Bad Tenants

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Ok they are gone so now I can talk about them…

In the middle of April these people responded to the ad that we put in Craigslist to rent the little house next door.  They wanted it so bad so they put a deposit down which would be their last months rent.  See, Darrin wants people to pay first, last and a deposit.  The rent was $625 so to be able to move in you have to give $1250 plus $500 for a deposit.  When they give a 30 day notice to move out then the “last” kicks in so they don’t have to pay their rent for that last month.  This way they can use what they normally would pay for rent as a deposit for another place.

So anyway May 1st comes and they move in.  They pull up in a U-Haul truck and I’m standing there waiting patiently for them to come and I hand them both their own set of keys.  I even help them unload the truck.  I’m such a nice guy right?  LOL

The tenants were a couple, Robert who was unemployed since he was coming here from another state, obviously he had no job so he said that when Monday came he would go search for a job.  His pregnant girlfriend, no, not wife, Sarah used to work at this hospital in town (allegedly) and so they said she could come back to work.

Well, after they were living there a whole day they started complaining about stuff.  Sarah said that she was having to scrub down the stove/oven because it was absolutely filthy.  Well, I take that personally because I scrubbed it for an hour and half way before they moved in.  The previous tenant, Justin, left the place so gross that it took me forever to clean it.  So when she said it was filthy I felt like it was a slap in the face to me.  I spent my own money on the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and I spent my own money on the oven cleaner and I spent like I said, 1 1/2 hours scrubbing it clean.

Then she calls and says they are having such a huge cockroach problem and I told her that you can be the cleanest person in the world and you will still get them at this time of year.  It is in fact roach season when it starts getting hot out and when they moved in was around the time that it started heating up outside.  I mean, it wasn’t in the 100’s but I think it was in the early 90’s.  I can’t remember.  But she told me on the phone that she has lived in Bakersfield for 30 years and she has never seen 1 roach.  LOL Yeah right.  In what reality was she living in those 30 years because I’ve lived here in the 70’s and the 80’s and I’ve lived here since 2000 and the roaches are out every summer crawling in the back yard, crawling on the front yard, they get inside the house and you can’t get rid of them.  But she insisted I was wrong and she was right.

So Darrin calls Banks pest control and pays $150 for that 1 visit.  Of course she still complains.  On the 3rd day She had asked for a can of white glossy paint so she could paint the kitchen cabinets lol.  He went over there and just lit into her because she was being too demanding and asking for this and that and the other.  He even tells them they have 3 days to move and the guy Robert says well give us back all of our money.  Darrin goes, ok, I’ll give you your money… after you have moved out and I see how clean the place is, then we’ll talk about getting you your money back.  Of course then he has them both by the balls.

On June 1st instead of putting an envelope in our mail box with a rent check in it they put an envelope in our mail box with a 30 day notice to move lol.  Thank god!  Good riddance.

So they are gone by June 30th and they leave 1 set of keys in our mailbox.  I didn’t hear them drop because I was asleep.  I only found them when I got the mail.  So I went over there to see what damage they left for us.  They left what was a clean couch when they moved in but now it’s filthy.  And they took the door knobs in the house which were all original when the house was built.  I don’t know how many they took, I just found out today when Darrin went over there to look.  And the back yard they left a lot of trash and a lot of cigarette butts on the ground lol.

I never met them until they moved in but if I had met them when they were looking at the place I would’ve told Darrin not to rent to them because they both looked like white trash.  I could tell just by looking at them.  I didn’t have to get to know them to know that, I could tell.  Frankly I’m surprised they aren’t either living in a tent or a trailer.  I’m sure that’s next though because Robert got like 3 or 4 of those little post card sized letters from Bank of America that you tear off the sides and the top to reveal it is insufficient funds fees.  I’ve gotten a couple of those in my lifetime but never have I gotten 3 or 4 in 2 days lol.  Plus they’ve gotten a few letters from what looks like collections by looking at the name of the company on the return address.  We threw all their mail out because they refused to give us a mailing address and they took all the door knobs so screw them.  They also aren’t responding to our calls so how else can we give them their mail?

Let’s hope the next tenants who occupy that space aren’t such dicks.

Oh I forgot to mention something.  The whole 2 months they were living here, Robert wasn’t working.  All he did all day long was either sleep or play with his $400 remote-controlled car that takes its own gasoline or he sat on the couch playing X-Box online with other people.  I know this because I had to go over there a couple of times to install stuff like a new light fixture and a smoke detector.  So he had the nerve to make his pregnant girlfriend work while he hung out at home all day.  What a dick!

