Rhode Island Is Famous For You; Blossom Dearie

Quotes from 'Criminal Minds'

"The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind."

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"It has been said that time heals all wounds. I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens, but it is never gone."

Rose Kennedy

Put Down the Cell Phone NOW!!!

I dare anyone to watch these videos and then continue to use a cell phone for talking or texting while driving. You will never do it again. No phone call is that important! Let it go to voice mail or pull over! If you start watching these videos, you could literally follow links to many more videos and be there watching for hours.

One more graphic video, embedding disabled by request, so you have to click on the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUzQAmWKOw8

Now this is how it's s'posed to be done

In 1983, I was practicing on Scott Pond in Lincoln, RI with Greg Collins, Kenny Waitt, and Lyle Perkins. We tied two 70' ropes together. One end was tied to the jump, the other end was pulled taut and a buoy was set there. I passed it a few times that year, so I'm guessing my longest in practice was about 145'. My longest in a tournament was about 115'. Never could figure out why I could never perform as well as in practice until many years later.

The following photo was taken in Tallahassee, FL, in the winter 1978. This jump was probably my best, cleanest jump ever, estimated at 120'. Fortunately, the school photographer was there to preserve the moment. The boat speed for the jumps in 1983 was 35 mph, the ramp height, 5.5 feet; while the boat speed for the jumps at FSU was 32 mph, ramp height 5'. (There were slightly different rules for intercollegiate skiing from open amateur competitions.)

I have been wanting to write to my brother in TN who got me into skiing. He sent me a link to a 'redneck water skiing' youtube video. I started clicking on other ski videos and discovered the video at the top of this post. This gave me an opportunity to write to him.

In 1983, the world record was 187'; John Mondor, if I'm not mistaken.

Been there, done that...

Abolish Money. Make a Resource Based Economy.

Rosie O'Donnell Says "F*ck" On Jimmy Fallon Show

Rosie O'Donnell Says "F*ck" On Jimmy Fallon Show, Calls Glenn Beck "Carnival Barker" (VIDEO)

Smoke-Free shows in New Orleans rock!!!

We filmed this video at the Big Sam's Funky Nation and DJ Brice Nice show at the Blue Nile in New Orleans, October 2009. Musicians prefer smoke-free air so they can blow their horns, sing and generally perform better.

Russian River Acoustic Band

New to the Russian River area and looking for acoustic bass and guitars for acoustic get togethers either here in Forestville or at your location close-by. I’m already playing in 2 other bands, and since I keep the full set down in San Rafael, I am looking to play locally in an acoustic setting where all I need to bring is my throne, snare, brushes, hi-hat, chimes, and a ride cymbal. Eventually looking to play in venues such as Ace Pub in Graton, and Iron Springs and Sleeping Lady Café (nee Café Amsterdam) in Fairfax. Originals are good if you have any. I don’t write, but influences include Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, Doobie Brothers, String Cheese Incident, Phish, Little Feat, Dire Straits, Pat Metheny Group, Yonder Mountain String Band, David Thom Band, David Grisman, Bonnie Raitt, Max Creek, Jimmy Buffett, Dan Fogelberg, Santana, Robert Johnson, Dave Mason, Bela Fleck, Joe Walsh, Eagles, Rodney Carrington, Tom Waits, Poor Man’s Whiskey, Loudon Wainwright III, Bob Dylan, The Band, bluegrass and rootsy Americana, old blues, a little bit of classical, and almost anything out of New Orleans. Especially interested in comedians and raconteurs with guitar or bass. (Think Buffett, Wainwright Walsh, Carrington.)

Photo: Me and David Gans at Dave Stein's monthly acoustic Dead tribute in San Francisco.

Keep Tahoe Blue?

Do you really want to 'Keep Tahoe Blue'? It's easy, really; downright simple: don't go there. That's all there is to it. The less human impact on the Tahoe basin, the bluer the lake will stay.

Bristol Revisited

I grew up in Bristol years ago and go back to RI for visits every other year, or so.

