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 4-16 5-16 6-16 7-16 8-16 9-16 10-16 11-16 12-16 1-17 2-17 3-17 4-17 5-17 6-17 7-17 8-17 9-17 10-17 11-17 12-17 1-18 2-18 3-18 4-18 5-18 6-18 7-18 8-18 9-18 10-18 11-18 12-18 1-19
2-19 3-19 4-19 5-19 6-19 7-19 8-19 9-19 10-19 11-19 12-19 1-20 2-20 3-20 4-20 5-20 6-20 7-20 8-20


"I can't stand that woman. I think I hate her more than I hated my first wife." -Donnie (Holly's step father) regarding Nancy Pelosi

Wednesday, 9-30-20: Red Sox season epic failer. Going "Beast Mode" at the bar.
My awesome wife was as the bar working today at 0615. OMG! I didn't get there until 0630 because I am a slacker. Hehehe. No just kidding I had to take a dump and finish feeding the dogs. Caught the local on the 8s on the Weather Channel and headed out the door for the very short 1/3 of a mile commute, 2 minute drive, down to the bar. Living so close to work = Oh Jesus, hell ya! I got to the bar earlier today than the past 2 days because I skipped doing my 35-minute DDP Yoga and went straight to work. I don't know what would happen if I did yoga every day, but once I did it for 4 consecutive days and felt worn down so now I only do it 3 or 4 times a week.

I actually think I get too much exercise these days. I was gonna play rball this afternoon, but Deno was stuck at work and couldn't play until 1700 and F that I want to be home at that time of day so I can hang out with my wife. I don't mind playing at 1700 on a Friday because for years Friday night was Kat's work night and Jester's night so we were busy anyway. Now there is no Jester's yet we are at the place every single day turing it into MadKat & Company Bar & Grill. Have I posted the name of the place on this bootleg site that almost no one will ever read before? I don't know, but probably not. What a bunch of crap!

We started taking up the floor in little pieces here and there over the past few weeks, but there was still a lot of that floor left to do as of yesterday morning so Kat did some research online and found a floor-stripper machine that you can rent. We got one a little before lunch and have used it a fair amount since then. We have commercial carpet that has been glued down to VCT tiles (tiles you see in schools, hospitals, etc) and those tiles were glued down to the concrete floor. The glue makes everything hard to remove. What a bunch of crap! In many areas if the carpet is cut into smaller pieces it comes up with the tiles still attached, but in other areas it is extremely difficult. We spent 5.5 hours there today all morning peeling, scraping, and working hard. It was humid and sticky, and we had epic winds so for the 4th or 5th consecutive fall we had trees coming down and power outages. What a bunch of crap!

Big chunks of tree, mostly maple as usual, fell down on the power lines in the back of our shopping plaza. We have two separate power feeds so one of ours went out and that made it harder to see. We used drop lights and extension cords, and I am amazed we never 100% lost power because it was BAD outside most of the morning. One of my genius tenants texted me this around mid-morning: "Hey Steve... the trees are falling all over here I was wondering if I should move my car somewhere else?"

OMG WHAT A STUPID FUCKING TEXT MESSAGE GO PARK YOUR CAR UNDER THE BIGGEST AND MOST CROOKED-LOOKING TREE YOU CAN FIND! WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT FALLING FUCKIN TREES IN 50-60MPH WIND GUSTS? YES GO PARK YOUR GODS DAMNED CAR SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU NINCOMPOOP.

For the first time ever I serioously considered selling my "Boardwalk" rental property, the one where I used to live that has the gym, because that dumbass text came from one of the tenants who lives there. I'm not ready to sell it yet because of the gym, but I did consider it as I ran that hard-to-use floor stripping machine.

The "Trees are falling all over here..." was exaggerated. Some big branches came down, but I have seen much worse in the past. Thankfully by the time the winds let up some and I got there to assess a couple of the tenants were cleaning up the mess and had most of the debris dragged off to the back. Not all my tenants suck! Actually all joking aside I have pretty damn good tenants right now, even the one who sent me the dumb text is a good tenant who keeps a clean house and keeps up on rent.

Taking out that floor, man that is some WORK. Kat worked harder than I did, and Neil also worked like a boss down there for a good part of the morning. I took care of some smaller things this afternoon, and I coordinated a rent discount for next month from the plaza landlord so that was really cool of him to do. That bar needs a lot of work. A LOT, and he knows it. He's giving us a break because he knows we are spending thousands and thousands of dollars fixing up the place. Shit like this cannot continue there under our management:

^That represents years and years, probably decades of neglect and I can't blame the landlord for all of it unless he was the owner way back in 1968 when that section of the plaza was built.

The Red Sox finished their pathetic Covid-shortened season in last place. What a bunch of crap!

I would watch parts of some of their games here and there, but I haven't spent that much time watching sports so far this year. I have other things to focus on, and the Coronavirus fucked everything all up anyway. No fans in stands, fake cheers, etc. What a bunch of crap!

