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Paul's Journal

paul
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05/09/2007 10:25 #39207

The Tenants From Hell Are Gone
Category: renting
The nightmare rental situation I had going on in one of the apartments I rent out is over. It has been several years of constant drama and I am so happy it is over. Unfortunately, they left in the middle of the night it looks like. There was even food on the stove and in the microwave, which is so freakin' weird. I can't believe they didn't clean up anything.

Luckily, my mother helped me clean it last night (garbage day) and now it is under control. I took her out to icecream afterwards. Like the reverse of when I was a kid.

Who leaves an apartment like this. Especially considering I gave the a break on the rent for like 3 months.
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This is the view from backyward the showhouse tour we went to on Sunday. I thought it was cool to see those buildings from another angle.
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I can't believe they shelaced newspaper on the floor as a decorative style. That is so tacky.
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theecarey - 05/10/07 23:32
I LOVE the stairs!

wonder what year the shellacked newspaper is from. or what year it was done. Maybe gives a clue as to why?!

Not my style (i dont really love it, or like it even), but if the owners got a kick out of it.. maybe there is a bit of imagination that we are just not privy to.

maybe... oh i dont know.

I'm reaching for a possible good reason for a professional designer to glue down used newspaper.
joshua - 05/09/07 21:40
This is proof that people with the money to spend can be fooled into spending it on the most ridiculous and stupid things imaginable. Those stairs are a decorating con job. Absolutely no taste or imagination whatsoever. That floor should be scraped up and used to line the birdcage ASAP.
fellyconnelly - 05/09/07 17:16
  • whew* i mean to think that a tenant would actually do something like that to an apartment was mind blowing... thanks for the clarification!
mastermindkg - 05/09/07 15:10
They left a portable dresser? I'll pay you for that! Haha
paul - 05/09/07 14:00
Oh those steps were actually not from the apartment but from the buffalo Junior League showhouse :::link::: at 877 Delaware Ave oin Millionaire's row. It was actually decorated by professional design teams, believe it or not.

fellyconnelly - 05/09/07 13:13
wow man i was about to say that i was moving there and in need of an apartment - then i saw what they did to it and maybe i'm not that ambitious... i mean i love home renovation but... newspapers???
mrmike - 05/09/07 12:04
So, what's the deal with the apartment? Looking for a new tenant? I know somebody in the market for a 3 bedroom place who would be an improvement over what you had to deal with.

05/06/2007 13:13 #39175

Picture Dump
Category: photos
Here are some pics from the camera.

I got a dremel and a bunch of other home repair electronics this weekend. It seems pretty fantastic for stripping paint away from those hard to get to places on the fireplace.
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Ate at empire with (e:lilho) and (e:terry) They have the best Lime calamari with rock shrimp appetizer.
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Here it is up close.
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Afterwards we got a picture of our reflection in their Hertel side window.
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I love Ming Tea Cafe. I ate there again - you really need to check it out if you have not been there. They do not have bubble tea though (e:james,39169)

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On saturday, we toured the Lockport Caves. At first I thought it was going to be dumb but the tour was pretty neat and there is even a cave boat ride.
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It was almost impossible to get pictures down there. These were taken at ISO 1600 but we were moving on the boat and it would really require stillness.
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I am scarping the porch to repaint it dark brown.
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james - 05/06/07 18:06
I will give Ming a go. And it is great that they don't have bubble tea. I have a feeling that it would become yet another addiction.
fellyconnelly - 05/06/07 14:46
my that is a nice dremel you got there!

05/05/2007 12:55 #39162

Worth A Picture
Category: peeptalk
Last night at like 3am I was standing with (e:lilho) and (e:tina) in front of underground on Delaware waiting for jeremy to pick up (e:tina) when (e:lilho) had a breakdown that no one would ever love her, etc.

During the episode, some thugs in a car pull up and start threatening to "kill all the faggots."

(e:lilho) is oblivious to the whole thing. I have to admit I was scared after our car was knifed on that corner two years ago while we were in it. This time thoug, some big gay dudes step in a walk up the car saying, "Go ahead and call me a faggot to my face" and the thugs got scared and left. You can hear that somewhere in the clip.

So there are no pictures but (e:lilho) says at least enough words to be worth one.

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::



I wish I had my camera to record both incidences.

fairyastara - 05/09/07 20:04
Sorry you feel the need to leave unkind remarks.
fellyconnelly - 05/05/07 21:00
the few times i've gotten the 'DYKE' comment thrown my way i usually respond with something that indicates how incredibly hard it must have been to come to that conclusion.
or i'll ask if their mother told me... :)
metalpeter - 05/05/07 17:00
I can hear Sarah pretty good but I didn't hear the incident. There is going to sound weird or would that be reed weird. I can understand Hate and intolerance and the reasons people have those thoughts. But What I don't get is why bother or harass someone why go and do that. To me that makes no sense. That being said it sucks and no one should be harrassed like that. Stuff like that is why I don't like standing around in front of somewhere standing around. I'm not saying that is what caused it but it might have been what started it to someone I used to work with. But to be honest with him i think it was more complicated then that cause he was stright I'm pretty sure. Hopefully what happened won't happen ever again.
lilho - 05/05/07 14:55
great. embarassing drunken moments. i think being deaf may have its advantages sometimes. ie.- not being aware of scaring things... or maybe that's a bad thin?
james - 05/05/07 14:45
Someday a great homo army shall march over the earth.