I was shocked to see all the new houses on Narrows and Annawamscutt Roads several years ago, and now there are tons more on Metacomet Avenue as well. The traffic is unbelievably horrendous on that road. I hope I never hear of anyone on the zoning board complain about the traffic on Metacomet Avenue. The town has allowed these huge McMansions to be squeezed into every last lot into the Narrows area, an area that used to be a very nice small beachside community that was far removed from bright urban lights and suburban sidewalks. Who are the politicians who let all those eyesores blight that neighborhood? King Philip Avenue (posted speed limit – 15 mph) has turned into a drag strip. There used to be a couple of houses that had neon palm trees on their patios! Neon palm trees?! Huh?! I didn’t see them this year, but what in the world were those people thinking when they put them up?! Bristol is NOT Florida! There is a house on the waterfront with a seawall in front it that has fallen into such disrepair that the next good storm that comes along will knock it down, sending the house into Mt. Hope Bay and dragging neighbors down with it. I’m really surprised that the CRMC hasn’t stepped in and done something about it yet.

Bristol newbies are not Bristolians, they are Bristolites (Bristol-lites.)

I had considered moving back there, but that notion has completely disappeared now. I thought about it a couple of years ago, but naah. Nice place to visit, but…

Note~ I have been considering sending this post to the Bristol Phoenix and Providence Journal editors, but fear that there could be some retribution against my family who still live there after seeing plenty of riff-raff that has moved into the ol' neighborhood.

Anger

Wow. I just went back and read most of my posts, and I can now see a lot of anger in those posts that I may not have realized I was inputting at the time of the original post. I had a long talk today with a cousin that I had not seen in a very long time. I told her about my blog, so I decided to go back and read much of it before I sent her the link. As I said, wow.

Sierra has turned 18, graduated high school, and moved back in with her mother. My moving date was pushed up from fall of this year to June, as my landlord needed to move back into his place. I found a nice place up close to the Russian River in Sonoma County, but moving wasn't wasn't easy. I wanted to move in the fall to avoid the heinous heat that occurs in the summer months around here, but I got lucky and found a place I really like so far.

I'll be back home soon enough and look forward to tapping into those creative veins that I have mentioned in previous posts- playing and writing music and lyrics, rebuilding small wooden boats, photography, and candlemaking. I hope to find some backgammon partners. And I really want to get past all that negativity. I want to start writing about other topics besides the personal diary stuff. Maybe I just needed to get it written down in order to get past that anger.

Thanks to my cousin for the long talk today.

Ever wonder what goes on in your old hometown?

I'm in RI at the moment visiting the folks. I was perusing the Providence Journal when I spotted a story about declining passenger totals at T.F. Green Airport just outside of Providence. Next to that story was another about the legality of minors working as strippers in RI. Great. T.F. Green won't have to worry about declining numbers any longer, as I'm sure every pervert in America will now be flying here.

NOvato NO More!! (Part 2)

NO in NOvato

What can you expect when the first syllable in your town’s name is NO? This is one negative town if ever I did see one. Following are my observations and my opinions of this white-bread oven.

San Marin is one bland neighborhood. That architecture I call ‘Nouveau California’ is really sterile and sanitized, just like the manicured lawns. There’s just no funk , no grit here. It’s hot like hell. I would like to know what happened to all the trees. I’ve driven down Novato Boulevard so many times in the past 3 & ½ years and have seen the world’s worst drivers here! Worse than Massachusetts or LA! Novato Boulevard from Diablo/DeLong to Simmons/Wilson is the world’s biggest shit magnet! People constantly blow off red lights as if the right-turn-on-red-light law gave the right of way to the one making the turn on the red light. I have been cut off too many times to count by these jerks who do not understand the part about coming to a full stop first, and making the turn only if there are no other cars coming. I have seen cars in parked in handicapped parking spots with no visible sign of the driver having a disability ( dp license plate or placard.) When I used to take the bus to work in San Rafael, I was almost hit countless times while crossing streets in designated crosswalks, with the ‘walk’ sign by assholes who even blew their horns at me! What part of ‘pedestrian has the right of way’ don’t you understand?! Especially when said ped is in a cross walk and crossing with the light! Some drunken asshole on a Harley actually hit a man and his daughter last week while they were crossing in a crosswalk at an intersection with a stop sign. Speaking of Harley’s, certain Saturday’s there seems to be about 3 bazillion of them passing by on San Marin Drive, the same street where aforementioned Harley riding asshole hit the man and his daughter.

