I don't post much but these guys might

Two of my extremely smart friends are abroad for periods of time and have decided to blog about their experiences in other parts of the world. I expect them to be fascinating and I would highly suggest reading both of their blogs even if you don't know them. They are both much better writers than I am and are probably living more exciting lives than me.

Brian - Brian is one of my fellow industrial engineers. He is crazy smart and will probably be the first person I know to be a billionaire. He is spending this summer in Indonesia working at a shoe manufacturing plant (aka...). He is blogging about his experiences and life in a developing third world country. Read it at:

http://indonesianink.blogspot.com/

Rob - Rob and I lived on the same hall freshmen year. We have been buddies ever since from this to the spring break cruise this year. He is crazy smart and will probably be the second person I know to be a billionaire if he survives his travels. He is going to Peru for a year to do volunteer work and plans on blogging about his trip. He isn't going as part of a group or organization like the Peace Corps so he will probably die. But as long as he is alive you can read about it at:

http://robcerato.blogspot.com/

I've added both links to the sidebar, so when I'm being too boring to post you can read about their exciting lives.

I hate my landlord

Wilson White like all property management companies are evil, soulless and unethical. Recently Wilson White attempted to evict us because we refused to pay for some damages that we didn't cause. When we showed up in court their lawyer said that they had decided to drop the case. Then Wilson White tried to charge us for their legal fees even after they dropped the case. This lead to a few emails which I have presented below.

Hi Brian

After reviewing the inventory checklist (dated 2007) and deliberating with the owner, it has been determined that you are responsible for the damages to the doors as the inventory checklist states that it was in good condition at move-in and the house has renewed since then. However, he is willing to meet you in the middle concerning the charges once the legal fees have been paid. Attached is a transaction listing for you to view.

Please let me know if you accept this offer.

Thank you.

The damages were there when we moved in and I talked to the old guys who lived here and they agreed. Since I knew I was in the right I decided to play hard ball.

Michelle,

I thought I was pretty clear when we discussed the door. Let me reiterate, the door was functioning when we moved in but soon after stopped working due to pre-existing damage. I have discussed this with the previous tenets who have confirmed that the door frame was damaged while they were living there. Since we did not cause any damage to the door frame we will not be paying for the repairs.

As for the legal fees, it is absurd for you to think that you can charge us for your legal fees. You attempted to evict us and then dropped the suit without reaching an out of court resolution. We have no responsibility for your legal fees and attempting to get us to pay your fees shows a lack of ethics on behalf of Wilson White.

We will be paying our $4,350 in rent this month and we expect that both the charges for the door repair and the legal fees will be taken off of our account.

I thought this would be the end of it and they would drop the charges but:

Hi Brian

Let’s be clear the reason why the case was dismissed in court as rent was paid and we eventually received the signed mediation agreement that brought your balance down to $9.69. Please see the attached transaction listing and mediation agreement.

We have also attached the pictures concerning the door and door jam. The charges in question refer to both the front and side doors we repaired. Referencing image, “IMG00140.jpg”, with regard to the cracked side door of the house; the deadbolt and the strike (the means by which to lock the door) is missing which can only be caused by blunt force trauma. Referencing another image, “IMG00139.jpg”, with regard to the door jam at the front of the house; a strike plate is missing and three of the four 6 inch screws have been ripped out that would normally be screwed into the house. And again, the only time we seen this is because of brute force and not normal wear and tear as you claim it to be. If, however, we accept your assertions as true we don’t understand how a door that cannot be locked or stay closed for the entire time that you have lived there and is noted as in “good condition” on the inventory checklist would not have risen to a level of importance before now. Again this just seems mystifying to us that over summer, winter and any other breaks that this would not have been an issue before now.

However, we are willing to meet you in the middle with regard to the repairs once the legal fees have been paid. Per lease agreement points 5 & 6 and also by law, we are charging you the statutory legal fees which we are entitled due to that the rent was not paid in full by the fifth.

Thank you.

