, and today will be hard if I don't get home until 1815. Thankfully it gets dark later now so I might still have time to take him even then.

^Last week in the bedroom. He's surrounded by his toys having himself a grand time.

^Thursday upstairs when I was finishing up for the day on the home remodel. That's in Dillon's future bedroom, the driveway side new bedroom. I should be able to start mudding in that room tomorrow and Monday.

Kat and I finally watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Wednesday night. We had planned a date night where we could go see it in the theaters back in Dec/Jan, but she was not feeling well on days we had free so we never ended up going. We watched the movie on Blu-Ray at the house, and I gotta admit it wasn't too shabby. In fact I'd go as far as to say it was a good flick. Solid 7 or 8 on a scale of 1-10. Not as good as the originals and never expected to be as good, but exponentially better than the rotting sewage that were the prequals 10-15 years ago.

WARNING SPOILERS TO COME BELOW.

The movie had some great things going for it. I love the scenery of the crashed Star Destroyers in the desert, and of course the Millenium Falcon had to make its glorious return to the franchise:

The empire created a new weapon that made the old Death Star look like a cosimc pea-shooter. It's an entire planet that can eat a sun and then ejaculate out all that energy in the form of a planet-killing death ray. Badass! Does it make any sense at all? Nope! Do I care that it makes no sense at all? Nope! However, this was one questionable moment:

It's not the best screen cap, but it's all the bad guys mustered on their death-planet-base standing in formation as the planet's sun-jizzing weapon blows its load. Seems to me like maybe, just maybe the guys in the back row of that formation would be instantly incinerated and everyone else would get a severe case of sunburn and/or instant death. The energy of AN ENTIRE FUCKING SUN is literally blowing out of that hole right behind them. Maybe their base has special deflector shields to protect the men? Maybe I should stop thinking about it when we are talking about a fictional world where this can live in the middle of a bigass desert:

^Sarlaac Pit, the perfect place to dispose of your enemies so they can be slowly digested over the course of 1000 years!

Han Fuckin' Solo and Chewbacca came back to party:

Oh Jesus, hell ya! I guess at some point between Star Wars 6 (ROTJ) and Star Wars 7 (this one) Han and Leia pumped out a couple kids, and one of them turned way evil. Through a series of convenient plot devices Han and Chewy get dragged back into this new resistance and towards the end of the flick Han comes face to face with his son. He tries to help the kid, but all he gets for his trouble is a light saber through the heart and tossed into a chasm. OMG. HEY DISNEY MOVIE WRITERS TOTALLY NOT COOL OF YOU TO KILL HAN SOLO. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! That would have been an OMG moment for Kat and I for sure, but Han's death was spoiled for us last month or the month before by some form of social media or something. I dunno because fuck social media I never use it, but Kat told me the spoiler and I am thinking it came from Failbook or something. What a bunch of crap!

At the end of the movie we get to see Luke Skywalker hanging out on an island of solitude off the cost of Ireland in a galaxy far, far away. The main chick in the movie goes to find his ass because no one knew were he went, but there were maps and the maps got together and made a maplet that showed them all the way to the the FORCE KING SKYWALKER.

Luke Skywalker is no longer a whiny little bitch like he was in 1977. Now he's a badass who also looks like someone who could be featured on an episode of BAR RESCUE. I'm guessing he does a lot of drinking on that island. He left because something went to hell in a handbasket when he was training new Jedi. Kat and I think the chick who found him is his daughter, but that fact is never confirmed. The movie ends right after we see Luke so there will obviously be a part 8. In fact, I believe a part 9 will come after that as well as some more spinoffs.

In conclusion, the new Star Wars isn't a perfect movie but it is damn good. I'm totally bummed that Han Solo died, though. What a bunch of crap that is! Hopefully Luke comes back to kick ass and chew bubblegum in part 8 and he will be all out of bubblegum. They should call part 8 Star Wars: Luke Will Get Sober (and laid.)