I get the impression that a lot of folks here want to be living in Mill Valley or Tiburon or Ross and just can’t afford it, meaning they had to ‘settle’ for Novato in order to be able to say that they live in Marin. Marinite wannabees can’t afford MV, so they move to San Marin instead. After all, this really is one cut throat, one-upsmanship, snooty, keepin’ up with the Jones’s kind of county, full of snot faced, spoiled rotten teenagers driving around in daddy’s car. These gangsta wannabee teenagers that listen to urban gangsta rap think that it makes them ‘bro’s in da hood’, but the only ‘hood’ these d-bags ever see is the one on daddy’s Benz. If they’re not ‘riche’, nouveau or otherwise, then they’re old school redneck ranchers (and their kin) who can’t stand ‘dem environmeddlers.’ (‘Dem environmeddlers’ are a whole ‘nother post, and I’m sure you can already guess where I’ll be going with that.) It seems as if 90% of the right wing nuts that live in Marin County must live in Novato. And then of course, there’s the Latino population. Outside of a propensity to breed like rabbits (again, another post), I really have no problem with them, at least the ones who are here legally (yup, ‘nother post.)

Every city and town have their individual quirks, and Novato is no exception. The medium sized shopping center where I frequently go to do my grocery shopping is the most fucked up parking lot I have ever driven in. It is just set up so weird, it’s really hard to navigate compared to others of a similar size. The traffic patterns on the streets are such that when leaving by the exit closest to the direction of my home, I have to immediately cross a lane of traffic as soon as I pull out. The main arteries of this city make it difficult at times to get from one part of the town to another. The nearest video rental store that isn’t a Blockbuster (another post), and even that store is about 4 miles away. A dispensary of legal medical cannabis opened up in Novato this year and the city is suing to shut it down. (You guessed it…) There's even a web site called... "Novato Sucks."

I want to get back to driving around here. I have driven Highway 101 frequently in the past several years. I have driven it from LA to as far north as Laytonville, with most of my mileage logged on the stretch in between San Rafael and Santa Rosa. Mostly Marinites I would imagine, the drivers on this stretch are almost as bad as the ones on Novato Boulevard, just faster. Frequent aggressive driving, tailgating, unsafe lane changes are all behaviors witnessed by this driver. At least three times, I have been passed on my right side, the car being driven in the breakdown lane going at least a good 15 mph faster than I was! The first time I was driving home after work and was passed on my right near Olompali State Park. Another time it happened during the morning commute on 101 North just past the dump. And just today, I was passed on my right by a car travelling in the breakdown lane as I was exiting at Rowland Avenue! I don’t find it surprising that at the center of this stretch of 101 is… NOvato.

Do you think I’m going to miss living in NOvato?

NOvato NO More!! (Preface & Part 1)

Preface

In my sidebar intro, I noted that this blog may be a bit of a diary at times. As my time in this town now comes to an end, I wanted to write of what I witnessed and what I experienced in these 6+ years in this hick town I call a white-bread oven. I started typing, but rather than write of what I originally intended, I wrote of personal experiences directly related to living here during this time. I named that post Part 1. Part 2 will follow soon with my observations of the life of others in NOvato.

