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"No problem of human making is too great to be overcome by human ingenuity, human energy, and the untiring hope of the human spirit." -Former president George H.W. Bush (RIP)

Monday, 12-31-18: My final bootleg update of 2018.
All I wann know is why? Why do I still update this bootleg piece of shit that two people will ever read? I guess it keeps me sane. Maybe? Hopefully! It helped get me through what started off as an easy 2018 and what ended as a challenging 2018. This North Main property has been hanging over my head, and I need to get it wrapped up ASAP so it doesn't put a wrench into much of my 2019.

I don't have any new photos to post of that North Main property because I've only worked there for a total of three hours since my last update Friday night. What a bunch of crap! I worked this weekend, but it was at the vacant 3BR apt over above my gym. Bruce and Kevin were there most of yesterday reworking drain plumbing and installing new faucets for the kitchen and bathroom in that apt. Kevin did the faucets and Bruce did the PVC drain/stinkpipe stack that flows through part of the gym. Redoing that has been on my list for months, and with that vacant apt now is the time to take care of all that stuff.

^That piping to the right of the mirror/clock is now out of my way and no longer duct taped in places and slightly leaking in others. I don't think I have a photo of the old drain line there, but it was a bootleg bunch of crap. I was the one who duct-taped it many years ago hahaha. Hey, it mostly got the job done.

I plan to wall off that gap there between the mirror and the chimney, and tonight I *might* go over there and work on it some. With the pipes done I can now finish the gym ceiling all the way over to that area now, too. Most likely if I do go over there later I will work on the ceiling since I can drink and do that without screwing it up too much. Kat's working at Jester's tonight for their New Year's Eve party so it will be a late night. I feel pretty well-rested since I took a little nap earlier. Hopefully I don't drink too much tonight so I don't waste most of tomorrow away.

This morning I put most of the finishing touches on that vacant apartment, and I have new photos to post for a new ad tomorrow. I did two showings yesterday, but so far I just can't get that perfect fit. I had two people who seemed super-excited for the place a few days ago, but sadly I had to decline that application. No tenant is better than a potential bad tenant.

^Master BR ceiling looks great now. That room will show much better with fresh paint, new trim, and a new light fixture as well.

^That fake-brick moulding was Doug's idea back when he lived there (2005?), and I was the installer. It has held up well over the past 13-ish years. Some people seem to love it, and other people think it kinda sucks. I don't mind it, but if the apartment still doesn't rent by mid-Jan then I guess I will have to do some more remodeling in there to include four new interior doors (3 bedrooms and bathroom) and possibly a brighter kitchen. Hopefully I can get it rented ASAP becuse this vacancy is giant bunch of crap!

Okay shitheels, all two of youz, I am back for a final little blog before I go to Jester's. It is 2222, 10:22PM for you useless civilians. When we set up a couple hours ago the bar was dead, but now Kat says it is pretty full. Great for her because more patrons = more money. However, not necessarily great for me if there is no place to hang out. When that bar is packed-full then there is no room and that is a bunch of crap. I like to actually have a barstool to sit at or at the very least a corner to stand in. Oh well if it's packed full I'll make it work like always.

In less than two hours 2018 is dust in the wind. Nothing but a memory that I will mostly forget in the coming years unless I can read the archives of this shitty bootleg site. I don't have concrete New Year's resolutions, but as usual I will hit the gym a little harder and maybe clean up my diet just a tad. I just ate the last piece of cheesecake from Christmas; it was almost a week old but not yet moldy so hopefully I don't die. I am OK with eating old food, I do it a lot, but when things get close to that week-old level then it can end badly depending on the food. If I start 2019 with food poisoning then I will hate myself. A lot. The cheesecake was delicious, though!

I'll eat a little healthier at least to start the year. This past week I haven't eaten too healthy, but it hasn't been a total failure. I bought more tuna fish, cottage cheese, and baked beans today. All three of those foods are epic wins for the overall diet. Maybe not the tuna, that has mercury and probably radiation from Japan (GODZILLA!), but in moderation I like to think it won't kill me too rapidly. I don't really fucking care if foods slowly kill me as long as they don't make me too fat. Living to be ancient is just dumb so I actually don't care when I get old and have to die. Hell if I die tonight oh well it's been a good life and overall I am content with how things turned out. I seriously don't care if I die, but let me clarify right now: I am NOT suicidal (yet.) In hindsight there are many things I should not have done in my life, but the bad things taught me how much more I should appreciate the good things that have happened to me.

Another thing I need to do less of in 2019 is work on a Friday night. I did it again tonight, 40-square feet of celing tiles installed in my bootleg gym. I have not done any ceiling installs in that gym in half a year so it felt good to get back at that. Once I get a little more caught up in my work I'd like to play more video games on a Friday night, hang out here at the house and on occasion at Jester's. Every once in a while I do stay at the bar for the entirety of Kat's gig, but usually I leave for a while and then go back because too much of that bar sucks. Hell I'm not even sure she will work there much longer, but for now it is still on the schedule for Friday nights (and New Year's eve when that falls on a differrent day of the week.)

I guess I am done writing on this bootleg site now for 2018. I will return in 2019 with plenty more useless thoughts and photos unless I do die tonight. However, I am still a GOONIE and everyone knows Goonies never say die! The end. Fin. Happy New Year you turds!

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Friday, 12-28-18: Sheetrock photos.
I spent an hour tonight painting the smallest 3rd bedroom at the apartment above my bootleg gym just around the corner from the house. All I wanna know is why? Why did I go work when I could have been playing Super Metroid and working towards beating this ugly glass-encased beotch?

^That's a pretty damn big brain! IT'S THE MOTHER BRAIN MOTHER FUCKERS. Was the F-word needed there? Absolutely not, but it was fun and somehow seemed to work. That brain is the size of Samus there. Plot twist and spoiler alert:

SAMUS IS A FEMALE OMG. In the original NES Metroid if you do certain things that I have long-forgotten then you can play as the chick. You can't see 8-bit boobs, that would be weird, but you can see her long flowing hair. Sorta. Man getting old sucks but at the same time it is awesome because, even though I have played these old video games before, I have forgotten most of them so it is like playing anew again. Where's my psychologist?

I wish I had tenants for that vacant apartment, but alas I do not. A nice-seeming couple applied for the place yesterday during a noontime showing, and they wanted it ASAP. However, after I did my checking I realized the dude had spent time in prison for drug stuff. Bad stuff, 27-month sentence in the slammer. Plus in 2009 he had other drug issues. What a bunch of crap!

^Their application is filed in the DENIED section. No soup for you!

I am going to finish that empty apartment Sunday and Monday, but shhhhhh I haven't told my awesome wife yet that I have to work Sunday. I normally take Sundays off, but not this week because Bruce and Kevin are planning to come and rework some of my plumbing there. It is important and needed so maybe I will take tomorrow off to make up for it. I work often on Saturdays, and in hindsight that seems dumb because I could have more fun on Friday nights if I knew I didn't have to work on the following Saturday.

Today I installed all kinds of sheetrock at our North Main property, and I took three pictures of the progress that I have made so far:

No new sheetrock there since my last photo, but I did cut out the window that will visually connect my tax office (through that opening in the wall) to Kat's DJ area in the foreground. Mom recently saw that space, and she essentially called me a gods damned idiot for wanting a window there. HEY MOM STFU IT IS MY VISION AND MY 550 HOURS OF LABOR SO FAR AND I KNOW WHEN IT IS DONE IT WILL BE BADASS AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU CAN GGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTT OOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

Mom seriously thinks my putting a window there is retarded. I told her there are these things called BLINDS so if I want privacy I can just close the blinds. I think having a glass window there will be awesome, though. It will open everything up and allow me to see the front entry for when potential clients walk in. I should charge her ass double the going rate to do their taxes in March since she took a shit on my plans. What a bunch of crap!