Poor Kat couldn't get her Chinese food today because the place had no power. Epic failer! Somehow we did not lose power at our house, though. Amazing! I was going to do some sheetrock for Gavin today, but as usual I had other things come up so hopefully next month I can get a lot of it done for him. Next month is just a few hours away!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 9-27-20: Feeling much better today. Two more bar photos.
I felt wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket these past couple days, not sick just drained, and today I feel better. I actually was going to jog not long ago, but my awesome wife suggested I rest a little more and she is right. My precious... precious body is not what it once was so it takes longer to recover. That friggin' roof job, man what a mother-lode of work that was.

I got to the bar early today, just in time to meet Bruce and Kevin for the start of their plumbing work. Neil was already there working on the bar, and not long after my awesome wife arrived to start painting ceiling tiles. I spent a good part of the morning working in this bootleg area of the space:

^That is standing in what was the worst employee-only bathroom, ever. The thing was not even in service anymore, but it was still terrible. All I wanna know is why? Why is it painted that color and why is it all OSB? Removing that junk is NOT easy. That hallway area will look a lot different soon when I wall it off to the right of that old sink. That area will be the rear corner of the soon-to-be expanded ladies room, and obviously that sink will disappear. On the back side of that wall will be a space for our technology rack as well as a small employee-only bathroom that does not suck so much.

Using OSB for bathroom walls. All I wanna know is why? Why did that happen? What a bunch of crap! OSB wicks moisture so in spots there was some mold and gross rot.

I finished my day early this afternoon by figuring out some wiring options for the soon-to-be stage area. Here it is right now:

I started some sheetrock last week, but I stopped near the stage because I had to coordinate with the DJ (hehehe) placement if cable conduit and outlets. I have that msotly figured out now so I can get back to the sheetrock install.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 9-26-20: My paperwork epic failer.
I used to have my paperwork mostly squared away, but as the years have passed I have made it less and less of a priority to organize all my paperwork in my old rental-property office over by my gym. Now I have piles of paperwork in that bootleg little office, and I need something that I cannot find. What a bunch of crap! So I gotta get my arse over there and organize some of it and *hopefully* find what I need. I need to dig out the closing statement for the Gilmore house from a couple years ago. I did a refinance of the house for funds to do the tax office building at North Main, but I just left the shit somewhere after that closing and I got to work on that building. I didn't make time to put everything where it needed to go because I suck.

^Awarded to my dumb self for being... dumb. Hehehe. I'll find the stuff. Maybe? Hopefully! I need some of it so I can haul on that Gilmore house and get precious... precious money to use for the new restaurant and bar. Dillon and Debbie are buying that house, and they moved in a week ago. They don't actually own it yet, but I don't care if they live there for a little while before we do the closing it's good they have their own house to make their very own. I was going to help them install a new bathroom floor today, but I got too busy so maybe I can help them some tomorrow.

My awesome DJ wife is at a wedding right now, her first wedding at Morgan Hill where her and I got married back in April of 2014. I stayed for the ceremony but left after that so I can get some stuff done. Plus the dogs needed supper and a piss-break. It is nice when she books a wedding so close to home so I can leave and go do other things. I really don't enjoy the wedding gigs so thankfully there is only one left for her this year, an outdoor wedding Oct 10. That is pretty damn late in the year for an outdoor wedding so hopefully it's not too cold. We do have a good propane heater, but if it gets really cold we will still know it.

I have about 3 hours before I have to get ready to head back over to Morgan Hill so maybe I will go back to the bar to work on some more demolition and debris. We still need to finish cutting out some walls and old OSB panels to expand the ladies room there. All I wanna know is why? Why did they use OSB in bathrooms and then paint it a baby blue? That OSB wicks moisture so there was some mold at the bottom of a lot of them. Not a shitload of mold, but enough to notice. What a bunch of crap! The entire area in the back in that little section is totally sketchy and needs a remodel, bigtime.

I also need to sheetrock the stage area, but first I have to plywood the thing with a nice 3/4 layer so it's plenty sturdy. I'm gonna get off this bootleg site that almost no one ever reads and go get back to work right now. Goonies never say die!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, 9-25-20: I hurt. 28 square in 4 days OMG. $664 electric bill?!
In hindsight doing a 28 square roof in just four days with only Neil by my side was unwise. We are both wasted like Doc-J and 8-Ball from Full Metal Jacket today. What a bunch of crap! The past 4 days were tough, and neither one of us is young anymore. Yesterday was the longest day of all; we worked on that frigging roof until close to dark. 13.5 hours from start to finish including travel.

^Yesterday not far from sunset. Jason was running the magnet that his friend, Brandon, loaned to us. Neil and I did most of the cleanup, but we just ran out of time to do every little piece of debris. Neil actually did most of the trash yesterday late while I finished a final rear dormer. I knew I was wiped out when I put a shingle on upside down. What a bunch of crap! However, we were so close to the end that we didn't want to leave just a tiny little bit left. If we lived closer no problem, but driving nearly 3 hours round-trip for an hour or two of finishing up = DO NOT WANT.