Part 1

I never wanted to live in this place. An unfortunate set of circumstances led me here. Robin Cohn, owner of City Hall Records had been fucking with my life and my head for well over a year. Less than 1 month after I had started at CHR, probably less than a week, I had decided that this place was definitely not for me. I decided that as soon as I take the two vacations that I had planned for in 2001, I would start looking for a different job. About a month after I returned from my second vacation, we were rocked on 9/11. I had not been paying any attention to the increasingly difficult job market when the bottom completely dropped out on that fateful day. I continued to look for work and apply for jobs but to no avail. When I was informed that another housemate was moving out, a good one at that, and that there would be another rent increase, I decided to move to Sonoma County. It was too expensive to live in Marin any longer. I wanted to quit CHR, but everyone said “Don’t do it, Dave. Don’t quit your job until you have another one.” So I stayed. I put most of everything I owned into storage and rented a bedroom. Petaluma was close enough (barely) to commute to San Rafael, and I would be able to look for work in Sonoma County and then find a place of my own. After 6 months of commuting from Petaluma to San Rafael (a heinous motherfucking commute if ever there was one), and not finding any work there, I decided to move back to Marin, bite the bullet and realize that I was stuck for a while. The job had become barely tolerable since I was no longer the manager of the A/P Department, and Debbye had become an interesting distraction. I had found a great house in Fairfax and housemates and was about a day away from signing a lease when Grace at CHR informed me that I was going to be laid off soon, but she couldn’t tell me when. This was messed up. You don’t tell someone that he’s ‘going to be laid off’. You pull him into the office in the morning, hand him a check, say thank you for your services and that they’re no longer needed. There was no way I could sign a lease knowing that I was about to be laid off. The plans to move into that great house in Fairfax were scuttled, but I still didn’t want to be living in Petaluma without a job and being that far away from Sierra in the East Bay.

I was still employed when I found the only affordable rental I could- a studio apartment in Novato the size of a shoebox. I took it and then was laid off. Sleeping later since I didn’t have to get up for work, I was rudely awoken by the landlord’s kid who sounded as if he was playing basketball on the hardwood floor in the living room directly above me. It’s not my place to be telling anyone how to raise their kid, but sheeze! C’mon! I’m paying a good chunk of your mortgage every month! This was a very confusing time for me. During the period of unemployment after CHR, I paid my car with my credit card, as I was not going to lose my car. Sierra was in the East Bay and it would have taken me hours to get there by bus. My credit card had become my safety net as I watched my credit card balance continue to rise. I pretty much had stopped going to big concerts and local shows and was cutting back on all my expenses. I even rode the bus to work for a long time before I couldn’t deal with busses any more. My social life had become null and void after I left Fairfax. Fortunately my new job despite not being the smoothest accounting department in the world (yet still much better than CHR) was a breath of fresh air compared to that shitty hell of a previous job. Fortunately I had a jazz band to play in every weekend, which was pretty much the extent of my social life.

I was working, I had a car, I was in a band, I had a home, small, yes, but still a home, or at least a roof over my head. Despite all this, Novato meant nothing to me. I didn’t do anything in Novato, I always left this place whenever I did anything except for maybe a run to the grocery store. I lived in that shoebox from November of 2002 to November of 2004. During that time I met Carrie the C-Witch, wishing in hindsight that I never did. There was a fling with Grace that became a platonic relationship. Same thing with Teresa, except there was no ‘fling.’ (This was becoming a recurring theme in my life.) Diana had split from her second husband (thus vindicating me from any cause of our marriage’s demise) and was living in a nasty section of Richmond. I became determined to get Sierra out of there, so much so that I was willing to live with Diana in a housemate situation in Marin. (Diana, Sierra, and Marina would have been the housemates in Fairfax before Cohn at CHR really turned up the heat with his mind fuck games.) Since I had been living in Novato, I gradually became more aware of my surroundings, not to be confused with becoming more comfortable with my surroundings. I was becoming desperate to get Sierra out of Richmond! Since I was still working in Marin (San Rafael), I stayed in Novato as it was the least expensive place within a reasonable commute distance. I found a three bedroom condo in Novato for $1400. I was going to move in with Di, Sierra and Marina, when Diana (who was now also working in San Rafael) said she wanted to move into that condo with Gary (Green) instead. Yes! Sierra was out of Richmond, and I didn’t have to move in with my ex! Sierra wasn’t too happy about leaving Pinole schools, and I know first-hand the devastating effects this can have on a kid at that age, but she adjusted seemingly well, eventually.

So it was. I was working at a better job, Sierra was out of Richmond, and I had a good local platonic friend (at the time, pre-evil.) I also managed to hook up with Tom DiBell and Roadhouse for several shows on their ‘farewell tour’ in 2003 and 2004. lol.