Give Yourself Liposuction At Home

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Doctor, Exercise, Humor, Products I LikeLeave a comment

Wow, now you can buy a product that you can use on YOURSELF so you can give YOURSELF liposuction.  What could go wrong?

Laser Liposuction System | Cellulite Treatment | Slimray Lipo Laser System | Fat Loss – UNLINKED

I was on Facebook and saw this ad for this.  It says it’s a risk free trial so I guess if you don’t lose any weight from it you can just send it back and get a full refund.  By the way it only costs $379.95 plus shipping, not sure about any taxes.

What it does according to their website is it melts the fat cells and the more you use it the more fat cells will melt.  You feel it right away and you can lose inches of fat every week that you use it.

But with all these things on the market are you willing to drop almost $400 on yet another gadget?  Maybe if I had $400 to spare then yeah I might but I don’t.  So I guess diet and exercise are going to have to do for now.  But it does look neat though, I mean, well the thought of being able to do that.

Edit: It appears that this website is gone for good.  Perhaps they didn’t make the money they wanted for their product so they stopped selling it online.  Who knows for sure.

14 Years Old and 555lbs.

On By Michel McDonaldIn NewsLeave a comment

Should mom of 555-pound boy be charged with neglect?

That is an article on the SparkPeople website.

The mother claims that she works too much and doesn’t always have any time to give her child the right foods.  She buys fast food for him all the time for his dinner and he has reached a very dangerous weight.  Can you imagine being 14 years old and weighing 555lbs?  I certain cannot.

Ok some may say that because he is 14 years old he is old enough to feed himself but come on, when I was that age if it were up to me I’d be eating candy bars and cake and ice cream for dinner every night.  You cannot let a 14-year-old make that decision on his own unless you have already taught him from birth the right foods to eat.

When I was a kid my mother fed me the right kinds of foods and I was always very very thin.  Ok so I wasn’t model thin but I had a small waistline.  Mainly because I was very active on my bike and running from bully’s and also during P.E. class they always had us running around.  There were times that my family went to McDonald’s to eat dinner and we went to other dining restaurants for dinner too, not just fast food.  My favorite place to go was Bob’s Big Boy (which I’m happy they are coming back to Bakersfield YAY).  But I wasn’t given that everyday so I knew that you weren’t supposed to eat that crap on a daily basis.  Not just because it’s not very good for you but because back then it was expensive.  The burgers were about $2.50 or so and you know, in the 70’s and 80’s money was always tight so it wasn’t too often that we would go there.  It was cheaper for my mom to go to the store.

Personally I think that this kid should be taken away from the mother because they gave her lots of chances to help her son get down in weight by teaching them better eating habits and the mother refused to comply so they took him.

This woman needs to get a better job where she is able to pay more attention to her son so she can walk with him and maybe get him a gym membership.  Go there with him every day to make sure he does what he is supposed to and not just sitting down listening to his iPod outside in the front of the gym.  She needs to take responsibility for HER actions in getting her kid fat.  If you don’t then your child needs to be in a better home environment.

Well, that’s just my opinion, 1 opinion out of probably billions.

Malt-O-Meal Hot Cereal

On By Michel McDonaldIn FoodLeave a comment

I can remember when I was about 4 or 5 years old and my mother used to make me Malt-O-Meal for breakfast.  That was the best hot cereal ever.  Yes I like Oatmeal but this is better.  I don’t care too much for cream of wheat though.

I remember that my mom always bought the Chocolate Malt-O-Meal and if she bought the original, I would put some chocolate syrup in it to make it chocolaty hehe.

Did you know that Malt-O-Meal hot cereal is nutritious?  I knew it was good for you but I didn’t know to what extend until I read this:

Link is gone, sorry.  But take my word for it lol.  Visit the website and do some digging (link below)

Wow, I’m going to buy this more often and eat it before my bike rides instead of regular cold cereal.  Although this means I’m either going to get a late start or I will have to get up earlier.  Then again you can nuke it lol.

I don’t know why but the stores in California, or at least in Bakersfield, don’t sell the chocolate flavored Malt-O-Meal anymore.  When I was 4 or 5 as I mentioned before we lived here in Bakersfield and that’s where my mom bought it so I’m not sure why they don’t sell it here now.  They do mention that flavor on their website.  I want CHOCOLATE Malt-O-Meal!  Adding chocolate syrup adds more calories to it lol.  Oh well, I guess Maple and Brown Sugar will have to do.

Image copied from their website www.malt-o-meal.com.  Make sure you go to your local grocery store and buy some today.  It’s the best hot cereal ever made IMHO.