I friggin' hurt today. Not injury pain, just overall sore and fatigue. I fell asleep for a little while this afternoon on the couch when we were watching some mediocre movie. I have tennis elbow and I feel like I need to eat 5000 more calories today. In hindsight we should have done that job over 5 days, not 4 days, or we should have found a third guy to help for one of the days. We were planning on having a 3-man crew, but so much for that with Brandon hurt. Jason seems happy with what we did, and we came in way under my estimated cost for labor so I think he is happy. He's coming up tomorrow to finalize plans for our new restaurant/bar and hopefully next month he and his guys can rough-in our wires for TV, security cameras, Internet, and audio.

I took today off, kinda. I actually didn't take today fully off because I had to pay some bills and do some paperwork this morning. Plus I had a truckload of tools to stow from that roof job. I had to scan and email some documents for upcoming property closings/loans and other things. I can't wait to unload two of these rental properties not only for the money but also for the precious... precious extra free time.

One of the bills I opened was the first ever electric bill for the new restaurant/bar. We were shocked at the month total, $664. OMG WTF, OVER?! We used fewer KWh than we used at our own house, but the price per KWh was ten times higher. Apparently commercial electric bills cost more than residential electric bills by a lot. A LOT. We haven't used jack shit for electricity down there either so far. What a bunch of crap! I called to talk to the power company rep, but I have to talk to a commercial account specialist presumably next week. Gods damn it and epic fail all rolled up into one.

^To Versant Power for charging us fucking 9 dollars per KWh plus another $12 per KWh for delivery. Plus a monthly fee plus a setup fee. WHERE ARE OUR SOLAR PANELS AND WIND TURBINES?!

We see giant wind-turbine blades being trucked by every day up the Airline Road so we need three of those for our shopping plaza where the bar is going to be. The blades are HUGE; they get police escorts and own the road. I need a police escort and I need to own the power company gods damn it.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 9-24-20: Last day on a roof for the year?
It is 0200 and I am awake. What a bunch of crap! I've been awake for an hour; I woke up and knew I was not going to fall back to sleep so I got up and ate cereal and yogurt. Sometimes lately I wake up in the middle of the night feeling wide awake and somewhat hungry so I fuel up and use my old, bootleg computer until I feel tired and can go back to bed.

This week I need to eat a lot of food so I can maintain my body balance. Or something like that? However, I have not eaten a ton of food so I probably weigh under 140 right now. For the past three days Neil and I have worked 12+ hours (including the nearly 3 hours round-trip travel) down in Rockport on Jason's business showroom. Each day has been an incredible amount of physical activity not only going up and down ladders with full bundles of shingles but also running the roof rake to strip off old shingles and to get them into a dump-trailer. It actually feels just as taxing, maybe even more taxing, than when I used to blueberry rake. Thankfully the roof has a gently sloped pitch that allows us to freely walk around without staging and it's not too high off the ground (relatively speaking of course.) However, it is a BIG roof, 28 total square, so we need to install nearly 90 bundles of shingles.

Jason was going to have a third guy working with Neil and I on his roof, but that fell apart so it has just been Neil and I doing everything but the shuttling to and from the local dump with the debris. Brandon loaned Jason his dump trailer, and I'd guess that can hold 7 or 8 square of old roof debris, so that makes four trips needed. One trip per day seems to be just about right for us. Brandon was actually going to be our third guy, but he has a hurt back so he can't help. What a bunch of crap! With more notice I could have found a third guy, but Neil and I work great together and should have it done today. Getting a roof of that size totally stripped and reshingled in 4 days is no joke, and we are both feeling it. For me tennis elbow is the worst of the aches and pains. Even though I've been wearing my elbow brace I still feel the occasional numbness in my right arm and hand from it, especially at night. What a bunch of crap! I can't even update this bootleg site that almost no one will ever read without stopping from time to time due to my right hand going numb.

After today I need to NOT exercise for a few days. Hopefully I can take most of tomorrow off, my first almost day off in weeks. However, I can't take the whole day off because I have some paperwork to do in the morning. Then this coming weekend it will be back working on the bar when I'm not helping my awesome wife DJ a local wedding Saturday afternoon. This roof job should be my last time-sensitive job of the year so that is a good feeling.

^Can we finish that in one day? It is a bit more complete than when I took that photo, but not by much.