My knee locked up so badly in the summer of 2004 that I had to go to the emergency room to unlock it. Knee surgery followed in October of 2004, a fine time for a Red Sox fan to be home every day watching television (grin.) Despite the appearance of some stability, I was becoming distraught over my mounting debt. I wrestled with the thought of moving back to RI for the better part of a year, if not longer. Despite the Sox stunning the pro sports world by winning the American League Pennant after being down three games to none, to the Yankees no less, and coming back to win four straight games, and then winning the World Series for the first time in 86 years beating St. Louis in four games, I was very confused about many things, including this lengthening list of women who wanted to be friends with me, but ‘just friends.’ After the Sox made history, Carrie started dragging me around to look at rentals. I still had RI on my mind, but was slowly coming to the conclusion that no matter how many times Sierra and I flew cross country to see each other, and no matter that she could come to RI for the whole summer, there was just no way I could live that far apart from her. If Carrie (about to morph into C-Witch) hadn’t found that unbelievably affordable house in Novato, I would have moved to Petaluma, as it was becoming clear that my employer at the time was going to move there from San Rafael in 2005. So I signed a lease with that @\/#+. I’ll not rehash the events of the next 14 months, but suffice it to say, I wish to hell that Diana would have sent Sierra to live with me a year earlier than she did. I would have never moved in with that %!+@# and a world of hurt would have been avoided.

Phil Ward is the Novatian landlord of that house would not evict the lease breaking witch, so I was forced to move yet again in order to find housing for me and Sierra. No matter how much better the situation may become, moving is always a traumatic experience, one that I have experienced far too many times in my 51 trips around the sun. I got lucky yet one more time and found a condo in the San Marin area of Novato that was below market, and owned by a man who played in The Jerry Garcia Band for three years. It was not walking distance for Sierra, so I would drive her to school (in the opposite direction of work) and then go to work. Diana was off in her own drama and was not a whole lot of help, parentally or financially during this time. Sierra had opportunities every week to get into trouble after school, as I never got home before 6 PM. Being a single dad of a precocious teenage daughter with little help from her mom was not easy. Add another woman to that aforementioned list, and a mysterious neurological affliction, and the depression continued. Living with that C-Witch had pushed me to the brink of the abyss. The events of 2006- extremely difficult year at work, that one more woman, the heat wave from hell, living under the specter of bankruptcy declared in 2005 after that no good son of a bush forced my hand with his bankruptcy reform legislation- did nothing but hasten my declining health, a decline that started in the summer of 2006. Since I was working in 2006 and 2007, the temperatures inside of this place didn’t bother me so much. It was difficult getting to sleep some nights, but at least I was out of the house for five days a week. I got to park my car in the garage at work, so that helped dealing with the heat. When it became clear that I would be staying home 7 days a week in 2008, I had to go out and buy a portable air conditioning unit, as the swamp cooler alone was just not cutting it any more.

Even before this neurological quandary began, my thoughts turned again to moving to Petaluma once Sierra graduated from high school. She graduates next week. My plans were to go to RI for three weeks or so, then come back and lay low in Novato until the rainy season returned, as this is a better time of the year for renters to be looking. Even these plans were altered by outside forces. Ozzie needs to move back in here so I have to be out by June 30th. I would much rather be looking for a new place in September or October than May and June, but my hand has been forced. Hopefully, I will be approved for this nice rental unit I found up near the Russian River.

These are the bulk of the events that happened to me personally. In my next post, I will write of what I saw around me in this white-bread oven.