New Bike Seat and Wood Burning Stuff

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, craftsLeave a comment

New Bike Seat:

I just bought my new bike seat finally.  It’s an Ergo bicycle seat which means it has no “horn”.  It’s just the butt part.  The one I bought is the “Classic” Vinyl Bicycle Seat with the black sheepskin cover.  The sheepskin is supposed to add more cush for the tush.  It was a bit pricey at $67 after the shipping cost but it’s worth it to me to have a bicycle seat that doesn’t make me numb in places that make me blush to mention.  Also my left leg has had some pain shooting down from the crotch area and that’s not good so this is going to be great to have.

Update: I just got an email from the bicycle seat website that I bought the seat from and the guy who is in charge of it all sent me an email saying it will take him 4 to 5 days before he can send it out because there was a tragic death in the family.  Poor guy.  I can wait.  4 to 5 days would be Monday or Tuesday when he can send them out.  That’s fine, I wasn’t really expecting it to be sent out until then anyway because of the 4th of July weekend.  I can be patient.  I was hoping it would’ve been shipped out today though so I could get it by Monday but that’s fine.

Wood Burning Stuff:

I’ve been wanting to go to Michael’s to buy some wood burning stuff but their wood burning section is too small.  So instead I went to the Walnut Hollow website.  They have a special discount for the 4th of July, all you do is type in Made in the USA when you checkout.  It didn’t work for me, probably because all the things I bought are already discounted.  Here are the things I bought.

I don’t normally brag every time I buy something… ok yeah I do but I just wanted to brag about these things lol.  All the wood burning stuff from Walnut Hollow came out to about $38.58 after the $10 UPS shipping.  Which is not a bad price to pay for shipping considering the alphabet set and the numbers set at Michael’s costs $28 each.  And all that wood that I bought they don’t sell the irregulars at Michael’s but they are expensive there.  I would guess that I’d have to pay about $15 or $20 each for those.  So I think I got a really good deal on everything.  The hotstamps everyday series and word series, I probably will never use those or maybe use them once but who freakin’ cares, .50 cents dude!  The books were not in the “Great Deals” section which I like to call bargain bin but that’s ok.  $5.29 for a book is great and the other one that is 99 cents is a thin book.  No biggy.

I can’t wait to get all that stuff especially the seat.  Oh boy do I need that seat because I’ve already added 3 miles to my ride thanks to that homeless guy at the rest stop.  But you know, thanks to him for creeping me out and pushing me to go further lol.

Wood Burned Box

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts1 Comment

I just added a video to YouTube, it’s just a 1 minute video but it’s of the box that I just finished making for Chips cousin Vedra.  Her birthday is this Saturday, July 4th.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_3cqj-0WWA

I wish I had thought of doing this earlier in the month because then I would’ve had time to do it properly.  I put this wood protector stuff on it, I don’t know what it’s called but it protects the wood from the sun and from water.  Anyway, you are supposed to put that stuff on then let it dry then sand it then put more on and then sand it again and I think you are supposed to do that several times.  But I didn’t have the right sandpaper to do that and it’s just a box lol.

So what I did was I found the pattern online, it’s like a border for making a card or sign or whatever.  But I stretched it out so it was the same size as the top then for the front and back I cut out the bottom of the border image and printed it the right size for the front and back.  Then I did the same thing with the sides and I just blended them in with the roses so it looked normal lol.  Then I used this water based paint to paint the roses and the leaves.  Darrin wanted pink so I mixed the red and white to make pink.  I was trying to be clever with the green color for the stem that the leaves were on so they weren’t as dark of a green lol.

I’m still a beginner with 0 skill in shading so until I can learn that there is no shading in any of my projects.  I’m going to buy a book online this Friday along with some supplies so I can learn.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Reaction to Michael Jackson After Death

On By Michel McDonaldIn Celebrities1 Comment

Wow, I’m just shocked and amazed at all the nasty comments people are leaving on Michael Jackson’s videos on YouTube.  It’s really not cool.  Mother always told me “If you can’t say something nice then don’t say anything at all.”

Ok yes, he “allegedly” molested children and yes, he was kind of a freak show and I really didn’t care too much for him as a person because of the way he lived his life but that is not for me to say anything negative about him.  It’s not for me to judge him or anyone else for that matter.  Judging him or anybody for that matter is for a higher being to do.

You have to admit that the man was a musical genius.  His music video Thriller was awesome and it was played on MTV every hour or something because it was requested so often.

Well that’s all I’m going to say about it.

Bike Trail Home?

