I Only Came Up With Five Items On My List

I am sitting in my lonely hotel room in Birmingham. Today was a short day because Alabama is one of those states which celebrates Daylight Savings the first Sunday in March by lopping off an hour of their day. Thus all the clocks told me I woke up earlier than I really did. I am definitely drained.

And, if you must know, I seem to have a terrible ear infection and am vacillating between going to the urgent care to see if there is anything--anything--some medical professional can do so I don't have to fly back to Phoenix with an ear infection or ignoring it and hoping the flight back later this week isn't as bad as the flight out--which was a bitch. I don't recommend flying with an ear infection. Ever.

Today started with church and a drive through Homewood where I followed my GPS to find Luigi's office. I am pleased to see he isn't spending a lot of his owners' money on overhead. That really isn't sarcasm. I work in a small property management office of similar ilk. There really is no need for flashy digs. Tenants don't see where their rent check goes every month. I am sure there is a market for travertine floors and posh interiors located in high-end zip codes, but I am more practical. I like simple and the exterior of Luigi's office didn't disappoint.

After that I met Carolsue at her lovely home where she showed me some of the treasures she is finding from local estates. And from there, we swung by Baseball Guy's home and went on a road trip. I am pleased to see Ms. Angie is taking great care of her home. I am even more pleased to see she wasn't out in the front yard as I drove by. Though I like Ms. Angie, I didn't want to stop in for two hours and visit.

Our next stop was my vacant-home-in-North-Centerpoint-where-the-second-mortgage-has-been-called-due house. Flunky had been kind enough to give me the code to the vendor box (not that the back door wasn't unlocked by Baseball Guy two weeks ago and before that Kirby, both who have visited this home for me in the past month). The Section 8 tenant left the house a mess. Just an utter mess. I am not sure why Section 8 feels the tenant deserves her deposit back. I am dragging Luigi by there tomorrow. The house is in disrepair, but it appears to be cosmetic. It still doesn't change the fact: if the home is going back to the bank, I am not fixing anything. And, I can't rent the house until the home is fixed.

The next leg of our trip was up to Pinson, where I checked on my "I really am moving out and please call off the eviction" house. The tenant is still there. She also has bags, upon bags of trash all over the outside of the home. They moved in last summer and haven't paid a dime. They have also broken off the garage door and now it is plywooded over. The woman looked comfortable there. Too comfortable. The entire scenario makes me ill.

Our last spot on the tour was Mrs. Sherwood's home. Mr. Sherwood was outside and I opted not to slow down, as again I wasn't in the mood for a social call. But the house looks good. No complaints. Thus far.

Dinner tonight was with Kirby and Mrs. Kirby.

Last week Marty asked me to give my top 10 favorite things about Birmingham. Carolsue, Baseball Guy and Kirby were on the list. All were part of my day today. All make this trip much more bearable.