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Friday, 4-08-16: Another room 100% sheetrocked.
I blew off work yesterday at JH because... fuck it! I wanted to work on the house more than I wanted to go and sit on my ass in the JH tax office for the day. Lucas was on duty all day yesterday, and there were no appointments scheduled so there was absolutely no need for us to both hang out at work all day. He ended up not doing any tax returns yesterday at all. What a bunch of crap for him! In hindsight I am glad I stayed home because I got a good amount done on the house, I played racquetball, and I didn't feel pressed for time at all.

So instead of hanging out and doing nothing in the tax office I got this done at our house:

Pictured above is the second bedroom in the upstairs area of the new addition to our house. I have all the sheetrock up, and most of the insulating is also done. I plan to do a drop ceiling in that room just like I've done in most of the addition so that saves me a lot of work on the overhead section. Suspended ceilings rule!

I had originally planned to finish that upstairs bedroom around the end of this month or into early May before we leave to go on our family vacation, but if I stay on this pace I'll have it done by the last week of the month. Mudding and taping will take a while, but thankfully doing a suspended ceiling saves me a TON of time on the overall sheetrock work. If I can get it 100% mudded, taped, and sanded by around the 23rd then it should only take a couple days to paint, do the ceiling, and install the floor and trim. Once that room is done we can have Dillon move up to it, and Kat will finally have her DJ studio. Oh Jesus hell ya! (Dillon is using her studio as a bedroom now until I finish the upstairs.)

I'm in the tax office now, and for once I finally came in at 0900. They changed the start time from 1000 to 0900 almost two weeks ago, but I had still been coming in at 1000 because I have other shit to do in the early morning (take Katherine to school, use the gym, take care of misc. rental property stuff, take Copper to the park.) So far the only customer I've had has been one whose return got chowdered last month when our resident epic failer tax preparer got his hands on her stuff. He did her taxes, but he blew it. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully I was able to help her. The aforementioned epic failer tax preparer actually got fired last week. Apparently he was caught asleep in his kiosk so they sent his ass home and told him don't bother coming back. AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DISAPPEAR, SCUMBAG. He was seriously the worst tax preparer I have ever seen in my life. Good riddance to his loser ass.

I'm down to only 6 more work days after today here at the tax office, and I plan to coast to the finish line. I was supposed to work with Lucas today, but they sent him over to Brewer to cover a call-out so I am flying solo. I'm out at 1500, but I might stay a bit longer to cover the office. I don't want to stay longer, but if there are customers it's ok. if it's dead then I will be out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I still have a couple rents to collect and a small repair to do at a rental property (door won't latch) so I don't want to be here all gods damned afternoon. F that!

I talked to Lucas this morning, and he said he wants as many hours as he can get so that's great for me. If I can work around 25-30 hours next week total then that's good enough. If it gets way busy and I am needed more then that's fine, too. Either way I win because as long as Lucas is here and it's slow I can leave. My last day is Monday the 18th, and I am scheduled to work a 0900-2000 that day. It's a long work day, but I'm sure I won't actually work until 2000 because Lucas will be here all day as well.

The 18th will be my last day and the 19th is our 1-year anniversary. Oh Jesus, hell ya! We had talked about getting a hotel with a jacuzzi tub or something like that, but we might just stay home. I shopped online for different places locally, but the options were mostly shit, shit, and more shit. No sense staying at the Econo-Lodge if it won't feel special.

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Monday, 4-04-16: Schedule changes = win for me!
I like this seasonal JH job, but sometimes the management makes no sense at all in their decisions. My coworker quit last Friday so I got a txt Saturday afternoon to check my schedule cause there were changes. (Mass txt sent to others as well I think.) I looked to see I was scheduled for 59 hours each week for the final two weeks of the season. OMG 59 HOURS F THAT I WOULD LOVE THE PAY BUT I WOULD LOVE ALL THE HOURS LESS. NO THANK YOU AND WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP ALL ROLLED UP INTO ONE.

I got an email on Sunday saying more schedule changes were ordered from the top brass so I checked again and was delighted to see this:

Oh Jesus, hell ya! I'm only scheduled for 32 hours next week. I might have to stay longer than 1500 next Thursday and Friday if it's busy, but I bet I can find a way to get off early on Tuesday and Saturday. Jenn was my coworker who quit last Friday, but they convinced her to come back for a couple more short shifts so that's a win for me this week, too. Having her back means I can get out at 1730 instead of 1900 on Wednesday. If all goes as planned my days of working until later in the evening are almost over. I hope!