^My tax office at around 1430 today. The ceiling needs another layer of sheetrock that will have fewer seams. I hope to start mudding and taping that office area next week.

^My tax office will be off to the left in that photo, and the bathroom will be off to the right. That will be a waiting area and a place for the wifi, security camera system, a coffee pot, etc. I don't think I'll have a waiting line of tax clients this year since the friggin' thing isn't even done yet, but in future years I may pick up some business and want a nice little waiting area there. Maybe? Hopefully! That sheetrock extended area in the center hides an obsolete chimney. I could have removed the chimney, but F that it is a lot of work so I decided to just box it in. The cubby off to the left will make a great spot for the wifi and coffee pot I think.

I guess I am done. Fin. I'll try to take tomorrow off from working so I can hang out and play video games. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I'll also take new Year's Day off since Kat is working New Year's eve at Jester's. I haven't made any New Yer's resolutions yet and I probably won't make any, but I think I can clen up my diet a tad. I just ate a chocolate-chip cookie mmmmmm.... delicious! We have a shitload of food here still from Xmas, and I am well-fed.

Goonies never say die! The end. Fin.

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Thursday, 12-27-18: A neutering and the SNES Classic.
Groot is a tad over 6 months old, and we're taking her to the vet this morning so she can get neutered. No reproduction for you Groot, sorry. Same for Copper and Tiger Lily as well; Copper is a little over 3 years old and Tiger Lily is a little over 2.5 years old and they had heir neuterings at their 6-month ages as well. All three dogs do well together, and right now at 0600 they are playing on the living room floor. I often have to simmer them down when it is early so they don't wake Katherine up. She is still living in the basement, but soon she'll move upstairs into the newer addition where Dillon, Debbie, and Travis were living. I guess living in your parents basement is a definite stereotype, eh? It is nice down there since I did remodeling 1.5 years ago, but for sure the new addition is more spacious and nicer. It will be a better fit for her.

Another Christmas has come and gone, and I am glad to see the day gone because I don't enjoy Christmas day at all. It's usually a weird and sorta boring day, but this year it wasn't so bad because I had a chance to FINALLY play this:

^OH JESUS HELL YA IT IS AWESOME SO FAR! I bought that bck in March so sad it took 3/4 of a year before I even turned it on.

Deciding what game I wanted to play first was a tough decision because so many of the pre-loaded games are fantastic, but I went with the one I wanted to play the most of all, SUPER METROID. I haven't played that game in so long that I forgot where almost everything is, but I remembered enough of it to have some success. I played for a couple hours or so Christmas day, and later on Christmas Kat even plugged controller 2 in so we could both play SUPER MARIO WORLD. Awesome!

Unfortunately the hand-eye coordination isn't what it once was because we both died a shitload. What a bunch of crap! I died a few times in Super Metroid, too. Yesterday morning I played Super Metroid for about 30 minutes, and I got totally stuck in this area of the game:

^I knew a wall-jump was required, but I couldn't remember how to do a wall-jump. Then I thought I needed a special wall-jump item before I could do that trick so I wandered around back and forth to no avail. What a bunch of crap! Thankfully there is the Interweb so last night I did a Google search for Super Metroid wall jump and learned how to do it. Hey, it's not cheating since what I read probably would have been in the original game instruction booklet. Maybe? Hopefully!

I won't play Super Metroid today, but Kat and I might play Super Mario World this evening for a bit. Both her and I could not get past the level 3 castle because that level can eat the peaunts out of my sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttt. I remember dying a ton in that bootleg level when I played it earlier this year (or the end of last year) through Katherine's Nintendo Wii.

^FUCK YOU LEVEL 3 CASTLE!

We have a mountain of food in the fridge thanks to my awesome wife slaving away in the kitchen for most of Christmas afternoon. The meal was delicious, but unfortunately the kids didn't seem too grateful. In fact all three of them spent at least some time on their cellphones during the meal. What a bunch of crap! Dillon was texting with his boss about work, Daniel had some Legend of Zelda text-message beeps going on (cool beeps but not at high volume at the fucking dinner table), and then before dessert Katherine decided to watch some movie trailer/clip/video. EPIC FAIL TO YOU ALL FOR SHAME. I put my phone on silent mode the entire day on Christmas and only looked at it in between family events. I like having my phone on silent so I don't have to deal with it, but because of my business I need to keep an eye on the thing at least some of the time. If not the the rentals who knows maybe I wouldn't even own a cellphone. My phone is a nusiance half the damn time because I try to work and I get text messages and telemarketer-calls. What a bunch of crap!

All the kids know is cellphones and high-speed Interweb. I guess they grew up with that so for them it's natural to have it handy all the time. They each pay $70 a month, give or take, for their phones. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I pay half that for a basic phone that can call and text but that can't get Interweb, send photos, or play videos and games. Actually maybe my phone can do some of that, I dunno. If it can then I never learned and I never bought the upgraded plan to have access to it all. I don't want a fancy phone that costs as much as a week's worth of food. F that!

Yeah, when I get old I'll be sitting in a rocker on the porch telling kids to get off my lawn. What a bunch of crap!

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Monday, 12-24-18: I'm ready for Christmas.
I had one person to shop for this Christmas. Oh Jesus hell ya! My awesome wife did all the hard work so all I had to do was find her some gifts, and I finished that Saturday morning before a stop at Lowe's for a few construction supplies and a full work day mostly installing siding at our North Main property. We got a deulge of rain and plenty of warm air Friday and Friday night, and it stayed warm and cloudy on Saturday. 50-ish degrees all day = huge gift from the gods who do not really exist for this time of year.

I only have about 3 hours left before that front side is done. I also need to put a few more hours into that north side, but if I don't finish that this winter then it's not a crushing situation. Let's check out the forecast for the rest of the year:

^Friday and Saturday = temperature win. I won't do siding Friday in snow or rain, but I think Saturday I can spend some time working outside. If things fall into place I'll actaully try to finish that front siding Wednesday. Sun and 29 on that front feels much warmer and is easy to do with a hat and a coat. Looks like in about a week winter returns hard.

I have a full work day today on this Christmas eve day. This week will be a weird work week for me with Xmas falling on a Tuesday. Also throwing a wrinkle into my work-plans is this thorn-in-my-side vacant apartment over above my bootleg gym. I have to install a new ceiling in this bedroom:

^Last time I posted a photo of that room the walls were a hideous baby blue. What a bunch of crap!

I also need to paint one of the other bedrooms, have Bruce redo some of the plumbing there, and possibly replace the kitchen countertop, kitchen sink, and that fake-brick moulding. I need to make this apartment more desirable so someone actually rents the place. Having the apartment vacant is a loss of $900-$950 a month. I will save a little on the water/sewer bill (maybe 40 a month there) and the heat, but it's not much. I still have to heat the place some.

I hope my Sweet Pea likes the gifts that I bought for her. I struggled a little with it, but I finally made a decision on the biggest of her five gifts. I will be glad when it is Wednesday morning and Christmas is officially over for another 364 days. Only one week left for 2018. Wow! Way back in August I thought I'd have our North Main building mostly done by the end of the year, but epic fail on that thinking. What a bunch of crap!

Yesterday I played some Rball while Kat went to see AQUAMAN with one of her friends. I lost to Deno again, but that is the norm. Installing siding and playing Rball isn't too smart when I have tennis elbow, but F it. After RBall I watched the Patriots beat the Bills to claim the AFC East division title for the 10th consecutive year. OMG AWESOME. The Pats are 10-5 and not really a dominant team like they have been in the past (they lost their last two games prior), but they are still the #2-seed in the AFC and a win next Sunday gives them a first-round playoff bye. I don't think they will contend in the Superbowl this year because Brady is worn down and the defense is shoddy, but hopefully they prove me wrong and win it all for the 6th time.

