Thursday, July 23, 2009

It's About Time

Here we are half-way through the year and this is only the third post. This week reminds me of all the stuff that I wanted to keep a record of. Let's start with the legal issues. On April 25th I got pulled over for expired tags on the Flagship. There was a little confusion because we had only ordered the personalized plates in September. Anyway, while the police officer was writing up the ticket and checking the computer records, Amanda called home. Before we pulled away from the curb, Dolores had already paid the registration on-line and the late fees. The police officer told me that there was no fine on the ticket, I just needed to show proof of compliance. On the following Monday, I sent in the ticket with the registration receipt from the DMV. I looked for but did not see any fee for the ticket. A few weeks later a notice came reminding me to take care of this issue. The notice did not specify an amount due, and it said that I should disregard the notice if I had already taken care of it. Since I had, I simply disregarded the notice. On July 9, as we were getting ready to travel to Vegas for the weekend, a notice came, telling me that my license was to be suspended and that I owed $600 if I paid immediately and it would go to $900 in 30 days. We tried to get some kind of information on-line and on the phone but we were not able to. On Monday July 13, I went to the Metropolitan Office of the Superior Court in Los Angeles. After waiting to see the clerk, I was informed that they never received my payment. I asked the clerk to explain what payment I was supposed to have sent, he was not very clear and simply repeated the same statement about a $25 fee. I offered to pay that, but he said I need to get a court date to dismiss any fee. I also needed to pay a $10 fee for what he called an "abstract" which appears to be an electronic wavier of any suspension of my drivers license. My Court date is 8:30 a.m. on DECEMBER 4.

Dolores is in the middle of a breakdown over trying to get a loan against her TSA. The process has been unclear, she has talked to 4 or 5 different sets of people, and has spent 11 days on this, after the paper work was originally sent in. There appears to be some progress but she could explode tomorrow or on Monday.

The fuel pump went out on us as we returned from the Hollywood Bowl after the Faith Hill concert. The Yennys were with us and we had a little adventure in Pasadena at 1:00 a.m.. I remembered after we took the car in for repairs that we had an extended warranty. The total cost was $1100, there is a $250 deductible, so we should be getting reimbursed for some of this.

Amanda is trying to schedule a move from the house she lived in last year to the apartment that she will be in next year. She wants us to rent a truck, pack up all her stuff, store it overnight at home and then move it back down to SC. Also, all of her roommates are getting in on this and we will be moving them also. It seems somewhat convoluted to me, but what do I know?

Summer school ended today and I was just trying to tidy up some loose ends. I am now the Speech department Coordinator and there will be trouble if I don't get my life a little more organized. Rebooting this web journal is on way that I am trying to get some of that discipline.
I am sure there are other things I should write down, but this will do for now. Hope it isn't because my court date went bad that I next post.

Monday, January 5, 2009

First Week

The weekend was fine. We had a very nice time at John and Anne's house, with Johnny's friends playing a new type of Pictionary. Some of the clues were a little risque, and I am a little embarrassed that I laughed so hard. On the other hand it was very therapeutic. Amanda stayed at home and played Scene It with her friends. This resulted in my having to go out on Sunday and acquire this version for our family. We then spent part of Sunday evening playing just the four of us. Each side won one game so we called it quits before people got too testy. We finally started watching Twin Peaks on DVD, the girls started laughing out loud at some of the lines they recognized from years of living around us. Dee is back to work today and was none too happy about it. I have classes at Cal Poly this evening, it is the start of the Winter Quarter and there are a lot of things to do, it seems like a long time to go until the Summer, but it will get here quick enough.

Friday, January 2, 2009

New Years Resolutions

It is the second day of the year. Amanda is home for another week, She is exhausted from marching in the Rose Parade and Playing for an additional 10 hours for the game. Thank goodness the Trojans won or things would be unpleasant around here. Allison is out with Drew, they went shooting and have not been heard from for a while. She and Drew were here from about Mid-night to 1:30 am. Dee spoke with them before she came to bed. I was out by Midnight, the game took a lot out of me as well. The day was fantastic, we had a terrific time. Today the weather is overcast and it is freezing around here. We just got a call from Jeff the car service guy. The van appears to be fine and we can pick it up. A couple more college games to watch. We are supposed to go to the Yenny's tonight for some chili and Pictionary before Johnny heads back to the Navel Academy. My resolution this year is to try and keep this journal and add as many video updates as I can. The goal is to have a record of the year, work on becoming a more proficient hunt and pecker at the keyboard, and learn more technology skills that I can use in other places. I don't know if anyone else will ever read any of this, but I hope that I will enjoy putting it together and reviewing the events of the day.