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

Now before I get nasty comments on this I would just like to say that at age 17 I was homeless for 10 months, 1.5 months after my 17th birthday all the way until about 1.5 months before my 18th birthday so I know what it’s like being homeless.  That being said here you go…

So I’m riding on the bike path last week and I stop at the Manor St. rest stop which has about 4 cement benches, 1 of them has like a bus stop roof so if it’s raining you can sit in there out of the rain.  2 of them have no cover and those 3 are all in like a half circle (see my bike cam video at the end).  Then the 4th bench is separate from that little half circle, more like across the “street” hehe.

Anyway, so I’m riding the bike path last week (as I said lol) and I go to the stop and it’s dark because the sun hasn’t come up and I see this darkness over by one of the benches.  So I don’t go around the half circle and sit in the middle like I normally would, instead I just pull in on the other side and sit on the bench at the end.  I look over and see a face staring at me.  It’s a homeless guy in a sleeping bag next to the bench but on the ground.  I sat there for my 10-15 minute break and then leave.

Next day he’s not there and then the next time I go there he isn’t there but the sun has already come up and it was the day after Michael Jackson had passed away.  So I go sit down on the bench and as I’m taking off my helmet I can see in my helmet mirror this guy all of a sudden standing like 15 feet away from me, staring at me.  This kinda freaks me out because he wasn’t there when I stopped and when I sat down, almost as if he teleported there lol.

He slowly creeps towards me and is now in front of me and I know that he’s the guy sleeping in the sleeping bag over by the bench and I’m not quite sure I trust him.  He has this scar on his neck from having his throat slashed.  I’m not sure what that was all about but I’m going to give him the benefit of a doubt.  He comes up to me and starts talking about Michael Jackson and I sat there talking to him about all the recent deaths and about how MJ is getting all the attention while Caradine, McMahon and Fawcett get no attention.

So anyway, after about 10-15 minutes I’m ready to go so I said well breaks over and start getting my gear back on, camelbak, gloves, skull cap, helmet, earbud’s and I look in my helmet mirror and he’s back where he was when I first spotted him.  Standing 15 feet away from me, arms folded, staring at me.

The last 2 days (yesterday and today) I could see him in his sleeping bag, I’m leaving really early and so I get there before the sun even has a chance to come up.  But I’ve decided I’m not going to take any chances.  Instead of stopping there and sitting down I’m just gonna go through that tunnel and go about maybe 1/4 of a mile away and rest there.  I’m having to rest standing up now which kinda bites but that’s fine, I’d rather have to stand then worry about having my throat slashed.

Now, as I said above about being homeless, I know what it’s like and not everyone should be judged based on their scars and I don’t want to judge “the content of his character” as Martin Luther King Jr. would say but at the same time I really don’t know this guy and I’m not taking any chances.

Wood Burning Shading

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

A friend of mine bought me a Creative Versa-Tool wood burner but I never bought a book for it because the Michael’s in town has a very small wood burning section.  So I was looking around and asked someone about it.  I asked if I am wasting my time with this cool tool or should I save up for the expensive big boy tool and this person told me that I can just get a lamp dimmer and use that.  Well, I just so happen to have one of those.  I tried it and it works great.

The only issue that I have with this light dimmer is that it doesn’t really have a dial, it has buttons instead.  Like “Bright” and “Dim” so I had to plug in a lamp into it and press the dim button while counting lol.  It does 0 dim to 15 bright so when I use the wood burner with it I have to just count lol.  I think it would be a good idea to buy a piece of wood and trace like a checkerboard and number it 1-15 and just do shading in each of those boxes so I will get a better idea of what each shade looks like so in the future I will know the exact shade I need lol.  Good idea eh?

If someone has a Creative Versa-Tool wood burner, I would love to hear your comments if you have some good suggestions on how to do things.

Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

On By Michel McDonaldIn CelebritiesLeave a comment

Yesterday morning on my bike ride I was listening to the radio instead of mp3’s and they said that Ed McMahon died from cancer.  That was sad but I knew he was dying so I hope he is at peace.  My condolences go out to his family.

But I just heard that Michael Jackson died!  What?!  OMG I can’t believe it.  That was so unexpected.  Wasn’t he just going to make his 10th come back?  Well, same goes for him as with Ed, he is at peace now and he doesn’t have to worry about his looks anymore or his pedophile charges anymore.

Ok if that wasn’t enough then I heard about Farah Fawcett.  Ok now they’ve gone too far.  Farah is dead too?  That is so sad.  Ok I also knew about her cancer and I thought she was doing good.  My condolences go out to her family.

They say it always happens in threes right?  Well, I hope that Blanket and MJ’s other kids go to a good home, like maybe their mother who they should’ve been with the whole time.

As I said, my condolences go out to the family of all the recently deceased.