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prorevenge · 5 years

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Bad renting situation.

Set the scene for you guys: The place we were renting is a duplex that is split down the middle here in Upstate NY. My little 2 bedroom side of the house was next to the garages and driveway. It had a small side of the yard which was 15 ft x 5 ft. We have a Chocolate Lab named Benny that uses that back yard for his bathroom etc. The shitty neighbor in my duplex who I’ll call Rick had the bigger side of the yard and a staircase that lead up to the back field where there was a nice walking path and horse farm. The back of our duplex was kind of built right into the side of the hill leading up to the horse farm/corn farm. Rick was subletting one of his rooms to a Russian chain smoker that we’ll call Olga and she was the same age as him (60 ish). Rick is an asshole 90% of the time and demands we never use his staircase to go up to the walking trail. His Russian friend and he also chain smoke in front of our living room window making our house smell like an 80’s era bowling alley. Over the course of our renting this place we got in numerous fights with these asshats over where they could smoke so that our side of the house didn’t stink. The landlord lives in FL and uses the property as his retirement cash cow. The LL we’ll call Dwayne and he’s about 70 years old. The house itself was built in 1940 or earlier and we lived on an old farm road with a pumpkin farm across the street. Just want you to have an image of the location because it’ll come into play.

The first week we’re in the house unpacking and my wife asked me to plug in the vacuum and run it around the downstairs to get up the Styrofoam from the packing materials. I notice that the plug sparks when you plug it in or unplug anything. I call Dwayne and tell him and he says “Ok…..call around and get a price from an electrician and let me know what it’ll cost.” This was a red flag for me. I’m paying $1300 a month for this duplex and now this guy wants me to do all his leg work since he is out of state. I figure whatever and find an electrician that’ll charge $200 for the house call plus the outlets he’ll end up replacing. I call Dwayne and he says “no, that’s too much, I’ll send one of my guys over to do it.” This pissed me off because I just spent 20 minutes calling around getting ballpark quotes but I figure fine as long as the work gets done. Fast forward 1 month and his electrician finally shows up one day to do the work. He replaces 12 of the 14 outlets because he didn’t think he’d find so many bad ones. I figure that’s fine since the ones he didn’t replace are up in the room we never use.

2 months goes by and its early spring and raining a ton. One night we get a HUGE downpour that lasts for about 35 minutes. My wife says she hears water in the basement. I run down in the basement and we have 2 waterfalls coming through the windows that look into the backyard and 4 inches of water on the floor and rising. I call Dwayne the next morning and tell him about the windows in the basement and the flooding and he says I need to find a cleaning service to clean up the mess. I tell him I can’t because I’m going to work. He says “ok, do it after work then.” I say “listen, I don’t own this house, you do, so find someone today that can clean this up and repair the windows or I’m going to do it myself and take it out of the rent (which is NY state law.)” He gets pissed and hangs up. Later in the evening he calls and says a cleaning service will be there in two days to clean the basement from all the mud and water. I tell him that’s fine but he might want to repair the windows since it’s still raining pretty regularly. He says no that won’t be necessary since he’s still getting quotes about a French drain for the back of the house. The cleaning crew shows up and they clean the whole basement out. It takes them 6 hrs with power washers and scrubbing machines etc. They leave at 5pm that day and we’re thinking ok great now we have the basement cleaned up, but the windows aren’t holding anything out since they are so old and have no sealant around the outside edges. 2 days goes by and it downpours again and fills the basement back up with water and mud. I call Dwayne and he sounds defeated. He tells me that he’ll send the cleaning crew back out the same day the contractors are going to show up with the backhoe for digging the French drain around the backside of the house. Fast forward 2 weeks and everybody shows up. The work is completed and we’re happy to have a normal basement again even though I’m pissed that we have had a swamp down there for so long.

2 more months goes by and my wife one night screams while in the kitchen. She swears she saw a mouse in the kitchen run from under the sink to the under the oven. I ask her what it looked like and she says big, grey, and had pink ears. I know right away this isn’t a field mouse but a full grown rat. I open the drawer below the oven and all our cupcake pans are full of little rat turds and its fucking nasty. Thankfully we never bake so they weren’t a big loss. I call Dwayne and he says he has an exterminator friend that lives nearby and he’ll call him and get back to me. Dwayne calls back the next morning and says “I spoke to my friend and he claims that your dog going to the bathroom in the backyard is probably attracting the rats.” I tell him “rats don’t eat shit, so that makes no sense. We’ll need to have an exterminator sent out to deal with this.” Dwayne goes on a tirade about how we’re the worst renters and that we constantly complain about little things. I tell him “for $1300 a month I expect a rat free, spark free, living space that doesn’t flood or smell like a bowling alley.” At this point Dwayne says he’ll look into it and hangs up. I’m super pissed at this point. We’ve had nothing but problems with this place from the first week and now we’ve got rats in our kitchen. I do a little digging online and find out that you can have health department investigate rat infestations and if they see that the landlord isn’t doing anything about it, they’ll put a lien on the house until the work is complete. So obviously I decided to go that route. I call the health inspector and he tells me that he’ll come out in a few days and do an inspection and get back to me. Dwayne calls me back and says the rat problem is my fault because I have a dog and that I need to deal with the problem myself. I told him no problem I just set up an appointment with the health inspector. Dwayne get really upset and cusses me out. I call my lawyer and tell him to call Dwayne and arrange for us to break the lease since I don’t want to deal with him anymore.