Dear Craigslist Landlord

I would like to take this opportunity to help you rent your home quicker with these suggestions:

1- Put the price, type of rental (apartment, house, condo, duplex, studio, etc.) in the title of your post. The exact address is not necessary in the post title.
2- Put the correct town. If your rental is in Santa Rosa, don’t put Sebastopol to funnel tenants to your location. If I have a specific town I want to move to, I will filter accordingly, and I don’t want to find rentals from towns where I’m not looking. That’s false advertising and I will flag you.
3- Please put your vacation rentals and warehouses in the appropriate categories. Vacation rentals at $299/wk are not ‘housing’. Unless you want someone squatting in your garage, warehouses do not belong in apartments for rent, and I will flag that post as well. Do not put ‘rooms for rent’ or ‘share rentals’ in apartments for rent. You will be flagged.
4- Take a look at other rentals on craigslist similar to yours in your general vicinity and price accordingly. If you have a 2 BR tiny cabin way out in Camp Meeker for rent and have been posting it for 8 weeks at $900/mo and it hasn’t rented yet, you’re asking too much (way too much.) If you have a studio apartment going unrented at $950 a month, it may be because there are several others in the same area going for $775/mo (still too much.)
5- If you’ve been a long term landlord and can’t understand why all of a sudden you have all these vacant units, try reading the headlines. We’re in a depression (thanks to that no good son of a Bush), people are moving back in with their folks, they’re moving in with BF’s & GF’s, they’re taking in housemates by renting out that BR that was an office. They’re sleeping on friend’s sofas ferkrineowtlowd trying to save el moolah to pay that ridiculous rent & deposit you’re asking.
6- Instead of offering a month of free rent, why don’t you just lower the rent? There are plenty of highly qualified renters out there who just can’t afford to spend 55% of their take home pay on rent. Believe me, we are everywhere.
7- Stop charging for credit reports. You can get them free, and I will not pay an unscrupulous landlord $35 or more for something that can be obtained for free, only to find out said landlord has collected credit report fees from scores of potential tenants and only ran an actual report on one or two of the applicants. Call my references first, then we can talk about credit reports.
8- You’re rental isn’t as nice as you think it is. Try this, go to craigslist in your town and find similar rentals and go view them as if you were the tenant.
9- Instead of trying to suck every last penny out of that rental of yours (which isn’t really as nice as you think it is), how about fostering some good will in your community and renting that unit at an affordable rate so the tenant has some money left over to spend in your town?
10- In your post make sure you include the following information:
A- Amount of rent per month, as well as amount of deposit
B- Approximate location if not the exact address. At least the town.
C- What utilities are included, what aren’t
D- Cable TV and internet provider options, is there cell phone access
E- Approximate date of availability
F- What type of unit it is: apartment, house, condo, duplex, studio
G- List amenities and features such as washer/dryer, dishwasher, fireplace, wi-fi, hardwood floors or w2w carpeting, storage, garage, carport, etc.
H- Accurate description of the unit’s size.
11- Be there when you tell a prospective tenant you’ll be there. Call ahead if you’re late (most of us do carry cell phones these days.) I will most likely not be interested in your rental no matter how nice it is if I drive out to Timbuktoo and you’re not there to show me the interior.
12- Give me some time alone to envision myself living there. You don’t buy a car without test driving it, so by the same token, I need to know if I can live in your rental. This usually takes more than 10 or 15 minutes, but I don’t want to tie up your whole day. I may want to take photos to look at later to help with my decision. Please give me a little bit of space to make sure your place is really the one I want. You wouldn’t want an unhappy tenant would you?
13- Let me know about any other peculiarities of your rental or neighborhood. If I say I work the swing or graveyard shift, and you know there are 3 kids next door who raise holy hell every morning at 7 AM and you don’t tell me, I am not going to be very happy.
14- A studio apartment is *NOT* an 1 BR! Stop advertising them as such!
15- Respect your tenant’s privacy. While you may own the building, it is not your home. if you suspect your tenant of any sort of wrongdoing, schedule inspections at least 24 hours in advance. Do not enter the unit if you have not received the tenants permission. I don’t go walking into your home unannounced, so neither shall you pass into mine.
16- Understand what normal wear and tear means. Understand that normal wear and tear comes under cost of doing business (i.e. owning a rental property) and that you do have a responsibility to maintain the property. Expect to see some carpet wear or faded wall paint if you’ve had a tenant there for 6 years. Small nail holes are normal wear and tear. Likewise dust under the frig. Expect to spend some time in the vacant unit before it is 100% ready for the next tenant.
17- You are legally entitled to retain a security or cleaning deposit with the first month’s rent. However, you may not legally request first month’s rent, last month’s rent AND a deposit on top of that. First and last, or first and deposit, but not all three. You are legally required to reimburse deposit less any valid charges for damages (not normal wear and tear) and all interest earned on the full amount of the deposit for the duration of the rental (not the net after any deductions may have been made.)
18- Have a rental agreement ready to be signed by landlord and tenant, whether it is an informal month to month arrangement, or a year long lease. Make sure document covers all terms and situations, and is clear and easy to read.
19- If you enter into a rental agreement with someone who turns out to be a model tenant and stays a very long time, and if the economy starts to dictate otherwise, don’t go jacking up the rent on the tenant! It only promotes ill will towards landlords.
20- Ask your happy tenants if you may use them as a reference. In this market, you can use all the help you can get.
21- Have the tenant’s deposit ready to be reimbursed promptly at the end of the tenancy. More than likely, the tenant will need that money to pay the next landlord’s deposit. Yes I know you legally have 21 days to do this, but if you want to be considered a quality landlord, you will have this immediately ready upon the tenant’s vacancy. Try fostering some good will instead of focusing on that $0.50 of interest you could be earning if you wait until day #21.
22- Lower your expectations, tighten *your* belt. We are, you can, too, so stop being so greedy.
23- STOP YELLING!!! LEARN WHERE THE ‘CAPS LOCK’ KEY IS! Really, it’s annoying and I probably won’t rent from you.

