So, this isn’t so much fun anymore

Mitch (the owner of this house) has now broken up with his girlfriend, and has brought his druggy ways back here. He has come here twice in the last four days, waking me up in the middle of the night and wanting to yammer at me about bullshit that he’s been talking about for years. Then, he has to do drugs and stay up until all hours of the morning. Last night, he managed to close ALL of the blinds in the house, lock himself into the upstairs bedrooms (both of them,) and let Barney out of the back yard. I just came home from a few hours away running errands and shopping with Chuck, and his truck is in the garage. The house smells of chemicals, and he’s no where to be found (although I must admit that I didn’t go into the last bedroom to see if he’s passed out there.)

I have to speak to him tomorrow or tonight and tell him that a.) I’m not interested in buying the house at anywhere near to what he’s asking, b.) I’m not willing to live here if he’s living here (I didn’t sign on for a room mate,) and c.) no more late night visits or drug use here, please.

Seems that Cassandra the Psychic was right on in telling me that it’s not the place for me to live. Yurg.

She said a lot of things yesterday. I’m digesting them, and I’ve shared most of them with Chuck – but no one else.

My wireless network isn’t working worth a shit down here in the living room. Blarg.

So, I’ve been out shopping for cars for months now. Ruby’s nearing 90,000 miles, and she’s had a few expensive repairs. She’s still not quite right, and .. well .. it’s been five years now. I’ve looked at the Phaeton (and shied away given that it’s probably the most expensive car to own in the US right now,) the Acura RL (which is about the same size inside as my friend’s Honda Civic four door,) the Infiniti M35/45 (which uses cheap looking elements inside, and doesn’t work with my Bluetooth at all,) and .. I didn’t like any of them enough to do something.

I’ve been looking at the Buick Lucerne online for a while. I saw one in Florida while helping my Dad shop for a car, and I saw one at the car show. They were both CX models – the base model that replaced the base LeSabre. Not impressive at all.

Of course, the one that I like the best is the CXS, which is basically a Cadillac DeVille DTS as a Buick. All the equipment that one can get on a DTS. Same engine, driveline, suspension, so on. I had looked at it, and it was interesting – nearly the exact size as the Acura RL, Infiniti M and Lexus GS. Much less money.

I took Chuck over there today to look at one that I had seen on David Taylor’s inventory. We didn’t see the one that we went to look at, but saw one that was black with the Tuxedo Blue and shale interior. It had everything on it but the navigation. They were willing to discount that one. I want one with navigation. Same colors, but with navigation. I asked them to order me one. They were all nervous about it. Apparently, the one I drove has been sitting there for some time unsold. They REALLY wanted to sell me that one.

I’m loving many things about this house – the room, the storage space, having the space between all the stuff. The backyard for the dogs. The garage. The wide driveway. But, you know – the house on Arncliffe that I used to live in would have these features; it would need updating, but it would have everything that is here – just not quite SO much room. But enough.

I do like this house, and this much room though. Cassandra said that this particular house was NOT good. And that Mitch was not someone to engage in at all.

Barney came back around noon, by the way. He’s had his little adventure. Ugh.

Another very full day tomorrow. I need to be rested; hopefully tonight won’t be full of drama.

Tuesday with DeLay

Interesting. I read last night in a breaking news piece that DeLay was going to resign his seat in the House and not seek re-election. Immediately, I thought "that means they're fixing to nail his butt."

How many others are going to get caught up in this? Will we see this go straight up to the top?

If they were stealing your wallet, would you look the other way?

Every year, the board of trustees of the Social Security Trust fund is required to produce and release, by April 1, a report about the Social Security Trust fund, including:

the balance in the fund
the financial performance of the investments
disbursements
a five year forecast

This is so that the public can see what is happening to the balance in the fund, and what trends there are.

The social security trust fund is overfunded, and the bush administration has been talking about eliminating it, or changing it.

With the administration clearly intent on doing what they choose to do, regardless of the laws that are on the books, the Treasury Department's statement today that not only was the social security report NOT released, but that they have no plans TO release it is very disturbing (to me.) It should be disturbing to everyone.

This shows a fundamental indifference to the letter of the law and their disclosure of what they're doing with public trust funds.

This is probably the most serious thing I've written to you
about.

It's time to get on the phone and call your United States senator. I
called Kay Bailey Hutichison's office, and just asked "why is this not being
released? I think this is important to know what is happening here."
They're "looking into it through the DC office and calling me back."