Fast forward two months. The health inspector had found a bunch of rats and holes in the foundation and evidence that the colony had been living in the house for “years and years from the looks of it.” He contacts Dwayne and tells him about the lien if he doesn’t address it. Dwayne calls me and says he’s sending an exterminator. Now at this point I had put the place up on Craigslist to find new renters since Dwayne had decided to sublet our lease instead of let us out of it. I found some college kids that were desperate for a place and they seemed like typical, rich college kids. I tell them that the place doesn’t have A/C and they’ll need window units etc. But I also tell them that the next door neighbor is pot friendly and loves smoking. I tell them that he is super chill and that they can totally use the staircase in the backyard to use the hiking trails. One of the kids brought his mom that showed up in a new Jag and so I knew that Dwayne wasn’t going to be able to shit all over these people since I knew they’d lawyer up. I never mentioned the rat infestation or that this place was a nightmare because I knew that these kids’ rich parents would go nuclear with a lawyer if they had to deal with this stuff.

Dwayne accepted the new tenants and let us out of the lease. All it took was a few threats from my lawyer before I got my security deposit back.

Fast forward 3 months. I drive by the old place to see what’s happening. It looks like the college kids and Rick are off to a rough start. There is a plastic divider down the driveway to separate who gets what. There are beer cans all over the front yard and Rick’s truck is parked on the side lawn. He never did that when we lived there, so I’m sure these kids were driving him crazy with parking. Olga is nowhere to be seen since she probably jumped ship when the parties started. I don’t know what became of the rats but 2 months later I did another drive by and there was no furniture on our side of the house which tells me everybody had left and Dwayne wasn’t making any money….which made me happy since he was a fucking prick.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that after we moved out, the cleaning service called me to see about payment for the basement cleaning. Apparently, Dwayne never paid them and they couldn't reach him. I gave them his cell number and his FL address. That felt really good to do as well.

TLDR: rented a duplex that needed tons of repairs and ended up leaving the asshole neighbors and landlord with college bro’s that loved 4/20 and parties.

(source) (story by LedZeppelinRiff)

#prorevenge #by LedZeppelinRiff #pro revenge stories #revenge stories #pro #revenge #revenge story #last10

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mediumextraordinaire-blog · 7 years