The weather has been great for roofing. Monday was sunny and a crisp 60, Tuesday we missed getting a hurricane by something like 100 miles so it was cloudy and breezy but not too hot or cold, and yesterday we had some sun and low 70s. It almost felt too hot for an hour or two yesterday, but this time of year the sun angle is lower so we didn't roast up on that roof. Today we'll hit the mid 70s with sun and less wind so we might sweat a bit more. Fortunately there has not been one drop of rain this week so that makes roofing much easier. We really do need rain, we are in a moderate drought, but not much rain is expected anytime soon. Over the weekend and into early week we had four consecutive frosty mornings so that ended the growing season anyway.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 9-19-20: Day off = needed but not happening.
I should take a day off from working. However, I am not going to take a day off because there is a lot to do. A LOT. It was another long week (that flew by so is that really a long week?) and next week will be even longer (shorter?) I worked down at the bar for a few hours today, but as usual I had other distractions so it was not a full day. Dillon and Debbie needed my help moving, I had a drain leak to repair, and Kat was doing a yard sale to make the bar some extra money so I helped some with the set up of that. The yard sale was stuff from the old restaurant, and it did help some. Too bad it was so cold these past two days that she just about froze out there, even with the propane heater. What a bunch of crap! First frost of the season for us this morning, and another frost coming tomorrow morning.

I'll be very glad when my other obligations end so I can spend more time on just one thing. I am so scattered lately with various projects going on here, there, and everywhere that it pisses me off. I thought I might be done doing siding at my Allen Rd building for while thanks to Lowe's being totally sold out of the color siding that we are using, but the Bangor Lowe's got a mountain of it back in stock so yesterday morning Neil and I made some more progress:

^Job we started two months ago = still unfinished. What a bunch of crap! We only have one more new window to install, though. Unfortunately the old white siding that remains off to the left side will be a challenge to replace since all the wires come into the building there. I'll have the power company wrap the electrical, but we still have to work around it all.

Another job yet-to-come:

Gavin is finally ready for his place to be sheetrocked, but I have barely had any precious... precious time to work on it. Neil and I did sheetrock the bedroom (not in the photo, on the back-side of the camera), but I still haven't finished the first coat of mud on all the seams in that bedroom. Epic fail! That sheetrock job is going to take a lot of time because of all the knee-walls, outlets, corners, etc. It is not a huge space, but it is a challenging space.

Meanwhile at the bar the former Jester's area is mostly cleared out with a closet going into the back corner:

^Thanks to my awesome wife all the ceiling tiles are down so that makes running wires much easier. She spent hours, HOURS just pulling out old phone, speaker, and other low-voltage and useless wires that had accumulated over the course of several decades. The new bar on the other side behind that camera shot is now half-framed, and I worked on the stage area when I was at the place earlier today. I got some sheetrock installed, but I didn't take any pictures today so maybe next time I can update with those photos.

Actually I might not even update this bootleg site that almost no one ever reads for a week or more, all depends on how Jason's roof job goes. Neil and I plan to start that on Monday, and hopefully it only takes 4 days to finish. It is a big roof, 28 square, but Jason does plan to have some help there for us. I had originally planned to camp out down there for a couple days, but F that gas is cheap so we'll just commute. Plus 38 degrees for an AM temp = what a bunch of crap!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 9-16-20: SOLD OMG.
My Chamberlain Street duplex, holy crispy crap that happened fast. First showing 12 hours ago, give or take, first offer before lunch today, other offers pouring in all afternoon, and a deal just now finalized at what is soon to be past my bedtime. Jody recommended listing the duplex for $138,000 and he thought it would sell fast at that price point and possibly even ABOVE that sum. I didn't really think I'd be able to get over-asking price since my last two rental properties have sold for less than what I wanted, but on this one I was wrong. Way wrong.

The first good news was around 1130 when Jody called to tell me I had an offer in for $145k and a closing within 30 days. AWESOME HELL YEAH WHERE DO I SIGN? That was my thought, but he said I should wait until the end of the day because larger offers were likely to appear. WHAT YOU SAY? MOAR MONEY? OH JESUS HELL YA!

Sure enough this evening more offers came in and I learned what this means:

^An ESCALATION ADDENDUM. It means if a higher offer comes in the offer above rises by $1000. I like this! The people in the offer above whose names shall, for obvious reasons, remain anonymous offered $148k but were willing to pay up to $165k in order to kick the shit out of the competition. How cool is that?! Two other offers came in at $155k so by default that makes the offer above $156k and the obvious choice.

^SOLD! They get a sweet duplex, dated but well-loved, and as an added bonus they can have the fridges and stoves as well. Hehehe. One offer wanted me to boot out all the tenants before closing, and they wanted to close next month. OMG WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP! I strongly did NOT want to boot out tenants so that offer got this treatment:

The people in the offer above are wanting to buy the place as-is with not even an inspection. It just keeps getting better! Plus they don't want me to boot any tenants so that is also awesome. The tenants there are fantastic so I did not want to make any of them homeless. Not even sure I could kick people out due to Covid19 anyway...

OMG I AM SELLING MY CHAMBERLAIN STREET DUPLEX FOR $18,000 ABOVE MY ASKING PRICE BECAUSE THERE WAS A BIDDING WAR TODAY AMONG POTENTIAL BUYERS. EVERYONE, LITERALLY EVERYONE WHO SAW THE PLACE MADE AN OFFER TO BUY. WOW.

