I will never do that again

OK, so the pharmasist recommend that I take the Imuran after I eat and before bed to avoid stomach upsets.  I forgot to take it last night,  so I took one this morning after eating a bowl of rice crispies cereal.  Oh my god, I had such a pain in my gut after taking that tiny little pill. I was cold, then I got hot. The room was spinning a bit and then I had this gigantic bowel movement before I could compose myself and then get ready for work.  I will never do that again.

Sleepy Hollow and "The True Blood Effect"

Season one of Sleepy Hollow, I got. I liked it a lot. I understood where the main character came from as I was force-fed the origin story in mini form during the opening title sequence. The stories were derived from Ichabod's experiences intertwining him within American history. And the ultimate goal was to defeat the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

And then season two... what happened? I want to call it "The True Blood Effect", where anything and everything can happen to the main characters in reality or in the supernatural worlds and, oh, lets add new characters, too. Boo! The witchy stuff turned supernatural. The fight of good over evil turned satanic. Ichabod becomes disillusioned by his witch/wife who was stuck in purgatory; a place that now the main characters can travel in and out of through mirrors.

#600

This is post number 600.

This is what 730 square feet of LVP flooring looks like on a pallet at the loading dock. I ended up buying it at Hernandez Brothers Flooring in Commerce because I didn't like what was offered at a national chain store. I mean, they didn't even carry any choices in 5mm!

The staff at Hernandez Brothers were very helpful listening to what I wanted and matching it with my needs and recommended 5mm Luxury Vinyl Plank (or LVP) flooring. Why LVP? Well the foundation is as old as I am, so after years of wear and tear, its got some imperfections so installing flooring that's 5mm thick actually helps to hide those imperfections nicely.

We took up the carpet, padding and tack strips in three sections and shifted the furniture around for the installation process. 

The livingroom is done! As the largest room with the biggest impact, I knew if I could do this room, the rest would be easy. While the furniture was moved, this also allowed me to paint my accent wall. It was orange for a long, long time. Now it's more of a neutral gray color.

I Wish This Was Someone Else

After being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and having two resections in the past (1985 & 2000), it was only a matter of time when the disease would give me issues again. After getting a new doctor at the beginning of the year due to a change in insurance, in September, I decided it was time for me to get myself checked out. Feeling bad, I activated the referral I got from Dr. Misty to see a GI specialist.

He had me do this huge blood panel, a CAT scan and a colonoscopy and after last Friday, the GI doctor now believes that I actually have what I said I have had all along and taadaa - all that pain is because now I've got an ulcer. An ulcer! I didn't know people with Crohn's Disease could get ulcers. You know what? I remember that my dad had a ulcers at one time. Now I'm wondering if he had Crohn's Disease and was never really treated for it.

Things that aren't here anymore

PBS is a wonderful thing. Recently, they have been showing a two show series called, "Things that aren't here anymore" as well as "More things that aren't here anymore" chronicling businesses and landmarks that are long gone in around the general Los Angeles area.

Sometimes, when I find an address on a U.S. Census or other genealogy record, I'll look it up on Google Maps. Which got me to thinking, "What would people see if they look up the places where I lived?" in the future.

Well, when it comes to the addresses where I grew up, they're not going to see much. The first three houses I lived in for any significant amount of time were razed.

7410 Tokay was a 5 and a half acre rancho with a one bedroom house at the front of the property with no neighbors to the north, none across the street and one to the south - The Beers, who also had a farm when I lived there. After my dad sold to a contractor, the property was developed into a subdivision.

The years my mother decided to rent a room from other people, I really don't consider those places to have been my homes. The places we lived on Redwood and on Grammercy Place in Riverside were not ours and felt very temporary to me.

8412 Alder was, I believe, the original house to the double lot.  The garage was converted to the living room by the time I l lived there. A workshop and an additional home at the back of the lot were as old as the house I lived in. This house was razed (which I'm glad it was because it and the attached cellar were haunted.)

14966 1/2 Randall was a home behind another home accessible by a driveway to the left of the main house. After a fire years after I moved away, the house was razed.