So I guess they thought that I wouldn't be able to come back from those harsh blows. But I don't take no shit from no one and I had a few punches of my own to throw.

Michelle,

Any attempt to argue that Wilson White dropped the case cannot be attributed to us not paying rent. The transaction listing clearly shows that our rent was paid on or before the fifth every month since the first of the year. The only exception to this being April when the fifth did not fall on a business day. The issue of the damages to the door was never resolved and therefore you dropped the case of your own freewill and thus we are refusing to pay your legal fees.

As for the side door. The damage to the side door was caused during our tenure at the house. Instead of fixing the side door your maintenance staff simply made the door inoperable. Currently the door cannot be opened from the inside or outside of the house. As a side note, I am sure you realize that this constitutes a violation of building code with regards to the minimum number of emergency exits per livable floor, and should be fixed prior to our upcoming housing inspection. Since the door still doesn't function we are refusing to pay for repairs that never took place.

In regards to the front door, your assertions that the damage was caused by blunt force trauma could very possibly be correct. We don't know how the door was damaged because we didn't live here at the time. Upon move-in the piece of the door frame that was missing was filled in with wood putty. Eventually due to the cold and the fact that wood putty isn't meant to be used in that manner the filling popped out of the doorway. This lead to the deadbolt only being held in place by the piece of metal which subsequently was dented because there was no wood behind it to support it. Because of this we spent a year without a locking front door. We put in numerous calls to Wilson White over the course of 2008 to have it repaired and I still have emails between the members of our house in which we discuss having Wilson White repair our door. In an email dated January 7, 2008 one of the roommates sent a inter-house email with the following quote "I went down to Wilson White today and put in a repair request for the deadbolt on the front door (again -- since apparently they didn't fix it the first time)" So it is quite clear to me that this didn't just rise to a level of importance it was an ongoing issue for over a year. What mystifies me is how your maintenance staff could apply the same ineffective solution to the door frame numerous times until I had to instruct them on how to properly fix the door frame. Perhaps you should discuss with the maintenance staff why wood putty would not be a robust solution to a large hole in a door frame. Now you should be able to see why we feel we are not responsible for your maintenance staffs shoddy work.

In summation, we refuse to pay your legal fees because you chose to drop the case without resolution. We refuse to pay for repairs to the side door because the door is still not functional. We refuse to pay for the front door because the damage was pre-existing and the damage was only exacerbated by your maintenance staff's inability to preform their jobs. Please send out a transaction listing with the legal fees and door repair fees removed.

Brian

So this is where we stand right now. I'm pretty much pooping all over them. I was about to ask for an apology for wasting so much of my time but thought that might be over the line. Plus, if anything I should be apologizing for tearing them a new asshole. I'll post with any new juicy emails.

The Best Michigan Sporting Events

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Helping the enconomy has never looked so good

Yesterday in a fit of drunken rage I bought a car. Well, to be more accurate, yesterday I went out and ordered a car. I went with the new 2010 Camaro. Not only will I be helping GM and the economy, I am also getting a car with a feature that I've always wanted since I was 16: an auxiliary input jack. That and 304 horsepower. Sucks to your assmar Detroit radio!

I'm going to pick up sooo many chicks in this thing it will begin to look like the Cooper Howell Honorary Chicken Coop.

Brian goes to Iowa again

I made yet another trip to Iowa this weekend. It was for Val's birthday and since I could easily get out of work on Friday and Monday Mark and I made the 4 day trip. I think this is either the 7th or 8th time I've been to Iowa City.

The first night they we got to one of the bars where they let you buy thirty pitchers of beer for $30, and they must all be finished by 10pm. This lead to me blacking out soon after at a Piano bar.

The second day we started drinking around 3 via some card drinking games. After dinner we went to a couple of bars, and if you read my Twitter you would know that I blacked out doing shots of Jeager and Tang. Not a great combo.

The third day was spent playing Cornhole in an alley and drinking. No Blackout Brian on Sunday night.

Today was spent buying 4 30-racks at the Hyvee for $60 and driving back to Michigan. I think that was detox.

I've Graduated College