People wanted to see the place tomorrow so who knows what would have happened if I just went to bed and let things simmer? I am glad I signed the contract above, though. I want it done and I don't want to lose out on any good offers because I am screwing around trying to be greedy. Getting that much above asking price really is shocking and says what the market is doing lately. i wish I had more properties to sell now hahaha! I only have a couple left now, and those are definitely NOT for sale anytime soon. One is the tax office building and the other is my "Boardwalk" in my little Monopoly analogy. The other Allen Rd units are my favorite ones and my base camp where I have my shed, most of the tools, and of course that awesome bootleg gym that I have not used much lately.

I haven't lifted many weights this spring and summer, but I haven't needed to do that and I had two different people today tell me to eat more. OMG DINKS! It was in good spirit, though. I'm thin but still healthy. Maybe? Hopefully! Soon the bank account will not be thin, but then we will spend most or all of it opening the bar and restaurant and it will be thin again until we get paying customers. What a bunch of crap!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, 9-15-20: Month half over already! Oh wow, 7 showings today.
I am dumbfounded that this month is now half over. OMG! Have I accomplished all that I wanted to accomplish so far this month? NOPE. What a bunch of crap! I keep making forward progress, but really it's just not enough. Yesterday I got up at 0430 so I could get a very early start and accomplish a lot, but then I got pwned when I had to waste precious... precious time coordinating with the power company regarding some stupid fucking platform they wanted me to build to gain access to a meter. All I wanna know is why? Why did they need a platform? For 15.5 years they did not need one. Emera sold out and is now Versant Power so I guess that's why? FUCK OFF VERSANT.

^To Versant power for making me get a platform built so they could turn on power. HEY DINKS PUT A LADDER IN YOUR SERVICE TRUCKS. WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

Thankfully Neil was able to cobble something together for me with scrap parts on-site while I did other things there. However, it did eat into my precious... precious time so I barely had any time at all to even spend down at the bar doing demolition work. I got to the bar around 1500 and had to call Lowe's for an expected sheetrock delivery that was not there. Turns out the guy was delivering it over to Gavin's across the street at the time. What a bunch of crap! Fortunately the guy put it back onto the truck and brought it over to us. Lugging in 34 pieces of 1/2" 10-foot sheetrock was tiring, but Neil and I got it all done like a boss. 17 trips in, 17 trips out (2 at a time do math), like a second gym use for the day. No wonder I only weigh about 140 I don't gain any fat when I burn 50000 calories a day...

So we have a lot of supplies on-hand down at the bar for our remodel, but I just haven't had the time to really dig in and start doing meaningful work. A little here, a little there = not going to get it done timely. Even though we were there all weekend I just couldn't spend any time on one thing for any real length of time because I had to coordinate with plumbers and electricians about our layout, design, etc. I am about to head down in a few minutes, though. I'll be able to spend a couple hours there before I have to go to the bank at 0900 to see about getting precious... precious money so we can afford to open the place later this year.

Speaking of precious... precious money, Jody officially listed my Chamberlain Street duplex for sale yesterday morning and when I met with him at 1100 yesterday to fork over the keys and lease copies he already had 4 showings scheduled for today. OMG. As of yesterday evening he had 7 showings lined up for today between roughly 0900-1700. I asked him not to do evening showings yet out of respect for the tenants, and I will give the tenants a rent discount for October for their inconvenience. 7 showings in one day = Oh Jesus, hell ya! Jody thinks the place is going to sell fast and be under contract by tomorrow or Thursday. I hope he is right that would be great news.

^This has been my most stable rental property over the past few years. I have very good tenants there, and I rarely have serious problems needing my urgent attention. The building is in a great location and even has a garage. Lots of upgrades and overall just looks good. The work Neil and I put into the place last week will hopefully help to land a serious offer within the next couple days.

I guess I should get ready to start my work. I already have worked because I e-mailed Jody some utility-bill costs for Chamberlain since 2018 in case potential buyers ask and I also had to save some bank statements onto my flash drive so I can print them in advance of my 0900 bank meeting with George. The dogs just ate their breakfast so I can put them out again then roll on out. I slept in this morning; I didn't get up until 0500! Hehehe.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday, 9-13-20: Work > watching football.
It was a work weekend, bigtime. The Patriots had their season-opener in an empty Gilette Stadium with piped-in crowd noise, and we only saw the very last part of the game. Covid-19 pandemic = empty arena sporting events with spectators either absent altogether or shown on TV screens in some of the stands. The WWE shows are pretty bad with their piped-in crowd noise and TV screens in their leased "Thunderdome" arena (with no Tina Turner or Mad Max epic fail), but today's NFL games haven't seemed too bad with the piped-in noise.

Covid-19 just won't disappear. It is a turd that will not flush. What a bunch of crap!

^GODS DAMNED CORONAVIRUS.

