My friend Jared is a stinking genius. He did not really like Blogger’s software, so he built his own. I must say, it is quite impressive. It is an ASP based system backed with a SQL database. He has been making tweaks like cookies for the comments and creating an archive system. I encourage you all to go to his site, play with the software, and post suggestions and kudos in the comments.
By way of update on my little court case, the landlady filed for an adjournment this morning, as expected. Then a really strange thing happened… She is kind of old and told me she does not get around well. So, being the boy scout that I am, I offered to cab her home and escort her to her door. Amazingly, she accepted. I then took a cab ride with a woman who is suing me and vise versa. We actually had a very pleasant conversation about the weather, city life, and our families. Surreal.
Speaking of surreal, I got an email through Classmates.com from a friend from High School, Yuko Ariga. Hi, Yuko! We met for coffee near Union Square to catch up. It is amazing to see how much and yet how little people change. She had been a little bit introverted yet goofy. Now she seems very, very happy. I guess she got an accounting degree, worked for a year as an accountant, then woke up one day and decided she was miserable. So she eventually became a flight attendant for Delta, and loves it. Next time you think your life is droning on, I suggest you take a lesson from Yuko and shake things up a little. You will be happy you did. She is.
It sure seems that I have a lot going on lately. Apologies for two lengthy entries in one day, but I felt compelled to share and share a lot. You know you love it, you cyber-voyeurs!
Monthly Archives: May 2003
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/vegas-baby/
Vegas, Baby. Vegas. Quite the interesting weekend! We flew to Las Vegas for my sister’s wedding. What an experience that was! We were using our travel vouchers on American from the time we got bumped from a flight in Jamaica, so we had to fly through LA to get to Vegas. Apparently American does not run direct flights. It turns out that our connecting flight was oversold from LA, so we were offered another bump plus $200. Christine said we should wait, and sure enough, they soon were offering $400 in a rather desparate tone. So we took the bump, got $400 each in new travel vouchers, got to stay in a hotel for free, and went to dinner with Jared and Tosha. So not only did we get to see good friends we have not seen in a while, but we also saved a nights room rate at the Venetian in Vegas! I love flying free! Once we got to Vegas, all hell broke loose. My family does not belong in that city whatsoever, and you can imagine a bunch of conservative Mormons constantly shocked at the drunkeness, open porn, and rampant gambling. They decided to go out to State Line to ride a great roller coaster. The roller coaster sucked compared to how I remember it, and we then got stuck in traffic behind a rollover accident on Route 15. As a result, we missed the dinner we had planned to get with the whole family. Not that we could have gotten 24 people in anywhere as it was. The next day, we went to the MGM Grand’s wedding chapel for the wedding. It was a nice service, a little short, but I was impressed overall. They were married by a nice lady rather than by Elvis, as I had expected. That afternoon we all got lunch and then Christine and I napped. That evening, the whole family came over to our hotel because it was large enough to gather in. So by the time Christine and I got a chance to spend some time with Vegas (not that time with Vegas is necessary), it was midnight on Sunday. I learned two things thereafter: I am not a bad poker player, and never take an expensive craps lesson after 1 AM. After a few hours sleep, we met my parents for breakfast and it was off to the airport. Of course the flight home was delayed again, but what do you expect from American? We got home at close to 1 AM, and I ended up being 2 hours late for work. Now you are all up to date, I hope I did not bore you excessively. But if I did, oh, well… your boredom is entertaining to me!
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/its-been-long-time-since-i-rock-and/
It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled… or updated my blog. Not much has been going on lately. I have been sick with sinus issues and thus have been unmotivated. I did go see The Matrix on Wednesday night. It was a good movie, but I will chime in with all of the other reviewers in saying that I was not impressed with the Zion party/sex scene. Not that I don’t like a good party scene, but this was completely out of place. The rest of the movie was great, the bullet time sequences were spectacular. I then went out and bought the video game and played it all weekend. Highly recommended for people who felt the movie was missing something. It has a lot of extra scenes and fills out some plot lines for you. And not only do you get to see Jada Pinkett Smith and Monica Bellucci kiss, but you get rewarded with a trailer for the next movie when you beat the game. I then tried to download The Animatrix on Kazaa, but decided that stealing is wrong and I can either wait a month for a perfect copy or wait up to 4 days to download a crap copy. Which reminds me, I need to load OSX onto Christine’s Mac so that I can patronize Apple’s Music Store. Gotta support any realistic and consumer friendly effort to legitimize online music, lest we surrender additional digital privacies to the RIAA lobbyists. OK, I need to drink more juice and take more sudafed now. I just hope I am healthy enough to get through my business trip to Boston tomorrow. It ain’t gonna be productive if I cough up phlegm all over my clients.