Alright turds, all two of youz, I gotta get off this bootleg site that almost no one will ever read so I can do three more Christmas cards. Doing Xmas cards on 12-24 = what a bunch of crap! They will not be delivered on time, but I don't care. I am sending cards to three people who will use me for tax prep this coming year, and thanks to my awesome wife I have business cards now to put in with these Xmas cards. Awesome! Unfortunately, my office is not yet done and I don't even have my office phone there yet. HAHAHAHA. Oh well these people won't have me do their taxes until March and I'll be ready by then. Maybe? Hopefully!

^I also have to put a big chunk of this cardboard out onto the street for the city to haul on. They take cardboard every other Monday here, and I have had A LOT of cardboard thanks to that N Main property. Only one more cardboard box from my siding left full of siding, though. 11 boxes used, one to go. Still have lots of that 5/8" sheetrock to install, too. Started with 52 pieces of it and have used maybe 12 so far...

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Friday, 12-21-18: PB&J, Aquaman, sheetrock, and Jester's.
Damn I am hungry. No problems, only solutions in the food department. I guess I burn 10000000 calories a week because I eat three good-sized regular meals a day and I only weigh about 142 pounds. My late-night solution tonight is a PB&J sandwich on bread that is probably about to expire, but F it I don't see mold. I guess it is debatable whether or not it is really late-night. It's 2141 so on any other night we would be about to bivouac or already bivouaced and almost asleep, but this is JESTER'S FRIDAY NIGHT BABY!

I'm not sure how many more Jester's Friday nights there will be, but my gut tells me maybe only a couple more at most. I think Kat likes working there, but getting a w-9 form and a shit answer about it from the boss last week did some damage. Who knows maybe things will all work out, but right now I am leaning more towards the UNLIKELY side of the fence on that. Bad timing since it is winter (our most costly time of year), and since we lost some rental income. I'd say we could cash in some of the IRA, but holy Jebus the markets are getting crushed lately. DOW down another 400+ today = what a bunch of crap! It's pretty much Trump's fault, too. No, seriously. He wants a $5 billion wall and there might be a shutdown because most people think that is retarded.

^From the archives of this bootleg site that no one ever reads, and a reference to PACIFIC RIM. Any wall can be breached or circumnavigated by those who possess enough willpower to do so. A $5 billion wall is a bunch of crap!

Kat is planning to go see AQUAMAN this weekend with one her her chick-friends who has a crush on the lead actor. Jason Balboa or some shit. He ain't no Rocky, but he is a pretty good actor from the limited things I have seen him do. I guess it's not that hard to play Posiedon or whomever rules the oceans in that movie. Just get jacked and carry about some pitchfork-thing. Then let CGI do the rest. Piece of cake! I need them to actually go see the movie so I have a couple hours to finish her Christmas stuff. Since I suck at Xmas I still have to buy and wrap most of her gifts. What a bunch of crap! I went shopping on Wednesday, but I bought more things for myself than I bought for her. I didn't plan things that way, but it happened.

I bought a nice elbow-brace from Dicks Sporting Goods on Wednesday, and it came in a little box. I paid the $20 cash and I said NO to the Giblet who wanted me to round up for charity. F that I am sick of retailers wanting me to round up. I'll throw the VFW a Benji every now and again; I donate on my own terms. Sometimes I do throw my change in that plastic-thing at some places, though. Anyway, I paid the got the fuck out of there ASAP. I walked through the exit and the security-breach alarms sounded, but the cashier just waved me through. No one takes those friggin things seriously. You could stuff your britches with all kinds of loot and just stroll on out while that thing sang a tune. Same concept for car alarms. They are so 1990s. Where is my Morla JPEg/

^Yeah, that one!

So this stupid gods damned elbow brace has a security tag on it. What a bunch of crap! That means I could try to drill/cut it off, but F that what if it has some exploding dye crap in it? Plus it looks pretty rugged. Nope, not cutting it off that means I have to go back to the mall to get it removed. NOT HAPPENING THE WEEKEND BEFORE XMAS GODS DAMN IT.

Today Jeremy helped me at North Main. Jeremy disappeared for about 4 months, but he is done drinking (for now hopefully forever because he has a lot of talent), and we got a lot done. In about four hours of work-time we got this much of the ceiling done:

^Around midday. That will be Kat's DJ-area once I finally finish it. (NOT ANYTIME SOON WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!)

^Maybe 4 hours later. Not bad considering we were installing 5/8" sheetrock in DOUBLE overlapping layers. Stupid fire code bullshit. The recessed lights look awesome in there so I am glad I decided to go with those for her space. It does create plenty of extra work for measuring and cutting each hole, but thankfully I mostly got those right. That inexpensive sheetrock lift in the photo has been a MAJOR help. Without it I would have needed a third guy to hold things in place, and even then that might not have worked because the full pieces in that area are 125" long. They're heavy.

Tomorrow will be 50 degrees so that is awesome, and if I don't booze too much I hope to install siding. I wish I could have Jeremy help me more because he is a pretty competent carpenter when he is sober, but I can't afford to have him there more than a couple days a week for the next 2-3 weeks. Once the ceilings are done I can mud and sand the rest, but I do hope to have Jeremy help me with some of that as well because mudding, taping, and sanding is a major pain in the arse when there is a shitload of it to do.

Alright droolbuckets, all two of youz, I need to go back to the bar. I actually am NOT working on a Friday night this week. Oh Jesus hell ya! I probably should be working because I have a lot to do, but I'll work tomorrow and hopefully get a bunch of siding done. Maybe? Hopefully! Tomorrow could be the last "warm" day we have for a very long time...

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Thursday, 12-20-18: Budgeting at 0600.
All I wanna know is why? Why is my loser ass working so early? Revielle was just before 0530, and after I watched some news and ate Corn Pops, yoguts, and two little pastries I got right onto my laptop computer to get to work. The proverbial sleeves are rolled up and it's time to look at this stuff as seriously as I can. I need to know how much money we should have coming in over the winter, and more importantly I need to look at how much money we will have going out this winter. Especially now that we lost some income from Dillon, Debbie, and Travis moving over to North Main. We gained the rent they'll pay over there, but we lost the income from here at the house. It wasn't huge money, but it did help.

Rent over at their new apartment at North Main is $950. That might be a tad high for a 2BR, but it is totally renovated, new appliances, new deck, new everything. Plus blazing-fast Interweb is included in their rent. They'd be paying at least $70 a month for their own internet. Also, the downstairs is going to be office space so essentially they'll never have to worry about loud and/or bothersome neighbors from another unit in the same building. Maybe there will be a little noise on occasion during the day if Kat does any music demos, but with double 5/8 sheetrock on the ceilings a lot of any noise will diffuse.

^Last December's gas bills for the properties was $1422. Back then I owned Kenduskeag Ave and now I don't own that property. However, in its place is now North Main so I should be comparable. Unfortunately, so far this month we've had plenty of cold air and gas prices are higher so I am expecting to be pwned when the bills arrive at the beginning of January. What a bunch of crap! Also not pictured but still in that budget is allowance for plowing. After all the expenses there isn't a lot of meat left on the bone gods damn it.

We still have a nice little chunk of money leftover from the business loans that I did over the summer so we could acquire and remodel North Main. Unfortunately, there will be no Jackson Hewitt money this winter because I got done working for them (no regrets about that being my own boss should be awesome.), I have a vacant 3BR apt, and Kat might have to get done at Jester's. The whole Jester's situation is really the catalyst for my ass doing all this serious number-crunching because potentially losing that income would affect everything in a serious way. I'll write more on that next time.