We worked down at the soon-to-be restaurant and bar all weekend, and we had both plumbers and electricians in there working to square our ghetto shit away. Drain pipes pitched the wrong way, exposed wires, breakers in boxes sparking with flipped = what a bunch of crap! That place needs to much frigging work still. Hopefully the landlord helps us out with some of this needed stuff.

^Electrical above the kitchen. OMG ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! THAT COULD GET PEOPLE KILLED.

WHAT A BUNCH OF CRAP!

All I wanna know is why? Why does that happen? It was above a drop-ceiling so out of sight, out of mind. However, someone at some point in the past had to have known about it. Totally un-fucking-acceptable.

Speaking of un-fucking-acceptable, yesterday morning was ridiculous. Taking out all that back-bar junk was incredibly difficult, and below it all was gross, GROSS PVC drain lines filled with shit. It was not human shit because there were no toilet lines there, but it was old rotten food and other misc junk that turned into a liquid shit-paste that went everywhere and stank the entire place up. What a bunch of crap! (Literally hehehe.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 9-10-20: Finished putting lipstick on the pig.
A couple hours ago Neil and I finished trim painting at my Chamberlain Street duplex. Some parts of the trim were easy, but other parts were terrible. The front looks awesome now, but it was serious work doing that white paint way up high at the peak:

There was no easy way to scrape the old paint without it raining down all over my precious... precious body. The old white paint was badly flaking so it had to be scraped first. That shit was raining down all over me, and it is all lead-based ancient paint. What a bunch of crap! Probably took a little time off my lifespan, but oh well now it is done. I came home each of the past two days totally filthy and in desperate need of a shower. Not only was a covered in paint-dust and grime but I was also hot and sweaty since we've been near 80 degrees and somewhat humid. Not brutal heat like mid-summer, but enough heat to notice.

The front steps came out looking great, and the entire building really looks a lot nicer now. We got the garage trim also looking great, Neil swept all the moss off the garage roof and pressure-washed siding, and now we are done. I could find more to do, a little more trim paint and cleaning the cellar, but I prefer to leave some things a little unsat so a potential buyer can complain and I can do an easy fix. Maybe? Hopefully!

My awesome wife is down at the bar right now; I stayed home to vacuum the floor and to call Spectrum business. We got the soon-to-be restaurant and bar signed up for a sweet TV package, a phone number, and wifi. Hope 200MB/S is not too slow? I think we have that speed at our house. We aren't getting anything turned on until October 1st, and we really don't need TV there until much later in the fall. However, we get a month free and a free Apple Tv (WTF is that?!) so score for us! Covid-19 promotions like a boss. We can have 3 different channels on at the same time so that is important. Price was lower than I expected, too! Having a phone number and wifi down there around the beginning of October will be great because we can get the office set up and running. The current office there is busted. OSB walls, tiny space, gross, uninviting. I don't have any photos of that bootleg office so I should get some next time and post them here for all two of you to see.

It's 1730 and I am hungry. I'll wait for Kat, though. She's meeting with her friend, Joe, who does HVAC. Hopefully Joe can tell us if our walk-in fridges are pwned and if our air conditioning unit will work or not. I don't even know where the central AC is located. OMG what a bunch of crap! Maybe I'll eat a snack shortly if she doesn't roll in.

Dumpster arrives tomorrow 1000 so this weekend we can get a lot done. At first I thought I could just haul loads off to the Transfer Station in my truck and trailer, but a dumpster is a better option since yesterday at this time we pulled all the old junk down from various upper-level nooks and crannies. Old booths we can refurbish = GIMME MOAR. Old scrap wood and shit like a residential bed frame = DO NOT WANT. We also found a box filled with hundreds of w4 forms from 1986-1987 from when the place was a coffee shop. Hand written social security numbers and names, and all that needs to disappear ASAP. We'll probably have a fire our back tomorrow and burn them all since if those fell into the wrong hands it would be all-bad. Half the employees from 34 years ago there are probably 6-feet under, but I bet a lot of their employees were younger and are still alive.

It really amazes me that an entire box of SSNs was just sitting up in the catacombs of that place. All I wanna know is why? Why did no one ever clean that fuckin' place? It was a shit-show and we have a lot left to do just to get it squared away. Kat has really been a superstar down there lately while Neil and I try to finish up all my carpentry. Angela also finished an employee handbook yesterday so that was awesome. Forward progress each and every day!

I still feel like I have way too much to do, but at least the list is slowly shrinking. Chamberlain St was not on my list at this time last week so bye bye 4 days there. However, they were not full days Neil and I probably did less than 20 hours each there. This morning was damp so we actually sheetrocked at Gavin's house. First time we have done anything for him since the end of last month. What a bunch of crap! We got a lot done for him in the 4 hours we were there before lunch. I need to spend more time at his place since when I work there I make money and when I work on my own places I spend money. What a bunch of crap!