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/shameless-plug-if-you-ever-need/
Shameless Plug: If you ever need intellectual property protection, corporate legal advice, merger or venture capital representation, or real estate lawyers, look no further than Madama Griffitts, LLP. This shameless plug is brought to you by a thankful Ammon who got free legal advice from them, as I share an office with them. They hooked me up with some very official looking documents and legalese and then I stayed up most of the night researching New York State Laws to fill in the blanks. What it comes down to is that Hellspawn sued me for enough money to get the case out of small claims and put it into civil court so that she could stall and drag it out. What fun! So I will play her game. If it is larger amounts she wants, it is larger amounts she gets. I am countering her claims with allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and negligence. I then plan on requesting an expedited trial based on the unnecessarily drawn out suit, and I have a very good chance of obtaining it. She may think she can scare me and drag this out, but I am way too principled to let her walk away with a substantial chunk of my money for doing absolutely nothing. This is gonna be fun! I’ll let you know as soon as I hear back from her when she receives my counter claim. It should be interesting. Heehee.
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/counter-sued-so-my-lovely-old/
Counter Sued! So my lovely old crotchety ex landlady (heretofore known simply as “Hellspawn”) countersued me for $5420 in damages to the apartment that I did not do, were not repaired, and probably constitutes fraud. I am somewhat amused, because I knew she was going to do that. She thinks that by dragging it out I will settle for the piddly $1000 that she offered. That would be the same as admitting that she should have the rest for doing nothing. What she doesn’t know is that I think this whole thing is fun, and she can’t intimidate me. I will simply go get her case thrown out, and then perhaps file an additional case against her for criminal negligence and fraud. I think she knows that if it goes in front of a judge, she will lose miserably. So the saga continues, I have to go to the county clerk’s office and file for a discontinuance of her case and then proceed with my own. It is fascinating to get a first hand look into the dire need for tort reform. Filing cases like this back and forth is such a drain on the system, and yet we are both within our rights. The only thing that really pisses me off is the fact that she apparently does this to all of her tenants, but most of them probably just settle. And the way the law is written, the burden of proff is on me to show that I did not damage the property. Good thing I took pictures! Updates to follow, not that any of you care.
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/29/
I love abusing the New York State Judicial System. OK, I am not really abusing it, I am simply using it within the bounds of my rights as a citizen. For those of you who do not know, I am weilding the long arm of the law against my corrupt and crooked landlady. She refused to return our security deposit, so I am taking her to small claims court tomorrow morning. Of course she has called me twice since I filed suit last month offering to settle. She is not, however, very creative in her offers. She made the same offer that she made six months ago that was unacceptable to me. She offered half the money back even thoughno work was needed, she did no work, and did not comply with numerous laws governing rents in New York City. I feel so good about how prepared I am! I have her nailed on Article 7, Title 1, Section 7-103 of New York’s General Obligations law, as well as numerous other violations. I figure I could nail her for fraud, but why push it? I just want my money back. She called this evening to let me know she would like a continuance pending settling, so we’ll see if I actually get my day in court. I kind of hope I do get to be sworn in to Small Claims Court and present my case Judge Judy style! Incidentally, I got home the other day and found an airborne express envelope on my door. Apparently I was invited to take an all expense paid trip to Houston to plead my small claims case on Texas Justice. Tempting, but I am just not white trash enough to go on a daytime court show. It would have been fun but I can’t take the time off work and I would never give my heartless ex-landlady a free trip! So I will update y’all with the result of my big day in court later in the week. Exciting, isn’t it?
UPDATE: Many people have found this page through Google. If you have questions, feel free to email me through the contact me link on the left. I ended up winning the case (She got scared and finally settled). I would be happy to help.
https://ammonbrown.com/2003/05/i-can-see-clearly-now-rain-is-gone/
I can see clearly now, the rain is gone… Most of you undoubtedly know that I got Lasik surgery to correct my vision on Friday afternoon. For those of you who don’t know: I got Lasik surgery to correct my vision on Friday afternoon. I talked to a client of mine last Wednesday who told me that he was getting lasik this week. It got me thinking about it (again), so I looked around and found the Manhattan Lasik Center, scheduled a consultation last Thursday, and then scheduled the surgery for a week later. Just like that. I went in on Friday, they gave me a valium to relax my eye muscles, then started chopping away. The actual surgery took about 5 minutes. It involves cutting and lifting a flap from the front of my eye (my cornea), zapping my lens, then putting the flap back down. I then went home, kept my eyes closed while listening to an Eric Schlosser book on tape. The next morning (yesterday), I woke up and looked at the clock. I could see what time it was! I went in for a follow up exam, and tested at close to 20/15 vision, better than normal. I spent the rest of the day annoying Christine by reading every street sign and distant letter within sight. My eyes feel great, a little bit itchy, but that is normal. And I need to avoid getting poked in the eye for the next three months while the corneal flap heals completely. But I feel great! I woke up early this morning because there was so much to see. Of course everything there was to see was our junk everywhere, so I cleaned the house. Rock on! At any rate, I will keep you all updated on my progress, as it will be a few weeks until we are sure about the final results. In the meantime, I HIGHLY recommend getting a free consultation. It was probably the best $1500 I ever spent. Beats the hell out of wearing glasses!