So, I'm down here in L.A., well, Pasadena, really, to deal with my condo. The tenants I had in here last were here for years - so many years I've lost count. The property manager I had before moved to the Midwest, so I've been an absent landlord for the last eight months, and I detest being that. It seems more irresponsible than anythning.

About a month ago, my tenant called me and told me there was water running down the walls in the condo. Turns out, the water heater from the condo above mine had burst and was dumping water as fast as the plumbing allowed. I expected to walk into the condo and see a big water spot and drywall damage, which is one of the reasons I drove down here: to carry all of my tools, so I wouldn't have to buy a second (sometimes third) set.

Instead, I walked in and wandered around the condo, unable to find the location of the burst water heater draining into the condo, the accident which cost the insurance company of the owner upstairs $3000. No, I didn't receive more than a 1/5 of that money, and not even that much.

After looking around, however, I did realize just how much work I'd need to put into the condo to bring it back up to rentable condition. All of the walls needed painting. The plumbing fixtures were all leaking, including the toilet. The carpet needed replacing throughout the place. And, oh, boy, I don't even want to talk about the kitchen.

I spent about 10 minutes wandering about the place, near wanting to cry, before lying down in the middle of the livingroom floor, where a coffee table had been, so it wasn't nearly as worn as the rest of the room. I lay there for a short while, feeling overwhelmed. Finally, I weighed my options, pulled out my computer, connected to my bluetooth model (gosh, do I love that n95), googled for local property managers and started dialing with the other cell phone (wow, aren't I glad I have two cell phones now?).

I figured I could be in a panic for the next three days, trying to get all of this work done by myself, completely stressed with both work projects and this condo, or, I could pay to make it go away.

I chose to pay to make it go away.

I don't usually make that choice, but, oh, my, was this the right decision for me at this time. I don't have time to fix the place up, and I don't want to be an absent landlord. I need someone else to manage this property right.

The rest of the weekend should be pleasant.

What's on your "To-Do" list today? What are you most looking forward to and what are you most dreading?

Oh, good lord. Do you know just how big my to-do list is?

No, it's not the one on the left, but it is the one on the right. Yellow index cards RAWK.

Currently on the list: water plants, straighten house, fry's for adaptor, load car, gas car, home depot pickup (call), and go.

The last one is my favorite:

GO.

"You won't get any dates."

A dad in the Starbucks used this line on his daughter today. I was standing in line in front of the girl, and didn't hear exactly all of the conversation. That line, however, I heard.

I wanted to turn around and tell ask, "So what? So what if you won't get any dates. Better to be true to yourself and find someone who appreciates that, than to reduce yourself to the lowest common denominator for a date, because society doesn't believe you're whole without a man. Reject the notion you need a date."

I didn't turn around though, because I realized, that, sadly, the lesson wouldn't have meant much. I mean, that dad's line? It would have worked with me, too, when I was that young.

Drove down to Los Angeles today. I'm in town to deal with my condo. I had hoped to leave this morning around 9:00 AM. That was pushed back to 11:00 AM, then to 1:00 PM.

I actually departed at 2:14 PM.

Bob and Suzanne, whom I'm staying with for the next few days, made arrangements for Hester Bell, whom I haven't seen for over a decade, to have dinner with us tonight. Dinner was at 7:00 PM, "so don't be late!" Suzanne let me know. I wouldn't have thought that 4 hours and 46 minutes would be enough time to drive door to door, but, hey, what do you know? 4 hours and 45 minutes is enough!

Go fig.

Last time I drove this stretch of freeway was heading back from the area, after having visited with Mom, as she came through the area, and with Paul, as he graciously let me stay with him. I plan on staying with him and his family on Saturday night, too, before driving back on Sunday morning for the afternoon's practice.

I had talked to Jessica before that drive up. She had made a comment about how she would hate having to make that drive - too much time alone, too much solitude. When I replied that I didn't mind it so much, she pointed out that I've always been better at being by msyelf. I guess a solo 400 mile drive gives one a good chance to be alone.

That drive back had two adventures: a dog, and a lot of honking. The dog happened at some point north of Bakersfield, on the side of the road. The dog looked starved. It also looked pregnant. It was wandering around the side of the road, maybe looking for food, and looked up as I drove past. I was debating stopping to rescue it, when I noticed another car had already stopped, and a person hoofing it back to the dog. I continued driving, hoping that person was rescuing the dog, and not intending to kill it.

The honking part of the honking adventure came from me. I was following a car in the left lane, expecting the car to pass the cars in the right lane. Except, it wasn't. Traffic may have been too heavy to pass effectively. However, that means that traffic was also too heavy to be reading when driving.

The driver in the car in front of me kept looking down, instead of watching the road. Now, I'm assuming he was reading and not looking at some body part that, honestly, you shouldn't be looking at when driving 75 MPH on an interstate road. Every time he looked down, I honked.

The first part of my honks were respectful, a little tap to ask him to keep his eyes on the road.

After ten minutes of looking down, I started laying on the horn.

I was not happy with this guy who thought it was okay to drive in the fast lane, at over 75 MPH, and read at the same time. For goodness' sake, subscribe to podcasts!

Yeah.

Today's drive down was also full of adventures, and continued the trend of fire.

So far, every drive I've taken down to Southern California with Kris has included a fire along the side of the road. Today's fire wasn't even out of the Bay Area. It was along 85 near the (southern-most) 101 merge.

Of course, once you come to expect fires, you'll get a bonus one, too.

The second one actually had a plane flying around dumping fire suppressants on it. If only I had driven slightly slower:

On my drive down, I was using the car's navigation system to let me know both how far I had to drive, as well as how long I had to drive. When I originally hopped in the car (at 2:14 PM), it said I would arrive at 8:19 PM, well past the 7:00 PM dinner start. However, shortly into the drive, I noticed that for every 4-5 miles I drove, the destination time dropped by a minute. By the time I stopped for gas, I was going to be only 30 minutes late.

I arrived 1 minute early.

I'm hoping tomorrow works out better than today did with planning. Of course, that Starbucks is looking good for its wi-fi for work tomorrow.