Even though we have a nice chunk of money set aside right now I know it will go fast. The truck spent an overnight in the shop because the 4WD is out, it needed an oil change, and it needed a new left-turn blinker light bulb. Yeah I could've done the bulb easily enough, but F it the thing needed to go to the shop anyway so might as well have them do it. I'm expecting the shop-visit to be $750 (their phone estimate from yesterday PM), and Groot needs to be neutered next week so bye bye $300+ for that.

North Main still needs $2500 or so before the downstairs is done (final contractors needed, sheetrock, trim, etc) and setting up Kat's area and my tax office will be thousands of dollars more. I already mentioned the apartment expenses on top of that. Damn winter is expensive. All I wanna know is why? Why am I always so ill-prepared for it? I need to do better gods damn it.

Oh great, March is projected to be a negative month. Expenses exceed income. What a bunch of crap! Stupid water/sewer bills and property taxes for the apartments. Taxes are escrowed at our house and for two of the rental properties, but for the other three I have to be smart and plan accordingly for when the $5000+ comes due every six months. Looks like once again the springtime tax bills aren't getting paid by their due dates of mid-March. Oh well I can take care of it in April and May. Maybe? Hopefully! I might sell a property this spring, Phil still needs us to shingle the other part of their house in Oakland, and Deno wants me to build him a deck so once warmer weather hits we will have other opportunities for additional income. Plus Kat will probably book a couple more weddings and/or parties. It's just getting to those warmer months that is the challenge!

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Tuesday, 12-18-18: Me = winter prepared epic failer.
I failed at being ready for winter. The snowblower will not start, and the 4WD in my truck does not work. What was originally supposed to be a couple inches of snow yesterday somehow evolved and became about 8 total inches that is still just barely falling from the sky right now at this early morning hour. What a bunch of crap! Even worse, it snowed for a long duration so I have had to shovel a few times. Without a doubt it is not a worst-case scenario, but it still sucks. A lot.*

I waked to my bootleg gym and to North Main yesterday since the roads were kinda shitty. We only got 2 or 3 inches of snow Sunday night/early Monday AM, but it was enough to cause school closings and to grease everything up. We didn't get too much snow during the day, and it actually warmed up into the low 30s, so after lunch I took the truck over to North Main and parked it off to the side in case the plow came through. In hindsight that was unwise because the snow was extremely slushy and the truck got stuck. Gods damn it! I could have shovelled and worked it out, but I was already frustrated and having a bad day so I just left it and walked home so hopefully today I can get it out of there. We got even more snow overnight so I'd say we're up to 7-9" now in total.

So this morning I will be doing even more shovelling. I don't know why the snowblower will not start, but it pisses me off. I thought maybe it was because I had last season's gas in it, but I did add fuel stabilizer a couple weeks ago so I would have expected it to start still. Hell in apocalyptic TV shows gas last for years! (cough:WalkingDead:cough.) I guess I can replace the fuel and try again and if that doesn't work I will just give up and shovel for the rest of the year, and if we get a storm like we got last year and the year prior then I will pay my plow guy to make a sweep at the house.

^Back then at least my 4WD worked! That was from 2017; we got two FEET of snow out of that huge blizzard and didn't own a snowblower at all then. Thankfully we had a neighbor help out and do a little plowing for us. Fortunately yesterday and last night we didn't get a storm that bad, but we did get more snow than what was expected. There is no more snow in the forecast and it will be in the 40s with rain by the end of the week. Oh Jesus hell ya! Maybe I can finish my front siding Thursday (40 degrees) and Saturday (47 degrees!) if that big rainstorm that is coming Friday is moved through in time for Saturday...

I started sheetrock on the ceilings yesterday at N Main, and that sucked. A lot. The sheetrock lift that I bought is hard to use in smaller spaces so hopefully I will have better luck with it as I move along. I started in the roughly 7.5 x 8-foot bathroom, and I have to work with 12-foot 5/8" sheetrock pieces that are staged in the garage and incredibly heavy. I'll have some help for some of the days, but I want to do as much as I can by myself to save money. The "waiting room" is a little bigger at roughly 10x12, my office is rughly 12x12, and Kat's DJ area is 18x22 so I am hoping that once I finish that bathroom everything else is easier. It will take DAYS to do those ceilings; it is a lot of work and the damn things have to be DOUBLE 5/8 in order to meet code. What a bunch of crap that is! Fuck my life.

^An incredible pain in the arse working in that small bathroom area. Thankfully I have that lift, but unfortunately it is not a great lift; it will take some getting used to and hopefully today and beyond I can get some rythm with the thing. If I can get all the ceilings done by the end of the year as well as all the walls done in that bathroom, the waiting area (where I was standing when I took the photo), and in my office (behind me in that pic) then maybe I won't hate myself anymore. Maybe? Hopefully.

*Even more shit news, I needed to pay for two plowings for some of the properties because of the extra snow from last night. OMG TWO PLOWS FROM 8 INCHES OF SNOW WHAT A FUCKIN' BUNCH OF CRAP! I need a plow truck next year, F this.

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Sunday, 12-16-18: Christmas and my new tax business.
I'm taking today off from working over at North Main; I accomplished my goal yesterday of getting the front siding done up to about the halfway point. Actually it's probably past halfway because all the more difficult cuts are done. Unfortunately my day was a shit-show of interruptions with people stopping in to chat, my having to go put D-Con at my Chamberlain property, and Mom and Aunt Susie coming up to see the place and to have lunch. I have a very hard time of just planting myself and working, especially on the exterior front of that place. It's just too visible and people want to stop in. Oh well it'll get done eventually.

Thankfully we have some not-horrible weather in the forecast for this coming week so maybe by the end of the week I can have the siding done on the front. That all depends on how much snow we get tomorrow; somewhere between 2-6 inches is forecast. Thankfully even with snow on the ground I can do the rest of the siding, but it will be a pain in the arse so I do hope whatever snow we do get tomorrow melts away fast.

Even though I'm not working on the place today I still have things to do for my new tax business that does not exist yet. I need to place an order with these guys:

^Not really sure why that "Jacob's Special" is some pixelated and extremely bootleg-looking mug-shot of some dude who looks like a criminal. What a bunch of crap! I do know the Tax Book itself a great because we always had one at JH. Funny story, way back when I worked at Liberty Tax my boss was so cheap that one year she didn't even buy any tax books. OMG EPIC FAIL. IF YOU OWN A TAX BUSINESS AND DO NOT WANT TO HAVE ANY CURRENT TAX BOOKS THEN ENJOY YOUR BANKRUPTCY. She did go out of business, too.

I still need business cards, a business website, tax software, my PTIN from the IRS, a business sign, a computer, desk, chairs, antivirus software, filing cabinets, etc etc. OMG I NEED EVERYTHING. Some of that stuff is a piece of cake like updating my PTIN and buying my tax software. Kat already has most of my business cards made, and I have an email address now for the business. Of more pressing need right now is to actually build my office. I still have doubts that I can get it done by the end of next month, but hopefully I can.

I talked to code, and because our building is located in what is called MDR1 we can only each have a 4 square foot sign up. Or we can do a combo sign that could be 8 square feet. OMG THAT IS TINY WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! Damn right across the street is a HUGE sign for Jimmy's Ice Cream. I suppose I could fight, scratch and claw for a rezoning, but for now I just need to focus on getting started. I don't need a huge sign to start anyway because I want to start small and build from there. We can use sandwich-boards out on the street during the day if we want, but those signs can only be 2 square feet. The fuckin' DINKS.

Christmas is 9 days away, and I am epic failer on all of that. I have not done one Christmas card yet because I suck. I also don't have any gifts for my awesome wife yet. What a bunch of crap! Today I will do at least some cards, and this week I will allow some time to go shop. Thankfully Kat took care of Christmas for everyone else because she is good at Christmas. I have some ideas for my Sweet Pea, but nothing locked in for a bigger gift. I'm actually looking forward to Dec. 26th when I can put X-mas in my rear-view for another 11 months.