Armegedon will be absolutly fabulous.

05/05/2007 01:33 #39159

NY Pizza
Category: food
I just don't get the cushion structure on this couch at New York Pizza On Allen. It is clearly uphostered with macthing fabric but the cushions don't match up? Seems like a lot of re-uphostery work for something that doesn't fit properly.
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mike - 05/06/07 10:21
I leave for one day and NY PIzza gets all fancy with a couch?
chicoschica - 05/05/07 10:32
looks like someone played drunk jenga with it.

maybe the cushions are from 2 different chairs with the same upholstery and the one that is supposed to go on this one was SOILED (ewwww) so they replaced it with a smaller one from another sofa?

I think too much, don't I?
=)

05/02/2007 23:49 #39134

Destroying earth one mansion at a time
Category: housing
An anonymous guest wrote:

I find you a little hypocritical. First off, those fire pit things you get at Home Depot can be considered illegal in the city. Not to mention the burning things isn't the greatest thing for the environment, remember? Secondly, your talk of living in a mansion is wonderful, i guess i would like to hear about some serious energy saving improvements, windows? insulation?


Dear anonymous person,
I suppose you are talking about the fact I criticized the Central Terminal for being heated by a coal plant all its own and for having a solid stone structure over a hundred feet high which is hard to heat.

We keep our house really cold in the winter to save energy. I wear a hat and scarf in the house and we keep all the lights off in the places we are not. We plastic the windows in the winter, use heavy drapes, recycle and have a compost pile for all the food scraps that the squirrels and tortoise don't eat.

We also bought vent-free gas stoves to heat localized area in the house that are 98% efficient and cost only about $1/day to run on high because of the way they use the gas so efficiently. In fact, our heating bill was only higher than $300 for the coldest month and that is for about 3500 sq. ft. of living space.

But really I don't care what you believe. I think you are just jealous but we can't all live in mansions.

Fuck you.
--paul

Here is the offensive chiminea being assembled by (e:matthew) and (e:terry) as they plot to destroy the earth.

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Where is (e:matthew)
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In my crazy earth destroying rage, I threw out all the Teflon pans in our house. In this case my environmental concerns were overpowered by my unwillingness to battle cancer.

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Luckily, I replaced them with long term copper-bottomed, steel pans. I figured that way I should never need to replace the pans again, like you have to with the Teflon ones as they "decay." Normally they cost $360 pans but my bargain hunting mother found the on sale for $154. Here they are being washed in our environmentally sound dish washer. Paid $700 for an energy efficient one, instead of the cheaper high energy/water use ones. It is supposed to adjust the amount of water based on the weight of the dishes.

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(e:matthew) found this root with a boner in the yard
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This robin likes our worms
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Got rid of all the remaining trash from the previous owner. Finally, we are done. None of the remaining crap was even worth bringing to amvets, most of it was molded due to a leak in the garage roof.
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When we brought the garbage to the garbage transfer station on South Ogden I noticed someone lives right next door. Holy crap. It smells so bad there. The only way I can describe it is liek a mix of bologna and oregano with diarrhea. The previous time we were there it was a Saturday, I would not suggest ever going to the dump on a garbage day - although it was so busy they didn't weigh us or even check if we were citizens.
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Here is (e:lilho) saying she wants to move to the rianforest, lol.

::Download Flash Video::



And then the food

Globe market on Elmwood - ate the turkey sage and cranberry mayo sandwich
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I also bought the strawberry, whip crea puff
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Then I ate at Ming Tea Cafe on Main Street again. This was (e:enknot)'s chicken with eggplant. This place really renews my faith in the tastiness of chinese food. Lunch is only $8.
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Found this picture of chinese girls on the wall there that reminds me of the painting in (e:twisted)'s bedroom.

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I'll leave you with basra eating.

::Download Flash Video::


jenks - 05/06/07 09:51
is that a baby basra next to him while he eats?? And yeah, the anon commenter is a jackass, as they all tend to be.
jason - 05/03/07 10:49
"Can be considered illegal." Spoken like a true idiot. The more I read his nonsense the more I laugh. Either something is illegal or it is not illegal!
matthew - 05/03/07 10:09
He/or she is just plain wrong. The chimney-a is not illegal within our city limits. True our house is not 100% eco-friendly. But we've only bought it less than a year ago, and the improvements that have been made are leaps and bounds over the previous owner's efforts. One day we'll have a green roof to live under when our budget can afford it. For now we are doing all we can. Small steps. Also i should note that our house saves more on energy and heating than any other house owner that i personally know in buffalo (based on bills and home improvements), and ours is twice the size. This asshole should check their facts before making a personal attack against us.
mastermindkg - 05/03/07 09:34
I don't think what he said was all that bad. He is just expressing his concern.

Wrong place.

If he cares so much about the environment, he should write his congressman.
joshua - 05/03/07 08:49
Ha! Oh my god... what a tool.
jason - 05/03/07 08:19
Forget the damn enviro-nazi. There's no pleasing those losers no matter what you do.
carolinian - 05/03/07 04:21
I have to wonder if the anonymous poster is even from Buffalo, as they don't understand that virtually every house in the city is 60-100 years old and doesn't have insulation and is an energy pit by definition. The only way to have a house in Buffalo that doesn't leak a volcano's worth of heat is to move to the suburbs and buy a house built in the last few decades that has insulation. And in that case, you'd get some other rant about destroying the earth through suburban sprawl.