The humble side of town...

I heard a phrase today that I have decided to use from now on to describe the apartments in the area formely known as the hood. "The humble side of town." Sounds better eh?

Today began the long task of roach treatments. Roaches were fleeing everywhere, running for their lives! It still gives me the heeby geebies. We went into, yet, another vacant apartment today, and I am not joking when I tell you that there were literaly spiders covering every square inch of the entire ceiling in the 1000 square foot apartment. I gave up counting at 52. And this, coupled with the 24 roaches I counted in the bathroom alone, wandering around gave me one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Good pest control.

We have begun to align our forces creating strategic aliances with several of the residents, especially the property gossips, in order to obtain information on numerous residents that we suspect of foul play. The best alliances are with kids. You be suprised at how far a $1.00 toy will go and how much information it can gain you. Last week we raided the dollar store and came out with $127.48 of bribery. These can also be good to give away during apartment showings. Get in good with the kids, and you are home free! Parents want their kids to be happy, and when they are happy on your property, you're the applications come in!

One apartment community we sprayed today has eight apartments with, at last count, 56 residents all Samoan, and all related. We have almost their entire extended family living within the confines of these walls. Which is amazing not just due to the sheer number of them, but also the sheer size. When each person averages 300 pounds, 1000 square feet does not go a long way. They are so cramped in there, it is no wonder they all have holes in the walls from all of the fighting. And, they are just not small holes, I can fit my entire body through these holes if I want to. And, I love how they try and hide them behind the sheets hanging on the wall--nice cover. One apartment is so bad, we have to replace three doors, and use an entire piece of sheetrock just to do the repairs.

As I walk these apartments and get to know each resident, it continually amazes me how people live and what conditions they subject themselves to, some out of desperation, some out of addictions. Those that are the addicts don't keep me up at night, however, the kids that are living in these situations and are subjected not only to these living conditions, but also to their parents addictions, makes me understand even further why our kids in society are so screwed up. I went into an apartment of a crack addict today, she has three kids. The oldest daughter, no more than 20, has become a crack addict herself. The middle son, a senior in high school, has just come back to live with his mom because of "issues" with the dad. Can only imagine what those are. Anyway, he seems to have his act together as well as can be expected. He wants to become a cosmetologist. Everytime I see him, he is watching his little brother, who appears to be about 7. He is always on the phone with his friends, yet never seems to be able to see them because he is always watching his brother, doing the laundry, washing dishes. Very sad. All while his mom is in the back getting high with his sister. Can you imagine what it would be like for the little one if he was not there? Their house is so filthy, there is old food lying out, roaches crawling all over it and the countertops. And, the mom is standing in the middle of this mess yelling at us and telling us she does live like a pig. Her house is normally clean. She'll spray for the roaches herself...don't worry. Yeah right! Just like she takes care of the rest of her life...

This my friends, is the humble side of town.

Hangin' in the hood...

We are back this week hangin' in the hood, fixin' apartments again. We will begin roach treatment next week on all of these properties...and you would thought these people just won the lottery! The are SO excited that we are actually going to be treating their apartments--and ALL at the same time. It is amazing how much these people HATE this guy. It is so rewarding that these people love what we are doing for them, and it is something very simple!

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Originally uploaded by kmm0000000000.

Our MOE photo is attached from Friday's awards show. It was really fun! And, mom was up on stage as a presenter! It was our first advertising experience as Cambridge Management Group....what a thrill! Click on the photo to view more photos!

I hope everyone has a safe Thanksgiving!

the commercial toilet paper dispenser

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Originally uploaded by kmm0000000000.

please note, the key is in the lock for added protection and removal of paper...

the roach in question....

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Originally uploaded by kmm0000000000.

Attached is one of the photos I promised. Please note the numerous roach eggs on the plug. See the roach peeping out of the outlet? Bleh!!

Where are you winter?

