Really? Really!

I cannot wait for our upstairs neighbors to MOVE!!!

Hurry up and get out people.

They vacuum at 3 in the morning. They drop loud objects on the floor at all hours of the day and night.

Really? REALLY!

They cuss, scream, and fight with each other so loudly that we cannot hear our own conversations.They hit the walls and slam doors when they are mad at each other.

Really? REALLY!

They turn on the air conditioner, shut up every window in their place and smoke which comes down the heating vent into our apartment. Not to mention that we are convinced they are involved in some sort of illegal activity, we just can't seem to figure out what it is. The possibilities: meth lab, stolen goods, insurance scams involving car accidents...

Really? REALLY!

We heard rumor they were moving out at the end of Oct., well that didn't happen. I saw the guy stacking up some random items and taking a handful of trips to the car with un-boxed items so hopefully by the end of this month we will be rid of them.

Computer issues...

Last week we got a deal for cable that included their cable internet service. The package wasn't much more than we were paying for our DSL internet and the required phone line that we almost never use. We agreed to make the switch.

When they came to install the cable, they had to use quite a lot of wire around half the apartment. They wanted to do the same around the other half to reach our computer too. I decided I'd just move our wireless router into the living room where it could be hidden easily enough and still not involve adding more wires.

Today I finally got a chance to go to Best Buy to get the adapter for the desktop computer so we could finally switch over. I came home, hooked everything up, and got nothing. After much frustration, I called the cable company. After over an hour on the phone with them, they figured out that their modem wasn't working right. We got it to the point where if we plugged the modem into the computer we got a signal, but the router still wasn't working.

That meant a call to the router's manufacturer. After another frustrating hour plus on the phone with "Vincent" from an Indian call center, we are back online. I hope it lasts, because I was told that was my one courtesy call before they start charging me for it.

HELP!

We have a beautiful CLEAN white fridge that we have to sell because we dont have room for it at our new place. Problem is we need to have it out of our old apartment by Monday afternoon! If you know anyone who might be interested we will be around all day tomorrow and I will be around on Sunday. Make us an offer we cant refuse.

We're on our way...

Day 1 of moving didn't start as early as I thought it would. I went to pick up the keys at 9am and found that we both had to sign a ton of paperwork before we could get them. I drove back home only to find a message from Cyndi saying that she could leave work for a bit to meet me there. I didn't even walk in our old place. I just turned around and went back to the new place. I guess I should look into a Bluetooth thingie.

Anyway, we got everything signed and inspected by noon. Cyndi went back to work while my dad and I both loaded up our cars and took the first batch of boxes. Cyndi joined us after that for a Carl's Jr. lunch and round 2 of boxes. Just as we finished that load, Bradley made it to our old place to help with load 3. Bradley and dad left after that. We went to get a little dinner and pick up a few things from Target. We made a late trip back to the new place to set some things up and sort out some of the stuff that was just piled into the smaller bedroom.

Tomorrow morning we can pick up the moving truck at 8:30am and then we'll move the bigger furniture and some things we have in storage in our garage. I'm hoping it will go smoothly. I know I'll be exhausted this week, and really wish I had some time to rest especially after the craziness this past week. I'll have to remember to blog that another time.

It's official...

After 7 years here, P&C is moving to a new home base. We're not going too far though. The new place is near Cerritos College. Besides getting away from the horrible maintenence issues here, we'll also be getting an extra bedroom, a dishwasher, and can have critters, all without leaving the area.

The big move will be on Saturday the 13th. We'd love some help even if you can only come for a little while. We'll feed you and everything. Good times. Let us know if you can make it so we can figure out a plan. Thanks!

Out of Order

Pauls parents were nice enough to come pick us up and bring us home from the airport on the 16th of August. We stopped to grab dinner on our way. While we were sitting and chatting in the living room Cyndi got up to use the bathroom.

"Uh, Bubba... Paul? We have a problem!" comes just moments later from the bathroom.

"What?" is the response figuring there is probably a spider, ant or other creature Cyndi doesnt like to remove from the area.

Cyndi then explains that there is grossness (read SEWAGE!) all over the bathroom and Paul comes to look at what she is talking about. Paul then heads upstairs to tell the manager. After a few minutes he comes back and tells everyone that the manager simply told him that it happened a week ago, the problem was fixed and WE SHOULD JUST CLEAN IT UP!

Paul tells him no we are not going to clean it up, the manager agrees to call the owner and fill him in on the situtation and then he will call us. So we pack up our stuff and head to Paul's parents house.

The following day we come back home to see what the deal is... there is no response from anyone. Manager isnt home, owner wont return phone calls. Finally we call a company to come out and assess the damage for us. They say it will be over $700, Paul thanks them for coming out but we have to get owner approval before hiring anyone. We wait around a little while to see if we can get ahold of anyone. After having dinner we go back up to the ALH for the night.

The next day Paul heads back down to the apt. the owner is scrubbing down the place on his own! Paul says he went over it about 3 times with different cleaning solutions. Paul asked him about the fact that this stuff has been sitting in our closed up apt. with no windows open and no fans for 9 days and the owners response was he didnt think it would be a problem.

Cue Paul and Cyndi looking for a new place to live.

This event caused us to not be able to live in our apt. for 3 days, it ruined our bath mats, and it made it all the way into our closet next to the bathroom. Items that will be discarded because of gross water damage include 4 rolls wrapping paper, boxes for my school stuff, a kite, pillow, 2 pillow cases and camping toaster maker which has never been used.

Breaking and Entering

Just one more service we offer here at the Apollo Apartments

So soon?

Apparently Christmas came and went, and we missed it.  Someone in our apartment complex threw out their tree last night.  Seems like kind of a waste to buy a big tree only to get rid of it on December 14.  