The Red Sox begin their baseball season today in Cleveland, but the weather is a toilet so the game will probaby not happen. What a bunch of crap! April has not had a good start in the weather department at all for us in the Northeast. Hopefully things get a lot better later in the month.

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Friday, 4-01-16: Friday night routine.
I'm in my bootleg office for this Crappy blog update that two people will ever read, myself included. It's 2200 and soon I will head over to Jester's, but first I had to stop by the office to check my mail and rent drop box. I used to have more money and not care as much whether or not I had any rents paid exactly on the 1st, but these days I'm not as ghetto fabulous as I used to be so having rents in the drop box/mailbox on or before the 1st is a major win. I get some rents via regular mail, some via checks left in my padlocked drop box, and some via cash paid directly by tenants. Normally the rent checks come before the cash. For those who do pay cash I meet directly and write a receipt on the spot in case of any discrepancies. I have a couple tenants who always pay between the 29th-31st, a couple more who pay exactly on the 1st, a couple more who have their shit taken care of by the 2nd or 3rd, and the ones who suck at personal finance and who wait until closer to the 7th to square up. My rents are not considered past due until the 8th, but I do offer incentive to several of the tenants who pay early. For those tenants if rent is paid on or before the 1st there is a $20 discount. For example, at my Bangor duplex the front 3BR apt rent is $890 a month heat included. However, it's "only" $870 if paid no later than the 1st of each month.

The $20 off incentive costs me some money, but not really because I have only implemented that incentive to newer tenants, and I have increased the asking rent in those particular units. For example, in the aforementioned apartment at this time last year rent was $850 per month. Now I get $870 on about the 30th of each month because the tenants there are smart enough to pay early to save $20. Oh Jesus, hell ya! It's a win for me and a win for them. If they wait and pay $890 on the 7th it's still a win for me. It's smart business when you can give tenants a choice that benefits both them and you. Wish I could do that more.

My JH co-worker quit tonight. What a bunch of crap! She has a regular full-time job, a wife, and two teenage sons so she doesn't have time for JH. Plus the nail in the proverbial coffin is the fact that management is mostly epic fail this year. Thankfully I know what the fuck I am doing; I know how to do taxes and I know how to run a business so I don't need management to help me too much. They just set me loose and I dominate. I run the second busiest location in the entire fucking state mostly by myself and with no receptionist. Like a boss. I make JH a lot of money, and I make myself a decent amount as well so that is a win-win. Sometimes the managers do stupid shit like decide to open at 0900, but I handle that in the best way possible. The 0900 start time took effect the week, but I said a silent "Fuck that" to myself (and to the two of you!) and still clocked in at 0955 each day. Screw coming in at 0900 to sit around and do nothing gods damn it. I will go in earlier nearer the tax filing deadline when we are very busy, but not now.

I am disappointed that my coworker pulled chocks because she did a good job. Her and I have a good rapport so she texted me her decision earlier this evening, but I knew it was coming so there was no shock. I had to beg her to stay just last month, but finally she could not take the pressa. Now I have no one to come in at 1730 to take over for me. What a bunch of crap! Oh well, I will still leave because I ain't working 70 hours a week for the next two weeks. The paycheck would be awesome, but the sacrifice would not be worth it. On a side note, it makes me wonder how badly her ex husband had to epic fail at life to have his former wife turn into a lesbian and marry another chick. I have no problems with that whatsoever, but at some point she was married to a man and she pumped out two kids so wtf happened? If my wife left me for another chick I would probably shoot myself in the face with my model 870.

So this is my last weekend off until... lemme check I still have March up on my wall calendar. Last month I had February up until about March 10. What a bunch of crap! Looks like April 23-24th will be my next full weekend off if all goes as planned. I'll be working 6 days a week at JH for the next two weeks. (Two weeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkksssssssssssssss.) What a bunch of crap! Oh well, that was my schedule before my coworker quit anyway.