Alright turds, all two of youz, I gotta go do other things. Revielle was early again today because my numb right hand woke me up. Oh well I got about 7 hours of sleep, good enough, but I feel like I should still make up for the 5 hours I got Friday night. Maybe I'll fall asleep on the couch later, but I feel pretty awake at the moment. Maybe I'll even do some yoga in a minute before I feed the dogs and do some house-cleaning. After that I need to start doing these friggin' Christmas cards. Bah-humbug F U Xmas!

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Friday, 12-14-18: More bootleg property photos. Oh, yogurt.
Yogurt is awesome, and if you disagree with me then I hate you. I probably hate you anyway, but I'll hate you a little more.

For years I ate "regular" yogurt, but then somehow (I dunno how by accident probably) I discovered that Greek yogurt has more protein so now I eat Greek yogurt 95% of the time. Normally I buy the Hannaford or WalMart brands that are cheaper, but every once in a while I buy my new all-time favorite:

^OMG LEMON GREEK YOGURT WHAT A BADASS COMBINATION MORE BRANDS SHOULD DO DAT.

This stuff is delicious and mostly healthy. 19G of sugar is a tad on the high-side as far as yogurt goes, but for a long time I ate regular yogurt that had more sugar in it than that. A can of soda has something like 50G of sugar so camparatively it could be a lot worse. I actually don't even drink soda that often because it is carbonated liquid diabetes/death.

Oikos should pay me royalties for advertising their product on my bootleg site. It will get about 3 views, ever. Hehehe. Oh, 2 of those views will be me making sure the site still exists. Okay maybe I should be paying them to use that image. What a bunch of crap! This site is a bootleg piece of shit.

It is now 2230, and shortly I am going to the bar. I actually didn't work on our bootleg duplex on a Friday night this week! Now that people actually live there I am not going to work over there making a bunch of noise late-night. I'm sure some weeks I will be over there when I can be quiet painting/sheetrock sanding/etc. Today I spent a few hours installing siding since it was a "balmy" 35 degrees or so. I got a decent amount done in 4.5 hours:

^Not bad, looks good. I also installed a bunch of J-channel on the far side front so hopefully tomorrow I can get the siding done up to about that porch roof above the door in the center. I really need to get that front done, but at least having it roughly halfway up the building will be a win because then if there is snow on the ground at least I will be able to still work above it. Right now if there was snow at ground-level I would be pwned hard so thankfully there is not snow. That may change come Monday...

I have to also focus some of my efforts on a vacant 3BR right around the corner from our North Main property. I hoped to have that apt rented already, but this time of year is a toilet and even getting showings lined up has been a struggle. The master BR in that place needs some work so I "found" Jeremy after a 4-month hiatus and had him do some painting over there Thursday for half a day. I also did some white paint and a few other things. Here is the bootleg look of the place before we did any painting:

^Maybe doesn't look horrible, but that baby-blue paint color is a bunch of crap and the ceiling looks ghetto with many old tiles. In person it looks a little worse than what the photos show. It's not terrible, but it's not great either and this time of year I need great to have any success.

If you look closely in spots you can see how bootleg that suspended ceiling really is. What a bunch of crap!

^The baseboards in that bedroom are horrible, too. I hauled on all of those and will fire up the chop-saw and brad-nailer to get some better trim installed in there ASAP. Oddly enough the floor in that bedroom is still in pretty good shape. I put that floor in when Doug and Cassie lived there a friggin' lifetime ago, or so it seems. I bet we did that floor in 2005 or 2006. Wow! Back then Doug was a high-roller thanks to his porn-site empire so he paid for the flooring and I installed it. Maybe Eddie "Crusher" helped? I can't remember it was too long ago.

Even though I didn't work on the apartments tonight I still did some paperwork for a while so I worked on a Friday night when I should have been having fun. All I wanna know is why? Why do I work on a Friday night? I should be playing video games or doing something else that entertains my ass gods damn it. I did use my gym for 35 minutes so I guess that is pursuing some kind of hobby/leisure time. Maybe? Hopefully!

Alright turds, all two of youz, I gotta get my loser ass to the bar. Taps will be around 0200 tonight, and I need to force myself to get up early-ish so I can install siding. The forecast is for around 40, and there are no more 40-degree days in the extended outlook so I need to do at least a few hours of siding. Mom and Aunt Susie are planning to visit tomorrow so that will cut into the day. Gav and Mike also want to play R-ball, but I don't think I can do that unless things perfectly fall into place. I've had some tennis-elbow issues anyway so probably for the best if I don't play rball tomorrow.

I'm wearing my Def Leppard Hysteria tee shirt since they are going into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year. Oh Jesus hell ya!

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Tuesday, 12-11-18: Another early revielle and our building.
Friggin' tennis elbow is a bunch of crap. I have had issues with my right arm since the middle of fall, roughly two months now. Epic fail. It comes and it goes in varying amounts of discomfort, but over the past three days the numbness extends down into my hand and keeps me awake in the wee hours of the morning. Oddly enough it doesn't usually bother me much in the day when I am up and at it, but at night I guess I pinch it with the way I sleep and after a few hours it gets annoying.It really has been a nagging issue that comes and goes over the past several years, but lately it has been pretty bad. What a bunch of crap!

Playing racquetball every few days definitely does not help things, but I think the bigger problem is all the carpentry and painting that I have been doing. Sheetrock sanding, running a brush and a roller, hammering, etc all cause wear. I can use my left hand for some of that stuff, but being right-handed means I can't always use the left hand.

I think I'm exhausted this morning, and I have been chilled and in front of the electric heater. At 6 degrees outside the living room can only heat to about 68 even when we leave it set at 70. What a bunch of crap! I had the heating system upgraded a couple years ago and that helped a lot; for the first three years or so here at the house we had epic-fail "radiant floor" heat that barely worked. It was a bunch of crap! Back then the living room would only be about 60 at 6 degrees outside. I remember many mornings when we'd get well below zero outside and the living room would only be 55. Thankfully we don't get that low anymore, but we still need the electric heater a little here and there.

It doesn't help that I have to go outside with the dogs to ensure Groot doesn't eat dog shit. After yesterday morning's epic fail when she coughed up shit-chunder I am taking no chances. My wife is always sick so I am the one going out to shovel and to supervise the three dogs. Copper and Tiger Lily don't really need to be watched, but Groot sure does. Overall Groot is a good dog when she ain't trying to eat dog shit! Three dogs is one too many half the time, though.

I helped Dillon move a futon, table, and recliner yesterday afternoon so now they have 99% of their stuff moved into their new apartment over at North Main. It was weird working over there yesterday seeing the apartment furnished and having the entire building heated to about 70. The heat is forced hot-air, one furnace, one zone for everywhere so even the downstairs needs to be warm now. I had been used to working in 50-60 degrees depending on what I was doing so 70 feels hot. Now when I work downstairs I definitely will be in a tee-shirt if not even shorts on occasion. The heat will help mud and paint dry so it's not necessarily a bad thing, though.

^Upstairs living room earlier this year. Downstairs looks kinda like that now, and my tax office is not even close to looking like that yet.

^Upstairs living room as of Sunday morning. I hadn't swept the dust/footprints yet, but it was all done and ready to be lived in. That upstairs really looks nice.

Today I will do some prep for ceiling sheetrock downstairs; the city code guys told me I need double 5/8 sheetrock on the ceilings for fire separation so I have 52 sheets of heavy 12-foot drywall staged in the garage for all the ceilings. I'm hoping I can get away with one layer of 5/8 on the celing and Rockwood fireproof insulation above that, but I have to wait to talk to code to get options. I also need to know what our sign size is allowed to be so we can order our signs for the place. Hopefully this week we can firm up what we want our signs to look like so next week we can get over to Davinci and order them. I'd like to have signs up on the place in early January, but who knows maybe I won't be ready by then since staying on schedule has been a challenge for my loser ass.