The rest is what I copied and pasted from two web sources. After you
read this, call one or both of your US Senator's offices and ask "where is
the Social Security Annual Actuarial Report, and why are they not going to
release it as required by Statute?" Be nice about it, but ask why
until you get to a staffer who will help.

I looked into the statutory obligations of the Social Security Trustees
as set out in the Social Security Act and this is what I found:


The Board of Trustees shall meet not less frequently than once each
calendar year. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to-

(1) Hold the Trust Funds;
(2)[11] Report to the Congress not later than the first day of April of
each year on the operation and status of the Trust Funds during the
preceding fiscal year and on their expected operation and status during the next
ensuing five fiscal years;
(3) Report immediately to the Congress whenever the Board of Trustees
is of the opinion that the amount of either of the Trust Funds is unduly
small;
(4) Recommend improvements in administrative procedures and policies
designed to effectuate the proper coordination of the old-age and
survivors insurance and Federal-State unemployment compensation program; and
(5) Review the general policies followed in managing the Trust Funds,
and recommend changes in such policies, including necessary changes in the
provisions of the law which govern the way in which the Trust Funds are
to be managed.

The report provided for in paragraph (2) above shall include a
statement of the assets of, and the disbursements made from, the Trust Funds during
the preceding fiscal year, an estimate of the expected future income to,
and disbursements to be made from, the Trust Funds during each of the next
ensuing five fiscal years, and a statement of the actuarial status of
the Trust Funds. Such statement shall include a finding by the Board of
Trustees as to whether the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund
and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, individually and collectively,
are in close actuarial balance (as defined by the Board of Trustees). Such
report shall include an actuarial opinion by the Chief Actuary of the
Social Security Administration certifying that the techniques and
methodologies used are generally accepted within the actuarial profession and that
the assumptions and cost estimates used are reasonable. Such report shall
also include an actuarial analysis of the benefit disbursements made from
the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund with respect to
disabled beneficiaries. Such report shall be printed as a House document of the
session of the Congress to which the report is made. A person serving
on the Board of Trustees shall not be considered to be a fiduciary and shall
not be personally liable for actions taken in such capacity with respect to
the Trust Funds.

Source article

The Missing Report
By Matthew Yglesias | bio
I spoke to Sean Kevelighan at from the Treasury Department's public
affairs office about the case of the missing Trustees' Report. He said "there
isn't a timetable" for the release of this year's report, but that there
would be a 2006 report, he just couldn't tell me when. I brought up the
Trustees' apparent statutory mandate to produce a report by April 1 and he said
he didn't know anything about that, but conceded that there is a statutory
requirement to do a report each year. "I wish I could tell you more,"
he said.

I don't know exactly where this fits on the fishiness scale, but it's
pretty fishy.

Monday, Monday ver. 754.01

Okay, I need to run downstairs and grab another cup of coffee before working on this.

The house is amazing, how quickly everything's coming together. Chuck came by last night and said "P&J were shopping for a freezer, and didn't find one, but they DID find a cooktop at the scratch & dent." So, I'm waiting to hear from him today as to WHERE this cooktop is, so I can go nab it.

Everything is looking so awesome. I need some book cases, I need a queen bed frame/mattress/foundation, a dining table and chairs, some drapes, more cleaning (say, a week's worth,) a pool man and three Centro Americaners with weed whackers.

Today, I have to organize the office and prepare a stack of tax returns. I was expecting Babs today, but she's MIA at this time.

I'm on dial up until Wednesday. At least they CAN get the DSL out here. Thank goodness; RoadRunner is so damned expensive. The ceiling fans in here are awesome. Last night, I think Chuck got frostbite, and the thermostat was only set to 74. I think I can go up another degree or better on the settings and see how that is.

If Barbara comes over, I'm setting her on the guest room. Daniel is coming over later, and he's going to be scrubbing the kitchen floor, the back door (outside, it's disgusting,) the upstairs bathroom and .. something. Oh, the windows on the front door. Scraping and cleaning.

Sleeping in this house has been interesting; for one, it's so big, that it requires an expanded sense of self, second, it's so QUIET. No drunk screaming people in the parking garage at 2:30, no cars bustling in and out, no roaring air conditioner, no rock quarrying upstairs.

I'm really loving being here. I'm already so much more comfortable here it's amazing.

Dial up is a hoot - it's so 1997. Still, it's better than working on my CELL phone. Urg. I need to finish up these non-work tasks, get downstairs and clean up, and then start putting this place together. Back later.