A bad afternoon

What a fun afternoon (or day) we both had. Actually I had kind of a "fun" (see sarcasm here) day. As mentioned on the previous post we are off on vacation in 10 days (actually as of right now 10 days, 13 hours and 14 minutes) and this is one of the most stressful times for me.

We knew the day was going to be screwy when we woke up to snow. SNOW!!! Damn snow. I really hate snow. It got Kathleen out the door more than an hour late and that was just the start of the fun.

Let me see if I can explain the work problem. I have a newsletter I need to get to press before we can leave. This is my annual premier issue. It happens every April. That's when I showcase all the new products and services from the company I write about. It's a very big deal for my customers who use my newsletter. It is the biggest issue I do all year. And I have to get it to press before I leave.

Most months, getting my newsletter out to press is just about me getting the work done but this month is different. I have to depend on people in our marketing department to get me the info so I can write about it. Today I spent all day trying to get some of our new software installed (in a very beta version) so I could do screen shots for publication. Nothing we did (tech support and me) could get it to work the right way. That's the way a bunch of my day went. If it doesn't work tomorrow I don't know what I will do. It still has to be proofed and then I need a full day to get it to press.

Then Kathleen called about three minutes before she came home and said she had stopped at the mailbox to get our mail and "the woman with the dog" is out walking it without a leash again. Explanation here: I am on the board of our condo association. Probably the president now that the current president is gone. We have a rule about dogs. They have to be on a leash. HAVE TO BE ON A LEASH. This couple who lives in the complex has two dogs. They walk them in the complex. One is always on a leash and the other is NEVER on a leash. We have sent them letters. We have fined them under our house rules. Our fines double every time you break one of the house rules. Their current fine is well over $1000. We have talked to them in person and they still walk this dog off a leash. When we have talked to them they act like they just don't care.

One of the problems is that when we fine them, they just don't pay. We can lien their property (and we will) but we don't get their money until they sell their unit. Our only other option is to foreclose on them. We may be doing that now.

Which brings us to this afternoon. Kathleen stopped to get the mail and saw the woman of the couple out walking the dog--of the leash. She gave Kathleen a really dirty look and after Kathleen had the mail she said to her that they were going to get fined again. The woman waited until Kathleen was back in her car and she threw her bag of dog poop at her car. When Kathleen stopped the car she ran up to the driver's side window and slammed the window with her open palms. Kathleen did the smart thing and came home. We called the police to file a complaint.

While we were waiting for the police to come I was reaching for my coffee cup to go upstairs and I dropped it on my keyboard. Thus the keyboard disaster. Not sure if it is going to work tomorrow morning but I cleaned it out and I hopefully got it all.

The police came and looked at the hand prints on Kathleen's car, took her statement and left to speak to the woman. What a thrill.

So that's been our day. We had a really good time. Can you tell?

I can say that every time that couple takes their dog out without a leash I will be not only fining them but calling King County Animal Control and bugging them until they fine these people as well. And I am going to deal with the board about starting foreclosure proceedings unless they pay their fines.

If they don't pay attention to the rules pretty soon, no one will. And their will just be anarchy in the complex.