Well, I haven't written a "real" blog entry in a long time, so here goes a long, rambling one about a whole bunch of things...
Two weeks ago, Paul's van got hit in his apartment's parking lot. The guy took off, no note or anything. The damage is bad enough that the van can't be driven. By piecing together the broken taillight parts left behind, Paul figured out that it was a Chevy Lumina that hit him, so he was on the lookout. A couple days later in the laundry room, he encountered a Spanish-speaking resident that asked him if he'd gotten his van fixed yet. There was apparently a communications problem, but the guy ended up pulling a piece of paper out of his wallet with a license plate number written on it! Paul took a look at PublicData and found that the plate belonged to a Chevy Lumina. (What do you know?) It also gave a name and address. On Halloween night, Paul and I took a drive to that area of town, camera and flashlight at the ready. It wasn't nearby, and wasn't one of the nicer areas of town, but there were trick-or-treaters still roaming, so we walked up and down the street for awhile without raising any suspicion. Didn't see the car. The next day, another resident told Paul his pickup had also been hit, and he had the license plate number and even knew where the guy lived. This was a closer address, and they went there - it was a lot closer. The car wasn't there, and nobody was home. Paul walked back later in the evening, found the car, took a picture that showed the license plate and missing taillight pieces, and was pretty excited to have found the obvious culprit. The guy has no insurance, and the police are investigating. Paul still hasn't been able to get his van fixed since the police case hasn't been resolved or something. I don't know how he gets by without wheels. Paul's an avid bicycler, and his solution to the problem was to buy a bus pass. I'm meeting him for dinner tonight, and he'll take a bus, the light rail, and another bus to get there, even though I said I'd pick him up.
Before Halloween, Wal*Mart had all their old lame scary movies on DVD on sale for $4.88. I bought a few, and then later returned and found the complete collection of Friday the 13th (volumes 1 through 8!) and bought them all. In the time since Halloween, I've watched 7 of the 8, and the last one is in the bedroom DVD player now, ready to be fired up this weekend. Jason takes Manhattan. They're starting to all be about the same though...
I saw Saw III in the theater last weekend. I liked the first two, and a friend called asking if I wanted to see III so I jumped at the chance. Plus I had $6 ticket coupons in my Passbook. It was great. I always used to kind of tolerate the scary movies, but Lisa taught me an appreciation for a good horror flick so I guess that's one good thing that came out of that relationship. (Just kidding, Lisa!)
Every couple of years, I call up a tree company (arborist) to trim my trees. I have three vey large Fruitless Mulberries, which left to their own devices would take over everything in their path, including the overhead power, phone and cable lines. I've been told that the best time to trim is right before the leaves begin to fall. Four years ago, it cost $275. Two years ago, it was $495. This time, they quoted me $695. Yikes! Those trees aren't growing exponentially faster. I guess I need to get another quote or two before I do that.
I've lived in my house now for 12 1/2 years now, and have been paying extra on the mortgage toward the principal. It will be paid off with my December payment. Since I paid so little in interest this year, I think I'm going to pay my property taxes in January instead of December. Then I'll take the standard deduction for this year instead of itemizing, and double up the property taxes for 2007. Mortgage burning party! I've never owned a property free and clear before, it's a pretty neat feeling.