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A VERY POORLY WRITTEN POST:

DUPLEX

Reply to:
Date: 2009-05-27, 11:01AM

lOCATED IN VALLEY FORD 9 MILES WEST OF SEBASTOPOL. PLEASE CALL BEFORE 9AM OR AFTER 7PM PHONE 707876 3349 AND LEAVE A CLEAR MESSAGE IF NO ANSWER. NO PETS

This post does nothing to make me want to inquire about it.


THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A VERY WELL WRITTEN POST

Cottage in community

Reply to:
Date: 2009-05-28,
10:18AM

Available July 15th (possibly sooner) One-bedroom cottage (650 sq. ft.) located in charming Graton 5 minutes north of Sebastopol Private front and back yard with apple and plum trees. Hardwood floors, bathtub/shower, washer & dryer, storage, carport. Cottage shares one-acre property with two families who live together in the larger main house. We are looking for tenants who will appreciate their private space within the context of intentional community. Our beautiful property includes a large
garden, fruit tree orchard, chickens, a playground, a greenhouse, and more! Viewing appointments begin June 15th..

Graton Road at
Sullivan (google map)(yahoo map)

I would be much more likely to respond to this post. (Addresses intentionally removed.)


ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A VERY POORLY WRITTEN POST:

On Private Estate West Petaluma

Reply to: (see message body)
Date: 2009-05-20, 10:46AM

Small 1 bedroom on private estate in West Petaluma. Utilities included. Call
Jxx 707-XXX-XXXX. Please leave a message I will return your call. Thank you

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A VERY WELL WRITTEN POST:

Quiet, Charming 2/1, 1100 sf West Sebastopol Granny Unit

Reply to:
Date: 2009-05-28, 12:02PM

Available NOW! Very clean, light and bright, charming 2 bedroom/1 bath on 2
acres in West Sebastopol. Fabulous views, birds chirping, wildlife, fabulous
walking and bicycling out the front door. Utilities included in rent. Perfect
for quiet persons, non-smoker, no pets. Organic gardening possibilities. Located
10 minutes from Sebastopol, 10 minutes from Occidental, 15 minutes from beach.
Move in $3600 ($1200 first month's rent plus $2400 security deposit).Landlord
will need applicants to please furnish personal, work, and landlord references
and a rental application.

Furlong at Bodega (google map) (yahoo map)

Rental Managers- I can help you

Excellent tenant now taking applications from rental property managers. If you have a rental home available, I can help you!

If you meet these qualifications, I will rent your home from you for many years and be the best tenant you ever had.

1- Amount of rent not to exceed $1/sq. ft.

2- No rent increases during the first two years of residency.

