That pink elephant of a house we built in Lakewood is now somebody else’s property.  Thank you God!  Following up on my previous post, I had to watch the lawyer/title guy like a hawk.  At the last minute he tried to slip in an extra $1K on us, conveniently failing to give us a credit we were due.  Then the Realtor tried to slip in a $250 “transaction fee”.  Nope, sorry a-holes.  I’ve been to that rodeo.  Not goin’ there again.

I wonder how many thousands, or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars they’ve collected from people who never questioned the charges presented and just paid it?  I caught ‘em this time, but I wonder how much other stuff over the years I haven’t caught?  I hate being made a fool of.  See what I mean about not trusting?

On a happier note, lunch with my daughter and SIL and grandsons was fun.  Here are the kiddo’s:

That’s “watch me Grandpa Scott, watch me, watch me, watch me” on the left, and “Zoom” on the right.

It’s Miller time, right???? 

S

I have become a very untrusting person.  I’ve always given people the benefit of the doubt, but these days I walk around with my hand on my wallet and my back to a wall and make people prove to me they are trustworthy.  I’ve been burned so many times by people who say things, and even written documents that seem to nail down all the details, but later find the document writer has very cleverly inserted an innocent phrase or two that is in reality a loophole.  

Bro and I are brainstorming a way to totally bypass banks in our business dealings.  It can be done, but it isn’t easy.  Business today almost requires you interact with insurance companies, bankers, lawyers, beancounters, bureaucrats, regulators, and many others, all who are maneuvering feverishly to find a way to cheat you.  In the home building bidness today, actually building a home has almost become an inconvenient little piece of the enterprise.  This is not what I signed on for.

I sometimes think I belong in another era, an era where you had to rely on no one but yourself, and a handshake was your word of honor.  If anybody shakes your hand today, you’d better check to see if they made off with your ring.

S

….and the Staples Center will be full of mourners.  My gosh….just how many pharmaceutical salesmen are there??

Strangest of all, every network is going to carry live coverage of the event.  If it pre-empts the daytime soap operas they’re gonna have a bunch of pissed off women to deal with.  And if it spills over into Oprah, I’m predicting full blown riots in the streets.

I’m meeting daughter Kristan and the grandsons today for lunch.  I hope she holds off giving them their daily sugar allotment until later.

S