Saturday

Today we mostly hung out around the apartment. We both slept in...me until past October. After eating, we cleaned up the place a bit. I did some dishes, and the dining area was completely cleaned. We think we have room for a tabletop Christmas tree now so we'll have to find the ornaments. Later on we headed up to Alhambra for dinner with the family at Applebees. Unlike Ricky Bobby, we couldn't manage to get ourselves kicked out. After dinner we walked down to an Asian yogurt place that Bradley is a regular at. It was tangy, not sweet. Not quite right, but edible. Tomorrow I work early and Cyndi has lesson planning to take care of so it's off to bed for now.

Weekend....fun?

Our weekend adventures this week haven't been as fun as in past weeks. I spent all day Friday, and Cyndi joined me on Saturday, driving around house/apartment hunting. Cyndi is now set with her teaching contract, so we're hoping to be able to spread out a bit more. Our goal is to find a place soon so we can pack and move before summer ends and Cyndi is teaching again. Our vacation is at the beginning of August, so ideally we can move sometime in July.

I forgot how much I hate the process of finding a place. I tend to compare everything to where we currently live. Nothing has felt like "home" yet. My head tells me that won't happen until we move our stuff in and make it a home, but it's still hard. We're used to this place and this area, so any change is going to be a bit scary and foreign for a while.

Because of this, I tend to focus on the negatives at each place we look at. There will be negatives and positives no matter where we go. I just hope I can take a step back, look at all our reasons for wanting this change, and see that it is a good thing.

I think we'd both like to find a house rather than an apartment, but those are harder to come by. It seems like all those people who rushed to buy houses they really couldn't afford are now coming back to renting which makes finding a good place tough.

We broke up the search a bit by having dinner with the family tonight, and seeing a late showing of Oceans 13 on Friday. Last year we missed most of the summer movies, so we've made a point to go see as many as we can on Friday nights. So far so good....Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Knocked Up, and Oceans 13. Good times.

What you don't want to come home to

When we got home from our Thanksgiving break and visiting Morgan, we came home to find this. Both sides of our sink were filled with dirt and soot. The right side of the counter was wet in front of the microwave with also some black and dark brown gunk. We had a few bowls that were rinsed out but not washed yet which now were covered with a black and grey slimmy substance. GROSS!
I bleached one side of the sink threw out our drying rack. Bleached and then washed the dishes. Then bleached the other side of the sink. It was then time to turn my efforts to the counter. I moved the microwave and ewww, more grossness. I bleached the counter, but it still has a stain to it. I cleaned the bottom of the microwave and then put everything back. This was not as bad as when there was back-up into our bathtub but still not fun at all. Yuck.

Hey pal,

I don't like you. Take your buddies and get out of my apartment. Your kind isn't wanted around here. And while you're at it, knock off that incessant chirping at all hours of the night. I get it. You're in the living room. Is somebody not getting enough attention today?

issues

This weekend we had a little problem with our bathroom. Before I left for SD our toilet decided to start over flowing which we figured there was a clog but we cleaned it up. I went to get my shower stuff and looked down...

AHHH! the tub was full of gross water.

On the ground water also started pooling.

Grrr.

We called the manager, no one there. Called Steve, no one there.

Paul finally got ahold of someone and they said they would be over tomorrow.

Fine.

Tomorrow comes and the tub has drained itself, the toilet flushes normal.

Weird.

At least we weren't the only ones we know of two other apartments who were having similar issues.

Here is what it looked like as I scrubbed the tub three times with three different products and bleached the tub.

Then the toilet got it followed by the floor. Finished product. My fantastically clean bathroom.

It was a massacre I tell ya....

Cyndi went to the pet store yesterday to get a feeder for our fish while we're gone. While she was there, she saw some small frogs for aquariums. She asked their fish guy if the frogs would work well with what we already had. He said yes, so she bought one of them as well as 3 of the neon tetra that were in the same display tank. They looked good and added a little life and color to our tank.

When we got back from the movies last night, there was a problem. All 4 of the newbies were gone. We thought they might be hiding in the castle or the plants. Nope. Then I saw it...half a tetra caught in one of the plants.

I blame this guy:

He's supposed to be peaceful, but he's the only one left who's grown enough to have pulled it off. This is the second time our pets have eaten each other. If we don't get this under control, we'll never be able to move on to furry animals or children.

Down and out

Our DSL went out completely today. It's been acting weird for a week or so. Every so often it will say it can't find a page and then it gets to the point where it can't find any page. Now it says there is no connection, though Verizon seems to disagree. Our dial-up modem seems slower than I remember too, so until that gets fixed (hopefully soon) there probably won't be too many posts on here. Besides blogging, this is a bad time for having limited internet options. While I'm on, please continue to pray for the situation I posted about last week. I can't really post any details just because I don't know who all reads this, but if you want specifics just email me or call me as some have done. Things are not as critical at the moment, but it's still a bad situation that has a very good possibility of getting worse fast. Thanks all!

Update

We are beginning to get our computer up and running again but we have to reinstall everything. So hopefully in the next day or so I can get photos and updates from the weekend posted. Thank You for your patience while we had our techincal difficulties.

Even the GeekSquad has us listed as critical condition.

Goodbye years of photos...
Goodbye lifetime of music...
Goodbye DSL modem...

sigh.

The Sky is Falling!

The owner of our apartment complex came over and told me there was a problem upstairs, I said OK. He then told me that he needed to get in to our bathroom to fix the problem. The picture above is what happened next. Two men broke apart our ceiling and now we have this beautiful view. Oh the joys of apartment life. The main guy who was fixing it also dropped something in our bathtub and broke off a piece. Oy! We also have a drawer that is beyond repair unless it is completely replaced. Good times.