Today was another warm day....we are having unseasonably warm weather, and I am tired of it. While I do not necessarily need it to be 30 degrees, I do like a little "winter-like" weather! We have another santa ana brewing, and if I am not careful, I think my skin may just flake off due to the 0% humidity. As I am typing, I just happened to look down and notice that I look as though I have old lady hands. I wonder if I were to participate in one of those tests where someone is shown just my hand to try and guess my age, if they would think that I have the hand of an 80 year old woman.... my knuckles look like elephant knees...

must. have. moisture.

Holdin' down the hood....

Today was a slower day down in the hood. We only had one property to walk today, so not so much exposure to the throngs of roaches that I have seen over the last few days. I got a really good photo of them today, and as soon as I download the 545 photos from my camera, I will get it posted, along with the toilet paper holder.

I haven't been able to come to terms with how these people have managed to survive with so many pests. They apparently are able to live in some sort of harmony, no matter how disgusting it seems. I can't imagine swating roaches off of your body at night as you lay on your bed trying to get some rest.

We are getting mostly favorable reactions from people, though a few are a little wary of us, mostly because of their questionable legal status. Most people though are welcoming us with open arms after unleashing their barage of (usually) 20 minutes worth of complaints and ramblings regarding their living conditions and their sheer hatred toward the owner. One woman in particular today captured my mom's attention for 30 minutes until she was able to finally peel herself away from her.

Another man was very proud of his one bedrooom apartment with no less than eight people living in it. They had done a favorable amount of "decorating" on their own, and if his shiny polyester toupee is any indication, his taste in "decorating" leaves little to be desired. I tried as nonchalantly as possible to take a photo of this lovely hair piece because, quite frankly, I have never seen such a toupee. The gleam of the sunlight off of it nearly blinded me. And, I am not sure if he realized whether or not you are supposed to cut it and style it for your head, but it appears that he has started wearing it out of the box because it is really shaggy on the back and sides. It is jet black and is a nice contrast to his rosey cheeks.

Life's little pleasures...

Life has taken an interesting twist over the last week with the takeover of 72 units in what I will affectionitly call "the hood." And I mean it in the nicest way. This recent turn of events has been both a blessing and, well, a lot of work. This owner is what I would call a "slum lord," although not by design. He really tries to do his best but is just too bogged down with his "real job" of buy and selling real estate to really do a "quality" job.

No one would be able to imagine what we have seen over the last week....and really what we encounter on a daily basis in this job. So, I have decided to start posting a few of the most..uh...charming stories that we encounter. And, I have a lot of 'em to tell, just from these properties and it has only been a week!

The first one that I have to post is from today. There are many of them that I will get to over the next week, but this one struck me as both hysterical, and odd...

We have walked a total of 5 communites thus far, all of which have had MAJOR issues on them. Everyone has been dealing with a lot of their maintenance issues on their own and "jerryrigging" them back into functionality. Everywhere we went, each apartment we saw, it was the same thing. Many of them tried to use the same parts that were there originally, just duck taping, slicing, or nailing their way back to functionality. This one apartment we went into today had something completely different. I am not sure where he got it, and I am assuming he probably stole it, but he had installed a commercial toilet paper dispenser in his bathroom, complete with the key in the lock for added effect. My mom and I are not sure if there is a toilet paper theif running rampant in south east San Diego, but, rest assured, his paper is secure!

Our job over the last few weeks has been somewhat depressing and overwhelming, but today we were able to laugh a little bit and marvel and the people's ingenuity.

Will post a photo later....

Life is finally settling down.....YAY!

We are FINALLY getting back into a more normal routine now. Although, I am not quite sure what that is. We have not had a normal month yet! We just moved into our new office and are finally "settled" as of this week. It is hard to believe that it has only been about two months that we have been up and running officially. It seems like forever, probably because all of the chaos that has ensued since we left...or rather since we gave notice to leave last May. I know that I often mention that I like living on the edge, but I think hanging on by a toenail is a little too close to the edge for comfort! My toenails are worn off...

I don't think I have ever moved so much in my life....I moved, Gary moved, and THEN Kendra moved! And, both of them have a HUGE amount of books, or a lead ball collection, one of the two. Thank goodness for dollies. We should add "Professional Movers" to our business cards.

Keeps us out of trouble I guess.....