A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Being Sued

This year has probably been the toughest year of my short professional career. That is not saying much, seeing I have only been out of college for only about half a decade. Last year was a very easy year. We did well with our profit margin, my customers were very happy. I really never had any trouble with anybody. This year, well, it has been rough. I take it as a learning experience, though. But as I have previously posted, the people I have known for over 3 years and taken care of seem to have just gone crazy. I really don't know how to explain it.
All of these problems came to a head last Wednesday. It started when the Fire Marshall came to my office to visit with me. He had gotten a call from one of my long-term tenants about a kitchen light that hadn't been hung. See, a long time ago I had a flood upstairs from her unit, her son took the light down and I said I wanted my licensed electrician to repair it. Well, it took him about 10 days to get there. She had light, she just didn't like the nuisance? When the Fire Marshall showed up, the light was already repaired. But I was still scolded.
About 15 minutes after that, I had a tenant come into my office who had moved out. He had cancelled his lease and I was to take his deposit. He told me he had talked to an attorney, and I better give him his deposit back. I told him I would see him in court.
Out of everything that had happened that morning, I closed my office and grabbed my Bible. I read it for about 30 minutes while I was feeling that God had just turned his back on me just like everyone I had to deal with that day. I prayed, then went back to work. 10 minutes after that break an old tenant that I thought had skipped out on me came into my office wanting to settle up on his rent. Then 30 minutes after that the guy that said he was going to sue me called me and apologized. He said he had talked to another attorney and that I was in the right.
That is when I thought this had to be more than just coincidence. Don't get me wrong, people are still angrier than normal, I have a mountain of obstacle to still tackle, but 5% of my problems were OK. But beyond THAT, I feel it doesn't matter. The Lord is probably not going to make all the problems I face just magically go away, but the most important thing is that I know that he has my back. He may be the only one right now that backs me, but that is all I need to face the obstacles ahead. I guess it was just his way of saying that everyone else in the world (other than my family and friends, of course) could turn ugly, but I have a guy covering my backside. That means a lot.

People Have Lost Their Minds

OK, I feel I need to write about this not to just vent and cry online, but to WARN everybody about what is going on in our society. People have differing views about our country. Some people say that the 9/11 tragedy was done by our Government, that President Obama was not born in the U.S., and some believe the CIA is tracking them. I am sure that out of all the people that say the CIA is tracking them, about 10% are probably correct. That is beyond the point. What is REALLY happening in our society is that average people are going crazy. I believe the Government is covering this fact up by scaring everybody about the Swine Flu.
Let me elaborate on this claim. I work in a small business. The people that I have worked around for years have gone off their rocker. It started when I got a complaint in February of this year when a person called me yelling at me that their A/C was not working properly. The outside temperature at the time was reaching a high of 42 degrees. Then in July, another normal person called me up and yelled at me because their heater wasn't working. The high for that day was 92 degrees. But that is all and good.
This is only the tip of the iceberg for what I have been dealing with. I have been threatened to be sued for harassment (this person bounced a check and I turned them into my collection company who has called them repeatedly), I have had somebodies father drive from Dallas to stomp into my office one day. His daughter had not had heat all winter and he wanted answers. So did I. So we went up to her place and I asked her what this is all about and she said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you that my heater stopped working." EERRRRRRR! So I apologized that I didn't fix what I didn't know was broken.
This is not just happening to me, I have talked to plumbers and other people who work around the general public, they are saying the same thing. Normal people have gotten weird. So what is making this happen? I think it is the economy. Even though it hasn't hit us hard here, I still think people have gotten freaked out about it.
I have actually prayed about this. I have not asked the Lord to CHANGE these people from being crazy, I have just asked him to please help me deal with it. Or at least have the strength to weather this storm that is, hopefully, temporary. I have also learned that people threatening to sue me, angry Dads barging into my office, being reported to my superiors is actually something I should expect. So now that I expect these things to happen, when they don't (they usually do), I am pleasantly surprised.
So the moral of the story IS....... just be cool with the people who serve you for the next few months. It only takes a few normal people to make a person's day.

What Makes A Man

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. I was very cold and wet. I was also wondering whether I was going to get a cold from standing out in the rain for so long. I was at a rally that I did not want to go to. It wasn't because I disagreed with this rally, it was just that I had led the previous two rallies and I was mentally exhausted from the 'political scene'.
So the question is... Why did I go? Well, my Papa was going to speak at this rally. My Papa is the only man in the whole world that I would follow him anywhere. I have the utmost respect for him and more. So I went. Papa had raised me when I was a boy. I was born with a birth father that could not deal with the pressure of being a family man. He left. By the grace of God, I was raised by Papa from the age of 9 on. He made me the man I am today. He taught me about being a man of your word, responsibility, and honor. He taught me how to treat a woman and others with dignity. My wife, children, and future grandchildren will be affected because of him.
I listened to his speech when he approached the podium. I am very protective of him (even though he doesn't need it). He spoke of HIS father and the way the line of men that I am descended from believe in hard work, honesty, and integrity. I was so proud.
The reason that I have lived my life the way I have is for one reason, I never want to disappoint him. He has never asked a thing from me, but I have never wanted to put him in a position to let him down. That is why I never had a child out of wed-lock, used hard drugs, or steal. I just wanted him to know that I try everyday to live up to his standards.
The Lord has blessed me with the presence of this man in my life. Without him, I am not sure what type of man I would be to this day. Thank you Papa.