I still have A LOT of work left in the downstairs at that place. Plus I have probably 3 full days worth of siding to finish on the exterior. Easily 2.5 days on the front and at least a half-day on the north-facing side still to go. At temps only in the teens and 20s it ain't happening now, but Friday should be 37 so I am hoping to work on the front siding for the afternoon over there. The weekend should be mild-ish as well so maybe Sat I can do a little more on that front. I really need to get that siding on ASAP so the place doesn't look bootleg when all our potential customers drive by.

It is 0712 now and they are talking about Trump again in the news. He paid hush-money to his porn-star floozies in the past so it seems he broke the law in some way. He is a piece of shit who has almost certainly cheated on his wife multiple times because why else would he have paid these women to STFU? I'm still amazed he is our president because he is a scumbag. The Democrats epic failed by offeriing up Hillary Clinton as their candidate two years ago because she is also a scumbag. Hell she might actually be worse than Trump, but there is no way to know for sure. It would be nice to have a (seemingly) good president again; we have not had one of those in a very long time. Last week former president George H.W. Bush died at age 94, and he was married to his wife for 73 years before she died earlier this year. OMG WOW. Think he ever cheated on her? Hell if I know, but all indications are that he was nothing but faithful. He died because he wanted to go be with her in heaven. Sadly Heaven is probably a fake myth, but I hope there is something awesome in the afterlife other than just dirt and rot.

^RIP Mr. Bush. WWII hero, great family man, part of the greatest generation of Americans who are now leaving us en-mass. America is fucked with the new crop of simps because people are all pussies who get offended by stupid shit like The Little Mermaid. Reason #679,065 why we need an asteriod to wipe us back to a simpler time. The end.

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Monday, 12-10-18: I gotta get this place rented ASAP. Oh, photos of the newly renovated apartment.
I have had a 3-bedroom apartment located above my bootleg gym at the building where I used to live listed FOR RENT since November 17th, and so far I have only done a total of 3 or 4 showings and have not had any takers. What a bunch of crap! I did have a family apply, but then they changed their minds after I offered them the apartment. Epic failer. This is the worst time of year to be advertising a vacant place. I think it is a good apt that will rent, but so far no luck. I just dropped the price from $975 to $950 so hopefully that helps. Normally I don't have jack shit for vacancies at that property because it is a great spot. Hell two of the six apartments over there are occupied by people who have lived there since before I bought the building. That's almost 14 years. WOW!

Of greater importance to me this past week has been the apartment at North Main. That friggin place used up a lot of my precious... precious time. I thought I would have it done sooner than I did, but I suck at projecting my time. What I thought would be a couple hours of trim painting turned out to be much more than that. All the white for doors, baseboards, windows, etc took a very long time. Thankfully I did get it done (well 99% done close enough!) and Dillon, Debbie, and Travis moved in yesterday. Oh Jesus hell ya! As far as I know they didn't have any major issues with the place overnight because my phone has been quiet. I'll check with them in about an hour or two to see how their first night there was for them. This is the first time that the building has been occupied in what I believe is many years.

The apartment came out as expected. I really am proud of the kitchen; I got that space looking great. I took some pictures before they started moving in, and here they all are:

^There used to be a window where the sink is now, and where the door is off to the left was the original sink and L-shaped cabinets.

^That door will likely be their primary entrance since the deck, stairs, and new driveway is there in the back of the place.

^Stupid dimple on the freezer part of the fridge thanks to the thing hitting a nail in the stairwell that I didn't pull. What a bunch of crap! Oh well a sticker or a magnet will conceal that little blemish. That door leads to a closet/pantry

^A bedroom is off to the right, and the door on the left side leads to a small foyer connecting to the other bedroom, bathroom, and living room. The wainscoating on the walls in the kitchen really came out looking awesome.

^Also the bathroom came out looking great. Closet still needs a bifold door in there, but it's not an urgent need and yesterday Lowe's was sold out of the 24x80 size that I need. What a bunch of crap!

Today I have some miscellaneous things to do over there including hooking up a dryer exhaust vent, painting in the stairwell (that they won't use much), and cleaning the downstairs. It is a nice feeling knowing that, for the first time in a week or so, I don't feel pressed for time with a hard deadline looming. I had to get that place ready for them yesterday since Travis and Dillon only have Sundays off this time of year. Pushing it back a week would have been all bad since I have already delayed them two other times.

The Patriots lost yesterday in an extremely bizarre game in Miami. I only watched the last half of the game because I was working at that apartment in the photo above. The Pats had a 33-27 lead with 7 seconds left in the game, and the Dolphins scored a 55-yard touchdown after the Pats' defense epic failed. It was one of the dumbest losses in the history of the Patriots, but I think it's funny in a weird sort of way. The Pats are still 9-4 and in good shape on the season.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA GODS FUCKING DAMN IT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUCK MY FUCKING LIFE OMG GROOT JUST PUKED UP LIQUID SHIT-CHUNDER PARTLY ON THE COUCH AND MOSTLY ON THE FLOOR THEN MORE ON THE DECK AFTER I BOOTED HER ASS OUT AND THEN SHE STARTED EATING HER OWN PUKE FUCK THIS.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

^WHAT A WANTED TO DO TO GROOT 10 MINUTES AGO.

All I wanna know is why? Why does a dog eat shit? I hadn't seen Groot doing that in a while so I was hopeful she had outgrown that horrible habit. My bad there. Now I have to go outside with them and supervise more, and that sucks because it is the middle of winter temperature-wise today's high temp will be 25 tonight we drop down to 6 and the rest of the week stays cold fuck this shit fuck my life I'm seriously considering trading in every fucking thing that I own and leaving for good.*

*I'm not really going to do that just yet, but getting a third dog was a really fucking bad idea and I feel like a pussy for allowing it to happen earlier this year.

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Friday, 12-07-18: Just installed 2/3 of a floor. Oh, I shot a deer last night and then gave it away.
I just got back from North Main where I installed most of the kitchen floor. It's the last floor that I need to finish in the upstairs 2-bedroom apartment; I finished the living room (laundry area) and hall floors this afternoon. Oh Jesus, hell ya! Getting the floors down is the last big hurdle for the completion. I still have some touch-up painting and several other smaller things to take care of, but those should be easy. Maybe? Hopefully! Tomorrow and/or Sunday AM I'll take some more pictures to put onto this bootleg site that only two people will ever read.

^This flooring installs epic-fast. It's at Home Depot for around $1.90/square foot, and nope they ain't paying my ass jack shit for any endorsement because this site is a bunch of crap. The kitchen is a decent sized space at around 12x15 (less flooring due to cabinets) so easily about 125-150 square feet with some edges and corners, and in just under 1.5 hours I got it 2/3 done tonight. Another 1-1.5 hours tomorrow and it will be all done. (the final part takes longer due to more edge and finish cuts.)

I went deer hunting each of the past two evenings. First on Wednesday was my final bowhunt up here on a cold mid-20s afternoon. It was almost too cold to bowhunt, but thankfully there was no wind. Unfortunately I didn't see jack friggin shit. What a bunch of crap! Last night was an entirely different scenario, though. I went to the midcoast and had epic success in the waning minutes of my 2018 hunting season.

Dad and his good friend Mike both shot their deer already, and Mike has a sweet setup on his property. Two food plots and great blinds to go with them on a lot of acres (40? 80? It's a big piece of woods.) Rifle season ended already, but it is still muzzle-loader season until tomorrow so I bought the $14 tag for one lone black-powder final hunt. I had hoped to hunt both last night and this morning back at the ol' homestead, but I have too much work to do so I could only in good conscience hunt once.

