February 2010 – Jason Clock's Blog

2010-02-232021-01-26

Backpack Suggestion?

I had a Swiss Army brand back pack for a little over a year and the main pocket bottom stitching has come apart and I have a big hole in it. I have come to expect great quality based on the Swiss Army knife I have had for close to 20 years, but don’t expect that with other products. After contacting the company that actually makes the backpacks, I find that there is no limited lifetime warranty, only a 1 year one. Unfortunate because I don’t save receipts in case it was less than a year.

Swiss Army Branded Backpacks only have a 1 year warranty.

Does any one have a suggestion for a good backpack? Something relatively light and frameless that has a large capacity and a real lifetime warranty that covers wear and tear? Otherwise I may head to Wal-mart and get the cheapest one I can find expecting it to last only 9 months.

2010-02-202021-01-26

Read All Fine Print in Rental Lease

I will leave the management company anonymous as it would be my luck that they would sue me for saying the following….

Read the entire lease in the presence of the leasing agent.

While I don’t usually read the entire lease, I will from this point on. I will also do it while the leasing agent is waiting for me to sign the lease. Who knows what kind of goodies there are in there. I know that they have the right to terminate your lease at any time with no reason, but you cannot end your lease early without being penalized.

We will sue you if you are late with rent for a month.

This is the kicker I found out the other day. With the terrible snow storm, and my online bill payment originating from Pennsylvania, it is no surprise that my payment for rent did not arrive on time. It was sent on Feb 2, for payment on Feb 5, but as of this date, has not arrived yet. We received a note under the door on February 13 that said “we have not received your rent payment and we will take you to court for none payment.” Looking beyond the grammatical error, I was quite surprised the payment had not made it yet. I am convinced it is sitting in a snow covered postal service truck and will eventually make it to the management company someday.

What really urks me is that the leasing office of my building operates separate from the management company. The management company apparently filed a court case for non-payment on Feb 11. This is one day after the final due date for rent each month. Now this is the first time I have ever been late for rent and have been living at this address for close to 15 months now. One would think that perhaps someone should contact me and see if everyting was okay since it was my first time? Apparently not. The leasing office is responsible for notifying. They put a note under my door 2 days after the lawsuit was filed!!!!! Now isn’t that helpful?!

Late for rent one month when ontime for 14 others.

I was able to get my bank to waive the cashiers check fee for payment and the management company is going to waive the late fees since it was scheduled on time and no fault of mine for the lateness. This is good, but very frustrating that the management just sends every reputable renter to court. This seems much like what the credit card companies are doing…. “Thank you for being a loyal customer for 15 years. We are sorry, but during economic hardship, we need to double your interest rate. Thank you again for being a loyal customer.”

Time to buy a house again.

I have learned my lesson. Be your own rental agent!!!! I will be looking for a new apartment soon and better yet a house again where I don’t need to deal with late rent payments 🙂

2010-02-072021-01-26

Snow in DC :)

Okay…I am hoping that if you live in the area, or watched the news across the country, you know that DC received close to 16″ of snow between Friday noon and 5 PM today.

Shopping

Making trips to the local supermarket were fun. Not really to buy anything, but to see how barren the shelves were. I don’t recall any shelf clearing storms when I lived in Upstate NY, but then again, they had enough snow removal equipment and trained staff that rarely was there ever several inches of loose pack on the roads so no need to panic.

No Metro

With public transportation above ground cancelled from Friday 11 PM, through Saturday, and perhaps Sunday too, lots of residents are stranded. Those brave enough to attempt the digging of their car out if they got to a main road were able to drive with relative ease on hard packed show which has thankfully not turned to ice….yet. I did notice a car stuck in the middle of Riggs St between 16th and 17th NW, and off New Hampshire near Dupont Circle a fallen tree. The weight of the snow was so great that it became uprooted and landed on a few cars. One had a shattered rear window, another a dented trunk. This was certainly caused by the weight of the snow on the branches, but also do to the shallow and small root base of a tree planted between the sidewalk and the road.

Sunday and Beyond?

Tomorrow is a new day. I was supposed to Volunteer at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but was called and emailed that the museum will be closed again.

I am supposed to work in the evening at my part time job…since it is retail, I do expect to be open, though was very shocked to hear that we were closed today. I do understand it was hard to get employees in, but there was definitely money to be made, especially when many stores were closed. Since I can easily walk to a metro station and the train travels below ground all the way, would not have any trouble getting in to work and will have to see what happens tomorrow. I do enjoy the time off, but since I am owing taxes this year, need all the hours I can get before 4/15/10!! 🙂

Cabin Fever

After watching several movies, I needed to get out. I attempted to sled down 16th Street on the hard packed snow, but the cookie sheet, ikea bag, and laundry basket did not work very well. I was envious of those with sleds and snowboards, but who knew we would get so much snow, and where would one even get a sled in the area when show is so unlikely. Had Amazon delivered today, I would have ordered a sled online.

Even though I did not get down to Dupont Circle for the 2 pm snowball fight, I did get to heave a few at my roommate while my partner was taking photos of the beautiful snow covered city. It was very nice to stroll down the roads and not hear so much vehicle traffic for a change. I also was able to make several snow angels.

On the way back up the 16th Street hill to the apartment, we strolled through Meridian Hill Park. This multi level park turned out to be a hot spot for sledders and large laminated city signs make good sleds 🙂 Steps were early transformed by sleds into hills and the landings between the sets of steps made a fun ride down at a safe speed.

Largest Annual Snow Accumulation?

We are tied with 1920-1921 at the moment at 44″, and only 12″ away from the largest recorded snow fall in DC!!!! With another storm on the way, this seems quite possible.

2010-02-032021-01-26

Sasquach on Metro?

I could not help staring at what appeared to be a brown bare foot on the metro last night. In fact, I had to ask the gentleman wearing them “Are you from this planet?” All jokes aside, I was strangely intriqued by his footwar and looking at the rest of his clothing, seeing some elite, aka pricey, athletic ware, thought they must be for rock climbing or someting similar. After my converstation with him, it turns out these “Five Finger” shoes made by “Vibram” and a few other companies, were originally designed for water sports, canoeing he mentioned, as a replacement to the very popular and relatively ugly “water soc.” As the metro carried us downtown to the same metro station, we discussed more about these shoes. He mentioned there were sandals as well and the ones he had on are water proof. He said he has thrown out all of his shoes. When he said he was a personal trainer, it made sense. I don’t think I could wear them at work as they don’t really project a business casual look, unless I was a white water rafting instructor.

He mentioned that this type of shoe became famous when a well known runner, who’s name eludes me, not because it was forgettable, but because I don’t follow the sport professionally, wore them in a race. I asked about arch support, the most important job of a shoe besides protection in my mind. He said that if we were to “go barefoot” effectively, our muscles work more and are feet don’t become fatigued without the support. I don’t think cavemen had them, though they probably did not have podiatrists either to tell them their feet are in bad shape.

So….since I have ugly toes, I think I am going to pick up a pair of the summer variety to wear as sandals. Wear them around the apartment when doing laundry or taking out the trash and perhaps they can help keep my feet in shape and me walking longer in life.