After the horrible shootings of last week, it is time for all of us to take a time to hug our children, watch and protect others and pray this does not happen again. Happy Holidays

Thanks to a member here who sent me a message on my birthday, I rejoined SG, thanks Kay. I have went through a lot since I was last on the site and will update in a few days. I missed you guys but, was having major financial issues. Things are somewhat better now.

This has been a very bad year plus for me. I have been suffering from bad business, bouts of depression, and a lot of things. Today was another day when it was a struggle to get to work, but I did. I did not get as much work done as I could have or should have.
I was awakened this morning by what sounded like helicopters, but if you knew where I live you would discount that immediately. But it was helicopter, there was a murder suicide in my apartment complex about 100 yards from where I live. Until the were sure, they had helicopters, state police, local police and a lot of lookers.
I knew the man, he was 88 and was not in the best of health. His wife was around the same age and had health issues including losing her memory, a bad back and just last week broke her arm. I guess it was too much, he killed her and then himself. I think he called his daughter in between as she found the bodies.
I had to get away from here. I had to go somewhere around people, and my girlfriend met me for a Coke on her way home from work. If I were still a drinking man, I would have had one today, instead an ice tea works just fine.
They interviewed the neighbor who I know well and he said he heard nothing as he had the TV on watching the news.
With all the bad things that go on in this world it was a shame to lose two lovely people.

Finally back home. The hurricane flooded me out again, second time in a year. The problem was reported fixed after the last one but no, it was not. I was out of my apartment for a few days while the water soaked rugs and wet drywall were removed and the industrial fans dried out the concrete slab floor.
I spend one night in my car, when the flooding started it was 3 AM so I just went to the car and slept there, 2 nights at friends and one at a motel, or something that once resembled one.
My friend and I went out to a diner near her place for dinner on Wednesday. The girl that waited on us was a dead ringer for a very young Jessica Alba. My friend even mentioned the fact. She was flattered and I told her that she should look at the series Dark Angel and watch herself, she thought it was funny. The strangest thing is her name was Jessica, so we started looking for cameras as this had to be a set up.
One of her relatives was sitting nearby and said that they say the same thing to her all the time but she does not believe them.

Over the last few months I started talking to a young lady who works at a local food place. She is really nice and is someone that I enjoy as a person. I mentioned that during the last weeks with the high temps and high humidity I have been struggling getting around, and getting things done. She volunteered to help me out, I offered to pay her but she refused.
She came over last night after work, it took her about 10 minutes if that to help me out and we sat on the steps and talked for 3 hours. She is just a real sweetheart and I met a really good friend.

I have been helping a nephew of a friend. He did something really stupid but got lucky and got probation. Then he does something more stupid, he violates the terms of his probation and the police are taking him back to court to put him in jail. So far all I can say is he is an idiot. He committed a computer crime of sorts and was told he had to stay away from computers for 6 months or more. So he buys a smart phone and starts blogging on Facebook, oops.
When he got the news they were taking him back to court, he tried to kill himself, and that is when my friend called me. I told him that he should get a good lawyer, another friend knows one but he is very expensive. Then I said that his cellphone should be taken away from him and the battery removed, something the neglected to do, remove the battery.
His mother had the phone and it was in her purse when she visited a friend near a location her son was banned from. Of course the police were tracking the phone and came buy to put him directly in jail. One problem, the son was on suicide watch in the hospital for a week and could not have done it. That fact seems to escape the local police and prosecutor.
My friend did not think the lawyer I recommended was worth the money so he never passed on the info, now the kid will go to jail and it could have been prevented.

I went to an Easter service for the first time in decades. There was no bolt of lightning so I guess I am safe. I went to a Mennonite church where my neighbor is the pastor. His wife gave a special monologue as Mary Madgeline, it was very interesting. All in all the service and people made me feel part of a community, something I have not felt in a long time.
I met some very good people there, all of them were warm and friendly.
I have been struggling very badly lately, but when I was at the church one of the members introduced himself and said that the pastor had told him about me and that they were praying for me. It made me feel better, knowing that people that do not even know me had good thoughts for me.
As for other things, I had a birthday over a week ago and was surprised how few people in my circle of friends here and elsewhere noticed.

My friend went to court on the PFA violation and the judge threw it out, saying that she deliberately was within the PFA distance on advice of her lawyer to trigger this. The lawyer is her brother and he called the police with the evidence. The judge was not too happy on that one bit, and I think he sees through the reason for the PFA being false as well.
My friend is due back in court by the end of the month and has the same judge. I wonder what he will think when presented with the security tape of him working at the time of the attack. Working 40 miles away, and not leaving the building as there are only 2 people on the shift and the place is busy.

I am in a real funk today. Cannot get the energy to do any work and am falling farther behind. The other day a friend of mine was in a funk as well. It seems that he may be going to jail for violation of a PFA while picking up his daughter. It seems the exgirlfriend got beaten up and she told police and the ER staff it was him, (she wanted more child suport and he said no, so her new boyfriend beat her) and that when children are involved it triggers an automatic PFA. This incident was several months ago and it was just the last week that he violated the PFA as he picked his daughter up and was within 200 feet of the mother, her brother an attorney called it in and is a witness.
Here is where the whole thing goes screwy. He was at work at the time of the beating, at a place with a gazillion cameras, and he never left the building to drive the 40 miles to the girlfriends house, beat her up and get back. She did not know he started a new job and thought she would just have her word against his. The brother keeps getting that case postponed so the truth will not come up and this guy could go to jail for nothing. The guy that beat her up left her as well.
What a horseshow.

The flood is gone, but there damage is still not completely repaired. Today, a month after it happened I got the drywall repaired, the rugs went in a few weeks ago. They need more work on the drywall over the next few days and then paint. But the damage to my furniture and inventory haunts me. I have one lamp, the computer desk, the laptop, a tv, 2 chairs, 2 folding tables and a sofa. No bed, or other furniture, the lamps are toast and I have no money to replace them.
I also broke a tooth a few months ago and today I bit on a chicken wing and loosened it, oh joy.
I see some friends are back on SG and for that I am happy. I need to get motivated and work nonstop for 2 days to catch up on my orders, as today with the drywall guys here I did nothing.