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What I choose to pursue

Spring has sprung and with the arrival of green grass, green leaves, warmer air, bluer skies, singing birds, daffodils and seedlings popping up in gardens all over so arrives the overload of all things money. Yes, it is spring and rather than focusing on the beauty of nature, we are being inundated with the reminder that not only is grass green, but so is money. Billboards with huge pictures of money pouring out of windows, reminding us to update our air conditioning, borrow money for home improvements, grow money with higher interest CD's, plant seeds of money today and watch them grow all summer. Commercials telling us to save money at the local Home Depot or Lowes for all of our weekend warrior projects. Money, money, money...how to earn it, how to grow it, how to cultivate it, how to keep it, how to love it, how to have more of it, how to whatever you can imagine, there is a way to do it. Life runs on money, especially, it would appear, in spring. I love spring. Well, maybe not the May flies and allergies, but the rest, yeah, I love it all. I love the renewal of energy that comes with spring. The simpleness of spring and the hope it grows for a new season. Tiny sprouts getting ready to grow into food for us. Whether it be edible, nourishing food or food for thought, Spring sprouts bring us nourishment after a long winter rest. We are awakened and ready to grow and boy does commercialism know it. We've been programmed to always think about money, but never more than in spring. Every day I open up an email offering me a new way to think about money, to learn about money, to allow money to flow to me, or to give away my money in order to bring more money to me. Every time I turn on the tv there is a commercial, a new report, a guru, a something to guide me into the dark, the scary and complex world of money. The world in which I must need help in because so many are offering to help me in it. The world where green grass means nothing unless it is growing money somewhere and where leaves aren't the only things that grow on trees. Oh, Yes, Money. Great and Wonderful MONEY. All these reminders, these classes, these commercials, these teachers who so graciously remind me how worthless, how uninspired, how useless, boring, simple and small I am without enough money. How absolutely insignificant my life is without abundances of money and in just a few easy steps for the easy payment of only... or by shopping at the right store and investing in the right bank and listening to the new guru I too can be fulfilled by having money. I'm calling bullshit on this. BULLSHIT! Money Sells. Money sells faster with the insinuation of fear and I'm not buying into it. No amount of money will fulfill me or enhance my life unless I understand what is of value and what is not. Yes, money is indeed very helpful in today's society and money does tend to make the world go round money is necessary for basic survival. I like being able to pay my mortgage, drive a car, be warm in the winter, eat, but for fuck's sake, can we stop being intimidated by money? Could we just enjoy the little flowers that are smiling at us when we smile at them without wondering how much money it will cost to enjoy them? Can we enjoy the symphony of the birds during the day and the owls at night without fearing if we are wasting our time enjoying rather than working? Could we stop looking at our bank accounts and start looking at the hiking path that will lead us to the most beautiful of waterfalls and see the riches that Mother Nature offers us free of charge? Is it possible to enjoy all that we have and enjoy earning money pursuing what we love without the constant fear of never having enough or never having what the other guy has? Can't we have it all without having all of it? Dear God, what do we have to do to catch a break? For one, we have to understand that money is not what propels us. Money is what holds us back. Money, no fear of the lack of money, keeps us from exploring life"s boundaries. The boundaries that our souls are here to explore and break. Think about this for a moment. Think of the word MONEY. Five letters when put together in this pattern elicit incredibly complex emotions in our egotistical, human mind. This five letter word has the potential to raise us or ruin us, but very rarely will it balance us, and balance is exactly what we need when it comes to money. I grew up in small town, USA, the grand-daughter of a highly respected businessman who resided on the main street of small town, USA. My grandfather was a good man who worked very hard for his respect and his money and I was graced with financial blessings because of this. I was also a motherless daughter. At 7 years old my mother died leaving behind my 10-year-old sister and two-week old baby brother. Money doesn't buy back the dead. My girlfriend, a very beautiful and successful singer lost her brother a few years back to cancer. He left behind 2 young children who will forever be without their father. Parents who will be forever without their son. Money doesn't buy back the dead. My best friend lost her dad at an age when she was just starting her own family. Her father won't be attending her children's weddings, nor did he attend their graduations, birthdays, holidays and other significant life events. Money doesn't buy back the dead. I could go on and on, listing every friend I have who has lost a child, a father, mother, brother or sister, but I don't need to because you have lost them as well. Money can't buy them back no matter how much money we have. Love and loss aren't dictated by money. Nor should our lives. Our lives should be lived and memories built in the pursuit of happiness, not the pursuit of money. Money does play a part in our lives, but never should it be so important that it consumes us and clogs us from simple joys and basic blessings, which are of course never basic at all. I type these words not as someone who has risen above the fear of money, but as someone who is guilty of falling prey to it almost on a daily basis and is lucky enough to have caught a few tidbits of wisdom here and there and nip the fear in the ass when it rears its ugly face. I caught myself last night when talking to my adventurous daughter, Paige, who packed a few bags last year and headed to CA in pursuit of her happiness. I fell right into the "you should be a nurse" conversation. You know, the "you need money, it is safe, it is respectable, it is secure" conversation that great mom's do when they think their babies need protection because somehow money and security go hand and hand. I caught myself quickly last night and for that I am grateful. Wisdom speaks very softly but does indeed speak loud enough to those who are willing to listen. Wisdom tells us that money is indeed a wonderful energy to surround yourself around without getting lost in its allure. Money offers us opportunities to grow, to expand and experience. It offers all things material for ourselves and our loved ones. It offers us tomorrows adventures if we are smart enough to live for only the magic of today. Money is an invaluable asset and I don't discount the necessity of it, but I also will never pursue it so much that it ruins my Spring. Typically the more money we have, the more we can spend, grow, share, explore, expand and play and in that way, money does make the world go round. Money in of itself holds no value, but how it is used, what it is used for and how it is managed is of value. The energy of money, like all energy is movement. Money must be used in order for it to be of value, but what is of value is what I pursue. Money can't buy me abundance. I can't plant money seeds and get money bushes. I can't call money on a Monday night and talk to it about football. I can't hold money on a cold night and I sure as hell can't feel its warmth from a tender hug or a passionate kiss. I can't hold it tight to me and nurture it as I did my children. Money doesn't text me out of the blue and asks "Are you smiling today?" like my friend, Steve, who I haven't seen in twenty plus years does every few weeks since he saw me falling down the rabbit hole during the elections. Money doesn't read my blogs and offer me thoughtful insights like my friend, Chris, who also isn't a daily confidant but an old high school friend. Money doesn't message me with some calming words of advice after he notices I may be heading into the crazy zone after the election of 45 in the way my old friend Ed did, who again I haven't seen since high school and currently lives in VA. Money can't give me A- blood like my best friend Stacey can. Money also can't get stupid silly drunk with me like Stacey can either! There is something to say about old money, but it doesn't hold a candle to old friends. Money is an energetic vibration that will rise with us when we pursue that in which we rise to. Maybe because I am a child without a mother I can see differently the pursuit of happiness or maybe because being without money doesn't frighten me as much as being without people does, but for whatever reason, I would rather pursue the joy of wealth rather than the pursuit of money. Happy Spring, everyone. Enjoy the abundance it has to offer. “Money is a guarantee that we may have what we want in the future. Though we need nothing at the moment it insures the possibility of satisfying a new desire when it arises.” --Aristotle “If we command our wealth, we shall be rich and free. If our wealth commands us, we are poor indeed.” —Edmund Burke