We set up early, around 1400, and Pop hunted with me since the enclosed blind was spacious enough for us both. I was secretly kinda hoping no deer showed up since I knew if I shot a deer I would have to spend precious... precious hours butchering it. We don't really need the deer meat anyway because Jason gave me a big doe earlier this fall so we are in great shape in that department. However, I do enjoy hunting so I wanted to do at least a little more of it this final week.

After over 2 hours of nothing, and just when I was getting ready to kinda be thankful that nothing was happening, two deer showed up at the back end of the food plot. A doe and a skipper! I lowered the plexiglass window and almost spooked the deer out of there, but they stuck around. I had a nice facing-shot at the skipper, but I realized the bigger doe was quartering towards me and just in view so I got set up on her, I told Pop to plug his ears, I took my time setting up and getting a good rest and shot, and BOOM one shot smoke everywhere from the muzzle-loader controlled explosion.

It was about 1620, daylight was rapidly waning (sunset 1600-ish), and we knew it would be dark soon so we closed up the blind, packed our gear, and headed down to the back end of the food plot where the deer were when I shot. Due to all the smoke we had no idea if the deer dropped dead on the spot or if she took off running, but quickly we realized she was not keeled over right there so obviously she ran off at least a bit. Gods damn it! Looking for a deer in the dark sucks. A lot. We looked for a good 20 minutes before I FINALLY found some blood, and once I was on that blood trail I stayed on it easily because there was blood everywhere. On shrubs, trees, etc. She got hit hard and I didn't think she would run too far, but I had to track her down into some very unforgiving terrain before I finally found her piled up and very much deceased.

I had to go down into a friggin' ravine to get her, and to make matters worse there were coyotes and I don't know those woods at all so I was all confused as to where the hell I even was. Thankfully I had a good headlamp/flashlight, but still I needed to holler like hell to Pop to get a sense of direction. I tried to drag her a bit, but F that she was a BIG doe and heavy. It was extremely difficult to get her out of that ravine and to the back end of the food plot, but after many swears and falling down a few times I got it done. Mike got home from work and helped by bringing his ATV to drag her out.

^A BIG doe. Dad guessed between 140-150 pounds, and after dragging her ass up a ravine/small mountain I whole-heartedly agree. Mike also said she's huge for a doe. In hindsight I should have shot the smaller deer!

I can't believe I actually got a deer this hunting season. I only did six total hunts, and I had deer encounters on two of them. Not a bad ratio really. When I say an encounter I don't just mean seeing a deer off in the distance, I mean something that would be close enough to shoot and at legal hunting time. I bowhunted four times up here, and I hunted twice in the midcoast. I thought I'd be using up my entire precious... precious day today to cut up the deer, but thankfully Mike's brother-in-law wanted the deer so awesome I gave her away. Free for the taking! I just had to tag her and make a delivery, and I was more than happy to do that since my time is better spent doing carpenty right now than it is butchering deer.

There were more than a few minutes last night when I was looking for that deer where I doubted myself. I didn't see any deer, and I didn't see any blood. No nothing. What a bunch of crap! The shot felt great, and Dad watched me shoot and said I did good work. He would know since he lives for it and since he used to be a firearms instructor. Talk about a dream job for him, eh? Loves guns, worked with them for decades. That's a life-win right there. I was getting frustrated because I didn't want to give up the search and have to stay overnight or come back the next day to look in the daylight, but I knew if I didn't find her that is what I would have had to do. Thankfully I found that blood and that blood-trail led me to the deer or else I would have been pwned.

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Wednesday, 12-05-18: I'm officially 100% done.
For a while I wasn't sure if I would have to go back to work for JH this season or not, but now I am certain that I will not be returning. I got a call from the new district manager (high manager turnover there = what a bunch of crap!) several weeks ago, and he asked if I could return and even work just one day a week. We only talked for a few minutes, but I told him that I would not be returning because I have too much other work lined up and I am booked out for a year. That is all 100% true, but I left out the part where I was planning to open up my own tax business and become their competition!

I also said I'd reach out if my situation changed at all. No sense burning any bridges. I said I'd be glad to help so please call if there are questions relating to any of my former clients. Again, bridges should not burn. I'm really not going to be competition for JH anyway because a lot of what they do and what I do will be different. The "big box" tax business like JH, HR Block, and Liberty Tax all focus on refund advances, AR, etc. They'll get plenty of clients and won't be threatened at all by my tiny little piece of the pie. I didn't keep a list of JH clients so I won't pirate any of them, and I wouldn't do that anyway. There are a couple of my very best clients who already have my personal cell number who will probably come see me at my new business, but I have no desire to screw over JH in any way.

All through November I said to friends, family, and maybe even to the two of you who actually read this pathetic excuse for a site that I might still end up back at JH. The ERO application process with the IRS is arduous, time-consuming, and by no means a sure thing. I had to do a detailed application online and also go to the local police to have my fingerprints professionally done. Apparently the IRS doesn't want criminals doing taxes hehehehe. I did all that stuff back in October, but I had to play the waiting game. Then I realized that I used our North Main address as my tax-business address but didn't even have a mailbox up. What a bunch of crap! My bad there. Thankfully I did put up a new mailbox in time for this letter to come on Monday from the IRS:

"We've accepted your application..." OH GREAT AWESOME NOW I CAN BE MY OWN BOSS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR BYE BYE w2 EMPLOYMENT!

So that makes it official; I definitely will NOT be returning to JH this year or *hopefully* any year for a long time to come if ever. I didn't hate JH at all, and overall it was a great job. I made pretty good money as their top "salesman" in the state the past couple years. I did a lot of taxes and "sold" a lot of the GOLD GUARANTEES (GGs.) The GG is probably all profit for the company; it is an extra fee for audit protection and reimbursement in the event your tax preparer did it wrong. I like to think I didn't do any wrong, but odds are I made a few mistakes along the way. I did see the GGs pay out on rare occasion from other preparer errors so maybe it was a good thing to buy for many...

The part of the JH job that sucked ass was having to stay until 1900 on most nights, even when there were no customers. During the "peak" late Jan-most of Feb that didn't seem so bad when I often had to work later anyway because it was busy, but in March and most of April there was a lot of down-time when it was boring. Now I can come and go as I please. I still have to decide if I'll be open regular hours, by appointment only, or a mix. I can't say for sure yet since the business is still a construction-zone!

^From last year. This will NOT be my business model at all.

^This is what Kat's DJ area and the entrance to my tax office and little waiting area (through that door opening in the photo) look like right now. What a bunch of crap! Hopefully next week I can start installing sheetrock there. I can't exactly open my own tax business when it is still just tools and 2x4s. I really need to have all of that done by mid-January if I want this thing to have any success. I guess I could wait until the end of January since all the people who want to file super-early will probably end up at JH or HRBlock anyway. Damn I have a lot left to do over there. Being behind schedule = what a bunch of crap! Hopefully that downstairs comes together quickly.

After considering a list of business names including North Main Taxes, Rambo's Badass Taxes (just kidding there), Gold Eagle Tax, etc I decided to go with EVEN KEEL TAX. Kat even made up a logo that I don't have on here but that I really like. Hopefully in the next few days we can finish up the logo so I can order business cards and next week get with DaVinci Sign and order a business sign for both my awesome wife and I. She'll use part of Nort Main to promote her DJ business and we'll even have a space to lease out. We already have people wanting to lease that space, and my landscape/plow guy wants to lease the garage. Oh Jesus hell ya!

Trying to do the carpentry on the remodel and build my own tax business takes up a lot of my precious... precious time. Hopefully it's all worthwhile in the end.

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Tuesday, 12-04-18: A million things to do still this year.
I have way too much on my list still for this time of year. What a bunch of crap! Even worse, I have a vacant apartment that needs a tenant over at my old apartment-building. It's a nice apartment and I will get it rented, but this time of year is always tough. I thought I had it rented for a Jan 1st move-in, but the people bailed out so now I am back to the start. What a bunch of crap! Time to repost my ad and see who responds. The current tenants are there for a few more days so at least I will get a little Dec rent. Who knows, maybe I can find someone who wants to move in ASAP so the place doesn't have to sit empty for three weeks.