The last house I lived in before moving to Orange County 22 years ago still exists, but instead of the backyard looking out onto a field, that field is now an elementary school.

The one thing I wanted so much for my son, that my mother could not seem to provide for me and my brother, was a stable home life as we moved every 3-4 years when growing up. If home is where the heart is, mine is where I bought my own and no one can take away the feelings homeownership has brought me.

Which is probably why I get a cold feeling when thinking about where I grew up and even going to my high school reunion. It's been 30 years since my high school graduation and I don't see the need to look back and reminisce.

In the News 08/07/2014:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ap-source-bofa-agrees-pay-16-17b-us-215508686--finance.html

 

Bank of America's Penalty Misses the Point:

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-06/bank-of-america-s-penalty-misses-the-point?cmpid=yhoo

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/justice-department-toy-could-cost-095800161.html

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-07/fannie-mae-to-pay-u-s-3-7-billion-from-quarterly-profit.html

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-07/freddie-mac-will-provide-u-s-1-9-billion-in-dividends.html?cmpid=yhoo

 

 

Too Hot

It is so hot and humid in California today, it's almost unbearable. Have you ever seen a  pre-school little girl hold up her dress to cool off? Picture me doing that in my house today. The fans in each room are not cutting the humidity unless you're sitting directly in front of the breeze.

Yesterday wasn't much better. I ate light in the AM and around lunchtime, drove to Commerce to look at LVP flooring. I have to replace the 15 year old carpet and my choice is to go the vinyl plank route. Why?

1. It's a DIY easy to install project
2. It's nano silver infused, so it's super sanitary
3. Even though Lumber Liquidators is in the neighborhood, I didn't like the products they were offering.

So I picked up this white washed oak color that is just what I was looking for. Light, clean, and thick at 5mm and at the aforementioned Lumber Liquidators? They only had one choice that was vinyl plank at 5mm. I feel like I got a good deal. I almost bought the entire pallet. I may go back this coming weekend and buy the rest so my whole house can be floored in that product.

As nice as carpet is under foot, it's just a seething, filthy, smelling mess after 15 years of use.

I don't remember when the weather has been so strange as California goes. There were lightning strikes near the beach in Venice, Palos Verde and Catalina...

http://online.wsj.com/articles/man-dies-after-lightning-strikes-14-in-california-1406519232

Today's hatred for Chase

So I get two emails today from Chase that said I didn't pay my bill and that they assessed a $25 late fee. I set-up e-bills with them just so I would never pay late.

In May, they forced every one of their credit card users to change to a chip card which changed their credit card number and with that, they stopped sending their e-bills to Bank of America.

After receiving those emails today, I was pissed off. I called that damn 800 number to India and I got that $25 late fee reversed. I ended up hanging up on the rep. I hate talking to India.

Then, I paid the entire balance in full minus $25.

Die With Your Boots On

https://www.ocregister.com/2014/04/25/2-killed-in-i-5-crash-in-irvine-that-blocked-lanes-for-hours/

You ever get a weird feeling someone you know is in distress or something bad happened to them? That's how I felt on this day. 

Typically, I turned on the TV to watch the morning news to see how the traffic is. On this day, I was headed out of town to visit my aunt in Virginia, but early in the morning, there was a multiple car crash on the 5 Northbound near where I live. Later I come to find out that two of the people who died were former co-workers from Deutsche Bank 

Friends described the fact that Sherry must have been driving and her car clipped a parked car on the left sitting near the HOV lane and then ricochetted off of the concrete barrier on the right like a pinball would then flung left back into traffic hitting another car. Clip-pow-pow. Just like that. Gone.

I went to their funeral after I got back from vacationing in Virginia. A lot of people from work went to the funeral. I think the family was kind of in awe to see so many showed up. I think they worked there for over 10 years, so you've had an opportunity to make an impact in that amount of time, you know?

I titled this blog entry "Die With Your Boots On" because Andrew sometimes came to work with black cowboy boots on.

RIP Andrew Hays 04/25/2014.

10 Money Management Tools Inside Google Drive

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-money-management-tools-inside-google-drive-use-today/