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, 9-09-20: The decision to sell.
I decided I am going to sell my Chamberlain Street duplex. The idea has been kicking around in my head for a few weeks ever since Jody told me the market is hot right now, a definite seller's market. At first I didn't want to sell the building, but now I think it makes good sense. I'll get hit a bit on income taxes selling two rental properties in one year (Gilmore house under contract to close next month), but if we are going to do this bar-restaurant right I need to both reduce my other obligations and bring in more precious... precious money.

So I blew off finishing the last few things that need to be done in that 4-bedroom apartment that I posted about last week in order to bring Neil over to Chamberlain Street to take care of a few things. That 4-bedroom is pretty much ready to go anyway, and the soon-to-be tenants are slowly moving their things into the place. the new tenants are actually my existing old tenants anyway; they have been with me for over 8 years. Wow! First 7 years at Holyoke Street before I booted them and sold the house. Now I'm selling Gilmore where they currently live so once again they have to move. I figured they would be pissed off at me, but at least to my face they have been great. They did look at other potential places to live, but everything they saw was a bootleg bunch of crap so they are staying with me. That is a good feeling knowing I'm not a total slumlord as compared to many others around here...

I did get the roof 100% done there so hopefully nothing leaks anymore for a long time to come:

Not only did I put Grace ice/water shield up and past the valley but I also decided to put on a larger piece of flashing over the new shingles just to keep that valley area extra covered. Will it work? Maybe? Hopefully! Doing it wrong back in 2012 = what a bunch of crap! Now if I did it wrong hopefully I did it less wrong so I don't have major water issues. When water comes into the house from the roof above you have failed.

(When we get a downpour water leaks into the microwave oven at our own house now from the roof above. What a bunch of crap!)

Speaking of more roofing, my original carpentry plan was to start Jason's roof this week. However, Jason didn't order any supplies yet so he is not ready for us. No worries as long as he does get on it soon, and I told him just that when we had a nice visit at his house with Holly, Mom and Dad, and Holly's step-father, Donnie. Before I headed home we were talking about politics and how much of a piece of shit Nancy Pelosi is. Donnie hilariously said he thinks he hates her more than he hates his first wife. HAHAHAHAHA! She is a terrible person, and it is sad she was voted into any position of power. Do as I say, not as I do type of individual. Also, tearing up Trump's State of the Union speech, spearheading his failed impeachment earlier in the year... what a bunch of crap!

^Chick goes to hair salon, does not wear a mask, rules say wear a mask, says she was set up even though she fucked it away.

^NANCY PELOSI, YOU SUCK AS A LEADER AND ARE EPIC FAILER.

The Labor Day weekend was a busy one for me. Saturday I helped Kat DJ a wedding up on Monson so that was a very long day. The wedding did seem to go by quickly since I spent time doing some planning and projecting for the bar, though. Sunday was a trip to the midcoast to visit family so that was a long day. Monday, Labor Day, was a work day for my ass. Neil and I worked in the morning at Chamberlain Street replacing some rot and front steps. Then in the afternoon Monday the four of us had an important business meeting down at the soon-to-be bar regarding financing options and our partnership agreement. Thankfully the meeting went well and things are looking great for the future of our new business venture.

I plan to do some white trim painting today at Chamberlain Street while Neil works on removing moss on the garage roof. All I wanna know is why? Why did that roof get so mossy? I guess that area holds a lot of moisture. Thankfully things have been very dry lately so I think we can get rid of most or all of it without ruining the shingles. Maybe? Hopefully! Those shingles are only 12 years old so I don't think they are at the end of their useful life just yet.

Neil and I were putting railings on these front steps yesterday morning when the guys from code stopped in to ask if I had gotten a permit. Epic failer me! However, I did get a permit for the new back deck a few months ago so maybe that will cover me. Thankfully the code guys think I do good work (I fooled them hehe!) so they didn't hammer down on me too badly. I don't think anyone called code on me, I just think they were driving by to go somewhere else. The front of that duplex is quite visible to all who pass by. That will be a great benefit when Jody's FOR SALE sign goes up in the lawn later this week!

Yesterday afternoon I stopped working on Chamberlain Street midafternoon so I had time to stop in at the bar and lend a hand for a bit. Kat worked down there all day, Daniel helped down there for a while, and another friend also spent a few hours helping with more demolition. All the carpets are now gone in what was Jester's, and we all unhooked and moved the bar and all the bootleg back-bar cabinets. I took 880 pounds of old carpet, low-voltage wire, and other debris over to the transfer station before I quit for the day. My awesome wife spent hours, literally hours, of her precious... precious time opening up the suspended ceilings and pulling old wires. There was a HUGE amount of old, useless low-voltage phone, speaker, and phone wire up there. No one ever bothered to do it right in the past, ever, so all that junk just continued to build up. What a bunch of crap!