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accuhunt · 6 years

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An Unfinished Affair: Places I’d Love to Go Back to Someday.

Last night, I had a dream. I was sitting in the main square of Amman, the capital of Jordan, listening in fascination to an elderly man playing the oud (a musical instrument commonly used in Persian / Arabic music) to no particular audience. Genetu, a friend from the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia, joined me for a while, then insisted that we go on a short hike near his village (in Ethiopia of course). So we did, and as we huffed up a cliff, I spotted a giraffe in the distance… in what seemed like the bush in South Africa!

By the time I woke up from such a surreal yet vivid dream, I was filled with a yearning for the places of my past.

Places of my past: the Slovenian Alps.

Every time I look at a world map – and I’ve been looking at one pretty often since I discovered Trover, a social network for travellers to share hidden gems from around the globe – there are certain places that jump out at me; places where I see a past version of me. I can almost hear my indigenous Quechua friend explaining how a famous waterfall in Ecuador is actually alive, smell the apple-scented smoke from a shisha in the vastness of the Wadi Rum, and feel the crisp air as I cycle in the Slovenian Alps.

As Pascal Mercier once wrote: We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there.

So this post is dedicated to all the countries I need to go back to and find parts of me I left behind… (see my entire list of Places I’d Love To Go Back To on Trover; it’s geotagged to all my favorite spots in each country). These countries are the ones that, thankfully, make me feel like even though I don’t belong anywhere in particular, I belong everywhere:

South Africa

A giraffe in my backyard in South Africa.

You know that giraffe I dreamt about in the South African bush? It wasn’t entirely a figment of my dreams; I first saw it, most unexpectedly, from the window of my lodge at a game reserve near Johannesburg, munching on leaves right in my backyard. Amazed, I ran out and we gazed into each other’s eyes a while… then I saw his family (presumably) join him for what seemed like their evening snack

South Africa was love at first sight. The impossible beauty of mist-engulfed Table Mountain, wild ostriches and African penguins near Cape Town, unexpected friendships in the township of Mamelodi, road tripping along the stunning Swatberg mountains… there is just so much I need to go back for!

Read: In Photos: Incredible Moments in South Africa

Georgia

Hiking amid the snow-clad Caucasus Mountains <3

Living for a couple of weeks in the last house in one of the last villages (before the border of Russia) in the Caucasus Mountains, I think I lost track of time and the outside world. As temperatures dropped, the leaves turned a delicate yellow, red and orange; the apples in the neighbours’ front yards ripened to a juicy red; and everyone came out of their homes to dig out potatoes from their fields. Then one morning, I woke up to snowflakes falling gently on the vast mountains, and everything around me was enveloped in white – surreal and breathtaking!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know I first fell in love with Georgia in 2014; I thought this trip would give me some closure, but as I hiked past mountain villages forgotten by time, felt drawn in by a remote monastery with a priest vowed to silence, and stood longingly at Georgia’s border with South Ossetia, I knew my affair with the Caucasus was far from over.

See: Dreaming of Georgia (my geotagged collection of the country’s best kept secrets on Trover)

Guatemala

A postcard from my abode in Guatemala.

