Today was so nuts. I took the day off from work to appear in court to evict my upstairs tenant. I don't even want to go into the reasons, since in most circles, the mere thought of evicting a tenant immediately makes me evil. My crime is I bought the building and want to live in the best unit, and the only way to do that is to evict the tenant. (Even though he's on a month-to-month lease and only needs to give me 30 days notice to leave, but for some reason the only way I can get him out is to evict him. Which would make more sense if he was actually living there, but he's been subletting to someone else for 10 years now. And that's not even half the reasons I'm not getting into.)

Anyway, I don't want to evict him, so I pay him $14,000 instead. He wanted $36,000. But he knew damn well I'm only required by law to pay him and the woman who is subletting from him $1,000 each and give them 30 days notice, so they took my generous offer of $14,000 plus six weeks to move out instead. Meanwhile, I have to pay my lawyer god knows how much, but let's not get into that.

If that's not stressful enough, my iMac has been kind of problematic since I got it. ((e:Paul) has already lived through too much of my drama over this so I won't expose you to any more.) I started writing my 10 reasons to switch back to a PC (you have NO IDEA how sacrilegious - or as close to sacrilegious as I get - that is), and I finally hit 10 (actually it was 11, or more accurately the #1 reason caught me by surprise one more time and I was so pissed I wrote it up as 11) and I actually EMAILED THEM    to STEVE JOBS! Signing it with my AppleCare number.

Well, as these things typically go, the next morning I felt pretty ashamed of the way I phrased #11 (among other things), but I'm thinking, there's no way Steve Jobs actually gets email from the general public, right? I mean, I just guessed at his email address out of frustration, it's not like I can email STEVE JOBS!!!! Right??!!!??? RIGHT????!!!!!!!

Well, wrong.

So Steve's vice president of executive relations just called me and we're setting up an appointment for my iMac with an Apple genius. Oh my god, I am so embarrassed. I will never swear at Steve Jobs again! I swear!

Of course, the down side of that is, I may still swear at (e:Paul) occasionally. It's not easy being my hero.

Hey! I'm famous.



This just proves I need to get a cell phone with a better camera. And what a bad time to stop getting the newspaper because I'm dogsitting in Alameda! Anybody got a spare copy of Thursday's SF Chronicle?

Oh yeah, the pic is of the art installation thingy Mark worked on for Burning Man last year. They put it on display on the embarcadero last week. Not the best shot, since at this angle you can see the pole going up the mother's ass. But I liked the interplay with the bay bridge in the background on this one.

p.s. - Does the kid look like a Klingon or what?

People:
1. How did you find out about/why did you become [a member of] of estrip?
(e:j3sse) . Although (e:Paul) convinced me it was ok for me to join. (author's note: haha paul! no editorializing.)

2. How "out" are you about having a publicly accessible online journal. Do your friends know? Does your family know? Do your co-workers know? Does your boss know? Do you use your real name? Do you use your real photo?
I finally came out of the closet when a:link was born, so now everybody knows. But for most of them it's like "haven't you moved on by now?" They may have a point.

3. How many epeeps have you met [in] real life?
A handful on my one trip to b'lo and (e:Ajay) when he moved out here.

4. How has estrip changed the way that you meet people, on and/or off line?
That is a subject for an entire post.

5. How has estrip affected you[r] love life?
What love live? (Ha!)

6. How many of your friends have joined estrip because of your influence?
Go ahead and rub it in. Hey, I'm the only fucking one out here and I tried my best.

7. Are you from Buffalo/do you live in Buffalo?
No/No. See Q.#1.

Equipment:
1. What type of hardware or software purchases have you made as a result of using estrip?
I can't answer that. The West Coast investors wish to remain anonymous.

2. Have you used the mobile version of estrip? Why or why not?
I LOVE posting from my cell. I can't browse from there though.

Lifestyle:
1. In what way has estrip changed your Internet surfings habits? Describe the amount of time you spend on estrip, when you use it and about how long?
I plead the 5th.

1a. How many journals do you usually read per day?
All. Eventually. Although sometimes I skim.

2. In what ways has estrip changed the way you perceive your local community?
That is another subject for an entire post. I don't know if I would have gotten so hooked on (e:strip) if I had been living in SF instead of Alameda when I first discovered it.

3. How has journaling about your life affected the way you spend your free time?
Pass.

4. Has estrip changed your living situation in any way?
In ways you couldn't possibly imagine, and I couldn't possibly explain.

5. Do you find that you mediate/document more of your experiences now that you share them with others?
Yes.

6. Has publishing on estrip affected the way that [you] write?
Prolly. ;-)

7. Do you have other online journals? If so, with what service and has estrip affected your usage of that journal?
No.

8. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using estrip at work?
I wish!

9. If you have stopped using estrip, why?
Keep trying to. Haven't been sucessful yet.

For reasons I don't want to go into, I find myself reviewing my real estate closing documents. This standard disclaimer in the California Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory just caught my eye:

Item 22. Errant Golf Balls:

Buyer and Seller are advised that if the Property is located adjacent to or near a golf course there is a possibility that golf balls may damage the Property or injure persons or pets on it, as well as the possibility that persons playing golf may enter the Property to retrieve errant golf balls or for other purposes. Broker recommends that buyer investigates this possbility during Buyer's contingency period. Brokers do not have expertise in this area.

Some day I'll post about the Red Eyed frog habitat contingency.

This dog-sitting gig is funny. Jack and Margaret picked me because they wanted someone willing to snuggle with their dog in bed. And Margaret says Brodie likes to go into town, but sometimes he's too tired to walk back, so it's better to drive him. I'm thinking, are you looking for a pet-sitter? Or an escort service?

Anyways, while I'm in Alameda I get free home-cooked dinners with B&K almost every night, so I can't complain. Tonight is jambalaya, followed by a soak in the hot tub. Why did I leave Alameda again?

Oh, but back to the title of my post. I have to take Brodie out to check his pee-mail on a regular basis. He doesn't seem very discriminating about what offerings he sniffs, but he sure as hell is judicious about where he leaves his own reply. I wish I knew the story behind all of that.