I haven't done much work down at the bar lately because of other obligations like getting that 4BR ready for new tenants last week, getting Chamberlain Street ready to sell this week, and I still have siding to install, Jason's roof to do, and Gavin's sheetrock to install and to mud/tape. I wanted to get all my other stuff done by the end of this month so I can focus on the restaurant/bar from October through our opening, but at my pace I'll still have a bit of other work left to do into October. What a bunch of crap! I will work on the bar quite a bit this weekend, and thankfully Kat has been working down there so we are still making decent progress while I try to finish up other projects.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday, 9-03-20: Loaded for the dump. Again.
It's 0523, I just shovelled in some food and watched the weather forecast (looks great), and now here I am to write on my piece of shit blog that no one ever reads. I'll probably also review a letter to tenants before I print it and do a little more BTU research for kitchen appliances. After that it's off to throw a truckload of trash and then over to nearby Lowe's for supplies. A familiar theme lately; around once a week, give or take, I throw trash and go to Lowe's early so I can get it done faster.

I got the water/sewer bills a few days ago, and it was not good. $1058 for the building where I once lived with Doug, Walter, Phil, Gavin, Tommy, and several other various roommates. $1058! That's a quarterly bill, and it is outrageous. It is the highest water/sewer bill I have ever had in my life for any property. What a bunch of crap! All I wanna know is why? Why is it happening? Are tenants doing more laundry due to Covid-19? The pandemic is still ongoing and masks are the norm these days. Kat actually had to have another Covid test yesterday because she hasn't felt well these past couple days. We don't think she has the 'ronavirus, but better to be sure especially since we have a wedding to DJ this coming Saturday. Results of that test are not back yet...

I worked on this roof yesterday, and I made awesome progress in my first 2.5 hours:

That lower-pitched left side has leaked on and off for many years. What a bunch of crap! I replaced the roof 7 or 8 years ago (maybe 9 years?), but I epic failed and only did that ice/water sheild up the first six feet. I just used tarpaper in the valley where the pitch of the roof changed, and in hindsight that was very unwise. I believe that valley seam is where I had water issues so I installed new ice/water all the way up and past that valley. I also had a rotten board to replace:

I got it all done yesterday; today I'm gonna pick up some more roof caulk for the seams on the far side and I'll also install a large piece of metal flashing in that valley over the new shingles as an added precaution. NO LEAKS ALLOWED GODS DAMN IT.

Neil kept painting while I worked up on that roof:

^New window in that photo took longer than it should have taken because I am overwhelmed and I make occasional mistakes. I thought the rough opening needed to be 30x60 for the window I bought a month ago, but nope it was 30x57 so I wasted precious... precious time cutting out a header that did not need to be cut out. What a bunch of crap! The new window and trim looks nice now, and Neil got it all painted white as well.

I think I can mostly finish that apartment today so tenants can start moving in tomorrow. Maybe? Hopefully. I'm getting a very early start so that will help. I was going to work over there all day and focus on only that, but I have to go to the vet with Kat for a very important 1100 appointment that she just made yesterday at suppertime. Her oldest cat, Simba, is 18 and declining rapidly so sadly we have to have her put to sleep today. That will be incredibly hard for my awesome wife because Simba is the last of her really old pets, the pets that she knew well before she ever met me and moved over to Brewer. Lots of history there, lots of memories for her. 18 years is incredible for a cat!

So I'm definitely not getting all my work done today and I will have to work at least some tomorrow. I wanted to take tomorrow off, but it can't happen. What a bunch of crap! I don't have days off anymore and it sucks. I could just take one, but then if things aren't done I won't actually be able to enjoy it so there is no sense even trying. I have taken days off about every other week to go down to visit Mom and Dad, but those don't feel like days off at all because it is 3 hours of round-trip driving and when I'm there I have work around their house to do. Thankfully Dad is slowly doing better and better since his heart surgery last month.

I need to do some more BTU research for our soon-to-be restaurant and bar. I met with Bangor Gas yesterday morning, and the good news is doing a gas conversion from their end of things should be very easy. There are gas meters out back and very close to our location. As an added bonus we already have much of the piping in place since the previous restaurant owners used propane and had their tanks near there. Yeah, they used propane. They also have a residential-grade electric hot water heater installed instead of a more efficient gas water heater. OMG WHO DOES THAT?! What a bunch of crap!

No friggin wonder she went out of business there. All I wanna know is why? Why would you run your business using an electric 40-gallon tank hot water heater for a commercial kitchen and 6 bathrooms? Also, why would you have three 100-gallon propane tanks out back getting constantly refilled when there is a natural gas line literally right there next to the propane? It makes no sense at all! Nat gas is awesome and much cheaper than propane, and no doubt that place will use a lot of gas since it has that commercial kitchen as well as three or four furnaces to heat the entire 8300 square foot space.

Before Bangor Gas can install our meter we need to give them an estimated BTU usage for our entire space, and I have no clue what that will be. I'd guess the furnaces are 70-80k BTU each so that's 200-300k alone. A fryer uses 90-150k, but I don't know how many of those we even need. I also want to do our hot water with gas (or a heat pump electric if gas is too hard to vent), cook-tops, ovens, etc. Today or tomorrow our heating guys will take a look at the space to help give us an idea what we'll need to convert.