I still have to do Christmas cards and some more Christmas shopping. Thankfully my awesome wife did most of the shopping already, and she even did cards for the tenants and bought cookies for them all. That's a HUGE help to me. She's the best! Unfortunately she is still recovering from her appendix rupture and subsequent infection from last month, and now she might have a hernia from the surgery so she can't seem to catch a break. It has been a long time since she has felt even close to 100%.

Nadia's birthday party is this Sunday, and I won't be able to go to my only niece's celebration because I have to help Dillon, Debbie, and Travis move in at North Main. Dillon and Travis both work as couriers and I know all too well from my time at FedEx, USPS, and UPS how busy the logistics industry gets this time of year. Therefore, they only have Sundays off lately so that is why we are planning for that day. I will go down to the ol' homestead this Thursday to deer hunt and to visit, and I can drop off Nadia's gift then. I don't know how to shop for an 8-year old so thankfully Kat handled that for me as well. I actually don't even know how old Nadia is so I just wrote 8 because that is my best guess. What a bunch of crap I fuckin' SUCK. I barely even know my niece because I don't go down to visit enough.

I'll get that upstairs apartment over at our newest property done by Sunday, but I'll definitely have to work Saturday over there to pull it off. I still have to finish this stairwell ceiling, trim, and wall paint:

I also have to install a new living room, hall, and kitchen floor. Today I'll do most of the living room floor. Maybe? Hopefully! Yesterday the weather was a toilet so I "only" worked on the siding for about 3 total hours. For days the forecast for yesterday was 45 and decent, but then at the last minute it got bumped down to 39 with showers throughout the day. What a bunch of crap! We got that rain, and it shut me down for a while. Oh well at least I could find plenty to do inside when it was raining.

^I got rid of the old, bootleg wires that fed from the garage to the building on that north side as well. I probably only have 3-4 hours left of siding to do on that side before it is 100% done, but winter is back and it will be mostly too cold to work outside for the rest of the week. Gods damn it. Obviously the entire front still needs siding; I can pick away at that this month on days when it is not brutally cold, raining, or snowing. At least the front gets sun and is usually sheltered from the wind on colder days so that is a small plus for me. Barely.

F this, I am NEVER doing this again. In fact, I need to sell a property because I have too many. What makes things worse is the fact that not only am I renovating an entire property but I am also trying to start my own tax business. It is December and I still haven't even sided the front of the place. Epic fail staying on schedule. Once North Main is done I think owning that building will be the best thing for us, but until then it is daunting and incredibly time-consuming. Plus it is damn expensive!

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Sunday, 12-02-18: A mostly day off today.
I'm not working at North Main today, F that. I worked over at that place for 38 total hours last week, the most I've worked over there since we bought the place at the end of July this year. Not even working 40 hours there in any one week = what a bunch of crap! What the hell happens each week? I know what happens, my other properties and obligations pull me away. I'm definitely not short on work-ethic, that's for sure. Kat thinks I work too much, but I really don't work 12-hour days. Sometimes I start at 0530 and finish at 2200 (FRIDAY TWO DAYS AGO.), but I bounce around throughout the day. For example, on Friday I worked before sunrise over at North Main polyurethaning cabinets, but I came home at 0715 and helped Kat clean the house for a while. Then I went back to North Main for a bit, I used my bootleg gym, I had to get office mail, throw trash, etc.

Friday afternoon I took a little nap and played racquetball so I definitely did NOT work all day. That happens to me often, back and forth I go, and that is a nice perk of living so close to all the properties. Kat and I have vaguely discussed getting a different house in the future, but I am conflicted about that some because this location can't be beat. We're 1/4 mile away from North Main and only 1/3 of a mile away from my bootleg gym and apartment office. Not bad! Unfortunately our property taxes are about $4000 a year, we have a small lot, and the place isn't Kat's dream-house. Kitchen and living room a tad on the smaller side. I've done all the modifications that I possibly can to the house. I do plan for new kitchen cabinets, countertop, and a remodeled bar with storage, but there is no changing the square-footage of either space.

^Added close to 1000 square feet of interior space three years ago and will NOT be doing that again to this house.

Channel 1928 on our TV plays Def Leppard's Armageddon It from the all-time best Hysteria album, 1987. Oh Jesus Hell Ya! One of their best songs, ever. Especially the part where Joe Elliot sings "Come on Steve, get it." Love that part for obvious reasons. Too bad guitarist Steve Clark died a few years later during the making of another great Def Leppard album, Adrenalize.

^Armageddon It, track 6 nestled in right after Pour Some Sugar on Me and Gods of War. I once had the Hysteria album on cassette and wore that thing out because I listened to it so much back in the late 80s. Right around the time when Oregon Trail was a thing on the Apple computers. Hehehehe. God the 80s were awesome.

I have the itch to deer hunt a few more times this week, the last week of the season. I went bowhunting yesterday PM, and it was an awesome hunt. Saw some turkeys and then about 15 minutes before quitting time I had a solo doe come within about 30 yards of my ground location near "Supertree." Unfortunately she didn't go to Supertree, she ended up puttering around at my roughly 12-1 o'clock position so I could not get a good shot angle. I moved just a tad, she saw me move, and she got uneasy. She still stuck around for a few more minutes in shot-range, but she was just too out of position for me and when I moved again to try to get a better angle she saw me and ran off. What a bunch of crap! I barely moved, too.

Had I been more prepared for the hunting season I would have had a better chance to shoot that doe, but I let my ground-blind at Supertree pretty much fall apart so I was not too well hidden. Epic fail. Plus I told myself no awkward shots, only a nice 20-25 yard broadside shot this season since I am not that well-prepared. I was pretty well hidden for a nice shot towards Supertree, but I was too exposed for anything else. Oh well I really don't care it was fun just having that one encounter. I have always had at least one close encounter with a deer at Supertree every single year. Last night was only my third hunt in that place all season.

I did run into another hunter who told me he shot this huge buck on Thanksgiving morning:

^That is one AWESOME deer. I know this guy shot him because he showed me a pic in his phone. Sadly he said he did not recover the deer. Tracked blood, found part of his arrow, saw the deer running, ended badly. Hopefully he is still alive, but after hearing the story it seems unlikely. What a bunch of crap!

I want to go on a couple muzzle-loader hunts this week down at the ol' homestead, hopefully Thursday-Friday. I really have to play the weather more than ever this time of year because at times it gets too cold to hunt. Tomorrow will be around 40, but the rest of the week looks much colder. Hopefully Thurs-Fri we stay in the low 30s with not too much wind. That's what we had yesterday PM for my fun bowhunt. I can brave it when temps drop down to the 20s for rifle/muzzle-loader hunting, but down into the teens is too cold for my loser ass. 20s is generally too cold for bowhunting for me. Winter is here, and my latest heating bills sure prove it. What a bunch of crap!

Everything that I needed contractors and outside help for is done at North Main for the upstairs apartment. Oh Jesus Hell ya! "Sparkies" Ben and John got my wiring done and the water heater going Friday, and yesterday Bruce installed the shower valve. Katherine also painted the hall in the apartment Friday while I did a little of this and a little of that around the place. Now all I have left is a little trim, painting, and flooring. Should come together quickly, and if I really stay on top of things then I'll have that apartment done by the time I do leave to go muzzle-loader hunting. I plan to have them start moving in next Sunday the 9th, but I am hoping to have it 100% ready by Saturday the 8th so they can start that day if they so choose. We'll see... little things tend to eat up my precious... precious time. Dillon and Travis both have Sunday off so that is why I am aiming for that day as their moving day.