3- Rent increases after that will be limited to no more than 5% over a 2 year span, e.g. an $800 rental will remain at that amount for the first 2 years. After the 2nd year, rent may increase no more than $40 over the next two years.

4- Deposit amount no more than 1.5x rent, to be placed in an interest bearing account, interest reported quarterly to tenant.

5- 90 day notice required before lease expires to change terms or revert to month to month.

6- Move in date June 15th to July 1st.

7- References required. Please be able to supply the names and contact info of your last three tenants.

If you are looking for a tenant in this difficult market for your available 1 or 2 BR house in West Sonoma County (Sebastopol, Graton, Forestville, Guerneville, or Occidental) and can meet the qualifications stated, please respond to this post.

James McMurtry "We Can't Make It Here"

James McMurtry sings his incredible war protest song, "We Can't Make It Here" on the Chicago TV show "Corporate Country Sucks".

I saw JM live and this song just blew me away! His father is novelist Larry McMurtry.

ISO West Sonoma Rental

51 yo, single, quiet male ISO 1 BR house, granny, duplex, condo, or bungalow (700+ sq. ft.) in Sebastopol, Graton, Occidental, West Petaluma, Forestville, or Guerneville. I keep a clean home (no pets, tobacco, or illegal drugs in my home), have a guaranteed income, and an excellent rental history. I am looking to move towards the end of June, but for the right rental, I will move sooner. I am looking for a long term rental- 2 or 3 years minimum, possibly much, much longer. I am hoping to find something around $800/month and have deposit money ready now.

Please note: I am not looking for any type of shared rental situation.

Thank you for reading this post.

Kindest Regards,

Dave

A Day at the Park

I got to see my beloved Red Sox for the first time this season. Things as they are, I don't get to nearly as many games a year as I would like to. One time I got a late start and then the local rapid transit broke down for 45 minutes. By the time I got to Oakland Stadium, the Sox were on the short end of a lop-sided score. I was walking along the concourse and was wondering why people were leaving so soon. I wasn't that late.

Well, things were different this time. This was the first game I had ever been to when my favorite Sox pitcher was on the mound. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I got there early with my friend and bandmate Tom. (It was his birthday.) We soaked up the sun while waiting for Nick to show up with our tix.

Nick's New Shirt

Never did I imagine I would be watching history nearly being made that day! Wake just kept serving up goose-egg after goose-egg after goose-egg! I missed Lowell's E, but thought to myself, "Well, he still has a no...STOP! Don't even think it!" Whew! That was a close one! I found myself wondering if he had issued any free passes. Um...nope. "Don't even think about it, Dave!" Said nothing, thought nothing. The 000's kept racking up. Then that hit came! SOAB!

#42 takes a mighty swing!

Well.... Wake was still spinning a gem, and on Jackie Robinson day, too. Unfortunately, when the Sox bats come alive while Wake is pitching, he has to sit, and that is not good for a knuckleballer, thus the H's, BB's, and R's in the final innings. Still a fantastic, memorable game. Let's hope that momentum continues tomorrow.

Wake showed the utmost in class during the post game interview when asked about his performance. Instead of talking about his masterpiece, he immediately shifted the focus onto Robinson before he said anything about the game.

Somehow, we were able to find a few minutes to drill a few shots of the Sawxheads that were in attendance in Section 209 yesterday. Nick, aka CaliGrown, and the Emperor of RSN-CA were there raising awareness for The Jimmy Fund, (as does Rocky Rhodes on his X-C trip in the Rolling Green Monster), as well as a few other Sawxhead friends of Nick's whose names escape me at the moment. Fenway West was in the house on his spring tour (4 games and a Dead show in 4 days), but alas, he was on the other side of the stadium.

CaliGrown408- 2nd from left

Emperor RSN-CA- middle
Red Sox Sonoma- far right

Sunshine, beer $1 dogs, peanuts, friends, and Wake nearly tossing a non-no! What more could a Sox fan ask for?!

What more, you say? Well, we left Oakland heading for San Francisco, when I spotted a commercial truck with an interesting company name. I wondered, "Does A-Rod have a new side business?"

A-Rod diversifies his portfolio?