Clean Stairwell and Broken Crack Pipe

So the good news: we got our disgusting stairwell redone. New flooring and vinyl steps. It is much nicer than the old smelly and stained carpet and broken linoleum. AND a month after it was installed, it was CLEANED I think with Pine Sol. It smelled good and made me happy.

The bad news: one of my unmentioned before but good neighbor is moving out. Good upstanding citizen. He is upset that Mark was allowed to move back into the complex twice (since I have been here) after being kick out twice (since I have been here). I argued that he has been good since he got back from jail. But good downstairs neighbor's prediction is that as soon as the weather gets nice, Mark will be on the rampage again. Another old lady that I don't know moved out recently - I am not sure if it is because of Mark.

I am not sure why my landlord lets Mark stay here. The residents complain about him, he gets arrested frequently, and he does crazy stuff like block another neighbor's fire exit with his own refrigerator and coat the fire exit stair with his clothes and bedding. That got a call to the landlord and the Fire Marshall from at least me. In any case, Mark is here and other upstanding residents are moving out.

And on an odd note, I found a broken piece of crack pipe in the washing machine as I was adding my laundry. I picked it out and put it in the trash. Just got around to googling "crack pipe" to confirm my suspicions. If you are going to smoke crack, make sure you remove your pipe from your pocket before you do the wash. Otherwise it will break and you will have to buy a new one. That is free advise from me to you.

I did get custom shades for my huge and beautiful factory building windows (I can stand fully on each of the window "sills" a foot deep, 3 feet wide, and six feet high.) My apartment will be prettier soon. I'll post pictures when I get them up. First I have to break/ take down the old holders for curtains/ blinds/ shades and remove the old venetian blinds that the maintenance man painted over so they don't open.

A typo has led to the election of the wrong man to a finance board in Derby, Conn.

DERBY, Conn. -- A typo has led to the election of the wrong man to a finance board in Derby, Conn.
James J. Butler was the highest vote-getter, winning 1,526 votes for the 10-member Board of Apportionment and Taxation, which monitors the town's finances.

However, his father, 72-year-old James R. Butler, was the candidate nominated by Democrats. The News Times of Danbury and New Haven Register report that he said he wants the job and that his son is not interested in public office.

James J. Butler, who is 46, would not comment on whether he wants the job. But he calls city officials incompetent for confusing him with his father.

Av Harris, spokesman for the secretary of the state's office, says James J. Butler should be sworn in because he was elected.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/24/typo-wrong-candidate-election_n_1112364.html 

Urban Blight Reporting

This is actually from over the summer. Since I put these signs up, the graffiti on the outside of the building has been painted over, the awning fixed, the graffiti on the inside of the building has been painted over, the disgusting carpet on the stairs pulled up (but not yet replaced - still it is an improvement). The drain that prevents flooding to my neighbor's basement apartment has been unclogged so his apartment doesn't flood anymore. Today there were painters out painting the area outside the doors. It is looking pretty good. :)

 Squeaky wheel gets the grease - right?

Homeless Person Trap?

I can't quite figure this one out. My best guess is it is a homeless person trap. Unshelled peanuts on the window sill, a quilt with a water bottle, and my schizophrenic neighbor standing guard behind the now broken blinds.

Evan is back

Okay, I stopped posting because my dad got a hold of the email address, and while I find the happenings in Derby hysterical, I can see that by a father's perspective, they might not be....

I met Evan when he was moving in - a guy my age with all his teeth. Alright! So I chatted with him, welcomed him to the building, joked about what a slum this place was. He knew already, which is probably a bad sign to start with.

Then nothing for the next 1 to 2 months.

It was mid week, I was asleep, because that is what people who have jobs do at night. At around 2am there is loud knocking on my door. Relentless. Now, I live by myself, and this is not a welcome sound to be awakened to. It is not stopping. What do I do? Who is it? I remembered to deadbolt the door, right? What weapons do I have? Where is my cell phone? Is there a lock on my bedroom door to that I can use?

Finally after about 5 to 10 minutes (time passes slowly when you are freaking out). I get up with my can of mace (there is also a nice IKEA steak knife that I could use in the kitchen). By the time I get into the living room the mysterious knocker has identified himself. "It's Evan, let me in." And all I could think was Evan, who?

me: "Evan, who?!"
him: "It's Evan, I have cats."
me: ????
him: "I'm drunk."
me: yeah, I can tell.
him: "We met when I was moving in, I live upstairs."
me: this rings a bell.
him: "Let me in, I want to see your rabbits"
me: "It is late"
him: "Open the door"
me: that is the last thing I will do. "I am already in bed"
him: "put some clothes on and we can hang out"
me: what does he imagine I am wearing now!?! "It is late"
him: Are you alone (or something to the effect of that)
me: Stupidly after surveying my apartment - let's see FuFu the boy bunny, and some male tadpoles.... "Yes and I need to work tomorrow"
him: "Oh, what do you do?"
me: why am I having this conversation? "I am a teacher."
him: "My girlfriend is a teacher!"
me: why is he knocking on my door at 2:30 am if he has a girlfriend? "It is late, I need to get up, talk to me tomorrow"
him: I don't remember what he said, but he left.

