|
I got one call and two emails asking why I didn't post the blog yesterday. Cheese O Pete, you are an insatiable group.
Yesterday(Tuesday) was crazy. Now I was going to dump all our problems on you, but in retrospect, we will not get much empathy and no sympathy.
Jack is still recovering from his four banger wisdom tooth removal. He is completely off the drugs (except some Advil), but only able to chew soft food. For example he had tasty totter tots and a vanilla shake for lunch today. His teeth will be great but we will need a crane to get him to school soon.
We are in the midst of a lawsuit I can't talk about regarding a natural catastrophe that occurred at one of our residences involving mud. (Two of my attorney friends have just fainted.) Since they are unconscious, let me spill more beans at the risk of jeopardizing a settlement in the hundreds of pennies.
Let me tell you, thanks to years in business and occasional personal and business litigation, the legal system is not about truth, justice, or the American way, it is about billing hours. When you are in a room, being questioned about a $6.79 receipt from Target on page 2 of 9 list of receipts, and you suggest to the three attorneys in the room that we skip ahead 9 lines down so we can talk about the $6,000.00 to replace your heater, and they all say, "No, its important that we go over each line item.", they don't care if you spent 300,000 or 600,000 to rebuild your home, they care about the billing hours.
The lawsuit, which we were told would easy and not too intrusive (Devin and I knew better, but wanted to show unity with our neighbors. Our guess was 30 months and mid 5 digits in cost) is now in its 21st month, and cost us in the low 5 digits. We are the only plaintiff still paying as one neighbor (an attorney has chosen to represent himself) and the other two have chosen to go on contingency.
There have been various court dates set and depositions but we think our guess of 30 months and mid 5 digits in cost will be spot on. Our reward will be to have all the neighbors over to say "We told you so."
As an interesting side benefit, one of the neighbors had a close friend who is an attorney and suggested they sue their insurance company separately and he would handle the suit for free. BOYS AND GIRLS LIFE LESSON-TAKE NOTES.
WHEN YOU SEE OUR HEAR THE WORDS FRIEND, ATTORNEY, AND FREE IN THE SAME SENTENCE, RUN AWAY. THESE STORIES NEVER END WELL.
Don't get me wrong I have a very close friend who is one of our attorneys and have several acquaintances who are attorneys. On occasion we have benefited from their knowledge and experience Pro Bono. However when handling a case or legal process we always insist they bill their normal fee. But I digress.
So this neighbor and his free attorney take on their insurance which I will not name here because I do not know what STATE they are from or what kind of FARM they have. Well, all the neighbors get caught in the cross fires and our documents from the case I can't discuss got subpoenaed in this side case and I get served a subpoena to be deposed in the neighbors case.
Now fortunately my attorney, who actually bills me for his services has done an incredible job of extracting me from this wreckage. Yeah, I know, not much sympathy or empathy.
On top of this background, remember the leak in the back yard from September and October? Yeah that's the one with the $6,000.00 worth of digging and trenching, testing, and French drainage to confirm our neighbor (the attorney who is defending himself) has inadequate drainage so it flows into our yard. Well, we got most of their drainage handled for them but just discovered we missed a 6 foot section behind our pool. I will be meeting with him later this week to discuss.
Then to round out the first part of the week, we had scheduled an inspection of a fabulous home we are strongly considering. In order to get the inspection done, we had to tell the bankruptcy court who would be there. Well I did not know we wanted to be there so I did not inform my realtor that we wanted to be there.
Note, I am using the all encompassing "we" Devin is so found of. We need to take out the recycle, we need to call the pool guy, we need to . . . .. So we did want to be at the inspection, but I had indicated we did not want to be there.
The inspectors show up. The realtors show up. Devin and Kristin show up. (The other half of we had a luncheon scheduled so could not be there.) Well, the occupants decided not to let the buyers on the property because they were not on the court order. Needless to say, I got a few phone calls during my lunch.
Yeah I know, not much sympathy or empathy.
Not Another Bloody Book
I finished the book 1356 on Monday night. It was spectacular. If you are a medieval history buff, I highly recommend it. I especially enjoyed the summary by the author who trimmed a bit of the fictional fluff and gave a well researched best guess of what might have really happened at the Battle of Poiters. Great book.
I was encouraged by my buddy Douglas to enjoy another Bernard Cornwell book about the American Civil War. I will in time, but chose to enjoy another of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz a Southern California author.
A few years back he wrote a character series about a 20 year (while I am typing this at 11:25 I am listening to the loudest military exercise down at Camp Pendleton I have heard since the beginning of Desert Storm. They must be deploying those 1,000 pound bunker busters because it is rattling the house.) old short order cook who is visited by dead people.
His name is Odd Thomas and Koontz does a great job of bringing the character to life. If you are a Koontz fan and have not had the pleasure, please pick up (or in my case, down load) a copy of Odd Thomas, the first in the series (there are five I think), and get to know the lad and his quiet well dressed friend, the ghost of Elvis.
| 
Since 12/31/2012