Life as a digital nomad is not always easy. Sometimes payments don’t arrive on time, sometimes words fail me, sometimes I just question my entire lifestyle. On days like that, I close my eyes and transport myself to the shores of Lake Atitlan. That feeling of jumping early morning into the clear blue waters, in the backdrop of three stunning volcanoes, as fishing canoes row along… that feeling reassures me that I’ll be okay. I’ll have to be, because sooner than later, I have to make my way back to what feels like my place on earth.

Read: 6 Months, 6 Countries: Epic Memories from Central America

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sunset in Sarajevo. Photo: Michał Huniewicz (CC)

Bosnia and Herzegovina was never really on my Europe wishlist; to me, it was merely the country with a hard-to-pronounce last name, until I met a Bosnian couple on the Croatian countryside, and spent four straight hours chatting with them about everything from Bosnia’s painful civil war to the similarity between Slavic and Sanskrit languages. Their warmth and generosity convinced me to drop all my plans and travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And so I did, even if impulsively and short on time. The night I arrived, I was in a somewhat disoriented state of mind as I quietly ate dinner in a small cafe by River Una. A middle-aged man sat next to me, and started telling me about the sad state of employment in the country… then offered to pay for my dinner which I had finished before we got chatting! Despite a language barrier, I struck up many unexpected friendships, heard heartbreaking stories of the war, and discovered magnificent waterfalls, rivers and hiking trails – without a sign or another soul around.

I yearn to go back, before it’s pristine beauty and friendly locals put it prominently on Europe’s tourism map.

Read: Dreamy Airbnbs to Experience Europe Like a Local

Ethiopia

A traditional beyayenetu aka vegan fasting platter in Ethiopia!

My first trip to Ethiopia didn’t quite turn out the way I expected it to. I didn’t budget right, I didn’t do enough travel research, and despite having grown up in India, I wasn’t ready to confront the economic disparities. Yet I have some fond memories of the time I spent there – the local boys I hiked with in the impossibly beautiful Simien Mountains; the lady I broke injera and chugged homemade fermented barley beer with, in her round rammed-earth home; the priest (and part-time guide) I explored the underground churches of Lalibela with… and all the beyayenetus (fasting food platters) I relished.

I like to think I’m a more mature traveller now, and long to go back to spend time learning about the fascinating way of life of the tribes in the south and journey to the Danakil Depression – the hottest place on earth.

Read: My First Impressions of Ethiopia

Maldives

The island dream! Photo: muha… (CC)

I recently set the world record for the shortest stay in the Maldives – 24 hours! It so happened that my flights couldn’t be organized as planned, and I already had an onward one. So I arrived in the late evening, kissed the turquoise waters with my eyes, spoke at the World Travel Writers Conference, and left. I promised to go back someday, but that promise slipped to the back of my mind.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you probably know I’m having a tough time deciding where to travel next, somewhere it’s not too cold, somewhere not too far from India. But last week, while browsing travel discoveries on Trover, I stumbled upon a picture of bioluminescent plankton on a beach in the Maldives… and impulsively booked a (super cheap) one-way flight with my partner to Male! My Maldives wishlist has grown since, to include SUPing, ecolodges with conservation programs and snorkeling with whale sharks and manta rays. Hopefully we’ll find an affordable guesthouse or Airbnb and live out the island dream.

See: All my Maldives’ finds (so far) on Trover

Ecuador

A secret swing in Ecuador

I still look back at my month in Ecuador with wonder and awe. Hiking solo amid the breathtaking beauty of the majestic Andes, on little-known trails, without another soul in sight and without a hint of fear for my safety, felt meditative and incredibly liberating. Hearing stories of living waterfalls and extinct creatures from my Quechua host family, while feasting on quinoa and oatmeal soups (I learnt that their diet has traditionally been vegan) transported me to a world I hadn’t traversed before. Then deep in the Amazon rainforest, I had a near life-changing experience that I’m not entirely ready to post about yet… perhaps because I left behind a part of me that I can only find when I go back.

Read: Soul Searching in the Ecuadorian Andes

Win 1500$ to travel!

Heads up: Trover is running a cool contest, giving away a 1500$ Expedia travel prize to one lucky winner. All you have to do is sign up on Trover, and share your favorite desserts / sweet treats from around the world with #SweetSpot – enter now!

Contest ends Nov 27th. See the terms and conditions here. Good luck!

Which places around the world would you love to go back to someday?

Note: I’m collaborating all month with Trover to share cool contests and hidden gems from around the world!

Connect with me on Trover, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for more travel adventures.

Subscribe to my exclusive newsletter to receive travel inspiration in your inbox!

An Unfinished Affair: Places I’d Love to Go Back to Someday. published first on http://ift.tt/2w0EToM

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mediumextraordinaire-blog · 7 years

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What I Choose to Pursue

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