My Take On The Obama Speech To The Nation's Schools Today.

V.S.

Just kidding, not going to touch that subject with a 10-foot pole. Don't care. Here is the real subject line: How To Reach A Little More Happiness And Reduce A Little Stress In Your Life.

I have found, in my short stint as a political activist (not one anymore), is that people watch WAY too much news and listen to WAY too much political talk radio. I have weeded this out of my life, and it is wonderful. So you may ask the question, 'But think of all the things I will miss if I don't watch the news.' NOTHING. Trust me, it has been the same thing for years. You want to watch the local news? I do, for the weather, but as of the rest, do I really need to know that there was a robbery on the northeast side of OKC, or that there is a serial killer loose in southern Oklahoma. What am I gonna do? Go try and hunt him down. No.

As of the national news, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, don't care. People say, 'Oh, Fox News is WAY too conservative', then flip the coin and others say, 'CNN and MSNBC are too liberal.' Not sure, don't watch them anymore. Reason------Let's have two or three people on a show to discuss a topic. These people are on opposite sides of the argument. Then as they debate, all I hear is yelling and these children trying to talk over each other. It is enough for my head to explode.

So here is the only thing that MIGHT make me watch the news again, if these shows put on people to debate a subject but require their mothers to be there also. This would greatly reduce the pathetic yelling and bickering that goes on on these programs. They would start raising their voices and their mother would step in, apologize to the host, and give them a swatting. That would fix it, only in a perfect world.

A Tribute To The Underappretiated Hotties Of The 80's Movies

So I am sitting here in the middle of the night cruising the box to see what is on. Can't sleep, to worried about work-related problems. Anyway, I stumbled upon the movie Teen Wolf, and realized that it is my duty to give a sort of homage to the '2ND love interest girls' of these movies. These are the girls that are completely hot, they also are really cool to hang out with, but the main character is always chasing the 'it' girl until he realizes that FINALLY the best girl is the 2ND one. So here goes.....

"Boof" from Teen Wolf. She was the coolest girl on the block and accepted Scott Howard as himself and not the wolf. I would soooo go after her first.

"Watts" from Some Kind of Wonderful. She was a little rough around the edges, like to work on cars, but stole the man from Amanda Jones. Good for her, much less maintenance.

Amanda frickin Peterson. OK, not really in line with this subject matter but she didn't like the geek then loved him at the end. She was just really hot in this movie. Amanda Frickin Peterson!

OK, so here is how MY 80's love movie would go. First, I am a stud MLB baseball pitcher in rotation for the Red Sox. I have a friend. Her name is Leona Lewis, and she is completely hot for me but I don't notice her advances and think of her as just a friend.

But,

I am after ARod's girlfriend Mariah Carey. After a while, I find out that I am really in love with the woman who has been infatuated with me all along, Leona Lewis.

So we end up together and live happily ever after. The End.

Something That Is Close To My Heart

I have to come out with something that has a special place in my heart. And I would like to ask for help from anybody that is willing to help.

My story is that I was a freshman in high school. I was at the tail end of my freshman year. With anybody who knew me back then, knew that life had taken it's biggest bat and beat me nearly to death during that year. It was a beautiful spring day in '96 when I went with my church youth group to go down to the Jesus House to serve meals. We served dinner and ate with the people there. We listened to stories, told our own, and enjoyed ourselves. Then we were invited to the evening church service. We all went down there and I saw something I had never seen before and probably haven't seen since. I saw people that were either drug addicts or recovering drug users. These people had nothing but the clothes on their back. But I noticed that they had something more. They had God. I have never seen more faith than from people who had nothing in life BUT God. They were not at the service just so people would see that they were there. They were there because ALL THEY HAD WAS GOD.

Now I have seen certain local charities being 'used' by people who really didn't need the money or goods from that charity but they take from them anyway. BUT the Jesus House is at the end of the line. If you are at the Jesus House, you back is literally against the wall. Everybody has given up on you except the people at the Jesus House and Jesus himself. I have never seen the actual spirit of Jesus Christ HIMSELF more apparent than at this charity.

The Jesus House is having trouble now raising funds. They are backed up on their gas bill to the tune of about $2,000 or over. They are about to be cut off. I am on a personal mission to get together as much money as I can to help put a dent in this bill. I don't like asking for money but I want anyone that reads this blog to please spread the word around and ask for $1 or $5 and maybe we can get this house back on a solid foundation. Thanks.