So then it took me another hour to calm down enough to fall asleep.


The Next Night

Again, knocking on the door in the middle of the night. But this time it only lasted for a few minutes, then he gave up.

The Following Day

Seeing as this is getting ridiculous, I make a trip up to his apartment and knock on the door. I let him know that he can't knock on my door after 9pm. I need to sleep. He said he just did it the once, and I let him know that it was actually twice. He just wanted to cuddle. (This makes perfect sense and a good reason to knock on a strangers door at 2am) I reminded him that he had a girlfriend. And he let me know that it was over between them.  Which is interesting because he introduced me to her a few times in the upcoming weeks.

Outside the apartment - Sunny Afternoon

I was talking to Michael, my favorite neighbor (deaf, middle aged, and gay) and Evan butts in, then when he realizes that I am only talking to Michael he leaves. Michael does not like Evan, he does not like drug dealers. He says that Evan is a crack dealer. On my way back into the apartment, Evan is talking to a car on the road and he comes jogging back to me: "Hey, do you smoke or party [do drugs I forget the language he used]" no. "Can I get some of your piss?" no. "Come on!" NO! "Why not?!?"

A few days later - Sunny Afternoon

 I was working in my garden and Evan comes up drinking a bottle of Corona. We are chatting. I find out he gets $2000 a month from the government because he is bipolar. This gets me mad as that doesn't seem quite fair to the non addicts who have to work for a living. He is able bodied enough to do some work. I don't see why he gets money for nothing. Maybe the government should make people work for their Section 8 money. Like construction, or day care, or litter clean up, painting buildings, cleaning government buildings or something.

But I digress. He wants to know if I have any prescription drugs. At this I get mad at him. "First you want my piss, now you want drugs?!" This confused him: "I asked you for piss? I must have been really messed up." Fantastic excuse "IT WAS THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON!" He took off after that.

A couple weeks later - Outside on the Sidewalk

Michael lets me know that Evan got arrested the previous night. I wasn't home, so I didn't see it. I see Evan and decide to have a little fun with him. "So I hear you get arrested last night." And he brushes it off and wants to know if I saw it. So I let him save a little face by conceding that he was probably just having a little chat with the cops.


Then

He stopped me on the stairwell. "Hey, just in case I don't see you before Monday, I wanted to say goodbye." okay. "I am going away for a while. I don't know if I am going to jail or will get probation." makes sense. [and this is my favorite sentence uttered by anyone looking to win points with me] "Oh.... it is nothing bad  I am just a misdemeanor kind of guy!" Okay, well goodbye and good luck.


A couple of days ago

I saw him on the stairwell talking on his cell, so where ever he was, he is back. But shucks, he is only a misdemeanor kind of guy!

Vampire Bedbugs kill 6 out of 13 people on Caroline Street

Just got back to town and met Mark hanging out of his window. Apparently he moved out of his apartment and is now back in it. He said he moved to Caroline Street, but had to move back because of an infestation of large crab-like vampire bedbugs. He knew something was wrong when he saw two of them smashed bloodily on the door to his new apartment.

They bite limbs, you know - like arms and legs.6 out of 13 people died on Caroline Street. Heart attacks. I am supposed to make the link that the vampire bedbugs caused these deaths. Mark wanted me to visit him so he could show me. (No thanks, I have had a long day) So he met me on the stairs to show me the bite marks on his legs. They look like insect bites. If you go to the doctor for it you have to put a lotion on all over your body. And it is a good thing that he grew up in the woods because he knows about ticks.

He said that my neighbor also has vampire bedbugs. I so hope that this is not true (well not the vampire part, but the bedbug part) I really don't want to have to throw out all my furniture and move. I really really hate the idea of bedbugs.

Now off to visit my more sane neighbor to ask about the vampire bedbugs. If they turn out to be real bedbugs, I am moving out.

Neighbors and a Rabbit

My favorite neighbor is a middle aged, gay, deaf man that lives in my apartment complex. He is the sweetest guy. And he can read lips, so I can talk to him, although I am learning a little bit of sign language. The first day we met, he saw I had rabbits and he said "I wuv wabbits!" and he told me that he had a rabbit once, and he almost started to cry. The sweetest guy, as I have said. He gave my bunnies the sign for "I love you".

So yesterday I was talking with another neighbor - Schizophrenic (government brain scanners) - and he let me know that he had the rabbit and couldn't keep him because he ate the power cords, so he gave them to a family on Anton Street. He described Anton as a drug infested street. (which makes me wonder what kind of street I live on)

The rabbit was used for BB practice. My neighbor was mad, but didn't do anything. Apparently the guy who was shooting the rabbit, later got a gunshot wound to the eye.We agreed that the rabbit got its karmic payback.

So now I suppose I know why my deaf neighbor almost cried when he told me he used to own a rabbit.