I have decided, I am not in the mood to....

[cellboy]

put up a Christmas tree, 3rd year in a row. Reason. My stuff is so tightly squeezed in storage, it will be a pain to take out and put back. I will just put lights up on my balcony, maybe.

HOA: I just got a letter from my Home Owners Association that we have a $500 assessment. When did that happen? The info must be under my piles of papers. Happy Holidays!

PASSPORT: After weeks of waiting I got a DHL package, with my paperwork and photos. Apparently the small smirk on my face is not correct. Photos can not have smiling of any kind. So. Now I need to get the photos redone, drive 30miles to my family dentist to verify the photo, then send back to Canada. Happy Holidays!

VACANCIES: After struggling to fill up my apt building, of course the owners insistance of 12% rent increases, have now given us 5 vacancies. And we have 4 more coming up at the end of the month. And they are blaming me? And how come no traffic during Thanksgiving? Hello? It was a holiday. Now I am pressured to fill it up through the month. Happy Holidays!

COMCAST: As a property manager, I can get a discount on my service. I have been working on this for over 3 months, with no results. The accounting division is slow as snails. Or should I say as slow as the Slowskies. I really detest the idea that we only have one choice of cable company. No control. No competition. Happy Holidays!

LIVEJOURNAL: I am being overly dramatic. But last nights flagging incident irked me. One photo singled out due to copyright. Yet the page had 3 more by the same artist, and not singled out? Happy Holidays!

GYM: Fees are due. Happy Holidays!

TAXES: I owe over $1300 in property taxes by December 10th. Happy Holidays!

GIFTS: I have seven people to buy for. Even if it's one each. Happy Holidays!

CHRISTMAS: If I can't find someone to cover for me, I will have to work the 24th and the 26th. That means I will be driving to Sacramento on the 24th. Usually this takes 1.5 hr. That night possibly 5 hrs. Happy Holidays!

Well, I usually am in a good mood as the holiday approaches. And the distraction always relieves my worries. It just gets so pressured. No tree? I will miss seeing my ornament collection. Instead of worrying about that, maybe I should think about the whole reason for Christmas in itself. Giving. Give the best one can.

Comments

[urbear]

Sorry to hear about the passport. Yeah, the Canadian govt doesn't want you to smile at all; something to do with face-recognition software.

The FCC recently ruled that apartment buildings and cable companies cannot establish exclusive contracts, so if a tenant decides to go with a competing company they can do so. The cable companies are fighting it, of course. Not sure if that helps or not.

Don't be upset by the photo flagging incident. The flagger is (or is supposed to be) the copyright owner, not the picture hosting site; I guess he just didn't notice the others. DMCA takedown notices are nasty things, but they're routine; if you took down the photo, you're done.

Happy holidays!

[cellboy.livejournal.com]

Well, this building as most in the past that I have managed, sign a contract. They get as much a $2000+/month income kickback per building (they do this with all vendors; Home Depot, Office Depot, Laundry Machine providers, etc). The lines from the street that split to each apt are Comcast owned. Too bad, like AT&T, too bad you cannot use those lines and still contract another provider. But each line to each apt, via a different provider may get complicated, with the logistics of construction etc.
Yeah, the flagging thing not a big deal. But I joined Insane Journal (free), and if things ever got out of hand, there's always that.
Cheers for the holiday :-)

[urbear]

That was always the argument for exclusive contracts, but the FCC disagrees. Unless they change the ruling, any exclusivity clause in the contract is void, and tenants are free to ask competing cable companies for service. Whether the competitors want to go to the trouble of running new wires or not is another question.

There's a related ruling that goes back a few years... if a tenant wants to put up a small satellite dish for DirectTV or Dish Network, and if the place he wants to put it is not part of the building's public area (i.e., if he wants to hang it out his window or on his balcony), the landlord can't stop him.

[cellboy.livejournal.com]

Yep. That's true. We also have some dishes here. If only I were facing the right direction, I would opt for a dish.